Table of contents

1 Geography 2 Prussia's Historic Roots 2.1 Prussia in the Middle Ages

Geography

The Russian Kaliningrad region corresponds essentially to the core Prussian provinces like Sambia. Present-day Poland's Mazury was South Prussia's provinces of Masuria (Masurenland) and Sudovia (Sudauen), which included the Galindans and western Sudovians to the south and south-east. Under the Teutonic Order state most the rest of the Western-Balts like eastern Sudovian, Scalovian, Nadrovian to the northeast were constituted parts of Prussia forming their own regions and eastern province. From Memel (Klaipeda) down to Goldap and as far west as Labiau/Labguva (Polessk) was once Prussia's "Province of Lithuania Minor". It is important to mention that the Memel region was never a Prusi homeland, Prussians only migrated and integrated there during the time of The Kingdom. At the same time it is important to mention, that the actual core Lituania was inhabited by many Prussians who fled the Christianization Crusades and later returned to Prussia as 'Lithuanians' to an area name "Lithuania Minor" for them. Tribes of "western Litts" which may have been any of the Aestians including the Norman influenced Prusi, are recorded as having migrated in masses after the Order's conquering wars.

Prussia's Historic Roots

The people of the land later called Prussia were recorded as Aesti in Tacitus Germania and as Brus by a Bavarian Geographer in the 9th century. Wulfstan of Haithabu and other recorded the Prussians as well. The land extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to what much later became the Masuria district was acknowledged as "Prussia" by its Masovian neighbours, when they got there by the 10th century. People inhabiting those lands from at least the 5th century BCE spoke a variety of languages belonging to the western branch of the Baltic language group, whose modern representatives are Latvian and Lithuanian. The Balts gave the Ostsee (Eastern Sea) or Baltic Sea its name.

North-eastern Europe was frozen over the ice did not start to melt until approcimately 10.000 BC. Habitation in the area of Prussia might date back to 9000 B.C. and Scyth graves have been found in the area. It is thought that hemp (canabis) (Old Prussian knapis) fields there might have been an important textile source besides the importance of Baltic Amber which reached as far as China. It was probably around 10 C.E. that the Baltic tribes started to move north along the Prypet and Nemunas rivers, driving Finnic peoples north. Documented history of 'the Balts' seems to have started ca 500 BC with Greek geographers, then Tacitus in Germania 98 AD, and Ptolemy (2nd century). Aestian tribes like the Galindae, Sudeni, and the dark-haired warlike Jatwiger (Yatvig, Yatvyag) Sudvins and Yadzing became the first documented inhabitants of the area.

Historical Atlases show that the area also became the north-easternmost part of Attila's Empire in Central Europe, and at around the same time Danes sailed routes across Baltic shores going down as far as the Nemunas convergence (Muirs).

Gothic historian Jordanes recorded the Prussians as part of the Gothic empire and delegations of Prussians brought large amber presents to the court of Theoderic.

At the end of the 1st century the Prussian settlements were divided into tribal domains, separated from one another by uninhabitated areas of forest, swamp and marsh. The basic territorial communities called Laukses were formed by groups of farms, which shared economic interests, the desire for safety and generally accepted conditions of coexistence. The supreme power in each Lauks laid in general gatherings of all adult males, which discussed important matters concerning the community and elected the leader and the chief (Old Pr.reiks). The leader was responsible for the supervision of the everyday matters, while the chief was in charge of the road and watchtower building, and for the border defence (vidivaria).

Because the Baltic tribes inhabiting Prussia never formed a common political and territorial organisation (a state), they had no reason to adopt a common ethnic name. Instead they used the name of the region from which they came - Galindians, Sambians, Bartians, Nadrovians, Natangians, Scalovians and Sudovians. They were located isolated at the Baltic Sea, hard to reach for many centuries and did not have any enemies (until Boleslaw I in 997). Therefore they did not need to have centralized states. It is not known when and how the first general names came into being in the lands that did not have a tribe name tradition such as Pomesania, Pogesania or Sassen(Sasinia) in the western peripheries of the Prussian settlements. It is known, that Mita, Cadina and Pogesania were Prussian chief's daughters. Sassen(Culmerland/Sassen) is possibly named after the Sachsen (Saxons).

Parts of the Baltic region retained wilderness areas for longer than almost anywhere else in Europe. Tacitus may have been referring to peoples living in what was later East Prussia when, in AD 98, he wrote of the Aesti in his Germania. These people may have been those later known as the Aesti-Prussi, who lived between the Vistula and Niemen rivers and spoke a Baltic rather than a Germanic language. Tacitus referred to all the tribes living near the Mare Suebicum, or the Baltic Sea, under the collective name of Suebi, a broad term which included also various peoples to the south, including the Lombards, Rugi, Burgundians, Semnoni, Vandals, Lugi, Silingi, Goths and others who made their homes near the Elbe, Oder and Vistula rivers.

16th century histories of Prussia link the name of the "Prussai" or "Prussi," and thereby Prussia, to a place called "Prutenia". According to these histories, most likely based on heroic sagas, Pruteno (or Bruteno) was a priest king, brother of the legendary king Widewuto or Waidewut, who lived before the 10th century. The regions of Prussia and their peoples are said to bear Widewuto's sons' names. These peoples include the Yatvingians and Sudovians. In the first half of the 13th century bishop Christian of Prussia recorded the history of a much earlier era. Adam of Bremen mentions Prussians in 1072.

Prussia in the Middle Ages

The foundation of the Holy Roman Empire allowed the Ottonian Emperors the opportunity to continue to expand eastwards the holdings they had inherited from the East Frankish kingdom. They achieved this largely through continuing the Carolingian policy of co-opting local Slav chieftains or ambitious war-leaders into a system of mutual defence and allegiance. This policy not only bound former enemies to the Emperor, but also prevented any of the Emperor's West Frankish leading men from expanding their own power bases eastward.

It is not surprising, then, that when the Duchy of Poland was established (c.962), the Polish dukes attempted to increase their territory. Where expansion offered the opportunity to convert pagan peoples to Christianity, the support of both Emperor and Pope was almost guaranteed. In 997, Boleslaus I, then duke of Poland, gave military protection to Saint Adalbert of Prague when he went to convert the Prussians. The Prussians resisted these attempts at conversion, which where known attempts to weaken their independence. Like many other missionaries, Adalbert, who overstepped taboo sacred places, despite warnings, was martyred by those he wished to convert. With cristianization came take-over of land by pope and/or emperor.

The East Pomerania (Pomerelia) later known also as Royal or West Prussia was christianised by Otto of Bamberg. In 1209 Pope Innocent III commissioned the Cistercian monk Christian of Oliva with the conversion of the still-pagan eastern Prussians. Christian afterwards became the first bishop of Prussia.

In the Middle Ages Prussian borderland was an area of constant wars and raids of both Prussians as well as Poles. To protect his land from invasions and under the guise of Christianization to conquer the territories of Prussians duke Conrad I of Masovia called upon the Teutonic Knights for help. They were to keep the Chelmno Land as a fief in exchange for protecting Mazovia from Prussians.