1.
State of the Teutonic Order
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The state was based in Prussia after the Orders conquest of the Pagan Old Prussians which began in 1230. It expanded to include at various times Courland, Gotland, Livonia, Neumark and its territory was in the modern countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. Most of the territory was conquered by military orders, after which German colonization occurred to varying effect, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword controlling Terra Mariana were incorporated into the Teutonic Order as its autonomous branch Livonian Order in 1237. In 1346, the Duchy of Estonia was sold by the King of Denmark for 19,000 Köln marks to the Teutonic Order, the shift of sovereignty from Denmark to the Teutonic Order took place on 1 November 1346. Following its defeat in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 the Teutonic Order fell into decline, the Teutonic lands in Prussia were split in two after the Peace of Thorn in 1466. The western part of Teutonic Prussia was converted into Royal Prussia, the monastic state in the east was secularized in 1525 during the Protestant Reformation as the Duchy of Prussia, a Polish fief governed by the House of Hohenzollern. The Livonian branch continued as part of the Livonian Confederation until its dissolution in 1561, the Old Prussians withstood many attempts at conquest preceding that of the Teutonic Knights. Bolesław I of Poland began the series of unsuccessful conquests when he sent Adalbert of Prague in 997, in 1147, Bolesław IV of Poland attacked Prussia with the aid of Kievan Rus, but was unable to conquer it. Numerous other attempts followed, and, under Duke Konrad I of Masovia, were intensified, the West-Baltic Prussians successfully repelled most of the campaigns and managed to strike Konrad in retaliation. However, the Prussians and Yotvingians in the south had their territory conquered, the land of the Yotvingians was situated in the area of what is today the Podlaskie Voivodeship of Poland. The Prussians attempted to oust Polish or Masovian forces from Yotvingia and Culmerland, Konrad of Masovia had already called a crusade against the Old Prussians in 1208, but it was not successful. Konrad, acting on the advice of Christian, first bishop of Prussia, established the Order of Dobrzyń, the Order, however, was soon defeated and, in reaction, Konrad called on the Pope for yet another crusade and for help from the Teutonic Knights. As a result, several called for crusades against the Old Prussians. The crusades, involving many of Europes knights, lasted for sixty years, in 1211, Andrew II of Hungary enfeoffed the Teutonic Knights with the Burzenland. In 1225, Andrew II expelled the Teutonic Knights from Transylvania, early in 1224, Emperor Frederick II announced at Catania that Livonia, Prussia with Sambia, and a number of neighbouring provinces were under Imperial immediacy. This decree subordinated the provinces directly to the Roman Catholic Church, at the end of 1224, Pope Honorius III announced to all Christendom his appointment of Bishop William of Modena as the Papal Legate for Livonia, Prussia, and other countries. As a result of the Golden Bull of Rimini in 1226, the Knights began the Prussian Crusade in 1230. Under their governance, woodlands were cleared and marshlands made arable, upon which many cities and villages were founded, the cities were heavily fortified, accounting for the long lasting conflicts with the resistive native Old Prussians, with armed forces under command of the knights
2.
Council of Constance
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The Council of Constance is the 15th century ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418. The council ended the Western Schism, by deposing or accepting the resignation of the remaining papal claimants, the Council also condemned Jan Hus as a heretic and facilitated his execution by the civil authority. It also ruled on issues of sovereignty, the rights of pagans. The Council is important for its relationship to ecclesial Conciliarism and Papal supremacy, the councils main purpose was to end the Papal schism which had resulted from the confusion following the Avignon Papacy. After thirty years of schism, the Council of Pisa had sought to resolve the situation by deposing the two claimant popes and elected a new pope, Alexander V. The council claimed that in such a situation, a council of bishops had greater authority than just one bishop, therefore, many voices, including Sigismund, King of the Romans and of Hungary, pressed for another council to resolve the issue. That council was called by John XXIII and was held from 16 November 1414 to 22 April 1418 in Constance, according to Joseph McCabe, the council was attended by roughly 29 cardinals,100 learned doctors of law and divinity,134 abbots, and 183 bishops and archbishops. Sigismund arrived on Christmas Eve 1414 and exercised a profound and continuous influence on the course of the council in his capacity of imperial protector of the Church, an innovation at the Council was that instead of voting as individuals, the bishops voted in national blocs. The vote by nations was in great measure the work of the English, German, the four nations consisted of England, France, Italy, and Germany, with Poles, Hungarians, Danes, and Scandinavians counted with the Germans. While the Italian representatives made up half of those in attendance, they were equal in influence to the English, many members of the new assembly strongly favored the voluntary abdication of all three popes, as did King Sigismund. Although the Italian bishops who had accompanied John XXIII in large numbers supported his legitimacy, partly in response to a fierce anonymous attack on his character from an Italian source, on 2 March 1415 he promised to resign. However, on 20 March he secretly fled the city and took refuge at Schaffhausen in territory of his friend Frederick, haec Sancta Synodus marks the high-water mark of the Conciliar movement of reform. The Church declared the first sessions of the Council of Constance an invalid and illicit assembly of bishops, the acts of the Council were not made public until 1442, at the behest of the Council of Basel, they were printed in 1500. The creation of a book on how to die was ordered by the council, in part because of the constant presence of the King, other rulers demanded that they have a say in who would be pope. This would pave the way for the end of the Western Schism, on 4 July 1415 the Bull of Gregory XII which appointed Malatesta and Cardinal Dominici of Ragusa as his proxies at the council was formally read before the assembled Bishops. The cardinal then read a decree of Gregory XII which convoked the council, thereupon, the Bishops voted to accept the summons. Prince Malatesta immediately informed the Council that he was empowered by a commission from Pope Gregory XII to resign the Papal Throne on the Pontiffs behalf and he asked the Council whether they would prefer to receive the abdication at that point or at a later date. The Bishops voted to receive the Papal abdication immediately, former Pope Gregory XII was then created titular Cardinal Bishop of Porto and Santa Ruffina by the Council, with rank immediately below the Pope
3.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
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The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 13th century until 1795. The state was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija, the Grand Duchy later expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus and other Slavic lands, including territory of present-day Belarus, parts of Ukraine, Poland and Russia. At its greatest extent in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe and it was a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state with great diversity in languages, religion, and cultural heritage. Consolidation of the Lithuanian lands began in the late 12th century, Mindaugas, the first ruler of the Grand Duchy, was crowned as Catholic King of Lithuania in 1253. The pagan state was targeted in the crusade by the Teutonic Knights. The multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state emerged only at the reign of Gediminas. The reign of Vytautas the Great marked both the greatest territorial expansion of the Grand Duchy and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 and it also marked the rise of the Lithuanian nobility. After Vytautass death, Lithuanias relationship with the Kingdom of Poland greatly deteriorated, Lithuanian noblemen, including the Radvila family, attempted to break the personal union with Poland. However, the unsuccessful Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow forced the union to remain intact, eventually, the Union of Lublin of 1569 created a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In this federation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania maintained its political distinctiveness and had separate government, laws, army, shortly after, the unitary character of the state was confirmed by adopting the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. The newly reformed Commonwealth was invaded by Russia in 1792 and partitioned between the neighbours, with a truncated state remaining only nominally independent, after the Kościuszko Uprising, the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and Austria in 1795. The Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania name the name of the state as Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogitia. The title of Grand Duchy was consistently applied to Lithuania from the 14th century onward, in the 12th century, Slavic chronicles refer to Lithuania as one of the areas attacked by the Rus. Pagan Lithuanians initially paid tribute to Polotsk, but they grew in strength. The sudden spark of military raids marked consolidation of the Lithuanian lands in Aukštaitija, the Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights, crusading military orders, were established in Riga in 1202 and in Prussia in 1226. The Christian orders posed a significant threat to pagan Baltic tribes, the peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia of 1219 provides evidence of cooperation between Lithuanians and Samogitians. This treaty lists 21 Lithuanian dukes, including five senior Lithuanian dukes from Aukštaitija, although they had battled in the past, the Lithuanians and the Žemaičiai now faced a common enemy. Likely Živinbudas had the most authority and at least several dukes were from the same families, the formal acknowledgment of common interests and the establishment of a hierarchy among the signatories of the treaty foreshadowed the emergence of the state
4.
Teutonic Order
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The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious order founded as a military order in the 12th century in Acre. Purely religious since 1929, it still confers limited honorary knighthoods, the order was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Formed in the year 1190 in Acre, in the Levant, after Christian forces were defeated in the Middle East, the Order moved to Transylvania in 1211 to help defend the South-Eastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary against the Kipchaks. Starting from there, the Order created the independent Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights, adding continuously the conquered Prussians territory, the Order theoretically lost its main purpose in Europe with the Christianization of Lithuania. However, it initiated numerous campaigns against its Christian neighbours, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Novgorod Republic. The Teutonic Knights had an economic base, and so hired mercenaries from throughout Europe to augment their feudal levies. In 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle of Grunwald, however, the capital of the Teutonic Knights was successfully defended in the following Siege of Marienburg and the Order was saved from collapse. In 1515, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I made an alliance with Sigismund I of Poland-Lithuania. Thereafter, the empire did not support the Order against Poland, in 1525, Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg resigned and converted to Lutheranism, becoming Duke of Prussia as a vassal of Poland. Soon after, the Order lost Livonia and its holdings in the Protestant areas of Germany, the Order did keep its considerable holdings in Catholic areas of Germany until 1809, when Napoleon Bonaparte ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings. However, the Order continued to exist as a charitable and ceremonial body and it was outlawed by Adolf Hitler in 1938, but re-established in 1945. Today it operates primarily with charitable aims in Central Europe, the Knights wore white surcoats with a black cross. A cross pattée was sometimes used as their coat of arms, the motto of the Order was, Helfen, Wehren, Heilen. The full name of the Order in German is Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem or in Latin Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum, thus, the term Teutonic refers to the German origins of the order in Latin. It is commonly known in German as the Deutscher Orden, historically also as Deutscher Ritterorden, Deutschherrenorden, Deutschritterorden or Die Herren im weißen Mantel. However, based on the model of the Knights Templar, it was transformed into an order in 1198. It received papal orders for crusades to take and hold Jerusalem for Christianity, during the rule of Grand Master Hermann von Salza the Order changed from being a hospice brotherhood for pilgrims to primarily a military order. The Order was founded in Acre, and the Knights purchased Montfort, northeast of Acre, the Order also had a castle at Amouda in Armenia Minor
5.
Jogaila
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Jogaila, later Władysław II Jagiełło was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and then the King of Poland, first alongside his wife Jadwiga until 1399, and then sole King of Poland. He ruled in Lithuania from 1377, born a pagan, in 1386 he converted to Catholicism and was baptized as Władysław in Kraków, married the young Queen Jadwiga, and was crowned King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło. In 1387 he converted Lithuania to Christianity and his own reign in Poland started in 1399, upon the death of Queen Jadwiga, and lasted a further thirty-five years and laid the foundation for the centuries-long Polish–Lithuanian union. He was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland that bears his name and was also known as the Gediminid dynasty in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The dynasty ruled both states until 1572, and became one of the most influential dynasties in medieval and early modern Central. During his reign, the Polish-Lithuanian state was the largest state in the Christian world, Jogaila was the last pagan ruler of medieval Lithuania. After he became King of Poland, as a result of the Union of Krewo, the reign of Władysław II Jagiełło extended Polish frontiers and is often considered the beginning of Polands Golden Age. Little is known of Jogailas early life, and even his year of birth is uncertain, previously historians assumed he was born in 1352, but some recent research suggests a later date—about 1362. He was a descendant of the Gediminid dynasty and was born in Vilnius. His parents were Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his wife, Uliana, daughter of Alexander I. At first, Jogaila—like his father—based his rule in the southern and eastern territories of Lithuania, while his uncle, Kęstutis, Jogailas succession, however, soon placed this system of dual rule under strain. At the start of his reign, Jogaila was preoccupied with unrest in the Lithuanian Rus lands, in 1377–78, Andrei of Polotsk, the eldest son of Algirdas, challenged Jogailas authority and sought to become Grand Duke. In 1380, Andrei and another brother, Dmitry, sided with Prince Dmitri of Moscow against Jogailas alliance with emir Mamai, de facto khan of the Golden Horde. Jogaila failed to support Mamai, lingering in the vicinity of the battlefield, however, in 1380 Muscovy was greatly weakened by tremendous losses suffered during the battle and thus, in the same year, Jogaila was free to begin a struggle for supremacy with Kęstutis. In the north-west, Lithuania faced constant armed incursions from the Teutonic Knights—founded after 1226 to fight, in 1380, Jogaila secretly concluded the secret Treaty of Dovydiškės, directed against Kęstutis. When Kęstutis discovered the plan, the Lithuanian Civil War began and he seized Vilnius, overthrew Jogaila, and pronounced himself grand duke in his place. In 1382, Jogaila raised an army from his fathers vassals, Kęstutis and his son Vytautas entered Jogailas encampment for negotiations but were tricked and imprisoned in the Kreva Castle, where Kęstutis was found dead, probably murdered, a week later. Vytautas escaped to the Teutonic fortress of Marienburg and was baptised there under the name Wigand, however, when Jogaila failed to ratify the treaty, the Knights invaded Lithuania in the summer of 1383
6.
