Central places of the Curonian and Prussian tribes during the years of cultural change (1200-1400)

ENThe area from the Gulf of Riga up to the mouth of the River Vistula, with approximately 600 km of the Baltic coast, was inhabited by kindred western Baltic cultural tribes: the Curonians and the Prussians. The collision the Baltic tribes experienced with European civilisation in the 13th century was very painful and destructive. Thus, it is quite crucial to identify what fragments and aspects of the Baltic tribes survived this collision, and to explain how they were integrated into the Teutonic Order State, which is presently known in European history under the names of Livonia and Prussia. One such aspect (discussed by only a few archaeologists), relates to the political-administrative system and social structures of the Baltic tribes that survived during the rule of the Teutonic Order. The transformation and decline that occurred within the southern Curonian castles and central places after the arrival of the Teutonic Knights, has already been described,1 where this phenomenon was shown to have been much more complicated than had previously been thought. In addition, the various old political and administrative ruling centres of the Western Balts functioned very differently from the middle of the 13th century within the Order’s political and administrative structure. [p. 345].