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Battles of Wenden (1577–1578)

February 18, 2023

This article is about a series of battles in 1577 and 1578. For other uses, see Battle of Wenden.

The Battles of Wenden were a series of battles for control of the stronghold of Wenden (Cēsis, Kiesia, Võnnu), in present-day Latvia, fought during the Livonian War in 1577 and 1578. Magnus of Livonia besieged the town in August 1577, but was deposed and replaced by Russian forces under Tsar Ivan IV, who eventually sacked the town and castle in what became a symbolic victory. Polish forces, however, re-captured the stronghold in November and beat back a Russian counter-attack in February 1578.

Battle of Wenden (1578)
Part of Livonian War

Cēsis (Wenden) Castle today
Date21 October 1578
Location
Cēsis, Latvia
57°18′50″N 25°16′8″E / 57.31389°N 25.26889°E / 57.31389; 25.26889Coordinates: 57°18′50″N 25°16′8″E / 57.31389°N 25.26889°E / 57.31389; 25.26889
Result Swedish–Polish victory
Belligerents
Sweden
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth		 Tsardom of Russia
Commanders and leaders
Andrzej Sapieha,
Göran Boije[1]		 Ivan Galitzin[2]
Strength
4,000–6,000[1][3] 18,000–22,000 (Livonian claim)[3][1]
Casualties and losses
about 400 men[4]

6,280 killed (inflated[5] Livonian claim[6][7])
3,000 captured
1,720 dispersed[4]
20–30 artillery pieces[1]

At least 162 mentioned in a 17th-century Russian sinodik[8]

In October 1578, the Russian army again laid siege to the town, but was destroyed by a smaller Swedish–German–Polish relief force. This marked the turning point in the Livonian War, shifting the initiative from the Tsardom of Russia to Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It also marked the end of the Kingdom of Livonia, which collapsed when Magnus retired to Courland.

Background

In 1570 and 1571, Ivan IV "the Terrible" of Russia faced internal disputes, culminating in the slaughter of Novgorod's inhabitants[9] and the burning of Moscow by the Crimean tartars.[10] Yet, he was able to recover and resume his campaigns in the Livonian War in 1572.[10] A Swedish counter-offensive in 1574 failed.[11] Ivan IV had introduced a new strategy, relying on tens of thousands of his troops, Cossacks, and tartars to achieve superiority over his adversaries. Unlike the latter, he used a large number of native troops instead of a few thousand professional mercenaries.[11] Swedish forces were besieged in Reval (Tallinn), Danish Estonia was raided, and so was central Livonia as far as Dünaburg (Daugavpils), since 1561 formally under Polish-Lithuanian suzerainty.[11] The conquered territories submitted to Ivan or his vassal, Duke Magnus of the House of Oldenburg,[11] who was declared as king of Livonia in 1570.[9]

The year 1576 marked the height of Ivan's campaign, and another 30,000 Russian forces crossed into Livonia in 1577.[9] Magnus had fallen into disgrace when he defected from Ivan IV during the same year,[12] and started to subordinate castles without consulting the tsar.[9] When Kokenhusen (Koknese) submitted to Magnus in the hope of avoiding Ivan IV's army, the tsar sacked it and executed its German commanders.[9] The campaign then focussed on Wenden (Cēsis, Võnnu), "the heart of Livonia", which as the former capital of the Livonian Order was not only of strategic importance but also a symbol for Livonia itself.[11]

1577

In the summer of 1577, Magnus of Livonia laid siege to Wenden.[3][11] The Russian army under Ivan IV appeared before Wenden's walls in late August.[3][11] Ivan had Magnus arrested, sacked the town, and laid siege to the castle.[3][11] The last 300 defenders, men, women, and children retreated to the castle's main tower and either died in an accidental explosion of gunpowder stored in the tower[13] or committed collective suicide by blowing themselves up with 4 pounds (1.8 kg) of gunpowder, probably because the garrison had been "promised a terrible fate" by the tsar in response to them having fired at him with cannons.[3][11][nb 1] Thus, Wenden fell to Ivan in September, and was made a seat of four newly appointed voivodes who were to administer the province for Russia.[14]

The sack of Wenden was a huge symbolic victory for Ivan.[3][15] Among his opponents in the Livonian War, John III of Sweden only controlled Reval (Tallinn), Stephen Báthory of Poland only held Riga, Frederick II of Denmark was limited to the island of Øsel (Ösel, Saaremaa), Magnus of Livonia, though released by Ivan, abdicated in 1578 and withdrew to Piltene[12] in Courland.[11] Ivan's control of nearly all of Livonia and Estonia was secured by garrisons numbering 22,000 men in total.[3][15]

