HEATHEN PRUSSIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15807, 2 January 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

HEATHEN PRUSSIA.

CONVERSION BY THE SWORD. No one has yet drawn attention to the singular history of Prussia, writes a correspondent in the London Daily Mail, and the light it throws upon present events. Prussia, properly so called, the country, that is, along the Baltic on each side of the Vistula, was the last stronghold of the ancient heathendom of the north. In the middle of the 13th century it was still unconquered by Christianity, and the old ; worship and the old ideals still reigned supreme centuries after the conversion of all the rest of Germany. Just at this period the great military order of the Teutonic knights, finding itself without occupation through the close of the Crusades, determined to attempt the conversion of Prussia. In 1309 they established themselves at Marienburg, I near the mouth of the Vistula, and from « that stronghold commenced a new crusade ' of their own with the object at once of , bringing th% country under their own rule | and of converting the inhabitants to Chris- I j tianity. -. j We can imagine for ourselves what sort of a " conversion" it was, carried out literally at the point of the sword. The missionary journeys ol the knights took j the form of military campaigns, and made their way by means of sanguinary battles. 1 But. ostensibly at least, they were successful. By the end of the i4th century Prussia was nominally a Christian land, ruled over as a sovereign State by the Teutonic knights, with the high master as prince, and divided for purpose of government into a number of commanderies, over each of which there presided a " Junker." or Knight Commander of the Order. The whole system of government was military, and the conquered country was ruled as under occupation by a hostile army. In 1525 the high master was a Hohenzollern of the younger branch, Albert of Brandenburg. He came under the influence of Luther, repudiated his vows, and turned the high mastership into a hereditary princedom. The Junkers followed his exan.i'?, broke away from a rule of life whirl- had long been only nominal, took to themselves wives, and became the hereditary nobility of the country. At i later date all the various territories of the Hohenzollerns became united under the Elector of Brandenburg, the head of the house, and eventually by a series of successful wars they marie themselves Kings o/ Prussia and then German Emperors. The historv. of which this is the briefest possible outline, throws much light on some subjects which are puzzling us just now. We can understand, for instance, why the Prussian Junker shows so little sympathy for his men. It is no case of a feudal nobility leading their own clans, men of their own blood. The Junker was I never of the same blood as his subordinlates. _ He was originally and has always remained a military commander