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Description
ENGLISH:

A scene from one of the many Winterreisen (Winter expeditions) of the XIV century, during the seemingly perpetual conflict (Peter von Duisburg dates it to start in 1283) between the catholic Teutonic Order and the pagan Lithuanians.

The conflict attracted many knights and adventurers seeking to commit themselves in chivalric and pious adventures against the new "Saracens", as the Teutonic Order propaganda painted the pagan Lithuanians.

The idea was basically this: go to the Baltic, which isn't as far away or as dangerous as the Holy Land (Acre had fallen in 1291); you are free to decide if you prefer to go during Summer or Winter; be a guest of the Teutonic Knights in the great castle of Marienburg; be invested as a knight if you aren't a knight already and then go and fight some war and live some chivalric adventure against some enemies of God and then back home you return.

Things were obviously not as funny for the people living in the area.

The Winterreisen, weren't much different from the military campaigns of the earlier northern crusades. The terrain was just better and solid, so lakes and rivers are easy to cross. The objective is to sack, burn and depopulate, by killing or taking hostages. The main difference was that, in the XIV century, nobody really cared about converting anymore.

Then, in 1385, the Lithuanians ruined everything when they merged with the Kingdom of Poland and converted to christianity in 1386. Deprived of pagans to fight against, a slow but relentless decline began for the Teutonic Order, which was also soundly defeated by the Polish-Lithuanians in the battle of Grunwald/Tannenberg/Zalgris in 1410.

Description
ENGLISH:

A scene from one of the many Winterreisen (Winter expeditions) of the XIV century, during the seemingly perpetual conflict (Peter von Duisburg dates it to start in 1283) between the catholic Teutonic Order and the pagan Lithuanians.

The conflict attracted many knights and adventurers seeking to commit themselves in chivalric and pious adventures against the new "Saracens", as the Teutonic Order propaganda painted the pagan Lithuanians.

The idea was basically this: go to the Baltic, which isn't as far away or as dangerous as the Holy Land (Acre had fallen in 1291); you are free to decide if you prefer to go during Summer or Winter; be a guest of the Teutonic Knights in the great castle of Marienburg; be invested as a knight if you aren't a knight already and then go and fight some war and live some chivalric adventure against some enemies of God and then back home you return.

Things were obviously not as funny for the people living in the area.

The Winterreisen, weren't much different from the military campaigns of the earlier northern crusades. The terrain was just better and solid, so lakes and rivers are easy to cross. The objective is to sack, burn and depopulate, by killing or taking hostages. The main difference was that, in the XIV century, nobody really cared about converting anymore.

Then, in 1385, the Lithuanians ruined everything when they merged with the Kingdom of Poland and converted to christianity in 1386. Deprived of pagans to fight against, a slow but relentless decline began for the Teutonic Order, which was also soundly defeated by the Polish-Lithuanians in the battle of Grunwald/Tannenberg/Zalgris in 1410.