1578

John III and Stephen Báthory formed an alliance against Ivan IV in December 1577, after Báthory had concluded the Danzig War.[3][15] Already in November, Lithuanian forces had started an offensive from the south and captured Dünaburg (Daugavpils).[3][15] A Polish–Swedish force[15] took the town and castle of Wenden in early 1578.[3][15] Russian forces tried to re-take the town in February, but failed.[3]

A subsequent Swedish offensive, targeted Leal (Lihula), Lode (Koluvere), Hapsal (Haapsalu), Pernau (Pärnu), Dorpat (Tartu), and Novgorod.[3] In September, Ivan responded by sending in an army, which the Livonian Chronicle claimed to be 18,000 strong,[3] who re-captured Oberpahlen (Põltsamaa) from Sweden and then marched on Wenden.[3][15]

Battle

Upon their arrival at Wenden, the Russian army laid siege to the town.[15] Soon the Russian artillery breached the wall,[5] but then an allied relief force consisting of 5,500[3][15] to 6,000[3] German, Lithuanian, Polish, Transylvanian, Bohemian, Romanian, and Swedish soldiers[3][15] confronted the Russians on 21 October.[16] The right flank (around 2,000 cavalry) was commanded by Andrzej Sapieha, while the left flank consisted of Swedish forces (2,000 infantry) commanded by Göran Boye.[17]

First, the Russian cavalry was defeated[15] and driven off[3][15] in open field,[15] with the Tatar cavalrymen being the first to retreat,[5] then the Russian infantry, still entrenched for the siege,[3][15] was defeated or taken prisoner.[3] Russian casualties were substantial,[3][15] and among the captives, there were several high-ranking boyars.[3] Livonian reports of the Russian casualties were inflated,[5] with the official proclamation "Moscouische Niderlag, und Belegerung der Statt Wenden" (Nürnberg, 1579) and the Livonian Chronicle of Balthasar Russow claiming that the Russians lost 6,000 men.[7] Reinhold Heidenstein, a Polish diplomat, described their casualties as severe, without specifying the number of losses.[18] A 17th-century Russian sinodik, that is, a book of the deceased to be prayed for, mentions the names of 162 men killed in the battle, but the list doesn't include a large part of the army.[8] Some 30 siege guns[19] and large numbers of horses[nb 2] were captured, enabling the whole Swedish infantry to ride back to Reval.[3][15] The captured cannons were taken by the Lithuanians and paraded through Vilnius, contrary to the Swedish wishes and the agreements between the allies prior to the battle.[17]

The battle was unusual insofar as only a few battles of the Livonian War were fought in the open field; usually, one of the parties took a defensive position in a fortress, while the opposing party laid siege.[20] Furthermore, Wenden was to remain the only occasion of a Swedish–Polish–Lithuanian collaboration in battle,[16] as the alliance fell apart in the following years.[21]

The allied victory marked the turning point of the Livonian War[3][15][16] Ivan IV was for the first time seriously defeated in Livonia.[15] A series of further Russian defeats followed[16] and paved the way for the Swedish storming of Narva in September 1581,[22] which resulted in a massacre of 6,000 of its citizens,[23] forcing Ivan to accept an unfavourable outcome of the war in the Truce of Jam Zapolski with Stephen Bathory[21] and the Treaty of Plussa with John III.[24]

Notes

  1. ^ Allegedly responsible for the blast was the Livonian noble Hinrik (Heinrich) Boismann.Derrik, Torsten (2000). Das Bruderbuch der Revaler Tafelgilde (1364–1549) (in German). Marburg: Tectum. p. 56.
  2. ^ "A thousand" according to Frost, "thousands" according to Peterson.

Sources

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Kwartalnik Sarmacki 1(3)/2013". Issuu.
  2. ^ Robert Payne, Nikita Romanoff. Ivan the Terrible (1975). p. 368.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Frost (2000), p. 28
  4. ^ a b Hedberg (1975)
  5. ^ a b c d Filjushkin A. Ivan the Terrible: A Military History. Pen and Sword. 2008. p. 204
  6. ^ Moscouische Niderlag, und Belegerung der Statt Wenden. Nürnberg. 1579
  7. ^ a b Russow B. Chronica. Der Provintz Lyfflandt, darinnne vermeldet werdt. Andreas Seitner. 1584. p. 116
  8. ^ a b "Синодик по убиенных во брани". www.vostlit.info.
  9. ^ a b c d e Frost (2000), p. 27
  10. ^ a b Peterson (2007), p. 91
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Peterson (2007), p. 93
  12. ^ a b Oakley (1992), p. 37
  13. ^ Nolan C. J. The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000–1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Volume 2. Greenwood Publishing Group. 2006. p. 640
  14. ^ Angermann (1972), p. 29
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Peterson (2007), p. 94
  16. ^ a b c d Roberts (1986), p. 263
  17. ^ a b Antanaitis, Kastytis (2005). "Lietuvos Kariuomenė Livonijos Karo Kampanijose 1578–1581 m.". Karo Archyvas. 20: 63–64.
  18. ^ Heidenstein R. Reinoldi Heidenstenii Secr: Regii, De Bello Moscovitico commentariorum lib. sex. Krakow. 1584. p. 36
  19. ^ Solikowski, D. Krótki pamiętnik. pp. 43–44.
  20. ^ Peterson (2007), p. 95
  21. ^ a b Roberts (1986), p. 264
  22. ^ Kirby D. G. Northern Europe in the Early Modern Period: The Baltic World, 1492–1772. Routledge. 2013. p. 119
  23. ^ Derry T. K. History of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. U of Minnesota Press. 2000. p. 101
  24. ^ Roberts (1986), p. 265

