Lithuanian Crusade

Lithuanian Crusade
Part of the Northern Crusades
Lithuanians fighting Teutonic knights (14th-century bas-relief from Malbork Castle)
Date 1283–1422 Location Western Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Samogitia, Prussia, Livonia Result Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, Treaty of Melno
Belligerents
Teutonic Order Livonian Order Allies: Kingdom of Hungary Kingdom of Bohemia Margraviate of Moravia Hainaut-Holland Lower Bavaria Duchy of Austria Kingdom of England	Grand Duchy of Lithuania Duchy of Samogitia Allies: Kingdom of Poland (since 1385) Vassals: Principality of Smolensk Tatars from Golden Horde
Commanders and leaders
Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Allies: King Louis of Hungary King John of Bohemia Charles of Moravia William II of Hainaut and Holland Peter of Bourbon Henry of Lower Bavaria Albert III of Austria Henry IV of England	Grand Duke of Lithuania

The Lithuanian Crusade was a series of campaigns by the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order under the pretext of forcibly Christianizing the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Livonian Order occupied Riga in 1202 and in the 1230s they settled in Chełmno Land, a fief of Poland. They first conquered other neighboring Baltic tribes—Curonians, Semigallians, Latgalians, Selonians, and Old Prussians—in the Livonian Crusade and Prussian Crusade.

The first raid against the Lithuanians and Samogitians was in 1208. From then on, the orders played a key role in Lithuanian politics, but they were not a direct threat until the 1280s. By that time, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was already a centralized state and could mount defenses. For the next century, the order organized annual colonialist reise (raids) into Samogitian and Lithuanian lands, without great success but at immense human cost. Border regions in Samogitia and Suvalkija became sparsely inhabited wilderness due to ethnic cleansing, although the order gained very little territory. The resulting wars between the Teutonic Order and Lithuania were one of the longest conflicts in the history of Europe.

The grand duchy finally converted to Christianity in 1386, when Grand Duke Jogaila accepted baptism from Poland before his wedding to reigning Queen Jadwiga and coronation as king of Poland. However, the baptism did not stop the crusade, as the order publicly challenged the sincerity of the conversion at the papal court. Lithuania and its new ally, Poland, defeated the order in the decisive Battle of Grunwald in 1410, which is often cited as the end of the Lithuanian Crusade and the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The final peace was reached by the Treaty of Melno (1422), ending 225 years of warfare.