Battle
Each side mobilized around 15,000 troops (in some cases estimates run up to 30,000 on each side). Švitrigaila commanded forces of Lithuanians, Orthodox Ruthenians, Livonian Knights, at least 500 Tatars from the Golden Horde, and a few Teutonic Knights. There might have been some Hussites on his side as he enlisted his nephew Sigismund Korybut, a distinguished military leader during the Hussite Wars. Sigismund Kęstutaitis commanded Lithuanian and Polish army. His son Michael commanded Samogitian troops and Jakub Kobylański was in charge of Polish forces. The opponents met about 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) south of Vilkmergė near the Šventoji River. Later a town, named Pabaiskas, was built in the field to commemorate the battle. At first the armies were separated by the Lake Žirnajai and a marshy creek. The armies could not engage each other. After two days Švitrigaila and Livonian Grand Master Franco Kerskorff decided to change their position and move towards Vilkmergė. As the army marched, it was attacked by Sigismund Kęstutaitis, split in half and soundly defeated. Švitrigaila escaped to Polotsk with about 30 followers. Kerskorff was killed in the battle. Korybut was severely wounded and captured. He died few days later; historians speculate whether he died of the wounds, was drowned, or poisoned.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Wilkomierz
Famous quotes containing the word battle:
“Fold up the banners! Smelt the guns!
Love rules, Her gentler purpose runs.
A mighty mother turns in tears
The pages of her battle years,
Lamenting all her fallen sons!”
—Will Henry Thompson (1848–1918)
“War consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)
“It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to standing upon the vantage ground of truth ... and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)