Online Medieval Sources Bibliography

Töppen, Max, ed., Chronicon Terrae Prussiae von Peter von Dusburg in Scriptores Rerum Prussicarum: Die Geschichtsquellen der Preussischen Vorzeit bis zum Untergang der Ordensherrschaft (Scriptores Rerum Prussicarum 1. Leipzig. Hirzel Verlag.) Read this source online

Text name(s): Chronicon Terrae Prussiae; Chronicle of the Land of Prussia

Number of pages of primary source text: 249

Author(s): 

• Peter of Dusburg

Dates: 1190 - 1326

Archival Reference: 

Original Language(s): 

• Latin

Translation: 

• Original language included.

Translation Comments: 

Geopolitical Region(s): 

• Bohemia
• Holy Roman Empire
• Germany
• Poland
• Prussia

County/Region: Livonia; Lithuania; Samogitia;

Record Types: 

• Hagiography
• Chronicle, Annals

Subject Headings: 

• Clergy - Anticlericalism
• Classics / Humanism
• Church Fathers
• Apocalypticism
• Agriculture
• Art
• Architecture and Buildings
• Asiatic Nomads: Huns Mongols, etc.
• Byzantium
• Carolingians
• Clergy - Monks Nuns, Friars

Apparatus: 

• Appendix
• Introduction

Comments: 

von Dusburg’s chronicle is a history of the Teutonic Order, particularly their recent success in Prussia. He begins his narrative in 1190 with the founding of the Order at Acre, but this early history is little more than an account of the German Hospital’s initial founding, and a partial catalog of Grand Masters. The chronicle is much more detailed following the Order’s arrival in Prussia in 1226. It does not concern itself overmuch with descriptions of towns or accounts of colonization, but instead, presents a detailed account of the battles fought between the Order and the Prussians, as well as other pagan tribes such as the Samogitians and Lithuanians. It also contains descriptions of the devotional life of the knight brothers interspersed throughout. von Dusburg also devotes a part of his text to theological discussions, mostly justifications of the Order’s war based on descriptions of the idolatry of the Prussians and their perpetration of various atrocities.

1. De primordiis ordinis Theotonici narratio and Celestinus episcopus servus – an account of the founding of the Teutonic Order and a bull from Celestine III granting the Teutonic Order the Rule of the Templars. Töppen also includes a list of important dates for the foundation of the Order.
2. Excerpts from three accounts of the life and martyrdom of St. Adalbert of Prague, missionary to the Prussians: John Canaparius’ Vita Sancti Adalberti episcopi, Bruno the Great’s Vita Sancti Adalberti and an anonmyous text, the Passio sancti Adalperti martiris.
3. Excerpts from several Lower German chronicles and annals, including the Annals of Quedlinburg, the Chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg, Adam of Bremen’s Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, Helmold of Bosau’s Chronica Slavorum, the Annals of Magdeburg, Oliverus Scholasticus’ Historia regum terrae sanctae, the Chronicle of Albericus, the Chronicon Montis Sereni, the Sächsische Weltchronik, formerly attributed to Eike von Repgow, the Nidersächsischen Reimchronik, the Annals of Lübeck, and Heinrich von Hervord’s Liber de rebus memorbilioribus.
4. Excerpts from Thuringian chronicles and annals including the Annals of Erfurt, the Annales Reinhardsbrunnenses, and the Chronicon Sampetrinum.
5. Excerpts from several Bohemian and Silesian chronicles and annals including the Chronicon Bohemiae of Cosmas, the Annals of Prague, the Annals of Ottocar, Przibico’s De gestis incliti Regni Bohmiae, the Chronicon Aulae Regiae, and the Chronicon Silesiae.
6. Excerpts from Austrian annals and chronicles including the Annales Lambacenses, the Annales Sancruciensis, the Annales Zwetlensis, the Annales Vindobonensis, and Ottocar’s Rhymed Chronicle.
7. Excerpts from several other Upper German chronicles and annals including the Chronicle of Johann von Victring, the Annals of St. Rudbert of Salzburg, the Chronicle of Hermannus Altahensis, the Annals of Heinrich von Rebdorf, the Annals of Worms, the Annals of Colmar, and the Chronicle of Albertus Argentinensis.

Finally, he includes an appendix on the subject of Order prescriptions for the government of the Prussian tribes.

Introduction Summary: 

Töppen’s seventeen-page introduction describes Dusburg’s chronicle as the most important source for Prussian history in the first quarter of the 14th century. He presents a brief summary of the chronicle’s content, as well as a discussion of other chronicles, including those of Nicolaus von Jeroschin and Wigand von Marburg. Jeroschin produced a Middle High German adaptation of Dusburg’s chronicle roughly five years later, and Marburg wrote a new chronicle continuing Jeroschin’s work in the late 14th century. He explains that Dusburg’s chronicle, as the Latin original, is a preferable source for events, although Jeroschin’s is also useful, an opinion which is no longer current.

Töppen also includes a discussion of all known manuscripts and fragments of the chronicle, the earliest of which dates to 1568.

Finally he includes a brief note on orthography.

Cataloger: JFS