Prussia and the Old Prussians : one of the last bastions of paganism in christian Europe

This article attempts to present the Old Prussian tribes and the territories they inhabited. The author addresses the question, who exactly were the Old Prussians, where they lived and how they differed from the modem Prussians. The article describes the Old Prussians in the context of their paganism and Christianization. The description is supported by a reference to Ancient and Medieval historical sources. The author also addresses the issues related to the wars led by the Old Prussians against the Polish Kingdom and Lithuania mentioned in the Chronica Polonomm by Wincenty Kadtubeg and by Callus Anonymus. The final part of the article focuses on the depiction of the Old Prussian tribes and their settlements based on the Chronicon Terrae Pmssiae by Peter of Dusburg. The author aims at providing an etymological explanation of the names of certain provinces, some of which contained relics of the Old Prussian language and provides the reader with an assessment of the pagan tribes from the point of view of a Teutonic Knight, to finally conclude that the Old Prussian language died out together with its users, or had been abandoned, as the Old Prussian speakers underwent Germani- zation