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The Chronicle of the Prussian Land as Evidence of Multiethnicity in 13th- and early 14th-Century Prussian Towns
Matthew Stevens 
Societies in Late Medieval Prussia: vol. 1, Ethnicities (London: Routledge, 2026), Volume: 1
Swansea University Author:
Matthew Stevens
Abstract
This chapter employs the Chronicon Terrae Prussiae by Peter von Dusburg and its contemporary translation to Middle High German by Nicolaus von Jeroschin to investigate the participation of non-Germans, namely Poles and native Prussians, in thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century Prussian towns. It...
| Published in: | Societies in Late Medieval Prussia: vol. 1, Ethnicities (London: Routledge, 2026) |
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| ISBN: | 9781032820866 |
| Published: |
London
Routledge
2025
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| Online Access: |
https://www.routledge.com/Societies-in-Late-Medieval-Prussia-Ethnicities/Kwiatkowski-Biskup/p/book/9781032820866 |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70410 |
| Abstract: |
This chapter employs the Chronicon Terrae Prussiae by Peter von Dusburg and its contemporary translation to Middle High German by Nicolaus von Jeroschin to investigate the participation of non-Germans, namely Poles and native Prussians, in thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century Prussian towns. It interprets the evidence of non-German urban participation in the chronicle in the light of comparable evidence of non-German and non-English urban residents’ similar experiences in the new towns of medieval Livonia and Wales, respectively. Aspects of discourse in the Chronicon Terrae Prussiae and its translation are considered, including negative depictions of non-Germans and the likely rising impact of passive discrimination on the chroniclers’ views. A nuanced interpretation of urban participation is proposed, in which non-Germans’ wealth, status and gender shaped highly varied experiences as urban residents. It is concluded that, for native Prussians in particular, their experiences likely ranged from that of urban citizen, to non-citizen craftsmen or labour, to domestic servant or even slave. The chronological backdrop to these experiences was one of decreasing openness to non-German urban participation as new urban creations became more firmly established towards the early fourteenth century, a shift indicative of growing passive discrimination. |
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| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |