Glappo (or Glappe) (baptized as ''Charles'' or ''Carolus'') was the leader of

Warmians Warmians (also ''Warmi'') were a Prussian tribe that lived in Warmia ( pl, Warmia, la, Varmia, german: Ermland, lt, Varmė), a territory which now mostly forms part of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland, with a small northern portion l ...

, one of the Prussian clans, during the

Great Prussian Uprising The Prussian uprisings were two major and three smaller uprisings by the Old Prussians, one of the Baltic tribes, against the Teutonic Knights that took place in the 13th century during the Prussian Crusade. The crusading military order, suppo ...

(1260–1274) against the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...

. In 1249 Pope

Urban IV Pope Urban IV ( la, Urbanus IV; c. 1195 – 2 October 1264), born Jacques Pantaléon, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1261 to his death. He was not a cardinal; only a few popes since his time hav ...

had installed the papal legate Jacob Pantaleon to aid the Teutonic Order and after the battle at the Durbe, the pope called for a crusade against the Prussians and sent knights who were on their way against the

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

back to the crusades against the Prussians. During those crusades and as a result the unbaptized parts of the Prussians began uprisings and Glappo and his men successfully captured Braniewo, Braunsberg. When Glappo ambushed and killed forty people who left the castle to gather firewood and fodder, the Bishop of Warmia decided against trying to defend the town and abandoned it. In 1266 large reinforcements for the Teutonic Knights, led by Otto III and John I, co-rulers of Margraviate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg, arrived to Prussia. They built a castle on the border of Warmian and Natangians, Natangian lands between Balga and Königsberg and named it Brandenburg (now Ushakovo, Kaliningrad Oblast, Ushakovo). When a native woman informed Glappo that most of the soldiers were away on a raid and the place is practically unguarded, Warmians attacked and captured the outer walls and the towers. When Teutonic soldiers returned, they did not try to recapture the castle. The very next year Duke Otto was back to rebuild the castle. Glappo was killed trying to recapture Brandenburg. In 1273, at the very end of the uprising, Warmians besieged Brandenburg, but did not put sufficient guards on the road from Königsberg. This allowed the Knights to attack the Prussians from the rear. Warmians suffered a crushing defeat and Glappo was captured. He was later hanged on a hill outside Königsberg that is sometimes referred to as "Glappo's hill" (''Glappenberg'').Urban, William. ''The Prussian Crusade'', 331–332. He was the last important Prussian leader, and after his death only Pogesanians were left fighting.

References

{{Prussian leaders 1273 deaths Old Prussian people People from Prussia proper Pagans of the Prussian Crusade Executed German people Year of birth unknown People executed by hanging People executed by the Holy Roman Empire Pagan martyrs