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(dark atmospheric music)
(gulls squawk)
(moody atmospheric music)
(gulls squawk)
- [Narrator] Our story begins in the middle of the Baltic
Sea on a Danish merchant ship sailing to Prussian shores.
Onboard is a young, seasick and disheartened merchant.
A Christian called Lars.
The Medieval book Liburcenses Dani mentions a merchant
who would travel to the territories of the Baltic tribes
to spy on behalf of the Danish king, Valdemar II.
Lars will be our eyes and ears in the lands
of the last pagans of Europe.
(moody folk music)
(thunder claps)
- [Lars] Had I known the fate that awaited me,
I would never have set out on this journey.
But I was young then and knew little
of people and the world.
I knew my craft well, where to find goods for low prices,
and places I could sell them for a profit.
I met an old merchant friend of my father's at the port.
He had come here to buy amber.
He praised the goods I had brought with me and advised me
not to travel the pagan lands without a local guardsman.
For one osse ring, a bar of local currency,
I hired a man named Kursaitis.
He was the youngest son in his family
and could not inherit his family's property.
So Kursaitis sold his strength and skills for money instead.
As was the custom,
I exchanged gifts with my father's friend.
He gave me an amber necklace.
I must say, pagans or not, they have very fine artisans.
When I offered him something in return, he declined,
suggesting I'd better keep Christian symbols to myself.
Even though Prussians were a peace-loving people,
these were not safe times.
When planning the long and dangerous journey, I read about
a merchant city called Truso in King Valdemar's archives
where Danes, Gotlanders and Swedes met and traded
with the pagans peacefully and amicable.
When I arrived in Truso, it was nothing like the
description and instead resembled a small fishing village.
The once-renowned city of the Amber Road
had lost its former glory and fallen into decay.
(dark atmospheric music)
As the evening progressed, I began to think that the pagans
are not as frightening as I had thought and that
the Prussians were not so different from us Christians.
My feeling of comfort came to an end when I witnessed
an event that made my blood run cold.
The Prussians had captured and shackled a holy father.
(moody folk music)
- [Narrator] Christianity swept like a tidal wave
from the Roman Empire across Europe,
changing its world forever.
Upon converting to Christianity,
the pagans renounced their gods and their way of life and
gradually accepted European Christian values and customs,
including new social structures, property rights and laws.
The Prussian territory, home to several small
related Baltic tribes, was the borderland between
the last remaining pagans of Europe and Christendom.
(dark atmospheric music)
- [Lars] I was horrified by what I saw,
and I remembered my last confession.
"Lars," the bishop had said.
"It's time to convert the pagans to the Christian faith.
"You will be our eyes and ears in the pagan land.
"Watch and listen carefully, because when you return,
"we shall expect to hear every detail.
"May God be with you, son."
I had heard that for the past several hundred years,
the church had been preaching the teachings of Christ
in the Prussian lands, trying to turn the pagans
to the one true faith, but not today.
The priest's only crime had been that, unknowingly,
much to his misfortune, or rather his wilful ignorance,
he had entered a sacred forest to gather firewood.
A peasant saw this and reported the crime.
Kursaitis knew that whenever gods were involved,
a pagan priest, Grieves, would settle the dispute.
The pagans called it the Trial of the Gods,
but this had nothing to do with our Christian god.
I felt sick to my stomach when I learned how the pagans
determined whether a person was guilty or not.
Those involved in the dispute had to pull a stone
out of a pot of boiling water
and hold it in their hands for a few moments.
Unfortunately, and understandably so, the hand of
the servant of God was not accustomed to such savagery.
So the pagans declared him guilty.
My blood ran cold when I saw the wild joy
with which the pagans gathered to watch the trial.
(dark atmospheric music)
- [Narrator] As other Baltic tribes,
Prussians venerated specific natural sites.
Large stones, springs, or ancient trees and wood groves
where they performed their religious rites and rituals.
Written records mention Prussia's most important holy site.
(speaks foreign language)
A place of pagan worship, overseen by a pagan high priest,
Krievu Grievitus, or Krievu Grieves.
The pagans believed that the spirits of their ancestors
lived in sacred forests.
In fact, the ancient Prussian symbol
for the world was the oak.
The gods lived in its branches.
The Prussians worshiped gods of the sky, the earth,
and the underworld, and believed that various natural
and animal deities lived all around them.
These deities influenced everyday life, such as weather,
health, fertility, life after death, and fortune in war.
They sacrificed food and livestock to the gods.
One archeological sacrificial site revealed a stone idol
and the remains of more than 200 horses.
(moody folk music)
Lars' journey continues through the lands
of the Galindians and Yotvingians.
In the early Middle Ages, these territories were sparsely
inhabited and the battles with their Christian neighbors
led to the demise or assimilation of both these peoples.
