Prussia's Ancient Roots

The land extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lakes district was called Prussia in the 8th century by a Bavarian geographer, whereas previous historians had documented the Prussian tribes as Easterners or Aesti, Aisti. Prussia was recorded as having been the object of Adalbert of Prague, who was sent with soldiers of Boleslaw I Chrobry and who was martyred in 997 AD. Archealogical finds in Prussia date a continous presence back to at least two thousand BC. Baltic people spoke a variety of languages, with Prussian belonging to the western branch of the Baltic language group is no longer spoken. Distantly related, yet not mutually intelligibal are modern representatives of Baltic languages, Latvian and Lithuanian, which are classed as East Baltic language. The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, from 53 deg. ... Masurian Lakeland (Polish Pojezierze Mazurskie) - Lake district, northeastern Poland, containing more than 2,000 lakes. ... Adalbert, part of the Wenceslas Monument on the Wenceslas Square in Prague Adalbert (Czech: (help· info), Polish: Wojciech, Germanic: Adalbert) (c. ... Events City of Gdansk is founded Saint Adalbert of Prague is sent to Prussia by Boleslaus I of Poland Samuil of Bulgaria crowned Tsar by Pope Gregory V The town of Trondheim is founded. ... The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. ...

At the end of the 1st century the Prussian settlements were probably divided into tribal domains, separated from one another by uninhabitated areas of forest, swamp and marsh. A basic territorial community was perhaps called a *lauks or lack which is Indoeuropean and means at root "clearing", smooth surface. The singular, laucks, is attested in Old Prussian as "field", but this word appears as a segment in Baltic settlement names (especially Curonian) with various spellings: -laukas, -laukis and places in Prussia such as Stablack.(Old Prussian language: stabis means stone, OPr.lack , field, acre, thus stablack translates to stone field, -acre. The Prussian plural is not attested, but then it is never used in the plural. The Lithuanian plural of laukas, "field", is laukai. The Eastprussian dialect does not pluralize words such as (German Mann plural Männer), but instead in Eastprussian plural men are Manns.

A *lauks was formed by a group of farms, which shared economic interests and the desire for safety. The supreme power resided in general gatherings of all adult males, who discussed important matters concerning the community and elected the reik leader and chief. The leader was responsible for the supervision of the everyday matters, while the chief was in charge of the road and watchtower building, and for border defence undertaken by vidivariers.

The term *lauks must have included the fortifications, if any, and the social superstructure, but the village itself went by another, more ancient name, descending from the Indoeuropean name for "village": Caymis, reconstructed as *kaims (Prussian Reconstructions). Keim and Heim (earlier spelling: kaim, haim) are German words meaning 'sprout' and 'home'. The root is *tkei-, "to settle", from which English home (American Heritage Dictionary). The head of a household (house father, lord ) was the butti taw (butti - house, taw - father). Butte in German language means bud as in flower bud, virtually home to the growing flower. The Lord's Prayer, Latin Pater Noster begins in OPr. with Tawe Nuson and until 1945 one could find the river and place names Tawe, Tawelle and Tawelninken in East Prussia.

In the natural course of competition and heredity, some chiefs must have become very powerful. They no doubt acquired various *lauks as subordinate entities or took over the control of additional *kaims. The Balts entered history in the early 2nd millennium BC and were organized into these larger social entities, one of which was termed a "duchy" by non-Baltic writers.

Because the Baltic tribes inhabiting Prussia never formed a common political and territorial organisation (a state), they had no reason to adopt a common ethnic or national name. Instead they used the name of the region from which they came - Galindians, Pomesanians, Pogesanians (later became part of Pomesania) Warmians, Sambians, Culmigerians (Culmerland), Bartians, Nadrovians, Natangians, Scalovians and Sudovians. It is not known when and how the first general names came into being. Some of them are known from ancient sources distributed in time over the entire 1st millennium. The Baltic Sea The Balts or Baltic peoples have lived around the eastern coast of Mare Suebicum, or Baltic Sea (Tacitus, AD 98) since ancient times. ... Galindae, Galindai, or Galindians is an extinct Western Baltic tribe which formerly lived in Galindia: in Masuria, Poland (so-called Western Galindae) and in the basin of the Protva River, near the modern Russian towns of Mozhaysk, Vereya, and Borovsk (so-called Eastern Galindae). ... Pomesania is the former name of an area now in northern Poland, in the vicinity of the cities of Elblag (Elbing) and Malbork (Marienburg), to the east of the lower Vistula river. ... The Warmiak are a Polish ethnic group from Warmia, mostly Roman Catholics. ... The Sambians were an Old Prussian tribe inhabiting land of Sambia, north of the city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). ... Chelmno Land or Culmland (Polish: Ziemia Chełmińska, German: Kulmerland, Kulmer Land, Culmerland or Culmer Land) is the traditional name for a district around the city of Chełmno, in north-western Poland. ... Bartians (Barthi, Barti) is an extinct tribe of Prussians in the land of Barta from the middle and lower flow of Lyna river, by Swina river, Lake Mamry, up to the Galindian woods. ... Upper Neman The Nadruvians took their name from their ancestral homeland, Nadruvia or Nadruva (Prussian: Nadrowite, Nadrovia, Nadrauen), also known in the sources as Nadravia, Nadrow and Nadra as well as other names. ... Notangians, Notangi, Nattangi, Nattangians is an extinct tribe of Prussians from lands of Natangia by the rivers Pregolya and Lyna. ... Skalvians, (Scalvians Scalowians) is an extinct tribe of Prussians which according the Chronicon terrae Prussiae of Peter of Dusburg, inhabited the land of Skalvi (Scalwia, Schalowia) to the south of Curonians, by the lower Nemunas river in the times around 1240. ... Sudovian kurhan Sudovians are a subgroup of Baltic people, living at the left coast of river Nemunas, in the region known as Sudovia. ...

