16

Foundations, frontiers, and sacral history in Peter von Dusburg’s Chronicon terre Prussie (c. 1326)

Gregory Leighton

Introduction and problem: Peter von Dusburg (person, institution, division of chronicle)

“And so, they [the first knights of the Teutonic Order to arrive in Prussia] left their fertile lands and entered a land of horror and vast wilderness, filled with war.”¹ So narrates the chronicler of the Teutonic Order, Peter von Dusburg, in his Chronicon terre Prussie (c. 1326), the first foundation of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. This was the castle at Vogelsang, near Podgórz, a district in present-day Toruń.² The quote invokes the Bible (specifically Deuteronomy 32:10), in this case the wanderings of Moses and the Israelites in the desert. It reflects the perception of the region in Peter’s own time on many levels. For one, the Teutonic Order itself, according to its rule, was descended from Moses. The quote also shows the perception of Prussia as a place with a distinct division between sacrum and profanum. Commentaries on the verse have connected it to God’s protection of Israel, in which context it reflects Peter’s belief in the holiness of the conquests of Prussia that occurred about a century before he wrote his text.³

Thus, when Peter begins his chronicle by invoking the “signs and wonders” (signa et mirabilia) in Prussia and connects them to the deeds of the Teutonic Order, we may consider the ways that his chronicle reflects a division between sacral and profane space. This demonstrates how authority was expressed and communicated, in addition to how it was remembered. To elaborate on this, the present chapter will comment on the foundations of castles, towns, and cities in his chronicle. It begins with a brief overview of the approaches to using Peter’s text and his status as a member of the Teutonic Order. Next, it will outline the cities mentioned in his text. The final part will analyze some examples to show how Peter effectively created a series of foundation narratives to express not just the authority of the Teutonic Order but the authority of Christianity in what many would call a “frontier zone” of the medieval world.

Virtually everything known about Peter comes from his chronicle and from a selection of documents associated with the cathedral chapter in Königsberg (Rus. Kaliningrad). He appears to have come from Duisburg in the Rhineland, or Doesburg in the Netherlands.⁴ Jarosław Wenta has published extensively on Peter’s background and association with the diocese of Samland.⁵ For some time, it was believed that Peter was the author of the Epitome gestorum Prussie, a series of annals documenting the history of Prussia and likely produced in the diocese of Sambia in the 1350s. However, Sławomir Zonenberg has argued convincingly that this was not the case. It is more likely that Peter von Dusburg was involved in its editing and compilation, but not in the writing of the text.⁶

Much more can be said about Peter’s world view and how this informed the composition of his chronicle. First and foremost, he informs us that he was a priest in the Order in his dedication of the text to Werner von Orseln, the 17th grand master of the Teutonic Order.⁷ As a priest (pfaffe), Peter was obliged to motivate his brothers in religious matters, especially related to the fight against the Prussians and Lithuanians.⁸ The priests were part of the “knighthood of the faithful against the unfaithful” outlined in the “Prologue” to the Order’s Rule.⁹ Roman Czaja, Jürgen Sarnowsky, Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, Gregory Leighton, and Marcus Wüst have shown how this concept of knighthood and division between Christian and pagan formed a central component of the collective group understanding of the Teutonic Order as an institution.¹⁰ This idea manifests itself through almost all of the sources available for the study of the Order, from written texts, to seals, and to works of art. It is also important to note that this informed the structure of Peter’s chronicle, as well as how he described the foundations of places and the events connected to them.

Peter von Dusburg’s chronicle is divided into four parts. The first involves the foundation of the Teutonic Order and is derived from the “Prologue” to the Rule, outlining the history of the Order, its first masters, and, most importantly for this chapter, the “lineage” of the Order: Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, and the Maccabees. This establishes the Teutonic Order’s authority based on its divine predecessors and status as God’s warriors. The second book of the chronicle concerns the arrival of the brothers of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. As we will see in the following section of this chapter, this book marks the first part of the text that we can apply to the expressions of authority in Peter’s chronicle. It outlines the situation before the Order’s arrival, pointing to a profane landscape and lack of authority. Peter tells us that it was the ineffective policy of Bishop Christian of Prussia that resulted in continued attacks on the borders of Konrad von Masovia’s lands.¹¹ In fact, the book also includes a reference to the destruction of signs of God’s authority in this landscape: “The Prussians destroyed by fire more than 250 parish churches and monasteries of the secular and regular clerics, chapels, hermitages and cloisters of nuns.”¹² Book Two continues with a brief overview of the Order of Dobrzyń (Ger. Dobrin), a regional military order founded by Bishop Christian, before moving into the donation of the so-called Kulmerland (Pol. ziemia chełmińska) to the Order by Konrad von Mazovia. The book then moves to the papal privileges granted to the Order, followed by Peter’s treatise on physical and spiritual weapons (de armis carnalibus et spiritualibus), as well as how they are to be used. Here, we also have an example of how the Teutonic Order’s weapons, in Peter’s chronicle, embody the divine authority placed upon his Order.¹³

The foundation of castles and cities in Peter’s narrative, the subject of Book Three, are accomplished within this dual framework of spiritual meanings linked to the brothers’ weapons.¹⁴ It is the longest of the chronicle’s books, dedicated to telling of “the wars of the brothers of the Teutonic House against the Prussians.”¹⁵ It narrates a variety of materials, ranging from exampla and stories surrounding miraculous visions in Prussia, the donation of relics such as the True Cross, the discovery of relics (namely, those of St. Barbara), and information surrounding the First Prussian Uprising (1242–1249) and the Great Prussian Uprising (1260–1274). It also narrates the foundation of castles, towns, and cities. Peter’s chronicle concludes with what some call a “fourth book”, namely, a compendium of events such as the elections of popes and Holy Roman emperors, thus placing the text somewhat within the genre of a “Weltchronik.”

