Kęstutis & Vytautas lured to Jogaila’s camp near Trakai and arrested¶
What the chronicles say [Historical record]¶
Modern accounts (Wikipedia’s civil-war article, citing Ivinskis, Urban, Kiaupa; VLE, Kęstutis and Skirgaila) put it on 3 August 1382. Trakai had surrendered to Jogaila and the Order on 20 July; the armies of Kęstutis and Jogaila then stood facing each other near Trakai. Skirgaila persuaded Kęstutis and Vytautas to come to the talks at Jogaila’s camp near Trakai, where both were treacherously arrested, and taken to Krėva. No battle was fought. Some accounts place the arrest closer to 10 August; the sources count from the arrest to Kęstutis’s death on 15 August („a week later“, or two weeks). The tradition that Skirgaila guaranteed a safe-conduct is plausible but not in a named chronicle. Principal sources are the Order’s chroniclers (Wigand of Marburg, Johann von Posilge) and the later Lithuanian chronicles.
Kęstutis & Vytautas lured to Jogaila’s camp near Trakai and arrested
Kęstutis & Vytautas lured to Jogaila’s camp near Trakai and arrested · event¶
Tipas |
įvykis |
Metai |
1382-08-03 |
Status |
Istoriniai duomenys |
Knyga |
|
Skyriai |
6, 7 |
Pastaba |
3 Aug 1382, after Trakai fell on 20 Jul. Book I stages it at the camp: the Iron Gates are the camp palisade gate, the Feast of Silence is held in a requisitioned Trakai manor. Kęstutis’s body is burned in Vilnius. |
Where: Jogaila’s camp near Trakai (on the map)
What really happened [The saga’s invention]¶
A treachery under sworn safety is the oath-break Perkūnas notes: Skirgaila’s oath on Perkūnas, given at Trakai two weeks earlier, is the safe-conduct. Book I stages it where the record puts it. The camp’s iron-bound palisade gate, built by the Order’s carpenters, shuts behind the ducal retinue; sound dies in the camp (the Shadow-Seller’s Breath of the Void); hundreds of archers line the palisade; Skirgaila speaks from the wooden balcony of the negotiating hall (a requisitioned manor), Jogaila watches from the upper gallery, and Henė turns one blackened stone under the gate beams. The same night Skirgaila’s men massacre Kęstutis’s guard in the tents beyond the manor fence, blocking the tent openings while Jogaila sits alone at a feast; seven of the hidden nine die and are buried in the bog, while Jonas’s men stayed in Kęstutis’s own camp.
Consequences¶
The arrest follows Jogaila’s retaking of Vilnius and leads directly to Kęstutis’s death at Krėva. Vytautas, who escapes Krėva in the autumn, carries the story forward.
Dramatisation¶
Book I ch. 4 „Kelionė į stovyklą“ (the ride to the camp; the Beggar on the road, 3 August), ch. 5 „Dvigubas Veidas“ (Jogaila, same day, the requisitioned Trakai manor), ch. 6 „Geležiniai Vartai“ (the „Iron Gates“ are the camp palisade gate; late-summer afternoon), ch. 7 „Tylos Puota“ (Jogaila and Skirgaila; the same night). Kęstutis’s body is still burned in Vilnius (ch. 10).
Ryšiai
Caused by: Hanulas and the townsfolk take Vilnius for Jogaila
Causes: Kęstutis strangled at Krėva
Location: Jogaila’s camp near Trakai — Record and Book I agree: the talks and the arrest at Jogaila’s camp near Trakai, 3 Aug 1382.
Sąsajos¶
graph LR
ev_arrest["Kęstutis & Vytautas lured to Jogaila's camp near Trakai and arrested"]
ev_kestutis_death["Kęstutis strangled at Krėva"]
ev_vilnius_retaken["Hanulas and the townsfolk take Vilnius for Jogaila"]
jogaila_camp_trakai["Jogaila's camp near Trakai"]
kestutis["Kęstutis"]
skirgaila["Skirgaila"]
vytautas["Vytautas"]
ev_arrest -->|Causes| ev_kestutis_death
ev_arrest -->|Location| jogaila_camp_trakai
ev_vilnius_retaken -->|Causes| ev_arrest
skirgaila -->|Took part in| ev_arrest
kestutis -->|Took part in| ev_arrest
vytautas -->|Took part in| ev_arrest
style ev_arrest stroke-width:3px