Sudauen
Sudauen is a historical landscape in East Central Europe , as Dainava a historical country of Lithuania .
Surname
The name Sudauen ( Prussian Sudawa , Lithuanian Sūduva , Suvalkija ) refers to the old Prussian tribe of the Sudauer / Jatwinger . The Greek geographer Ptolemy mentioned Galindai kai Sudinoi ; Peter von Dusburg wrote about Galindite and Suduwite in his chronicle . In Russian sources (from 983 AD) the Sudauers are identified as Jadwinger . In the Hypatius Chronicle from the 15th century, the spellings change: Jatviagy, Jatviezie, Jatviažin, zemlia Jatveskaja, na zemliu Jatviažs´kuju and others. In Latin sources and those of the neighboring Polish Duchy of Mazovia , the Sudau Polexiani were named. The chronicler Kadlubek assigns them to the Prussians: sunt autem Pollexianni, Getarum seu Prussorum genus . The name Polexia could be derived from Polish "polesie": at the edge of the forest. Polish sources also took over Russian names: Jazviagi, Iazvizite, Jazvizite, Yazvizite etc. In the contract with the order of knights of 1260 it is called "terre Getuizintarum". This designation came through the Poles to Western Europe and to the Curia in Rome. So can be read in papal documents of terra Jatwesouie, Gretuesia, Gzestuesie, Getuesia and Getvesia . The order, however, called this Prussian tribe Sudowite, Sudowia, in qua Sudowite , whereby Wite or Witte (whose source river is documented as Wittewater) is the Prussian name of the Vistula used in the 12th century and Witland denotes the land inhabited by Prussian tribes.
Since the names Sudauen and Jadwingen never appear chronologically at the same time, it can be assumed that they are one and the same tribe. In the Breslau judgment of Emperor Sigismund von Luxemburg of 1325 it is called Suderlandt alias Jetuen . Two endowments (1253 and 1259) from Mindaugas I to the Livonian Order give this area another name: Dainava , Deynowe, Dainowe, Denowe (Land of Songs). The forests of Deinova Jatvež are mentioned in Lithuanian annals of the 16th century .
According to the legend invented by the Dominican monk Simon Grunau , Sudo was the third son of King Widowuti. He got the land between Crono, Skara (Pregel) and Curtono (Curonian Lagoon) . He built a fortress perpeylko . The country was named after him Sudauen. "The people who lived there were respectable from the start and thought they were all nobles, because they defeated a mighty king of the Venederland, now Russian-Lithuania, with the Sudo alone. The Sudauers, however, are a jolly people to this day that has its greatest joy in drinking. "
Geographical definition
In the sources, the question of the exact geographical location of the Sudau tribal area is answered very inconsistently. But it can be assumed that the Memel was the natural eastern and northern border. The western border to Galindia and Nadrauen runs along the Lyck (Leck) : Baranner Forst, Dombrowsker Forst, Lycker Seenkette (Lyck See, Sonnau See, Groß Marger See, Uloffke See, Laschmiaden See, Sonntag See, Haszner See), Rothebudener Forst, Rominter Heide, Wyschtiter See. In Lithuania, the Marijampolė and Dzūkija regions are part of the Sudanese territory. There are more uncertainties about the southern border, but both banks of the Narew can be assumed as the border.
landscape
Although the area was characterized by impenetrable virgin forests and swamps, the Sudau farmers operated. The chronicler Ipatius was astonished that Daniel's great army from Volhynia, including the horses, managed to get by with the supplies of only two conquered villages and could burn the rest. He also reports on the hunt and the trade in wax and furs. During the famine of 1279, the Sudauers asked Prince Vladimir Halitscho for rye and offered wax, squirrels, beavers, black martens and silver in exchange. After the submission by the knightly order, the country was transformed into heather areas, forests and desert areas, whereby the order always made sure that the forests bordering Lithuania remained impenetrable. The typical Prussian "entanglements" made of thorny brush and tree trunks were still used. This separating, only extremely sparsely populated forest massif has been compared to a "sea" between the order and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Sudauian entrenchments and defenses have been found in the powiat Ełk near Lega (Leegen), Chełchy (Chelchen, 1938–45 Kelchendorf), Szeligi (Seliggen), Krzywe (Rundfließ) and Wierzbowo (Waldwerder). There is also a Skomentburg and a Skomentberg at Skomętno Jezioro (Skomentner Lake).
history
The Sudauer tribe resisted the knights of the Teutonic Order the longest. It was not until 1283 that the Sudauer Prince Skomand took over the Christian faith and gave up the resistance. Peter von Dusburg noted in 1283 that the great Kantegirde , who had transferred to the order, led Sudauer to the north-western Samland in 1600 . There they were baptized. The policy of the order was to deport remnants of subjugated tribes to areas that had become desolate. The Sudanese crew of the suddenly attacked Kymenovia Castle agreed to a baptism and surrender. She was assigned a guide and ordered to move to the Samland. In the Sudavian corner of the Samland, the Sudauers preserved their peculiar customs until the 16th century. Pastor Poliander wrote in a Latin letter in 1535 that Sudini lived on the Samland coast and that this strip of land of 6 to 7 miles was named Sudauia . In total there are 32 villages mentioned, whose inhabitants were fishing since ancient times amber and this in contrast to the Samland would call "glesis / glisum" in their language "gentaras". We also learn from him that the Sudauers lived in seclusion, did not marry the neighboring Samlanders, did not allow any of their family to beg, stubbornly adhered to their customs and wore earrings and finger rings with bronze bells. They also girded themselves with silver-plated belts. Nothing was imported from outside, but made by local craftsmen themselves. In his booklet printed in 1551, Aurifaber reports on 20 Sudanese villages in seven places on the beach, including Palwininkai . Allegedly they fished the amber out of the water completely naked. Christoph Hartknoch reported in 1684 that it was still called the Sudauische Winkel at that time .