We should briefly note the actual urban landscape of Prussia around Peter’s time. By the 1360s, the Teutonic Order in Prussia had founded about 65 cities.¹⁶ As a history of the Order, Peter’s chronicle has more to say about the cities’ early origins, particularly when they were first built as castles of the Order. Such examples include Rehden (Pol. Radzyń Chełmiński), founded in 1234 and granted town rights in 1285.¹⁷ Braunsberg (Pol. Braniewo) was first mentioned as a castle of the Order in 1240. Its location was later moved in 1279, and it served as the seat of the Bishops of Warmia, receiving city rights in 1254.¹⁸ Many of the Teutonic Order’s cities by the thirteenth century had already received the so-called Kulm Law. This was a modification of the Magdeburg Law, but it served as the template from which the Teutonic Order would expand its territories and administration in Prussia.¹⁹ Roman Czaja has also analyzed the role played by this legal system of the Teutonic Order in the framework of central places within its Prussian territories.²⁰ It should also be noted that not every city was under this legal system which, as Ralf Päsler argues, caused problems for the Teutonic Order in terms of its expressions of authority. This was the case with the cities of Elbing, Frauenburg (Pol. Frombork), and Braunsberg.²¹

Methodology

Peter von Dusburg’s chronicle possesses some of the most important information regarding the Christianization of Prussia, and yet it has received somewhat of a lull in attention in comparison with the work of his successor, Nicolaus von Jeroschin. Initially, the chronicle was characterized as dry and lacking much of the creativity of his translator, an opinion expressed by the prolific historian of Prussia Johannes Voigt, in addition to Max Töppen’s analysis of the text in his 1851 work on the Teutonic Order’s historiography.²² Töppen echoed a similar view in his introduction to the edition of Peter’s chronicle in the first volume of Scriptores rerum Prussicarum in 1861, though he did note the potential values of exampla in Peter’s text.²³

This position appears to have prevailed until the 1935 study of Helmut Bauer sparked new interest in revisiting the first of the great historiographical texts of the history of Prussia.²⁴ For one, Bauer connected Peter’s chronicle to the narrative texts documenting the Crusades to the Holy Land and the style of historical writing associated with them (Kreuzzugsgeschichtsschreibung).²⁵ Recent examples have analyzed how Peter von Dusburg understood time (and, as a result, his world) itself. This is particularly evident in the work of Grischa Vercamer who, citing Vera Matuzova, noted that the negative image of the Prussians in Peter’s chronicle served to legitimize the Order’s conquests.²⁶ Stefan Kwiatkowski, analyzing the theological nature of the text, has discussed the influence of Augustinian thought on Peter as a chronicler, particularly how the text reflects the dualistic view of the natural world as a direct product of God’s will.²⁷ This should also be considered with respect to how he described the foundations of towns. Peter was committed to writing a history to legitimize his Order’s conquest, but he was also a cleric and educated in the use of the Bible. Therefore, the foundation of centres, which in many cases would house a convent of the Order, played a key role in his text in expressing this legitimization of the Order.²⁸

Against this background, this chapter will offer an interdisciplinary approach to view the ways in which Peter narrated city foundations. Studies on religion in the premodern world, its relation to the division of space, and the role played by collective memory in solidifying the division of space and expressions of authority are particularly useful. Since the 1990s, scholars of the medieval world have increasingly employed the theories of Mircea Eliade, a prolific scholar of religion and its place in the world, in addition to the work on collective memory by Jan Assmann. Eliade’s The Sacred and Profane considers the very foundation of cities (particularly the selection of the space as well as its construction) as a division between sacrum and profanum.²⁹ The construction of a city was an attempt to imitate the creation of the world, and the act of foundation was a repeating cycle of this. One way that this manifested itself was in the sacral processions around city walls that were held annually.³⁰ However, this was true not only in Greco-Roman culture, on which Eliade based his argument, but also in the Middle Ages and in frontier areas, like Prussia. Peter’s description of the discovery of the relics of St. Barbara in the winter of 1242 is a strong example for, after the event, they were carried “in a solemn procession to the church in Kulm,” with Peter remarking that the relics were still venerated in his own day. Perhaps, as we see later in the chronicle of Johann of Posilge, the relics were taken from the church in a ritual to commemorate their discovery. He provides an account of an annual procession at Marienburg (Pol. Malbork), the Order’s headquarters, in 1415.³¹ The relics had been moved from their main shrine at Althaus Kulm (Pol. Starogród Chełmiński) when war broke out between the Order and the Kingdom of Poland in 1409.³² Peter also describes processions in foundation narratives on a smaller level, particularly castles. Christmemel (Lith. Skirsmune), for example, was founded in 1313 and was marked by a religious procession.³³

As this chapter demonstrates, for the Prussian Crusades there are numerous examples to demonstrate how the act of constructing fortifications and cities, while serving economic and political purposes, also reflected the expression of divine authority. Peter himself connected the conquests of Prussia to the “cities, castles, and fortifications” built by the brothers, itself a “great sign” (magnum signum) carried out by God.³⁴ Indulgences for aiding in these acts, thus linking the establishment of cities to the nature of missionary crusading in this region, reinforced the bond between the building process and Christianization.³⁵ Therefore, this demonstrates that this view was not just common in Peter’s chronicle but was also expressed to the supporters of the Order. For Peter von Dusburg, this process was essential on two planes. While Peter did not write a regional history (Landesgeschichte), the foundation narratives of cities were of key importance to his audience. As a member of the Teutonic Order, he was composing a history of his own corporation, an “Order history” (Ordensgeschichte). The description of town and castle foundations reflects a distinct way in which the spiritual authority of his Order was expressed.

Foundations mentioned in the chronicle

Such authority was meant to reinforce the power of Christianity over paganism, reflecting the sacralization of the landscape and its transformation from profanum to sacrum in Peter’s chronicle. The memorial and commemorative nature of his work, too, served to reinforce the importance of city foundations as a means of legitimizing the Order’s conquests. While Peter von Dusburg’s chronicle goes only to 1326, it sets a precedence for legitimizing the dominion (Herrschaft) of the Order in the future.³⁶ This phenomenon has been analyzed by Jan Assmann, who concluded that a ruler, while constructing memory, also seeks to be remembered in the future.³⁷ Peter’s text is a strong example of this, for it had significant impacts on the way in which regional historical writing in Prussia was shaped.

However, his own chronicle was based on earlier annalistic works linked to Prussia. The Annales Pelplinenses, an anonymous text predating Peter’s chronicle, note the foundation years of Thorn, Kulm, Marienwerder, Christburg, Elbing (Pol. Elbląg), Balga (Rus. Veseloe), Kreuzburg (Rus. Slavskoye), Königsberg, Tapiau (Rus. Gvardeysk), Brandenburg (Rus. Ushakovo), Lochstedt (Rus. Pavlovo), Mewe (Pol. Gniew), and Ragnit (Rus. Neman).³⁸ The Epitome lists places, in addition to Riesenburg (Pol. Prabuty), Marienburg, Gerdauen (Rus. Zheleznodorozhny), Bartenburg (Pol. Barczewo), Bischofswerder (Pol. Biskupiec), Neumark (Pol. Nowe Miasto), Lunenburg (Pol. Sątoczno), Mohrungen (Pol. Morąg), Angerburg (Pol. Węgrozewo), Wehlau (Rus. Znamensk), and Georgenburg (Rus. Maykova).³⁹

