Siege of Marienburg

Overview

The siege of Marienburg was an unsuccessful two-month siege of the castle in Marienburg (Malbork), the capital of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. The joint Polish and Lithuanian forces, under command of King Władysław II Jagiełło and Grand Duke Vytautas, besieged the castle between 26 July and 19 September 1410 in a bid for complete conquest of Prussia after the great victory in the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg). However, the castle withstood the siege and the Knights conceded only to minor territorial losses in the Peace of Thorn (1411). Marienburg defender Heinrich von Plauen is credited as the savior of the Knights from complete annihilation.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The siege of Marienburg was mounted by the combined Polish-Lithuanian forces under Władysław II Jagiełło and Vytautas the Great on 4 August 1410, following the defeat of the Teutonic Order at Grunwald. The besieging army of approximately 15,000 faced a garrison of around 3,000 defenders under Heinrich von Plauen. The failure to take the castle — Marienburg being the headquarters and principal stronghold of the Teutonic Order — meant that the Order retained an institutional and territorial anchor despite the losses suffered in the wider war, shaping the terms on which the conflict would ultimately be settled.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)