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

In the 1380s [Historical record]¶

Not a named road in the sources: the way from the pine hill where Kęstutis’s army stood to Jogaila’s camp by Trakai.

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


Type	place
Note	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.

Sensory sketch¶

A forest track through sandy pine ground between the lakes, in the heat of an August afternoon: resin, dry needles, warm sand and horse sweat, a dull buzzing of flies. The pace is slow, with a ducal retinue strung out in single file where the trees close in. Birds go silent; the camp ahead is audible only as a wall of nothing. Ruts are baked hard, with a thin dust that sticks to sweat. A roadside beggar under the pines is the only person in the landscape who is not part of the procession.

In the saga¶

The Beggar meets the retinue at the roadside in the afternoon of 3 August 1382 (the coin).

Getting there¶

A ride of a few hours, an afternoon at most: from the pine hill beyond the lake (where Kęstutis stood after Trakai fell on 20 July) round the lakes to the camp near Trakai. If the hill was a few kilometres from the camp, the party covered it at the walking pace of a ceremonial retinue, perhaps 4-5 km an hour. Trakai-Vilnius is only 28-32 km by road (half a day), so the party was close to the capital throughout. The forest track is unnamed in every source: the route is the saga’s.

Scenes set here¶

Book I ch. 4 “Kelionė į stovyklą”.

Relations

Events here: The Beggar turns Kęstutis’s coin to stone — Roadside in the forest, afternoon of 3 Aug 1382.

Timeline¶

Year	Event	Book
1382	The Beggar turns Kęstutis’s coin to stone	I · The Wolf’s Exile

Connections¶

graph LR
  ev_beggar_coin["The Beggar turns Kęstutis's coin to stone"]
  road_to_jogaila_camp["Road to Jogaila's camp (from Kęstutis's pine hill beyond the Trakai lake)"]
  ev_beggar_coin -->|Location| road_to_jogaila_camp
  style road_to_jogaila_camp stroke-width:3px