- [Lars] Few people lived in the Galindian lands,
which were covered in thick forests and mostly inhabited
by wild animals.
The hill forts were abandoned,
and with no cities, I could not do any trading.
Kursaitis knew that the Galindians had a custom of never
refusing a meal or shelter to a traveler, if requested.
So, seeking shelter for the night,
we did not hesitate to enter a Galindian farmstead.
- [Narrator] Several closely-related families often lived
together in fortified farmsteads.
Most buildings were made of horizontal logs,
built directly on the land without brick foundations.
The windows were small and usually covered
with animal bladders or sealed with wood shutters.
The log roofs were covered with layers of spruce
or birch bark.
Records indicate the the Galindians also built
residential towers whose height could've indicated
the prestige of its owner.
- [Lars] The pagan diet was similar to ours.
They ate peas, beans and lentils, as well as root crops,
turnips, black radish, onions, garlic.
Meat was salt-cured in barrels so it would last the winter.
To my great surprise, the pagans did not build chimneys
and even the wealthy were unaware that every respectable
house should have a stove with a chimney flow.
The Galindians treated us with a meal they highly enjoyed
called (speaks foreign language), a sweet scone made out of
rye flour, fried and then boiled in pork-fat soup.
To be honest, these (speaks foreign language)
were not very tasty, but we ate everything our host
offered us out of respect and hunger from our long journey.
That evening, we were served by the owner's wives
and (speaks foreign language), the local name for slaves.
As in other Baltic tribes,
having many wives was common among the Galindians.
I noticed that our host was particularly fond
of his youngest wife and while the oldest wife
managed the household, the middle one seemed
to be in need of a man's attention.
I will say this, pagan women were in no way worse
than those raised in accordance with the Christian faith.
And in some ways, maybe they were even better.
(woman pants)
(rooster crows)
(dramatic percussive music)
(woman screams)
(slap)
The next morning, visibly nervous, Kursaitis told me
that the servants had seen what had happened last night.
Even Galindian hospitality has its limits,
so we had to leave quickly.
Kursaitis warned us of impending pursuit, but unfortunately,
I paid little heed to what he said,
as I did not feel that sleeping with a pagan woman,
even though a married one, had been such a serious sin.
Suddenly, a few well-aimed arrows from the woods meant
that our Galindian host had taken offense.
He engaged the aid of his relatives and servants
so they could hunt us down.
(horse neighs)
(steel clangs)
Fortunately, Kursaitis knew that the sacred forest
lay just beyond the river and that the Galindians
would never dare to follow us there.
(dark atmospheric music)
(moody atmospheric music)
(distant thunder rumbles)
(fire crackles)
I didn't notice that my fellow companions took deeper inland
into the lands of the Yotvingians and the Sudovians.
The Lord was by my side and we slipped away
from the Galindians and reached a local healer
who agreed to nurse me back to health for a small fee.
- [Narrator] In the Middle Ages, the smallest injury
or illness could prove fatal.
The average lifespan was just 25 to 30 years,
due to malnutrition, the relatively harsh climate,
unsanitary conditions, and lack of medicine.
The most difficult stage in life was childhood,
and half of the children did not survive.
(dark atmospheric music)
- [Lars] By taking us into the sacred woods,
Kursaitis saved our lives,
but he seemed concerned and frightened.
He had violated the order of his pagan gods
and feared their wroth.
To beg their forgiveness, Kursaitis offered the gods
his hair, thereby lowering his status in society,
and for a time, voluntarily likening himself to a slave.
(distant thunder rumbles)
(moody folk music)
I was still sick with a fever and barely conscious.
Later, Kursaitis told me that curing my wound was beyond
human means, so they had asked the pagan gods for help.
Jatwi, the priest, offered goat as a sacrifice in my favor.
This ritual seemed more like a celebration to me
because they had bought beer with my money
and every man in the clan took part.
The pagan gods frightened me then.
While we honored our god with bread and wine,
their gods demanded the blood of dead livestock.
(goat bleats)
- [Narrator] A 16th Century Lutheran theologian's records
offer insight into a Yotvingian goat sacrifice ritual.
However, as the account is from a Christian point of view,
it must be viewed with some skepticism.
The blood of the sacrificial animal was drained into a dish.
Some of it was sprinkled on ritual participants,
and the remaining blood was used
to similarly bless their homes and livestock.
An important part of the ritual
was the cooking and eating of the animal.
While the meat boiled, the men took flat breads
made from wheat and buckwheat dough,
and tossed them to each other through the fire
until the breads were cooked.
Other rituals describe a priest taking glowing amber,
placing it on his bare head,
and then tossing it back into the fire.
Long horns were blown during the ritual.
(dark atmospheric music)
- [Lars] Miraculously, my wound healed,
and I regained my strength.
