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Summary
The first Russian edition of “The Chronicon of Prussia” by Peter of Dusburg appeared in 1997, having been published by Ladomir Publishing House. Books of the “Monuments of Historical Thought” series (Nauka Publishing House) served as a sample. The edition was welcomed by Russian historians and at the same time drew attention of specialists abroad being for them an unexpected and even somewhat exotic book, while Peter of Dusburg began to “speak” Russian. The reading audience became wider. The circulation of the book was 2000 copies, which soon had been sold off. It was suggestive of a second edition of the Chronicon.
The present book appears as one of the volumes in the Corpus of the Ancient Sources on the History of Eastern Europe (having been published since 1977). “The Chronicon of Prussia” concerns the history of the Teutonic Order in the first centuries of its existence (since 1189 till 1326), yet deals mostly with its crusade to Prussia. The book consists of the following parts: the first part narrates of the origin of the Teutonic Order; the second one tells of the arrival of the brethren of the Teutonic Order in Prussia; the third (biggest) part of the Chronicon deals with the wars of the Teutonic Order against Prussians; the fourth part was called “The Events” by Max Töppen, the first editor of the Chronicon. This part shows an attempt made by Peter of Dusburg to synchronize the events in Prussia with those of the world history.
“The Chronicon of Prussia” was first edited in Germany in 1679 by Christoph Hartknoch. Since then and especially since the academic edition of Max Töppen had appeared (1861) this work has been drawing attention of historians and philologists of many countries, but primarily of German and Polish researchers, being a piece of memory of their national history.
The second half of the twentieth century witnessed the increase of Peter’s of Dusburg fame and it is still increasing. There have appeared the translations of the Chronicon into German, Lithuanian and Russian. The early twenty-first century has brought Polish and Italian translations. Now the Chronicon often serves a useful source for research-works of specialists from Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, USA. Currently, Ordines militares conferences in Torun (Poland), held by the Nicolaus Copernicus University, have become a friendly and cohesive international academic forum. I am sincerely grateful to all the organizers and participants of those conferences which were a real academic school for me in studying history of the Teutonic Order and in particular in the research of “The Chronicon of Prussia” by Peter of Dusburg.
In the current historiography “The Chronicon of Prussia” is considered to be the most important work on the history of the Teutonic Order in Middle Ages and primarily of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, while Peter of Dusburg managed to create a broad canvas of its history from its origin in Acre during the third crusade (1189–1192) and paying the greatest attention to its crusade to Prussia. At the same time the author synchronized the events in Prussia with those of the history of Western Europe and the Near East familiar to him. These are the geographical frames of his narration. One can discern many genres in his work. This is a historiography mightily enriched with oral tradition, with hagiography and miracles, which together with the author’s observations attach a special lifelikeness and perceptibility to the content. The Chronicon could have never been so attractive without them.
But above all, the Chronicon contains the most valuable information on medieval Prussia and Prussians. None of the author’s predecessors gave so detailed and true description of them. Thus, Bartholomeus Anglicus, his older contemporary, the author of “De proprietatibus rerum”, one of the earliest medieval encyclopedias in Europe, gave but a fragmentary information on the Balts, but not much on Prussians. “The Chronicon of Prussia” shows its author’s good knowledge of Prussia and gives a detailed information on its geography. Moreover, being interested in his matter, Peter of Dusburg dedicated one chapter of his Chronicon to the beliefs of Prussians (certainly, condemning them as pagan ones), and to some features of their everyday life.
Of course, the way of describing Prussians depends on the author’s knowledge and perception of the matter, as well as on his purpose; which means that he is subjective in both his selection and appreciations. But Peter of Dusburg is much more experienced in his theme, due to his long stay in Prussia, being a witness of many events and having heard a lot from those who were witnesses themselves. Such a position permitted the author to take the outside perspective in his narration, but sometimes to view the situation from within. Thus, the information is somewhat counterbalanced; the author (willy-nilly) attaches a greater objectivity to his narration, than one could have expected from a crusader.
And now let us turn once again to the problem of the author’s personality. Through the lines of his work, through his opinions and partialities he shows himself clearly enough: he was a crusader, who intended to baptize the last pagans in Europe and was nostalgic about the Saint Land; an ideologist, who using the language and images of the Bible expressed the conception of “new wars” of Bernard of Clairvaux, extending it with the conception of “the new armament”, spiritual in its allegorical essence; a priest of the Teutonic Order, who had been elected to write the apology of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. But he had done more than that. His Chronicon is full of names, mostly German and Prussian ones, and densely populated. Among active participants of the events the reader meets Christians and pagans, friends and enemies, knights and monks. Peter of Dusburg gave “the life after death” to all of them. This was especially important to Prussians who had no writing language. It was Peter of Dusburg, who left though the only one, but a very dramatic page of Prussian history for the future generations.
“The Chronicon of Prussia” by Peter of Dusburg can be of interest not only for historians, but also for philologists. It draws attention with its medieval Latin, though the manuscript belongs to the seventeenth century. Multiple styles, beginning from the voice of the author in his letter to the great master; the lofty style of the narration of the earliest period of the Teutonic Order, or theological discourses and sermons expressed in verses of the Bible; the Bible being an inherent part of the text; miracles scattered throughout the book, and last but not least, everyday speech. It was not an easy but exciting work to make the author speak Russian, my first concern while preparing both editions.
Three short traineeships in Bonn (Germany) in 1990-ies permitted to study at the University Library and concentrate on the commentaries. I am thankful to my German colleagues for their hospitality and assistance. Sessions and conferences dedicated to the 800th anniversary of the Teutonic Order, Ordines militares conferences in Torun (Poland) and membership in the International Historical Commission for Studies of the Teutonic Order allowed me both to get a deeper knowledge of the Teutonic Order and to visit the most important places of its centuries-old history. That was the way to research and discover “The Chronicon of Prussia” for myself and for its future readers.
In some aspects the second edition is unlike the previous one. It follows the principles and rules of the series of “The Corpus of the Ancient Sources on the History of Eastern Europe”. There has been written a new introduction to the volume. Its part on manuscripts and editions, as well as the part on the sources are somewhat extended and supplemented with new contributions. It is noteworthy that the second edition contains the original Latin text. Recently in international historiography there have appeared many research-works on the matter, which have been used to expand and somewhat to amend the commentaries. Also, the second edition contains new pictures taken mostly from the Catalogue “800 Jahre Deutscher Orden” (Gütersloh; München, 1990).
The book may be of interest for researchers of medieval European history, for students and for a wide readership.
1. Витраж с изображением рыцаря Тевтонского ордена.
Штирия или Нижняя Австрия, начало XIV в.
Грац (Австрия), Церковь Успения Девы Марии
2. Елизавета Тюрингская с рыцарем Тевтонского ордена братом Эверардом (заказчиком витража). Кёльн, ок. 1300 г.
Мюнстер, Музей искусства и истории культуры земли Вестфалия, L-1010LG
3. Ковчег из капеллы Страсбургской крепости.
Нижний Рейн или Пруссия, ок. 1330–1340 гг.
Сандомир (Польша), Сокровищница собора
4. Цокольная фигура Германа фон Зальцы на памятнике Фридриху Великому (ныне снесенном)