Skomand of Sudauen

Baltic tribes in the 12th century

Skomand (* around 1225; † around 1285) was a powerful tribal chief of the Prussian tribe of the Sudauer . Other variations of the name are Skumand , Komants , Gomants, and Koommat . In Lithuania he is revered as Skomantas or Komantas and is considered identical to Skalmantas , the alleged tribal father of the Gediminas dynasty . Its Prussian name Skomants indicates abundant wealth (“ skome, skomas ”: dining table, good taste; “ mants ”: rich, possessions, wealth).

history

Skomand is mentioned in the Chronicle of Peters von Dusburg as one of the leaders of the attack on Kulm in 1263. During the Prussian battles against the Teutonic Order , Sudauen initially remained largely unaffected by the expansion efforts of the Teutonic Order due to its inaccessible peripheral location, but with the help of the Lithuanians took part in some forays into the areas of the Order. After the devastating incursion into the Kulmer Land , Skomand came increasingly into the focus of the knights of the order. After Commander Berthold von Nordhausen was replaced in 1276 by the war experienced Commander von Christburg Hermann von Schönenberg , the Prussian incursions were permanently repulsed.

Since smaller contingents were no longer successful, Skomand gathered a larger army of 4,000 warriors in the autumn of 1277 and invited Zemaites and Lithuanians to reinforce them . On October 21, his armed forces invaded the Kulmer Land devastatingly and captured the castles Graudenz , Marienwerder , Zantir on the Vistula and Christburg . The incursion resulted in severe destruction.

The order marshal Konrad von Thierberg decided after this event to attack the Sudau and to subjugate this area as one of the last two Prussian regions. The company turned out to be difficult because Konrad had no support from the Reich . He also had hardly any reserves of order warriors. In addition, Sudauen was territorially much larger than the other Prussian tribal areas conquered in the meantime and was criss-crossed by dense forests, morasses, lakes and swamps. Tried and tested warriors formed the core of the Sudauer Heerbann. An army of about 6,000 men was to be expected, excellent horsemen, supplemented by numerous foot soldiers.

In 1277 an army of the order with 1,500 horsemen and some infantry moved to Sudauen and devastated Kimenau . Numerous residents were slain, about a thousand prisoners and large spoils were taken away. About 3,000 Sudauers opposed the order's army at Spirdingsee . The meeting ended with a defeat for the Sudauer; around 2000 men are said to have been killed or wounded.

After this success, the order marshal gathered a stronger military power with the aim of conquering Skomand's castle with the legendary silver treasure at Skomenten on the east bank of the Skomentsee and to demoralize the Sudanese people by robbing them of their chief and the other leaders.

The impassability of the terrain required repeated and grueling individual feuds with the support of local scouts who defected to the order, so-called Struter, who initially crept into the country in small groups in the summer and set markings. Mentioned in particular were Martin Golin from Kulmer , the Samland Witing Konrad Tüvel , the bold Stobernel , the Sudauer Kudar and Nakeim the Pogesanians.

The year 1278 was marked by brutal attacks by the Struter groups and the counter movements of the Sudauer. Nevertheless, the knights of the order did not succeed during this time in assembling an orderly large army. The foreign bishops took turns paying money instead of sending warriors. Decisive for the later success of the knights was after long vacancies in 1279 the appointment of Konrad von Feuchtwangen as order marshal and landmaster. Because in the meantime in Semgallen got the Order in distress, the campaign rested against Sudauen up to winter 1279, Feuchtwangen soon felt between his duties wiped out and left Prussia. Finally, the Königsberg Commander Mangold von Sternberg took on the task of subjugating the Sudauer. In addition to the conquest, however, he also pursued the goal of leading the country out of its unstable state by sustainably promoting agriculture and the economy. He saw this goal only guaranteed in a pacified state, so that the conquest of the aggressive tribal areas of the Prussians was a priority.

For their part, the Sudauer interpreted this restructuring as a weakness of the order. In 1280, supported by Lithuanians, they undertook a devastating expedition to Samland. The campaign was ultimately unsuccessful because it had long been betrayed and order officials had advised the residents to flee to the permanent castles. The Sudauers devastated the area around Tapiau for 10 days , but then had to return home immediately because they had received news that Tapiau's Commander Ulrich Baier had invaded the central Sudau region, attacked the settlements there and took numerous hostages. The Komtur, encouraged by the success, undertook further devastating forays until he was forbidden to go it alone by the landmaster.

Mangold von Sternberg gathered a strong army in the winter of 1281 and set out on February 2nd for the final blow to Sudauen. Skomand's castle was stormed and burned out, Skomand himself had withdrawn and gathered new people around him. But they could not survive the fight, and Skomand fled with his entire household and his companions to the Lithuanian-Russian border region. Soon he made new attempts to regain his territory. The landmaster's countermeasures finally caused resignation up to Skomand. He was baptized Christianity and those of his own.

He then spent a few years at the Balga Ordensburg and finally received the Steinio estate (Steyno, Steinen) in Steegen near Landsberg from Konrad von Thierberg . Here Skomand lived with his sons Rukals , Gedetes and Galms from the yields of his agriculture. The descendant Dietrich Skomantin von Steinen sold the estate in 1366 and moved with his family to Dietrichsdorf, Gerdauen district .

See also : Reik (prince)

Fiction

Skomand is part of the historical novel:

• Claudius Crönert : The Lords of Swords . Ullstein Taschenbuch, 2011, ISBN 978-3-548-28310-4 .

literature

• Johannes Voigt: History of Prussia from the oldest times to the fall of the rule of the Teutonic Order, Königsberg 1828 . Nabu Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1-143-43966-7 , pp. 351 ff .