Sambia or Samland or Kaliningrad Peninsula is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The peninsula is bounded by the Curonian Lagoon to the north-east, the Vistula Lagoon in the southwest, the Pregolya River in the south, and the Deyma River in the east. As Sambia is surrounded on all sides by water, it is technically an island. Historically it formed an important part of the historic region of Prussia.
Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe on the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, that ranges from the Vistula delta in the west to the end of the Curonian Spit in the east and extends inland as far as Masuria, divided between Poland, Russia and Lithuania. This region is often also referred to as Old Prussia.
The Sambians were a Prussian tribe. They inhabited the Sambia Peninsula north of the city of Königsberg. Sambians were located in a coastal territory rich in amber and engaged in trade early on. Therefore, they established contacts with foreign nations before any other Prussians. However, as with all other Prussians, they were conquered by the Teutonic Knights, and, exposed to assimilation and Germanization, became extinct sometime in the 17th century.
Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, where Prussian Lithuanians lived, now located in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. Lithuania Minor encompassed the northeastern part of the region and got its name from the territory's substantial Lithuanian-speaking population. Prior to the invasion of the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, the main part of the territory later known as Lithuania Minor was inhabited by the tribes of Skalvians and Nadruvians. The land depopulated during the incessant war between Lithuania and the Teutonic Order. The war ended with the Treaty of Melno and the land was repopulated by Lithuanian newcomers, returning refugees, and the remaining indigenous Baltic peoples; the term Lithuania Minor appeared for the first time between 1517 and 1526.
The State of the Teutonic Order was a theocratic state located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the early 13th century Northern Crusades in the region of Prussia. In 1237, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword merged with the Teutonic Order of Prussia and became known as its branch – the Livonian Order. At its greatest territorial extent during the early 15th century, the State encompassed Chełmno Land, Courland, Gotland, Livonia, Estonia, Neumark, Pomerelia, Prussia and Samogitia.
Warmians were a Prussian tribe that lived in Warmia, a territory which now mostly forms part of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland, with a small northern portion located in neighbouring Russia. It was situated between the Vistula Lagoon, Łyna and Pasłęka Rivers.
Znamensk is a rural locality in Gvardeysky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Pregolya River at its confluence with the Lava River 50 kilometers (31 mi) east of Kaliningrad. Population figures: 4,036 (2010 Census); 4,302 (2002 Census); 4,570 (1989 Soviet census).
The Bartians were an Old Prussian tribe who were among the last natives following a pre-Christian religion before the Northern Crusades forced their conversion to Christianity at the cost of a high percentage of the native population. They lived in Bartia, a territory that stretched from the middle and lower flow of Łyna river, by the Liwna river, and Lake Mamry, up to the Galindian woods. The territory is quite precisely known from description in Chronicon terrae Prussiae, dated 1326.
Pogesanians were a Prussian tribe, which lived in the region of Pogesania, a small territory stretched between the Elbląg and Pasłęka rivers, now located in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland. Pogesanians, as the rest of the Prussians, were conquered by the Teutonic Knights and became Germanized or Polonized. The old Prussian language became extinct sometime in the 17th century.
Herkus Monte was the most famous leader of the Great Prussian Uprising against the Teutonic Knights and Northern Crusaders. The uprising began in September 1260, following the Knights' defeat at the Battle of Durbe, and lasted for the next fourteen years.
The Prussian uprisings were two major and three smaller uprisings by the Old Prussians, one of the Baltic tribes, against the Teutonic Knights that took place in the 13th century during the Prussian Crusade. The crusading military order, supported by the Popes and Christian Europe, sought to conquer and convert the pagan Prussians. In the first ten years of the crusade, five of the seven major Prussian clans fell under the control of the less numerous Teutonic Knights. However, the Prussians rose against their conquerors on five occasions.
The Battle of Pokarwis was a medieval battle fought in several skirmishes between pagan Old Prussians and the crusading Teutonic Knights on January 22, 1261 during the Great Prussian Uprising that followed the failed first Prussian Uprising of 1242-1249.
Battle of Lubawa or Löbau was fought between the Teutonic Order and Prussians in 1263 during the Great Prussian Uprising. The pagan Prussians rose against their conquerors, who tried to convert them to Christianity, after Lithuanians and Samogitians soundly defeated the joint forces of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order in the Battle of Durbe (1260). The first years of the uprising were successful for the Prussians, who defeated the Knights in the Battle of Pokarwis and besieged castles held by the Knights.
The siege of Königsberg was a siege laid upon Königsberg Castle, one of the main strongholds of the Teutonic Knights, by Prussians during the great Prussian uprising from 1262 possibly though 1265.
The Treaty of Christburg was a peace treaty signed on 2 February 1249 between the pagan Prussian clans, represented by a papal legate, and the Teutonic Knights. It is often cited as the end of the First Prussian Uprising, but it was not adhered to or enforced, especially after the Battle of Krücken in November 1249, where Prussians massacred and tortured to death 54 knights who had surrendered. The treaty guaranteed personal rights to all Prussians who converted to Christianity, but it did nothing to establish peace as many Prussians did not wish to convert and the Knights swore to root out paganism. It is one of the few documents from the period that survive in full to this day. It provides a useful insight into the life and religious tensions in pagan Prussia. It also offers a small glimpse into the Prussian mythology and traditions.
The Prussian Crusade was a series of 13th-century campaigns of Roman Catholic crusaders, primarily led by the Teutonic Knights, to Christianize under duress the pagan Old Prussians. Invited after earlier unsuccessful expeditions against the Prussians by Christian Polish princes, the Teutonic Knights began campaigning against the Prussians, Lithuanians and Samogitians in 1230. By the end of the century, having quelled several Prussian uprisings, the Knights had established control over Prussia and administered the conquered Prussians through their monastic state, eventually erasing the Prussian language, culture and pre-Christian religion by a combination of physical and ideological force. Some Prussians took refuge in neighboring Lithuania.
Königsberg is the historic German and Prussian name of the medieval city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussian settlement Twangste by the Teutonic Knights during the Baltic Crusades. It was named in honour of King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who led a campaign against the pagan Old Prussians, a Baltic tribe.
Slavskoye is a settlement in the Bagrationovsky District, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located 20 kilometers (12 mi) south of Kaliningrad.
The history of Poles in Königsberg goes back to the 14th century. In the struggles between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order, the city was briefly part of the Polish state, and after the Second Peace of Toruń, 1466, it was considered a part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Order and the secular Duchy of Prussia, as the capital of both entities. During the Protestant Reformation Königsberg became the center of Polish Lutheranism and partially for this reason, a birthplace of Polish printing and one of the epicenters of vernacular Polish literature. Polish intellectuals and scholars played a major role in the founding of the University of Königsberg (Albertina) and served as both faculty and administrators.
The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia was a semi-independent ecclesiastical state, ruled by the incumbent ordinary of the Warmia see and comprising one third of the then diocesan area. The Warmia see was a Prussian diocese under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Riga that was a protectorate of the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights (1243–1464) and a protectorate and part of the Kingdom of Poland—later part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1464–1772), confirmed by the Peace of Thorn in 1466. The other two thirds of the diocese were under the secular rule of the Teutonic Knights until 1525 and Ducal Prussia thereafter, both entities also being a protectorate and part of Poland from 1466.