Peter von Dusburg recounts, roughly, the foundation of at least 30 centers. The majority of them, it should be emphasized, were only castles. Some of them would eventually become major cities in the region. There are some difficulties in classifying all of them, primarily due to terminology and the lack of city privileges. For example, to draw on the annals just discussed, only Kulm, Elbing, Mohrungen, and Wehlau were cities at the time when Peter was writing. Indeed, the Epitome describes only Wehlau as a city: “In the year of Our Lord 1335, Angerburg was built. In the same year was the city of Wehlau built.”⁴⁰

The first example in Peter’s account is the narrative of the foundation of Vogel-sang, the first castle of the Teutonic Order built in Kujavia (mentioned previously).⁴¹ However, this was not a city foundation, for it is referred to as a castle (castrum). As mentioned in the introductory quote to this chapter, though, the narrative is important in how Peter uses the Bible to convey the novelty of the mission in Prussia and to connect it to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 32:10. From here, the next foundation was Nessow. Again, in Peter von Dusburg’s time, this was not a city. We know that in 1306, it was the seat of a commandery of the Teutonic Order, based on a peace treaty signed in Thorn (Pol. Toruń) on 25 January 1306, which mentions one Henricus de Nessow commendator.⁴² Peter took these instances and molded them into a distinct narrative of the Teutonic Order. One of the ways that he did this was not only by describing the foundations of castles, cities, and towns but by placing specific events at them that reflected the mission of the Order. In doing so, he shaped subsequent historical texts produced by members of the Order, including the fifteenth-century ältere Hochmeisterchronik (c. 1433–1440)⁴³ and the later jüngere Hochmeisterchronik, produced in the Low Country bailiwicks of the Teutonic Order in 1492; all possess similar narratives with respect to the early foundations, to which I will now turn.⁴⁴

The information concerning settlement foundations in Peter’s text reflects the rapid nature of the conquests. Early on, they occur almost every year, supporting the view that Peter drew heavily on the annals for the early part of his chronicle. The first town foundation, of course, was Thorn, which was established in 1231 and was first a stronghold on the other bank of the Vistula River from where the city stands presently.⁴⁵ Shortly afterward, the city of Kulm was built by the Order and a company of crusaders (peregrini) in the year 1232, namely, the Burgrave of Magdeburg, Burchard von Querfurt (d. 1246). Kulm and Thorn received city rights in 1232.⁴⁶

From Kulm, the castle of Marienwerder was built on an island, Peter indicates that it was a castle and city (castrum et civitas), perhaps built as part of Burchard’s crusade, for it was founded in 1234.⁴⁷ In the same year, Rehden (Pol. Radzyń Chełmiński) was built as a castle and associated with a series of visions of the Virgin Mary, St. Bernard, St. Dominic, St. Francis, and St. Augustine. As Tomasz Jasiński notes, the precise date of the foundation of the city is difficult to determine.⁴⁸

Elbing was founded in 1237, and Königsberg (as a castle) in 1255. These places came to have a profound impact on the development of the Teutonic Order’s Prussian territory form as political, economic, and religious centers.

The period between 1238 and 1283 is less clear with respect to the foundation of cities or towns. We know of Thorn (New Town, 1264), Königsberg, Schönsee (Pol. Kowalewo Pomorski, 1275), and Marienburg (1276).⁴⁹ A sharper picture emerges with respect to the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. For the latter, Peter records the foundations of Gerdauen, Guttstadt (Pol. Dobre Miasto), Bischofswerder, and Neumark. Gerdauen, to be discussed later, was founded in 1325 by the commander (Komtur) of Königsberg, Heinrich von Isenberg.⁵⁰ Wartenburg was founded in that same year by Friedrich von Liebenzelle, the advocate of Eberhard von Neiße, Bishop of Warmia. He also founded Guttstadt in that same year.⁵¹ Jordan, provost of the Warmian cathedral chapter, founded Plut (Pol. Pluty) around this same time, and Rudolf, Bishop of Pomesania, founded the city (civitas) of Bischofswerder. This is one of only two cities mentioned in this passage.⁵² Peter’s account of this series of foundations concludes with the foundation of Neumark by Otto von Lutterberg, provincial commander of the Kulmerland.⁵³ As we will see in the final section later, these narratives present a special case for the relationship between city foundations and the expressions of authority by the Teutonic Order in the fourteenth century.

Some of the foundations mentioned in Peter von Dusburg’s chronicle did not receive their city rights until later. Therefore, many of the events analyzed here concern early castles or settlements. However, one should still note the sacral characteristics applied to the events concerning their foundations by Peter in his work. For one, they serve to provide an insight into the role played by memory in narrating the early conquests of Prussia and communicating the importance of the Teutonic Order in the settlement of the land. Even if cities such as Marienwerder only received their town privileges later, in the fourteenth century, the circulation of Peter’s chronicle in the region would point to the ways in which early histories could be reshaped due to a lack of documentary evidence (e.g., foundation privileges).

Foundation narratives and the expression of authority in the Chronicon terre Prussie

The foundation of a city in the Middle Ages was a complex phenomenon that involved the intersection of not just economic and political factors but also religious ones.⁵⁴ In Peter’s chronicle, these were linked to miraculous events, victories, or even defeats. As settlements grew, there was a conscious effort to demonstrate power and authority in many ways from a variety of groups who inhabited the city. For example, the construction of churches, cathedrals, monasteries, and hospitals, as well as the importing of relics, was a way that the Teutonic Order accomplished this. Keith D. Lilley has shown convincingly how we can read medieval cities to reflect a spiritual cosmography. His analysis of an early fourteenth-century depiction of Padua, in Italy, and of the elaboration on its city gates and their locations as the product of an angel’s instructions reflects how contemporaries around Peter’s time perceived their local environments with respect to religious meaning.⁵⁵ This is quite important, for we do not have such descriptions for the cities in Prussia concerning processions or other commemorative acts directly linked with the foundations of cities, as we do in other regions of Europe (e.g., the Holy Roman Empire).⁵⁶ What we do have, however, are hierophanies (manifestations of the sacred), namely, specific visions described in Peter’s text, which we can connect to these places. These visions were a fundamental component in the ways in which memory helped to shape the Teutonic Order’s spiritual authority in Peter’s text, while also linking the manifestations of this to specific points in the landscape of Prussia. As I have shown, these events served to legitimize the Order’s conquests and attempts to create a sacral geography in a predominantly non-Christian landscape.⁵⁷

From here, one can also consider the topographical developments of the city (or castle) space as a reflection of the spirituality of the community living there. From an urban perspective, this has had some remarkable research results in the field of “sacral topography,” particularly with respect to cities in frontier zones.⁵⁸ Andrzej Radzimiński has commented on the functions of the churches in the Old Town and Towns of Thorn, linking the patronage of churches to the beliefs among the population that these saints also protected the city itself.⁵⁹ Many of the cities mentioned in Peter’s chronicle are no different. Given that they were founded by the Order, the ways in which Peter uses their foundations to express continuity and change reveal the significance of his chronicle to understanding power and authority in this region of the medieval world.

