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| Parts of the ] retained wilderness areas for longer than almost anywhere else in Europe. ] may have been referring to peoples living in what was later East Prussia when, in AD ], he wrote of the ] people in his ''Germania''. These people may have been those later known as the Aesti-Prussi, who lived between the Vistula and ] rivers and spoke a Baltic rather than a ]. |
Parts of the ] retained wilderness areas for longer than almost anywhere else in Europe. ] may have been referring to peoples living in what was later East Prussia when, in AD ], he wrote of the ] people in his ''Germania''. These people may have been those later known as the Aesti-Prussi, who lived between the Vistula and ] rivers and spoke a Baltic rather than a ]. | ||
| ] 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 ] or Waidewut, who lived in the late ]. 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 ] bishop Christian of Prussia recorded the history of a much earlier era. ] mentions Prussians in ]. | ] 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 ] or Waidewut, who lived in the late ]. 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 ] bishop Christian of Prussia recorded the history of a much earlier era. ] mentions Prussians in ]. | ||
Revision as of 21:43, 19 August 2005
Prussia's Ancient Roots
The land extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lakes district was called "Prussia" by its Polish neighbours in the 10th century AD. People inhabiting those lands from at least the 5th century BC spoke a variety of languages belonging to the western branch of the Baltic language group, whose modern representatives are Latvian and Lithuanian.
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, which is Indoeuropean and means at root "clearing". 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. The Prussian plural is not attested, but then it is never used in the plural. The Lithuanian plural of laukas, "field", is laukai.
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 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.
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). The root is *tkei-, "to settle", from which English home (American Heritage Dictionary).
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 millenium BC 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, Sambians, 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 millenium.
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 Aesti-Prussi, who lived between the Vistula and Niemen rivers and spoke a Baltic rather than a Germanic language.
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 10th 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.
For more information, see Prussian people.
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.
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.
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.
In the beginning of 13th century Polish province of Masovia was an object of constant Prussian invasion and raids. In reaction Conrad of Masovia called on the pope and the emperor for a 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 contol of much of the Baltic, establishing their own state the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights.
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.