Karigaila (Jogaila’s brother)¶

Summary¶

Karigaila, Jogaila’s brother (not Kaributas), defends the Crooked Castle in 1390 and dies in its fall.

Karigaila (Jogaila’s brother)


Tipas	veikėjas
Metai	?–1390
Status	Istoriniai duomenys
Pastaba	Died when the Crooked Castle fell, 16 Sep 1390; his head was carried on a stake round the Lower Castle. Not Kaributas (Dmitry Korybut).

Appearance & tells¶

The saga gives him no portrait. He enters Book II ch. 7 as a name on the Crooked Castle’s walls and leaves it as a head on a pole. His tell, such as it is, is his role: Jogaila’s brother, left to defend the city while Jogaila is in Poland, a Catholic-baptised Gediminid fighting alongside Order-sworn Lithuanian cousins (Kazimierz, in baptism).

Want · Need · Lie · Truth¶


Want (external)	To hold the Crooked Castle until Jogaila’s relief arrives from Kraków.
Need (internal)	To see that the city is worth more than the walls.
Lie they believe	That a brother’s order is enough to hold a breach.
Truth they learn (or refuse)	That in a civil war the walls fall on whoever stands under the arch (Book II ch. 7).

Arc by book¶

Book II (1390): defends the Crooked Castle at Vilnius against Vytautas, the Order and the English guests; killed on 16 September when the arch falls (ch. 7), and his head is carried round on a pole. His death is reported in Sofija’s letters (ch. 8).

Power & magic¶

Tier 0. No gift or bargain; the saga uses him as a human cost of the second civil war between the Algirdaičiai and Vytautas’s party, fought at the Crooked Castle with the Order’s help, on the same walls where Tautvilas dies on the other side.

Record vs saga¶

[Historical record]: Died on 16 Sep 1390 when the Crooked Castle fell; Jogaila charged that the Knights beheaded him, the Order said he fell in the fighting; his head was carried on a stake round the Lower Castle (en.wikipedia, Siege of Vilnius 1390).
[The saga’s invention]: In Book II ch. 7 he dies when the arch falls and his head is carried on a pole afterwards.

Tarimas¶

ka-ri-GAI-la (/kɐrʲɪˈɡɐɪɫɐ/), English respelling kah-rih-GUY-lah; stress on the third syllable.

Appearances¶

Book II: ch. 7 (Kreivoji Pilis, the siege of Vilnius and his death), ch. 8 (Sofijos Kraitis, in a letter) and the afterword. He does not appear elsewhere. Never confuse him with Kaributas.

Ryšiai

Member of: Algirdaičiai (Algirdas’s line)

Sibling: Jogaila

Took part in: Siege of Vilnius (11 Sep - 7 Oct); Crooked Castle falls 16 Sep — Died in the fall of the Crooked Castle, 16 Sep.

Chronologija¶

Year	Event	Book
1390-09-11	Siege of Vilnius (11 Sep - 7 Oct); Crooked Castle falls 16 Sep	II · Auksinis Šešėlis

Sąsajos¶

graph LR
  algirdaiciai["Algirdaičiai (Algirdas's line)"]
  ev_vilnius_siege_1390["Siege of Vilnius (11 Sep - 7 Oct); Crooked Castle falls 16 Sep"]
  jogaila["Jogaila"]
  karigaila["Karigaila (Jogaila's brother)"]
  karigaila -->|Took part in| ev_vilnius_siege_1390
  karigaila -->|Member of| algirdaiciai
  jogaila -->|Sibling| karigaila
  style karigaila stroke-width:3px