Battle of Viljandi 1211
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate. Wikidata lists more than one location for this battle; the first is shown.
About the battle
The Battle of Viljandi was a battle during the Livonian Crusade in 1211 in Viljandi, Estonia. The battle ended with no decisive victory for the invaders as they were unable to take the stronghold. They did however, manage to baptise the people inside the stronghold.
In spring 1211, a larger objective for the Livonian Brothers of the Sword was to take the stronghold of Viljandi. They plundered the neighbourhood, robbed their food supplies, and killed and kidnapped the villagers who were staying in the villages nearby. Some of the prisoners were brought in front of the stronghold where they were killed to frighten the defenders, before being cast off into the moat.
In the first collision in front of the stronghold gate, the defenders managed to fend off with heavy casualties the attackers and equip themselves with the enemy's equipment. The besiegers built a turret, the moat was filled with wood and the turret was rolled onto it. From there they threw spears and crossbowmen fired upon the defenders. The Estonians also tried to light the turret. It was here the Germans first used a bricole on Estonian soil. With the bricole they threw rocks into the stronghold day and night, inflicting relatively serious damage.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Viljandi (revision 1370592506), 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.
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