I cannot say whether it was God's grace or the pagan
witchcraft that proved so strong, but I got my health back
and I could continue my journey to fulfill my task
to learn more about the pagan lands.
- [Narrator] Having regained his strength,
Lars makes his way to Lithuanian territories.
Lithuanians and their Aukstaitian kin
have been described in various chronicles as powerful,
militant and savage people.
They were known to terrorize their neighbors.
The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia notes that in 1205,
some 2,000 Lithuanian horsemen rode to the Estonian lands
to plunder them and threaten to destroy
the local trade metropolis, Riga, upon their return.
(men cough and groan)
According to written records,
Lithuanians had no fear of death.
It was an honor to die in a battle,
and sometimes, they took their own lives
rather than surrender to their enemies.
This is in stark contrast to the Christians
who considered suicide horrifying
and one of the greatest sins a Christian could commit.
The threat of Christian crusaders encouraged Duke Mindaugas
to conquer other Lithuanian and Aukstaitian rulers
to unify these lands into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Mindaugas converted to Christianity and was crowned king
with the blessing of the Roman Pope, Innocent IV.
However, as the military threat
from his Christian neighbors diminished,
he renounced his newly adopted faith and banished all monks
and priests from his lands.
At the height of its glory in the 15th Century,
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became the largest
European state and a significant military force,
bringing together various faiths, languages and cultures.
(peaceful guitar music)
- [Lars] I arrived at a large city called Kernave considered
to be the most important city of the Lithuanian Duchy.
Neither Kursaitis nor I had ever seen such a city,
covering five hill forts.
My misfortunes were behind me,
and they receded in my memory as a wicked adventure,
which, when I returned to Denmark,
would surely enthrall many listeners.
- [Narrator] Kernave has been an inhabited area
since the Stone Age.
Unlike other medieval settlements,
it did not have a defensive wall.
But the city was protected by its favorable geographical
location near the marshy banks of the Neris river.
In times of peace, the inhabitants lived in villages
near the hill forts or on the surrounding farmsteads.
In the event of an attack or siege, they could take shelter
in the forts, each of which could house up to 300 people.
(moody folk music)
- [Lars] Back then, as I left Kernave behind me,
I thought that I had some understanding of the order
established in the pagan lands.
But once again, I could not believe my eyes.
Even though I had heard that there were eastern
or Byzantine preachers in these lands,
I was surprised to see that they had succeeded in building
a church in a land hostile towards Christ.
As Catholic, the Byzantine faith was rather foreign to me.
I hoped to speak with the holy father,
as I was sure that we shared the same god.
The holy father could not control his anger towards me.
I didn't know the reason of his frustration,
but maybe it was because my brothers of faith
had just attacked and pillaged Constantinople,
the center of Byzantine church.
Probably he was furious to all Catholics,
but honestly, even I did not understand
and could not justify our actions.
(thunder rumbles)
But what's done is done.
At least I managed to acquire some horses in Karnave,
which will surely make our journey easier and faster.
I also stocked up on some goods
that I intended to sell for good profit elsewhere.
The horse trader,
well acquainted with the neighboring territories,
suggested I go north where many rich castles could be found,
and a great river called the Daugava flows.
(moody folk music)
- [Narrator] In the first century of our era,
the Roman senator and historian Tacitus,
in his famous work, Germania,
described the ancestors of the Baltic tribes as,
"In producing of grain and the other fruits of the earth,
"they labor with more assiduity and patience
"than is suitable to the usual laziness of Germans."
To reach the renowned water route of the River Daugava
and its ports, Lars and his men had to cross the forested
and fertile territory of Selonia.
During the 10th to the 13th Centuries, the Selonian
territory covered several districts with about 30 hill forts
and had its center in the city of Selpils.
- [Lars] In Selonia, I witnessed some unbelievable events
that would have been impossible in Christendom.
During the summer solstice, the pagans not only decorated
their livestock guiding them around fields and meadows,
and singing all the while in the belief
that this would ensure a bountiful harvest,
they also engaged in lewd debauchery
that was not practiced in their daily life.
I felt as though a dam had suddenly burst,
flooding the land with blasphemy,
carrying away the women, as well as the men.
The pagans may have some wisdom in the fact that the summer
solstice is the best time for a woman to conceive.
Children then would be born in March,
and therefore live the first most vulnerable months
of their lives in the sun and warmth of spring.
It's the same with the animals.
- [Narrator] To prepare for the mystery and spirit of the
solstice celebration, various aids were known to be used.
Ethnographic materials and folklore suggest
that the Baltic tribes knew psychotropic plants well.
The meadows were home of one of the most hallucinogenic
mushrooms in the world, the liberty cap,
while the forests were full of fly agaric mushrooms,
a favorite among Sami shams and the neighboring vikings.
