Simon Grunau

Simon Grunau (16th century) was the author of the first comprehensive history of Prussia written in German language sometime between 1510 and 1529. We know about him only what he wrote himself in his work: that he was a Dominican priest from Tolkmicko near Gdańsk. While his trustworthiness is more than dubious, this chronicle was became very popular and wide-spread. The chronicle was first published in 1876 and circulated as a frequently copied manuscript. 24 chapters deal with Prussian landscape, agriculture, inhabitants, their customs and earliest history up to 1525 when Protestant Duchy of Prussia was created. It also contains a small (about a hundred words) vocabulary of the Prussian language. As one of the very few written monuments in this extinct language, the vocabulary is valuable in attempts to reconstruct the language.

Author bias

As a Catholic priest, Grunau was biased against Protestants. At the time when the chronicle was written there was a fierce conflict between Catholics and Protestants. It resulted in transformation of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights into Duchy of Prussia, the first Lutheran state in the world. Royal Prussia, as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, remained Catholic. There attempts to find common identity and re-unite both Prussian regions. Traditions of the Old Prussians, the indigenous people of the region prior to the influx of German colonists, were used to find a common ground. However, Grunau or other activists were not interested in recording real religion or customs of the people. They needed a tool for their ideological purposes. What was not known, could be invented. Grunau followed Erasmus Stella and elaborated on his works.

In such light, Grunau is extremely critical of the Teutonic Knights and favors local Prussians. He tried to emphasise non-German origin of the Prussians. He wrote about their origins, customs, and religion trying to convince the reader that Prussians are different from the Germans.

Legendary content

Grunau allegedly incorporates an ancient chronicle, written by the first Prussian bishop Christian. Grunau claimed that he discovered the manuscript, called "Liber filiorum Belial", three hundred years after it was written. The manuscript itself used three sources: personal observations by Christian, a book written by parish priest Jaroslav from Płock, and notes by naturalist Dywonys, who as a sole survivor of an expedition was stranded in Prussia by accident. He kept a diary in Russian using Greek alphabet. His notes were discovered only 1200 years later by Christian.

Grunau composed ancient history of Prussia based on this manuscript from Christian. No such manuscript is know to exist and scholarly consensus is that the whole story was an invention by Grunau. For the history of more recent times Grunau used all available sources (such as chronicles by Peter von Dusburg and official documents of the Teutonic Knights) and added his own imagination. For example, he took a description of Romuva temple from Peter von Dusburg and added an eternally green oak with three idols guarded by vestal virgins. He called the place Rickoyoto. Scholars agree that this addition was most probably borrowed from Adam of Bremen and his description of Temple at Uppsala.

These stories were widely copied by other authors and spread into folklore. In 1853 Max Toeppen was the first to draw serious criticism to historical accuracy and value of Grunau's work. Modern historians almost universally dismiss the chronicle as fiction except for excerpts about events that Grunau eye-witnessed himself.

Prussian dictionary

To prove that Prussians have their own language, which is different from Polish and from Lithuanian, Grunau included a hundred word dictionary in the chronicle. Some words are rather distorted, but as one of the very few written sources for extinct Prussian language, it is still very valuable. Grunau claimed that he can speak some Prussian, but he often mixes in Polish or Lithuanian words as if they were Prussian. Grunau also included a prayer, allegedly written in Prussian. It was proven that the prayer is actually a mixture of Latvian and Curonian.

References

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External links

* [http://www.kortlandt.nl/editions/grunv.html Simon Grunau's Vocabulary]