Of cabbages and knights: trade and trade treaties with the infidel on the northern frontier, 1200–1390

Abstract

Lithuania, the pagan frontier of medieval Europe, was the object of Crusades organized by the military monastic Teutonic Order. Yet, because this warfare had to be financed partly by trade which depended on routes through pagan-held territory, the Lithuanians sometimes became the Crusaders' business partners in an economic relationship supported by papal privileges and papal prohibitions directed at the Order's economic rivals. Treaties were made which offered the protection of a limited peace to merchants from Lithuania and the Order's lands in Livonia and Prussia, yet at the same time allowed the warriors of both sides to continue fighting. This paper summarizes the evidence for trade and trade-related treaties between the pagan Lithuanians and their enemies the Teutonic Knights. New theories are presented concerning: (i) penitential fines in the Baltic area for Church-prohibited trade; (ii) papal attitudes towards trade with Baltic pagans; (iii) a diminishment of trade after 1358 during a period of intensified attacks which may have contributed to the Lithuanian ruler's acceptance of baptism in 1387. The footnotes include extensive quotes from the sources and extensive bibliography on new work in the area of medieval Lithuanian history.