It is possible that hemp, mugwort, poppies,
marsh Labrador tea, henbane and belladonna
were also used in rituals and medicine.
However, further research is needed
into the ethnobotany of the ancient Balts.
(psychedelic atmospheric music)
(wings flap)
(fire crackles)
During the summer solstice,
people celebrated the victory of light over darkness.
Fire symbolized the sun.
The goddess of life, fertility, warmth and health.
During the longest day and shortest night of the year,
people participated in the ritual of purification,
signifying a simultaneous ushering in of new life
in a struggle against death.
All societal groups were welcomed
in the summer solstice celebrations.
All were considered equal in their union
with the supernatural and among themselves.
(moody folk music)
(rooster crows)
- [Lars] I felt very odd after the pagan
solstice celebration.
I couldn't put my finger on it, but something had changed.
The pagans truly lived in unison with nature,
and I felt it, too.
It was as if everything was permeated by the divine,
and I was a part of it.
And I wondered whether I was truly the highest being
on earth, or merely a part of something greater.
The journey ahead took us to the land of Latgally
and to the river of Daugava, which was so wide and so deep,
that we had to pay a ferryman to get us across.
(dark atmospheric music)
- [Narrator] In the 13th Century,
the Latgalians were the most populace of the Baltic tribes
with about 50 to 70,000 people living in the territory.
The river Daugava had long been an important trade route
between the Catholic west and the Orthodox east.
The Scandinavians, Slavs and North Germanic merchants
all used cunning, force or advantageous offers of alliances
to seize control of the Daugava waterway.
The Latgalians who lived on the banks of the river Daugava
were often among the first to suffer from their encounters
with the merchants, Christian priests and crusaders.
In Latgally, Christianity was spread by representatives
of both the Catholic and Orthodox churches
who fought over the souls of the local pagans.
Some of the Latgalian political elite
voluntarily converted to the teachings of Christ.
Perhaps they sought to gain strong allies
in the battle against neighboring tribes,
or saw new opportunities in a different world.
One brought to them by foreigners.
Enemies and allies often switched sides
during the northern crusades, depending on the situation.
The Livonian chronicler, Henry, describes a typical
Latgalian and German raid on Estonia lands.
"They destroyed the surrounding land,
"burned houses and villages,
"captured and killed many pagans,
"took women and children captive,
"seized livestock and horses
"and returned home seven days later in good spirits."
Captured young women and girls were forced to become
their wives, concubines or slaves.
The heads of noble-born enemies became valuable trophies
that could later be sold back to their families who were
willing to pay to be able to bury the deceased properly.
(moody folk music)
- [Lars] Even though I had spent quite some time in
the pagan lands, I had not met German crusaders before.
Kursaitis explained that the pagans and crusaders
sometimes joined forces in common raids.
Both sides benefited, increasing the prospect
of defeating the enemy and pillaging the goods.
I couldn't understand how enemies
could march together like this.
But I suspected that this unlikely alliance
might have helped to spread the teachings of Christ and
plant God's vineyard in the thicket of the pagans' forests.
(percussive music)
- [Narrator] The crusades offered an opportunity
for Christians to obtain land, wealth,
and even aristocratic status.
The plunder was perceived as just rewards
for the difficult work of spreading Christianity.
Not everyone, however, who joined the crusades
to the pagan lands did so solely out of of greed.
The ideology for the crusades was purposeful.
The Catholic faith must be brought to the pagans
neighboring the holy Roman Empire.
Crusaders fought in the pagan territories
for the short-term, yet,
in order to control the conquered territories,
they needed a permanent military force.
Following the example of the Knights Templar,
the first order of knights outside of the Mediterranean
was founded in Riga.
They were called the Livonian Brothers of the Sword
and were comprised of warrior monks.
- [Lars] A holy father invited us to spend the night
in a crusader camp.
My king, Valdemar the Victorious, wanted to obtain lands
along the coast of this sea.
However, what I have seen leads me to believe
that it might be not as easy as he thinks.
German merchants and crusaders were already feeling quite at
home in these lands and shared their lives with the pagans.
I saw how they split the loot after a successful raid.
Part of it was offered to the gods,
and not just by the pagans,
but by the believers of the one true God as well.
I was surprised by the actions of my brothers of the cross.
Even though there are Christians in Denmark and elsewhere
who still honor the gods of their ancestors,
to openly worship pagan gods seemed a sin.
Even the holy father pretended not to see these activities.
(moody atmospheric music)
- [Narrator] Lars' travels brings him to a town on the banks
of the river Ah, now known as the Galia.
The lands around the Galia and the Daugava were sparsely
populated by the Finno-Ugric tribes of Finns and Livonians
whose ethnic roots are the mixture of Balts, Scandinavians,
and Baltic Finns.
Although neither the Finns nor the Livonians were Balts,
the medieval history of the Baltic lands is incomplete
without the Finno-Ugric peoples of the region.
