Prussian Prehistory in Simon Grunau’s Preußische Chronik

Abstract

Prussian prehistory presented in the Dominican Friar—Simon Grunau’s chronicle is a parable the subject of which is not the past but the present; it is the parable which is the allusion to the history of Prussia under the rule of Teutonic Knights. Presented in the text non-German ‘Ulmeghanaians’ are the Prussian autochthons, ‘Scandians’ are the German settlers, ‘Maso’—Mazovians (Poles), whereas seizing power clergymen— Vaidilutes are the Order of Teutonic Knights. The main tendencies which Simon Grunau included in the chronicle are the following: according to him, the beginning of nation and at the same time its history was arranging the co-existence between two different nations which became one Prussian nation during the reigns of the authorities consisting in the secular and clerical elements; inhabitants of Prussia can communicate and they have been the sovereign people from the prehistoric times; the Order of Teutonic Knights assumed control because the local gentry were set at variance; inhabitants of Prussia if they had been earlier subject to somebody, these had been only Mazovians, that is the Polish. The concept of Prussian prehistory presented by Simon Grunau is—as one can say—more ‘proPolish’ than the one which was propagated in Polish chronicles, and demonstrating the Polish control over Prussia is one of the dominant tendencies in the work. Prussian prehistory by Simon Grunau was different than the earlier ones of proGerman (pro-Teutonic Order) character, which had been written basing on the ancient writers authorities. The Black Friar presented the works by the ancient traveler Diwoinis, the canon Jarosław from Płock and the Prussian bishop Chrystian which had not been known to anybody at the time as his sources to the readers. They were the unknown because—as he implied—they had been bricked in and recently found. In fact, these works were his imagination—the presented by him prehistory required the appropriate, reliable historical bases to fulfill the pinned by him hopes, as the earlier pro-German ones had been written basing on the ancient writers authorities.