Siege of Vilnius; Crooked Castle burned¶

What the chronicles say [Historical record]¶

The Order and Vytautas besieged Vilnius from 11 September to 7 October 1390 (a Vilnius University historian dates the arrival to the end of August). The attackers took and burned the wooden Crooked Castle on the Bald Hill (it fell on 16 September and was never rebuilt) and burned the town, killing about a thousand townspeople and taking two thousand, but the Lower and Upper Castles held; supply shortages and expiring mercenary contracts forced the withdrawal. Karigaila, Jogaila’s brother, who defended the Crooked Castle, died in its fall on 16 September; Jogaila charged that he was captured and beheaded (his head was carried on a stake round the Lower Castle), the Order said he was killed in the fighting. Tautvilas Kęstutaitis (baptised Kondrat), Vytautas’s brother, fighting on the Order’s side, was killed besieging the Crooked Castle, believed by a crossbow bolt (VLE’s “9–10 June” is wrong). Skirgaila defended the city. Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, the future Henry IV, took part with 70 or 80 household knights according to Wikipedia, 300 men according to Posilge. Zöllner died on 20 August 1390 at Christburg (the civil-war article places his death at the siege of Jurbarkas; the sources disagree). See Wikipedia, Siege of Vilnius (1390).

Siege of Vilnius (11 Sep - 7 Oct); Crooked Castle falls 16 Sep


Type	event
Years	1390-09-11
Status	Historical record
Book	II · The Golden Shadow
Note	Only the Crooked Castle fell; the Lower and Upper Castles held. Tautvilas killed by a crossbow bolt; Karigaila died in the fall.

Where: Vilnius (on the map)

What really happened [The saga’s invention]¶

A Gediminid kills a Gediminid: Karigaila dies when the arch falls, Tautvilas dies attacking, hit at the gate by a bolt whose shooter is unknown. No god intervenes and no one is punished: the Pact that forbade it died three years earlier. Vytautas besieges the city he saved in 1384 and has to live with it. Bolingbroke, twenty-three, is happier each morning at the siege than he ever was in England and cannot decide whether that is sin.

Consequences¶

Caused by the Treaty of Lyck (and so by the second defection). It leads to the break of 1392 and, through it, Ostrów, when Jogaila sought a compromise.

Dramatisation¶

Book II ch. 7 “Kreivoji Pilis” (Henry Bolingbroke; 11 September to early October 1390, Vilnius, Bald Hill). The Order’s guest as narrator, in the first non-Lithuanian POV. Sofija’s letter in ch. 8 reports Tautvilas’s death as the book has it.

Relations

Caused by: Treaty of Lyck; hostages demanded

Causes: The break: Ritterswerder guests seized, Order forts burned

Location: Vilnius

Participants: Karigaila (Jogaila’s brother) — Died in the fall of the Crooked Castle, 16 Sep. · Skirgaila · Tautvilas Kęstutaitis (Kondrat) — On the Order’s side; killed by a crossbow bolt at the Crooked Castle. · Vytautas

Connections¶

graph LR
  ev_lyck_1390["Treaty of Lyck; hostages demanded"]
  ev_ritterswerder_1392["The break: Ritterswerder guests seized, Order forts burned"]
  ev_vilnius_siege_1390["Siege of Vilnius (11 Sep - 7 Oct); Crooked Castle falls 16 Sep"]
  karigaila["Karigaila (Jogaila's brother)"]
  skirgaila["Skirgaila"]
  tautvilas["Tautvilas Kęstutaitis (Kondrat)"]
  vilnius["Vilnius"]
  vytautas["Vytautas"]
  ev_vilnius_siege_1390 -->|Location| vilnius
  ev_vilnius_siege_1390 -->|Causes| ev_ritterswerder_1392
  vytautas -->|Took part in| ev_vilnius_siege_1390
  skirgaila -->|Took part in| ev_vilnius_siege_1390
  ev_lyck_1390 -->|Causes| ev_vilnius_siege_1390
  tautvilas -->|Took part in| ev_vilnius_siege_1390
  karigaila -->|Took part in| ev_vilnius_siege_1390
  style ev_vilnius_siege_1390 stroke-width:3px