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Margiris
Margiris or Margis (died 25 February 1336) was a Grand Duchy of Lithuania, medieval Lithuanian/Samogitian prince, mentioned by Caspar Schütz, via Wigand of Marburg, as the heroic defender of Pilėnai fortress in 1336. Not able to defend the fortress against the Teutonic Order, Margiris and other defenders decided to commit a mass suicide, burning the castle and leaving no loot for the enemy. This episode from the Lithuanian Crusade was popularized during the 19th-century wave of romantic nationalism and Margiris is treated as a national hero in Lithuania. Biography Very little is known about Margiris' life. In primary written sources his name is mentioned only twice, in 1329 as ''Margalis'' by chronicler Jean d'Outremeuse in ''Ly myreur des histors'' and as ''Marger'' in 1336 by Caspar Schütz in ''Historia Rerum Prussicarum''. In early 1329, John of Luxemburg, King of Bohemia, joined the Lithuanian Crusade, Teutonic crusade against Lithuania and Siege of Medvėgalis, capt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilėnai
Pilėnai (also ''Pillenen'' in German) was a hill fort in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its location is unknown and is subject to academic debates, but it is well known in the history of Lithuania due to its heroic defense against the Teutonic Order in 1336. Attacked by a large Teutonic force, the fortress, commanded by Duke Margiris, tried in vain to organize a defense against the larger and stronger invader. Losing hope, the defenders decided to burn their property and commit mass suicide to deprive the Order of prisoners and loot (cf. scorched earth). This dramatic episode from the Lithuanian Crusade has caught the public imagination, inspired many works of fiction, and became a symbol of Lithuanian struggles and resistance. Sources The attack and the defense of Pilėnai were briefly mentioned in several contemporary chronicles, including ''Epitome gestarum Prussiae'' by a Sambian canon, ''Der Chronist von Wolfenbüttel'' (Chronicler of Wolfenbüttel), ''Annalista Thorunens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family Of Gediminas
The family of Gediminas is a group of family members of Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania (ca. 1275–1341), who interacted in the 14th century. The family included the siblings, children, and grandchildren of the Grand Duke and played the pivotal role in the history of Lithuania for the period as the Lithuanian nobility had not yet acquired its influence. Gediminas was also the forefather of the Gediminids, Gediminid dynasty, which ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1310s or 1280s to 1572. Gediminas' origins are unclear, but recent research suggests that Skalmantas (Gediminids), Skalmantas (Skolomend), an otherwise unknown historical figure, was Gediminas' grandfather or father and could be considered the dynasty's founder. Because none of his brothers or sisters had known heirs, Gediminas, who sired at least twelve children, had the advantage in establishing sovereignty over his siblings. Known for his diplomatic skills, Gediminas arranged his children's marriages to suit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Medvėgalis
The siege of Medvėgalis was a brief siege of Medvėgalis, a Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Lithuanian fortress in Samogitia, in February 1329 by the Teutonic Order reinforced by many guest crusaders, including King John of Bohemia. The 18,000-strong Teutonic army captured four Lithuanian fortresses and besieged Medvėgalis. The fortress surrendered, and as many as 6,000 locals were baptized in the Catholic rite. The campaign, which lasted a little more than a week, was cut short by a Polish attack on Prussia in the Polish–Teutonic War (1326–32). When the Teutonic army returned to Prussia, the Lithuanians returned to their Lithuanian mythology, pagan practices and beliefs. Background Medvėgalis was one of the strongest and most important Lithuanian fortresses in Samogitia. First mentioned in written sources in 1316, the Teutonic Knights attacked it about 20 times. After the victorious Battle of Medininkai in 1320, Lithuania concluded a truce with the Knights. The Teutons resumed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuanian Crusade
The Lithuanian Crusade was a series of campaigns by the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order under the pretext of forcibly Christianizing the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Livonian Order occupied Riga in 1202 and in the 1230s they settled in Chełmno Land, a fief of Poland. They first conquered other neighboring Baltic tribes—Curonians, Semigallians, Latgalians, Selonians, and Old Prussians—in the Livonian Crusade and Prussian Crusade. The first raid against the Lithuanians and Samogitians was in 1208. From then on, the orders played a key role in Lithuanian politics, but they were not a direct threat until the 1280s. By that time, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was already a centralized state and could mount defenses. For the next century, the order organized annual colonialist (raids) into Samogitian and Lithuanian lands, without great success but at immense human cost. Border regions in Samogitia and Suvalkija became sparsely inhabited wilderness due to ethnic cleans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1336 Deaths
Year 1336 ( MCCCXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events * February 25 ** Rather than be taken captive by the Teutonic Knights, 4,000 defenders of Pilėnai, Lithuania commit mass suicide. ** The Kenmu Restoration ends and the Muromachi period begins in Japan; start of the Nanboku-chō period. * April 18 (unconfirmed) – Brothers Harihara and Bukka Raya found the Vijayanagara Empire on the southern part of the Deccan Plateau in South India. * April 26 – The Ascent of Mount Ventoux is made by the Italian poet Petrarch: he claims to be the first since classical antiquity to climb a mountain for the view. * May 19 – The governor of Baghdad, Oirat 'Ali Padsah, defeats Arpa Ke'un near Maraga, contributing to the disintegration of the Ilkhanate. * July 4 – Battle of Minatogawa: Ashikaga Takauji defeats Japanese Imperial forces, under Kusunoki Masashige and Nitta Yoshisada. * July 21– 22 – Second War of Scottish Independence: Aberdeen, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Władysław Syrokomla
