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Bisenė
Bisenė or Bisena was a wooden fortress of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Lithuanian Crusade. It was one of the Lithuanian defensive outposts along the Neman River and was burned down by the Teutonic Order in 1283 and 1316. Its location was long debated and often confused with Pieštvė, but after 1985 research of Romas Batūra it has been generally accepted to be Kartupėnai Hillfort near the confluence of the Kartupis and Neman in Jurbarkas District Municipality, Lithuania. After the burning down of Kolainiai in 1291 and Bisenė in 1316, Junigeda ( Veliuona) became the westernmost Lithuanian fortress along the Neman. History Chronicler Peter von Dusburg noted that the Teutonic Order finalized its conquest of Prussia and launched the Lithuanian Crusade in winter 1283. The first target of the Teutons was Bisenė. Teutonic soldiers, commanded by the Prussian Landmeister Konrad von Thierberg, crossed the frozen Neman River and rigorously attacked the Lithuanian fort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuanian Crusade
The Lithuanian Crusade was a series of economic Christianity and colonialism, Christian colonization campaigns by the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order under the pretext of forcibly Christianization, Christianizing the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Livonian Order occupied Riga in 1202 and the Teutonic Order conquered Culmerland in the 1230s. 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 colonialism, colonialist (raids) into Samogitian and Lithuanian lands, without great success but at immense human cost. Border regions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christmemel
Christmemel (Latin: ''Christi Memela'', ''Kyrsmemel'', ''Kirsmomela'') 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. During the construction, the Knights used ships to build a bridge across the Neman River. After the construction, the Knights attacked a nearby Lithuanian fortress in Bisenė, but did not manage to take it. On September 15, 1315, Lithuanian grand duke Vytenis laid siege of Christmemel. He used siege machines and employed Slavic archers. However, the 17-day siege was unsuccessful and was lifted a day before Teutonic reinforcements arrived. The Knights attacked Lithuanian fortress in Junigėda instead and used captives to rebuild Christmemel. The siege was the l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hill Fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortification usually follows the contours of a hill and consists of one or more lines of earthworks, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches. Hillforts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC, and were used in many Celtic areas of central and western Europe until the Roman conquest. Nomenclature The spellings "hill fort", "hill-fort" and "hillfort" are all used in the archaeological literature. The ''Monument Type Thesaurus'' published by the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage lists ''hillfort'' as the preferred term. They all refer to an elevated site with one or more ramparts made of earth, stone and/or wood, with an external ditch. M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hill Forts In Lithuania
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as tall, or as steep as a mountain. Geographers historically regarded mountains as hills greater than above sea level, which formed the basis of the plot of the 1995 film ''The Englishman who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain''. In contrast, hillwalkers have tended to regard mountains as peaks above sea level. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' also suggests a limit of and Whittow states "Some authorities regard eminences above as mountains, those below being referred to as hills." Today, a mountain is usually defined in the UK and Ireland as any summit at least high, while the official UK government's definition of a mountain is a summit of or higher. Some definitions include a topographical prominence requirement, typically o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mokslo Ir Enciklopedijų Leidybos Centras
The Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Centre (previously: ''Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute'', lt, Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras or MELC) is a Lithuanian publishing house that specializes in encyclopedias, reference works, and dictionaries. The Institute, headquartered in Vilnius, is supported by the Lithuanian Republic's Ministry of Education and Science. The publishing house was established in 1997, as a reorganisation of Science and Encyclopaedia Publishers. The latter publishing house was founded in 1992 after the merger of Mokslas Publishing with the State Encyclopaedia Publishers. Its major project is the preparation and publication of the 25-volume ''Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija'' which was completed in 2015. It also publishes several specialized encyclopedias, standard and specialized dictionaries, reference books, research monographs focusing on social science, natural science, and technology, scientific works by international author ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ditch (fortification)
In military engineering, a ditch is an obstacle designed to slow down or break up an attacking force, while a trench is intended to provide cover to the defenders. In military fortifications the side of a ditch farthest from the enemy and closest to the next line of defence is known as the scarp while the side of a ditch closest to the enemy is known as the counterscarp. Uses In early fortifications, ditches were often used in combination with ramparts to slow down the enemy whilst defensive fire could be brought to bear from the relative protection afforded by the rampart and possibly the palisade. In medieval fortification, a ditch was often constructed in front of a defensive wall to hinder mining and escalade activities from an attacker. When filled with water, such a defensive ditch is called a moat. However, moats may also be dry. Later star forts designed by military engineers like Vauban, comprised elaborate networks of ditches and parapets, carefully calculated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rampart (fortification)
