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Brass of Kuno von Liebensteyn, Teutonic Knight. Poland, c.1400.



Gotycka plyta nagrobna Kunona von Liebenstein, mosiezna, powstala przed 1407 rokiem o wymiarach: dlugosc: 260 cm, szerokosc: 140 cm. Wmurowana w filarze pod chórem w 1921 roku. Pierwotnie byla usytuowana w posadzce kosciola pod Lukiem Teczowym, oddzielajacym nawe od prezbiterium. Plyta przedstawia rycerza Zakonu Krzyzackiego, wielkiego komtura, a u schylku zycia wójta bratianskiego, zmarlego w pazdzierniku 1391 roku pochowanego w kosciele w Nowym Miescie. Plyta nagrobna zlozona jest z kilkunastu plytek, których polaczenia przecinaja kompozycje rysunkowa. Na obrzezach plyty widnieje lacinski napis zredagowany w jezyku lacinskim, w minuskule gotyckiej: „HIC IACET DOMINUS KUNE DE LIBENSTEEN QUI FUIT ADVOCATUS IN BRATIAN QUI OBIIT ANNO DOMINI MCCCXCI IN FERIA QUINTA OCTO DIES POST FESTUM SANCTI BORCHARDI AMEN” (tu lezy pan Kuno von Liebenstein, który byl rzecznikiem w Bratianie, zmarl w 1391 roku w czwartym dniu po uroczystosci swietego Burcharda (20 pazdziernika). Amen). Z innych zachowanych zródel pisanych wiadomo, ze rycerz urodzil sie okolo 1340 roku daleko w Niemczech, nad Renem. W 1383 roku zostal on w zakonie krzyzackim wielkim komturem. Byc moze chory po kilku latach zrezygnowal z tej godnosci i zostal wójtem na zamku w Bratianie. Tam – jak wynika z tresci napisu na plycie - zmarl 20 pazdziernika 1391 roku w wieku 51 lat. W czterech naroznikach umieszczone sa w medalionach symbole ewangelistów. Posrodku plyty wyryta jest postac rycerza Zakonu Krzyzackiego w pelnym rynsztunku bojowym, depczacego lwa (to w jezyku sredniowiecznej symboliki mialo swiadczyc o jego mestwie) i otoczonego dziewiecioma aniolami o rozpostartych skrzydlach. Osiem aniolów podtrzymuje 4 herby: ojca, matki, babci ze strony ojca i babci ze strony matki. Srodkowy na obloku trzyma w rekach wstege z napisem herr Kune de Libensteen. Plyta stanowi fundacje wielkiego mistrza Konrada von Jungingen, która mozna laczyc z checia podkreslenia zaslug Kunona dla Zakonu Krzyzackiego. Projektantem plyty byl slynny krzyzacki artysta Piotr z Malborka.
Source: powiat nowomiejski

The Gothic plate tomb-marker of Kuno von Liebenstein, brass, was made before 1407 with dimensions: length: 260 cm, width: 140 cm. Built in a pillar under the choir in 1921. It was originally located in the church floor under the Rainbow Arch, separating the nave from the presbytery. The plate depicts a knight of the Teutonic Order, a grand commander, and at the end of his life commander of Bratian Castle, who died in October 1391, buried in a church in the New Town. The plate tomb-marker is composed of a dozen or so tiles whose connections cut the drawing composition. On the periphery of the plates there is a Latin inscription in Gothic minuscule: "HIC IACET DOMINUS KUNE DE LIBENSTEEN QUI FUIT ADVOCATUS IN BRATIAN QUI OBIIT ANNO DOMINI MCCCXCI IN FERIA QUINTA OCTO DIES POST FESTUM SANCTI BORCHARDI AMEN", (here lies who was a spokesman in Bratian, died in 1391 on the fair four days after the feast of Saint Burchard (October 20) Amen)]. It is known from other preserved written sources that the knight was born around 1340 far away in Germany, on the Rhine. In 1383 he became a grand commander of the Teutonic Order. Perhaps after a few years sick he resigned from this dignity and became the head of the castle in Bratian. There - according to the inscription on the plate - he died on October 20, 1391 at the age of 51. Evangelists' symbols are placed in medallions in four corners. In the centre of the plate is the figure of a knight of the Teutonic Order in full combat gear, trampling a lion (it was supposed to testify to his bravery in medieval symbolism) and surrounded by nine angels with outstretched wings. Eight angels support 4 coats of arms: father, mother, grandmother on the father's side and grandmother on the mother's side. The middle one on a cloud is holding a ribbon with the inscription 'herr Kune de Libensteen'. The plate constitutes the foundation of the grand master Konrad von Jungingen, which can be combined with the desire to highlight the merits of Kuno for the Teutonic Order. The plate was designed by the famous Teutonic artist Piotr from Malbork.





Name: Kuno von Libensteyn
Dating: 1400
Location: Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland
Source: Verein für Historische Waffenkunde. 1902. Zeitschrift für historische Waffenkunde. Volume 2. Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt / effigies and brasses



Referenced as figure 98. TEUTONIC KNIGHT c. 1400 in Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 2 by Ian Heath
... brethren of the Order wore a white jupon marked with a black cross, apparently with silver piping, as depicted here. Except for his Hundsgugel (‘hound’s hood’) helmet, this particular figure is from the brass of Kuno von Liebensteyn, Komtur of Strassburg 1389-91, and portrays typical late-14th/early-15th century armour of the type that most of the Order’s knights doubtless wore at Tannenberg in 1410; the cloak is unlikely to have often been worn in battle, though at Tannenberg the Hochmeister, Ulrich von Jungingen, appears to have worn his over his gilt armour (perhaps to conceal it and thus make himself somewhat less conspicuous). Fra Kuno’s shield is white with a black cross like his jupon, and is of a type with a prominent raised central rib that originated in Lithuania (see figure 142). It seems to have been the principal type of shield used by the Order by the late-14th century




See also a Fresco of Teutonic Knights, Lochstedt, East Prussia, c.1390.
Other 14th century Illustrations of Costume and Soldiers