(dark atmospheric music)
Finno-Ugric peoples held an animistic world view.
Everything in nature was interconnected
and had an immortal soul.
The Balts may have adopted their myths of many goddesses
such as the earth, forest, wind and sea mothers,
directly from the Finns and Livonians.
The pagan form of god worship
was showing reverence to nature in all its forms.
It is believed that pagans didn't idolize trees, rocks
and hills as literal and tangible things.
The objects of their worship were similar to windows,
simultaneously visible and transparent.
Natural objects served as a material mediator
through which perception was connected to revelation.
(moody folk music)
- [Lars] I found myself in a large Livonian trading center
not far from a castle called Turaida,
also known as the Garden of Thor.
I exchanged a few words with the salt merchant
who had come here from the German lands.
He complained how difficult it was to trade with the pagans
because every ruler wanted to collect a fee on goods
passing through his land.
As a merchant, I understood him well and shared his hopes
that these lands would soon be brought to order.
I didn't know the many local tongues,
but this was no obstacle for trading.
Sign language was used all over the world.
- [Narrator] Goods could be paid for by barter
with valuable wax or salt which was easily measurable.
The unit of currency in the Baltic Sea region
was a roughly 200-gram piece of silver called the osse ring.
Smaller units of currency were simply chopped off of it.
The term osse ring is believed to have meant horse's ring,
as one osse ring was worth one horse.
In the 13th century Baltic Sea region,
one horse was equal to three cows, 20 sheep,
10 pigs or one slave.
- [Lars] I had decided to bring beeswax,
a famed good of pagan lands, back to Denmark.
With many forest bee trees on this side of the sea,
wax was much cheaper.
I had heard that most churches, monasteries,
and manner houses in Western Europe were lit with wax
gathered by the Balts on their routes.
I successfully traded my remaining blades and spear tips
for a few wheels of beeswax.
I was planning on making quite a fortune
by selling them in Denmark.
I wished to spend a small share of this fortune
for my own enjoyment.
In addition to high-demand goods such as furs, grains,
linen and hemp, the Turaida market also offered slave women.
Kursaitis saw a familiar face among them
and had pointed her out to me.
I was surprised to recognize the second wife
of the Galindian landlord.
She had apparently been sold into slavery.
But I couldn't imagine this woman
in either my bed or in my house.
So I chose another slave girl, pleasing to the eye and,
as the merchant claimed, subservient and obedient by nature.
(horn blows)
(peaceful atmospheric music)
I had seen enough of the pagan lands,
so it was time to return home.
I decided to head down the river
towards the port city of Riga
where I was bound to find passage to Danish lands
before the sea froze over.
- [Narrator] Riga should be viewed in a separate category
from the other cities Lars had visited on his journey.
The influx of Germanic, Gotlandic and Danish merchants
had merged two small Livonian settlements, forming Riga,
the metropolis of the future state of Livonia.
In just a few decades, Riga's dolomite wall was built
to protect merchant homesteads and warehouses, churches,
monasteries, multiple castles.
Written sources poetically describe Riga
as a colonial outpost in hostile lands,
and a Christian citadel erected boldly in Satan's territory.
(gulls squawk)
The origins of the city of Riga as a Christian center
date back to the early 13th Century,
when Christianity arrived on German merchant ships.
The merchants did not come to baptize the native pagans,
but rather, to manage trading routes
into the land of the Rus'.
The timing of the crusades was advantageous to the merchants
enabling them to help subdue these lands
under the guise of spreading Christianity.
(solemn chanting music in Latin)
Since the Livonians and the Finns were the first tribes
to encounter the merchants, they were also the first tribes
on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea
to be forced to adopt the Christian faith.
Historical evidence regarding the baptizing of local pagans
is contradictory and describes both willing
and enforced conversions to Christianity.
The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia describes a day
when Christian priests baptized the pagans in mass.
More often, however, the Christian faith was unwelcome.
The same chronicle describes the disobedience
of newly baptized Livonians who, afterwards,
cleansed themselves of the baptism in the Daugava,
believing they were sending Christianity back to Germany.
(moody folk music) (background chatter)
(water splashes)
- [Lars] It was a surprising coincidence
that I met my father's friend in Riga.
The same merchant I had already met
in the struggling town of Truso.
He told me that Riga would soon resemble
the largest cities of Denmark and Gotland.
He urged me to establish ties quickly and to make
arrangements with local German and Gotlandian merchants,
explaining that the Germans would soon take control
of the Daugava waterway,
securing the trade route to the Rus' and Constantinople.
In the marketplace, I ran over a theater performance.
It was a traveling acting company which used a translator
to present the play in the local language.
By my reckoning, the play was about the prophets
and the origins of Christianity.
