THE PRUSSIAN CRUSADE, PART 5

Last time we left Prussia, the (((crusaders))) were plotting to advance on Sambia. Their force was 60000 strong, from Poland, Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary (including its Transylvanian possessions). The first operation in Sambia itself occurred in...

...late 1252, when a force advanced from the Vistula Lagoon in order to destroy the sacred grove of Romuva. But, the Sambians quickly turned against the (((christians))), repelling the attack.

In 1253, however, the new attack devastated Galindians. The Galindians were...

... neighbors to the Sambians, and a tribe of hallowed antiquity, being called by this appellation at least since the times of Ptolemy. Meanwhile, while the main body was plundering Galindia, the Bohemians and the (((Brothers of the Sword))) destroyed the settlement of...

...Klaipeda in the Curonian Gulf, in order to prevent Lithuanians and Samogitians from providing aid to the Sambians. A settlement existing from the Stone Age was completely razed, its population butchered and a (((christian))) fortress was built upon it. The most ironic...

...is that the modern-day city that stands here got back its Baltic name, Klaipeda.

After that, the main column turned its attention to Sambia proper. The Bohemian forces were led by (((Ottokar II))). The Moravians by the (((Bishop of Olmutz))). The Hungarian and other...

...detachments were placed under (((Rudolph of Habsburg))). The fortress of Rudau fell first to their hands. Most perished valiantly, only those who said they would be (((baptized))) were spared and some of them managed to run away. The next target was the settlement of...

...Tvangste, which the Bohemians attacked as they had done to Klaipeda, with the same ferocity and indiscriminate slaughter. (((Ottokar II))) founded Kőnigsberg on the site of Tvangste, to honor himself (but, but, muh christian humility, duuuuude!). Then followed the Polish...

...capture of Pikollosberg or Quednauberg, which the Poles renamed as Severnaya Gora. The initial settlement had names both in Old Prussian and in German, once more signifying that the two groups co-existed peacefully for centuries. Subsequently, the same fate awaited...

...the fortified positions of Waldau, Caimen and Tapiau. The fortress of Braniewo was also built in such a position to isolate the Sambians, whilst their villages and crops were laid to waste. For the whole of 1254 and the winter of 1255 the massacres continued.

In the winter, things were even worse, since the (((crusaders))) felled the forests to find timber for their own hillforts, allowing no natural cover for the Prussians. In the junction of the rivers Alle and Pregel, they also torched the sacred grove with its oak and built...

...Znamensk. The natives, that refused to submit to the filth, were slaughtered en masse, except those who were fortunate enough to flee to Nadruvia or Skalvia. The few Prussians that remained in the desolated Sambia were put in the command of the chief Thirsko.

Thirsko most probably had been kidnapped as a kid and raised by the (((crusaders))). The fact that the Prussians remaining were put under the command of a single village chieftain shows how much the population was reduced. The hillforts that the (((crusaders))) had erected...

...on top of the massacred pagan villages acted as bastions for colonization of the region. Meanwhile, the path was cleared for the long-planned strike against Natangia. The region was now vulnerable from three directions: north, south and west. From all three directions...

...the (((christians))) advanced. The Natangians were suffering yearly raids, burning of the harvests and villages and child abductions from 1249 to 1255, when this assault commenced. Therefore, their manpower and resources had been bled almost dry. Yet, chief Godecko...

...rallied his people and they fought with determination. Their main fortresses, at Capostete and Ocktolite served as centers of resistance. The ferocious battles claimed the life of Godecko and his two sons. By the end of 1257, Natangia had been largely depopulated and...

...the (((crusaders))) had started building their own castles and towns for the colonists to settle.

For the next two years, Bartia was also subjected to much raiding and the (((crusaders))) rebuilt the fortresses they had first erected in 1240, but lost when the first...

... Uprising had begun.

Ergo, by 1259, only Nadruvia was fully independent, as were the areas of the Yotvingians (Sudovians) and Skalvians, which were the easternmost of the Prussian clans. Bartia was only nominally conquered, with irregular warfare commencing.

On the other hand, all other clans had been conquered. The Pomesanians, Galindians and Kulmerlanders had been fully eliminated, whilst the other subdied tribes were living as refugees and exiles amongst their still free kinsmen.

In the next installment, we will follow the...

...Great Prussian Uprising.

NB: pics are used for educational purposes only. I don't necessarily endorse their content.

Thanks for reading.

Dixi.