Parts of the Baltic region retained wilderness areas for longer than almost anywhere else in Europe. Tacitus may have been referring to peoples living in what was later East Prussia when, in AD 98, he wrote of the Aesti people in his Germania. These people may have been those later known as the Prussi, who lived between the Vistula and Niemen rivers and spoke a Baltic language. Many archaelogical finds bare this out. The Baltic Sea The Baltic region (sometimes briefly The Baltics) is an ambiguous term used to denominate an arbitrary region connected to the Baltic Sea (also called The Baltics). ... Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (c. ... Events Roman emperor Nerva succeeded by Trajan Tacitus finished his Germania (approximate date) Births Deaths January 27: Nerva, Roman emperor Apollonius of Tyana, Greek/Roman philosopher and mathematician (b. ... The Roman historian Tacitus in his book Germania mentions a Aesti or Aestii people. ... External links Wikimedia Commons has multimedia related to: Neman Categories: Belarus-related stubs | Rivers of Belarus | Rivers of Lithuania | Russian rivers ...

16th century histories of Prussia link the name of the "Prussai" or "Prussi," and thereby Prussia, to a place called "Prutenia". According to these histories, most likely based on heroic sagas, Pruteno (or Bruteno) was a priest king, brother of the legendary king Widewuto or Waidewut, who lived in the late 6th century. The regions of Prussia and their peoples are said to bear Widewuto's sons' names. These peoples include the Yatvingians and Sudovians. In the first half of the 13th century bishop Christian of Prussia recorded the history of a much earlier era. Adam of Bremen mentions Prussians in 1072. The first attempts at conquering Prussia are recorded in 997 AD. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Widewuto or Waidewut, legendary early king of the Prussi, ruled along with his brother, the priest Bruteno in the area known as Prussia, according to sagas recorded in later times. ... This Buddhist stela from China, Northern Wei period, was built in the early 6th century. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... Adam of Bremen (also: Adam Bremensis) was one of the most important German medieval chroniclers. ... Events William I of England invades Scotland, and also receives the submission of Hereward the Wake. ... Events City of Gdansk is founded Saint Adalbert of Prague is sent to Prussia by Boleslaus I of Poland Samuil of Bulgaria crowned Tsar by Pope Gregory V The town of Trondheim is founded. ...

For more information, see Prussian people. The Prussians kill Adalbert The Prussian people, or (old) Prussians, inhabited the area around the Curonian and Vistula Lagoons, (in what is now northern Poland), in the region roughly occupied by the Mazurian Lakes. ...

Prussia in the Middle Ages

The foundation of the Holy Roman Empire allowed the Ottonian Emperors the opportunity to continue to expand eastwards the holdings they had inherited from the East Frankish kingdom. They achieved this largely through continuing the Carolingian policy of co-opting local Slavic chieftains or ambitious war-leaders into a system of mutual defence and allegiance. This policy not only bound former enemies to the Emperor, but also prevented any of the Emperor's West Frankish leading men from expanding their own power bases eastward. This page is about the Germanic empire. ... The Carolingians were a dynasty of rulers that eventually controlled the Frankish realm and its successors from the 8th to the 10th century, officially taking over the kingdom from the Merovingian dynasty in 751. ...

