Prussia (region)

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Prussia (region)

Prussia is a historical region

Historical regions of Central Europe

There are many historical regions of Central Europe. For the purpose of this list, Central Europe is defined as the area contained roughly within the south coast of the Baltic Sea, the Elbe River, the Alps, the Danube River, the Black Sea and the Dnepr River....
in Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern Europe and Western Europe Europe. In addition, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe....
extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53?N to 66?N latitude and from 20?E to 26?E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Denmark islands....
to the Masurian Lake District. It is now divided between Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, and Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
. The former German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
state of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was, most recently, a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This state had for centuries substantial influence on Germany and European history....
derived its name from the region.

Prehistory
Parts of the Baltic region

Baltic region

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Encyclopedia

Prussia is a historical region

Historical regions of Central Europe

Central Europe

Baltic Sea

Poland

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, and Lithuania

Lithuania

Germany

Prussia

Prehistory

Parts of the Baltic region

Baltic region

The Baltic region is an ambiguous term that refers to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea....
retained large wilderness areas for longer than anywhere else in Europe. In prehistory, the east of the area was inhabited by the Eastern Balts, whilst the Western Balts inhabited the Sambian peninsula

Sambia

Sambia or Samland is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea....
and the areas to the west. Over time, the Western Balts consolidated into the Old Prussian

Old Prussians

The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, indigenous peoples Balts tribes that inhabited Prussia , the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula Lagoon and Curonian Lagoon Lagoons....
nation, while the Eastern Balts of the area, including the Curonians

Curonians

The Curonians were a people living on the Eastern shores of the Baltic who were eventually absorbed by the expansion of the Latvians and Lithuanians nations....
, consolidated into (a part of) the Latvian

Latvians

Latvians , the indigenous Balts people of Latvia, occasionally refer to themselves by the ancient name of Latvji, which may have originated from the word Latve which is a name of the river that presumably flowed through what is now eastern Latvia....
and Lithuanian

Lithuanians

Lithuanians are the Balts ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number a little over 3 million people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland....
nations.

About 350 BC Pytheas

Pytheas

Pytheas of Massilia , 4th century BC, was a Greece geography and exploration from the Greek colonies colony, Massilia . He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe at about 325 BC....
called the territory Mentenomon and the inhabitants Guttones, neighbors of the Teutones. A river to the east of the Vistula was called the Guttalus (also Guthalus) and was assumed to have been the Memel or the Alle or Pregel river.

Vikings in Prussia

The Vikings started to penetrate into Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
in the 7th and 8th centuries. The largest trade centres of the Prussians, such as Truso

Truso

Truso, situated on Lake Druzno, was an Prussia town near the Baltic Sea just east of the Vistula River. It was one of the trading posts on the Amber Road, and is thought to be the antecedent of the city of Elblag ....
and Kaup

Mokhovoye

Mokhovoye is a types of settlements in Russia in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the south-western corner of the Curonian Lagoon, near Zelenogradsk....
, seem to have absorbed a number of Norsemen. Prussians were known to go from Truso to Birka

Birka

During the Viking Age, Birka , on the island of Bj?rk? in Sweden, was an important trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as Central Europe and Eastern Europe and the Orient....
across the Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the eighth to eleventh centuries....
, the sons of Danish king Harald Bluetooth and Canute the Great

Canute the Great

Canute the Great, also known as Cnut in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, or Knut was a Viking king of England, Denmark, Norway, and parts of Sweden ....
launched several expeditions against the Prussians, which resulted in far-spread destruction of many areas in Prussia including the destruction of Truso and Kaup. They failed to establish a firm foothold in Prussia, however. A Viking (Varangian) presence in the area was "less than dominant and very much less than imperial".

Old Prussians

Histories of Prussia from the 16th century link the name of the "Prussai"/"Prussi", and thereby Prussia, to a place called "Prutenia". This is historically correct; although the folk etymology they provided was based on legends and not factual etymological information. According to legend, the name "Prussia" is from Pruteno (or Bruteno), the chief priest of Prussia and brother of the legendary king Widewuto/Waidewut

Widewuto

Widewuto or Waidewut, a legendary early king of the Prussia , ruled along with his brother, the priest Bruteno in the area known as Prussia , according to wikt:sagas recorded in later times....
, who lived in the late 10th century. The regions of Prussia and the corresponding tribes are said to bear Widewuto's sons' names — for example, Sudovia
Yotvingians

Yotvingians or Sudovians were a Balts people with close cultural ties to the Lithuanians and Prussians. The Sudovian language was a Western Baltic language nearest to Prussian language, but with small variations....
is from Widewuto's son Sudo. In the first half of the 13th century, Bishop Christian of Prussia recorded the history of a much earlier era. Adam of Bremen

Adam of Bremen

Adam of Bremen was one of the most important Germany medieval chroniclers. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum ....
mentions Prussians in 1072.

