Vietovės

Every place is also on The Map, with two larger insets and a table of places.

Place

Description

Ašmena

Ašmena

Town on the Ašmena river; site of Žygimantas’s night coup against Švitrigaila in 1432.

Brześć Kujawski

Brześć Kujawski

Kujavian town where the 31 December 1435 peace confirmed the Melno borders and required the Order to end its support for Švitrigaila.

Christmemel (Skirsnemunė)

Christmemel (Skirsnemunė)

Skirsnemunė: Order castle on the Nemunas; site of Švitrigaila’s 1431 alliance treaty.

Czartorysk (Volhynia)

Czartorysk (Volhynia)

Fortified Volhynian town; center of the Czartoryski princely house.

Czerwińsk (monastery on the Vistula)

Czerwińsk (monastery on the Vistula)

Masovian monastery town on the Vistula where the allied armies crossed on the pontoon bridge, 30 Jun - 2/3 Jul 1410; the exact spot above the monastery is uncertain.

Dovydiškės (unidentified)

Dovydiškės (unidentified)

Place of the 1380 treaty. Appears only in Wigand and German texts; the village is not securely identified. The saga leaves it in the border wilderness.

Dykra (swamp-forest wilderness)

Dykra (swamp-forest wilderness)

Years are those of the saga’s scenes here (Vytautas’s rescue in 1382 to Pilkoji lying down in 1449); the swamp itself is far older (Book VI shows it in the 1340s).

Grodno

Grodno

Major fortified ducal center on the Nemunas; treaty site of 1432.

Gródek (Horodok near Lviv)

Gródek (Horodok near Lviv)

Where Jogaila died on 1 Jun 1434; he caught the cold at Medyka, listening to nightingales in late April.

Horodło (on the Bug)

Horodło (on the Bug)

Union of 2 Oct 1413. On the Bug, west of Volhynia; not Lutsk.

Jogaila's camp near Trakai

Jogaila’s camp near Trakai

Record: the armies met near Trakai on 3 Aug 1382 and Kęstutis and Vytautas were lured into the camp and arrested. Trakai itself had fallen on 20 Jul.

Jurbarkas (Georgenburg)

Jurbarkas (Georgenburg)

Georgenburg: Order castle on the Nemunas border, repeatedly contested by Lithuania.

Kamianets (Podolia)

Kamianets (Podolia)

Key border fortress of Podolia; seized by Polish magnates after Vytautas’s death.

Kraków

Kraków

Royal capital of Poland; Wawel castle where Jogaila was crowned Władysław II in 1386.

Krėva

Krėva

Stone and timber fortress on the Krevyanka; dungeon where Kęstutis was murdered in 1382.

Kyiv

Kyiv

Historic metropolis on the Dnieper; southern seat of Skirgaila and later Lithuanian regents.

Königsberg (Karaliaučius)

Königsberg (Karaliaučius)

Crusader stronghold on the Pregel estuary; staging post for winter reisen.

Kęstutis's hunting lodge beyond the Neris

Kęstutis’s hunting lodge beyond the Neris

Saga place: the old lodge in the pines across the Neris from Vilnius where the Last Flame is lit in 1387 (Book I ch. 29). Used only in 1387: Book II ch. 2 has Vytautas move the flame to the half-flooded foundations of the Trakai island castle that spring.

Lake Ublik (Wobel), Masuria

Lake Ublik (Wobel), Masuria

Near Johannisburg; where a small band of knights fell on Kęstutis’s camp in March 1361.

Lutsk

Lutsk

Volhynian royal castle; host to the European diplomatic congress of 1429.

Lyck (Ełk)

Lyck (Ełk)

Treaty of 19 Jan 1390 between Vytautas and the Order.

Marienburg (Malbork)

Marienburg (Malbork)

Monolithic red-brick castle on the Nogat; grand capital of the Teutonic Order.

Masovia (Płock / Warsaw)

Masovia (Płock / Warsaw)

Piast duchy buffering Poland and Lithuania; refuge of Vytautas in 1382.

Medininkai (Varniai), Samogitia

Medininkai (Varniai), Samogitia

Samogitian diocese seat from 1417 (Varniai only from 1470); the Medininkai castle was the Order’s raiding target in 1402; Book IV ch. 7 is set among its groves.

Medyka (near Przemyśl, on the road to Gródek)

Medyka (near Przemyśl, on the road to Gródek)

Where Jogaila, in late April 1434, stood at the edge of the forest listening to the nightingales and caught the chill of which he died at Gródek on 1 Jun (Book V ch. 12; the nightingale episode is Długosz’s).

