page_title: Prussian Lithuanians
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Prussian Lithuanians / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: Illustartion from book: Prussian Lithuanian, or An Introduction to the Origin of Names, the Baptizing of Children, and Weddings... written by Theodor Lepner. Theodor Lepner Der Preusche Littauer, oder Vorstellung der Nahmens-Herleitung, Kind-Tauffen, Hochzeit… Danzig: bey J. Meinrich Ruedigern, 1744. 152 p., [1] illustr. l.
context_page_description: The Prussian Lithuanians, or Lietuvininkai, are Lithuanians, originally Lithuanian language speakers, who formerly inhabited a territory in northeastern East Prussia called Prussian Lithuania, or Lithuania Minor, instead of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, later, the Republic of Lithuania. Prussian Lithuanians contributed greatly to the development of written Lithuanian, which for a long time was considerably more widespread and in more literary use in Lithuania Minor than in Lithuania proper.
  Unlike most Lithuanians, who remained Roman Catholic after the Protestant Reformation, most Lietuvininkai became Lutheran-Protestants.
  There were 121,345 speakers of Lithuanian in the Prussian census of 1890. Almost all Prussian Lithuanians were executed or expelled after World War II, when East Prussia was divided between Poland and the Soviet Union. The northern part became the Kaliningrad Oblast, while the southern part was attached to Poland. Only the small Klaipėda Region was attached to Lithuania.
context_section_description: The territory where Prussian Lithuanians lived in ancient times was inhabited by the Old Prussian, Skalvian and Curonian tribes. The area between the rivers Alle and Neman became almost uninhabited during the 13th-century Prussian Crusade and wars between the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Order. This uninhabited area was named the wilderness in chronicles. Local tribes were resettled, either voluntary or by force, in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the 1422 Treaty of Melno, a stable border between the two states was established. Better living conditions in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights attracted many Lithuanians and Samogitians to settle there. Masurians and Curonians began moving into Prussia around the same time.
  After 1525, the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albert became duke of Prussia and converted to Protestantism. Many Prussian Lithuanians also became Protestants. By the will of Albert, church services for Prussian Lithuanians were held in the Lithuanian language. Although Lithuanians who settled in Prussia were mainly farmers, in the 16th century there was an influx of educated Protestant immigrants from Lithuania, such as Martynas Mažvydas, Abraomas Kulvietis and Stanislovas Rapolionis, who became among the first professors at Königsberg University, founded in 1544. Martynas Mažvydas was a zealous Protestant and urged citizens to stop all contact between Prussian Lithuanians and Lithuanians living in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a bid to curtail Catholic influence in the country.
  In 1708, the Kingdom of Prussia was devastated by plague, especially its easternmost part, where Prussian Lithuanians lived. About 50% of Prussian Lithuanians died. To compensate for the loss, King Frederick II of Prussia invited settlers from Salzburg, the Palatinate, and Nassau to repopulate the area. Many of these Lutherans were members of the Pietism movement, which then spread among Prussian Lithuanians. In 1811 a teacher's seminary for Prussian Lithuanians was established in Karalene near Insterburg, which remained open until 1924. From the mid-18th century, a majority of Prussian Lithuanians were literate; in comparison, the process was much slower in the Grand Duchy.
caption: Prussian Lithuanians in 1744
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