Lithuanian archaeologists have discovered the remains of the legendary Pilenai castle, which is called "the castle of suicides" near the border with the Kaliningrad region
Danzig corridor of the Middle Ages
In the west of Lithuania there is a historical region called Жemaitija (or Zhmud). From the west it is bordered by the Baltic Sea, from the south - by the Neman River, behind which the Kaliningrad region is now located, and earlier, in the Middle Ages, the possessions of the Teutonic Order extended. As for the northern neighbor of medieval Samogitia, it was another German order - Livonian. And, of course, the two orders tried to unite their territories (especially since the Livonian Order was for a long time a branch of the Teutonic Order), and for this they had to conquer Zhmud - a kind of Danzig corridor of the Middle Ages. And this corridor was then cut through, then it was "overgrown" again.
For several decades, wars continued between the Germans and the Samogitians (as well as the Lithuanians who supported them from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania). The struggle acquired a special intensity in the XIV century, when not only the order brothers attacked the Litvinians, but the latter also harassed the Germans from time to time, sometimes even reaching Koenigsberg. One of the brightest episodes of this long-term confrontation is the siege and capture of the Pilenai castle by the order troops. Then a real drama full of blood and fire took place on the land of Samogitia. The defenders of the fortress, according to the chronicler Wiegand von Marburg, having lost all chances of salvation, committed an act of mass self-immolation.
Bilenai mound in Lithuania, where the remains of the castle were found.
Mass suicide
Promotional video:
In the cold winter of 1336, the Neman was crossed by an army of crusaders led by the Supreme Master of the Teutonic Order, Dietrich von Altenburg. There were more than 200 knights in total (in addition to the order brothers, the army included volunteers from Europe, moreover, very titled ones - for example, the Margrave Ludwig of Brandenburg, Counts of Henneberg and Namur) and several thousand bollards. At first, the Teutons scattered the Litvin army of four thousand, and then approached the Pilenai castle (in the German chronicles it is called Pillenen), where the Samogitian prince Margiris, who later became a national Lithuanian hero, took refuge.
The siege lasted for several days. Then the Teutons began to destroy the oak walls with catapults, throwing fire shells at the castle. The Samogites, incited by their priests (the pagans, of course, did not want to hear about the teachings of Christ, which the Teutons persistently sought to impose on them), decided on the act of self-immolation. And, for some reason, they did it in two stages. First, the old priestess hacked to death about a hundred defenders of the fortress - men, women and children with an ax. Later, when, apparently, the very last chances for a successful defense dried up, it was the turn of Prince Margiris himself. He stabbed his wife (in some later interpretations, cut her in half), and then the remaining defenders of the fortress. Then he laid hands on himself. Even earlier, the defenders of Pilenai set the castle on fire from different sides, and when the Germans were finally ready to break into the fortress,There was nowhere to break in - Pilenai was a huge bonfire.
The Teutonic Knights have been campaigning against Lithuania for a century. The photo shows an episode of the reconstruction of the Battle of Grunwald. Photo: ALEXEY DENISENKOV / kp.ru
Finds at one meter depth
For several centuries this episode was forgotten. Remembered in the 19th century. The deed of Prince Margiris became part of the Lithuanian heroic epic. They wrote a poem about the defense of Pilena, several operas, novels and epic paintings (the most famous painting belongs to the brush of Vladislav Mayeranovsky). This case, of course, was overgrown with legends: it was not clear whether this was true or not. Was there Pilenai? Maybe this is all a myth, an invention? And recently, something became clear. In October 2017, Lithuanian archaeologists discovered the remains of the castle, very similar to the remains of the Pilenai castle. They dug up the so-called Bilenaisky burial mound, which has long attracted attention, which is located 20 kilometers from the Neman in the Shilalsky region, and burnt bones, fragments of ceramics, handicrafts and weapons were found at a meter depth.
“Our goal was rather modest - to see the period of this mound, if there is any data that can confirm or deny the assumption that there could have been a Pilenai castle,” Gintautas Zabela, a senior researcher at Klaipeda University, told reporters. - And we found a whole, so to speak, burned down, sufficiently well preserved Samogitian castle. Most likely, the XIV century.
Of course, there is no one hundred percent certainty, but Dr. Zabela is almost certain that archaeologists have stumbled upon the legendary Pilenai castle.
WHAT THE CHRONICLE SAYS
“In the year 1336, the day of March 28, Theodoric became a Grand Master (we are talking about the Supreme Master of the Teutonic Order, Dietrich von Altenburg - Ed.). True, he and his brothers praised the Lord, and in his time many princes and others came to help him, such as: the Prince of Brandenburg, Count de Namens, as well as von Hennenberg, some pilgrims from France and Austria and many others, well dressed in good armor and having more than 200 warriors armed in helmets. The master went with them to Lithuania on Sunday and got the Pillenen castle (Pilenai). The pagans, seeing the army, were frightened and, not believing in the preservation of the castle, they threw a lot of property into the fire and killed themselves, where, as they say, some old pagan woman killed them with an ax, and then took her own life. The king of Lithuania wanted to take revenge on the Prussians who fire,trees and stones were thrown at the king's castle. The king, being struck with alarm, fled and hid in some shelter and stabbed his wife and threw them into the fire. The pagans, so struck by the misfortune, bowed their heads, and the king killed everyone. So, for the benefit of the Prussians and Christianity, the Pilleneen castle was destroyed, and from it the captives and large booty were taken away."
Medieval chronicler Wiegand von Marburg, New Prussian Chronicle.
ALEXEY DENISENKOV