Siege of Bartenstein was a medieval

siege 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 la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

laid upon the castle of Bartenstein (now

Bartoszyce Bartoszyce (pronounced , german: Bartenstein, ; lt, Barštynas) is a town on the Łyna River in northern Poland, with 22,597 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of Bartoszyce County within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. G ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) by the Prussians during the

Great Prussian Uprising The Prussian uprisings were two major and three smaller uprisings by the Old Prussians, one of the Baltic tribes, against the Teutonic Knights that took place in the 13th century during the Prussian Crusade. The crusading military order, suppo ...

. Bartenstein and Rößel were the two major Teutonic strongholds in Barta, one of the Prussian lands. The castle endured years of siege until 1264 and was one of the last to fall into the hands of the Prussians. The garrison in Bartenstein numbered 400 against 1,300

Bartians The Bartians (also ''Barthi'', ''Barthoni'', ''Bartens'', or ''Barti'') were an Old Prussian tribe who were among the last natives following a pre-Christian religion before the Northern Crusades forced their conversion to Christianity at the cost ...

who lived in three forts surrounding the city. Such tactics were very common in Prussia: build your own forts so that any communication with the outside world would be cut off. However, at Bartenstein the forts were far enough away to allow the castle to send out men on raids of the surrounding area. Local noble Miligedo, who showed the Knights secret ways in the area, was killed by the Prussians. The Knights managed to burn down all three forts when Bartians were celebrating a religious holiday. However, they soon returned and rebuilt the forts. Bartenstein was running out of supplies and no help was coming from the headquarters of the Teutonic Knights. They had already eaten their horses, so the only way to escape was on foot. Therefore they decided to trick the Prussians in order to gain a lead. The Knights remained silent inside the castle and did not ring the bell for church service. Such silence tricked the Bartians to believe that the soldiers had fled and they came to examine the castle. Once they were close enough the Knights attacked them with arrows and stones. This was repeated three times, and when the Knights actually fled, they left one old blind man behind to ring the church bell. This allowed them to gain several days and safely reach

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

and Elbing. Other castles at Wistotempil, Schippenbeil, and Kreuzburg fell sometime in 1263. The castles presented a definite threat to the Bartians and

Warmians Warmians (also ''Warmi'') were a Prussian tribe that lived in Warmia ( pl, Warmia, la, Varmia, german: Ermland, lt, Varmė), a territory which now mostly forms part of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland, with a small northern portion l ...

, who had to keep their armies at home and could not participate in the wider uprising.

References

*{{Cite book, first=William , last=Urban , title=The Prussian Crusade , publisher=Lithuanian Research and Studies Center , location=Chicago, Illinois , year=2000 , edition=2nd , pages=287–289 , isbn=0-929700-28-7 1264 in Europe

Bartenstein Bartoszyce (pronounced , german: Bartenstein, ; lt, Barštynas) is a town on the Łyna River in northern Poland, with 22,597 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of Bartoszyce County within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Geog ...

East Prussia Conflicts in 1264

Bart Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartho ...