Siege of Königsberg

Coordinates: 54°42′37″N 20°30′39″E / 54.71028°N 20.51083°E / 54.71028; 20.51083
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the siege during the great Prussian Uprising. For the battle during World War II, see Battle of Königsberg. For the bombing campaign during World War II, see Bombing of Königsberg in World War II.
Siege of Königsberg
Part of the
Great Prussian uprising

Prussian tribes in the 13th century
Date1262–1265?
Location
Königsberg (now Kaliningrad)
54°42′37″N 20°30′39″E / 54.71028°N 20.51083°E / 54.71028; 20.51083
Result Victory for the Teutonic Knights
Belligerents
Teutonic Knights
 Prussians

The siege of Königsberg was a

great Prussian uprising
from 1262 possibly though 1265.

History

Background

Pagan Prussians rose against their conquerors, who tried to convert them to Christianity, after Lithuanians and Samogitians soundly defeated the joint forces of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order in the Battle of Durbe in 1260. The first years of the uprising were successful for the Prussians, who defeated the Knights in open battles and besieged Teutonic castles. However, the Prussians faced great difficulties attacking and capturing the castles.

Battle of Kalgen

The Prussians had built small forts around Königsberg so that they could block any contact with the outside.

Natangia, which occurred on the same day the previous year.[4] The Rhinelanders soon returned home, however, and the Sambians
renewed the siege.

Control of the Pregel

A Sambian leader,

bridge of boats and wooden towers to protect it.[1] The Knights, against the odds, succeeded in burning down both the bridge and fort. Reinforcements for the Sambians came from Herkus Monte of the Natangians.[citation needed
]

End of the siege

The conclusion of the siege is disputed. Königsberg historian

Andreas Johan Sjögren writes that Herkus Monte was wounded in the battle and most of his forces were captured while fleeing.[7]

The Königsberg archivist Fritz Gause states that little is known of how the siege actually ended, that neither Armstedt nor historian Walther Franz provided a source for the final battle, and that the Teutonic chronicler Peter of Dusburg does not provide detail about it.[1] Gause states the Prussians abandoned the siege in 1265, possibly having heard that Königsberg was to receive crusading reinforcements.[1]

The Sambians withdrew because they could neither stop supplies and reinforcement from reaching the castle via the Pregel nor capture it. The siege proved the weakness of the Prussians and the strength of the Knights. The reliance upon fortified castles allowed the Knights to regroup and eventually subdue the uprising. Königsberg became a key staging ground for future crusading campaigns.[8]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Gause, p. 34
  2. ^ Ewald, p. 30
  3. ^ a b Ewald, p. 31
  4. ^ Ewald, 32
  5. ^ Armstedt, p. 12
  6. ^ Armstedt, p. 13
  7. ^ Mémoires, p. 285
  8. ^ Gause, p. 24

References

  • Armstedt, Richard (1899). Geschichte der königl. Haupt- und Residenzstadt Königsberg in Preussen (in German). Stuttgart: Hobbing & Büchle. p. 354.
  • Ewald, Albert Ludwig (1884). Die Eroberung Preussens durch die Deutschen (in German). Halle a. S.: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses.
  • Gause, Fritz (1965). Die Geschichte der Stadt Königsberg. Band I: Von der Gründung der Stadt bis zum letzten Kurfürsten (in German). Köln: Böhlau Verlag. p. 571.
  • Urban, William (2000). The Prussian Crusade (2nd ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Lithuanian Research and Studies Center. pp. 284–287.
    ISBN 0-929700-28-7
    .
  • Mémoires de l'Academie impériale des sciences de St. Pétersbourg - sixième série. Saint-Pétersbourg: L'académie impériale de sciences. 1859. (in French and German)
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