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Revision as of 07:56, 5 September 2005 by Caerwine (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Widewuto or Waidewut, a legendary early king of the Prussians, ruled along with his brother, the priest Bruteno in the area known as Prussia, according to sagas recorded in later times.
Adalbert of Prague was martyred by the Prussians in 997 after the holy oak of the Prussians was cut by Adalbert, Bishop of Warmia, with an axe given to him by Christ himself. After seeing the power of their gods destroyed, the Prussians became Christian, according to Vita Sancti Adalberti. It should be pointed out that the story of the holy oak and its felling closely imitates the story of Saint Boniface felling the holy oak of the Saxons or the earlier Saint Martin of Tours felling a sacred oak in Poitou. It is possible that either the evangelist or the story-tellers imitated earlier examples.
According to sagas, Waidewut had twelve sons, whose names were memorialized in the districts of Prussia and adjoining districts they controlled. Some of these names are coincidentally and anachronistically linked to the names of leaders of other peoples, for example, the Karantanian merchant leader King Samo, known to us from the Chronicle of Fredegar (circa 685). King Samo ruled from 622-658 in probably mainly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Slovakia and Carinthia.
More recent historiography posits the theory that Adalbert was murdered less for his opposition to "Prussian tradition" and more because he was believed to be a Polish spy.
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