Lithuanian Crusade

Lithuanian Crusade Part of the Northern Crusades Lithuanians fighting Teutons (14th-century bas-relief from Malbork Castle) Date 1283–1410 Location Western Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Samogitia, Prussia, Livonia Result Christianization of Lithuania Decline of the Teutonic Order Belligerents Teutonic Order Livonian Order Grand Duchy of Lithuania Duchy of Samogitia Kingdom of Poland (since 1385) Commanders and leaders Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Grand Duke of Lithuania

Crusades In the Holy Land (1095–1291) First People's 1101 Norwegian Venetian Second Third 1197 Fourth Children's Fifth Sixth Barons' Seventh Shepherds' 1251 Eighth Ninth After 1291 Shepherds' 1320 Smyrniote 1343–1351 Alexandrian 1365 Savoyard 1366 Barbary 1390 Varna 1443 Northern Crusades (1147–1410) Wendish 1147 Swedish 1150 1249 1293 Livonian 1198–1290 Prussian 1217–1274 Lithuanian 1283–1410 Against Christians Bosnian 1235–1241 Albigensian 1209–1229 Aragonese 1284/5 Despenser's 1382/3 Hussite 1419–1434  Book:The Crusades  Portal:Crusades Lithuanian Crusade Christmemel Medininkai Memel Medvėgalis Pilėnai Strėva Kaunas Rudau

The Lithuanian Crusade was a series of campaigns by the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order, two crusading military orders, to convert pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania into Roman Catholicism. The Livonian Order settled in Riga in 1202 and the Teutonic Order arrived to Culmerland in 1230s. They first conquered other neighboring Baltic tribes – Curonians, Semigallians, Latgalians, Selonians, Old Prussians (see Livonian Crusade and Prussian Crusade). The first raid against the Lithuanians and Samogitians was in 1208 and the Orders played a key role in Lithuanian politics, but they were not a direct and immediate threat until 1280s. By that time the Grand Duchy of Lithuanian was already an established state and could offer organized defense. Thus for the next hundred years the Knights organized annual destructive reise (raids) into the Samogitian and Lithuanian lands but without great success: border regions in Samogitia and Suvalkija became sparsely inhabited wilderness, but the Order gained very little territory. The Grand Duchy finally converted to Christianity in 1386, when Grand Duke Jogaila accepted baptism from Poland before his wedding to reigning Queen Jadwiga and coronation as King of Poland. However, the baptism did not stop the crusade as the Order publicly challenged sincerity of the conversion at the Papal court. Lithuania, together with its new powerful ally Poland, defeated the Order in the decisive Battle of Grunwald in 1410, which is often cited as the end of the Lithuanian Crusade. The final peace was reached by the Treaty of Melno (1422).

References

• Christiansen, Eric (1997). The Northern Crusades (2nd ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-026653-5.