The history of Estonia forms a part of the history of Europe.
 Humans settled in the region of Estonia near the end of the last glacial era, beginning from around 8500 BC.
 Before German crusaders invaded in the early 13th century, proto-Estonians of ancient Estonia worshipped spirits of nature.
 Starting with the Northern Crusades in the Middle Ages, Estonia became a battleground for centuries where Denmark, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Poland fought their many wars over controlling the important geographical position of the country as a gateway between East and West.
The history of Lithuania between 1219 and 1295 concerns the establishment and early history of the first Lithuanian state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
 The beginning of the 13th century marks the end of the prehistory of Lithuania.
 From this point on the history of Lithuania is recorded in chronicles, treaties, and other written documents.
 In 1219, 21 Lithuanian dukes signed a peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia.
 This event is widely accepted as the first proof that the Baltic tribes were uniting and consolidating.
 Despite continuous warfare with two Christian orders, the Livonian Order and the Teutonic Knights, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was established and gained some control over the lands of Black Ruthenia, Polatsk, Minsk, and other territories east of modern-day Lithuania that had become weak and vulnerable after the collapse of Kievan Rus'.
Semigallians (Latvian "Zemgaļi"; Lithuanian: "Žiemgaliai" , also Zemgalians, Semigalls, Semigalians) were the Baltic tribe that lived in the southcentral part of contemporary Latvia and northern Lithuania.
 They are noted for their long resistance (1219–1290) against the German crusaders and Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades.
Drang nach Osten (] , "yearning for the East", "thrust toward the East", "push eastward", "drive toward the East" or "desire to push East") was a term coined in the 19th century to designate German expansion into Slavic lands.
 The term became a motto of the German nationalist movement in the late nineteenth century.
 In some historical discourses, "Drang nach Osten" combines historical German settlement in Central and Eastern Europe, medieval (12th-13th centuries) military expeditions like the ones of the Teutonic Knights (see Northern Crusades), and Germanisation policies and warfare of Modern Age German states like the Nazi Lebensraum concept.
 In Poland, the term "Drang nach Osten" was used in discourse when describing Germanisation of Poland while on the German side the slogan was part of a wider nationalist discourse approving the medieval settlement in the east and the idea of the "superiority of German culture".
 The slogan Drang nach Westen ("thrust toward the West") derived from "Drang nach Osten" was used to depict an alleged Polish drive westward.
 It was one of the core elements of German nationalism and part of Nazi ideology; as Adolf Hitler said on 7 February 1945: "It is eastwards, only and always eastwards, that the veins of our race must expand.
 It is the direction which Nature herself has decreed for the expansion of the German peoples."
Nameisis or Namejs (also Nameise, Nameyxe) was a Semigallian duke in the second half of the 13th century.
 He ruled in the western part of Semigallia, with his capital at Tērvete (present-day Latvia).
 In 1279–81, he led a Semigallian uprising against the Livonian Order, a crusading military order.
 Very little is known about his life.
 He is mentioned only in the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle and in some documents from the 14th century.
 For this reason he is sometimes referred as semi legendary ruler in Latvian historiography.
The Battle of Durbe (Latvian: "Durbes kauja" , Lithuanian: "Durbės mūšis" , German: "Schlacht an der Durbe" ) was a medieval battle fought near Durbe, 23 km east of Liepāja, in present-day Latvia during the Livonian Crusade.
 On 13 July 1260, the Samogitians soundly defeated the joint forces of the Teutonic Knights from Prussia and Livonian Order from Livonia.
 Some 150 knights were killed, including Livonian Master Burchard von Hornhausen and Prussian Land Marshal Henrik Botel.
 It was by far the largest defeat of the knights in the 13th century: in the second-largest, the Battle of Aizkraukle, 71 knights were killed.
 The battle inspired the Great Prussian Uprising (ended in 1274) and the rebellions of the Semigallians (surrendered in 1290), the Couronians (surrendered in 1267), and the Oeselians (surrendered in 1261).
 The battle undid two decades of Livonian conquests and it took some thirty years for the Livonian Order to restore its control.
The Prussian Crusade was a series of 13th-century campaigns of Roman Catholic crusaders, primarily led by the Teutonic Knights, to Christianize the pagan Old Prussians.
 Invited after earlier unsuccessful expeditions against the Prussians by Polish princes, the Teutonic Knights began campaigning against the Balts in 1230.
 By the end of the century, having quelled several Prussian Uprisings, the Knights had established control over Prussia and administered the Prussians through their monastic state.
The State of the Teutonic Order (German: "Staat des Deutschen Ordens" ; Latin: "Civitas Ordinis Theutonici" ), also called Deutschordensstaat (] ) or Ordensstaat (] ) in German, was a crusader state formed by the Teutonic Knights or Teutonic Order during the 13th century Northern Crusades along the Baltic Sea.
 The state was based in Prussia after the Order's conquest of the Pagan Old Prussians which began in 1230.
 It expanded to include at various times Courland, Gotland, Livonia, Neumark, Pomerelia and Samogitia.
 Its territory was in the modern countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia.
 Most of the territory was conquered by military orders, after which German colonization occurred to varying effect.
Bernard Szumborski (German: "" ) was a Moravian knight and a mercenary.
 Szumborski was hired by the Teutonic Knights during the Battle of Chojnice (part of Thirteen Years' War), and was sent with 15,000 men to relieve the besieged city of Chojnice.
 King Casimir IV of Poland sent cavalry attacks to the rear of the Teutonic lines and Szumborski was captured.
 However, Teutonic knights rallied up and caused panic.
 Szumborski managed to escape and organized the pursuit of the fleeing Polish army.
 On October 24, 1457, together with 2000 mercenaries, Szumborski captured Chełmno (Kulm), and killed its mayor, Michal Segemund, claiming that he was a traitor.
 His forces captured other towns of Pomerelia and Chełmno Land, and on March 21, 1458, Szumborski with his army approached Toruń (Thorn), burning its suburbs, but failing to capture the heavily fortified city.
 On September 19, 1460, Szumborski captured the town of Golub-Dobrzyń, but Polish garrison of its castle, commanded by Andrzej Puszkarz, managed to hold it.
 In August 1466, Szymborski, as envoy of the Teutonic Knights, was sent to Bydgoszcz, to negotiate with King Casimir IV and his envoys, Jan Długosz and Jan Sapienski.
 The negotiations ended on October 19, 1466, when the Second Peace of Thorn was signed.
 Szymborski, regarded as a very cruel man, died on January 7, 1470.
 As Jan Długosz recorded, he was poisoned by a female resident of Chełmno.
The Battle of Krücken was a medieval battle fought in 1249 during the Prussian Crusades between the Teutonic Knights and Prussians, one of the Baltic tribes.
 In terms of knights killed, it was the fourth largest defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century.

Question: Who was noted for their long resistance (1219–1290) against the German crusaders and Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, who had a duke in the second half of the 13th century who uled in the western part of Semigallia?
Answer: Semigallians