History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 239, the Baltic Crusades, the Levonian Crusade Part 32, Samagitian Defiance.

Hello again.

Last week we saw the Teutonic Order succeed in their push southwards out of Livonia. So the Curz and the Semagalians are now under the

control of the order and in a surprise move Lithuania has also agreed to be Christianized with their leader

Mindogus being crowned as a king. Only Samagetsia is now holding out as a pagan stronghold. This was all bad news for

the Archbishop of Prussia, Albert Suabir, whose greatest desire was to see the

Teutonic order fail. The conflict between the Order and the Archbishop escalated and was resolved by a church

court at Lyon with one of the results of the hearing being that Albert Sewer beer was moved sidewards out of the role of Archbishop of Prussia and into the role of Archbishop of Riga.

When we left last week's episode, Albert Suuabir

was busy at his base in Lubeck, preparing

to travel to Livonia to take up his new position and the Teutonic order was

busy building an impressive castle in a handy strategic location at Memel.

Now, Memel was located adjacent to a lagoon at the mouth of the Memel River on the Baltic coastline to the north of Prussian

Samland and to the south of curland so it was in Samagetia. It really was a very handy location for a Teutonic

stronghold. If a fleet of ships landed at Mymol, they were only one day's ride from the southernmost

Latin Christian castle in curland.

Head south from Mymol and in a day or so you would reach Prussian Sam land, a region only tentatively under

the Order's control and subject to frequent rebellions.

And of course, Mymel was also located in Samagetia,

the only region in the orders pushed south from Livonia that had stayed defiantly pagan.

Oddly, the Samagitsians didn't seem at all phased by the establishment of the castle, but as William Urban reports in his book the Baltic Crusade, the people of Samland immediately recognized the threat it posed and moved to counter it.

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