Kriwe
Sign in to saveKriwe Kriwaito (, ) or simply Kriwe (, ) was the chief priest in the old Baltic religion. Known primarily from the dubious 16th-century writings of Simon Grunau, the concept of kriwe became popular during the times of romantic nationalism. However, lack of reliable written evidence has led some researchers to question whether such pagan priest actually existed. The title was adopted by Romuva, the neo-pagan movement in Lithuania, when Jonas Trinkūnas was officially installed as krivių krivaitis in October 2002.
Article
5 sectionsContents
- Written sources
- Interpretations
- Etymology
- Authenticity
- References
Kriwe Kriwaito (, ) or simply Kriwe (, ) was the chief priest in the old Baltic religion. Known primarily from the dubious 16th-century writings of Simon Grunau, the concept of kriwe became popular during the times of romantic nationalism. However, lack of reliable written evidence has led some researchers to question whether such pagan priest actually existed. The title was adopted by Romuva, the neo-pagan movement in Lithuania, when Jonas Trinkūnas was officially installed as krivių krivaitis in October 2002.
==Written sources== thumb|A man with krywule as drawn by Matthäus Prätorius Peter of Dusburg wrote about kriwe in his chronicle Chronicon terrae Prussiae finished in 1326. According to him, kriwe lived in Romuva and was respected as a Catholic pope not only by the Old Prussians but also by other Baltic tribes. His envoys carried a certain rod (Latin: baculum) or another symbol and commanded respect both from the nobles and the paupers. Kriwe could see dead people and describe them to the relatives. After a military victory, people would donate a third of their loot to kriwe who burned it. The same information was repeated by Dusburg's translator Nikolaus von Jeroschin who added that it was kriwe who maintained the sacred eternal flame and translated kriwe as "the highest judge".