How does Peter von Dusburg link these events and their narratives with the mission of the Order? How did he communicate this link? That Peter wrote a “sacral history” of Prussia is clear. This is outlined in detail in the “Prologue” to his chronicle and the Second Book. It is less concerned with earthly events than their prefiguration in the Bible.⁶⁰ Churches throughout the Order’s territory likewise reflected the relationship between the prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament. This bolstered the mission of the Order as part of the spiritual battle for redemption on earth.⁶¹ Peter’s chronicle communicated this to his audience, whether it be the papal curia in Avignon or the local churchmen in Prussia to use as a preaching model. One early example links the geographical spread of the Order to biblical imagery, namely, in equating the seven bailiwicks of the Order throughout the world to the pillars of the House of Wisdom (Proverbs 9:1).⁶²

Peter tended to describe the foundations of cities and their early histories in simple terms, as part of a campaign in most cases, which presents an obstacle to understanding the ways in which these events shaped the perception of the Order’s authority. Moreover, the sacral events that take place in them are predominantly isolated in the castle space or, in some cases, around the castle, town, or city walls. An exception concerns a series of miraculous visions of the Virgin Mary around Königsberg, in addition to a series of hierophanies around the city of Thorn.⁶³

Like Lilley’s analysis, their inclusion in the chronicle reflects an attempt to connect the earthly city to a heavenly patronage, though Peter says little about the actual geography of the city.

On some occasions, we get a glimpse of the development of space with respect to Peter’s history, for Peter places events in and around settlements (such as castles, in addition to town walls). Peter narrates an encounter between the Prussians and the citizens of the Marienwerder, who fought alongside the brothers of the Order during the Second Prussian Uprising (1260–1274).⁶⁴ While Peter narrates the destruction of the city, he places the battle outside of the city walls.⁶⁵ As centers with a key place in the Order’s early history in Prussia, the cities have a distinct place in the landscape created via Peter’s text. This is especially true of the ways in which Peter places them as the locations of subsequent events to communicate the authority of the Order. As such, they form part of Peter’s narrative of the Order and its wars in Prussia, the “new wars chosen by the Lord, which the brothers [of the Teutonic Order] carried out.”⁶⁶ Thus, the crippling defeat and the destruction of church vestments and images of the saints at Marienwerder could have served as a legitimizing element of Peter’s narrative.⁶⁷ If we accept the status of Peter’s text as a sacral history, the events here would reflect the ultimate triumph of good over evil and, ultimately, the authority of the Order. In his day, the city was a major seat of the bishops of Pomesania. Indeed, an earlier encounter, this time “in the city of Christburg” (civitas Cristburgk), provides a detailed account of a battle and defeat, but it also highlights the bravery of a Pomesanian (quidam Pomesanus), Sirene, who protected the castle of the brothers “like an unconquerable lion” (tamquam leo intrepidus) and prevented the enemy from entering the gates.⁶⁸ Here, the comparison of this man to a lion falls into a positive categorization, perhaps an echo of the image of the pious man in Proverbs 28:1, who is “brave as a lion.” This serves to cement not just the role of the Order in the sacral history of cities but the citizens themselves.⁶⁹

This way of expressing authority carried over to texts outside of the genre of the chronicle, illustrating the impact of Peter’s message and, in some ways, its effectiveness. The Kulm Law, which laid the economic foundations of the cities in the Order’s Prussian lands, also reflects on the relationships of cities to the mission of the Order. This is why, in both the older (28 December 1233) and newer (1251) versions of the text, the defense of Christianity and the promotion of the Teutonic Order are invoked in the opening lines of both versions, recalling how so many inhabitants were sustained in the land of Kulm, “often for the defense of Christianity, often for the promotion of our Order.”⁷⁰ Peter also describes the foundation of cities in Warmia, a bishopric independent of the Teutonic Order in terms of elections of officials and ius patronatus in a similar message: the arrival of German settlers of such a great number “that only God can name them” reflects the authority of Christianity over the land.⁷¹ In this way, like Sirene mentioned earlier, the inhabitants of these cities are linked to the divine authority of the Order.

One of the most defining elements of the Teutonic Order’s collective image and its means of securing support from the rulers of Christendom was its status as a defender of Christianity against the enemies of the faith. In this case, it was specifically the pagans in the Baltic, which led to the development of what German scholarship calls the “war against the pagans” (Heidenkampf).⁷² The Order’s success as an institution engaged in the Heidenkampf also was reflected in how Peter describes the foundations of castles, towns, and cities. Peter’s account of “how many cities and castles were built” in the 1320s is a prime example. Unlike the other examples, these events are closer in contemporary memory to the time when Peter was writing. Therefore, the ways in which he describes them might help us to better understand the relationship between foundation and expressions of authority in Prussia. Gerdauen, mentioned previously, was founded in 1325 by Heinrich von Isenberg “for the purpose of expanding the boundaries of the Christians.”⁷³ After this expression, though, Peter describes two miracles that took place in these areas. The first was at Wartenburg and involved “one most white domestic column” appearing “in between the Gospel,” during the performance of mass once the castle had been completed.⁷⁴ Presumably at the same time, in Gerdauen, two white “soaring” (volantes) columns appeared during the celebration of mass, one “inside the castle” (intra castrum) and the other “beyond the walls” (supra moenia).⁷⁵ Peter also invokes the image of the “vast wilderness” (vasta solitudine) in his description of two Prussians working on the castle walls, who saw these columns.