Vytautas
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Vytautas, also known as Vytautas the Great from the 15th century onwards, was one of the most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which chiefly encompassed the Lithuanians and Ruthenians. He was also the Prince of Hrodna, Prince of Lutsk, in modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revered as a national hero and was an important figure in the national rebirth in the 19th century. Vytautas is a male given name in Lithuania. In commemoration of the 500-year anniversary of his death, Vytautas Magnus University was named after him, monuments in his honour were built in many towns in the independent Republic of Lithuania during the interwar period, from 1918–1939. Vytautas uncle Algirdas had been Grand Duke of Lithuania until his death in 1377, Algirdas and Vytautas father Kęstutis had practically ruled jointly, with Algirdas governing the east and Kęstutis the west, primarily responsible for defense against the Teutonic Order. Algirdas was succeeded by his son Jogaila, and a struggle for power ensued, in 1380, Jogaila signed the secret Treaty of Dovydiškės with the Teutonic Order against Kęstutis. When Kęstutis discovered this in 1381, he seized Vilnius, imprisoned Jogaila, however, Jogaila escaped and raised an army against Kęstutis. The two sides confronted each other but never engaged in battle, Kęstutis was ready to negotiate, but he and Vytautas were arrested and transported to Kreva Castle. One week later, Kęstutis was found dead, whether he died of natural causes or was murdered is still a matter of debate. In 1382, Vytautas escaped from Kreva and he sought help from the Teutonic Order, who were negotiating with Jogaila at the time. Jogaila and the Order agreed to the Treaty of Dubysa, by which Jogaila promised to accept Christianity, become an ally of the Order, however, the treaty was never ratified. In summer 1383, the war between Jogaila and the Order resumed, Vytautas was baptised as a Catholic, receiving the name of Wigand. Vytautas participated in raids against Jogaila. In January 1384, Vytautas promised to cede part of Samogitia to the Teutonic Order, however, in July of the same year, Vytautas broke with the Order and reconciled with Jogaila. He then burned three important Teutonic castles, and regained all Kęstutis lands, except for Trakai, in 1385, Jogaila concluded the Union of Krewo with Poland, under which he married Jadwiga of Poland and became King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło. Vytautas participated in the Union and in 1386 was re-baptised as a Catholic, Jogaila left his brother Skirgaila as regent in Lithuania. However, Skirgaila was unpopular with the people and Vytautas saw an opportunity to become Grand Duke, in 1389, he attacked Vilnius but failed. In early 1390, Vytautas again allied with the Teutonic Order, Vytautas had to confirm his agreement of 1384, and cede Samogitia to the Order
7.
Gollub War
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The Gollub War was a two-month war of the Teutonic Knights against the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1422. It ended by signing the Treaty of Melno, which resolved disputes between the Knights and Lithuania over Samogitia that had dragged on since 1398. The First Peace of Thorn of 1411 had ostensibly ended conflicts between the powers of the Polish-Lithuanian–Teutonic War, although the border between Samogita and Prussia was not determined. Poland also contested Pomerania, Pomerelia, and Culmerland, when numerous attempts at negotiations failed, a brief Hunger War broke out in summer 1414. Since Poles and Lithuanians were unable to capture strongly fortified Ordensburgen of the Knights, the Council established the Samogitian Diocese in Varniai and appointed Matthias of Trakai as its first bishop. However, it did not solve the territorial disputes by the time it ended in 1418. A new, but futile, round of negotiations started in May 1419 in Gniewków with papal legate Bartholomew Capri, archbishop of Milan, the dispute was then passed to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor for further mediation. On January 6,1420 in Wrocław the emperor delivered his decision that Peace of Thorn was valid and that meant that Samogitia belonged to Lithuania only for the lifetime of Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Jogaila, King of Poland. After their deaths Samogitia was to return to the Teutonic Knights, other territorial claims were also rejected. The emperor granted the Knights even more rights than they demanded in negotiations and this decision was probably influenced by the fact that Sigismund hoped to receive support from the Teutonic Knights in his war with the Hussites, who were supported by Vytautas. Vytautas and Jogaila categorically refused to accept this decision, Jogaila unsuccessfully appealed to the Pope Martin V. In July 1422, the Emperor Sigismund and the Teutonic Knights devoted resources to a war against the Hussites, the pope called for strong measure to get rid of this plague. Vytautas and Jogaila used the pre-occupation with defense against the Hussite raids by attacking Prussia, Teutonic Grand Master Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg was forced to resign in March. His successor Paul von Rusdorf released most of the hired mercenaries, joint Polish and Lithuanian forces marched north to Osterode, Teutonic forces retreated to Löbau. When it became clear that siege engines would not arrive, Jogaila ordered an advance towards the Orders fortified capital of Marienburg and his army captured Riesenburg and pillaged surrounding villages. Heading south to Chełmno Land, the Poles and Lithuanians then captured Gollub, Jogaila decided to end the war quickly before the overwhelmed Prussian troops of the Order could receive reinforcements from the Holy Roman Empire that Paul von Rusdorf had requested. A truce was signed on September 17,1422, and the war concluded ten days later with the Treaty of Melno and this ended the territorial disputes and fights between Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights. Poland, however, resumed fighting with the Order once again in 1431–1435 when the Order supported Švitrigaila and not Polish-backed Sigismund Kęstutaitis as the successor of Vytautas
8.
Teutonic Knights
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The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious order founded as a military order in the 12th century in Acre. Purely religious since 1929, it still confers limited honorary knighthoods, the order was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Formed in the year 1190 in Acre, in the Levant, after Christian forces were defeated in the Middle East, the Order moved to Transylvania in 1211 to help defend the South-Eastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary against the Kipchaks. Starting from there, the Order created the independent Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights, adding continuously the conquered Prussians territory, the Order theoretically lost its main purpose in Europe with the Christianization of Lithuania. However, it initiated numerous campaigns against its Christian neighbours, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Novgorod Republic. The Teutonic Knights had an economic base, and so hired mercenaries from throughout Europe to augment their feudal levies. In 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle of Grunwald, however, the capital of the Teutonic Knights was successfully defended in the following Siege of Marienburg and the Order was saved from collapse. In 1515, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I made an alliance with Sigismund I of Poland-Lithuania. Thereafter, the empire did not support the Order against Poland, in 1525, Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg resigned and converted to Lutheranism, becoming Duke of Prussia as a vassal of Poland. Soon after, the Order lost Livonia and its holdings in the Protestant areas of Germany, the Order did keep its considerable holdings in Catholic areas of Germany until 1809, when Napoleon Bonaparte ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings. However, the Order continued to exist as a charitable and ceremonial body and it was outlawed by Adolf Hitler in 1938, but re-established in 1945. Today it operates primarily with charitable aims in Central Europe, the Knights wore white surcoats with a black cross. A cross pattée was sometimes used as their coat of arms, the motto of the Order was, Helfen, Wehren, Heilen. The full name of the Order in German is Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem or in Latin Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum, thus, the term Teutonic refers to the German origins of the order in Latin. It is commonly known in German as the Deutscher Orden, historically also as Deutscher Ritterorden, Deutschherrenorden, Deutschritterorden or Die Herren im weißen Mantel. However, based on the model of the Knights Templar, it was transformed into an order in 1198. It received papal orders for crusades to take and hold Jerusalem for Christianity, during the rule of Grand Master Hermann von Salza the Order changed from being a hospice brotherhood for pilgrims to primarily a military order. The Order was founded in Acre, and the Knights purchased Montfort, northeast of Acre, the Order also had a castle at Amouda in Armenia Minor
9.
Scorched earth
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A scorched earth policy is a military strategy that targets anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. Specifically, all of the assets that are used or can be used by the enemy are targeted, such as sources, transportation, communications, industrial resources. The practice can be carried out by the military in enemy territory and it may overlap with, but is not the same as, punitive destruction of the enemys resources, which is done for purely strategic/political reasons rather than strategic/operational reasons. The strategy of destroying the food and water supply of the population in an area of conflict has been banned under Article 54 of Protocol I of the 1977 Geneva Conventions. The Scythians used scorched earth methods against King Darius the Great of Persia, the Scythians, who were nomadic herders, retreated into the depths of the Steppes, destroying food supplies and poisoning wells. Many of Darius troops died from starvation and dehydration, the Greek general Xenophon records in his Anabasis that the Armenians burned their crops and food supplies as they withdrew before the advance of the Ten Thousand. The Greek mercenary general Memnon suggested to the Persian Satraps the use of the scorched earth policy against Alexander as he moved into Asia Minor, the system of punitive destruction of property and subjugation of people when accompanying a military campaign was known as vastatio. Two of the first uses of scorched earth recorded both happened in the Gallic Wars, after the Helvetii were defeated by a combined Roman-Gallic force, the Helvetii were forced to rebuild themselves on the shattered German and Swiss plains they themselves had destroyed. The second case shows actual military value, during the Great Gallic War the Gauls under Vercingetorix planned to lure the Roman armies into Gaul and then trap, to this end, they ravaged the countryside of what are now the Benelux countries and France. This did cause problems for the Romans, but Roman military triumphs over the Gallic alliance showed that this alone was not enough to save Gaul from subjugation by Rome. During the Second Punic War in 218–202 BC, the Carthaginians used this method selectively while storming through Italy, after the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC, the Roman Senate also elected to use this method to permanently destroy the Carthaginian capital city, Carthage. The buildings were torn down, their stones scattered so not even rubble remained, however, the story that they salted the earth is apocryphal. Julian might expect, that a conqueror, who possessed the two instruments of persuasion, steel and gold, would easily procure a plentiful subsistence from the fears or avarice of the natives. But, on the approach of the Romans, the rich, the Danes left Chester next year and marched into Wales. In the Harrying of the North, William the Conquerors solution to stop a rebellion in 1069 was the brutal conquest, williams men burnt whole villages from the Humber to Tees, and slaughtered the inhabitants. Food stores and livestock were destroyed so that surviving the initial massacre would soon succumb to starvation over the winter. The destruction is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, the survivors were reduced to cannibalism, with one report stating that the skulls of the dead were cracked open so that the brains could be eaten. Between 100,000 and 150,000 perished and the area took centuries to recover from the damage, during the Hundred Years War, both the English and the French conducted chevauchée raids over the enemy territory to damage its infrastructure
10.
Battle of Grunwald
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The Battle of Grunwald, First Battle of Tannenberg or Battle of Žalgiris, was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. Most of the Teutonic Knights leadership were killed or taken prisoner, the knights, however, would never recover their former power, and the financial burden of war reparations caused internal conflicts and an economic downturn in the lands under their control. The battle shifted the balance of power in Central and Eastern Europe and marked the rise of the Polish–Lithuanian union as the dominant political and military force in the region. The battle was one of the largest in Medieval Europe and is regarded as the most important victory in the histories of Poland, Belarus and it has been used as a source of romantic legends and national pride, becoming a larger symbol of struggle against foreign invaders. During the 20th century the battle was used in Nazi and Soviet propaganda campaigns, only in recent decades have historians moved towards a dispassionate, scholarly assessment of the battle, reconciling the previous narratives, which differed widely by nation. Władysław II Jagiełło referred to the site in Latin as in loco conflictus nostri, quem cum Cruciferis de Prusia habuimus, later Polish chroniclers interpreted the word Grunenvelt as Grünwald, meaning green forest in German. The Lithuanians followed suit and translated the name as Žalgiris, the Germans named the battle after Tannenberg. Thus there are three commonly used names for the battle, German, Schlacht bei Tannenberg, Polish, Bitwa pod Grunwaldem, Lithuanian, there are few contemporary, reliable sources about the battle, and most were produced by Poles. The most important and trustworthy source is Cronica conflictus Wladislai regis Poloniae cum Cruciferis anno Christi 1410 and its authorship is uncertain, but several candidates have been proposed, Polish deputy chancellor Mikołaj Trąba and Władysław II Jagiełłos secretary Zbigniew Oleśnicki. While the original Cronica conflictus did not survive, a summary from the 16th century has been preserved. Another important source is Historiae Polonicae by Polish historian Jan Długosz and it is a comprehensive and detailed account written several decades after the battle. The reliability of this source not only from the long gap between the events and the chronicle, but also Długoszs biases against the Lithuanians. Banderia Prutenorum is a manuscript with images and Latin descriptions of the Teutonic battle flags captured during the battle and displayed in Wawel Cathedral. Other Polish sources include two letters written by Władysław II Jagiełło to his wife Anne of Cilli and Bishop of Poznań Wojciech Jastrzębiec, German sources include a concise account in the chronicle of Johann von Posilge. A recently discovered letter, written between 1411 and 1413, provided important details on Lithuanian maneuvers. In 1230 the Teutonic Knights, a military order, moved to Chełmno Land. With support from the pope and Holy Roman Emperor, the Teutons conquered and converted the Prussians by the 1280s, for about 100 years the Knights raided Lithuanian lands, particularly Samogitia, as it separated the Knights in Prussia from their branch in Livonia. While the border became an uninhabited wilderness, the Knights gained very little territory
11.