The Old Prussians spoke a variety of languages, with Old Prussian belonging to the Western branch of the Baltic language group

Baltic languages

The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European languages language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe....
. Related, but not mutually intelligible, are the modern representatives of the Baltic languages, the Latvian

Latvian language

Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. Alternative names include Lettish and Lettisch. There are about 1.5 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad....
and Lithuanian

Lithuanian language

Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad....
languages, from the East Baltic branch. Previous historians had documented the Prussian tribes as easterners, with Tacitus

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Senate and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories —examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those that reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors....
referring to them as the Aesti. The territory was called Brus in the 8th century map of the Bavarian Geographer

Bavarian Geographer

The Bavarian Geographer is a conventional name given by Jan Potocki in 1796 to the author of an Anonymous work medieval document Descriptio civitatum et regionum ad septentrionalem plagam Danubii ....
. Adalbert of Prague

Adalbert of Prague

Boleslaw I of Poland

Boleslaw I the Brave , in the past also known as Boleslaw I the Great , ruled as Duke of Poland from 992-1025 and as the first King of Poland in 1025....
to convert the Prussians, was killed by a Prussian priest in 997.

Attempts at Conquest of Prussia

The establishment of a new state of the Polans

Polans

In the Early Middle Ages there were two separate Slavs tribes bearing the name of Polans:* Polans , living in the area of Dnieper river* Polans , living in the area of Warta....
in the 10th century, brought ongoing attempts to conquer the land of the Prussians. In 997 AD Adalbert of Prague

Adalbert of Prague

Saint Adalbert, Czech language: ; , , a bishop of Prague, was martyred in his efforts, to convert the Baltic peoples Old Prussians. He was later made the patron saint of Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and Duchy of Prussia....
came with soldiers of Boleslaw I Chrobry. When this failed Boleslaw tried again in 1015 with some short-lived success, where he got some Prussians in the border regions to pay tribute. They soon shook this off. Further attempts by Polish rulers came in 1147, 1161/1166 and a number in the early 1200s. All these were repelled by the Prussians, however the Culmer Land region was now a contested area exposed to constant raids.

Teutonic Knights

In the 13th century Konrad of Masovia had called for Crusades

Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious war waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents. Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, though campaigns were also directed against Paganism Slavic peoples, Jews, Eastern Orthodox Church, Mongols, Catharism, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians, and political enemi...
and tried for years to conquer Prussia, but failed. Thus the pope set up further crusades. Finally he invited the Teutonic Knights

Teutonic Knights

The Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem , or for short the Teutonic Order was a Germans Roman Catholic religious order....
to fight the inhabitants of Prussia in exchange for a fief of Chelmno Land

Chelmno Land

Kulmerland is a German language of a historical region in central Poland bounded by the Vistula and Drweca rivers.Kulmerland is named after the city of Chelmno ....
. Prussia was conquered by the Teutonic Knights

Teutonic Knights

The Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem , or for short the Teutonic Order was a Germans Roman Catholic religious order....
during the Prussian Crusade

Prussian Crusade

The Prussian Crusade was a series of 13th-century campaigns of Roman Catholic Church Crusades, primarily led by the Teutonic Knights, to Christianization the Baltic mythology Old Prussians....
and administered within their monastic state

Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights

The monastic state of the Teutonic Knights , sometimes known in English by the German term Ordensstaat , or "Order-State", was formed during the Teutonic Knights' conquest of the pagan West-Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century....
.

With the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), Prussia was divided into eastern and western lands. The western part became the autonomous Royal Prussia

Royal Prussia

Royal Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Poland from 1466 and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1772. Royal Prussia included Pomerelia, Chelmno Land, Malbork Voivodeship, Gdansk, Torun, and Elblag....
within the Kingdom of Poland

Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)

The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Poland state created by the accession of Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386....
, while the eastern part of the monastic state became a fief of Poland. In 1492, a life of Dorothea of Montau

Dorothea of Montau

Saint Dorothea or Dorothy of Montau was a hermitess and visionary of fourteenth century Germany. After centuries of veneration in Central Europe, she was Canonization in 1976....
, published in Marienburg (Malbork), became the first printed publication in Prussia.

