| Siege of Christmemel | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Lithuanian Crusade | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Grand Duchy of Lithuania | Teutonic Knights | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Vytenis | |||||||
The Siege of Christmemel was an unsuccessful siege of the Teutonic Knights' castle of Christmemel by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in autumn 1315.
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from Latin: sedere, lit. 'to sit'. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static, defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy. The art of conducting and resisting sieges is called siege warfare, siegecraft, or poliorcetics.
Christmemel was a frontier fortress (Ordensburg) of the Teutonic Knights on the banks of the Neman River. It was constructed of wood and earth between April 8 and 22, 1313, by Grand Master Karl von Trier. Christmemel, manned by some 400 men, was to serve as a base for further attacks during the Lithuanian Crusade against pagan Samogitia and Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that lasted from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Austria.
Christmemel was an Ordensburg fortress made of earth and timber built on the Neman River in 1313 to serve as a base for attacks into Samogitia. Along with Ragnit and Georgenburg, Christmemel also served to protect the Order's possessions in Sambia from attack.
Ordensburgs were fortresses 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.
Samogitia or Žemaitija is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. Žemaitija is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai. Žemaitija has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect.
Jurbarkas is a city in Tauragė County, in Samogitia, Lithuania. It is on the right-hand shore of the Neman at its confluence with the tributaries Mituva and Imsre. The town became an important road junction after a bridge was built over the Neman in 1978.
A force of Samogitians raided Ragnit in August 1315, although they did not attempt to capture the castle's keep. Six weeks later, Grand Duke Vytenis attacked with two siege machines and a number of East Slavic archers. His men began cutting and stacking wood, as Vytenis intended to set fire to the castle and suffocate the garrison. While the Order's Grand Master Karl von Trier prepared a relief force, he sent ten knights and 150 soldiers aboard ships to aid the garrison, but Vytenis sent his own men to prevent these reinforcements from arriving at Christmemel.
Samogitians are a subgroup of Lithuanians that inhabit the region of Samogitia in Lithuania. Many speak the Samogitian dialect of the Lithuanian language.
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. The first keeps were made of timber and formed a key part of the Motte-and-Bailey castles that emerged in Normandy and Anjou during the 10th century; the design spread to England as a result of the Norman invasion of 1066, and in turn spread into Wales during the second half of the 11th century and into Ireland in the 1170s. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to build stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries; these included Norman keeps, with a square or rectangular design, and circular shell keeps. Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take up to a decade or more to build.
Vytenis was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from c. 1295 to c. 1316. He became the first of the Gediminid dynasty to rule for a considerable amount of time. In the early 14th century his reputation outshone that of Gediminas, who is regarded by modern historians as one of the greatest Lithuanian rulers. The rule of Vytenis was marked by constant warfare in an effort to consolidate the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Ruthenians, Masovians, and the Teutonic Order.
When Karl von Trier's relief force arrived on the 17th day of the siege, Vytenis, although he felt his forces were not ready, ordered the Lithuanian infantry to place the wood and straw around the castle and set them alight, while his Slavic archers provided covering fire. However, Christmemel's garrison was defended by crenellations, allowing the Germans to repulse the Lithuanians with crossbow fire. Defeated at the castle walls and facing Karl von Trier's army, the Grand Duke called a retreat and burned his siege engines. The battle at Christmemel was the last time the Teutonic Knights encountered Vytenis; according to a fictitious legend, he was struck down by lightning in 1316.
Lithuanians are a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,561,300 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language is Lithuanian, one of only two surviving members of the Baltic language family. According to the census conducted in 2001, 83.45% of the population of Lithuania identified themselves as Lithuanians, 6.74% as Poles, 6.31% as Russians, 1.23% as Belarusians, and 2.27% as members of other ethnic groups. Most Lithuanians belong to the Roman Catholic Church, while the Lietuvininkai who lived in the northern part of East Prussia prior to World War II, were mostly Evangelical Lutherans.
Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe, who share a common German ancestry, culture and history. German is the shared mother tongue of a substantial majority of ethnic Germans.
A crossbow is a type of elastic ranged weapon in similar principle to a bow, consisting of a bow-like assembly mounted horizontally on a main frame called a tiller, which is handheld in a similar fashion to the stock of a long gun. It shoots arrow-like projectiles called bolts or quarrels. The medieval European crossbow was called by many other names, most of which were derived from the word ballista, an ancient Greek torsion siege engine similar in appearance.