It is not surprising, then, that when the Duchy of Poland was established (c.962), the Polish dukes attempted to increase their territory. Where expansion offered the opportunity to convert pagan peoples to Christianity, the support of both Emperor and Pope was almost guaranteed. In 997, Boleslaus I, then duke of Poland, gave military protection to Saint Adalbert of Prague when he went to convert the Prussians. The Prussians resisted these attempts at conversion, which have been seen as an attempt to weaken their independence. Like many other missionaries, Adalbert was martyred by those he wished to convert. Events February 2 - Pope John XII crowns Otto I the Great Holy Roman Emperor. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus of Nazareth, known by Christians as Jesus Christ, as recounted in the New Testament. ... Events City of Gdansk is founded Saint Adalbert of Prague is sent to Prussia by Boleslaus I of Poland Samuil of Bulgaria crowned Tsar by Pope Gregory V The town of Trondheim is founded. ... Reign From 992 until 1025 Coronation On April 18, 1025 in Gniezno Cathedral, Poland Royal House Piast Coat of Arms Orzeł Piastowski Parents Mieszko I Dubrawka Consorts Rikdaga Judith Enmilda Oda Children with Judith Bezprym with Enmilda Regelina Mieszko II Lambert Otton with Oda Matylda Date of Birth 966/967... Adalbert, part of the Wenceslas Monument on the Wenceslas Square in Prague Adalbert (Czech: (help· info), Polish: Wojciech, Germanic: Adalbert) (c. ...

In 1209 Pope Innocent III commissioned the Cistercian monk Christian of Oliva with the conversion of the still-pagan Prussians. Christian afterwards became the first bishop of Prussia. Already several times before, particularly in 1220 and thereafter Konrad I of the duchy of Masovia was unsuccessfully trying to conquer Prussian land. Events Albigensian Crusade against Cathars (1209-1218) the Franciscans are founded. ... Innocent III, born Lotario de Conti di Segni (Gavignano, near Anagni, ca. ... The Order of Cistercians (OCist) (Latin Cistercenses), otherwise Gimey or White Monks (from the colour of the habit, over which is worn a black scapular or apron) are a Catholic order of monks. ... Christian of Oliva was the first bishop of Prussia. ... Historical division of Masovia Masovia (Polish: Mazowsze) is a geographical and historical region situated in central Poland with its capital at Warsaw. ...

In 1224 at Catania the Emperor Frederick II issued a proclamation that he himself and the empire took the population of Prussia, Samland, Livonia, Esthonia, Semgallen and neighboring provinces under protection and declared the inhabitants Reichsfreie, to be subordinated directly to the church and the empire only and exempted them from service and jurisdiction to other dukes. At the end of 1224 the Pope Honorius announced the appointment of William of Modena as Papal Legate for Prussia, Livonia etc. Frederick II (left) meets al-Kamil (right) Frederick II (December 26, 1194 - (December 13, 1250), Holy Roman Emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212, unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 until his death... William of Modena, Bishop of Modena in 1221, was frequently appointed a legate, or papal ambassador by the popes Honorius III and Gregory IX, especially in Livonia in the 1220s and in the Prussian questions of the 1240s. ...

Original Prussian land had reached further south and east from where the Monastic State of Prussia came to be. Due to a number of attempts by Konrad of Masovia to conquer Prussia, the Culmerland to the north of Masovia became quite devastated and Konrad feared for his own land in Masovia, so he called on the pope and the emperor for yet another Crusade. The results were edicts calling for Crusades against the "marauding, heathen" Prussians. Many of Europe's knights joined in these Crusades, which lasted sixty years. In particular, the Teutonic Order took control of much of the Baltic, establishing their own state the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights. The Teutonic knights in Pskov in 1240. ... Teutonic Knights, charging into battle. ... This article needs to be wikified. ...

In 1243, the Papal legate William of Modena divided Prussia into four bishoprics (Chelmno Land) (Ziemia Chelminska, Kulmerland), Pomesania, Warmia (Ermland), and Sambia under the archbishopric of Riga. // Events Innocent IV was elected pope. ... William of Modena, Bishop of Modena in 1221, was frequently appointed a legate, or papal ambassador by the popes Honorius III and Gregory IX, especially in Livonia in the 1220s and in the Prussian questions of the 1240s. ... Chelmno Land or Culmland (Polish: Ziemia Chełmińska, German: Kulmerland, Kulmer Land, Culmerland or Culmer Land) is the traditional name for a district around the city of Chełmno, in north-western Poland. ... Pomesania is the former name of an area now in northern Poland, in the vicinity of the cities of Elblag (Elbing) and Malbork (Marienburg), to the east of the lower Vistula river. ... Warmia in 1547 Warmia (Polish: , German: , Latin: Varmia, also historically known as Ermeland) is a region between Pomerania and Masuria in northeastern Poland. ... Sambia or the Sambian Peninsula (Russian: semlyandskiy poluostrov, German: Samland) is the name of a peninsula in the Baltic Sea. ... The Archbishops of Riga (1202) 1255-1561 were the secular rulers of Riga, the capital of Livonia (now known as Latvia). ...

External links

• Map of Altes Preussenland-Original Old Prussia
• http://www.istorija.lt/la/arch18-09engZulkus.htm
• http://www.suduva.com/prussian/reconstructions.htm