Naujapilis (Marienwerder)

Naujapilis (Marienwerder)

Naujapilis: Teutonic castle burned by Vytautas in his 1384 defection.

Noteć ford (Neumark / Greater Poland border)

Noteć ford (Neumark / Greater Poland border)

The Noteć ford used for the invented leaf-crown encounter in Book IV; not an established site where the historical crown was seized.

Ostrów

Ostrów

Manor where Vytautas and Jogaila reconciled in 1392, granting Vytautas rule of Lithuania.

Pabaiskas

Pabaiskas

Historical battlefield by Lake Žirnajai and the Žirnaja stream, near Ukmergė. Book V places its fictional magical ford on that stream; Šventoji remains a traditional battle name, not the ford location.

Palanga

Palanga

Coastal sanctuary and sacred Birutė Hill; shrine of the amber keepers and vaidilutės.

Raciążek (Vistula island)

Raciążek (Vistula island)

Peace of Raciąż, 22-23 May 1404, at the confluence of the Drwęca and the Vistula.

Ragnit (Ragainė)

Ragnit (Ragainė)

Order castle on the Nemunas (Lith. Ragainė). The saga’s Marquard von Salzbach is its komtur (Lyck, Jan 1390; the knights he led to Vytautas at the Vorskla, 1399); Book I ch. 19 gives Vytautas the komtur Wigand von Beldersheim as godfather.

Ritterswerder (Nemunas island near Lampėdžiai)

Ritterswerder (Nemunas island near Lampėdžiai)

Order fortress built autumn 1391; its guests were seized in summer 1392 and it was destroyed.

Road to Jogaila's camp (from Kęstutis's pine hill beyond the Trakai lake)

Road to Jogaila’s camp (from Kęstutis’s pine hill beyond the Trakai lake)

Book I ch. 4 „Kelionė į stovyklą“: the ducal retinue rides from the pine hill where the armies stood for two weeks to the camp near Trakai; the Beggar meets them in the afternoon, at the roadside. 2-3 Aug 1382.

Salynas (island in the Nemunas)

Salynas (island in the Nemunas)

Islet of the Nemunas, probably between Kulautuva and the mouth of the Nevėžis; treaty of 12 Oct 1398.

Tapiau (Tepliava)

Tapiau (Tepliava)

Teutonic Order fortress on the Pregel; location of Vytautas’s 1383 baptism as ‚Wigand‘.

Trakai

Trakai

Ancestral seat of Kęstutis and Vytautas; peninsula and island castles among the lakes.

Vilnius

Vilnius

Capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; Upper, Lower and Crooked castles on the Neris.

Vorskla river

Vorskla river

Steppe river battlefield where Vytautas’s grand army was routed by the Golden Horde in 1399.

Šventaragis valley

Šventaragis valley

Sacred river valley at Vilnius; site of pagan ducal cremations and the perpetual flame.

Žalgiris (Grunwald)

Žalgiris (Grunwald)

Field of Tannenberg / Žalgiris; location of the great 15 July 1410 allied victory.

Places on the map

29 of the 41 places have coordinates. Each of those shows a small locator map in its sidebar, and the places named on the clickable Map are links there.

With a locator map: Ašmena · Czerwińsk (monastery on the Vistula) · Dykra (swamp-forest wilderness) · Grodno · Horodło (on the Bug) · Jogaila’s camp near Trakai · Jurbarkas (Georgenburg) · Kraków · Krėva · Kyiv · Königsberg (Karaliaučius) · Lutsk · Lyck (Ełk) · Marienburg (Malbork) · Masovia (Płock / Warsaw) · Medininkai (Varniai), Samogitia · Naujapilis (Marienwerder) · Ostrów · Pabaiskas · Palanga · Raciążek (Vistula island) · Ragnit (Ragainė) · Road to Jogaila’s camp (from Kęstutis’s pine hill beyond the Trakai lake) · Salynas (island in the Nemunas) · Tapiau (Tepliava) · Trakai · Vilnius · Šventaragis valley · Žalgiris (Grunwald)

Without one (no fixed position, or off the edge of the map): Brześć Kujawski · Christmemel (Skirsnemunė) · Czartorysk (Volhynia) · Dovydiškės (unidentified) · Gródek (Horodok near Lviv) · Kamianets (Podolia) · Kęstutis’s hunting lodge beyond the Neris · Lake Ublik (Wobel), Masuria · Medyka (near Przemyśl, on the road to Gródek) · Noteć ford (Neumark / Greater Poland border) · Ritterswerder (Nemunas island near Lampėdžiai) · Vorskla river