Battle of Pagastin was a medieval battle fought between the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...

and Prussians in 1271 during the

Great Prussian Uprising The Prussian uprisings were two major and three smaller uprisings by the Old Prussians, one of the Baltic tribes, against the Teutonic Knights that took place in the 13th century during the Prussian Crusade. The crusading military order, suppo ...

(1260–1274). Pagan Prussians rose against their conquerors, who tried to convert them to Christianity, after Lithuanians and

Samogitia Samogitia or Žemaitija ( Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five cultural regions of Lithuania and formerly one of the two core administrative divisions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

ns defeated the joint forces of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order in the Battle of Durbe in 1260. The first years of the uprising were successful for the Prussians, but the Knights received reinforcements from Western Europe and were gaining the upper-hand in the conflict. The Prussians launched raids against the

Chełmno Land Chełmno land ( pl, ziemia chełmińska, or Kulmerland, Old Prussian: ''Kulma'', lt, Kulmo žemė) is a part of the historical region of Pomerelia, located in central-northern Poland. Chełmno land is named after the city of Chełmno (hist ...

, where the Knights first established themselves in late 1220s. The apparent aim of these raids were to force the Knights to devote as many troops in defense of Chełmno as possible so that they could not organize raids deep into Prussian territory. As other clans became preoccupied fending off Teutonic attacks from their forts, only Diwanus and his

Bartians The Bartians (also ''Barthi'', ''Barthoni'', ''Bartens'', or ''Barti'') were an Old Prussian tribe who were among the last natives following a pre-Christian religion before the Northern Crusades forced their conversion to Christianity at the cost ...

were able to continue the war in the west. They made several minor expeditions to Chełmno Land each year. The major Prussian offensive was organized in 1271 together with Linka, leader of the

Pogesanians Pogesanians were a Old Prussians, Prussian tribe, which lived in the region of Pogesania ( pl, Pogezania; lt, Pagudė; german: Pogesanien; la, Pogesania), a small territory stretched between the Elbląg River, Elbląg and Pasłęka rivers, now l ...

. The Bartian infantry and Pogesanians besieged a border castle, but were fended off by the Knights from Christburg. The Prussians who managed to escape joined their cavalry while the Knights set up a camp on the opposite bank of the Dzierzgoń River, blocking the route home. When Christians retired for the night, half of the Prussian army crossed the river at a distance, in order to attack the Knights from the rear, while the other half charged straight across the river. The Knights were encircled. The Battle of Paganstin saw twelve knights and 500 men killed. The Prussians immediately assaulted Christburg and almost captured it. The Prussians were still looting the surrounding area when cavalry from Elbing arrived. Many of the Prussian infantry perished while cavalry escaped.Urban, William. ''The Prussian Crusade'', 327. Despite these losses, Diwanus was soon back and blocked roads leading to Christburg hoping to starve the castle.

References

{{coord missing, Poland 1271 in Europe Pagastin Pagastin