The Battle of Strėva, Strebe, or Strawe was fought on 2 February 1348 between the Teutonic Order and the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the banks of the Strėva River, a right tributary of the Neman River, near present-day Žiežmariai. Chronicler Wigand of Marburg publicized this battle as a great victory for the Knights: he claims that some 18,000 Lithuanians were killed or drowned while only 8 knights and 60 other soldiers died on the Order's side. Narimantas and Manvydas, two sons of Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, are thought to be killed in the battle.
Monument located at the site of the battle.
The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society c. 1190 in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, having historically served as a crusading military order for supporting Catholic rule in the Holy Land and the Northern Crusades during the Middle Ages, as well as providing military protection for Catholics in Eastern Europe.
The Order's Marienburg Castle, Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, now Malbork, Poland
Hermann von Salza, the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (1209–1239)
Tannhäuser in the habit of the Teutonic Knights, from the Codex Manesse
Frederick II allows the order to invade Prussia, by P. Janssen