But when my eyes met with pagan eyes, I could clearly see
that they did not understand the purpose of the play.
They were being shown the way to true peace and eternal life
but all they could see with their devilish eyes
was filthy entertainment that caused mad laughter.
After the long and difficult journey through the pagan lands
I was exhausted.
Obviously, my body's fluids had become corrupted, so I
decided to go to the nearby Daugavgriva Cistercian Abbey
to see the monks who knew how to heal both spirit and flesh.
(solemn chanting music in Latin)
- [Narrator] In Medieval Europe, phlebotomy or bloodletting,
was the cornerstone of early medicine.
It was a widely-recognized method of treatment
grounded in the assumption that a person was healed
after harmful fluids were drained from the body.
Bloodletting was used to treat
almost all internal and external ailments
and was also used as a preventive treatment.
- [Lars] I must say that my strength
had not yet returned to my body,
but my spirit was strong and I was ready to head home.
We were on our way back to Riga
when an unexpected misfortune befell us.
(dramatic music) (crows squawk)
(men yell)
(steel clangs)
- [Narrator] Historical records mention several raids
near the Riga city walls in early 13th Century
by Estonians from the island of Osil,
or as they are called in the Chronicles, Osilians.
They were particularly cruel towards Christians.
They tortured German preachers,
kidnapped newly-baptized Livonians, and stole their cattle.
Lars is captured and taken by ship to Estonian lands.
The Estonians are a Baltic Finno-Ugric people
related to the Livonians and the Finns
and are known as either mainlanders or islanders.
The Osilians were the most difficult
for the Christians to conquer.
In the 13th Century, Valdemar II of Denmark,
the Swedish Army and the Bishop of Riga,
with the Livonian Brothers of the Sword,
made several attempts to conquer them.
The Osilians' ability to resist the crusaders
may have been due to their military organization,
the geographic placement of Osil, or possibly,
bravery based on their belief in the protection
and might of pagan gods.
The names of various gods and deities
live on in Estonian folklore to this day.
An ancient myth says that the world spun around
an eternal tree to which the sky was nailed with stars.
The Milky Way, or as the Estonians say, the Bird's Way,
was a branch of this tree along which birds carried
the souls of the dead into other worlds.
Similar animistic myths about the structure of the world
are found in other Finno-Ugric cultures,
all the way to Lapland.
The ancient chronicles contain references
to the Estonian supreme god, Tharapita,
who flew over the sea and landed on Osil.
(flies buzz) (dark atmospheric music)
- [Lars] Unlike my less fortunate companions,
the Osilian raiders did not kill me.
I think the death of my father's friend was also
an unfortunate accident, as the scoundrels would have
received a much higher ransom for two Danish men.
Once a well-respected, honorable merchant,
I had now become a slave.
We were treated almost like cattle.
We were not treated poorly.
Though the food could have been better.
I spent several years in slavery,
and abandoned any hope that my family would ever buy me out
of this humiliating servitude.
Other prisoners,
who had already spent some times in captivity,
told me that slaves who did their work well
could even be promoted to overseer of the household.
So, I did the best I could.
I learned the local language,
by working for an Osilian blacksmith near Tuyu
where locals mined ore and smelted it into iron.
I never thought about where and how iron was obtained
when I traded blades.
The digging and smelting of swamp ore on Osil
was some of the hardest work I had ever done.
Sometimes, the furnace we had built just outside the forest
had to be pumped with bellows for several days
before the iron bits separated from the ore.
It was easier in the smithy,
where all I did was bring firewood and water,
keep the fire going in the forge,
pump bellows for several hours,
and help the blacksmith in various other ways.
In time, I came to love the blacksmith,
and he became almost like a father to me,
or perhaps even a mother.
The blacksmith was also well respected,
and held high esteem in the village.
No wonder, the horses were always shoed,
and women adorned themselves with bronze jewelry
and sewed clothes with needles.
Yet, my master's most highly esteemed skill
was that of forging weapons.
For an Osilian's life was unimaginable
without a blood-stained sword in his hand.
(men yell)
- [Narrator] Written sources describe Estonians from Osil
as the most wicked enemies of the Christianity.
The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
describes a cruel incident.
Estonians ripped out the heart
of a Christian castle overseer.
They cooked it over a fire, divided it amongst themselves,
and ate it so that they would become courageous
against Christians.
His flesh, they fed to the dogs and to the birds of the sky.
We will never know whether this really happened or was it
written to scare with the wickedness of the pagans.
(men grunt)
- [Lars] In the animal world, the weaker exist
only as food for the stronger.
The pagans thought in much the same way.
The raiders considered the settlements of other tribes
as places to be plundered for captives, cattle, weapons,
and other goods.
If they did not do so, someone else would.
I was brought along on raids as an interpreter
to negotiate ransoms with the captives' relatives.