My final example includes a more appropriate example directly from Peter’s chronicle involving his creation of narratives related to the concept of the Heidenkampf and the Order’s reputation. Before the city of Thorn was built, Peter tells us, the brothers there lived in a large oak tree (quedam arbore quercina), and from here they conquered the land of Prussia.⁷⁶ This involves a miraculous conquest of the region by a few brothers, in addition to the divine support of the Order, and could even call to the pious origins of the Order in Prussia as an institution. In using the theories of Jan Assmann on collective memory, or those of Aleida Assmann on “memory places,” the story of the fortress near Thorn can be used to examine how events described in Peter von Dusburg’s chronicle came to express the Order’s authority. The message formed a crucial part of the Teutonic Order’s communication to its supporters, especially concerning the foundation histories of early cities. This had an impact well outside of the framework of Peter’s chronicle. In 1412, the Flemish diplomat and participant in the Reisen Guillibert de Lannoy had already narrated in his visit to Thorn how the first brothers lived “in a large oak, and from there fought off the infidels (mescreans).”⁷⁷ Sigismund of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor, likewise referred to this in the donation of the Neumark to the Order in 1429, where Sigismund recalls

the pious and worthy foundation of that same Order and its brothers, who from the beginning in an oak tree at Old Thorn, in a small number they handily and manfully fought against the wickedness of the pagans, and from there by the grace of God ensured that the holy Christian faith, through their labour, toil, and rigor, acting as a strong shield, was revived.⁷⁸

In this way, the place of the oak tree and the ideas associated with it (i.e., the success of the Order from its humble origins in Prussia) take on the quality of what Aleida Assmann has called the Gedächtnisort (“memory place”) and the Schauplatzort (“a place connected to a deed”).⁷⁹ While the city of Thorn was later moved to its current location in 1231, we can see the impact of this story on later associations with the city. Guillibert, who visited the city in the fifteenth century, reflected on this as part of the city space, for it formed part of his tour on his visit. It is likely that this was communicated by the Order to those who came through Thorn on the Reisen, for we know that such texts associated with the Crusades in Lithuania were recited for them, such as Wigand von Marburg’s chronicle. While it was stated earlier that, at least according to the sources available, ritual acts of commemoration were performed to celebrate the foundation of cities, we cannot ignore that the inhabitants and visitors of the places outlined in Peter von Dusburg’s chronicle held sacral qualities in which a variety of ideas were communicated and experienced. We should note the work of Jarosław Wenta on the liturgical components of texts produced in the Teutonic Order’s Prussian lands, namely, the Epitome gestorum Prussie, in which the foundations of cities are mentioned in a similar way to necrologies (commemorations for the dead).⁸⁰ The emergence of this story of the first fortification in Peter von Dusburg’s chronicle, then, reflects a quite deliberate example of his creation of a memory place, through the description of Thorn’s early history.

Conclusion: Foundation narratives and sacral history?

The chapter has commented on the ways in which the Chronica terre Prussie describes the foundations of castles, towns, and cities. Following an overview of Peter and the nature of his chronicle, it set the framework for analyzing the most important foundations of cities (or places that would become cities in the landscape). It then outlined some methodological frameworks for interpreting the foundations of cities in Peter’s chronicle. These included that of the distinction between sacrum and profanum, proposed by Mircea Eliade, as well as studies on memory and collective memory by Jan Assmann. These assist in helping to fill the gaps that we have for the source material for Prussia concerning the foundations of cities and how they were commemorated. There was no sort of religious procession or commemoration of city foundations as there was in other parts of medieval Europe. To be sure, we know of the construction of liturgies that commemorated the capture of cities (e.g., Jerusalem in 1099), in addition to the commemoration of that capture with an annual procession in Jerusalem itself as early as the twelfth century.⁸¹

Section “Methodology” still pointed, though, to some acts of ritual commemoration or sacralization, such as processions of relics at Marienburg, Kulm, and Christmemel. Here we have at least a ritual connected to times of war (Marienburg), the arrival of relics (Kulm), and the construction of castles. Peter used these to reaffirm the Teutonic Order’s authority, in addition to the divine approval of its city foundations in Prussia and its wars. Situating these acts in a broader context, the chapter commented on the cities as reflected in Peter von Dusburg’s text. Here, the importance of hierophanies (manifestations of the sacred), as well as the legal foundations of cities (i.e., Kulm Law), reflected the authority of the Order’s mission in Prussia.

Victories, defeats, and the inclusion of citizens in events such as battles reflected how Peter’s text solidified the authority of the Order. This final section of the chapter showed how specific narratives, like the early history of Thorn, were used as a tool to communicate this to the Order’s external supporters. Most important were the various ways in which didactic elements of Peter’s chronicle reflect the ways in which his narrative shaped concepts of identity among the local Christian population in Prussia, the Order’s supporters in Europe (e.g., crusaders), and even citizens themselves. We are left with a new understanding of the imagery invoked in the introductory passage to this chapter. Essentially, Peter von Dusburg began with a tabula rasa. Each foundation of a center presented the opportunity to express how his Order and its divine favor, as well as the sacral nature of the crusade itself, were responsible for the conversion of this landscape. Although the first settlement in Thorn, the oak tree inhabited by the brothers of the Order, was indeed part of the “land of horror and vast wilderness,” the preceding examples demonstrate how its subsequent commemoration and communication were key in expressing the authority of the Teutonic Order.

Notes

· 1 Peter von Dusburg, Petrus de Dusburgk Chronica terrae Prussiae, eds. Jarosław Wenta and Sławomir Wyszomirski (Kraków: Nakładem Polskeij Akademii Umiejętności, 2007), 46 (2.10): “Exierant eciam terram fructiferam, pacificam, quietam, et intraverant terram horroris et vaste solitudinis et bello durrisimo plenam.” Hereafter cited as PDC. This paper was prepared during a NAWA-Ulam Fellowship at Nicholas Copernicus Univeristy in Toruń, Poland, Grant Nr. PPN/ULM/2020/1/00084. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4203-2313. I would like to thank Dr. Piotr Pranke (UMK), Prof. dr. hab. Krzysztof Kwiatkowski (UMK), and Prof. dr. hab. Roman Czaja (UMK) for their helpful comments and suggestions in preparing this paper, as well as for their helpful discussions.

· 2 This chapter will use the historical, German place names for the sake of scholarly continuity, with the present-day place names in parentheses.

· 3 Cooper Smith, “The ‘Wilderness’ in Hosea and Deuteronomy: A Case of Thematic Reappropriation,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 28, no. 2 (2018): 240–60, at 248 and 257 for Deuteronomy 32:10.

· 4 Johannes Voigt, Die Geschichte Preußens von den ältesten Zeit bis zum Untergange der Herr-schaft des Deutschen Ordens Bd. 3: Die Zeit vom Frieden 1249 bis zur Unterwerfung der Preussen 1283 (Königsberg: Bornträger, 1828), 603–26, at 604–5.

· 5 Jarosław Wenta, Studien über die Ordensgeschichtsschreibug am Beispiel Preußens (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2000), 178–79; Jarosław Wenta, Kronika Piotra z Dusburga. Szkic źródłoznawczy (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2003), 19–24; Jarosław Wenta and Sławomir Wyszomirski, eds., Petrus de Dusburgk Chronica terrae Prussiae (Kraków: Nakładem Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności, 2007), I–XI.

· 6 Sławomir Zonenberg, “Kto był autorem Epitome gestorum Prussie?” Zapiski Historyczne 87, no. 4 (2013): 85–102, at 86–8 on Peter von Dusburg and his links to the Epitome; also 98–99.