Samogitia
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Samogitia or Žemaitija is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. Žemaitija is located in northwestern Lithuania, Žemaitija has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect. Ruthenian sources mentioned the region as жемотьская земля, samotska semla, this rise to its Polish form, Żmudź. In Latin texts, the name is written as Samogitia, Samogetia etc. The area has long known to its residents and to other Lithuanians exclusively as Žemaitija. The region is known in English as Lower Lithuania or, in reference to its Yiddish names. The largest city is Šiauliai, or Klaipėda if the latter is considered in the region, telšiai is the capital, although Medininkai was once the capital of the Duchy of Samogitia. Samogitian has northern and southern subdialects, after World War II, the territory of the western subdialect was resettled mainly by northern and southern Žemaičiai and by other Lithuanians. Samogitian has an intonation similar to that of the Latvian language. Žemaitija is one of the most ethnically homogeneous regions of the country, during the first part of 19th century, Žemaitija was a major center of Lithuanian culture. The local religion is predominantly Roman Catholic, although there are significant Lutheran minorities in the south, the modern concept of dialectological Žemaitija appeared only by the end of 19th century. The territory of ancient Samogitia was much larger than current ethnographic or dialectological Žemaitija and embraced all of central, the very term Samogitians is a Latinized form of the ancient Lithuanian name for the regions lowlanders, who dwelt in Central Lithuanias lowlands. The original subethnic Samogitia, i. e. the Central Lithuanias flat burial grounds culture, was formed as early as the 5th-6th centuries, before that, it was inhabited by southern Semigallians and southern Curonians. The western part of historical Žemaitija became ethnically Lithuanian between the 13th and 16th centuries, the primal eastern boundary of historical Samogitia was the Šventoji River since the end of the 13th century. Because during the 13th through 16th centuries the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order bordered Žemaitija, as such, Samogitian territory was offered to these orders, or exchanged in peace treaties, a number of times. Lithuania would then regain Žemaitija during subsequent conflicts, for more than two hundred years, old Samogitia played a central role in Lithuania’s wars against the crusading order of the Teutonic Knights. Invasions started in Lithuania in 1229, combined military forces undertook numerous campaigns against Samogitians and Lithuanians. Saule, Skuodas, Durbe, Lievarde are just a few of the battles took place
12.
Prussia (region)
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Prussia is a historical region stretching from Gdańsk Bay to the end of Curonian Spit on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea, and extending inland as far as Masuria. The territory and inhabitants were described by Tacitus in Germania in AD98, about 800–900 years later the Aesti were named Old Prussians, who since AD997 repeatedly successfully defended against take-over attempt by the newly created Duchy of the Polans. The territory of the Prussians and neighboring Couronians and Livonians was in the 1230s under Papal Order established as Teutonic Order State, Prussia was politically divided in the period 1466-1772, with western Prussia under protection of the crown of Poland-Lithuania and eastern Prussia a Polish fief until 1660. It is famous for many lakes, as well as forests, since the military conquest by the Soviet Army in 1945 and the expulsion of the inhabitants it divided between northern Poland, Russias Kaliningrad exclave, and southwestern Lithuania. The former German state of Prussia derived its name from the region, the area was settled by the bearers of the Corded Ware culture in the 4th millennium BC. These were presumably the early Indo-European speakers which in the Baltic would diversify into the Satem branch which would give rise to the Balts as the speakers of the Baltic languages. The Balts would have differentiated into Western and Eastern Balts in the late centuries BC. The Greek explorer Pytheas may have referred to the territory as Mentenomon, a river to the east of the Vistula was called the Guttalus, perhaps corresponding to the Nemunas, the Łyna, or the Pregola. In 98 AD Tacitus described one of the tribes living near the Baltic Sea as Aestiorum gentes, the Vikings started to penetrate the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea in the 7th and 8th centuries. The largest trade centres of the Prussians, such as Truso and Kaup, Prussians used the Baltic Sea as a trading route, frequently travelling from Truso to Birka. At the end of the Viking Age, the sons of Danish king Harald Bluetooth and they destroyed many areas in Prussia, including Truso and Kaup, but failed to dominate the population totally. A Viking presence in the area was less dominant and very much less than imperial. According to a legend, recorded by Simon Grunau, the name Prussia is derived from Pruteno, the chief priest of Prussia and brother of the legendary king Widewuto, who lived in the 6th century. The regions of Prussia and the tribes are said to bear the names of Widewutos sons — for example. The territory was identified as Brus in the 8th-century map of the Bavarian Geographer. The name has nothing to do with the fact the region is situated between the present day countries of Poland and Russia, therefore merging the two names to create Prussia. The Old Prussians spoke a variety of languages, with Old Prussian belonging to the Western branch of the Baltic language group, meanwhile, the big part of later Prussia, west of Vistula and south of Osa rivers, has been inhabited by Lechitic tribes. In the first half of the 13th century, Bishop Christian of Prussia recorded the history of an earlier era
13.
Vytautas the Great
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Vytautas, also known as Vytautas the Great from the 15th century onwards, was one of the most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which chiefly encompassed the Lithuanians and Ruthenians. He was also the Prince of Hrodna, Prince of Lutsk, in modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revered as a national hero and was an important figure in the national rebirth in the 19th century. Vytautas is a male given name in Lithuania. In commemoration of the 500-year anniversary of his death, Vytautas Magnus University was named after him, monuments in his honour were built in many towns in the independent Republic of Lithuania during the interwar period, from 1918–1939. Vytautas uncle Algirdas had been Grand Duke of Lithuania until his death in 1377, Algirdas and Vytautas father Kęstutis had practically ruled jointly, with Algirdas governing the east and Kęstutis the west, primarily responsible for defense against the Teutonic Order. Algirdas was succeeded by his son Jogaila, and a struggle for power ensued, in 1380, Jogaila signed the secret Treaty of Dovydiškės with the Teutonic Order against Kęstutis. When Kęstutis discovered this in 1381, he seized Vilnius, imprisoned Jogaila, however, Jogaila escaped and raised an army against Kęstutis. The two sides confronted each other but never engaged in battle, Kęstutis was ready to negotiate, but he and Vytautas were arrested and transported to Kreva Castle. One week later, Kęstutis was found dead, whether he died of natural causes or was murdered is still a matter of debate. In 1382, Vytautas escaped from Kreva and he sought help from the Teutonic Order, who were negotiating with Jogaila at the time. Jogaila and the Order agreed to the Treaty of Dubysa, by which Jogaila promised to accept Christianity, become an ally of the Order, however, the treaty was never ratified. In summer 1383, the war between Jogaila and the Order resumed, Vytautas was baptised as a Catholic, receiving the name of Wigand. Vytautas participated in raids against Jogaila. In January 1384, Vytautas promised to cede part of Samogitia to the Teutonic Order, however, in July of the same year, Vytautas broke with the Order and reconciled with Jogaila. He then burned three important Teutonic castles, and regained all Kęstutis lands, except for Trakai, in 1385, Jogaila concluded the Union of Krewo with Poland, under which he married Jadwiga of Poland and became King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło. Vytautas participated in the Union and in 1386 was re-baptised as a Catholic, Jogaila left his brother Skirgaila as regent in Lithuania. However, Skirgaila was unpopular with the people and Vytautas saw an opportunity to become Grand Duke, in 1389, he attacked Vilnius but failed. In early 1390, Vytautas again allied with the Teutonic Order, Vytautas had to confirm his agreement of 1384, and cede Samogitia to the Order
14.
Neman River
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It begins at the confluence of two smaller tributaries, about 15 kilometers southwest of the town of Uzda in central Belarus, and about 55 km southwest of Minsk. In its lower reaches it forms the border between Lithuania and Russias Kaliningrad Oblast and it also, very briefly, forms part of the border between Lithuania and Belarus. The fourteenth-largest river in Europe, the largest in Lithuania, and the third-largest in Belarus, the Neman is navigable for most of its 900 km length. The Neman/Nemunas river basin formed during the Quaternary period, and is located roughly along the edge of the last glacial sheet and its depth varies from 1 meter in its upper courses to 5 meters in the lower basin. From west to east, the largest settlements are Sovetsk/Tilsit, Neman/Ragnit, Kaunas, Alytus, Druskininkai, Grodno, the total length of the Nemunas/Neman is 914 km. It is the 14th longest river in Europe and the 4th longest in the Baltic Sea basin, over its entire length,436 km flows in Belarus and 359 km in Lithuania. A116 km stretch is the border between Lithuania and Russias Kaliningrad oblast and its greatest depth is 5 m, and at its widest it extends about 500 m. The Nemunas/Neman is a river, it flows at about 1 to 2 m/s. During floods, water discharge can increase up to 11-fold, to more than 6,800 m3/s, severe floods occur on the lower reaches of the river about every 12 –15 years, which sometimes wash out bridges. The Nemunas/Neman is an old river, dating back to the last glacial period and its valley is now up to 60 meters deep and 5 km broad. It has about 105 first-class tributaries, the largest being the rivers Neris, Shchara, fifteen of the tributaries are longer than 100 km. In the complete Nemunas/Neman basin, there are tributaries extending to the 11th order, the Nemunas basin in Lithuania drains more than 20,000 rivers and rivulets and covers 72% of Lithuanias territory. The total area of the Nemunas/Neman basin is 98,200 km2,34,610 km2 of which are within Belarus, valley of Neman in Grodno Region is the lowest point above sea level in Belarus at 80 to 90 m. The river has lent its name to a Neolithic subculture, originally based on hunting, fishing, the city of Memel, now in Lithuania, is known today as Klaipėda. On German road maps and in German lexika, only the 112-kilometer section within Prussia was named Memel, the border between the State of the Teutonic Order and Lithuania was fixed in 1422 by the Treaty of Lake Melno and remained stable for centuries. The Treaty of Tilsit between Napoleon and Czar Alexander I was signed on a raft in the river in 1807, napoleons crossing at the outset of the 1812 French invasion of Russia is described in War and Peace. In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles made the river the border separating the Memel Territory from German East Prussia as of 1920, at that time, Germanys Weimar Republic adopted the Deutschlandlied as its official national anthem. In the first stanza of the song, written in 1841, Lithuanian and Polish literature often mention the Nemunas
15.