This was not easy,
as I saw the grief and suffering we caused.
But I had learned a simple truth in my time with the pagans.
If you run with the wolves, you must howl with them.
As soon as their eyes retreated from the sea,
the Osilians went raiding.
They often joined forces with their neighbors,
the Curonians.
Returning from one of our raids,
we docked on the Curonian shore to divide the booty.
I had begun to feel like I belonged with the Osilians,
but I was sold, like a simple animal.
(moody folk music)
- [Narrator] Lars has arrived in Curonian lands.
The territory of ancient Courland consisted of several
kingdoms formed around castles or (speaks foreign language).
Scandinavian merchants and artisans
had been building settlements in Courland
since the middle of the first millennium and established
close trade relations with the nearby Gotland.
Yet, written sources mention wars and raids between
the Curonians, Swedes and Danes more frequently than trade.
(dark atmospheric music) (people whine)
For several centuries,
the Curonians partially ruled the Baltic Sea,
but from the 13th Century onwards,
North German merchants took advantage of the crusades
to gain control of the old trade routes
that later turned into the Hanseatic League.
Sensing that their former might was fading,
the Curonians attacked the Christian center, Riga, in 1210.
After a three-day siege, crusader reinforcements arrived,
forcing the Curonians to retreat.
They gathered their fallen and spent three more days nearby,
mourning and burning their dead.
- [Lars] The Curonians were like wild beasts.
They would not give up their forest and be domesticated
to live like cattle with foreign masters.
But they had learned the same simple truth I had.
If you can't beat them, join them.
Hoping to avoid terrible bloodshed,
and endless battles against the Germans, Danes and Swedes,
the Curonians adopted the Christian faith
with the Pope's blessing.
(moody folk music)
Yet it was clear to me that the Curonians only called
themselves Christians to fool their foreign masters,
because the pagans were not about to forget
their ancestral gods.
Moreover, at the time of the winter solstice,
I witnessed the Curonians hunting in their sacred forest
where, during the previous year, they never killed a beast,
nor did they fell a single tree.
During the solstice, the shortest day of the year,
the pagans wore masks,
believing they held the spirits of their ancestors,
which let them communicate with their dead relatives
and the gods of nature.
Lamikins had heard that the neighboring tribe, Samogitians,
were preparing a battle against the German crusaders.
So he offered to sell a large number of weapons
to the Samogitian Duke, Vykintas.
Although they often quarreled and warred,
this was no obstacle to a mutually beneficial deal.
I would laugh, if I weren't crying,
at how remarkably and insistently
fate kept throwing obstacles in my way.
Lamikins sold me for a wine skin full of expensive wine.
(somber atmospheric music)
And so, in the winter of the year of our lord, 1235,
I was sent to Samogitia,
along with a Curonian shipment of weapons.
Duke Vykintas rode ahead with his riders and village elders,
and we followed behind more slowly,
as we were encumbered by the amount of goods.
On the way, I once again realized
that the given word was not to be trusted.
The Samogitians could expect kindness, hospitality
and care from Lamikins, but despite the agreed upon truce,
my companions attacked simple Curonian folk
fishing on the ice and robbed them of their catch.
But such was the custom and the Curonians
would not have acted any differently, given the opportunity.
Our path was difficult and dangerous,
as the ice had become fragile after the thaw.
It was no surprise that it could not hold so many people,
and some of us fell through.
One unfortunate man met his end in the icy water.
If he was baptized, he would have been brought
back to his family for a proper burial.
But nobody cared about the body of a pathetic servant.
So, we left him to the wolves.
- [Narrator] Lars, now a carrier of goods,
was on the road to Samogitian lands.
As the story suggests, many of the Baltic peoples
fought fiercely against the preachers of Christianity.
Samogitia too was turned into a battlefield during the
crusades and they fought fiercely for 200 years to hold back
the expansion of the State of Teutonic Order.
The Samogitians are considered to be the last pagan tribe
of Europe, adopting Christianity only in the 15th Century.
Their settlements were surrounded by thick forests
and deep, expansive marshes with hidden underwater paths,
known only to the locals,
and providing good defense against invaders.
This terrain was easier to traverse during the winter.
So most trading and fighting usually occurred then.
- [Lars] I reached the Samogitian village
during time of mourning.
After all I had seen in the pagan lands,
the sight did not surprise me.
The body of the deceased was dressed in ceremonial clothes
and footwear and was seated at the table with the living,
taking part in the funeral feast
while his kin ate, drank and feasted.
People lamented throughout the evening,
and the relatives wailed and listed
the worldly possessions of the deceased.
Namely his wife, children, sheep, cows, horses, geese
and other goods.
They drank all night and asked the deceased
to pass their regards onto their friends in the beyond.
I suppose the deceased was the only one silent.
I was still a stranger, so I was not allowed to come near.