· 7 PDC, 3: “[F]rater Petrus de Dusburgk ejusdem sacre professionis sacerdos.”

· 8 SDO, 26:

Under disen geliden sint ouch pfaffen. … Sô man aber strîten sal, sô sulen sie die brûdere sterken zu dem strîte unde manen sie, daz sie gedenken, wie Got ouch den tôt durch sie leit an dem crûce.

· 9 Ibid., 23: “[R]itterschaft von den geloubigen wider den ungeloubigen.”

· 10 Roman Czaja, “Das Selbstverständnis der geistlichen Ritterorden im Mittelalter. Bilanz und Forschungsperspektive,” in Selbstbild und Selbstverständnis der geistlichen Ritterorden, eds. Roman Czaja and Jürgen Sarnowsky (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2005), 7–22, at 9; Roman Czaja, “Das Phänomen des Deutschordensstaates,” in Jahrbuch des Wissentschaftlichen Zentrums der Polnischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien Band 2, ed. Irmguard Nöbauer (Warsaw: Warszawska Drukarnia Naukowa PAN, 2011), 163–75, at 165; Roman Czaja, “Die Identität des Deutschen Ordens in Preußen,” in Cura animarum: Seelsorge im Deutschordensland Preußen, ed. Stefan Samerski (Köln, Wiemar and Wien: Böhlau, 2013), 44–57, at 47–52; Jürgen Sarnowsky, “Identität und Selbstgefühl der geistlichen Rititerorden,” in Ständische und religiöse Identitäten im Mittelalter und früher Neuzeit, eds. Stefan Kwiatkowski and Janusz Małłek (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 1998), 109–30, at 112–14; Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, Zakon niemiecki jako “corporatio militaris” część I: Korporacja i krąg przenależących do niej. Kulturowe i społeczne podstawy działalności militarnej zakonu w Prusach (do począatku XV wieku) (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2012), 96–99; Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, Wojska zakonu niemieckiego w Prusach 1230–1525: korporacja, jej pruskiw władztwo, zbrojni, kultura wojny i aktywność militarna (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2017), 49; Gregory Leighton, “Did the Teutonic Order create a Sacred Landscape in Thirteenth-Century Prussia?” Journal of Medieval History 44, no. 4 (2018): 457–83, at 460–61; Gregory Leighton, “Reysa in laudem Dei et virginis Marie contra paganos: The Experience of Crusading in Prussia during the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries,” Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa – Forschung 69, no. 1 (2020): 1–25, at 5–6; Marcus Wüst, Studien zum Selbstverständnis des Deutschen Ordens im Mittelalter (Weimar: VDG, 2013).

· 11 PDC, 24 (2.2).

· 12 Ibid.

· 13 Ibid., 34–45 (2.2–2.9). Also see Stefan Kwiatkowski, Zakon niemiecki w Prusach a umysłowość średniowieczna. Scholastyczne rozumienie prawa natury a etyczna i religijna świadomość Krzyżaków do około 1420 roku, Uniwersytet Szceciński rozprawy i studia, 604 (Szczeczin: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Sczecińskiego, 2005), 70, 116. Also see Ławrynowicz Olgierd, “Treści ideowe broni rycerskiej w Polsce wieków średnich,” Acta Archaeologica Lodziensia 51 (2005): 21‒49.

· 14 PDC, 45 (2.10).

· 15 Ibid., 49 (3.1): “De bellis fratrum domus Theutonice contra Pruthenos.”

· 16 Czaja, “Phänomen,” 166–67.

· 17 Preußisches Urkundenbuch 1.2, 289–91 (Nr. 457).

· 18 Codex diplomaticus Warmiensis oder Regesten und Urkunden zur Geschichte Ermlands, Bd. 1: Urkunden der Jahre 1230–1340, eds. Carl Peter Woelky and Johann Martin Saage (Mainz: Franz Kirchheim, 1860), 61–63, at 62 (Nr. 30).

· 19 Ralf G. Päsler, Deutschsprachichge Sachliteratur im Preußenland bis 1500. Untersuchung zu ihrer Überlieferung (Köln-Weimar-Wien: Böhlau, 2003), 223–24.

· 20 Roman Czaja, “Die Kulmer Handfeste, das Kulmische Recht und die Stadt Kulm. Ein Beitrag zur Gestaltung der Städtelandschaft im Ordensland Preussen,” in Städtelandschaften im Ostseeraum im Mittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit, eds. Roman Czaja and Carsten Jahnke (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika, 2009), 73–86, at 75.

· 21 Päsler, Deutschsprachige Sachliteratur, 224.

· 22 Voigt, Die Geschichte Preussens, 602. Töppen, Die Geschichte der preussischen Historiographie von P. von Dusburg bis K. Schutz (Berlin: Hertz, 1853), 8, marked a change in the ways in which historians turned to Peter’s chronicle and used it.

· 23 Töppen, “Einleitung,” in Scriptores rerum Prussicarum, eds. Hirsch, Töppen, and Strehlke, Vol. 1 (Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1861), 10–12.

· 24 Helmut Bauer, Peter von Dusburg und die Geschichtsschreibung des Deutschen Ordens im 14. Jahrhundert in Preußen (Berlin: Emil Ebering, 1935), especially 20–31.

· 25 Ibid., 20.

· 26 Grischa Vercamer, “Zeit in Peters von Dusburg Chronica terre Prussie (1326). Chronologische Ordnung oder Mittel zum Zweck?” Zapiski Historyczne 76, Nr. 4 (2011): 7–23.

· 27 Stefan Kwiatkowski, “Die augustinische Identität des Deutschen Ordens in Preußen,” in Ständische und religiöse Identitäten, 63–84, at 70–76; Stefan Kwiatkowski, Zakon niemiecki, 51–54.

· 28 When Peter wrote his chronicle (c. 1326), the number of knights in Prussia numbered around 400. See Vercamer, “Zeit,” 22 (Note 61).

· 29 Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. The Significance of Religious Myth, Symbolism, and Ritual within Life and Culture, ed. and trans. Willard R. Trask (New York: Harvest Books, 1987), 51–52.

· 30 Ibid., 49.

· 31 Johannes von Posilge, “Johanns von Posilge, Officials von Pomesanien, Chronik des Landes Preussen (von 1360 an, fortgesetzt bis 1419),” ed. Ernst Strehlke, in Scriptores rerum Prussicarum, eds. Theodor Hirsch, Max Töppen, and Ernst Strehlke, Vol. 3 (Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1866), 357. The procession then went to Wildenburg.

