Battle of Memel (1257) 1257
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1257 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Lithuania | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Livonian Crusade | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 55.7000, 21.1333 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Memel was fought between the Samogitians and the Livonian Order in 1257 near Memel (now Klaipėda in Lithuania).
When Mindaugas, King of Lithuania, transferred most of Samogitia to the Livonian Order in 1257, Duke Alminas was elected as the Samogitian leader and organized resistance. In 1253, the Germans built the Memel Castle on the Curonian land in the strategically important spot where Dangė River meets the Curonian Lagoon. The new castle threatened Curonians and Samogitians.
In 1256, Master of the Livonian land, Anno von Sangershausen, was elected as the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. In his previous position he was replaced by the former komtur of the Königsberg Castle, Burchard Hornhauzen, who was almost immediately faced with a serious challenge – a Samogitian army which invaded the Memel area. Hornhauzen hurriedly gathered about a thousand soldiers (over 40 knights and about 500 Curonians and an unknown number of ordinary order's warriors and marched to meet the invaders, but he clearly underestimated the enemy's strength. There is no data that the battle ended in the Order's defeat, but 12 knights were killed according to Livonian Rhymed chronicle. After this battle Order and Samogitians agreed to a truce for 2 years.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Memel (1257) (revision 1376027109), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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Other battles of the Livonian Crusade
- Battle of Otepää 1217
- Siege of Tallinn 1221
- Battle of Viljandi (1223) 1223
- Siege of Tartu (1224) 1224
- Battle of Saule 1236
- Battle of Karuse 1270
- Battle of Aizkraukle 1279
All 13 battles of the Livonian Crusade →
Browse more: battles in Lithuania · Europe · Medieval battles