I watched from afar as they finished their drinks
and tossed the vessels into the grave
along with a loaf of bread, some salt and weapons.
I heard talk of a fee the deceased would have to pay
the ferryman for passage across the underworld river.
So they placed jewelry and silver coins next to the ashes.
After so many years in the pagan lands,
I no longer knew to whom I belonged.
The Christians or the pagans?
I sometimes wondered whether the pagan gods
weren't just part of our one great God,
and whether their sacred hills and forests
weren't like churches and their solstice festivals
celebrations of the birth of our savior.
These thoughts frightened me, so I fended them off,
for they will surely condemn me to hell, as a Christian.
(horn blows)
A large force of crusaders had landed on the seashore.
Seeking allies, Samogitian Duke, Vykintas,
sent envoys to the neighboring Semigallian region of Tarta
hoping to make an alliance and to devise a plan
with his former rivals to drive the crusaders off.
Strange feeling came over me when I heard
the crusaders' war efforts were succeeding.
Was this my chance to regain my freedom?
- [Narrator] In the 13th Century, Semigallian tribes
were governed by two main castle districts.
Thervetene and Mesyote.
The Semigallians and their neighbors, the Samogitians,
were fierce enemies and often waged war against each other.
The crusades put these old conflicts to rest and many
Semigallians fleeing the crusaders migrated to Samogitia.
(tense percussive music)
- [Lars] This was not the first time I saw the pagans
use divination to reveal their future.
They threw animal bones in the fire and watched
the direction of the smoke and looked for images
which would foretell whether to fight or stay at home.
(men speak foreign language)
The Samogitians had come to the Semigallians
with an offer to join forces and attack the crusaders,
who, after raiding Lithuanian lands, were about to return
to Riga to sail home to North Germany before the winter.
This attack was meant to defeat the brothers of the cross,
once and for all.
And here was my chance to escape servitude.
The Samogitian lord said to me, "We want to decide
"for ourselves how to live and which gods to worship.
"Not to live under the rule of foreign conquerors.
"Lars, come fight with us and I will set you free
"for the rest of your days."
What was I to do?
What sins had I committed
that God, in his almighty judgment, should punish me so?
That remained a mystery to me.
I spent many nights praying to God to have mercy on me.
My prayers went unanswered,
and I sometimes thought my lord had abandoned me.
But now, armed with a spear and marching into battle,
against my brothers in faith,
I smelled the scent of the forest and the taste of blood,
and freedom began to pulsate in my old veins.
We knew we would face the entire army of crusaders
and Sword Brothers, but there were many of us, too.
Maybe four or 5,000 Lithuanians,
Samogitians and Semigallians, outnumbering our enemy.
Our plan was to strike at dawn,
using the marshy terrain to our advantage.
- [Narrator] The archives contain several descriptions
of the events of the Battle of Schaulen,
directly translated, Battle of the Sun.
The most prevalent belief is that the pagan army
cut the crusaders off.
Volkwin, the Master of the Brothers of the Sword, had warned
the crusaders of the impending danger and the battle.
But the exhausted knights and mercenaries
disregarded the advice and set up camp for the night.
The pagan army launched a sudden attack the next morning,
catching the crusaders off guard.
Having lost the advantage of a significant cavalry, the
surrounded Brothers of the Sword and crusaders were killed.
The slaughter was so quick and brutal
that the Brothers of the Sword became the source
of mockery in the Livonian Grand Chronicle,
the most famous surviving written record of the time.
It is believed that most of the mercenaries, Germans,
Latgalians, Livonians, Estonians and Rus' of Pskov
were overwhelmed by the pagan forces
and fled the battlefield.
Their retreat was cut off and they were slain
by the strategically-placed Semigallians.
(somber atmospheric music)
The Order of the Brothers of the Sword
was crushed in the Battle of the Schaulen,
but new armies soon replaced them.
Faith has not been kind to the Baltic peoples.
In the centuries to come, the eastern shores
of the Baltic Sea would see foreign powers come and go,
but the Baltic peoples maintained their unique identity
based in nature and the land,
never losing their desire for freedom.
What kept them from perishing?
Was it their ability to adapt when necessary?
Was it their ability to hide in dark forests
and wait out the war games of kings and powerful neighbors?
But perhaps it was the strength, persistence,
spite and will of their ancestors to survive.
- [Lars] I am no longer here.
But nothing is over.
I was only part of a larger story,
and that story will continue.
The blood in our veins flows from the past
throughout human history.
Times change.
People's lives and customs change.
Our knowledge of the order of the world
and our values change.
But human nature remains the same.
These natural laws have ruled us for thousands of years.
Looking back, we are faced with shadows of the past asking,
"Will we water the roots of the tree of life
"with blood or clear water?"
(solemn chanting music in foreign language)
(moody folk music)