· 32 Ibid.: “[I]n desin czitin was das heilgethum sente Barbaran bilde czu Marienburg off dem huse, das man dar geflochint hatte dorch des krigis willin des vorgangin jares.” For context on this war, see Roman Czaja, “Die Identität des Deutschen Ordens in Preußen,” in Cura animarum. Seelsorge im Deutschordensland Preußen, ed. Stefan Samerski (Köln-Weimar-Wien: Böhlau, 2013), 49. Also see Rainer Zacharias, “Die Reliquienwalfahrt zur Hochmeistersitz Marienburg,” Zeitschrift für die Geschichte und Altertumskunde Ermlands 59 (2002): 11–38, at 22–32.

· 33 PDC, 245–6 (3.315): “Consummato aedificio clerici sequente populo cum solennni processione reliquias ad ecclesiam portaverunt, missam ibi solenniter celebrantes.”

· 34 PDC, 4 (Prologus):

Nec praetereundum est hoc magnum signum, quod bellum prosperatum est in manu fratrum praedictorum sic, quot infra 11 annos a die introitus sui in terram Pruschiae gentes … sibi potenter et christiane fidei subdiderunt, aedificantes in eis plures munitiones, civitates et castra, quorum numerus et nomina inferius apparebunt.

· 35 Axel Ehlers, Die Ablasspraxis des Deutschen Ordens im Mittelalter (Marburg: N. G. Elwert, 2007), at 25–75. For some examples in the thirteenth century, see Liv-, Esth- und Curländisches Urkundenbuch nebst Regesten, vol. 1, ed. Friedrich Georg von Bunge (Reval: Laakmann, 1853), cols. 210–11 (Nr. CLXIII), dated to 19 April 1239; Preußisches Urkundenbuch. Politisches Abtheilung, Bd. 1, Theil 1: Die Bildung des Ordensstaates, ed. Rudolf Philippi (Königsberg: Hartnung, 1882), 73–4 (Nr. 99), dated to 6 October 1233; Preussisches Urkundenbuch, Bd. 1, Theil 2, ed. August Seraphim (Königsberg: Hartnung, 1909), 151 (Nr. 195), 170 (Nr. 233), 580 (Nr. 922), 581 (Nr. 923).

· 36 For example, Marie-Luise Heckmann, “Herrschaft am Spätmittelalter – am Beispiel des Deutschen Ordens,” in Die Ritterorden als Träger der Herrschaft, eds. Roman Czaja and Jürgen Sarnowsky (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2007), 9–26, at 11, 17.

· 37 Jan Assmann, Das kulturelle Gedächtnis. Schrift, Errinerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen (München: Beck, 2000), at 71.

· 38 Annales Pelplinenses, ed. Max Töppen, in Scriptores rerum Prussicarum, Vol. 1, 270–71.

· 39 Canonici Sambiensis epitome gestorum Prussie, ed. Max Töppen, in Scriptores rerum Prussicarum 1, 280–81.

· 40 Ibid., 280: “ad mcccxxxv. Angirburg edificatur. Eodem anno Welov civitas.”

· 41 Bogusz Wasik, “Początki krzyżackich zamków na ziemi chełmińskiej. Pierwsze warownie i obiekty murowane,” Archaeologica Historica Polona 24 (2016): 233–60, at 234 for Vogelsang.

· 42 Das Urkundenbuch des Bisthums Culm, Theil 1: Das Bisthum Culm unter dem Deutschen Orden. 1243–1456, ed. Carl Peter Woelky (Danzig: Theodor Bertling, 1885), 107–8 (Nr. 159).

· 43 See Die ältere Hochmeisterchronik, ed. Max Töppen, in Scriptores rerum Prussicarum 3, 542–7 for early foundation narratives. Wüst, Studien zum Selbstverständnis, 118–20.

· 44 Die jüngere Hochmeisterchronik, ed. Theodor Hirsch, in Scriptores rerum Prussicarum, Vol. 5, eds. Theodor Hirsch, Max Töppen, and Ernst Strehlke (Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1874), 70; Rombert Stapel, “Preußen und die frühe Verbreitung der ‘Jüngeren Hochmeisterchronik’. Kulturelle Verbundungen zwischen Utrecht, Königsberg und Mergentheim (um 1480–1530),” in Schritflichkeit im Preußenland, eds. Marie-Luise Heckmann and Jürgen Sarnowsky (Osnabrück: Fibre, 2020), 211–31, at 214–15.

· 45 PDC, 24–25 (3.2).

· 46 Preußisches Urkundenbuch 1, 77–81 (Nr. 105).

· 47 Tomasz Jasiński, “Die Rolle des Deutschen Ordens bei der Städtegründung in Preußen im 13. Jahrhundert,” in Stadt und Orden. Das Verhältnis des Deutschen Ordens zu den Städten in Livland, Preußen und im Deutschen Reich, ed. Udo Arnold (Marburg: Elwert, 1993), 94–111, at 97, 103.

· 48 Ibid., 97, 104.

· 49 Ibid., 105.

· 50 PDC, 266 (3.360). For Heinrich von Insenberg and his career in the Teutonic Order, see Johannes Voigt, Namen – Codex der Deutsch Ordens – Beamten, Hochmeister, Landmeister, Großgebietiger, Komthure, Vögte, Pfleger, Hochmeister – Kompane, Kreuzfahrer, und Söldner – hauptleute in Preußen (Königsberg: Bornträger, 1843), 10, 11, 19, 34. Hereafter abbreviated as NC.

· 51 Ibid. For Friedrich von Liebenzelle: NC, 30, 45.

· 52 PDC, 266–7 (3.360): “Rudolphus episcopus Pomesaniensis civitatem dictam Bischofswerder … construxit.”

· 53 Ibid., 267 (3.360): “[F]rater Lutherus provincialis Colmensis terrae super litus Driwancae civitatem, quae Nouum Forum dicitur, construxit.” For Otto: NC, 16, 60, 73.

· 54 Henri Pirenne, Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade, trans. Frank D. Hasley (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), 57.

· 55 Keith D. Lilley, “Cities of God? Medieval Urban Forms and Their Christian Symbolism,” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 29 (2004): 296–313, at 300; Keith D. Lilley, Cities and Cosmos. The Medieval World in Urban Form (London: Reaktion Books, 2009), 77–95.

· 56 I offer my thanks to Prof. dr. hab. Roman Czaja (Toruń) and Prof. dr. hab. Piotr Oliński (Toruń) for providing me with guidance on this issue.

· 57 Gregory Leighton, “Sacred Landscape?” 468–72. Also see Alan Murray, “Sacred Space and Strategic Geography in Twelfth-Century Palestine,” in Sacred Space in the State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, eds. Jarosław Wenta and Magdalena Kopczyńska (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2013), 13–38, at 14–15, 35–36.

