The Teutonic Knights by Henryk Sienkiewicz

CATHOLIC READERS MEETING JULY 10, 2005
THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS BY HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ
Present: Regina (new member), Br. Peter, Dave, Peter, Mary(guest), Imelda, Georgia.
BP- What sort of person would you give this book to, with it’s medieval culture, and accent on the Church.
R-I think this was one of the most powerful times in Polish history. It’s a very accurate description of the times. The Teutonic Knights, however, were not good examples of Christians. Conrad invited them into the country, probably because of all the goods they brought with them, but nobody else wanted them.
Im- I think the book is compelling on several levels: it’s a great presentation of Polish history, a good description of knightly culture, as well as the social structure. When you compare the Teutonic knights with the other knights in the book, the Polish ones had more integrity, and were less like an army.
G- I like historical fiction-you get to know the people more. If this was just a history book, we’d read someone’s definition of a knight. But in this book, we actually get to know the knights.
R- When the Teutonic knights came home from the crusades nobody wanted them, they didn’t fit in.
BP-This is the same after every war- like Vietnam vets for instance, being unable to settle down…
G- Or after W W1, "How you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm, after they’ve seen Paree"
R- It seems that with all the knights, honor was most important..
P- And that’s the cause of all the problems!
Im- Polish history really comes through. I like the way these knights functioned in the culture, though it seems they were always ready for a fight. There were so many wars…
BP- nothing changes!!…
Im-…we also get to see the social structure.. what was this king the king of?
R- Lithuania, then he married a Polish noble woman- a very holy woman.
Im- There’s also good character development, for instance, (maybe this is further along in the book than some have gotten…) when Zbyszko realizes that he needs more than just physical strength, he needs wisdom as well.
BP-The book brings out how powerful paganism still was. Part of the problem was things such as this royal marriage where a pagan nation (Lithuania) was united to a Christian one (Poland) through marriage. Then all the people in Lithuania were "baptized", but the pagan culture remained.
Im There were still some superstitions even in Poland.
P- This is where state religions came to be.
G-You can baptize someone but they also need to be catechized and evangelized, which takes a long time.
BP- We also see whole countries being baptized when they are the losers in war- a conqueror brought his religion with him. This was not true of Judaism- which mainly fought off new religions.
G- We can see this is the Old Testament in Maccabees, when they refused to take on Greek culture and religion.
Im When the queen died did Catholicism remain in Lithuania?
R- You have to remember that the people of Lithuania largely were of Indian descent- their language was based on the Sanskrit of India, as well as their religion, they were sun worshippers. But Catholicism remained until the time of communism, which completely overtook it, so that if you were openly a believer, you couldn’t get a job or go to school. Polish missionaries were very active there, and helped to re-Christianize them after the fall of communism.
D- The Teutonic Knights were a military order. The top-down approach to evangelization is not the way of the Gospel- especially today’s gospel of the seed being sowed in various soil. Maybe at the time it was the only way it could be done. The problem we have today is that religion is a social thing, not involving conversion.
G The idea of Catholic cultures is very obvious in a place like Chicago, where each culture has its own ways of worship, and devotions, and family life.
R- There were monastic orders of knights, that were evangelizing, not fighting
P- The Teutonic Knights seemed to be anti-culture..
BP- St Benedict was very aware of the problems of bringing cultures into monastery life- for him, as in all monasteries, everyone was equal. Some governments still want to get monasteries on board, to use for their own purposes, like education. In the Old Testament when a conqueror brought a new god the culture didn’t necessarily change.
P- The fact that Sunday is a day of worship goes back to the ‘sun-god’. The Teutonic knights had a code, a sense of culture.
BP We can see the Holy Spirit at work over the years.
D- The Benedictines, compared with military orders, shows the Christian way of peace vs. the world’s where there is much spilled blood. Ultimately all military orders were suppressed. When Christian orders are suppressed, they bounce back.
G- When you (Br.Peter) said governments want to get monasteries on board, what did you mean?
BP As late as the 19th century Emperor Joseph wanted control of monasteries, but the separation of church and state had pretty much been the rule since the Reformation began to pull them apart.
G Maybe that was one good thing that came from the Reformation?
(Discussion by Imelda and Regina on the organization of the Teutonic Knights in Malbork, where if one was a monk and also a knight he wasn’t allowed to take part in one-on-one battles. There was powerful structure in this organization, with high-geared forces which were in wars most of the time. There were also racial wars, each robbing from the other.)
G- I was impressed with the managerial skills of the young Jagienka- it reminded me of Kristin Lavransdatter. I think today’s women could learn much here, about how important the running of a home is, including the rearing of children.
R- Women generally want God to be praised.
BP The presentation of these women is powerful.
R and BP-noted the telling of time by prayers, and how long it took to say them.
For next month we will read to page 500.
Regina is of Lithuanian descent via Poland, and is very helpful in our learning the pronunciation of Polish names. For those not present, I will try to sound them out for you on paper: Sienkiewicz = shin key’ vitch (my apostrophe will serve as an accent mark)
Macko = match’ ko
Zbyszko = zBis’ ko
Bogdaniec = bog dahn’ yets
Jadwiga= yad vee’ ga
Jagiello =ya gee’ lo
Zych of Zgorzelice = zick of zGorza lee’ cha
Jagienka = ya gun’ ka
Powala of Taczewo = pa va’ la of tock zay’ vo
Jurand of Spychow = yur’ and of spee ha’ vo
Danusia is a nickname for Danuta
W is pronounced V
J is pronounced