This section includes materials relating to earlier crusades to Livonia (Southern Baltic) and the later crusades to Prussia (Northern Baltic).

The following has been generously provided by Gregory Leighton (Cardiff)

Livonia

Arnold of Lübeck

Best Latin: Arnoldi chronica Slavorum, ed. Georg Heinrich Pertz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi, 14 (Hannover: Hahn, 1868), specifically pp. 212-217.

Notes: Completed c. 1209; a continuation of Helmold’s Chronica Slavorum (c. 1177); first account of the conversion of Livonia (pp. 212-217, De coversatione Livoniae).

Henry of Livonia

Best Latin:  Heinrici chronicon Lyvoniae, ed. Leonid Arbusow and Albert Bauer, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Germanicaum in usum scholarum separatim editi, 31 (Hannover: Hahn, 1955).

Other Latin: Origines Livoniae sacrae et civiles, seu chronicon Livonicum vetus, ed. Johann Daniel Gruber (Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1740).

Heinrici chronicon Lyvoniae, ed. Wilhelm Arndt, MGH SS. rer. Germ. (Hannover: Halle, 1869).

English/Modern Language:

The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia. A translation with introduction and notes, ed. and trans. James A. Brundage (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1961). Reprinted and revised in 2003, published by Columbia University Press.

Chronicon Livoniae, ed. and trans. Piero Bugiani (Livorno: Books & Co., 2005). (Italian).

Henriku Liivima kroonika, ed. and trans. Richard Kleis and Enn Tarvel (Tallinn: Olion, 1993). Reprinted in 2005 (Estonian).

Indrika Livonijas chronika, ed. and trans. J. Krīpēns (Riga: SIA Kopa, 1993). (Latvian).

Khronika Livonii, ed. and trans. Sergei Aleksanrovich Aninskii (Moscow: Soviet Institute of History, 1938). (Russian).

Notes:

First comprehensive history of the conversion of the people of Livonia (Northern Batlic), compiled by a priest who served in the region documenting the Livonian missions from 1186-1227. Henry’s text is that of an eye-witness to many events, he mentions himself by name on various occasions. The Chronicle of Livonia gives the perspective of the conquerors, and therefore is quite biased, but Henry did have an interest in such things as non-Christian religious rites and the language of the pagans, making notes on them on a few occasions. The text also provides context for the transference of crusading ideology to the Baltic region and the rise of the military orders (in this case, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword). It also benefits from a very large amount of scholarship in English.

The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle

Best Middle High German edition:  Livländische Reimchronik. Mit Anmerkungen, Namenverzeichniss und Glossar, ed. Leo Mayer (Paderborn: F. Schöningh, 1876).

No extant Latin version of the chronicle exists, as it was composed in Middle High German (Mittlehochdeutsch) around 1290, likely by a member of the Teutonic Order.

English/Modern Language:

The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, ed. and trans. William Urban and Jerry C. Smith (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977). Reprinted and revised in 2001, published by the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center in Chicago.

I do not know of other modern language translations.

Notes:

The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle is a continuation of the history of the Livonian crusades, picking up where Henry’s Chronicle of Livonia left off (c. 1227) and continuing to 1290. The author of the source remains a mystery, but given the tone of his text and his language, it is very likely that he was a member of the Teutonic Order. This order, founded in the Holy Land in 1190, had taken over the operations in Livonia after the defeat of the Sword Brothers at the Battle of Saule (September, 1236). The Rhymed Chronicle, being written in Middle High German, is an important source for understanding the perspective of the military orders with respect to the Christianisation of Livonia. It was previously thought to have been read aloud to brethren in the convents (known in German as Tischlesung [‘table reading’]) but the lack of religious imagery and ideology in the text makes it more probable that the text was read to participating pilgrims and crusaders in the region. Moreover, this text is the earliest example of ‘Teutonic Order Literature’ (Deutschordensliteratur), in addition to being the oldest surviving example of German literature to come from Livonia.

The edition and translation done by Urban and Smith also has the only translation of a little-studied source, attributed to Hartmann of Heldrungen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1273-1283. See pp. 145-149.

Prussia

Nicholaus von Jeroschin

The chronicle of Prussia: a history of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, 1190-1331, translated by Mary Fischer.  Ashgate: 2010