· 58 Bernhardt Jähnig, “Die Anfänge der Sakraltopographie von Riga,” in Studien über die Anfänge der Mission in Livland, ed. Manfred Hellmann (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke, 1989), 123–58.

· 59 Andrzej Radzimiński, “Die Pfarrkirche St. Johannes des Täufers und St. Johannes des Evangelisten in der Sakraltopographie der Stadt Thorn im Mittelalter,” Biuletyn Polskiej Misji Historycznej 12 (2017): 51–73, at 54.

· 60 John Strange, “Heilsgeschichte und Geschichte,” Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament: An International Journal of Nordic Theology 3, no. 2 (1989): 100–13.

· 61 Janusz Trupinda, “Die Chronik Peter von Dusburg als Quelle für Interpretation der architektonischen Ausschmückung des sog. Kapitelsaals und der Schlosskapelle im Nordflügel des Hochschlosses in Marienburg,” in Mittelalterliche Kultur und Literatur im Deutschordensstaat in Preussen: Leben und Nachleben, eds. Jarosław Wenta, Sieglinde Hartmann, and Gisela Vollmann-Profe (Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Universytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2008), 513–28, at 521–23.

· 62 PDC, 10–11.

· 63 Ibid., 194–96 (3.230–33.233).

· 64 Ibid., 147–48 (3.147–43.148).

· 65 Ibid., 147 (3.147): “Quos fratres et cives cum armigeris suis sequentes in campo, qui est inter civitatem et molendinum, hostiliter invaserunt [i.e., the Prussians].”

· 66 Ibid., 16 (1.1), 32 (2.7): “Multa bella antiquitus gesta sunt contra Pruthenos. … Modo per fratres hospitalis sancte Marie domus Theutonicorum Jerosolimitani incipiunt nova bella contra ipsos [the Prussians]. Hec sunt illa nova bella, que elegit dominus, ut subvertat portas hostium.”

· 67 Ibid., 148 (3.148): “In duabis hiis pugnis Pruthenorum magna facta guit verecundia imaginibus sanctorum ab iis, vestibus sacris et aliis ad cultum dei dicatis et ecclesie sacramentis.”

· 68 Ibid., 144–45 (3.143).

· 69 Piotr Oliński, “Świętopełk jako lis i lew w kronice Piotra z Dusburga. O biblijnych i pozabiblijnych źródłach metafor i porówań zwierzęcych,” Studia z Dziejów Średniowieczna 20 (2016): 85–96. Also see Proverbs 28:1 (Vulgata): “Fugit impius nemine persequente; justus autem, quasi leo confidens, absque terrore erit.”

· 70 Preußisches Urkundenbuch 1, 77 (Nr. 103): “Quanto plura quantoque maiora Culmensis terre ac precipue civitatum nostrarum Culmen et Thorun incole tum pro defensione chrsitianitatis, tum pro nostra promocione discrimina sustinebunt, tanto ardencius atque efficacius in omnibus, quibus cum iusticia possumus, eis adesse volumus et debemus.” Also see 184 (Nr. 252), which repeats the same phrase but also includes a Middle High German translation.

· 71 PDC, 67–8 (3.27): “[Q]ui de partibus Alemanie cum omni domo et familia et cognatione venerunt in subsidium dictae terrae, quorum deus nomina solus novit. Extunc coepit turba fidelium in terrae Prussiae dilatari, cultus divinus augeri ad laudem et gloriam Jesu Christi.”

· 72 Czaja, “Die Identität,” 47–48; Kwiatkowski, Zakon niemiecki, 87, 95.

· 73 PDC, 266 (3.360): “Anno Domini 1325 frater Henricus de Ysenberg … ad dilatandum terminos Christianorum aedificavit et perfecit in die beatorum Petri et Pauli apostolorum [29 June] in terra Barthensi castrum Girdauiam.”

· 74 Ibid.: “[Q]uod castrum [Wartenburg] dum esset perfectum et de sancto spiritu missa sollemniter cantaretur, apparuit intra evangelium una columba albissima domestica.”

· 75 Ibid.: “Sed in priori castro, scilicet Girdauia, dum etiam missa celebraretur, post missam apparuerunt duae columbae volantes intra castrum et supra moenia.”

· 76 PDC, 49 (2.1): “[I]n littore in descensu fluminis edificavit anno domini 1231 castrum Thorn. Haec aedificacio facta fuit in quadam arbore quercina, in qua propugnacula et menia fuerant ordinata ad defensionem.”

· 77 “Aus den Voyaiges Guillibert de Lannoy 1412,” ed. Ernst Strehlke, in Scriptores rerum Prussicarum 3, 449–50:

Et de la fus mene sur la riviere de le Wisle a une lieue de Thore en une islette, ou jadis du temps, que tout le pais de Prusse estoit mescreant, les segnieurs de blans manteauz de l’ordre de Prusse firent leur premiere habitation sur ung gros fouellu arbre de quesne, assis sur le bort de la riviere, ou ilz firent ung chastel de bois et le fortifierent de fossez autour, arrouez de la dicte riviere, dont depuis par leur vaillance a l’ayde et retraitte du dit chastel concquierent tout le pais de Prusse et le mirent a nostre creance.

· 78 Tabulae Ordinis Theutonici, ed. Ernst Strehlke (Berlin: Widemann, 1869), 204–5 (Nr. 213):

[A]lso haben wir angesehen die loblich und wirdig stifftung desselben ordens und derselben bruder, die von anfang von eyner eichen zu Alden Thorun in kleiner czal ritter-lich und mennlich die heidenisch undyet sich gedrungen, und dornach von sunderli-chen gnaden des almechtigen gotes also gemeret haben, daz die heilig kristenheit durch ir mue, arbeyt und sorgveltikeit hinder in, als hinder einem vesten schild … erquicket ist.

· 79 Aleida Assmann, “Das Gedächtnis der Orte,” Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte 68, no. 1 (1994): 17–35, at 17.

· 80 Wenta, Ordensgeschichtsschreibung, 180–1: “Die kurzen Notizen über den Bau der Ordensfestungen und über die Städtegründung in Preußen gehen den zur Rezitation bestimmten Listen der Hoch- und Landesmeister voraus.”

· 81 See, for example, M. Cecilia Gaposchkin, “The echoes of victory: liturgical and paraliturgical commemorations of the capture of Jerusalem the West,” Journal of Medieval History 40, no. 3 (2014): 237–59, at 241–46, for commemorations of this in Western liturgies; Eadem, Invisible Weapons: Liturgy and the Making of Crusade Ideology (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2017), 130–64, for the celebration of the capture in Jerusalem, especially the procession (159–61).

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