THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
I. Introduction of Christianity.
The Prussian People; First Missionary Efforts (§ 1). Order of Teutonic Knights (§ 2). II. Statistics.
III.
PRUSSIA.
Gain and Loss (I 1). Ecclesiastical Facilities (§ 2). Auxiliary Support (§ 3). Ecclesiastical Organization.
Evangelical.
State Church Government (J 1). Congregational and Synodal Constitution (§2). 2. Roman Catholic.
I. Introduction of Christianity: The people which in history is called Prussian is the population that in the migration of nations settled in that part of the Baltic coast-land which in the second half of the Middle Ages was known i. The as Prussia. Their name Pruzi, or, in Prussian its lengthened form, Prutheni (their People; country, Prucia or Prussia), is derived First Mis- from the Lithuanian Protas, i.e., insionary sight, understanding: they called Efforts, themselves Pruzi, the sagacious. The character of these people can hardly be established to-day, since they were extinct by the end of the seventeenth century. Their language has been preserved in two translations of the Lutheran catechism, the so-called Old Prussian catechism, Konigsberg, 1545, 1561. From these linguistic fragments it is evident that the early Prussians were neither Germans nor Slavs, but belonged with their neighbors, among whom were the Lithuanians, to that special branch of the Indo-Germanic group which is called Lettish. As to the south of them the Poles had settled and to the west the Wends, they had no contact with Germany. Their religion was nature worship, a naive polytheism, deifying sun, moon, stars, thunder, birds, and quadrupeds. The common center of sacrifice was Romove, a place near Domnau (23 m. s.e. of Konigsberg, East Prussia) ; the place of worship was under trees, especially the oak. The people believed in a future life and retribution of a material kind. They dwelt in free, independent communities without national feeling. Their pursuits were agriculture and cattle-raising, trade and the chase. They practised polygamy, while women were treated as merchandise and slaves. The sick were exposed or slain, and drunkenness was a common vice. Hospitality, however, stood in high esteem. Because of their exclusion toward the south and west, Christianity could not come to the Prussians before the Christianization of the Poles and Wends. The first missionary attempt was made in 997 by Bishop Adalbert of Prague (q.v.), but without success. Bruno, Count of Querfurt, a relative of Otto III., who made a similar attempt, was suddenly captured by the heathen, with eighteen of his companions, and beheaded in 1009. In 1207 Abbot Gottfried from the monastery of Lekno in Greater Poland baptized some people, but was prevented by his early death from organizing congregations. Another monk, named Christian, probably also from a Cistercian monastery in Greater Poland, had better success, owing to the energetic assistance of Duke Conrad of Masovia and Cujavia. Christian entered the socalled territory of Culm from the south, and between 1207 and 1210 preached Christianity in the neighborhood of Lobau (74 m. s.e. of Danzig) and on the boundary line of Pomerania under the authority
of Pope Innocent III. Between 1212 and 1215 he became " bishop " in Prussia. Two chiefs, Warpoda and Svabuno, with others were converted and received baptism in Rome. They granted pieces of land to their bishop, in the neighborhood of Ldbau, and Duke Conrad of Masovia gave him the larger part of the territory of Culm, which possessions became a secure foundation of the Prussian bishopric.
To protect the converted Prussians from the hatred of their countrymen, Pope Honorius III. demanded, in Poland and Pomerania, in 1217, and in Germany, in 1218, the preaching of 2. Order of a crusade against the Prussian heathen. Teutonic Not until 1223 did the crusading armies Knights, from Silesia and Pomerania enter the territory of Culm. At the same time the Prussians fell fiercely upon Pomerania and Masovia. Christian, who had taken refuge in the fortified castle of Culm, and Conrad of Masovia were in the greatest peril and turned to the heroic Order of Teutonic Knights, promising them large grants of land for the conquest of Prussia. Hermann of Salza, the grand-master of the order, who sojourned at that time in Italy at the court of Ferdinand II. of Hohenstauffen, consented, although he was not immediately prepared to send an army; but in 1228 he sent a deputation of his knights to receive the land grant of Culm. In addition Bishop Christian also conferred upon him a tithe from his own possessions at Culm and in 1231 the gift of a third of his lands and its appurtenances. In the mean time Pope Gregory IX., in 1230, renewed the demand for a crusade against the Prussian heathen, and in 1231 Hermann Balke with an army of knights crossed the Vistula at Nassau and advanced toward Pomerania. Wherever the order gained a footing, fortresses were erected and German colonists attracted. Thus arose the towns of Thorn, Culm, Grandenz, Marienwerder (1233), Elbing (1237), and Konigsberg (1255). In 1238 the Teutonic order in Prussia united with the Order of the Brethren of the Sword in Livonia so that it could extend its missionary and colonizing activity far into the East. Wherever a town was founded there arose a church. Here and there a church or monastery was erected in the country. During an invasion from Samland, Bishop Christian was taken captive in Pomerania (1232). After his release in 1238 through Christian merchants, he accused the order of having made no efforts at ransom and of having robbed him of his possessions and privileges. The pope sent a legate who decided in favor of the order, conceding to the bishop only one-third of the conquered land and only the spiritual functions in the territory of the order. A reason why Christian did not enjoy any longer the favor of the papal court is to be found in the fear of leaving such a