Battle of Skuodas The Battle of Skuodas or Schoden was a medieval battle fought in ca . 1259 near Skuodas in present - day Lithuania during the Northern Crusades . The Samogitian army of 3 , 000 invaded Courland and on their way back defeated the Livonian Order , killing 33 knights and many more low - rank soldiers . In terms of knights killed , it was the eighth largest defeat of the Livonian Order in the 13th century . This victory led to a Semigallia n insurrection against the Livonian crusaders , which lasted from 1259 to 1272 . Background . In 1251 , Mindaugas , pagan Grand Duke of Lithuania , concluded a peace treaty with the Livonian Order : he was to be baptized and crowned as King of Lithuania in return for portions of Samogitia , Nadruva , and Dainava . Mindaugas was crowned on 6 July 1253 and the promised lands were transferred to the Order . The Order built the Memel Castle ( Klaipėda ) on the border with Samogitia to serve as the basis for further expansion . After Samogitians unsuccessfully attacked the new castle , their nobles formed a military coalition , elected Algminas ( or Almenas ) as their leader , and organized offensive raids to Courland . After the Samogitians defeated the knights near Klaipėda and killed 12 knights in 1257 , a Samogitian envoy in Riga requested a two - year truce . The truce was supported by Riga merchants , who sought to increase wax and fur trade with the Samogitians . Battle and aftermath . When the truce expired , Samogitians did not seek an extension , but once again organized a raid to Courland . This raid might have been prompted by Mindaugas , who granted Samogitia in its entirety to the Order on 7 August 1259 while seeking allies against the Golden Horde who plundered Lithuanian lands in the winter of 1259 . However , the exact date or year of the battle is unknown . Historian Edvardas Gudavičius dated the battle late summer or early fall 1258 . While the Samogitians were plundering Courland , the knights from Kuldīga requested reinforcements from Klaipėda . The Knights pursued retreating Samogitians , who carried their loot back home and the decisive battle took place near Skuodas . The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle blamed the defeat on the cowardly Curonians , who did not withstand the Samogitian pressure and retreated from the battlefield leaving the knights exposed . Inspired by the success , the Samogitians almost immediately organized another raid into Courland . This time Livonian Grand Master Burchard von Hornhausen commanded the Knights . However , the Knights were careful to avoid an ambush while the Samogitians decided to elude a pitched battle . The battle inspired the Semigallians to rebel against the Order . The Knights , finding little success in an open battlefield turned into strategic warfare . They attacked Tērvete ( Terwerten ) hoping to turn the Semigallian outpost into a Teutonic castle . When the attack failed , they built a fortress in nearby Dobele ( Doblen ) and Goergenburg ( possibly present - day Jurbarkas ) in Samogitia . Both castles were soon attacked by the Semigallians and Samogitians . The following year , the Samogitians raided Courland again and provoked the Knights into the Battle of Durbe , where the Order suffered even greater defeat . After these disasters , it took some thirty years for the Livonian Order to restore its status and territory .