Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/289

(»N THE BRONZE DOOK^i UF THE CATHEDRAL OF GNESEN. '2 I 'J younger brother Gaudcntius, and sailed dovn tlic stream to Dantzic, and thence by the Frisclio Hail' to the nciglibour- hood of Fischhausen, not far from Konigsberg, in Prussia. Here the three intrepid missionaries were landed on an islet on the coast, and the vessel in which they came returned. The inhabitants of the island attacked them with threats and blows, and carried them over to the mainland, where they remained five days. On. the sixth day, (the 23rd of April, 997), after celebrating mass they set forward on foot, but while reposing on their road, they vfcre seized and bound by the natives, and Sigo^ their priest, having first pierced St. Adalbert with a lance, his followers quickly completed the murder, and he expired, employing his last breath in prayoi" for his nmrderers.^ After his death his head was cut off and fixed upon a stake, while his companions were carried away in bonds. So far the early Lives ; of the occurrences after his death there are many and various accounts more or less legendary, references to many of which will be foimd in the observations of Bohuslaus Balbinus, which follow the early Lives in the Acta Sanctorum. The narrative which seems to have been generally received, is to be found in Dlugosz's * Hist. Polon., and is shortly as follows : His head having been set on a stake, his body was cast on the sand as a prey to the birds and beasts of prey, but an eagle ^ perching near, drove ofl" all that approached, and protected the corpse from mutila- tion. The Prussians, struck by this marvel, after some days buried the body, and wiien Boleslaus, on hearing of the - Another account calls the chief ])riest seems to have been partly of the nature Kyrwardiis, ami his satellites Waydelotti ; of a sacrifice; and in later times the the former word or Kyrwaitus, however, Prussians were accustomed to burn alive, according to Schiitzius, (Rer. Pruss. His- with their horses and arms, some of the t<iria), was the appellation of a Prussian cliief prisoners whom they took in wur priest, and signified " Os Dei." Hart- (Schiitzii, Her. Pruss. Hist.) ; never- knock (Selectiu Disser. Histcte. de variis theless, they arc described by Helmoldus rebus Prussicis) says that the title of the (Chron. Slav., cap. i., p. 4'.>.) as humane high priest was Kriwe Kriweito. — Jiiilix and hospitable to those whom accident or Jtidicum. Waydelottus is derived from storms may have thrown upon their ica«rf/H, knowledge (p. 148 — loO). co.asts. ' The probable cause of this savage Often called Longinus, a translation deed was a dread of the anger of their of his name. He wrote in 1470. Gods, as is expressed in the words put ■' Eagles often occur in Polish legends, into the mouth of the Prussians by the An eagle, in like manner, watched over author of the Second Life, " Propter tales the remains of St. Stanislaus at Cracow, homines terra nostra non dabit fruetum, Gnesen, in Polish "Gniezna," was founded arbores non parturient, nova non nas- where an eagle's nest (giiiazdo) was ceutur animalia, Vetera morientur." From found on the ground by Lekh L, and the the part taken in it by the priest, the act arms of the kingdom ai'e an eagle.