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Six hundred years ago
A little over six centuries ago, there was still a great pagan power in Europe. A grand duchy who, when the Palestinians proved too hard to handle, became the other focus for crusades in the defense of Christianity. The might of all the chivalry in Europe against a sprawling, barely-united country with a half-dozen strong ethnic groups - easy pickings, right?
Except for the fact that they were smart. In particular their Grand Duke, a fox of a man with equally smart brothers. The most peaceful of their neighbouring Christian countries (chiefly because of just having pulled itself together from pieces, and having its ruling dynasty die out) was currently ruled by a lovely young girl who also happened to be pretty smart.
It wasn't a love-match, but it was a political masterstroke.
You can bet the would-be crusaders, especially the militant monastic order in charge, weren't amused that the fearsome pagans they wanted to convert with the sword were now Christian and allied with a pretty powerful country. Especially since the Pope(s) were applauding, heavily. There was a hell of a propaganda campaign, and once the young queen died in childbirth, there was the excuse that "well, they only have that old pagan duke on their throne".
July 15, 1410. The militant monks leading 21 thousand of the Western world's best knights, and many others, with God (of course) on their side. On the other side, the old Lithuanian, his brother, and about 29 thousand men, with way less armour and jousting trophies.
At the end of the day, the old Lithuanian guy rode home to his second wife, married two more times, lived to be over seventy and died of a cold. He was king of Poland and Lithuania for 48 years and started a dynasty that ruled until the end of the sixteenth century.
8 thousand of the Western world's best knights were dead, 14 thousand of the Teutonic Knights' army captured.
Let's hear it for Wladyslaw Jagiello.
(In the middle is Witold, Jagiello's brother. You didn't think an old fox would actually be foolish enough to wade into battle and risk leaving his army leaderless, did you?)
Except for the fact that they were smart. In particular their Grand Duke, a fox of a man with equally smart brothers. The most peaceful of their neighbouring Christian countries (chiefly because of just having pulled itself together from pieces, and having its ruling dynasty die out) was currently ruled by a lovely young girl who also happened to be pretty smart.
It wasn't a love-match, but it was a political masterstroke.
You can bet the would-be crusaders, especially the militant monastic order in charge, weren't amused that the fearsome pagans they wanted to convert with the sword were now Christian and allied with a pretty powerful country. Especially since the Pope(s) were applauding, heavily. There was a hell of a propaganda campaign, and once the young queen died in childbirth, there was the excuse that "well, they only have that old pagan duke on their throne".
July 15, 1410. The militant monks leading 21 thousand of the Western world's best knights, and many others, with God (of course) on their side. On the other side, the old Lithuanian, his brother, and about 29 thousand men, with way less armour and jousting trophies.
At the end of the day, the old Lithuanian guy rode home to his second wife, married two more times, lived to be over seventy and died of a cold. He was king of Poland and Lithuania for 48 years and started a dynasty that ruled until the end of the sixteenth century.
8 thousand of the Western world's best knights were dead, 14 thousand of the Teutonic Knights' army captured.
Let's hear it for Wladyslaw Jagiello.
(In the middle is Witold, Jagiello's brother. You didn't think an old fox would actually be foolish enough to wade into battle and risk leaving his army leaderless, did you?)
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I'll admit I've got a bit of a soft spot for the battle of Grunwald, insofar as you can have soft spots for battles where loads of people die horribly. And it's not simply because of the obvious historical importance of it, but also because the actual fight has these incredible elements of drama in it. First of all, it's huge, it's a massive operation for its time. And there're these individual scenes that keep popping up, which are quite cinematic simply because of the logic of the sitation: Nicholas von Renys, the leader of the Lizard Union, lowering the Culmerland banner so as not to fight the Poles, the death of Ulrich von Jungingen, and so on, and so on. It's what Huizinga called paintable history.
(And the monuments the King gets for all of this are incredibly badass (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Wladyslaw-Jagiello.jpg/449px-Wladyslaw-Jagiello.jpg).)
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And there's also the initial retreat of the Lithuanians, followed by a spectacular rout when the knights chased them. The moment where the Polish banner almost fell. And the attack on Jagiello by a lone knight, just as he was moving to another hill to watch the turn of the tide...
I think there needs to be another movie.
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(Current Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights attended yesterday's anniversary ceremony, but is not staying for tomorrow's reenactment of the battle. Probably out of self-preservation.)
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