Page View
Hazard, H. W. (ed.) / Volume III: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
(1975)
XVI: The German Crusade on the Baltic, pp. 545-585
PDF (12.5 MB)
Page 545
XVI THE GERMAN CRUSADE ON THE BALTIC By the German crusade on the Baltic is meant the medieval expansion beyond the Elbe-Saale frontier to the shores of Lake Peipus. It is not historically possible to separate crusades from expansion and colonization in this area. It would not make sense, for example, to consider the Crusade of 1147 against the Wends without reviewing the history of the Slavic trans-Elbean lands since the days of Otto the Great, nor to separate the crusades of bishop Albert from the expansion of the German aristocracy and bourgeoisie into Livo nia. It would likewise lead to a faulty understanding of the history of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia if an attempt were made to separate crusades against the Prussians from colonization and settlement. The campaigns to subject the Slays and other Baltic peoples coincided with the campaigns to convert them. To some princes it made little difference whether they became converts so long as they became subjects; to some churchmen the reverse was true, but ordinarily it was realized that both went together. There could be no subjection without conversion, no conversion without subjection, and no per manence in either without German settlement. An introductory bibliography on the history of the Teutonic Order is Rudolf ten Haaf, Kurze Bibliographie zur Geschichte des Deutschen Ordens, 1198—1561 (Kitzingen am Main, 1949). The chronicles of Helmold of Bosau, Arnold of Lübeck, and Henry of Livonia will be found in MGH, SS., XXI, pp. 1—99 (Helmold); XXI, pp. 100—250 (Arnold); and XXIII, pp. 231—332 (Henry). The narrative sources for early Livonian and Prussian history will be found in Scriptores rerum livonicarum, vols. I and II (Riga, 1848, 1853), and Scriptores rerum prussicarum, vols. I—V (Leipzig, 1861—1874). The documents of the archives of the Teutonic Order formerly at Königsberg and now at Goslar have been listed and described, with (if published) place of imprint indicated, by Erich Joachim and Waither Hubatsch, Regesta historico-diplomatica Ordinis S. Mariae Theutonicorum, 1198—1525 (Gottingen, 1948). The author has incorporated into the text extensive quotations from Helmold's Chronicle of the Slays and Henry of Livonia's Chronicle. The translator of the former is F. J. Tschan, The Chronicle of the Slavs by Helmold, Priest of Bosau (Columbia Records of Civilization, no. 31; New York, 1935), and of the latter, James Brundage, The Chronicle of 545
Copyright 1975 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved. Use of this material falling outside the purview of "fair use" requires the permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. To buy the hardcover book, see: http://www/wisc/edu/wisconsinpress/books/1734.htm