Aleksander Pluskowski (ed.). Environment, Colonisation, and the Baltic Crusader States. Terra Sacra I. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019; Aleksander Pluskowski (ed.). Ecologies of Crusading, Colonisation, and Religious Conversion in the Medieval Baltic. Terra Sacra II. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019

Abstract

The publication under review consists of two sizeable volumes that summarise the results of the international project “The Ecology of Crusading: The Environmental Impact of Conquest, Colonisation and Religious Conversion in the Medieval Baltic” (2010–2014). The research was conducted in several selected districts in Prussia and Livonia which were governed by the Teutonic Order; there a detailed study of aspects such as vegetation, farming, hunting, fishing, settlement life, reorganisation of the landscape, and environmental impact of the conquest was conducted and viewed in the context of Christianisation. One of the conclusions reached is that the conquering theocracy in the eastern Baltic pursued a complex and at times contradictory interaction between ideology and paragmatism. The abundance of facts, analysis, and views provided by the publication reveals many new aspects of how the Ordensland actually functioned. The analysis of palynological data deserves to be mentioned specially: through the cooperation of archaeologists, historians, and experts of natural sciences, this field considerably broadens our knowledge about the specific society and its impact on environment. The publication presents some aspects that need to be discussed further as well as aspects that show the need for and opportunities of further research.