Due to a lack of sources, there are only a few, barely related factual reports about the Sudauer: Vladimir I of Kiev crossed the Bug in 981 , his son Yaroslav moved in 1030/31 through difficult forests to the left and right of the Narew towards the Sudau. At the beginning of the 13th century there were constant warlike relations between the Sudauern and the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia . Most of the time, the Sudauers received no support from other Baltic neighbors. In 1253, Pope Innocent IV gave the Prince of Kujawy the right to look after the neighboring Sudanese land, and in 1254 it was decided to transfer two thirds of the area to the Crusaders. From 1250 to 1260 the Sudauers were able to alliance with the Tatars against Poland, but the tribe was then almost exterminated by Boleslaw the Shy (1264). In 1282 the Sudauers allied with the Lithuanians. The south of Sudau was destroyed by the princes of Volhynia and Poland, the northern part was attacked and enslaved by the order after the suppression of the great uprising (1260–1274), of which Peter von Dusburg reports in detail. Skomand and Kantegirde received land, Gedete , the son of Skomand with 1,500 men, surrendered from the two undefeated princes , while Skurdo found shelter in Lithuania and settled with his people on the lower reaches of the Memel. Place names such as Skomanten, Thaleiken-Jakob, Sudmanten-Trusch and others are still preserved here today. A number of Memelland family names such as Sudermann and Toleikis (" tlakis ": bear) also attest to the Sudanese origin.
In the peace of Lake Melno in 1422 the order had to renounce most of Sudau, which since then belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and thus from 1596 to the Polish-Lithuanian aristocratic republic . With the Third Partition of Poland , this larger part of Sudau came to Russia in 1795. From 1815 the area was the north-eastern corner of Congress Poland, which was linked to Russia in a personal union and after the Polish uprising of 1830 it was deprived of all independence . In 1918 northern Sudauen became part of the newly constituted Lithuanian state - initially under German occupation. From 1939 to 1944 the south-eastern part of Sudau was directly annexed by the Greater German Reich as the Suwalki Strip and the city of Suwałki was also called Sudauen. Today the northern part of Sudau belongs to Lithuania (center Marijampolė ), the southern part to Poland .
Language and linguistic monuments
Since the Sudauers left no written certificates, there were many conflicting opinions between the linguists, some of which were also determined by political views (especially on the Polish and Lithuanian sides). Georg Gerullis , who systematically sifted through chronicles relating to the Sudanese language, came to the conclusion that no linguistic facts indicate that the Sudauers did not speak a Prussian dialect. This view is supported by Russian scholars who have identified a great influence of the Sudanese dialect on the Polish and Masovian languages and have found similarities between Prussian and Yadwings settlement and burial complexes.
- Per nedėlę žirgužį szėrau (I looked after my little horse during the week)
- Subatoje po pietu sawo bėrą žirgėlį gražei szropawau. (and on Saturday afternoon I groomed my dear brown horse.)
- Sėjau rutas, sėjau mėtas (sowed diamond, sowed curled mint)
- sėjau szwėses lėlijates (sowed radiant lilies)
- sėjau žalius lewendrelus. (sowed beautiful green lavender.)
- Atsimįk bernužėli (remember, dear friend)
- Ką wakar kalbėjai (what you said yesterday)
- Karcziamėlij už stalėlio, rankėles sudėjai. (in the tavern, behind the table, pressing my hands.)
- Szoka kiszkis, szoka lapė, szoka wisi žwėris (The rabbit dances, the fox dances, all animals dance)
- ir tas briedis, il garietis, ir tas ne tylėju. (Even the long-legged elk does not like to rest in the forest.)
See also
literature
- Archeology of the USSR: The Finno-Ugrians and the Balts in the Middle Ages, Part II, Balten, pp. 411–419, Moscow 1987
- Gerullis, Georg .: On the language of the Sudauer-Jadwinger, in Festschrift A. Bezzenberger, Göttingen 1927
- Lepa, Gerhard (ed.): Die Sudauer, in Tolkemita -tex No. 55, Dieburg 1998
- Lepa, Gerhard: Thoughts on the Prussians and their songs, in Tolkemita texts "25 songs of the Sudauer" No. 56, Dieburg 1999
- Lithuanian Encyclopedia, Vol. XXIX, Boston, USA, 1963
- Salemke, Gerhard: Site plans of the ramparts of the former province of East Prussia, Gütersloh, 2005, maps 19/7 - 19/13
- Tettau, v .: Folk tales of East Prussia, Litthauens and West Prussia, Berlin 1837, p. 10.
- Žilevičius, Juozas: Basics of Lithuanian Minor folk music, in Tolkemita texts “25 songs of the Sudauer” No. 56, Dieburg 1999
- Schmidt: Pictures from the conquest of Sudau . In. Preussische Provinzial-Blätter , Volume 3, Königsberg 1830, pp. 97-115 , pp. 193-213 , pp. 239-316 , pp. 393-399 , pp. 509-523 ; Volume 4, Königsberg 1830, pp. 187-195 , pp. 239-255 .