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
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Sigismund von Luxembourg was the leader of the last West European Crusade - the Crusade of Nicopolis of 1396. Afterwards he founded the Dragon Order to fight the Turks and he was regarded as highly educated, spoke several languages and was an outgoing person who also took pleasure in the tournament. He was named after Saint Sigismund of Burgundy, the saint of Sigismunds father. From Sigismunds childhood he was nicknamed the fox in the Crown of Bohemia. King Louis named him as his heir and appointed him his successor as King of Hungary, King Wenceslaus also gave him Neumark to facilitate communication between Brandenburg and Poland. Instead, the landlords of Lesser Poland gave it to Marys younger sister Jadwiga I of Poland, on the death of her father in 1382, his betrothed, Mary, became queen of Hungary and Sigismund married her in 1385 in Zólyom. The next year, he was accepted as Marys future co-ruler by the Treaty of Győr, Sigismunds mother-in-law was strangled, while Mary was liberated. Having secured the support of the nobility, Sigismund was crowned King of Hungary at Székesfehérvár on 31 March 1387. Having raised money by pledging Brandenburg to his cousin Jobst, margrave of Moravia, the central power was finally weakened to such an extent that only Sigismunds alliance with the powerful Czillei-Garai League could ensure his position on the throne. The restoration of the authority of the administration took decades of work. Not until 1395 did Nicholas II Garay succeed in suppressing them, Mary died heavily pregnant in 1395. To ease the pressure from Hungarian nobles, Sigismud tried to employ foreign advisors, which was not popular, however, this was not applied to Stibor of Stiboricz, who was Sigismunds closest friend and advisor. On a number of occasions, Sigismund was imprisoned by nobles, in 1396 Sigismund led the combined armies of Christendom against the Turks, who had taken advantage of the temporary helplessness of Hungary to extend their dominion to the banks of the Danube. This crusade, preached by Pope Boniface IX, was popular in Hungary. Sigismund set out with 90,000 men and a flotilla of 70 galleys, after capturing Vidin, he camped with his Hungarian armies before the fortress of Nicopolis. Sultan Bayezid I raised the siege of Constantinople and, at the head of 140,000 men, the disaster in Nicopolis angered several Hungarian lords, leading to instability in the kingdom. However, he was unable to support Wenceslaus when he was deposed in 1400, on his return to Hungary in 1401, Sigismund was imprisoned once and deposed twice. In 1401 Sigismund helped an uprising against Wenceslaus, during the course of which the Bohemian king was taken prisoner, and Sigismund ruled Bohemia for nineteen months
16.
Heinrich von Plauen
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For the similarly named Grand Master, see Heinrich Reuß von Plauen. Heinrich von Plauen was the 27th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights and he is famous for saving Castle Marienburg after the Orders defeat in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. He wanted to war with Poland and for that reason was removed from the office by Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg. Because all male members of his family were baptized as Heinrich, he is known as Heinrich von Plauen the Elder to differentiate from his relative. Von Plauen was born in Vogtland, between Thuringia and Saxony, von Plauen arrived in Prussia around 1390 as the Orders guest, but later became a full member. He did not hold any important positions until 1402 when he became the Komtur of Nessau and he was promoted to Komtur of Schwetz in 1407. Von Plauen did not take part in the Battle of Grunwald on July 15,1410, upon receiving the news of the Orders defeat, he took the initiative and assembled an army of 3,000 men to defend Marienburg, capital of the Order. He correctly suspected that it was where the victorious Polish and Lithuanian armies were headed and he also sent letters, acting as the Grand Master, to Germany asking for additional troops and money. Von Plauen arrived at Marienburg on time and energetically organized the defense, the Siege of Marienburg started on July 18 and remained until September 19,1410. The King of Poland, Jogaila, did not expect strong resistance and was not prepared for a long-term siege. The siege, holding Jogailas army in place, helped to organize forces in other parts of Prussia and gave time for relief to arrive from the Livonian Order. Von Plauen ordered his forces to pursue the retreating Polish army, von Plauen inherited a difficult task of rebuilding Orders fortresses, restoring the economy, recruiting new Knights, and defending the Orders reputation in Europe. Von Plauens major diplomatic accomplishment was signing the Peace of Thorn on February 1,1411, the peace was rather favorable to the Order, it retained its core territories. The Order assigned Samogitia to Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great for his, after their death Samogitia was to return to the Order. The border was not decided by the peace – an international commission was to further negotiations. Poland received Dobrzyń Land and Kuyavia, the Order was to pay a large ransom for prisoners of war and war indemnity, equivalent to six million Prague groschen, in four installments. To raise the money for the first installment, von Plauen called representatives of Prussian cities to Osterode in February 1411 and he proposed a special assessment of 1⅔% on cities possession. All cities, except for Danzig, agreed, because the decision was not unanimous, von Plauen called a second meeting, this time in Elbing
17.
Prussia
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Prussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and centred on the region of Prussia. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised, Prussia, with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin, shaped the history of Germany. In 1871, German states united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership, in November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918–19. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, from 1933, Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup, when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state. Prussia existed de jure until its liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No.46 of 25 February 1947. The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights—an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders—conquered the lands inhabited by them. In 1308, the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk and their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The Second Peace of Thorn split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom, and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century it had a say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great. During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a Lesser Germany which excluded the Austrian Empire. At the Congress of Vienna, which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleons defeat, Prussia acquired a section of north western Germany. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became the core of the North German Confederation in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that Junkers and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians. In the Weimar Republic, the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland, the main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. The black and white colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a cross with gold insert
18.
Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
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The state was based in Prussia after the Orders conquest of the Pagan Old Prussians which began in 1230. It expanded to include at various times Courland, Gotland, Livonia, Neumark and its territory was in the modern countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. Most of the territory was conquered by military orders, after which German colonization occurred to varying effect, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword controlling Terra Mariana were incorporated into the Teutonic Order as its autonomous branch Livonian Order in 1237. In 1346, the Duchy of Estonia was sold by the King of Denmark for 19,000 Köln marks to the Teutonic Order, the shift of sovereignty from Denmark to the Teutonic Order took place on 1 November 1346. Following its defeat in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 the Teutonic Order fell into decline, the Teutonic lands in Prussia were split in two after the Peace of Thorn in 1466. The western part of Teutonic Prussia was converted into Royal Prussia, the monastic state in the east was secularized in 1525 during the Protestant Reformation as the Duchy of Prussia, a Polish fief governed by the House of Hohenzollern. The Livonian branch continued as part of the Livonian Confederation until its dissolution in 1561, the Old Prussians withstood many attempts at conquest preceding that of the Teutonic Knights. Bolesław I of Poland began the series of unsuccessful conquests when he sent Adalbert of Prague in 997, in 1147, Bolesław IV of Poland attacked Prussia with the aid of Kievan Rus, but was unable to conquer it. Numerous other attempts followed, and, under Duke Konrad I of Masovia, were intensified, the West-Baltic Prussians successfully repelled most of the campaigns and managed to strike Konrad in retaliation. However, the Prussians and Yotvingians in the south had their territory conquered, the land of the Yotvingians was situated in the area of what is today the Podlaskie Voivodeship of Poland. The Prussians attempted to oust Polish or Masovian forces from Yotvingia and Culmerland, Konrad of Masovia had already called a crusade against the Old Prussians in 1208, but it was not successful. Konrad, acting on the advice of Christian, first bishop of Prussia, established the Order of Dobrzyń, the Order, however, was soon defeated and, in reaction, Konrad called on the Pope for yet another crusade and for help from the Teutonic Knights. As a result, several called for crusades against the Old Prussians. The crusades, involving many of Europes knights, lasted for sixty years, in 1211, Andrew II of Hungary enfeoffed the Teutonic Knights with the Burzenland. In 1225, Andrew II expelled the Teutonic Knights from Transylvania, early in 1224, Emperor Frederick II announced at Catania that Livonia, Prussia with Sambia, and a number of neighbouring provinces were under Imperial immediacy. This decree subordinated the provinces directly to the Roman Catholic Church, at the end of 1224, Pope Honorius III announced to all Christendom his appointment of Bishop William of Modena as the Papal Legate for Livonia, Prussia, and other countries. As a result of the Golden Bull of Rimini in 1226, the Knights began the Prussian Crusade in 1230. Under their governance, woodlands were cleared and marshlands made arable, upon which many cities and villages were founded, the cities were heavily fortified, accounting for the long lasting conflicts with the resistive native Old Prussians, with armed forces under command of the knights
19.
Warmia
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Warmia is a historical region in northern Poland. It is nowadays the core of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship and it has about 4,500 km2 and 350,000 inhabitants. Its biggest city is Olsztyn, while the capital was Lidzbark Warmiński. Important landmarks include the cathedral in Frombork, where Mikołaj Kopernik elaborated the theory, and sanctuary in Gietrzwałd. It is an area of lakes, it lies at the upper Łyna river and on the right bank of Pasłęka. Warmia is part of the province of Prussia and has traditionally strong connections with Masuria. Warmia has been under the dominion of various states over the course of its history, most notably the Old Prussians, the Teutonic Knights, the Kingdom of Poland, the history of the region is closely connected to that of the Archbishopric of Warmia. The region is associated with the Prussian tribe, the Warmians, according to folk etymology, Warmia is named after the legendary Prussian chief Warmo, whereas the name Ermland derives from his widow Erma. By the early Middle Ages the Warmians, an Old Prussian tribe, in the 13th century the area became a battleground in the Northern Crusades. The first Bishop of Prussia, Christian of Oliva, was commissioned in 1209 to convert the Prussians, in 1226 Duke Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to Christianize the pagan Prussians. He supplied the Teutonic Order and allowed the usage of Chełmno Land as a base for the knights and they had the task of establishing secure borders between Masovia and the Prussians, with the assumption that conquered territories would become part of Masovia. The Order waited until they received official authorisation from the Empire, the papal Golden Bull of Rieti from Pope Gregory IX in 1234 confirmed the grant, although Konrad of Masovia never recognized the rights of the Order to rule Prussia. Later, the Knights were accused of forging these land grants, by the end of the 13th century the Teutonic Order had conquered and Christianized most of the Prussian region, including Warmia. The new régime reduced many of the native Prussians to the status of serfs, over several centuries the colonists, native Prussians and immigrants gradually intermingled. In 1242 the papal legate William of Modena set up four dioceses, from the 13th century new colonists, mainly Germans, settled in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights. The bishopric was exempt and was governed by a prince-bishop, confirmed by Emperor Charles IV, the Bishops of Warmia were usually Germans or Poles, although Enea Silvio Piccolomini, the later Pope Pius II, served as an Italian bishop of the diocese. After the Polish army moved out of Warmia, the new Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Heinrich von Plauen the Elder, accused the bishop of treachery, soon after, in 1467, the Cathedral Chapter elected Nicolas von Tüngen against the wish of the Polish king. The Estates of Royal Prussia did not take the side of the Cathedral Chapter, nicholas von Tüngen allied himself with the Teutonic Order and with King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
20.
Ordensburg
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An Ordensburg was a fortress built by crusading German military orders during the Middle Ages. The term Ordensburgen was also used during Nazi Germany to refer to training schools for Nazi leaders, the Ordensburgen were originally constructed by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and later the Teutonic Knights to fortify territory in Prussia and Livonia against the pagan aboriginals. Later, Ordensburgen were used to defend against Poland and Lithuania, while they were considerably larger than those in the Holy Roman Empire, they were much scarcer in the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. While a normal castle in the Reich would control about 38 km2, the few small castles are considered to be of vassals, while the larger ones might have served as arsenals and strongholds against rebels and invaders. Most Ordensburgen were rectangular, even quadratic in form, built from red brick, many castles had no towers at all, as the bailey, a mighty quadrangle, was considered sufficient for defence. Note that many, possibly most of the castles in the list below are NOT Ordensburg either in terms of builder/possessor or architecture, List of castles in Estonia List of castles in Latvia List of castles in Lithuania List of castles in Poland Krahe, Friedrich-Wilhelm
21.
Papal legate
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A papal legate or Apostolic legate is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters, the legate is appointed directly by the pope. The term legation is applied both to a mandate and to the territory concerned. In the High Middle Ages, papal legates were often used to strengthen the links between Rome and the parts of Christendom. More often than not, legates were learned men and skilled diplomats who were not from the country they were accredited to. The Italian-born Guala Bicchieri served as legate to England in the early 13th century. Papal legates often summoned legatine councils, which dealt with church government, during the Middle Ages, a legatine council was the usual means that a papal legate imposed his directives. There are several ranks of papal legates in diplomacy, some of which are no longer used, a nuncio performs the same functions as an ambassador and has the same diplomatic privileges. Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to which the Holy See is a party and this highest rank is normally awarded to a priest of cardinal rank. It is an investiture and can either be focused or broad in scope. The legate a latere is the ego of the Pope. The legatus natus would act as the representative in his province. Although limited in their jurisdiction compared to legati a latere, a legatus natus were not subordinate to them, literally sent legate, possessing limited powers for the purpose of completing a specific mission. This commission is normally focused in scope and of short duration, some administrative provinces of the Papal states in Italy were governed by a Papal Legate. This has been the case in Benevento, in Pontecorvo and in Viterbo, in four cases, including Bologna, this post was awarded exclusively to Cardinals, the Velletri post was created for Bartolommeo Pacca. The title could be changed to Apostolic Delegate, as happened in Frosinone in 1827, Papal diplomacy Nuncio – an envoy whose diplomatic status is recognized by the receiving state – usually a titular archbishop. Papal apocrisiarius List of papal legates to England Other Pontifical legate Catholic Encyclopedia, Legate WorldStatesmen - Italy to 1860 - Papal State Maseri, de Legatis et Nunciis Apostolicis Iudiciis Ecclesiasticis Civilibus et Criminalibus Oneribusque Civitatum Cameralibus et Communitativis. Commentatio Canoncia de Legatis et Nuntiis Pontificum, die englische Legation des Cardinals Guido Fulcodi, des spaeteren P. Clemens IV
22.
