About Skomantas

a warrior, a pagan priest and a bard who lived the tales he told

Who was this man the chroniclers of the XIII century call variously Scumand, Scumandus or Scomond? The chroniclers were either Teuton or Slav and did not know how to pronounce the names of their Baltic enemies. The tales and the place- names have preserved the proper version. It is-

A name which resonates through the centuries.  Spoken softly, a name to be used when invoking  the Baltic Gods.

Skomantas was the most renown of the Sudovian war leaders.  For over thirty years he fought the Teutons who were invading Prussia, he repeatedly raided deep into Mazurian and Russian lands. And he was a venerated pagan priest as well. A magician, some of the chroniclers call him, not forgetting to add that it was black magic he practiced and that Satan himself was his associate. For how else could it be explained that with a small band of men h repeatedly struck deep into the conquered lands of the Teutonic Knights, raided monasteries and castles, and disappeared as completely and silently as the morning mist. Arrows and sword thrusts were said to bounce off him, but his own sword always struck true.

Is there any wonder there were tales?   Winter evenings are long in the northern Baltic lands and when the big freezes locked the land, even such tenacious enemies as the Teutonic Knights did not venture forth from their stone keeps. For months on end winter would impose an uneasy truce, the Teutons sat shivering in their stone castles, the pagans were considerably better off in their more easily heated log-built strongholds. So in the castle halls of the thanes, in the smoky cottages of the Prussian free-holders, and even in the shacks of slaves tales were told of events which had occurred during the struggle that had raged for many generations. Tales of brave pagan leaders such as Skomantas, Vykintas or Monte, tales of exceptional warriors such as Daubaras, Uvis and Skalve, and of seers like Alkius or Medeina who had a gift to discern the fates foreordained by the gods. And it was said that Skomantas kept a captured scribe who committed the best of these tales to parchment and that one of the many secrets of magic he possessed was the ability to write himself...
 

Some of these tales are being published now. They are available in Lithuanian and Latvian, languages which are quite close to the old Prussian which was Skomantas' native tongue. Several have been translated to English as well. If you have some questions or comments about the tales, please write to the adress bellow:

skomantas@erols.com,
or simply click on the line below:
SKOMANTAS, Tales of the Last Pagans

If you do not know Old Prussian, Lithuanian, Latin or Medieval German, all languages that Skomantas spoke, you can write in English. We do have learned translators.