In fortification architecture, a bank or rampart is a length of embankment or wall forming part of the defensive boundary of a castle, hillfort, settlement or other fortified site. It is usually broad-topped and made of excavated earth and/or masonry.Darvill, Timothy (2008). ''Oxford Concise Dictionary of Archaeology'', 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, p. 376. . Early fortifications Many types of early fortification, from prehistory through to the Early Middle Ages, employed earth ramparts usually in combination with external ditches to defend the outer perimeter of a fortified site or settlement. Hillforts, ringforts or "raths" and ringworks all made use of ditch and rampart defences, and they are the characteristic feature of circular ramparts. The ramparts could be reinforced and raised in height by the use of palisades. This type of arrangement was a feature of the motte and bailey castle of northern Europe in the early medieval period. Types of ram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distinct from weathering which involves no movement. Removal of rock or soil as clastic sediment is referred to as ''physical'' or ''mechanical'' erosion; this contrasts with ''chemical'' erosion, where soil or rock material is removed from an area by dissolution. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, or for thousands of kilometres. Agents of erosion include rainfall; bedrock wear in rivers; coastal erosion by the sea and waves; glacial plucking, abrasion, and scour; areal flooding; wind abrasion; groundwater processes; and mass movement processes in steep landscapes like landslides and debris flows. The rates at which such processes act control how fast a surface is eroded. Typically, physical erosion procee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neman, Russia
Neman (russian: Не́ман; german: Ragnit; lt, Ragainė; pl, Ragneta), is a town and the administrative center of Nemansky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located in the historic region of Lithuania Minor, on the steep southern bank of the Neman River, where it forms the Russian border with the Klaipėda Region in Lithuania, and northeast of Kaliningrad, the administrative center of the oblast. Population figures: History ''Ragnita'' (from Old Prussian: ''ragas'', "spur"), founded in 1288, was a settlement of the Baltic (Old Prussian) tribe of Skalvians. It was contested by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since its creation in the 13th century, and on April 23, 1289 it was conquered by the Teutonic Knights, who built a castle there between 1397 and 1409, which later became the seat of a ''Komtur''. Construction works were supervised by the Master of the Teutonic Order Konrad Fellenstein of Marienburg. A few decades later, a now-destroyed 25 meter guard tower ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Outer Bailey
An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary buildings used for the management of the castle or the supply of its occupants. These domestic buildings could include workshops, livestock stalls and stables; storage facilities such as barns, sheds and granaries, as well as quarters for servants such as maids, farm workers, and even the castle governors or castellans. In many cases there was also a brewery, a bakehouse and a kitchen, if the latter was not located in the hall or ''palas''. An outer bailey was often called a base court in England. Depending on topography it could also be referred to as a lower bailey or lower ward, the keep being in the upper bailey or ward. Chepstow Castle has lower, middle and upper baileys. The domestic buildings of the continental ''schloss'', often a st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natangia
Natangians or Notangians (Prussian: ''Notangi''; pl, Natangowie; lt, Notangai; german: Natanger) was a Prussian clan, which lived in the region of Natangia, an area that is now mostly part of the Russian exclave Kaliningrad Oblast, whereas the southern portion lies in the Polish Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. In the 13th century when the Teutonic Knights began their crusade against the Prussians, some 15,000 people might have lived in the area between the Pregolya and Łyna rivers. The Natangian lands bordered with Sambia in the north, Warmia in the west and south, and Bartia in the southeast. They likely spoke a West Baltic language, now extinct, similar to Old Prussian language. History Natangians are first mentioned in a 1238 treaty between the Knights and Duke Świętopełk II of Pomerania. They were conquered by the Teutonic Knights around 1239–1240. In order to prevent the Natangians from liberating themselves from Teutonic rule, the Teutonic Order erected the Kreuzbu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sambia
Sambia (russian: Самбийский полуостров, lit=Sambian Peninsula, translit=Sambiysky poluostrov) or Samland (russian: Земландский полуостров, lit=Zemlandic Peninsula, translit=Zemlandsky poluostrov) or Kaliningrad Peninsula (official name, russian: Калининградский полуостров, ''Kaliningradsky poluostrov'') is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The peninsula is bounded by the Curonian Lagoon to the north-east, the Vistula Lagoon in the southwest, the Pregolya River in the south, and the Deyma River in the east. As Sambia is surrounded on all sides by water, it is technically an island. Historically it formed an important part of the historic region of Prussia. Names Sambia is named after the Sambians, an extinct tribe of Old Prussians. ''Samland'' is the name for peninsula in the Germanic languages. Polish and Latin speakers call the area ''Sambia'', while the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
