Lecture 13: 1410 Tannenberg—Cataclysm of Knights
The Poles and the Lithuanians
x In the late 14th century, the youngest daughter of the reigning king
of Hungary was a girl named Jadwiga, who received an excellent
education and spoke Hungarian, German, Polish, Latin, Bosnian,
and Serbian. When she was 10 years old, through a complex series
of events, she became heir to the throne of Poland and was crowned
as king.x Meanwhile, a succession crisis was going on in Lithuania, and
great pressure was being exerted to convert this last pagan nation
in Europe to Christianity. A young duke named Jagiello emerged
as the dominant candidate. Jagiello had been raised a pagan, but
he converted to Orthodox Christianity. Because he now wanted to
marry Jadwiga, he agreed to become Roman Catholic.x In 1386, the two married, and the countries of Poland and Lithuania
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country. Although many hailed the conversion of Jagiello as
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outpost of paganism, others, including the Teutonic Knights,
dismissed it as insincere and, thus, to be ignored.x Jagiello faced threats to his control of Lithuania, foremost from
his cousin Vytautas, who had persuaded the Teutonic Knights to
undertake several military actions against Lithuania, given that they
refused to recognize Jagiello as a genuine Christian monarch.x After several years, Jagiello and Vytautas agreed to shelve their
differences and their rivalry and, instead, work together for the
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proved to be long-lasting and highly effective.x In practical terms, Jagiello was the nominal ruler of Lithuania, but
Vytautas oversaw day-to-day affairs. In 1399, Queen Jadwiga died,
leaving Jagiello the king of Poland in both name and reality.