LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES   Volume 31, No.2 - Summer 1985 Editor of this issue: Antanas Klimas ISSN 0024-5089 Copyright © 1985 LITUANUS Foundation, Inc.

PETER VON SUCHENWIRT

JERRY SMITH
William and Mary College

WILLIAM URBAN
Monmouth College

In the fourteenth century crusaders came to Prussia from many parts of Christendom to make war on Lithuania. Their announced intent was to open the way for missionaries to circulate freely among the pagans and Russian Orthodox believers; this could be done, and the pagan raids on neighboring Christian states ended, they said, only after crusading armies forced the pagan leaders to acknowledge the superior might of western arms by accepting baptism and establishing churches in their domains. Since these crusaders were not seeking to capture holy cities or worship at ancient shrines, they cannot be understood as exact equivalents of their forebearers who went to the Holy Land between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. Another major difference was that these crusaders were living in the age of chivalry. Chivalric values colored everything they did.1

One of the best descriptions of these chivalric values was written by an Austrian poet named Peter von Suchenwirt, who accompanied Duke Albrecht of Austria to crusade in Samogitia in the late summer of 1377.2 His poetry, written in the classic meter of the German courtly epic, expresses the spirit of adventure and idealism that brought crusaders from France, England, Scotland, and central Europe, and he further demonstrates the importance of play in noble society: war as a game conducted by formal rules, with little danger or discomfort to the noble participants.

If the military defeat of the pagans had been foremost in the minds of these crusaders, they would probably have come for a winter expedition, when the invading armies had significant advantages over the defenders: for a few weeks in winter the heavily armored knights could ride over the frozen swamps and use the rivers like highways; and it was more difficult for the native peoples to prepare ambushes. Indeed, in the late summer, when this expedition took place, weather and terrain worked to the disadvantage of the invading army.

It is easy to overstate the secular values of the chivalric era, and we should not lose sight of the religious motivations that were mixed into them. However, it would be a mistake to believe that these crusaders expressed their religious beliefs in the same ways that earlier generations had done.

The crusaders were traveling to Prussia in support of the Teutonic Knights, who had been conducting crusades against Baltic pagans and Russian Orthodox principalities for almost a century and a half. The Teutonic Knights were members of a monastic order dedicated to warfare on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church. The grandmaster at this moment was Winrich von Kniprode, whose reputation for gallantry and chivalry was almost legendary among the knights of central and western Europe. With little question the Teutonic Knights were enjoying their proudest hours. Nobles came from many lands to join the ceremonies, participate in the pageantry, and, if young, be knighted on the battlefield by some prominent lord.

Duke Albrecht III (1348-1395) of Austria had vowed to take the cross specifically for the purpose of being knighted. He was already one of the great lords of Europe — he had ruled his lands since 1365 and had recently won Regensburg from the powerful lords of Schaunburg. He could have been dubbed at any time — no one would have disputed that the son-in-law of the emperor had won his spurs — but the values of the time urged him to win renown and fame in some unusual and spectacular manner. This crusade was that spectacular feat, and he was knighted on the battlefield by Count Hermann of Cilly during the first day of fighting in Samogitia.

Although his expedition was a large one involving almost two thousand horsemen (sixty-two knights, 100 mercenaries, volunteers from other lands, squires seeking knighthood and the men-at-arms), Albrecht's crusade attracted little more than a remark from contemporary chroniclers.3 His army came to Prussia in August, on September 4th made a short incursion into the border territories of Samogitia, and then went home to celebrate his triumph.

Albrecht's later career proves that this crusade was not a whim of the moment. He was always short of money because his military activities exceeded his incomes, but nevertheless he lavished treasure on the embellishment of St. Stephen's cathedral and founded a theological faculty at the University of Vienna; he sponsored grateful poets throughout his lifetime. He was a model of chivalry.

The Lithuanians were no mean opponents in 1377, although their empire was shaken badly by the death of Grand Duke Algirdas (Olgierd) in late May. The empire extended north, east, and south over recently acquired Russian lands. For three decades Kęstutis (Keijstut) had watched the northwestern frontiers, where the Teutonic Knights were pressing the Samogitians from Prussia and Livonia; and Algirdas had watched the Mongols, the Poles, and the independent Russians; both had relied upon brothers, sons, and nephews to rule the subdivisions of the empire and somehow satisfy both the desires of their boyars and the wishes of the grand dukes. Now this system of personal loyalty was put to the test, especially because armies of crusaders from Poland, Hungary, Livonia, and Prussia invaded the border territories. Kęstutis, the principal figure among the heirs, was most concerned about the Russian territories, where he saw not only the most dangerous enemies, but also the greatest opportunities for future expansion. With the Poles occupying Cholm in September and the Hungarians Belz, with his nephew Jogaila eager to exercise supreme power, Kęstutis had no resources to spare in defending Samogitia from the expedition led by Duke Albrecht. Moreover, he generally did not worry about crusaders from Prussia except on those occasions when they constructed fortresses that could be used as a base for raiding deep into the heartland of his country. Since the expedition of 1377, like most crusading incursions, was of short duration, with no effort made to establish a permanent presence, Kęstutis felt safe in leaving the Samogitians to their own devices.

