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Pieštvė
Pieštvė (also known as ''Beisten'', ''Bisten'', ''Pistene'', ''Pista'', ''Pestwa'', etc. in medieval chronicles) was a wooden fortress of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Lithuanian Crusade. It stood on a hill fort that is known as in Seredžius, Jurbarkas District Municipality, Lithuania, located near the confluence of the Neman River, Neman and Dubysa rivers. It was an important Lithuanian defensive outpost against the Teutonic Order. It was first mentioned in written sources in 1293 and attacked numerous times by the Order. Because it stood near Junigeda (Veliuona), both fortresses were often attacked together. It was burned down in 1363, a year following the Siege of Kaunas (1362), fall of Kaunas Castle. It was rebuilt in May 1412 but lost its strategic importance after the Treaty of Melno (1422) and was abandoned. Earlier historians thought that Pieštvė was identical to Bisena. History Pre-history and legends Archaeological excavations show that people lived on an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Kaunas (1362)
The siege of Kaunas was laid by the Teutonic Order on the newly built Kaunas Castle in spring 1362. It was the first brick castle built by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After a month-long siege, the castle was captured and destroyed. Its commander Vaidotas, son of Kęstutis, and 36 others were taken captive. The defeat, followed by the destruction of Veliuona and Pieštvė the following year, severely weakened Lithuanian defenses along the Neman River and opened central Lithuania to Teutonic attacks. Background The Teutonic Order waged a Lithuanian Crusade, decades-long crusade against the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania in attempts to conquer it and forcibly Christianization of Lithuania, convert it to Christianity. The Neman River became the natural frontier and each side built a network of castles and fortresses along its banks. Lithuanian fortresses were wooden (Kolainiai, Veliuona, Pieštvė, Paštuva, Bisenė) until they began building stone and red brick Kaunas Castle near ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seredžius
Seredžius is a town in Lithuania on the right bank of the Nemunas River near its confluence with the Dubysa River. According to the 2011 census, it had a population of 590. Names The Yiddish name for the city was סרעדניק (''Srednik''), corresponding to the Polish ''Średniki'', German ''Schrödnick'', and Russian Средники (''Sredniki''). In local Samogitian dialect the town is known as ''Seredius'', in Lithuanian - ''Seredžius''. Other recorded forms of the town's name include ''Srednike'', ''Seredzhyus'', ''Seredzhus'' and ''Seredius''. The name Seredžius is believed to be derived from середа (''sereda''), a word meaning "Wednesday" in many Slavic languages. This is probably because of the markets held there on Wednesday. History Southeast of the town, archaeologists discovered graves from the 3rd–4th centuries. According to the Palemonids legend, noble refugees from the Roman Empire settled on the hill, now known as the , and established the Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bayernburg
Bayernburg (German for "Bavarian Castle"; ) is the name of three separate wooden castles of the Teutonic Order in different locations along the Neman River in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Lithuanian Crusade. Their exact locations are not known and historians provide conflicting versions. The first fortress was built in 1337 by guest crusaders, including Henry XIV, Duke of Bavaria, in whose honor it was named after Bavaria. Emperor Louis IV declared it the capital of the to-be-conquered Lithuania. The newly built castle withstood a 22-day siege by Grand Duke Gediminas, but was abandoned by the Order in 1344. The Teutons burned down the first Bayernburg and built a brand new fortress a little closer to Prussia. The second Bayernburg withstood a six-day Lithuanian attack in 1381 but was burned down in July 1384 by Vytautas when he betrayed the Order at the conclusion of the Lithuanian Civil War (1381–84). The third Bayernburg was built in spring 1387 where Georgenburg sto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jurbarkas District Municipality
Jurbarkas District Municipality () is a municipalities of Lithuania, municipality in Tauragė County, Lithuania Elderships Jurbarkas District Municipality is divided into 12 elderships: Population by locality *Status: M, MST - city, town / K, GST - village / VS - steading References {{Authority control Jurbarkas District Municipality, Municipalities of Tauragė County Municipalities of Lithuania ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ushakovo, Novomoskovsky Rural Okrug, Guryevsky District, Kaliningrad Oblast
Ushakovo (; or '; ; ) is a village in the Russian exclave Kaliningrad Oblast. It is situated at the mouth of the Prokhladnaya River at the Vistula Lagoon. History The Battle of Pokarwis between pagan Prussians and the Teutonic Knights took place nearby in 1261. The Teutonic Knights founded the village as ''Brandenburg'' to honor Otto III, Margrave of Brandenburg who supported the order in the Prussian Crusade, and erected a castle in 1266. It became known as "Brandenburg (Frisches Haff)" and "Brandenburg in Ostpreußen" to differentiate it from Brandenburg an der Havel. In 1454, the region was incorporated by King Casimir IV Jagiellon to the Kingdom of Poland upon the request of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation. After the subsequent Thirteen Years' War, the longest of all Polish–Teutonic wars, since 1466 it formed part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Order,Górski, p. 96–97, 214–215 and after 1525 held by secular Ducal Prussia. From the 18th century i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Of Dusburg
