Prussia (; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; ; ; ; Old Prussian: Prūsa)
Parts of the Baltic region 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 and the areas to the west. Over time, the Western Balts consolidated into the Old Prussian ...nation, while the Eastern Balts of the area, including the Curonians, consolidated into (a part of) the Latvian and Lithuanian nations.
About 350 BC Pytheas 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 in the 7th and 8th centuries. The largest trade centres of the Prussians, such as Truso and Kaup, seem to have absorbed a number of Norsemen. Prussians were known to go from Truso to Birka across the Baltic Sea.
At the end of the Viking Age, the sons of Danish king Harald Bluetooth and Canute the Great launched several expeditions against the Prussians, which resulted in far-spread destruction of many areas in Prussia including the destruction of Truso and Kaup, however they failed to establish a firm foothold in Prussia. A Viking (Varangian) presence in the area was "less than dominant and very much less than imperial".Gwyn Jones. A History of the Vikings. Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-280134-1. Page 244. Old PrussiansHistories 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, 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 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 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. Related, but not mutually intelligible, are the modern representatives of the Baltic languages, the Latvian and Lithuanian languages, from the East Baltic branch. Previous historians had documented the Prussian tribes as easterners, with Tacitus referring to them as the AestiAlthough the Aesti are generally accepted to be the Prussians, primarily based on their association with amber, this is by no means universally accepted. See Aesti.. The territory was called Brus in the 8th century map of the Bavarian Geographer. Adalbert of Prague, a Christian missionary sent with guards by Boleslaw I of Poland to convert the Prussians, was killed by a Prussian priest in 997.
The center of Prussia until 1466: Ordensburg Marienburg, today called MalborkAttempts at conquest of Prussia The establishment of a new state of the Polans in the 10th century, brought ongoing attempts to conquer the land of the Prussians. In 997 AD Adalbert of Prague 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.
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Vikings in Prussia
The
Vikings started to penetrate into
Eastern Europe in the 7th and 8th centuries. The largest trade centres of the Prussians, such as
Truso and
Kaup, seem to have absorbed a number of Norsemen. Prussians were known to go from Truso to
Birka across the
Baltic Sea.
At the end of the
Viking Age, the sons of Danish king
Harald Bluetooth and
Canute the Great launched several expeditions against the Prussians, which resulted in far-spread destruction of many areas in Prussia including the destruction of Truso and Kaup, however they failed to establish a firm foothold in Prussia. A Viking (
Varangian) presence in the area was "less than dominant and very much less than imperial".
[Gwyn Jones. A History of the Vikings. Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-280134-1. Page 244.]![Map by Caspar Henneberg, Elbing 1576: <a href=]()
Duchy and
Royal Prussia originally with same color (for the duchy the color was added later)" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/PRVSSIA1576Casparo_Henneberg.png/300px-PRVSSIA1576Casparo_Henneberg.png" width="300" height="231" />
Königsberg
pronunciation (help·info) (
Lithuanian:
Karaliaučius;
Low German:
Königsbarg;
Polish:
Królewiec; the Latinised name of the city is
Regimontium Prussorum; see also
other names) was the
capital of
East Prussia from the
Late Middle Ages until 1945. It was founded by the
Teutonic Knights just south of the
Sambian peninsula in 1255 during the
Northern Crusades and named in honour of King (German:König)
Ottokar II of Bohemia[1] (the German-language name
Königsberg literally means "King's mountain"). The
city successively became the capital of
their monastic state, the
Duchy of Prussia, and East Prussia.
Map of Königsberg from 1651.
Königsberg Castle before World War I 
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The Prussian Homage
Brandenburg-Prussia
Duchy
