History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 245, the Baltic

the Baltic Crusades, the Prussian Crusade Part 14, the Siege of Kurnigsburg.

Hello again.

Last week we saw the Prussians rise up against the Teutonic Order

in a campaign known as the second Prussian insurrection.

We left last week's episode with Sam Land and Netangia in full rebellion.

A number of castles in the region, including the castle at Kurnicksburg, are currently

under siege, and the Teutonic Order is struggling to get things under

control. A struggle made more difficult by the fact that the master of the order in Prussia, Master Hartman has just been removed from office and punished

for burning alive to Teutonic Knights. A new master, Master Helmerich von Wreckenberg, was appointed to Prussia in the year 1262.

He was faced with a dire situation. It was pretty clear that with the number of

knights he had at his disposal in Prussia, he could not put down the rebellion.

A Papal Bull issued by Pope Urban IV at this time mentions the fact that 500 Judonic Knights had died in Prussia as a result of the

insurrection. If that figure was accurate, it's no wonder that the Order was struggling to make a dent in the

rebellion.

Of course, the Order in Lovonia had its own problems to deal with, so no assistance would be forthcoming from there.

Without an influx of manpower, all Master Helmerich could do was to shore up the Order's

alliances inside Prussia by awarding land grants to members of the

Prussian nobility who had stayed loyal to the order.

But really this move was like applying a single band-aid to a person covered in major stab wounds.

To stem the bleeding and save the patient something more than a band-aid solution was going to be required.

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