Prussian Crusade - Later Campaigns

Later Campaigns

Although the Teutonic Knights' offensive capability was greatly weakened during the Great Pagan Uprising, they did engage in some campaigns against the pagan on their eastern flank. The Bartians, Natangians, and Warmians had converted to Christianity, but the Sudovians and Lithuanians to their east remained pagan and continued their border warfare with the Teutonic Knights. Led by Skalmantas during the Great Uprising, the Sudovians sacked Bartenstein (Bartoszyce) in Bartia, which was to be the focal point of their borders. Defenseless against the Sudovians, the Natangians and Bartians allied with the Teutonic Knights for protection, although little assistance could be provided initially. The Christian Natangians clans gathered in 1274 and killed 2,000 of the Sudovian raiders; Grand Master Anno von Sangerhausen recruited Thuringians and Meisseners to complete the Teutonic recovery of Natangia.

Anno's successor as Grand Master, Hartmann von Heldrungen, directed the Provincial Master of Prussia, Conrad von Thierberg the Elder, to attack eastward from Königsberg along the Pregel River to separate the Sudovians from the Nadrovians. Vogt Theodoric of Samland and his militia sacked two river forts and plundered a large amount of treasure and goods. Theodoric led another crusading force, including Teutonic Knights, 150 sergeants, and Prussian infantry, against another Nadrovian fort. Although the natives attempted to surrender after siege ladders were placed, most of the warriors were slaughtered by the crusaders, with only a few natives surviving to be resettled. Conrad then led the Knights past the destroyed border forts to assault the Nadrovians main redoubt of Kaminiswike, defended by 200 warriors. Most of the natives were killed after the Knights stormed the fortress, and the Nadrovian clans surrendered soon afterward to become auxiliaries of the crusaders.

The Teutonic Knights then used Nadrovia and Memel as bases against Scalovia on the lower Memel River. Scalovia would then serve as a base against pagan Samogitia, which separated Teutonic Prussia from Teutonic Livonia. Because of this threat, the Lithuanians provided assistance to the pagan Scalovians, and the crusaders and pagans each engaged in border raids to distract enemy forces. Because the pagans were strongly defended in the wilderness, the Teutonic Knights focused on travelling up the Memel River toward the strong pagan fort Ragnit. Theodoric of Samland led 1,000 men in the assault. Artillery fire forced the defenders from the ramparts, allowing the crusaders to storm the walls with ladders and slaughter most of the pagans. Theodoric also captured Romige on the other bank of the Memel. The Scalovians retaliated by sacking Labiau near Königsberg. Conrad von Thierberg escalated the conflict by sending a large raid against Scalovia. Nicholas von Jeroschin documented the crusaders as killing and capturing numerous pagans. When the Scalovian warriors went in pursuit of the captured pagans, Conrad shattered the would-be rescuers in an ambush which killed the pagan leader, Steinegele. Most Scalovian nobles quickly surrendered to the Knights in the battle's aftermath.

The Teutonic Knights planned to advance against Samogitia after conquering Scalovia, but the outbreak of a new rebellion engineered by Skalmantas of the Sudovians delayed the campaign. In 1276-77 the Sudovians and Lithuanians raided Culmerland and burned settlements near the castles of Rehden, Marienwerder, Zantir, and Christburg. Theodoric of Samland was able to convince the Sambians not to rebel, and the Natangians and Warmians followed suit. Conrad von Thierberg the Elder led 1,500 men into Kimenau in summer 1277, and crushed a Sudovian army of 3,000 near the Winse forest. Many Pogesanians fled to the Lithuanians and were resettled at Gardinas, while the ones who remained in Prussia were resettled by the crusaders, probably near Marienburg (Malbork). This new brick castle, built to replace Zantir, guarded against further rebellions with Elbing and Christburg. The central Prussian tribes surrendered to the crusaders by 1277.

The crusaders and Sudovians engaged in guerilla warfare, which the Sudovians were particularly adept at. However, they lacked the sheer numbers to deal with their German, Polish, and Volhynian adversaries, and the Sudovian nobility began gradually surrendering one by one. Marshal Conrad von Thierberg the Younger raided Pokima, capturing large amounts of cattle, horses, and prisoners. They then successfully ambushed the 3,000-strong force of pursuing Sudovians, losing only six Christians in the process. In 1280 the Sudovians and Lithuanian invaded Samland, but the alerted Order had fortified their castles and deprived the raiders of provisions. While the pagans were in Samland, Komtur Ulrich Bayer of Tapiau led a devastating counter-raid into Sudovia. The Polish prince Leszek the Black achieved two significant victories over the pagans, securing the Polish border, and Skalmantas fled Sudovia to Lithuania.

In summer 1283, Conrad von Thierberg the Younger was named Provincial Master of Prussia and led a large army into Sudovia, finding little resistance. The Knight Ludwig von Liebenzell, who had once been a captive of the Sudovians, negotiated the surrender of 1,600 Sudovians and their leader Katingerde, who were subsequently resettled in Samland. Most of the remaining Sudovians were redistributed to Pogesania and Samland; Skalmantas was pardoned and allowed to settle at Balga. Sudovia was left unpopulated, becoming a border wilderness that protected Prussia, Masovia, and Volhynia from the Lithuanians. The Prussians rebelled in short-lived uprisings in 1286 and 1295, but the crusaders firmly controlled the Prussian tribes by the end of 13th century.

The Prussian populace retained many of their traditions and way of life, especially after the Treaty of Christburg protected the rights of converts. The Prussian uprisings led to the crusaders only applying these rights to the most powerful converts, however, and the pace of conversion slowed. After the Prussians were militarily defeated in the second half of the 13th century, they were gradually subjected to Christianization and cultural assimilation during the following centuries as part of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. With the fall of Acre and Outremer and the securing of Prussia, the Order then turned its focus against Christian Pomerellia, which separated Prussia from imperial Pomerania, and against pagan Lithuania.