The Prussians

Who rules

Name

No Prussian or Sudovian leader is named in the sources for 1200

Title

no prince: each land is governed by its own nobles and elders, who meet in assemblies of the free men

Since

not applicable

Born

not applicable

Family

The lands that Peter of Dusburg (1326) lists: Pomesania, Pogesania, Warmia, Natangia, Sambia, Nadruvia, Skalovia, Sudovia, Galindia and Bartia, besides the Chełmno land, which in 1200 is Polish. Smaller lands (the Lubawa land, Sasna) appear in 13th-century charters. Named Prussian leaders appear only from the 1230s (Pepin of Pomesania, 1231-1233) and the great rising of 1260 (Herkus Monte of Natangia, Glande of Sambia, Skomantas of Sudovia).

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia: Old Prussians, Yotvingians, Galindians, Romuva (temple); Peter of Dusburg as reported there.

Overlord

None. The Polish dukes count the nearer lands as tributaries when they can enforce it: Casimir II took tribute along the Drwęca in 1191-1193 and defeated the Yotvingians early in 1194, and that tribute lapsed at his death (5 May 1194). No Church, prince or order holds anything east of the Vistula that morning.

What the realm holds

• Pomesania (Pomesania)
• Pogesania (Pogesania)
• Warmia (Warmia)
• Natangia (Natangia)
• Bartia (Bartia)
• Sambia (Sambia)
• Nadruvia (Nadruvia)
• Skalovia (Skalovia)
• Galindia (Galindia)
• The Lubawa land and Sasna (Lubawa and Sasna)
• Sudovia, the Yotvingians (Sudovia (Yotvingians))

The realm that morning

Pagan, lordless and unconquered. No Christian mission is at work inside Prussia, no tribute is being paid to a Polish duke, and no foreign garrison stands east of the Vistula. Ground across the borders: west, Pomerelia (Sambor I and Grzymisław) beyond the Vistula and the Nogat; south-west, the Chełmno land (Masovian, maz); south, Masovia (maz) beyond the forests of the Drwęca, Wkra, Orzyc and Narew; south-east, the Rus' of Grodno beyond the Neman bend (outside); east and north, the Lithuanians beyond the Neman and the Samogitians and Curonians north of Skalovia (outside).

Wealth

Amber gathered on the Sambian shore, the oldest export of the coast; furs and wax; horses (the Prussians were known for them) and cattle; slaves and goods taken in raids. Trade runs by sea to Gotland and Denmark and by river to the Rus'. Truso, the old emporium near the Vistula mouth, has been dead since about 1000, and Kaup in Sambia since the 11th century: Gdańsk has taken their trade.

Military

Land levies of free men under their nobles; mounted raiding parties; earth-and-timber hillforts in every district; forests, marshes and lakes as defences (Bolesław IV's army was lost in the marshes in 1166). No numbers in the sources for 1200.

Threats

• Polish punitive expeditions from Masovia (Casimir II's of 1191-1194 are the latest)
• Volhynian raids on the Yotvingians (Roman, 1196)
• The Danish crown: Valdemar II's expedition into Prussia in 1210 and Danish expeditions against Sambia until 1223
• The missions of the Cistercians (from 1206) and the crusades and Teutonic Order that follow (1217-1230 onward)

Religion

Pagan Baltic religion: sacred groves (alkas), waters and fields, ancestor cult, priests and seers. Peter of Dusburg's Romowe and its Kriwe, said to rule Prussians, Lithuanians and Livonians and to take a third of war booty, are known from him alone (1326); Simon Grunau's later idols and eternal fire are inventions. Gods named in later sources include Perkūnas (thunder); the Christburg treaty (1249) names Curche, god of the harvest and grain, whose image was made each year after the harvest.

