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The Banderia Prutenorum is a manuscript of 48 parchment sheets, 18.6 by 29.3 cm (7.3 by 11.5 inches), composed by Jan Długosz and illuminated by Stanisław Durink, listing 56 vexillae, or banners, of the Order of the Teutonic Knights. The title means Blazons of the Prussians. Prutenorum is the genitive plural of Pruteni, Prussians.
Contents
- Historical circumstances of the Banderia
- Composition
- Location of the manuscript
- Comturiae mentioned in the work
- References
In Polish the name is Chorągwie Pruskie. Chorągwie can mean banner, standard, or regiment. The heraldic term blazon in English is probably the exact meaning.
Historical circumstances of the Banderia
The work describes the gonfalons, or battle flags, collected from the field after the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 AD. This battle was a major confrontation between the Teutonic Order and the allied forces of Poles and Lithuanians, whom the Order was trying to conquer. At that time, the Order had succeeded in subjecting or eliminating the western Balts, including the Prussians; however, the Teutonic Knights were decisively defeated by the joint forces of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the command of the Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło.
At the end of the battle, the major officers of the Order lay dead on the field beside the standards under which they had fought. Some units escaped with their standards. The Banderia does not describe all the order's flags. The flags were collected and stored at Wawel Cathedral in Cracow. They are known to have been there in 1603, after which they disappeared. They have been recreated, starting in the 1900. In October 2009, as part of the preparations for the battle's anniversairy, Polish scholars and artists in Kraków have finished reconstructing all known standards.
Composition
It was probably the Polish historian, Jan Długosz, who commissioned the painter, Stanisław Durink of Cracow, to illustrate the flags in 1448. Długosz then wrote the Latin descriptions. The work thus has the format of a catalog, with an illumination and Latin entry for each flag.
The flag is decorated with a heraldic blazon identifying the comturia, or district, from which the soldiers of that unit came. The blazon might appear in any circumstances, such as in a coat of arms or on a shield, or in any conspicuous place. Its function was that of identification. The rules of heraldry were undoubtedly followed.
The title raises a few questions of language and society. In it a Polish scholar and historian is calling the conquerors of the Prussians by that very name, even though at the beginning of their conquest they found the name odious to them. Old Prussian speakers still lived in substantial numbers in east Prussia. As they were not excluded from military service, some must have fought for the order, and yet they are not distinguished from the Germans in any way.
Banderium is in origin neither Latin nor Polish, but comes from the Germanic. The place names also are in their Germanic forms rather than their Polish ones. Why Długosz, a Polish historian, chose to use the Germanicized Prussian Latin is not clear.
Location of the manuscript
By some miracle, the manuscript survived World War II, even though it was given to Malbork castle by the Nazis for political purposes. After the war it showed up at a London auction house and was brought to its current location in the library of Jagiellonian University.
Comturiae mentioned in the work
Culm, Pomesania, Graudenz, Balga, Schonsze, Stargard, Sambia, Tuchel, Stuhm, Nessau, Westphalia, Rogasen, Elbing, Engelsburg, Strasburg, Chełm, Brettchen and Neumark, Braunsberg.