TERRA MATRIS: CRUSADING, THE MILITARY ORDERS, AND SACRED LANDSCAPES IN THE BALTIC, 13TH – 14TH CENTURIES ____________________________________ A Thesis Presented to the School of History, Archaeology and Religion Cardiff University ____________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in History & Welsh History (2018) ____________________________________ by Gregory Leighton Abstract Crusading and the military orders have, at their roots, a strong focus on place, namely the Holy Land and the shrines associated with the life of Christ on Earth. Both concepts spread to other frontiers in Europe (notably Spain and the Baltic) in a very quick fashion. Therefore, this thesis investigates the ways that this focus on place and landscape changed over time, when crusading and the military orders emerged in the Baltic region, a land with no Christian holy places. Taking this fact as a point of departure, the following thesis focuses on the crusades to the Baltic Sea Region during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It considers the role of the military orders in the region (primarily the Order of the Teutonic Knights), and how their participation in the conversion-led crusading missions there helped to shape a distinct perception of the Baltic region as a new sacred (i.e. Christian) landscape. Structured around four chapters, the thesis discusses the emergence of a new sacred landscape thematically. Following an overview of the military orders and the role of sacred landscpaes in their ideology, and an overview of the historiographical debates on the Baltic crusades, it addresses the paganism of the landscape in the written sources predating the crusades, in addition to the narrative, legal, and visual evidence of the crusade period (Chapter 1). It then proceeds to a chapter-by-chapter analysis considering specific sacralising elements expressed in the sources, which structure the definition of sacred landscape used in this thesis (outlined in the Introduction). Chapter 2 considers the role martyrdom in sacralising the landscape, followed by a discussion of the role played by relics (Chapter 3), ritualization, and sacred space (Chapter 4). By incorporating Geographical Information Systems (GIS) into the analysis of the texts, a new spatial map of the Baltic campaigns emerges from the present study, providing a fresh approach to studying contemporary views of holy war in a region with no holy (i.e. Christian) shrines. i Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... i Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... ii List of Images ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. v List of Maps ............................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... vi Abbreviations & Short Titles ................................................................................................. viii Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Methodological Approaches of the Study.............................................................................. 2 Historiographical Framework of the Present Study ............................................................. 10 Crusading and Holy War in the Baltic ................................................................................. 18 Landscape Ideology of the Military Orders in the Baltic Region ........................................ 22 Source Outline ..................................................................................................................... 27 Ecclesiastical Sources ...................................................................................................... 27 Teutonic Order Sources ................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 1: Literary Themes and Landscape Sacralisation in the Written Evidence for the Baltic Crusades ........................................................................................................................ 36 1.1: Paganism of the Landscape in Baltic Crusade Chronicles ........................................... 37 1.2: Holy War, the Vineyard, and the Baltic as a ‘Crusading Landscape’ .......................... 49 1.3: Navigating the desertum in the Fourteenth Century ..................................................... 58 1.4: The Vinea Domini and the Art of the Medieval Baltic ................................................. 63 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 77 Chapter 2: Martyrdom, qualitative GIS, and Mapping Landscape Sacralisation during the Baltic Crusades, 13th – 14th Century ........................................................................................ 79 2.1: Pre-Crusade Martyrdom in the Baltic ........................................................................... 80 2.2: Martyrdom and Sacred Landscape in Livonia, 12th – 13th Centuries ........................... 86 2.3: Martyrdom, Hierophany, and Sacred Landscape in Thirteenth-Century Prussia ....... 102 2.4: Martyrdom and Hierophantic Acts on the Reisen: Continuities and Change ............. 118 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 129 Chapter 3: Relics, Processions, and Sacred Landscape in the Baltic, 13th – 14th Century..... 131 3.1: Relics in Livonia and Prussia during the Crusades in the 13th Century. ..................... 133 3.2: Relic Processions and Mapping a Sacral Landscape in the 13th-Century Baltic: The Teutonic Order in Prussia .................................................................................................. 141 3.3: The True Cross, the Cult of Relics, and Visualising a Sacral Landscape in Prussia .. 151 ii 3.4: Relics and Crusading in the 14th-Century Baltic ........................................................ 160 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 168 Chapter 4: The Ritualisation and Iconography of Landscape Sacralisation in the Baltic ..... 170 4.1: Castles as Markers of Prussia’s Sacral Landscape ..................................................... 172 4.2: Castle and Church Building in the Medieval Baltic: Designs and Spatial Significance ............................................................................................................................................ 179 4.3: Place-naming and Landscape Sacralisation in the Medieval Baltic ........................... 189 4.4: The Virgin Chapel at Marienburg and Landscape Iconography in Prussia ................ 197 4.4.1: Lochstedt .............................................................................................................. 209 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 213 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 215 Chapter Summary and Thesis Findings ............................................................................. 215 Implications of Research.................................................................................................... 218 Limitations of Research ..................................................................................................... 221 Future Research Trajectories ............................................................................................. 223 Appendix I: Relics in the Baltic Region (13th – 16th Centuries) ............................................ 227 Appendix II: GIS Data ........................................................................................................... 238 Bibilography .......................................................................................................................... 244 Primary Sources ................................................................................................................. 244 Secondary Sources ............................................................................................................. 248 iii List of Images Image 1. Pöide Church seen from the nearby Hillfort. ......................................................................... 48 Image 2. Floral Sculpture, Kaarja Church (13th Century).. .................................................................. 65 Image 3. Vineyard Sculpture, Kaarma Church (15th Century?). .......................................................... 65 Image 4. Sculpted baptismal font, Elbing (13th Century). ................................................................... 67 Image 5. The Golden Gate, Marienburg