Brodnica
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Brodnica is a town in north-central Poland with 28,574 inhabitants as of 2014. Previously part of Toruń Voivodeship province, from 1975 to 1998 and it is the seat of Brodnica County. The nearby Brodnica Landscape Park, an area, gets its name from Brodnica. Brodnica is the capital of the district whose present quarter Michałowo, as it is confirmed in old documents Michałowo was the capital of the Masovian Castellany. The town was chosen owing to its position on the Drwęca. The first reference to the town of Brodnica dates from 1263, in 1285–1370 the construction of the Gothic Church of St. Catherine took place. Brodnica received town privileges in 1298, although the Teutonic rule ended here with the Treaty of Toruń1466, Brodnica remained in the hands of Teutonic Knights until 1479. In the Teutonic state Brodnica was the seat of the Commander, in the Polish Republic it was the capital of the district starosty, in later years it was the property Queen Cecily Renata, Chancellor Jerzy Ossoliński, Queen Maria Casimira, and Marshal Franciszek Bieliński. Brodnica was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1772, during the First Partition of Poland, between 1815–1920 Brodnica was again under a Prussian administration as part of the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871. The 19th century saw 20 thousand Polish soldiers interned after the failure of the November Uprising and many townspeople and it is in Brodnica region too that Masovian insurgents sought refuge from Russian persecution after the failure of the January Uprising. In the 19th century the Chełmno Land was a refuge of Polish patriots who contributed greatly to social, cultural and economic life of the region, like Ignacy Łyskowski. In 1920, after the end of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles was established, Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is Cfb, worth noting is the War cemetery in Brodnica established by the Germans during the World War I.15 November saw a burial of 25 German soldiers killed in the Russian offensive. In 192031 Polish soldiers killed during the battle of Brodnica with the Bolsheviks on 18 August were laid to rest here. In 1943 German soldiers who died in the hospital together with those who lost their lives on 21 January 1945 during the Soviet offensive were put in the ground. A curiosity is that the Red Army soldiers who died on the day were buried here as well. It is also a place for UB people notorious for waging war with Polish anti-communist partisans after 1945
23.
Treaty of Melno
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The Treaty of Melno or Treaty of Lake Melno was a peace treaty ending the Gollub War. It was signed on 27 September 1422, between the Teutonic Knights and an alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at Lake Melno, east of Graudenz. A portion of the original border partially survives as the border between the Republic of Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, making it one of the most stable national borders in Europe. The First Peace of Thorn of 1411 did not resolve long-standing territorial disputes between the Teutonic Knights and the Polish–Lithuanian union, the peace transferred Samogitia to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but only for the lifetimes of Polish King Jogaila and Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas. At the time both rulers were aged men, soon disagreements arose as to the Samogitian borders, Vytautas claimed that the entire northern bank of the Neman River, including the port of Memel, was Samogitian territory. The dispute was mediated at the Council of Constance and by Sigismund, when Sigismund delivered an unfavorable judgment to the Lithuanians, Jogaila and Vytautas invaded the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights in July 1422, starting the Gollub War. The Teutonic Knights, led by Grand Master Paul von Rusdorf, were unable to mount a suitable defense, however Poland–Lithuania decided to end the conflict before reinforcements from the Holy Roman Empire could arrive through Farther Pomerania. A truce was signed on 17 September 1422, each side named eight representatives, gave them full authority to negotiate, and sent them to the Polish Army camp near Lake Melno. The Treaty of Melno was concluded ten days later, on 27 September, according to the terms of the treaty, the Teutonic Knights for the first time renounced all territorial, political, and missionary claims against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Samogitia was permanently ceded to Lithuania, the Prussian–Lithuanian border ran from sparsely inhabited wilderness in Suvalkija, through the triangle north of the Neman River, to Nemirseta on the Baltic Sea. Thus the Knights still controlled Nemans lower reaches and Memel, an important seaport, Lithuania retained access to the Baltic Sea between the towns of Palanga and Šventoji – a distance of about 15 kilometres. However, Lithuania failed to develop harbors in Palanga or Šventoji as there were competition with the nearby established ports Memel and Libau. Thus it could not be considered a real access to the sea, for the Knights this short coastline strip was a major sacrifice as it separated the Teutonic Knights in Prussia from their branch in Livonia. The treaty is often described as a mutual Prussian–Lithuanian compromise and these results were described as a disappointment for Poland. At the time of the treaty, the parties did not have their official seals, Grand Master Rusdorf attempted to exploit the recess and renegotiate the treaty because his subjects were not satisfied with the terms. He hoped to wage a war with assistance from the Holy Roman Emperor and this meant that Vytautas had to abandon his interventions in Bohemia. The agreement was signed on 30 March 1423, the Treaty of Melno was subsequently ratified on 9–18 May in Veliuona and approved by Pope Martin V on 10 July 1423. Poland–Lithuania affixed some 120 official seals to the treaty, the first Lithuanian signatories were voivode of Vilnius Albertas Manvydas, starosta of Vilnius Kristinas Astikas, voivode of Trakai Jonas Jaunius, elder of Samogitia Mykolas Skirgaila
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
25.
Treaty of Salynas
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Treaty of Salynas was a peace treaty signed on 12 October 1398 by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights Konrad von Jungingen. It was signed on an islet of the Neman River, probably between Kulautuva and the mouth of the Nevėžis River and it was the third time, after the Treaty of Königsberg and Treaty of Lyck, that Vytautas promised Samogitia to the Knights. The territory was important to the Knights as it separated the Teutonic Knights in Prussia from its branch in Livonia. It was the first time that the Knights and Vytautas attempted to enforce the cession of Samogitia, however, it did not solve the territorial disputes over Samogitia and they dragged on until the Treaty of Melno in 1422. When Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila married Jadwiga of Poland and was crowned as King of Poland in 1386, Vytautas seized the opportunity to renew his struggle for power and started the Lithuanian Civil War. He allied himself with the Teutonic Knights, promising them Samogitia, however, Jogaila and Vytautas reconciled in 1392 by signing the Treaty of Astrava. The Knights, betrayed by Vytautas, invaded Lithuania in 1394, the invaders were driven away by joint Lithuanian and Polish forces demonstrating that the old raids were no longer effective against the new Polish–Lithuanian alliance. A truce between the Knights and Vytautas was signed in 1396, Vytautas needed to secure his western front as he was planning a massive campaign against the Golden Horde, which resulted in a disaster at the Battle of the Vorskla River in 1399. Former Vytautas captive and friend Marquard von Salzbach helped to negotiate the agreement, a preliminary treaty was signed on 23 March 1398, in Hrodna, it was finalized in October 1398. According to the treaty Samogitia was ceded to the Knights roughly up to the Nevėžis River, for the first time the Order also received a portion of Sudovia, an almost uninhabited territory north and west of the Šešupė River. The treaty recognized spheres of influence, Veliky Novgorod for Vytautas, Vytautas also promised to help the Knights build two new castles as compensation for castles he burned in 1392. The Knights promised to help Vytautas in his campaign against the Tatars, the treaty also guaranteed freedom of trade. Sigismund Kęstutaitis and other hostages kept by the Knights since the Civil War were released, during the week-long celebration following successful negotiations, Lithuanian nobles proclaimed Vytautas as King of Lithuania. While such a declaration had no force, it was a reply to demands by Jadwiga of Poland to pay Polish taxes. It showed their determination to keep the Grand Duchy of Lithuania separate from the Kingdom of Poland despite the Union of Krewo in 1385, such a proclamation, known only from the chronicles of Johann von Posilge, raised doubts as to reliability among Polish historians. The Order attempted to control of Samogitia. They took many hostages into Prussia and presented Samogitian nobles with gifts and they also built fortresses – one with Vytautas help near Nevėžis River and another near Dubysa. The Knights tried to maintain a relationship with Vytautas, warmly welcoming his wife Anna during her pilgrimage to the tomb of Dorothy of Montau
26.
Samogitian uprisings
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Samogitian uprisings refer to two uprisings by the Samogitians against the Teutonic Knights in 1401–1404 and 1409. Samogitia was granted to the Teutonic Knights by Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke of Lithuania, the local population resisted Teutonic rule and asked Vytautas to protect them. The first uprising was unsuccessful and Vytautas had to reconfirm his previous promises to transfer Samogitia in the Peace of Raciąż, the second uprising provoked the Knights to declare war on Poland. Hostilities escalated and resulted in the Battle of Grunwald, one of the biggest battles of medieval Europe, the Knights were soundly defeated by the joint Polish–Lithuanian forces, but Vytautas and Jogaila, King of Poland, were unable to capitalize on their victory. Conflicts regarding Samogitia, both diplomatic and military, dragged until the Treaty of Melno, continued crusade brought little territorial gains. Samogitia was important to the Knights as it separated the Teutonic Knights in Prussia from its branch in Livonia. The first opportunity to acquire Samogitia came only in 1383 when Jogaila formulated the Treaty of Dubysa, the treaty awarded Samogitia up to the Dubysa River to the Knights for their support to Jogaila against Vytautas in the Lithuanian Civil War. However, it was not ratified and hostilities between Poland and the Knights broke out soon after, the Knights switched sides and now Vytautas granted Samogitia to the Knights twice – by the Treaty of Königsberg and Treaty of Lyck. When Jogaila and Vytautas reconciled and broke those treaties, the Knights continued to wage a war against Samogitia and Lithuania, according to the Treaty of Salynas, Samogitia was ceded to the Order and Vytautas agreed to help enforce the treaty. The Order attempted to control of Samogitia, even if they had the legal title to the land. The Knights took 500 hostages into Prussia to discourage resistance, while loyal Samogitian nobles were rewarded with gifts and they also built two fortresses on the periphery of Samogitia – one with Vytautass help near Nevėžis River and another near the Dubysa River. Vytautas agreed to build the castle as compensation for two Teutonic fortresses he burnt during the Lithuanian Civil War, the Knights continued to organize destructive raids. In February 1399, Teutonic and Livonian forces raided central Samogitia, in winter 1400, Vytautas assisted the Knights in one of such raids, Samogitians asked for his help and wanted to surrender to him, but he refused and continued to follow the treaty with the Knights. Unable to resist and with no help coming from Vytautas, Samogitians surrendered to the Knights for the first time, in the summer of 1400, the Teutonic Grandmaster sent Heinrich von Schwelborn to govern Samogitia from castles in Kaunas and Friedeburgh. The Knights tried to maintain relationship with Vytautas, they warmly welcomed his wife Anna during her pilgrimage to the tomb of Dorothy of Montau. However, soon arose when the Order demanded to return about 4,000 peasants who escaped into Lithuania. Vytautas argued that they were people and had the right to choose where to live. The disagreement was not resolved via diplomatic means and grew into a war, the fighting started on March 13,1401, after the Union of Vilnius and Radom was ratified by Polish nobles in March assuring Vytautas of Polish support
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Peace of Thorn (1411)
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It was signed on 1 February 1411 in Thorn, one of the southernmost cities of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights. In historiography, the treaty is often portrayed as a failure of Poland–Lithuania as they failed to capitalize on the decisive defeat of the Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in June 1410. The Peace of Thorn was not stable and it took two other brief wars, the Hunger War in 1414 and Gollub War in 1422, to sign the Treaty of Melno that solved the territorial disputes. However, large war reparations were a significant financial burden on the Knights, causing internal unrest, the Teutonic Knights never recovered their former might. In May 1409, an uprising started in Samogitia, which had been in Teutonic hands since the Peace of Raciąż of 1404, Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas supported the uprising. Poland, which had been in a union with Lithuania since 1386. Thus the local uprising escalated into a regional war, the Teutonic Knights first invaded Poland, catching the Poles by surprise and capturing the Dobrzyń Land without much resistance. However, neither side was ready for a war and agreed to a truce mediated by Wenceslaus. When the truce expired in June 1410, allied Poland–Lithuania invaded Prussia, the Knights were soundly defeated, with most of their leadership killed. Following the battle, most Teutonic fortresses surrendered without resistance and the Knights were left only eight strongholds. However, the allies delayed their Siege of Marienburg, giving the Knights enough time to organize defense, the Polish–Lithuanian army, suffering from lack of ammunition and low morale, failed to capture the Teutonic capital and returned home in September. The Knights quickly recaptured their fortresses that were taken by the Poles, Polish King Jogaila raised a fresh army and dealt another defeat to the Knights in the Battle of Koronowo in October 1410. Heinrich von Plauen, new Teutonic Grand Master, wanted to continue fighting, however, the Teutonic Council preferred peace and both sides agreed to a truce, effective between 10 December 1410 and 11 January 1411. Three-day negotiations in Raciąż between Jogaila and von Plauen broke down and Teutonic Knights invaded Dobrzyń Land again, the incursion resulted in a new round of negotiations that ended with the Peace of Thorn. According to the treaty, the borders were returned to their pre-1409 state with exception of Samogitia. The Teutonic Order relinquished its claims to Samogitia, but only temporarily – for the lifetimes of Polish King Jogaila, after their deaths, Samogitia was to return to the Knights. At the time both rulers were aged men, in the south, the Dobrzyń Land, captured by the Knights during the war, was ceded back to Poland. Thus the Knights suffered virtually no territorial losses – a great diplomatic achievement after the defeat in the Battle of Grunwald
