Hercus Monte

Herkus Monte in Klaipėda . Old Prussia was always fascinating to the Lithuanians and served as a warning

Herkus Monte , also Henricus Monte , Heinrich Monte , Lithuanian Herkus Mantas (* between 1225 and 1230; † 1273 ), was Duke of the Natanger , a Prussian tribe. The Prussian name was Erkus Mants . The first name expresses the wish that he may be a protector. The last name Mants indicates a wealthy house.

Family and youth

According to Simon Grunau, Herkus Monte came from the Monteminer family (presumably mants minet : rich eminent people ). Other sources claim that he was the son of the Natang tribal prince Tyrwaido (third military leader). As a child, like many Prussian noble boys, Erkus was brought to Magdeburg by the crusaders , where he was given the baptismal name Henricus . The purpose of the upbringing was that, as a local noble, he would meet with more acceptance at home when it came to representing the interests of the order. In Magdeburg he also studied at the local monastery school . According to the assumptions of the East Prussian homeland researcher Walter Schlusnus , he was knighted by the Hohenstaufer Manfred , the son of Emperor Friedrich II .

meaning

However, like the noble Auctuno from Pogesania, Synko from Pomesania, Glappo from Warmien, Dyvane Clekine "the bear" from Barten and Richard Glande from Samland, in the eyes of their own people , Erkus was regarded as a traitorous defector. Because of the promises of the order not kept (especially in matters of faith) the indignation of the Prussians increased. In 1250 an attempt to subdue the Natangers ended with the defeat of the order. In 1256 the Natanger rose again, a year later the first uprising in Samland took place. A general uprising soon broke out in six regions. Dusburg and Grunau report that at the top were those young Prussians who had trained the knights in German schools and who knew their way around the order's warfare very well. After Barta, Natangen, parts of Warmiens, Pogesanien and Pomesanien were ruled by Prussians, the last castles were taken under Hercus Monte with the help of siege engines, first Kreuzburg, then Bartenstein.

Erkus was the leader of the Prussian uprising against the Teutonic Order that broke out in 1260 . While the Prussians had exhausted themselves in years of struggle, the order was constantly recruiting new knights, who were usually only one year, rarely two, under arms. After the battles near Braunsberg and Brandenburg (1272), in which he faced the superiority of the crusader army under Dietrich II of Meißen and was defeated both times, Erkus hid in the woods with a handful of loyal followers, where he was from the Commander-in-Chief of Christburg , who was on the hunt with an entourage, was found by chance, arrested and killed without further ado.

See also : German Order  and Teutonic Order State

Fiction

Herkus Monte is part of the historical novel by Claudius Crönert : The Lords of Swords . Ullstein Taschenbuch, 2011, ISBN 978-3-548-28310-4 .

Max Worgitzki wrote a play Hercus Monte during the First World War , which was staged in Allenstein in 1917 .

Literary adaptations

• "The Prussians". An opera by the Klaipėda Music Theater
• "Henry Monte and the Prussian Rising of 1260"
• Gerkus Mantas (feature film, USSR 1973)

literature

• H. Frischbier: Prussian Dictionary East and West Prussian Provincialisms . Volume 1,2, Berlin 1882, p. 293