''Die Littauischen Wegeberichte'' (German for ''Lithuanian route report'') is a compilation of 100 routes into the western

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...

prepared by the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

in 1384–1402. The Knights waged the

Lithuanian Crusade The Lithuanian Crusade was a series of economic Christianity and colonialism, Christian colonization campaigns by the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order under the pretext of forcibly Christianization, Christianizing the pagan Grand Duchy of Li ...

to convert pagan Lithuanians into Christianity since the 1280s. The crusade was characterized with frequent raids into the enemy territory to loot and pillage. Since Lithuania lacked a developed road network, local Lithuanian and Prussian scouts would describe and document the best and most effective routes for the military raids into Lithuania. The reports contained brief directions using both natural (rivers, lakes, swamps, forests) and man-made (villages, nobility estates, roads, formerly inhabited places) landmarks for navigation. It also described obstacles and provided locations of good places for rest camps, where to obtain drinking water or fodder for horses. The place names were recorded in

old German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

, therefore some of them are quite distorted from their original Lithuanian form. Also, some places or place names did not survive to the present day. Therefore, there are many issues in trying to identify and locate the named places. However, the reports are still an important source for the study of Lithuanian local history,

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

, geographic, social, and economic aspects of the 14th-century Lithuanian society. For example, ''Wegeberichte'' mentioned several ''alka'', i.e. sacred grooves or pagan shrines, and illustrated logistical difficulties faced by an invading army. The scout reports were archived in the

Prussian State Archive Königsberg Prussian State Archive in Mittelhufen The Prussian State Archive Königsberg (german: Preußisches Staatsarchiv Königsberg) was an archive in Königsberg, Germany. It consisted of documents from the state of the Teutonic Order, the Duchy of Prussi ...

. They were collected, organized, and first published in '' Scriptores Rerum Prussicarum'' as ''Die Littauischen Wegeberichte'' in 1863. The publisher,

Theodor Hirsch Theodor Hirsch (17 December 1806 – 17 February 1881) was a German historian who was a native of Altschottland, Danzig. He was a cousin to historian Siegfried Hirsch (1816-1860). Life and career Born Jewish, he converted to Christianity and stud ...

, was the first to try and match place names in ''Wegeberichte'' with present-day locations. He also numbered and named the routes for easier referencing. A Lithuanian translation was prepared by Jurgis Jurginis in 1983, but it contains many inaccuracies. Several other historians studied ''Wegeberichte'', but overall is not a well-researched source.

References

External links

Full-text of ''Wegeberichte'' as published in 1863

Full-text of the Lithuanian translation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Littauischen Wegeberichte, Die 14th-century books Lithuanian chronicles 14th century in the State of the Teutonic Order 14th century in Lithuania