page_title: Pilėnai
section_title: Attack and defense
hierarchical_section_title: Pilėnai / Attack and defense
context_page_description: Pilėnai was a hill fort in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its location is unknown and is subject to academic debates, but it is well known in the history of Lithuania due to its heroic defense against the Teutonic Order in 1336. Attacked by a large Teutonic force, the fortress, commanded by Duke Margiris, tried in vain to organize a defense against the larger and stronger invader. Losing hope, the defenders decided to burn their property and commit mass suicide to deprive the Order from prisoners and loot. This dramatic episode from the Lithuanian Crusade has caught the public imagination, inspired many works of fiction, and became a symbol of Lithuanian struggles and resistance.
context_section_description: The Teutonic Order waged the decades-long Lithuanian Crusade against the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania in hopes of converting it to Christianity. In early 1336, the Order organized another large campaign into Lithuania. Their force included Louis, Margrave of Brandenburg, counts of Henneberg (most likely Johann I, Count of Henneberg) and Namur (most likely Guy II, Marquis of Namur), and other nobles from France and Austria. In total, according to Wigand of Marburg, there were 200 nobles. Another German chronicle, known as Der Chronist von Wolfenbüttel, counted a total of 6,000 soldiers. 
  On the feast day of Saint Matthias (February 25), this large force attacked Pilėnai, located in Trapėnai land, where some 4,000 people from four different lands sought shelter from the invasion. Wigand's description of further events paints a chaotic and bloody scene. He claims that the people panicked as soon as they saw the Christian army and decided to burn their belongings and commit suicide. It was said that one old woman killed a hundred people with an ax before killing herself. Others managed to escape on horseback. Duke Margiris attempted to organize defense, but soon was overwhelmed by the attackers who threw burning wood and stones into the fortress. Margiris then cut his wife with a sword, threw her body into the fire, and killed his loyal guards and followers. Thus, Pilėnai fell and the Order collected the remaining prisoners and loot. Kurze Reimchronik von Preussen mentioned that 5,000 people were killed and only a handful escaped.
  That is all of the information available from contemporary sources. Later historians and authors added many heroic and dramatic details. For example, they added a large pyre and murder of children and women; the 4,000 people seeking shelter in the fortress became 4,000 armed soldiers; Lithuanians bravely and determinedly defended the fortress but chose death over converting to Christianity and becoming slaves of the Order; Margiris cut his wife in half and then killed himself; the Teutonic soldiers were moved by the terrible sight and noble sacrifice and returned to Prussia without loot. Possibly some of these details were inspired by similar events from the antiquity, including mass suicides in Astapa following the destruction of Illiturgis (206 BC), to "death or victory" defense of Abydos (200 BC), and mass suicide during the desperate Siege of Masada (c. 74 CE).
  It is difficult, if not impossible, to objectively evaluate the events as all that is known about Pilėnai comes from a single source, a German chronicler who saw Lithuanians as heathens and enemies. While there is written evidence about suicides in medieval Lithuania, Pilėnai is the only known instance where a ruler killed his own men.
caption: Punia hill fort bears Margiris' name and is one of the traditional locations of Pilėnai
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