Communicatio qua communio Zum Eucharistieverständnis von heiden in der frühen preußischen Deutschordenschronistik und in volkssprachlich gereimten Verstexten zum preußischen Deutschordenszweig im 14. Jahrhundert

Abstract

Communicatio qua communio. On Pagan Understanding of the Eucharist in the early Prussian Chronicles of the Teutonic Order and in vernacular Texts about the Prussian Branch of the Teutonic Order in the 14^th Century

This paper analyses the communicative power of the Eucharist in vernacular texts of the 14th century written about the Teutonic Order’s wars against pagans in Prussia. In Nikolaus’ von Jeroschin Kronike von Pruzinlant the Eucharist is mocked and desecrated by the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytenis before the battle of Woplauken in 1311. This is understood as a weapon against his Christian opponents. In Schondoch’s Litauer, a Lithuanian king is enabled to witness a somewhat crude form of the Holy Trinity during mass, whereupon he asks for baptism. In both texts the Eucharist is used as a means of communication between Christians, represented by the Prussian branch of the Teutonic Order, and literally stylized pagans. This communication is working because the pagans accept the dogma of transsubstantiation. Thus, the pagans are, paradoxically, no heretics, and even, to a certain degree, part of the community of the Church. Yet, as they share a belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharistical substances, they can also be treated as evildoers in a framework that is accepted by both Christians and pagans. Thus, the dogmatic orthodoxy of the pagans is used as a means to legitimate the war against them in the early historiography of the Teutonic Order in Prussia.