Peter of Dusburg (; ; died after 1326), also known as Peter of Duisburg, was a Priest-Brother and chronicler of the Teutonic Knights. He is known for writing the ''Chronicon terrae Prussiae'', which described the 13th and early 14th century Teutonic Knights and Old Prussians in Prussia (region), Prussia. Life Peter's dates of birth and death are unknown, although he lived from the second half of the 13th century until the first half of the 14th century. Initially it was thought he was from Duisburg, Germany, and in some texts he is referred to as "Peter of Duisburg". Other research indicates he may have instead come from Doesburg, the Netherlands.Pollakówna, Marzena. ''Kronika Piotra z Dusburga'' ("The Chronicle of Peter of Dusburg"), Acta Poloniae Historica, Wrocław, Warsaw, Kraków, vol. 19, pp. 69-88. 1968; In 1324, probably while in Königsberg,Christiansen, pg. 224 Peter began working on his ''Chronicon terrae Prussiae'' on behalf of Grand Master Werner von Orseln. By 1326 ... [...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 sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, expanding its size with the Prussian Army. Prussia, with its capital at Königsberg and then, when it became the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, History of Berlin, Berlin, decisively shaped the history of Germany. Prussia formed the German Empire when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by 1932 Prussian coup d'état, an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government to German Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932 and ''de jure'' by Abolition of Prussia, an Allied decree in 1947. The name ''Prussia'' derives from the Old Prussians who were conquered by the Teutonic Knightsan organized Catholic medieval Military order (religious society), military order of Pru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Komtur
Commander (; ; ; ; ), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval military orders, such as the Knights Hospitaller, for a member senior to a Knight. Variations include Knight Commander, notably in English, sometimes used to denote an even higher rank than Commander. In some orders of chivalry, Commander ranks above (i.e. Officer), but below one or more ranks with a prefix meaning 'Great', e.g. in French, in German, (using an equivalent suffix) in Spanish, in Italian, and in Dutch (, 'Grand Commander'), Grand Cross. France History The rank of in the French orders comes from the Middle Ages military orders, in which low-level administrative houses were called and were governed by . In the Modern Age, the French Kings created chivalric orders which mimicked the military order's ranks. * The Order of the Holy Spirit, created in 1578 by king Henry III, had two categories of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hill Fort
A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roman Empire, Roman period. The fortification usually follows the contours of a hill and consists of one or more lines of Earthworks (Archaeology), earthworks or stone Rampart (fortification), ramparts, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches. If enemies were approaching, the inhabitants would spot them from a distance. Prehistoric Europe saw a growing population. It has been estimated that in about 5000 BC during the Neolithic between 2 million and 5 million lived in Europe; in the Late Iron Age it had an estimated population of around 15 to 30 million. Outside Greece and Italy, which were more densely populated, the vast majority of settlements in the Iron Age were small, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinrich Von Plötzke
Heinrich von Plötzke ( 1264 – 27 July 1320 in Medininkai, Lithuania) was an officer of the Teutonic Order during the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Heinrich was the Komtur of Altenburg in 1286 and of Halle in 1287, after which he was transferred to Prussia. He became the Komtur of Balga in 1294. Heinrich served as the Landmeister of Prussia from 1307–1309, and he was based in Elbing. Hochmeister Siegfried von Feuchtwangen, Heinrich (and a relative of Gunther von Schwarzburg of the same name) led the Order's forces which relieved Brandenburg's siege of Danzig in 1308, but refused to relinquish the city to King Władysław I the Elbow-high of Poland who did not offer enough reimbursement for the Order's expenses. This led to the Teutonic takeover of Danzig. By the Treaty of Soldin of 1309, Heinrich purchased Brandenburg's claims on Pomerelia for the Order, which then held Danzig and Pomerelia until 1466.William Urban. ''The Teutonic Knights: A Military History''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuanian Mythology
Lithuanian mythology () is the mythology of Lithuanians, Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-European studies, Indo-Europeans, Lithuanians (tribe), ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. In pre-Christian Lithuania, mythology was a part of polytheistic religion; after Christianisation mythology survived mostly in folklore, customs and festive rituals. Lithuanian mythology is very close to the mythology of other Balts, Baltic nations such as Old Prussians, Prussians and Latvians, and is considered a part of Baltic mythology. Sources and evidence Early Lithuanian religion and customs were based on oral tradition. Therefore, the very first records about Lithuanian mythology and beliefs were made by travellers, Christian missionaries, chronicle writers and historians. Original Lithuanian oral tradition partially survived in national ritual and festive songs and legends which started to be writ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
