Siege of Christmemel 1315
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate. Wikidata lists more than one location for this battle; the first is shown.
Key facts
| Year | 1315 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Lithuania | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Lithuanian Crusade | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 55.0853, 22.9028 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Christmemel was an unsuccessful siege of the Teutonic Knights' castle of Christmemel by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in autumn 1315.
Christmemel was an Ordensburg fortress made of earth and timber built on the Neman River in 1313 to serve as a base for attacks into Samogitia. Along with Ragnit and Georgenburg, Christmemel also served to protect the Order's possessions in Sambia from attack.
A force of Samogitians raided Ragnit in August 1315, although they did not attempt to capture the castle's keep. Six weeks later, Grand Duke Vytenis attacked with two siege machines and a number of East Slavic archers. His men began cutting and stacking wood, as Vytenis intended to set fire to the castle and suffocate the garrison. While the Order's Grand Master Karl von Trier prepared a relief force, he sent ten knights and 150 soldiers aboard ships to aid the garrison, but Vytenis sent his own men to prevent these reinforcements from arriving at Christmemel.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Christmemel (revision 1370740252), 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
- Battle of Raseiniai 1941 · 38 km
- Battle of Stallupönen 1914 · 55 km
- Siege of Kaunas (1362) 1362 · 66 km
- Siege of Medvėgalis 1329 · 69 km
- Battle of Gumbinnen 1914 · 70 km
- Battle of Medininkai 1320 · 80 km
Other battles of the Lithuanian Crusade
- Battle of Skuodas (1259) 1258
- Battle of Durbe 1260
- Battle of Medininkai 1320
- Battle of Memel (1323) 1323
- Siege of Medvėgalis 1329
- Battle of Strėva 1348
- Siege of Kaunas (1362) 1362
All 8 battles of the Lithuanian Crusade →
Browse more: battles in Lithuania · Europe · Medieval battles