Ludwik Władysław Franciszek Kondratowicz (29 September 1823 – 15 September 1862), better known as Władysław Syrokomla (), was a Polish romantic poet, writer and translator working in Vilnius and Vilna Governorate, then Russian Empire, whose writings were mainly dedicated to the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In his writings, Syrokomla called himself a Lithuanians, Lithuanian but was disappointed by his inability to speak the Lithuanian language. Biography Syrokomla was born on 29 September 1823 in the village of , in the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Minsk Region, Belarus), to an impoverished szlachta, noble family. His parents were Aleksander Kajetan Kondratowicz (d. 1858) and Wiktoria (née Złotkowska). His uncle was Hilary Kondratowicz (1790–1823), a Polish teacher of maths in Vilnius Gymnasiums, Vilnius gymnasium, who published some articles in '. A year after his birth his parents moved to another village called . In 1833 he entered the Dominican Or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raid Into Brandenburg
The Raid on Brandenburg was a Polish–Lithuanian raid on the Margraviate of Brandenburg in February–March 1326. With papal approval and encouragement, King Władysław I of Poland allied with Gediminas of Lithuania and organized the raid against Louis V of Germany. Pope John XXII opposed Louis' ambitions to become the Holy Roman Emperor, King Władysław regarded Neumark (East Brandenburg) as Polish territory, while Lithuanians sought loot. The Teutonic Knights, under papal pressure, observed its peace treaties with Poland and Lithuania and did not interfere. The Polish–Lithuanian army raided Brandenburg for a month, reaching Frankfurt and Berlin, and took 6,000 prisoners. Background After the death of Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor, in August 1313, a war erupted between cousins Louis V of Germany and Frederick the Fair of Austria for the imperial crown. Ambitious Pope John XXII saw himself as the ultimate judge and arbiter in the conflict. When Louis V ignored papal decre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuania Punia Margiris Pilikalnis
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and the Russian exclave, semi-exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest, with a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Sweden to the west. Lithuania covers an area of , with a population of 2.89 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities include Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys. Lithuanians who are the titular nation and form the majority of the country's population, belong to the ethnolinguistic group of Balts and speak Lithuanian language, Lithuanian. For millennia, the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Balts, Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, Lithuanian lands were united for the first time by Mindaugas, who formed the Kingdom of Lithuania on 6 July ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gediminas
Gediminas ( – December 1341) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death in 1341. He is considered the founder of Lithuania's capital Vilnius (see: Iron Wolf legend). During his reign, he brought under his rule lands from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The Gediminids dynasty he founded and which is named after him came to rule over Poland, Hungary and Bohemia. Biography Origin Gediminas was born in about 1275. Because written sources of the era are scarce, Gediminas' ancestry, early life, and assumption of the title of Grand Duke in ca. 1316 are obscure and continue to be the subject of scholarly debate. Various theories have claimed that Gediminas was either his predecessor Grand Duke Vytenis' son, his brother, his cousin, or his hostler. For several centuries only two versions of his origins circulated. Chronicles — written long after Gediminas' death by the Teutonic Knights, a long-standing enemy of Lithuania — claimed that Gediminas was a host ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Looting
Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. The proceeds of all these activities can be described as booty, loot, plunder, spoils, or pillage. Looting by a victorious army during war has been a common practice throughout recorded history. In the wake of the Napoleonic Wars and particularly after World War II, norms against wartime plunder became widely accepted. In modern armed conflicts, looting is prohibited by international law, and constitutes a war crime.Rule 52. Pillage is prohibited. ''Customary IHL Database'', |
Butvydas
Butvydas or Pukuveras (died ) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from until his death in . Butvydas is believed to have been the father of Grand Duke Gediminas, under whom Lithuania emerged as a major Northern and Eastern European power. Background There is no conclusive data regarding Butvydas's origins. However, some scholars consider him to have been a son of the Grand Duke Traidenis. Butvydas is first mentioned in Galician–Volhynian Chronicle dating to April–May 1289, when, together with his elder brother Grand Duke Butigeidis, he handed over the town of Vawkavysk to the Ruthenian prince Mstislav in compliance with the terms of the peace treaty between Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Principality of Volhynia. Butvydas is mentioned again in '' Chronicon terrae Prussiae'' by Peter of Dusburg, in which he is referred to as Pukuveras the King of Lithuanians (''Pucuwerus rex Lethowie''), when in 1291 he sent an army led by his sons—including future Grand Duke Vytenis to fight a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epic Poem
In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to oral tradition, epic poems consist of formal speech and are usually learnt word for word, and are contrasted with narratives that consist of everyday speech where the performer has the license to recontextualize the story to a particular audience, often to a younger generation. Influential epics that have shaped Western literature and culture include Homer's ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey''; Virgil's ''Aeneid''; and the anonymous ''Beowulf'' and ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. The genre has inspired the adjective '' epic'' as well as derivative works in other mediums (such as epic films) that evoke or emulate the characteristics of epics. Etymology The English word ''epic'' comes from Latin , which itself comes from the Ancient Greek adjective () ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
