{{Campaignbox Mongol invasion of Poland The sack of Krakow during the

first Mongol invasion of Poland The Mongol Invasion of Poland from late 1240 to 1241 culminated in the Battle of Legnica, where the Mongols defeated an alliance which included forces from fragmented Poland and their allies, led by Henry II the Pious, the Duke of Silesia. ...

took place on either 22 or 28 March 1241. It ended in the victory of the Mongol forces, who captured the city and burned it, massacring most of its residents.

Background

In early February 1241, some ten thousand Mongol warriors concentrated near

Wlodzimierz Wolynski Volodymyr ( uk, Володи́мир, from 1944 to 2021 Volodymyr-Volynskyi ( uk, Володи́мир-Воли́нський)) is a small city located in Volyn Oblast, in north-western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Volodymyr R ...

, and entered

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a s ...

. The invaders captured

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

and

Zawichost Zawichost is a small town (ca. 1,800 inhabitants ) in Sandomierz County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland. It is located by the Vistula River in Lesser Poland, near Sandomierz. It is first mentioned in historical documents from around 1148. I ...

, reaching Sandomierz on 13 February. The Polish army under

voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...

Włodzimierz Gryf was defeated in the

Battle of Tursk The Battle of Tursko (or Tursko Wielkie) took place on 13 February 1241, during the First Mongol invasion of Poland. It ended in the defeat of the Polish forces of the ''ziemia'' of Kraków. In early February 1241, Polish forces under the voivo ...

and the

Battle of Chmielnik The Battle of Chmielnik occurred on 18 March 1241 during the Mongol invasion of Poland. It ended in the defeat of the Polish armies of Sandomierz and Kraków provinces. The Mongols were able to move unimpeded, and plunder the abandoned city of K ...

. The latter victory meant that the way to Krakow was opened. When news of Polish losses reached the city, its residents fled in panic to

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Also, local peasants abandoned the villages, hiding in forests, swamps and other places.

The sack

The Mongols probably entered Krakow on 22 March 1241. The city itself was not defended. Those residents who had not fled, decided to hide in churches and on the fortified Wawel Hill. According to a popular-20th century legend, a Polish sentry on a tower of St. Mary's Church sounded the alarm by playing the

Hejnał St. Mary's Trumpet Call (Polish language, Polish: ''Hejnał mariacki''; Polish pronunciation: , derived from the Hungarian language, Hungarian expression ''Szűz Mária hajnala'' meaning "Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Mary's dawn") is a traditional, ...

, and the city gates were closed before the Mongols could ambush. The trumpeter, however, was shot in the throat by a Tatar marksman and did not complete the anthem. The invaders stayed in the city for ten days, and their stay resulted in the almost complete destruction of Krakow. The Mongols failed to capture the Wawel Hill or St. Andrew’s Church, the only church in Kraków to withstand the attack. On 31 March 1241 the Mongols set Krakow on fire; the next day they left the city, heading towards

Sources

Tomislaw Giergiel, Tatarzy w Sandomierzu
* Piastowie. Leksykon biograficzny, wyd. 1999, str. 397 * Wielka Historia Polski cz. do 1320, wyd. Pinexx 1999, s. 187-188 * Stanislaw Krakowski, Polska w walce z najazdami tatarskimi w XIII wieku, wyd. MON 1956, str.136-137 1241 in Europe Kraków (1241)

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

History of Kraków