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Christianization of Lithuania
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The Christianization of Lithuania occurred in 1387, initiated by King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław II Jagiełło and his cousin Vytautas. It signified the official adoption of Christianity by Lithuanians, the last pagan nation in Europe and this event ended one of the most complicated and lengthiest processes of Christianization in European history. Lithuanians contacts with the Christian religion predated the establishment of the Duchy of Lithuania in the 12th century, as the dukes of Lithuania extended their dominion eastwards, the influence of the Slavic states on their culture increased. Their subordinates and the people followed their example, borrowing, for instance and this borrowing became increasingly widespread among the pagan population in Aukštaitija, though much less so in Samogitia. In addition, the Lithuanian words for church, baptism and fast are classed as loanwords from Russian rather than Polish, the emergence of a monastic state of the Livonian Order around the Lithuanian borders made it rather urgent to choose a state religion. The first Lithuanian Grand Duke to adopt Western Christianity was Mindaugas, although his nephew and rival Tautvilas had done that earlier, the first translations of Catholic prayers from German were made during his reign and have been known since. In 1250 or 1251, Mindaugas agreed to baptism and relinquish control over some lands in western Lithuania. Mindaugas and his family were baptised in the Catholic rite in 1250 or 1251, on July 17,1251 Pope Innocent IV issued a papal bull proclaiming Lithuania as Kingdom and the state was placed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome. Mindaugas and his wife Morta were crowned at some time during the summer of 1253, even after becoming a Catholic, King Mindaugas did not cease sacrificing to his own gods. After Mindaugas repudiated Christianity and expelled all the Christians from Lithuania in 1261, Mindaugas successors did not express enough interest in following in his footsteps. There were decades of vacillation between the Latin and the Orthodox options, for Gediminas and Algirdas, retention of paganism provided a useful diplomatic tool and weapon. That allowed them to use promises of conversion as a means of preserving their power, Grand Duke Algirdas had pursued an option of dynamic balance. Throughout his reign he teased both Avignon and Constantinople with the prospects of a conversion, several attempts were made to negotiate the conversion of Lithuania. Algirdas willingly remained aside of the business and dealt with the order in the Ruthenian part of the state, the intermediary in the negotiations, Polish King Casimir III, made an unexpected assault on Volhynia and Brest in October 1349 that ruined Kęstutis plan. Kęstutis confirmed the agreement by performing a ritual to convince the other side. In fact, Kęstutis had no intentions to abide the agreement, by the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had emerged as a successor to Kievan Rus in the western part of its dominions. Although its sovereign was pagan, the majority of the population was Slavic, to legitimize their rule in these areas, the Lithuanian royalty frequently married into the Orthodox Rurikid aristocracy of Eastern Europe. As a result, some Lithuanian rulers were baptised into Eastern Orthodoxy either as children or adults, the first one was Vaišelga, son and heir of Mindaugas, who took monastic vows at an Orthodox monastery in Lavrashev near Novgorodok and later established a convent there
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Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaunas
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The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kaunas is a Latin archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Lithuania. It is based in Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania, the archdioceses motherchurch and cathedral archiepiscopal see is Kaunas Cathedral Basilica, it also houses a Minor Basilica in a town of Šiluva, in the region of Samogitia. The current Archbishop is Lionginas Virbalas, Jesuit, appointed by Pope Francis on June 11,2015, on 1798.03.25 it lost territory to establish the Diocese of Wigry. On 1848.07.03 it gained territory from the persisting then Diocese of Vilnius, on 1920.06.09 it lost territory to the existing Diocese of Riga, in 1921 it gained territory from the persisting Diocese of Sejny. The then diocese of Vilnius was also elevated into a Metropolitan Archbishopric with its province on temporarily Polish areas. It enjoyed a Papal Visit from Pope John Paul II in September 1993, on 28 May 1997, parts of the archdiocese have been ceded to the newly founded suffragan Diocese of Šiauliai.09.09 –1610.03.04.11 –1802.05. Also Vice-President of Episcopal Conference of Lithuania, previously Bishop of Panevėžys Official site Catholic Hierarchy GCatholic. org with incubent biography links
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History of Poland during the Piast dynasty
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The period of rule by the Piast dynasty between the 10th and 14th centuries is the first major stage of the history of the Polish nation. The dynasty was founded by a series of dukes listed by the chronicler Gallus Anonymous in the early 12th century, (Siemowit, Lestek and it was Mieszko I, the son of Siemomysł, who is now considered the proper founder of the Polish state at about 960 AD. The ruling house then remained in power in the Polish lands until 1370, Mieszko converted to Christianity of the Western Latin Rite in an event known as the Baptism of Poland in 966, which established a major cultural boundary in Europe based on religion. He also completed a unification of the West Slavic tribal lands that was fundamental to the existence of the new country of Poland. Mieszkos son Bolesław I Chrobry established a Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Gniezno, the first Piast monarchy collapsed with the death of Mieszko II Lambert in 1034, followed by its restoration under Casimir I in 1042. In the process, the dignity for Polish rulers was forfeited. Bolesław III, the last duke of the period, succeeded in defending his country. Upon his death in 1138, Poland was divided among his sons, the resulting internal fragmentation eroded the initial Piast monarchical structure in the 12th and 13th centuries and caused fundamental and lasting changes. Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to help him fight the Baltic Prussian pagans, which led to centuries of Polands warfare with the Knights and the German Prussian state. In 1320, the kingdom was restored under Władysław I the Elbow-high, the western provinces of Silesia and Pomerania were lost after the fragmentation, and Poland began expanding to the east. The period ended with the reigns of two members of the Capetian House of Anjou between 1370 and 1384, the consolidation in the 14th century laid the base for the new powerful kingdom of Poland that was to follow. Accelerated rebuilding of old tribal fortified settlements, construction of new ones. The Polish state developed from these roots in the second half of the century. According to the 12th-century chronicler Gallus Anonymus, the Polans were ruled at this time by the Piast dynasty, in existing sources from the 10th century, Piast ruler Mieszko I was first mentioned by Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae saxonicae, a chronicle of events in Germany. Widukind reported that Mieszkos forces were defeated in 963 by the Veleti tribes acting in cooperation with the Saxon exile Wichmann the Younger. Under Mieszkos rule, his tribal state accepted Christianity and became the Polish state, the viability of the Mieszkos emerging state was assured by the persistent territorial expansion of the early Piast rulers. Beginning with a small area around Gniezno, the Piast expansion lasted throughout most of the 10th century. The Polanie tribe conquered and merged with other Slavic tribes and first formed a tribal federation, after the addition of Lesser Poland, the country of the Vistulans, and of Silesia, Mieszkos state reached its mature form, including the main regions regarded as ethnically Polish
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Battle of Cedynia
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In the Battle of Cedynia or Zehden, an army of Mieszko I of Poland defeated forces of Hodo or Odo I of Lusatia on 24 June 972, near the Oder river. Whether or not the battle took place near the modern-day town of Cedynia is disputed in modern scholarship. The battle was to determine the possession of the area between Mieszko and Odo, about 937 the Saxon margrave Gero had conquered vast territories east of the Elbe river, where he subdued the tribes of the Polabian Slavs. The German forces thereby reached the Oder river and the border of the young Polish country. After several clashes of arms the conflict for the present was settled by an agreement in 963 whereafter Duke Mieszko had to pay a recurrent tribute to Emperor Otto. Upon Geros death in 965, his vast Marca Geronis was divided several smaller marches. Duke Mieszko took the occasion to capture the lightly defended and economically important estuary of the Oder on the Baltic Sea, in order to secure his influence in Pomerania up to Wolin. In turn Odo I had been vested with the Saxon Eastern March by Emperor Otto I and was responsible for gathering tribute of the tribes which were Mieszkos point of interest, the margrave wanted to extend his territory and influence, he finally gathered his forces and decided to attack. He was sure of victory, his raid was a conflict, against the agreements made by the Emperor. However, against Odos expectations, the battle was won by Mieszko, nevertheless, the Emperor died a few weeks later and the conflict with the Saxon margraves continued to smoulder. After Mieszko had interfered in the conflict of Ottos son and successor Emperor Otto II with the Bavarian duke Henry the Wrangler, the relations with the Empire improved upon Mieszkos marriage with Oda of Haldensleben, daughter of Margrave Dietrich of the Northern March. In 1945, the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line resulted in the transfer of the town of Zehden from the German province of Brandenburg to the Peoples Republic of Poland. Contemporary Polish historiography, tasked to justify the post-war borders, turned the encounter of 972 into the first medieval battle between Poles and Germans. Several memorials were erected in Cedynia to that effect, including a 15 metres tall statue of a Polish eagle on a sword overseeing town. With the fall of Communism, the approach was discarded. The mosaics on the hills foot show white knights encircling and defeating black knights, the lower Oder area, Cedynia and the associated battle in particular, had also played a prominent role in the 1000th anniversary of the Polish state in 1966. Recent reassessment has resulted in doubts whether the battle had taken place near modern-day Cedynia, according to Pawel Migdalski, Cedynia has lost its propagandistic value and is now just one of several small border towns. The memory of the battle is now upheld in a fashion, by an annual festival
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Bohemia
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Bohemia is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech lands in the present-day Czech Republic. Bohemia was a duchy of Great Moravia, later an independent principality, a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently a part of the Habsburg Monarchy, after World War I and the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state, Bohemia became a part of Czechoslovakia. Between 1938 and 1945, border regions with sizeable German-speaking minorities of all three Czech lands were joined to Nazi Germany as the Sudetenland, in 1990, the name was changed to the Czech Republic, which become a separate state in 1993 with the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Until 1948, Bohemia was a unit of Czechoslovakia as one of its lands. Bohemia was bordered in the south by Upper and Lower Austria, in the west by Bavaria and in the north by Saxony and Lusatia, in the northeast by Silesia, and in the east by Moravia. In the 2nd century BC, the Romans were competing for dominance in northern Italy, the Romans defeated the Boii at the Battle of Placentia and the Battle of Mutina. After this, many of the Boii retreated north across the Alps, much later Roman authors refer to the area they had once occupied as Boiohaemum. The earliest mention was by Tacitus Germania 28, and later mentions of the name are in Strabo. The name appears to include the tribal name Boi- plus the Germanic element *haimaz home and this Boiohaemum was apparently isolated to the area where King Marobods kingdom was centred, within the Hercynian forest. The Czech name Čechy is derived from the name of the Slavic ethnic group, the Czechs, Bohemia, like neighbouring Bavaria, is named after the Boii, who were a large Celtic nation known to the Romans for their migrations and settlement in northern Italy and other places. Another part of the nation moved west with the Helvetii into southern France, to the south, over the Danube, the Romans extended their empire, and to the southeast in Hungaria, were Sarmatian peoples. In the area of modern Bohemia the Marcomanni and other Suebic groups were led by their king Marobodus and he took advantage of the natural defenses provided by its mountains and forests. In late classical times and the early Middle Ages, two new Suebic groupings appeared to the west of Bohemia in southern Germany, the Alemanni, many Suebic tribes from the Bohemian region took part in such movements westwards, even settling as far away as Spain and Portugal. With them were also tribes who had pushed from the east, such as the Vandals, other groups pushed southwards towards Pannonia. These are precursors of todays Czechs, though the amount of Slavic immigration is a subject of debate. The Slavic influx was divided into two or three waves, the first wave came from the southeast and east, when the Germanic Lombards left Bohemia. Soon after, from the 630s to 660s, the territory was taken by Samos tribal confederation and his death marked the end of the old Slavonic confederation, the second attempt to establish such a Slavonic union after Carantania in Carinthia. Other sources divide the population of Bohemia at this time into the Merehani, Marharaii, Beheimare, Christianity first appeared in the early 9th century, but only became dominant much later, in the 10th or 11th century
33.
