Teutonic Knights (10 page)

The fifteen years of this Second Prussian Insurrection (1260 – 75) had been difficult ones, as Peter von Dusburg reminded his readers:

The worst years of the insurrection were over by 1273, the year that the bishop of Olmütz (Olomouc), a Czech prelate with excellent access to information about Poland, Galicia and Hungary, wrote a memorial for Pope Gregory X reminding him that the entire eastern part of Europe was still threatened by pagans, heretics and ‘schismatics’ (members of the Orthodox church):

There are four realms in this region – Hungary, Rus’, Lithuania, and Prussia. There are imminent dangers to the Christians in the kingdom of Hungary. First, because the Cumans are there, where they are not only aliens, but attack the kingdom and, among other customs, kill the very young and very old and take the youths and maidens captive and teach them their evil rites, and such is their power that they multiply, and, therefore, Hungary is certainly in danger from them, and the neighbouring lands, too. And in that kingdom there are heretics and schismatics who have fled from other lands. The very Queen of Hungary is a Cuman, whose parents were and are pagans. Two daughters of the Hungarian king have been married to schismatic Rus’ians . . . The Rus’ians are schismatics and servants of the Mongols. The Lithuanians and Prussians are pagans who devastate many bishoprics in Poland. These are the closest to us.

There were great dangers still, and not far away. The surrender of the Nattangians, Warmians and Bartians made the Teutonic Knights responsible for protecting these new ‘converts’; this could be done only by striking deeper into the interior of the country against the remaining pagans, the Sudovians, and their Lithuanian allies. Moreover, the Teutonic Knights had to fight alone. Ottokar of Bohemia was now fighting Rudolf von Habsburg for possession of Austria and the throne, and until the decisive battle in 1278 the king needed his supporters to provide all the military aid they could – Brandenburg, Bavaria, Cracow, Silesia, Thuringia and Meissen all sent knights to Bohemia. As a result, although all of these rulers were traditional allies of the Teutonic Order, often men who had been on crusade themselves, each was too deeply involved in the struggle for empire to send help to Prussia in this moment of direst need.

The Sudovians were not an easy enemy for the crusaders to fight. First of all, they were good warriors and fairly numerous; secondly, their lands lay far to the east, in the midst of seemingly impenetrable swamps and forests. It was easier to find a great aurochs, that huge ox-like beast already on the verge of extinction, than to locate Sudovians hiding in the woods. Nor was it much easier to spot a Sudovian raiding party before it struck without warning at isolated settlements and garrisons.

The first Sudovian attacks came even as the Nattangians and Bartians were surrendering. The Sudovians fell on the construction party that was rebuilding Bartenstein, a strategic point on the Alle River in central Bartia, and killed all the men there, then burned the uncompleted structure. That was a hard blow to the Teutonic Knights. Bartenstein was to be the anchor of their defensive line facing the wilderness. The Sudovians, led by an intrepid leader named Scumand, were then able to raid freely among the disorganised and defenceless tribes that had so recently been their allies.

By terrorising the Nattangians and Bartians, however, the Sudovians drove those tribes, willy-nilly, into the arms of the Teutonic Order. Much as those tribesmen may have sympathised with the Sudovians, they were unwilling to see their families perish in Scumand’s frightening raids. Without a castle base from which to operate, the Teutonic Knights could do little to help them; therefore, it was up to the natives to protect themselves. At first the warriors who had survived the insurrection lacked confidence and leadership, and until 1274 they did little but hide in their forts. Then a stout-hearted matron – a relative of Herkus Monte, the most famous leader of an earlier Prussian rebellion – began to berate her sons, accusing them of being unable either to defend themselves or their people. Stung by her accusations, they gathered the warriors from several forts and fought a pitched battle against the Sudovians, killing 2,000 of the raiders. This cleared the country of most of the border ruffians and made it possible for the Teutonic Knights to rebuild Bartenstein. When Prussian natives in their own self-interest brought their formidable military skills to the service of the Teutonic Knights the balance of power tipped in favour of the Christians. The episode also proves that the Nattangians had hardly been exterminated or even reduced hopelessly in numbers.

