History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 268, the Baltic

the Baltic Crusades, the Samagitzian Crusade Part 5, 1328 to 1330.

Hello again.

Last week we saw Lithuania simultaneously reject conversion to Christianity and rise as a major power in the region.

Strengthened by its new ties to Russia and Poland, Lithuania is ready and willing to support its fellow pagans, the Samagizians, against

the Teutonic Order and its ally, the Holy Roman Empire.

We also saw the appointment last week of a new Grand Master, Grand Master Orselin, who had extensive

military experience on the Samijitian battlefield and had

firmed up the Order's ties to the Holy Roman Empire in order to reinvigorate the Crusade against the Samagizians.

Grandmaster Orselin commenced his campaign against the pagans

by attacking Lithuania's chief ally Poland.

King Ladislas of Poland was attempting to assert royal authority over his pia's relatives in Mesovia, so the Grandmaster decided

to assist Mesovia to resist being under the Polish King's thumb. The Grandmaster moved men into

Mazzovia's main towns and ejected the Polish royal forces from those towns. Satisfied that he had made his point, the Grandmaster then

proposed a truce with the Kingdom of Poland. King Ladislas accepted the truce, but if Grandmaster Orselin was under the impression

that he had dealt with the Polish problem and resolved it to his satisfaction, he was sorely mistaken.

As William Urban points out in his book The Samagetsian Crusade,

the Grand Master's attacks on Polish interests in

Mesovia was actually just the first salvo in what would end up being a very long war and King Ladislas used the truce to

reform his forces and to plan his next move against the order.

Grandmaster Auslan, oblivious to the fact that he had just kicked off a major conflict

...