First Mongol invasion of Poland
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The first invasions intention was to secure the flank of the main Mongolian army attacking the Kingdom of Hungary. The Mongols neutralized any potential help to King Bela being provided by the Poles, the Mongols invaded Europe with three armies. One of the three armies was tasked with distracting Poland, before joining the main Mongol force invading Hungary and that army, under Baidar, Kadan and Orda Khan, began scouting operations in late 1240. Mongol tumen, moving from recently conquered Volodymyr-Volynskyi in Kievan Rus, first sacked Lublin, around this time, their forces split. Ordas forces devastated central Poland, moving to Wolbórz and as far north as Łęczyca, before turning south and heading via Sieradz towards Wrocław. Baidar and Kadan ravaged the southern part of Poland, moving to Chmielnik, Kraków, Bytom, Opole and finally, Legnica, before leaving Polish lands heading west and south. Baidar and Kadan on 13 February defeated a Polish army under the voivode of Kraków, Włodzimierz, on 18 March they defeated another Polish army with units from Kraków and Sandomierz at the battle of Chmielnik. Panic spread through the Polish lands, and the citizens abandoned Kraków, in the meantime, one of the most powerful contemporary Dukes of Poland, and Duke of Silesia, Henry II the Pious, gathered his forces and allies around Legnica. Henry, in order to more forces, even sacrificed one of the largest towns of Silesia, Wrocław. Henry was also waiting for Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, his brother-in-law, while considering whether to besiege Wrocław, Baidar and Kadan received reports that the Bohemians were days away with a large army. The Mongols turned from Wrocław, not finishing the siege, in order to intercept Henrys forces before the European armies could meet, the Mongols caught up with Henry near Legnica at Legnickie Pole, known in German as Wahlstatt. Henry, despite having rough parity in numbers and a strategy, was defeated at Legnica on April 9 after the Mongols caused confusion in the Polish forces. The Mongols did not take Legnica castle, but had a free rein to pillage and plunder Silesia, the Mongols avoided the Bohemian forces, but defeated the Hungarians in the Battle of Mohi. There were also later, larger Mongol invasions of Poland, in 1254 or 1255, Daniel of Galicia revolted against the Mongol rule. He repelled the initial Mongol assault under Ordas son Quremsa, in 1259, the Mongols returned under the new command of Burundai. According to some sources, Daniel fled to Poland leaving his son and he may have hidden in the castle of Galicia instead. The Mongols needed to secure Polands aid to Daniel and war booty to feed the demand of their soldiers, lithuanians also attacked Smolensk and menaced Torzhok, tributaries of the Golden Horde, in c. The Mongols sent an expedition into Lithuania for this
34.
Second Mongol invasion of Poland
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The second Mongol invasion of Poland was carried out by general Boroldai in 1259–1260. During this invasion the cities of Sandomierz, Kraków, Lublin, Zawichost, the invasion began in late 1259, after a powerful Mongol army had been sent to the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia in order to punish King Daniel of Galicia for his independent actions. King Daniel had to comply to Mongol demands, and in 1258, to weaken Daniels position, the Golden Horde decided to attack his allies, Hungarian King Béla IV, and Duke of Kraków, Bolesław V the Chaste. The purpose of the invasion was to loot the divided Kingdom of Poland, according to the Mongol plan, the invaders were to enter Lesser Poland east of Lublin, and head towards Zawichost. After crossing the Vistula, the Mongol army was to break into two columns, operating north and south of the Holy Cross Mountains, the columns were to unite near Chęciny, and then head southwards, to Kraków. Altogether, Mongol forces under Boroldai were 30,000 strong, with Ruthenian units of King Daniel of Galicia, his brother Vasilko Romanovich, Kipchaks and probably Lithuanians or Yotvingians. The events that took place in the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia echoed in Lesser Poland, the work was quickly abandoned, and Piast dynasty dukes returned to their internal quarrels. A few weeks later, Lesser Poland was invaded by the Mongol hordes, the Mongolian army concentrated near Chełm, and after capturing Polish towns east of the Vistula, the invaders appeared at Sandomierz. Boroldai ordered Ruthenian auxiliary units to besiege and capture the city and their march was marked by an orgy of destruction, among others, ancient abbeys of Koprzywnica and Wąchock were looted. The Mongols limited their advance to Radom in the north and Sulejów in the west, the two columns of the invading army joined forces near Kielce and Chęciny, in mid-January 1260. At the same time, the siege of Sandomierz continued, defenders of the city fiercely resisted all attacks of the Mongol and Ruthenian forces. After several weeks, Mongol leaders began negotiations with the Poles, Ruthenian princes, which took part in the siege, advised Piotr of Krepa to accept Mongol offers, and abandon Sandomierz, in exchange of safe passage for all residents of the city. Finally, facing hunger and epidemics, the Poles left Sandomierz on February 2,1260, the Mongols broke their promise and massacred the civilians, the city itself was looted and burned to the ground. On February 5, main Mongol forces abandoned Sandomierz, all units joined forces on February 10–12, and entered densely populated southern Lesser Poland. After looting the abbeys at Jędrzejów, Mogila, Szczyrzyc and Miechów, in the second half of February, the Mongols reached Kraków, quickly capturing the city, but without the Wawel Hill, which was fortified and defended. To prevent Silesian Piast dukes from sending their support to Lesser Poland, Duke Bolesław V the Chaste himself fled to Sieradz, with his wife Kinga of Poland. In late March 1260, the Mongols left Lesser Poland eastward along the Carpathian foothills, the province that they had invaded was completely destroyed with rich loot taken. Some 10,000 Poles were taken with the invaders as slaves, the success of the Golden Horde was complete, as they managed to destroy an anti-Mongol alliance, and completely subjugate the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia
35.
Battle of Legnica
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The battle came two days before the Mongol victory over the Hungarians at the much larger Battle of Mohi. As with many battles, the exact details of force composition, tactics. The general historical view is that it was a defeat for the European forces where they suffered heavy casualties. It is known that the Mongols had no intentions at the time of extending the campaign westward, because they went to the Kingdom of Hungary to help the main Mongol army in the conquest of the country. One of the Mongol leaders, Kadan, was confused with Ögedeis grandson Kaidu by medieval chroniclers. The Mongols considered the Cumans to have submitted to their authority, after King Béla IV of Hungary rejected Batu Khans ultimatum to surrender the Cumans, Subutai began planning the Mongol invasion of Europe. Ordas forces devastated northern Poland and the border of Lithuania. While deciding whether or not to besiege Wrocław, Baidar and Kadan received reports that King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia was two days away with an army twice the size of Henrys. The Mongols turned from Wrocław to intercept Henrys forces before the European armies could meet, the Mongols caught up with Henry near Legnica at Legnickie Pole, also known as Wahlstatt. The Mongol diversionary force, a detachment from the army of Subutai, demonstrated the advantages of the tactical mobility and speed of horseback archers. These were standard Mongol tactics used in all of their major battles, they were made possible by continual training and superb battlefield communication. The Mongol commander found the highest ground at the site, seized it and used it to communicate to his noyans. The Mongol system was a stark contrast to the European systems, the numbers involved are difficult to judge. European accounts vary as to Mongol numbers—some suggest more than 100,000 at Legnica alone, current estimates suggest the Mongol force numbered, at most,25,000 cavalry. The Historia Tatarorum by the Franciscan C, a contemporary European account, the Ystoria Mongalorum, supports these numbers, placing the Mongol force that invaded Poland at 10,000 horsemen. Henrys better trained troops were his own gathered from Silesian Piast duchies, mercenaries, historian Marek Cetwiński estimates the allied force to have been 2,000 strong, while Gerard Labuda estimates 7, 000–8,000 soldiers in the Christian army. A contingent of Teutonic Knights of indeterminate number is believed to have joined the allied army. However, recent analysis of the 15th-century Annals of Jan Długosz by Labuda suggests that the German crusaders may have added to the text after chronicler Długosz had completed the work
36.
History of Poland during the Jagiellonian dynasty
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The rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland between 1386 and 1572 spans the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era in European history. The dynasty was founded by the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila, whose marriage to Queen Jadwiga of Poland formed a Polish–Lithuanian union, in the Baltic Sea region, Polands maintained an ongoing conflict with the Teutonic Knights. In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars, Polands and Lithuanias territorial expansion included the far north region of Livonia. In the Jagiellonian period, Poland developed as a state with a predominantly agricultural economy. The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish Sejm in 1505 transferred most of the power in the state from the monarch to the Sejm. This event marked the beginning of the known as Golden Liberty. Protestant Reformation movements made deep inroads into the Polish Christianity, which resulted in unique policies of tolerance in the Europe of that time. The European Renaissance as fostered by the late Jagiellonian Kings Sigismund I the Old, in 1385, the Union of Krewo was signed between Queen Jadwiga of Poland and Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, the ruler of the last pagan state in Europe. The act arranged for Jogailas baptism and the marriage, which established the beginning of the Polish-Lithuanian union. After Jogailas baptism, he was known in Poland by his baptismal name Władysław, the union strengthened both nations in their shared opposition to the Teutonic Knights and the growing threat of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Vast expanses of Rus lands, including the Dnieper River basin, the population of the Grand Duchys enlarged territory was accordingly heavily Ruthenian and Eastern Orthodox. The territorial expansion led to a confrontation between Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which found itself emerging from the Tatar rule and itself in a process of expansion. The intention of the union was to create a state under Władysław Jagiełło. Territorial disputes led to warfare between Poland and Lithuania or Lithuanian factions, the Lithuanians at times found it expedient to conspire with the Teutonic Knights against the Poles. Geographic consequences of the union and the preferences of the Jagiellonian kings instead created a process of orientating Polish territorial priorities to the east. Between 1386 and 1572, the Polish-Lithuanian union was ruled by a succession of monarchs of the Jagiellonian dynasty. The political influence of the Jagiellonian kings gradually diminished during this period, while the nobility took over an ever-increasing role in central government. The royal dynasty, however, had an effect on Polands politics
37.
Battle of Varna
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The Battle of Varna took place on 10 November 1444 near Varna in eastern Bulgaria. The Ottoman Army under Sultan Murad II defeated the Hungarian-Polish and Wallachian armies commanded by Władysław III of Poland, John Hunyadi and it was the final battle of the Crusade of Varna. Đurađ Branković contributed to Ottoman victory by giving the Sultan information on the Christian advance, the Hungarian Kingdom fell into crisis after the death of King Sigismund in 1437. His son-in-law and successor, King Albert, ruled for two years and died in 1439, leaving his widow Elizabeth with an unborn child, Ladislaus the Posthumous. The Hungarian noblemen then called the young King Władysław III of Poland to the throne of Hungary, after his Hungarian coronation, he never went back to his homeland again, assuming rule of the Hungarian Kingdom next to the influential nobleman John Hunyadi. After failed expeditions in 1440–42 against Belgrade and Transylvania, and the defeats of the campaign of Hunyadi in 1442–43. After he had made peace with the Karaman Emirate in Anatolia in August 1444, on receipt of this news, Mehmet II understood that he was too young and inexperienced to successfully fight the coalition. He recalled Murad II to the throne to lead the army into battle, angry at his father, who had long since retired to a contemplative life in southwestern Anatolia, Mehmed II wrote, If you are the Sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan I hereby order you to come and it was only after receiving this letter that Murad II agreed to lead the Ottoman army. The Hungarian advance was rapid, Ottoman fortresses were bypassed, while local Bulgarians from Vidin, Oryahovo, on October 10 near Nicopolis, some 7,000 Wallachian cavalrymen under Mircea II, one of Vlad Draculs sons, also joined. Late on November 9, a large Ottoman army of around 50,000 men approached Varna from the west, at a supreme military council called by Hunyadi during the night, the Papal legate, cardinal Julian Cesarini, insisted on a quick withdrawal. However, the Christians were caught between the Black Sea, Lake Varna, the wooded slopes of the Franga plateau. Cesarini then proposed a defense using the Wagenburg of the Hussites until the arrival of the Christian fleet, the Hungarian magnates and the Croatian and Czech commanders backed him, but the young Władysław and Hunyadi rejected the defensive tactics. Hunyadi declared, To escape is impossible, to surrender is unthinkable, let us fight with bravery and honor our arms. Władysław accepted this position and gave him the command, andreas del Palatio states that Hunyadi commanded the Wallachian army indicating a large Romanian component in Hunyadis personal army. In the morning of November 10, Hunyadi deployed the army of some 20,000 –30,000 crusaders as an arc between Lake Varna and the Franga plateau, the line was about 3.5 km long. Two banners with a total of 3,500 men from the kings Polish and Hungarian bodyguards, Hungarian royal mercenaries, the Wallachian cavalry was left in reserve behind the center. The right flank that lined up the hill towards the village of Kamenar numbered 6,500 men in 5 banners, Bishop Jan Dominek of Varadin with his personal banner led the force, Cesarini commanded a banner of German mercenaries and a Bosnian one
38.