New leaders were now heading the military order, and with them came new strategies and new tactics. Grand Master Anno von Sangerhausen had gone from Prussia to the Holy Land in 1266 and remained there until the conclusion of peace with Sultan Baibars in 1272; then he had returned to Germany to recruit those crusaders from Thuringia and Meissen who brought the war in Nattangia to a conclusion; shortly after returning from Prussia to Germany again, he died. The grand chapter that met in July of 1273 chose as his successor Hartmann von Heldrungen, a man of advanced years who as a youth had known Grand Master Conrad, Duke of Thuringia, who had witnessed personally the union with the Swordbrothers, and who had visited Prussia in 1255. Following tradition, Grand Master Hartmann went to Italy and took ship for the Holy Land, where the knights outside Prussia and Livonia still saw their chief duty – the defence of Acre until that day when a new crusading force would come to liberate Jerusalem again. Hartmann, however, soon returned to Germany. There simply was not enough room in the order’s convent in Acre to house the number of officers and knights who were available for duty. Some of them had to be sent back to Europe, subject to immediate recall.

That same grand chapter meeting also confirmed the election of Conrad von Thierberg as Prussian master. Conrad, a Frank by birth, had served most of his career in Prussia as castellan of Zantir and Christburg, strongholds in the north-west. From 1269 on he had been acting-master on several occasions. Now that he held office in his own right he called on his younger brother to be marshal. Because they shared the same first as well as last name they were known as Conrad the elder and Conrad the younger.

The grand chapter had instructed Master Conrad to attack east from Königsberg up the Pregel River and drive a wedge between the Sudovians and the Nadrovians. The assembly of knights hoped that this would facilitate the conquest of the Nadrovians; from their lands they could use the Nemunas to operate against the southern flank of the Samogitians. Also, the new castles on the Pregel could be easily supplied by ship, and they would protect traffic moving toward the Alle River. Moreover, in contrast to the recent past, the grand chapter apparently sent enough knights and men-at-arms to make the effort successful.

Master Conrad opened the campaign by sending the advocate of Samland, Theodoric, with his native militia against two large log forts on the Pregel River. Both were taken, and the Samlanders found so many horses, cattle, and other booty in them that they could barely carry their loot or drive the animals home. Next he sent Theodoric by boat with a force of Teutonic Knights and 150 sergeants and many native infantry to a more distant castle. As soon as the advocate had placed his archers in position, he directed the native militiamen to make the assault with storm ladders. Too late, the Nadrovians tried to surrender; the attack had proceeded too far to call back the troops, so the slaughter encompassed most of the warriors inside the walls. A few pagans managed to make themselves understood and were spared to be taken away for resettlement with the women and children, but not many. The victors then burned the fort and departed.

Once the border forts were cleared away, Master Conrad led the army into the interior of Nadrovia. He plundered the nearby districts before besieging the main fortress, a stronghold protected by 200 well-armed men. His assault was similar to others directed against native log and earth forts, and the outcome was similar too: after hard fighting Master Conrad’s troops captured it, slaying most of the garrison. Not long afterward the rest of the Nadrovians surrendered. An order chronicler summarised this victory:

In accordance with plans made many years before, the Teutonic Knights proceeded to advance north-east. Nadrovia now served as the base for attacks on Scalovia on the lower Nemunas, beyond which lay Samogitia. The leaders of the crusade had long desired to crush the stubborn and courageous resistance of the Samogitians, whose attacks on Kurland were obstructing communication with Livonia; currently the Prussian master could safely send messages, men and supplies only by sea, and then only in the summer. The strategy was clear. Just as the Prussian master’s advance into Scalovia had become possible only because earlier victories had eliminated all dangerous threats to his flank, now he was eliminating the danger to his current flank, with the ultimate goal being to make secure the border regions of Kurland and Livonia. Ultimately, just as the Nadrovians now served as crusader auxiliaries, not enemies, so the Scalovians would soon assist against the Samogitians and, if all went as planned, the Samogitians would eventually assist in fighting the Lithuanians.

The Lithuanians understood this perfectly, and so they gave all the help they could to the endangered tribes on the frontier. Awkwardly, these reinforcements came only at those times when the common warriors were not needed for agricultural work, and all warriors disliked the boring duties involved in regional defence. So the most logical employment of these forces was in attacking Livonia and Prussia, thus tying down the Christian forces to protect their porous frontiers. The Teutonic Knights, quite understandably, chose to tie down the pagan troops in the same way, by threatening to invade the highlands at all times of year, with minimal warning and maximum damage.

