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Battle Of Durbe
The Battle of Durbe ( lv, Durbes kauja, lt, Durbės mūšis, german: Schlacht an der Durbe) was a medieval battle fought near Durbe, east of Liepāja, in present-day Latvia during the Livonian Crusade. On 13 July 1260, the Samogitians soundly defeated the joint forces of the Teutonic Knights from Prussia and Livonian Order from Livonia. Some 150 knights were killed, including Livonian Master Burchard von Hornhausen and Prussian Land Marshal Henrik Botel. It was by far the largest defeat of the knights in the 13th century: in the second-largest, the Battle of Aizkraukle, 71 knights were killed. The battle inspired the Great Prussian Uprising (ended in 1274) and the rebellions of the Semigallians (surrendered in 1290), the Couronians (surrendered in 1267), and the Oeselians (surrendered in 1261). The battle undid two decades of Livonian conquests and it took some thirty years for the Livonian Order to restore its control. Background The Livonian Order had been fighting the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livonian Crusade
The Livonian crusade refers to the various military Christianisation campaigns in medieval Livonia – in what is now Latvia and Estonia – during the Papal -sanctioned Northern Crusades in the 12–13th century. The Livonian crusade was conducted mostly by the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Denmark. It ended with the creation of Terra Mariana and the Danish duchy of Estonia. The lands on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea were one of the last parts of Europe to be Christianised. On 2 February 1207, in the territories conquered, an ecclesiastical state called ''Terra Mariana'' was established as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire, and proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in 1215 as a subject of the Holy See. After the success of the crusade, the Teutonic- and Danish- occupied territory was divided into six feudal principalities by William of Modena. Wars against Livs and Latgalians (1198–1209) By the time German traders began to arrive in the second half of the 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livonia
Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Лифляндия, Liflyandiya) is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extended to most of present-day Estonia and Latvia, which had been conquered during the Livonian Crusade (1193–1290) by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. Medieval Livonia, or Terra Mariana, reached its greatest extent after Saint George's Night Uprising that in 1346 forced Denmark to sell the Duchy of Estonia (northern Estonia conquered by Denmark in the 13th century) to the State of the Teutonic Order. Livonia, as understood after the retreat of Denmark in 1346, bordered on the Gulf of Finland in the north, Lake Peipu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Klaipėda
Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuania. The city has a complex recorded history, partially due to the combined regional importance of the usually ice-free Port of Klaipėda at the mouth of the river . Located in the region of Lithuania Minor, at various times, it was a part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prussia and Germany until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. As a result of the 1923 Klaipėda Revolt it was annexed by Lithuania and has remained with Lithuania to this day, except between 1939 and 1945 when it was occupied by Germany following the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania. The population has migrated from the city to its suburbs and hinterland. The number of inhabitants of Klaipėda city shrank from 202,929 in 1989 to 162,360 in 2011, but the urban zone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memel Castle
Memel, a name derived from the Couronian-Latvian ''memelis, mimelis, mēms'' for "mute, silent", may refer to: *Memel, East Prussia, Germany, now Klaipėda, Lithuania **Memelburg, (Klaipėda Castle), the ''Ordensburg'' in Memel, a castle built in 1252 by Teutonic Knights which was the nucleus for the city **Memel Territory (Klaipėda Region), (''Memelland''), the area separated from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, later called Klaipėda Region **Battle of Memel (other) *Neman (German ''Memel''), part of a river in East Prussia, Germany, mentioned in the ''Deutschlandlied'' (1841) as the eastern border of Germany *Nemunėlis River (German ''Memele'', Latvian ''Mēmele'') in northern Lithuania and southern Latvia *Memel, Free State Memel is a town in the Free State province of South Africa, located close to the provincial boundaries of both kwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, and is situated some 1,730 metres above sea level. Etymology The town is perhaps named after the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Memel (1257)
The Battle of Memel was fought between the Samogitians and the Livonian Order in 1257 near Memel (now Klaipėda in Lithuania). When Mindaugas, King of Lithuania, transferred most of Samogitia to the Livonian Order in 1257, Duke Alminas was elected as the Samogitian leader and organized resistance. In 1253, the Germans built the Memel Castle on the Curonian land in the strategically important spot where Dangė River meets the Curonian Lagoon. The new castle threatened Curonians and Samogitians. In 1256, Master of the Livonian land, Anno von Sangershausen, was elected as the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. In his previous position he has replaced by the former komtur of the Königsberg Castle, Burchard Hornhauzen, who was almost immediately faced with a serious challenge – a Samogitian army which invaded the Memel area. Hornhauzen hurriedly gathered about a thousand soldiers (over 40 knights and about 500 Curonians and an unknown number of ordinary order's warriors ) and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Of Lithuania
The monarchy of Lithuania concerned the monarchical head of state of Lithuania, which was established as an absolute and hereditary monarchy. Throughout Lithuania's history there were three ducal dynasties that managed to stay in power—House of Mindaugas, House of Gediminas, and House of Jagiellon. Despite this, the one and only King of Lithuania who has ever been crowned was King Mindaugas I, although there were two more instances of royal nobles who were not officially crowned due to unfortunate political circumstances, but ''de jure'' received recognition abroad as kings of Lithuania from the pope or the Holy Roman emperor—Vytautas the Great by Sigismund of LuxembourgNadveckė, Ineta (6 July 2019Trys Lietuvos karaliai: vienas tikras, vienas nelabai ir vienas beveik'' LRT''. and Mindaugas II by Pope Benedict XV, respectively. Others were seen as kings of Lithuania even though they had only considered it and never took further action to claim the throne, as in the case o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mindaugas
