Sea, at the mouth of the Vistula,
in the year 1225. The possession of the Baltic shores, and of such lands
as the Order should conquer from the pagan Prussians and Litwini, was
assured to them by Konrad, Duke of Masowsze, brother to Leszek the White
of Poland. The fatal error thus committed, in abandoning a hold on the
sea-coast, had afterwards a disastrous effect on the history of Poland.
The Order speedily made themselves masters of the whole country of
Prussia, and were engaged in ceaseless war with the pagans of Lithuania,
under pretext of their conversion; more frequently, it is however to be
feared, for purposes of raid and plunder. It is, in fact, upon record that
a certain Lithuanian prince, who had offered to embrace Christianity for
the purpose of recovering part of his territory conquered by the Order,
upon finding that his conversion would produce no better disposition in
them towards himself, declared his intention of abiding in paganism, with
the remark that he saw it was no question of his faith, but of his
possessions. The plundering expeditions of the Teutonic knights up
country, in which many of the chivalry of all Europe frequently bore a
part, were termed _reyses_. The English reader will remember how Chaucer's
knight had fought "aboven alle nations in Pruce."

"In _Lettow had he reysed_ and in Ruce."

Henry IV. also, during his banishment, fought in the ranks of the Order.

After the conversion of Lithuania, and the union of that country with
Poland, the Teutonic knights were frequently engaged in hostilities with
both powers combined, sustaining in the year 1410 a terrible defeat at
Tannenberg in E. Prussia, from the forces of Jagellon. In this battle it
is worthy of note that the famous John Ziska was engaged. In 1466 Casimir
Jagellon inflicted heavy losses on the Order. After its secularisation in
1521, when the Grand-Master Albert embraced the reformed faith, the
domains of E. Prussia were held as a fief from Poland. In 1657 Prussia
became an independent state under Frederick William, the great Elector. It
is curious to observe how the name of Prussia, originally that of a
conquered, non-Germanic people, has become in our time that of the first
German power in the world.

The historical circumstances on which the poem of "Konrad Wallenrod" is
founded are thus detailed at length by the author himself, in the
following postscript to the work:--

"We have called our story histo