Early modern era

During the Protestant Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe. It is thought to have begun in 1517 with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses and may be considered to have ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648....
, endemic religious upheavals and wars occurred, and in 1525, the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Albert of Brandenburg, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern

House of Hohenzollern

The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of Prince-elector, kings, and emperors of Prussia, Germany, and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century....
, adopted the Lutheran

Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
faith, resigned his position, and assumed the title of "Duke of Prussia." In a deal partially brokered by Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a Germans monk, theology, university professor, priest, father of Protestantism, and Protestant Reformers whose ideas started the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western culture....
, the Duchy of Prussia became the first Protestant state and a vassal of Poland. The ducal capital of Königsberg

Königsberg

K?nigsberg was after World War II in 1946 renamed Kaliningrad by the Soviet Union.The city was the Capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945....
, now Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea....
, became a centre of learning and printing through the establishment of the Albertina University in 1544.

Ducal Prussia passed to the senior Hohenzollern branch, the ruling Margraves of Brandenburg

Margraviate of Brandenburg

The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg , it played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe....
, in 1618, and Polish sovereignty over the duchy ended in 1657 with the Treaty of Wehlau

Treaty of Wehlau

The Treaty of Wehlau was a treaty signed in the eastern Prussian town of Wehlau between Poland and Brandenburg-Prussia during The Deluge on September 19, 1657....
. Because Ducal Prussia lay outside of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
, Frederick I

Frederick I of Prussia

Frederick I , of the House of Hohenzollern dynasty, was Prince-elector of Brandenburg and the first King in Prussia ....
achieved the elevation of the duchy to the Kingdom of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a Germany monarchy from 1701 to 1918 and, from 1871, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire....
in 1701. The former ducal lands became known as East Prussia

Province of East Prussia

The Province of East Prussia was a provinces of Prussia of Prussia from 1773-1829 and 1878-1945. Composed of the historical region East Prussia, the province's capital was Kaliningrad....
. Royal Prussia was annexed from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous countries in 16th and 17th-century Europe, formed by a Union of Lublin of Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569....
by the Kingdom of Prussia during the 18th century Partitions of Poland

Partitions of Poland

The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth....
and administered within West Prussia

West Prussia

West Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth province of Royal Prussia....
.

Modern era

Though the Kingdom of Prussia was a member of the German Confederation

German Confederation

The German Confederation was the association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to serve as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, which had been abolished in 1806....
from 1815 to 1866, the provinces of Posen

Province of Posen

The Province of Posen was a province of Kingdom of Prussia from 1848-1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918; the whole area is now part of Poland....
and Prussia

Province of Prussia

The Province of Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1829-1878 created out of the provinces of Province of East Prussia and West Prussia....
were not a part of Germany

Germany

German Empire

The German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of William I, German Emperor as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became Weimar republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of William II, German Emperor ....
in 1871 during the unification of Germany

Unification of Germany

The unification of Germany took place on January 18, 1871, when Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia, managed to unify a number of independent German people states into a nation-state, and thus create the German Empire, from which all of the states since that time bearing the name of Germany descend....
.

By the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaty at the end of World War I. It ended the declaration of war between German Empire and Allies of World War I....
, some territories of West Prussia and the Province of Posen that had belonged to the Prussian kingdom and the German Empire were ceded to the Second Polish Republic

Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland is the Republic of Poland between World War I and World War II....
. East Prussia, minus the Memelland, received some districts of former West Prussia and remained within the German Weimar Republic

Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic was the democracy and republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933. Following World War I, the republic emerged from the German Revolution in November 1918....
.

According to the Potsdam Conference

Potsdam Conference

The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of William, German Crown Prince, in Potsdam, Germany, from July 16 to August 2, 1945....
in 1945 after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, the Prussian region was divided between Poland

Poland

Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
. Western Prussia (West Prussia / Royal Prussia) and the East Prussian lands of Warmia

Warmia

Warmia or Ermland is a region between Pomerania and Masuria in northeastern Poland. Together with Masuria, it forms the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship....
and Masuria

Masuria

Masuria is an area in northeastern Poland famous for its Masurian Lakeland. Together with Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast to the north and a small section of Lithuania, the region used to be a part of Prussia and of the province of East Prussia, a Germany exclave between the world wars....
are in Poland, while northern East Prussia was divided between the Russian

Kaliningrad Oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia....
and Lithuanian

Klaipeda Region

The Klaipeda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors....
Soviet republics. The German state of Prussia, of which the Prussian region was but a small part, was dissolved in 1947.

External links

at UCLA
in: Christoph Hartknoch
Christoph Hartknoch

Christoph Hartknoch was a Prussia historian and educator....
, Alt- und neues Preussen..., Frankfurt 1684
K. Flemming, F. Handtke, Glogów ca. 1920, after Treaty of Versailles removed Memel area from Germany.