Belts note

No raiding belt is drawn for the winter of 1199-1200. Casimir II imposed a peace on the nearer Prussians that held until his death in 1194; Roman of Volhynia's raid on the Yotvingians (1196) is the last dated fighting; the next dated Prussian attacks are those of 1215-1216 on the Chełmno land and Pomerelia. The Masovian researcher (maz) also finds the Osa, Drwęca and Narew frontier quiet that winter. The forests between the Prussian lands and Masovia are a wide, thinly settled frontier rather than a raided waste.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. During 1200 (nothing dated)Raiding across the Vistula, the Osa and the Narew forests goes on as opportunity offers; no raid is recorded for 1200 in the sources reached.Depends on: the Polish dukes' quarrels, which keep Masovia weak Stopped by: a Polish punitive expedition, as in 1191-1194

Later, on the likely course

1. 1206 onward (after this year)Abbot Gottfried of Łekno preaches in Prussia; Christian, a Cistercian of Kołbacz and Oliwa, is commissioned in 1209, wins converts such as the nobles Warpoda and Surwabuno, and is made bishop of Prussia in 1215.Depends on: papal and Cistercian initiative Stopped by: pagan resistance
2. 1210 (after this year)Valdemar II of Denmark leads an expedition into Prussia and takes Gdańsk on the way.Depends on: Danish expansion Stopped by: Danish distraction
3. 1216 onward (after this year)The Prussians attack the Chełmno land and Pomerelia (1215-1216, Chełmno sacked), plunder some 300 churches in the Chełmno land and Masovia (1218) and reach Gdańsk (1223); the crusades of 1217 and 1222-1223 fail to stop them; Oliwa is burned (1224 or 1226).Depends on: a pagan reaction to the mission Stopped by: a lasting Polish defence
4. 1226-1230 onward (after this year)Konrad of Masovia calls in the Teutonic Order (Golden Bull of Rimini, 1226; Kruszwica, 1230); the Order crosses the Vistula in 1231 and conquers Prussia by 1283.Depends on: Konrad's invitation and the Order's success Stopped by: a Prussian union or a strong Masovia

Places of note

• Truso (site): The Viking-age emporium by Lake Drużno, burnt about 1000 and abandoned: nothing stands in 1200.
• Twangste: Sambian hillfort on the Pregel where the Order builds Königsberg in 1255.
• Honeda: Warmian hillfort on the Vistula Lagoon, taken by the Order in 1239 (Balga).

Where the sources disagree

• Casimir II's campaigns: en.wikipedia (Old Prussians) gives a campaign along the Drwęca in 1191-1193 with tribute; en.wikipedia (Casimir II) gives a successful Yotvingian expedition at the beginning of 1194. Other accounts date the Yotvingian campaign 1192. All are before 1200.
• Romowe: Peter of Dusburg puts it in Nadruvia; the en.wikipedia article on Romuva places it in western Sambia (after later writers). No site has been found.
• Christian's mission: the assignment and some accounts start it in 1206 (Gottfried of Łekno's mission; en.wikipedia, Prussian Crusade, also puts Christian in the Chełmno land in 1206); en.wikipedia (Christian of Oliva) gives his commission as 1209. His origin: a monk of Kołbacz (en.wikipedia) or a former abbot of Łekno (de.wikipedia, Kloster Oliva).

Evidence: Almost everything written about the Prussians comes from their enemies and is later: Peter of Dusburg (1326), the Treaty of Christburg (1249), papal letters from 1206, Kadłubek, and archaeology. Before 1230 no Prussian is named.

On the map: The lands' borders are reconstructed from 13th-century charters, Peter of Dusburg and modern maps; in 1200 they were forest belts, not lines. The southern edge against Masovia and the Chełmno land is a wide forest frontier.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of the Poles, by Master Vincent (Wincenty Kadłubek), Wincenty Kadłubek (about 1190 to 1208). Book 4 is a contemporary's account of the fight for the senior throne of Kraków. Read online
• The annals of the Kraków chapter and the other Polish annals (kept from the 11th century; the Kraków chapter annals continued to 1266). Short dated entries that fix the chronology Kadłubek blurs: the deaths of dukes and bishops, Mieszko the Old's captures of Kraków, Prussian raids on Masovia, church consecrations. Read online