To reduce the Lithuanian ability to assist the Samogitians, the order’s Livonian branch built a great castle at Dünaburg in 1274, effectively cutting the most direct route to Pskov and Novgorod. The Lithuanian grand prince, Traidenis (? – 128 1/2), is supposed to have referred to it as ‘built in the middle of his heart’. He besieged the log and earth castle for four weeks, using every man and every weapon at his disposal. But he could neither take the fortress nor stop the devastating raids by its garrison. Soon a vast uninhabited zone existed in the region between Dünaburg and the highlands.

The first offensive opened a secure shoreline route to Memel (Klaipėda), the crusader castle at the mouth of the Kurland bay that had been built in 1252 with the help of crusaders from Lübeck. Thence it was an easy ride north along the coast to Kurland or down the narrow, sandy peninsula to Prussia. To widen the land corridor and prepare the way for raids directly into central Samogitia, Master Conrad’s strategy was not that of direct assault, pushing east from Memel, but a flank movement up the Nemunas River. The Westerners were thereby able to use their technological advantages in transport and siege equipment and avoid the difficult problems of campaigning in the great forests and swamps of the interior.

The first objective was the Scalovian fortress at Ragnit, which stood on a tall hill overlooking the great river. An impressive bastion, it had resisted many attacks over the decades, including one by a strong Rus’ian army. The log and earth fortifications could not be easily stormed, and there was a pond within the walls that provided water and fish for the garrison in case of siege. The natives considered it impregnable.

In 1275 Master Conrad sent Theodoric of Samland by ship to Ragnit with a thousand men. The advocate debarked his men and equipment and moved them up the hill. When everyone was in place he ordered the troops to attack. The defenders massed their men along the rampart to resist the scaling attempt, providing a target that the crusader archers could hardly miss. After unrelenting missile fire forced the defenders back off the ramparts, the crusaders mounted ladders, poured over the wall and began the usual slaughter. The victors levelled the fortifications by fire and demolition. Then, in a campaign lasting only one additional day, Theodoric captured the fortress at Romige on the other side of the river.

The Scalovians did not leave those deeds unavenged, but sailed down to Labiau, on the coast of the bay north of Königsberg, and attacked early one morning while the guards slept. They butchered the people and burned the castle. Master Conrad felt obliged to retaliate in turn. He called up his knights and native troops, then raided those parts of Scalovia that were nearest. Nicholas von Jeroschin wrote:

By now many Scalovian nobles were sending messengers to the Teutonic Knights with offers to surrender on terms. It was a difficult task even for the officers experienced in border warfare and knowledgeable in the language and customs of the enemy to tell which offers were genuine and which were lures to bring small bodies of crusaders to destruction. More than once the neighbouring Kurs had asked for garrisons for their border castles and had then ambushed the company that was sent. Now that the Scalovian nobles were making the same request, the Teutonic Knights responded cautiously.

There were many minor combats which even the order’s chroniclers found too repetitious to record, but the result was the same as in Nadrovia – the majority of the Scalovians surrendered and a minority left their homes for Lithuania. In places, and especially along the frontier, which had been depopulated a great wilderness grew up. But the pagans, led by Scumand’s Sudovians, struck back ferociously, raiding as far west as Culm. They even besieged the bishop’s castle at Schönsee in 1273. Such attacks prompted the Teutonic Knights to replace ageing wooden fortifications with stone-walled castles.

Some Prussians fled to Traidenis, who proposed settling them on the border of Volhynia, probably at Gardinas (Grodno). This came to the attention of the Galician-Volhynian duke, who then ordered a new frontier settlement built at Kamenec on a tributary of the Bug River to protect his lands from attacks coming out of Gardinas and to solidify his control of the trade route north of the Pripet marshes, from Pinsk to Brest and on to Drohiczyn.

There is little doubt that Master Conrad would have attacked Samogitia next if circumstances had permitted. That land of strong pagans lay just to the north, and raids could be co-ordinated with the order’s Livonian branch. But Master Conrad was not able to move north. He was required to turn his attention to Pogesania, where the Third Prussian Insurrection had begun.