Matthäus Prätorius (c.1635–c.1704) was a
Protestant pastor, later a Roman Catholic
priest, a
historian and
ethnographer.
Prätorius is thought to have been born in
Memel (Klaipėda). He probably grew up speaking both
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
and
Lithuanian
Lithuanian may refer to:
* Lithuanians
* Lithuanian language
* The country of Lithuania
* Grand Duchy of Lithuania
* Culture of Lithuania
* Lithuanian cuisine
* Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...
, which helped him when preaching to the
ethnic Lithuanians in
Ducal Prussia. His work about
Prussia and its culture, ''Deliciae Prussicae, oder Preussische Schaubühne'', resembles the work of
Christoph Hartknoch
Christoph Hartknoch (1644–1687) was a Prussian historian and educator.
Biography
Hartknoch was born in Jablonken (Jabłonka) near Ortelsburg (Szczytno) in the Duchy of Prussia. In 1650 the family moved to Passenheim (Pasym) and there witn ...
, with whom he collaborated. Prätorius' work provides much more ethnographic information regarding local Lithuanians and
Old Prussians. It was only published partially, in 1725 (in ''Erleutertes Preußen''), 1731 (in ''Acta Borussica'') and 1871. A complete edition, in seven volumes, with original German text and Lithuanian translation, is under preparation in Lithuania.
In 1701, having converted from
Protestantism to
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
, he appealed against an ongoing case of
witch-hunt. He died in