Battle of Orsha
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The Battle of Orsha was part of a long series of Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars conducted by Muscovite rulers striving to gather all the former Kievan Rus lands under their rule. These numbers and proportions have been disputed by modern historians, at the end of 1512, the Grand Duchy of Moscow began a new war for the Grand Duchy of Lithuanias Ruthenian lands in present-day Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Albrecht I, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, rebelled and refused to give a pledge to Sigismund I the Old of Poland-Lithuania. Albrecht I was supported by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, the fortress of Smolensk was then the easternmost outpost of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and one of the most important strongholds guarding it from the east. It repelled several Muscovite attacks, but in July 1514 a Muscovite army besieged, spurred on by this initial success, the Grand Prince of Moscow Vasili III ordered his forces farther into present-day Belarus, occupying the towns of Krichev, Mstislavl and Dubrovna. Meanwhile, Sigismund the Old gathered some 35,000 troops for war with his eastern neighbor and this army was inferior in numbers, but consisted mostly of well-trained cavalry. Sigismund left 4, 000–5,000 men in the town of Barysau, while the force, around 30,000 strong. At the end of August, several took place at the crossings of the Berezina, Bobr and Drut Rivers. Suffering negligible losses, the Muscovites advanced to the area between Orsha and Dubrovno on the Krapivna River, where they set up camp. Ivan Chelyadnin, confident that the Lithuanian-Polish forces would have to one of the two bridges on the Dnieper River, split his own forces to guard those crossings. However, Ostrogskis army crossed the river farther north via two pontoon bridges, on the night of 7 September, the Lithuanian-Polish army began preparations for a final battle with the Muscovites. Hetman Konstantyn Ostrogski placed most of his 16,000 horses from the Grand Duchy in the center, while most of the Polish infantry, the Bohemian and Silesian infantry were deployed in the center of the line, in front of the reserves comprising Lithuanian and Polish cavalry. The size of the Muscovite army remains an unsolved question, narrative Lithuanian-Polish sources generally give large numbers. King Sigismund wrote to Pope Leo X about a horde of Muscovites which consisted of 80,000 men, Sigismund also claimed that his army had killed 30,000 Muscovites and taken prisoner 46 commanders and 1,500 nobles. Extant Polish and Lithuanian documents, however, list all captured nobles by name, the Polish historian Bohun considers it improvident to rely on what he terms propaganda data given by Sigismund. Gembarowicz is of the opinion that the Muscovite army was about 40,000 strong. It also remains unclear why - if the figure of 70, 000–80,000 men is to be trusted - King Sigismund kept a guard of about 5,000 men in reserve. The Muscovite chronicles claim a Lithuanian-Polish numerical superiority, the Russian historian A. Lobin tried to calculate the size of the Muscovite army at Orsha based on the mobilisation capacities of the towns which had to send townspeople for military service
39.
Northern Seven Years' War
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The Northern Seven Years War was the war between the Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and Poland, fought between 1563 and 1570. The war was motivated by the dissatisfaction of King Frederick II of Denmark with the dissolution of the Kalmar Union, the fighting continued until both armies had been exhausted, and many men died. The resulting Treaty of Stettin was a stalemate, with neither party gaining any new territory, the Danish-ruled Nordic Kalmar Union lasted on and off from 1397 to 1523, until it finally collapsed following the continued Swedish resentment of Danish domination. A successful rebellion in 1471 led to Swedish victory at the Battle of Brunkeberg, in 1520, Christian II of Denmark reconquered Sweden and took a bloody revenge on the anti-Union faction at the Stockholm Bloodbath. More than 80 noble men and ladies, including leading citizens of Stockholm, were executed, the violence elicited strong reactions in Sweden for years to come, and the Union was broken by the successful Swedish War of Liberation from 1521 to 1523. Christian II was condemned by the Pope, and he abdicated in 1523, under Vasa, the Kalmar Union was finally dissolved, and Sweden began establishing itself as a rival power of Denmark–Norway. Furthermore, Denmark controlled the Baltic, limiting Swedish movement there, Gustav Vasa took an action which did not bear immediate fruit in the Nordic Seven Years War, but was to have a lasting impact on Sweden’s fortune, he changed the military structure in Sweden. In 1544 he used the old Scandinavian concept of Uppbåd to establish the first native standing army in Europe, the men served in standby, remaining at home in peacetime, and being paid by tax concessions, but were required to assemble and drill. This system was expanded as the Swedish allotment system. By 1560 when Gustav Vasa died, every ten peasants were required to one soldier who must serve anywhere domestic or foreign as required by the king. After the deaths of Christian III and Gustav Vasa – in 1559 and 1560, respectively, Frederick II envisioned the resurrection of the Kalmar Union under Danish leadership, while Eric wanted to finally break the dominating position of Denmark. During the next year, the Danish expansion continued with the possession of the Baltic Sea island of Ösel, during this conflict, King Eric of Sweden successfully obstructed the Danish plans to conquer Estonia. In February 1563, Swedish messengers were sent to Hesse to negotiate Erics marriage with Christine of Hesse, in retaliation, Eric added the insignia of Norway and Denmark to his own coat of arms, and refused Danish requests to remove these symbols. Lübeck, upset over obstacles of trade that Eric had introduced to hinder the Russian trade and withdrawn trade privileges, the Polish–Lithuanian union also joined, desiring control of the Baltic trade. Skirmishes broke out in May 1563, before war was declared in August that year. In May, the first movements of the war started, a Danish fleet under Jakob Brockenhuus sailed towards the Baltic. At Bornholm, on 30 May 1563, the Danish fleet fired on the Swedish navy under Jakob Bagge even though war had not officially been declared, a battle arose that ended with Danish defeat. German royal emissaries were sent to negotiate a peace, but at the place of Rostock no Swedes appeared
40.
Danzig rebellion
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The rebellion of the city of Danzig was a revolt in the mid 1570s of the city against the outcome of the Royal elections in Poland. The Polish throne was contested by Stephen Báthory and the Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian II and it began on 12 December 1575 when Emperor Maximillian was chosen as monarch by the Polish Senate, while the majority of the szlachta had voted for Bathory. It ended on 16 December 1577, Maximilians II death in fall of 1576 weakened Danzigs position and made the conflict less about the recognition of the ruler than about Danzigs privileges. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a monarchy and in close union with Lithuania. Cities had no vote, Danzig however was invited by primate of Poland and interrex Jakub Uchański to cast a vote and this led to a some unrest in Poland. The town whose economic privileges were reduced by the Karnkowski Statutes and it also preferred Maximilian, who looked more likely to support the towns economic privileges, and who could also threaten serious economic repercussions. Thus the city, encouraged by its wealth and almost impregnable fortifications, as well as by the secret support of Denmark. On 1 May 1576 Stefan Bathory married King Anna Jagiello and was crowned by Stanisław Karnkowski as King of Poland, Jakub Uchański and nuncio Wincenty Laureo recognized Maximillian as a King, but soon they and others accepted the will of majority. The tensions grew as rioters looted and burned down an abbey in Oliwa, the abbey belonged to the bishop of Kujawy, Stanisław Karnkowski, who had under his jurisdiction the whole of Polish Pomerania. The Sejm of the Commonwealth did not approve higher taxes for the war and it did however approve a banicja, confiscation of the citys property, arrest of its citizens, commercial blockade and rerouting of the important trade via the port of Elbląg. The King left the army under the command of Hetman Jan Zborowski, in the west the main base was at Puck, where there was a mercenary force led by Ernest Weyher. While some Polish privateer ships fought the Gdansk and Danish fleets, for the most part the control of the Baltic Sea belonged to the Danzigers and their allies. Soon after the fighting begun, Maximilians II death was announced, with the coming of the spring of 1577, the fighting began anew. The Danzig army, led by the German mercenary commander Johann Winkelbruch, was about 7, 000-12,000 strong, winckelburg decided to crush the small army of Zborowski, but the Danzig army was utterly defeated by Zborowski in the battle of Lubiszewo on April 17,1577. After the battle, the Danzig forces retreated behind the walls, citizens pulled down trees and houses in front of fortifications, reinforcement with King Batory arrived only in July. During it King Stefan was using heated cannonballs and turned back the flow of the Radunia river, Bathory had about 11,000 men, and Danzig, about 10,000. A surprise attack by the Danzigers managed to destroy two-thirds of the Polish artillery, in September 1577 Danzig and Danish fleets started a blockade of Polish trade along Elbing and attacked its suburbs. Their troops that landed were soon pushed back by Bathorys Hungarian infantry under Kacper Bekiesza, however, after a few months, Stephens army was unable to take the city by force
41.
Livonian War
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During the period 1558–1578, Russia dominated the region with early military successes at Dorpat and Narva. Russian dissolution of the Livonian Confederation brought Poland–Lithuania into the conflict while Sweden, Magnus attempted to expand his Livonian holdings to establish the Russian vassal state Kingdom of Livonia, which nominally existed until Magnus defection in 1576. This was followed by a campaign through Russia culminating in the long. Under the 1582 Truce of Jam Zapolski, which ended the war between Russia and Poland–Lithuania, Russia lost all its holdings in Livonia and Polotsk to Poland–Lithuania. The following year, Sweden and Russia signed the Truce of Plussa with Sweden gaining most of Ingria, by the mid-16th century, economically prosperous Old Livonia had become a region organised into the decentralised and religiously divided Livonian Confederation. Its territories consisted of the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order, the prince-bishoprics of Dorpat, Ösel–Wiek, as well as Courland, the Archbishopric of Riga and the city of Riga. Together with Riga, the cities of Dorpat and Reval, along with the knightly estates, the only common institutions of the Livonian estates were the regularly held common assemblies known as landtags. As well as a political administration, there were also persistent rivalries between the archbishop of Riga and the landmeister of the Order for hegemony. As war approached, Livonia had a weak administration subject to internal rivalries, lacked any powerful defences or outside support, and was surrounded by monarchies pursuing expansionist policies. Frost notes of the region, Racked with internal bickering and threatened by the political machinations of its neighbours. Only the archbishopric of Riga successfully overcame resistance of the lesser nobles, Wilhelm and Christoph were to pursue Alberts interests in Livonia, among which was the establishment of a hereditary Livonian duchy styled after the Prussian model. At the same time the Order agitated for its re-establishment in Prussia, by the time the Livonian War broke out, the Hanseatic League had already lost its monopoly on the profitable and prosperous Baltic Sea trade. While still involved and with increasing sales, it now shared the market with European mercenary fleets, most notably from the Dutch Seventeen Provinces, a long bar of Danish territories in the south and her lack of sufficient year-round ice-free ports severely limited Swedens access to the Baltic trade. Through its absorption of the principalities of Novgorod and Pskov, the Tsardom of Russia had become Livonias eastern neighbour, the conflict between Russia and the Western powers was exacerbated by Russias isolation from sea trade. The new Ivangorod port built by Tsar Ivan on the shore of the Narva River in 1550 was considered unsatisfactory on account of its shallow waters. The Livonians eventually promised to pay this sum to Ivan by 1557, Ivan continued to point out that the existence of the Order required passive Russian support, and was quick to threaten use of military force if necessary. The Polish King and Lithuanian Grand Duke Sigismund II Augustus was wary of Russian expansionist aspirations, expansion of Russia into Livonia would have meant not only a stronger political rival but also loss of lucrative trade routes. Therefore, Sigismund supported his cousin Wilhelm von Brandenburg, archbishop of Riga, in his conflicts with Wilhelm von Fürstenberg, Sigismund hoped that Livonia, just like the Duchy of Prussia under Duke Albert, would become a vassal state of Poland–Lithuania
Kingdom of Poland
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Teutonic Order and mercenaries