Mindaugas (german: Myndowen, la, Mindowe, orv, Мендог, be, Міндоўг, pl, Mendog, c. 1203–1263) is the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or rise to power; he is mentioned in a 1219 treaty as an elder duke, and in 1236 as the leader of all the Lithuanians. The contemporary and modern sources discussing his ascent mention strategic marriages along with banishment or murder of his rivals. He extended his domain into regions southeast of Lithuania proper during the 1230s and 1240s. In 1250 or 1251, during the course of internal power struggles, he was baptised as a Roman Catholic; this action enabled him to establish an alliance with the Livonian Order, a long-standing antagonist of the Lithuanians. During the summer of 1253 he was crowned King of Lithuania, ruling between 300,000 and 400,000 subjects. While Mindaugas's ten-year reign as king was marked by many state-building acco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oeselians
Oeselians ( la, Oesel, , sv, Ösel, da, Øsel, fi, Saarenmaa) is a term historically applied before the Northern Crusades up to the 13th century to people who were living on the island of Saaremaa or Oesel as it was known back then, an island in Estonia in the Baltic Sea. In modern times they are sometimes also referred to as ''Saarlased'' ( "islanders"; singular: ''saarlane''). In Viking-Age literature, the inhabitants were often included under the name "Vikings from Estonia". The name Oeselians was first used in writing by Henry of Livonia in the 13th century. The inhabitants are often mentioned in the historic written sources during the Estonian Viking Age. On the eve of Northern Crusades, the inhabitants of Saaremaa were summarized in the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle thus: "The Oeselians, neighbors to the Kurs (Curonians), are surrounded by the sea and never fear strong armies as their strength is in their ships. In summers when they can travel across the sea they oppress th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Couronians
:''The Kursenieki are also sometimes known as Curonians.'' The Curonians or Kurs ( lv, kurši; lt, kuršiai; german: Kuren; non, Kúrir; orv, кърсь) were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic Sea in what are now the western parts of Latvia and Lithuania from the 5th to the 16th centuries, when they merged with other Baltic tribes. They gave their name to the region of Courland (''Kurzeme''), and they spoke the Curonian language. Curonian lands were conquered by the Livonian Order in 1266 and they eventually merged with other Baltic tribes contributing to the ethnogenesis of Lithuanians and Latvians. Origin The ethnic origin of the Curonians has been disputed in the past. Some researchers place the Curonians in the eastern Baltic group.Östen Dahl (ed.) 2001, ''The Circum-Baltic Languages: Typology and Contact,'' vol. 1 Others hold that the Curonians were related to Old Prussians who belonged in the western Baltic group. History The Curonians were kno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semigallians
Semigallians ( Latvian ''Zemgaļi''; lt, Žiemgaliai, also ''Zemgalians, Semigalls, Semigalians'') were the Baltic tribe that lived in the southcentral part of contemporary Latvia and northern Lithuania. They are noted for their long resistance (1219–1290) against the German crusaders and Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades. Semigallians had close linguistic and cultural ties with Samogitians. Name The name of Semigallia appears in contemporary records as ''Seimgala'', ''Zimgola'' and ''Sem'' 'e'''gallen''. The -gal element means "border", while the first syllable corresponds to ''ziem'' ("north") or ''zem'' ("low"). So the Semigallians were the "people of the northern borderlands" or "people of the low borderlands", i.e. the lower parts of the Mūša and Lielupe river valleys. History During the Viking Age, the Semigallians were involved in battles with Swedish Vikings over control of the lower part of the Daugava waterway. In ''Gesta Danorum'' the Danish chron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Prussian Uprising
The Prussian uprisings were two major and three smaller uprisings by the Old Prussians, one of the Balts, Baltic tribes, against the Teutonic Knights that took place in the 13th century during the Prussian Crusade. The crusading Military order (society), military order, supported by the Popes and Christian Europe, sought to conquer and convert the paganism, pagan Prussians. In the first ten years of the crusade, five of the seven major Prussian clans fell under the control of the less numerous Teutonic Knights. However, the Prussians rose against their conquerors on five occasions. The first uprising was supported by Duke Swietopelk II, Duke of Pomerania. The Prussians were successful at first, reducing the Knights to only five of their strongest castles. The duke then suffered a series of military defeats and was eventually forced to make peace with the Teutonic Knights. With Duke Swietopelk's support for the Prussians broken, a prelate of Pope Innocent IV negotiated a peace tre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Aizkraukle
The Battle of Aizkraukle or Ascheraden was fought on 5 March 1279 between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led by Traidenis, and the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order near Aizkraukle (german: Ascheraden) in present-day Latvia. The order suffered a great defeat: 71 knights, including the grand master, Ernst von Rassburg, and Eilart Hoberg, leader of the knights from Danish Estonia, were killed. It was the second-largest defeat of the order in the 13th century. After the battle Duke Nameisis of the Semigallians recognized Traidenis as his suzerain. Background In 1273 the order built Dinaburga Castle on lands nominally controlled by Traidenis. The castle was of great strategic importance: it was used as a base for raids into central Lithuania in hopes that a weakened Traidenis would discontinue his support of Semigalians who rebelled against the order. Traidenis besieged the castle for a month but failed to capture it. Historiography often claims that the order started the campa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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