Lake Ublik (Wobel), Masuria¶

In the 1380s [Historical record]¶

Lake Ublik (Wobel) in Masuria near Johannisburg, where in March 1361 a small band of knights surprised Kęstutis’s camp (capture).

Lake Ublik (Wobel), Masuria


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

Sensory sketch¶

A lake in the Masurian lake country, in the border forest of southern Prussia: pine, spruce and birch round a long, narrow water, reedy margins and cold black bog. In March the ice is grey and rotting at the edges, with open leads; the air smells of wet earth, snow-melt and resin; the forest drips. Sound is the problem: nothing carries, the ice groans at night, and the camp fires are small. A raiding camp pitched here would hear nothing until the horsemen were on it. The saga’s chapter makes that absence the warning.

Sagoje¶

Frost and thaw; the hidden nine arrive too late.

Getting there¶

Ublik (Wobel) lies near Johannisburg (Pisz) in the Order’s border country, about 230 km in a straight line from Trakai, in the southern reaches of the Wildnis. By road from Trakai it is some 300-330 km (8-10 days on horse; the Order’s Wegeberichte routes counted it as a long Reise). It is about 190 km straight to Marienburg, or 230-250 km by road (six to seven days for a mounted escort; the prisoner was held there for about half a year). The raid of 1361 had taken Kęstutis and Algirdas to Eckersberg and Johannisburg, so the camp was a few days‘ march inside the Order’s frontier. The Masovian border is only about 60-80 km south.

Scenes set here¶

Book VI ch. 16.

Ryšiai

Events here: Kęstutis captured at Lake Ublik

Chronologija¶

Year	Event	Book
1361-03-21	Kęstutis captured at Lake Ublik	VI · Šventasis Miškas (priešistorė)

Sąsajos¶

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  lake_ublik["Lake Ublik (Wobel), Masuria"]
  ev_kestutis_captured_1361 -->|Location| lake_ublik
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