Battle of Ašmena: Žygimantas defeats Švitrigaila¶

What the chronicles say [Historical record]¶

Fought on 8 December 1432 near Ašmena (Oshmiany), not in 1433 as an older outline had it (VLE; Wikipedia, Battle of Ashmyany). Švitrigaila marched from Polotsk with Tatar help, took Minsk, Krėva and Ašmena, and was beaten by Žygimantas Kęstutaitis. Długosz gives about 10,000 dead, a figure that should be treated with caution. This was one battle, not two: a “second battle in December 1433” in the outline does not exist.

Battle of Ašmena: Žygimantas defeats Švitrigaila


Type	event
Years	1432-12-08
Status	Historical record
Book	V · The Wolf’s Legacy
Note	Battle of Ašmena (Dec 1432): Žygimantas repulses Švitrigaila’s initial counter-attack.

Where: Ašmena (on the map)

What really happened [The saga’s invention]¶

Pilkoji sees it from the roads. The Root-Mother courts Švitrigaila with a promise to restore the old realm; trees fall across roads and the wolves attack only riders carrying foreign seals. On 8 December the field is Žygimantas’s, with about a thousand or two dead, some with Tatar colours, and the dead lie unburned: the first rehearsal of what the saga calls the Unbinding at its height at Pabaiskas. Pilkoji takes the keeper to the last žynys, Galminas’s pupil, who still knows the Pact’s words.

Consequences¶

Caused by Žygimantas’s coup at Ašmena. Švitrigaila falls back to Polotsk and the war drags on to Pabaiskas in 1435.

Dramatisation¶

Book V ch. 11 “Šaknų Motinos Sugrįžimas” (Pilkoji; autumn to winter 1432, the Dykra and the roads to Ašmena; the field scene falls on the eighth of December).

Relations

Caused by: Žygimantas’s coup at Ašmena

Causes: Battle of Pabaiskas — Švitrigaila regroups from Polotsk.

Location: Ašmena

Participants: Švitrigaila · Žygimantas Kęstutaitis

Connections¶

graph LR
  ashmyany["Ašmena"]
  ev_asmena_battle["Battle of Ašmena: Žygimantas defeats Švitrigaila"]
  ev_coup_1432["Žygimantas's coup at Ašmena"]
  ev_pabaiskas["Battle of Pabaiskas"]
  svitrigaila["Švitrigaila"]
  zygimantas["Žygimantas Kęstutaitis"]
  ev_asmena_battle -->|Location| ashmyany
  ev_asmena_battle -->|Causes| ev_pabaiskas
  zygimantas -->|Took part in| ev_asmena_battle
  svitrigaila -->|Took part in| ev_asmena_battle
  ev_coup_1432 -->|Causes| ev_asmena_battle
  style ev_asmena_battle stroke-width:3px