The Samogitians were used to defending themselves. Their proverbial independence extended to their relationships with the grand dukes, too, and that was yet another reason for Kęstutis to worry less about them than his other territories. In fact, the conduct of the next generation of grand dukes leads us to believe that they welcomed minor crusader victories that might teach unruly pagan nobles to be more subservient to their natural lords. Jogaila and Vytautas separately gave Samogitia to the Teutonic Knights in return for military alliances that were useful in furthering their ambitions to occupy more Russian lands. In short, the grand dukes had relatively little use for their independent Samogitian subjects.

The Samogitians were not only slow to recognize the need for national leadership, they were backward in religious, social, and economic development, too. Living in the lowlands of western Lithuania, almost surrounded by crusader castles, they were conservative in their customs and agriculture. Some of this backwardness was due to religious reasons, some to economic conditions in a country that was largely swamp and forest, and some to the devastation caused by decades of warfare. The nobles were famous warriors who relied upon booty from raids to supplement the primitive agriculture and raising of livestock. They shared few of the chivalric manners of the crusaders and occasionally roasted prisoners over sacred fires. The crusaders considered them little above animals, but respected their courage and military skill.

We know less about the Samogitians than we wish. Since they were pre-literate and isolated from the larger world (even from the rest of Lithuania), our sources of information are archeology, stories and myths, and descriptions written by visitors. Unfortunately, Samogitians did not welcome even potentially friendly visitors. Peter von Suchenwirt's poem, brief as it is, is thus among the best accounts of Samogitia in the late fourteenth century. We can see both the actions and attitudes of the crusaders and some of the reactions of their Samogitian opponents. In understanding the chivalric crusades there is no better source than Peter of Suchenwirt:

                Duke Albrecht's Crusade

1 In English, the best recent monographs about these crusades are Eric Christiansen, The Northern Crusades (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1981) and William Urban, The Livonian Crusade (Washington: University Press of America', 1982); in German, Hartmut Boockman,, Der Deutsche Order), Zwoelf Capitel aus seiner Geschichte (Munich: Beck, 1981).
2 "Peter Suchenwirt," Scriptores rerum Prussicarum (ed. Ernst Strehlke. Leipzig, 1863; rpt. Frankfurt/Main: Minerva. 1965), II, 161-69; an earlier eloquent but very loose translation is found in Albert Cook, "A Knight There Was," Transactions of the American Philosophical Association, 38 (1907), pp. 89-107.
3 "Die Chronik Wigands von Marburg," in Scriptores, II, 584-86: "Eodem anno magister Wynricus validus paganorum supplantator, ad quem cum venisset dominus Albertus dux Austire cum 62 militibus et nobilibus in Prusziam pro fidei amplificacione, honorificeque, ut decet principes, est susceptus et tractatus, statuitque reysam, unde omnes dicti pergrini leti se preparant una cum magistro in arma contra paganos, compromittuntque in quendam nobilem Teutonum obedianciam tanquam in captaneum. Veniuntque in terram Kaltanenen; iussu magistri vexillum ordinis elevabatur; similiter dux Austrie cum suis in spiritu militari; in qua terra magister et dux steterunt diebus 2 et totam igni tradunt, viros, mulieres und pueros depulerunt, nec quisquam evasit manus eorum." The "Annalista Thorunensis" in Ibid., Ill, p. 106: "Eodem anno dux Austrie venit in Prussiam quasi cum Ilm equorum, nobilibus, comitibus, baronibus, etc., et dominus Winricus magister fecit unam reisam, devastando terras inferiores, videlicet Grogil, Pastow cum districtibus eorum, quas intravit pridie nonas Septembris manens ibi per VII dies."
4 These were young men who also wanted to be dubbed knights, not merely boys in training to be knights.
5 "Dienstman". This does not necessarily mean the same as "vassal" in England and France, but the difference is too subtle to worry about here.
6. "Zirten", literally to adorn. l.e., the ladies animated the knights just as May animates field and meadow.
7 In Hessen.
8 I.e., the squire got silver.
9 Ragnit was the headquarters of the regional defense; since the garrison was always assigned the duty of scouting ahead of the army, to clear the way and uncover ambushes, the unit's flag took precedence over all others. The next banners belonged to Conrad of Krey, the commander of the visiting crusaders, and the patron saint of the Teutonic Order, St. George, followed by those of the grandmaster and Albrecht.
10 I.e., ladies' champions.
11 "Gast". The word can mean either "foreigner" or "guest." Here Suchenwirt plays on the double meaning to achieve a cruel irony. For other examples of such heartless humor, see lines 332, 348.
12 Literally "two hundred miles," but one German mile equals five English miles.
13 See William Urban, "When Chaucer's Knight Went to 'Ruce'," Chaucer Review, 18 (1984), pp. 163-69, for a discussion of these territories.
14 The wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Charles IV of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperor; the son was Albrecht IV (1377-1404).
15 Actually Silesia. This region, which was usually subject to the king of Bohemia and part of the Holy Roman Empire, was recognized as a Polish land. German dukes, who did not have nineteenth century ideas about national boundaries, had good prospects of becoming king of Poland through marrying one of the daughters of the current ruler, Louis of Hungary.