The sack of Kraków 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 Testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth, fragmented Poland and their allies, led by Henry ...

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, and entered

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

. The invaders captured

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

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 It is first mentioned in historical documents from around 1148. In ...

, reaching

Sandomierz Sandomierz (pronounced: ; , ) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (), situated on the Vistula River near its confluence with the San, in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy ...

on 13 February. The Polish army under

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

Włodzimierz Gryf Włodzimierz may refer to the following : People * Włodzimierz (given name), a Polish variant of the (East) Slavic name Vladimir Places and jurisdictions * Włodzimierz, Greater Poland Voivodeship (west-central Poland) * Włodzimierz, Łask C ...

was defeated in the Battle of Tursk 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

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

was opened. When news of Polish losses reached the city, its residents fled in panic to

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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

The Sack

The Mongols probably entered Kraków 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 The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established o ...

. According to a popular-20th century legend, a Polish sentry on a tower of

St. Mary's Church St. Mary's Church, St. Mary the Virgin's Church, St. Mary Church, Saint Mary Church, or other variations on the name, is a commonly used name for specific churches of various Christian denominations. Notable uses of the term may refer to: Albania ...

sounded the alarm by playing the

Hejnał St. Mary's Trumpet Call (Polish: ''Hejnał mariacki''; Polish pronunciation: , derived from the Hungarian expression ''Szűz Mária hajnala'' meaning "Saint Mary's dawn") is a traditional, five-note Polish bugle call closely bound to the history ...

, 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 Kraków. 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 Kraków 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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kraków 1241

1241 in Europe

1240s in the Mongol Empire 1241 in Asia

Military history of Kraków

Massacres in Poland Battles during the first Mongol invasion of Poland