Bibliography

  • Hedberg, Jonas (1975). Kungl. Artilleriet – Medeltid och äldre vasatid. Stockholm: Militärhistoriska förlaget. ISBN 91-85266-03-5.
  • Angermann, Norbert (1972). Studien zur Livlandpolitik Ivan Groznyjs. Marburger Ostforschungen (in German). Vol. 32. Hamburg. ISBN 3-87969-098-7.
  • Frost, Robert I (2000). The Northern Wars. War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe 1558-1721. Longman. pp. 27–28. ISBN 978-0-582-06429-4.
  • Oakley, Steward (1992). War and peace in the Baltic, 1560-1790. War in Context. Abingdon - New York: Routledge. p. 37. ISBN 0-415-02472-2.
  • Peterson, Gary Dean (2007). Warrior kings of Sweden. The rise of an empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. McFarland. pp. 94–95. ISBN 0-7864-2873-2.
  • Roberts, Michael (1986). The early Vasas. A history of Sweden 1523-1611. CUP Archive. ISBN 0-521-31182-9.

February 18, 2023
battles, wenden, 1577, 1578, this, article, about, series, battles, 1577, 1578, other, uses, battle, wenden, battles, wenden, were, series, battles, control, stronghold, wenden, cēsis, kiesia, võnnu, present, latvia, fought, during, livonian, 1577, 1578, magnu. This article is about a series of battles in 1577 and 1578 For other uses see Battle of Wenden The Battles of Wenden were a series of battles for control of the stronghold of Wenden Cesis Kiesia Vonnu in present day Latvia fought during the Livonian War in 1577 and 1578 Magnus of Livonia besieged the town in August 1577 but was deposed and replaced by Russian forces under Tsar Ivan IV who eventually sacked the town and castle in what became a symbolic victory Polish forces however re captured the stronghold in November and beat back a Russian counter attack in February 1578 Battle of Wenden 1578 Part of Livonian WarCesis Wenden Castle todayDate21 October 1578LocationCesis Latvia57 18 50 N 25 16 8 E 57 31389 N 25 26889 E 57 31389 25 26889 Coordinates 57 18 50 N 25 16 8 E 57 31389 N 25 26889 E 57 31389 25 26889ResultSwedish Polish victoryBelligerentsSweden Polish Lithuanian CommonwealthTsardom of RussiaCommanders and leadersAndrzej Sapieha Goran Boije 1 Ivan Galitzin 2 Strength4 000 6 000 1 3 18 000 22 000 Livonian claim 3 1 Casualties and lossesabout 400 men 4 6 280 killed inflated 5 Livonian claim 6 7 3 000 captured1 720 dispersed 4 20 30 artillery pieces 1 At least 162 mentioned in a 17th century Russian sinodik 8 In October 1578 the Russian army again laid siege to the town but was destroyed by a smaller Swedish German Polish relief force This marked the turning point in the Livonian War shifting the initiative from the Tsardom of Russia to Sweden and the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth It also marked the end of the Kingdom of Livonia which collapsed when Magnus retired to Courland Contents 1 Background 1 1 1577 1 2 1578 2 Battle 3 Notes 4 Sources 4 1 References 4 2 BibliographyBackground EditIn 1570 and 1571 Ivan IV the Terrible of Russia faced internal disputes culminating in the slaughter of Novgorod s inhabitants 9 and the burning of Moscow by the Crimean tartars 10 Yet he was able to recover and resume his campaigns in the Livonian War in 1572 10 A Swedish counter offensive in 1574 failed 11 Ivan IV had introduced a new strategy relying on tens of thousands of his troops Cossacks and tartars to achieve superiority over his adversaries Unlike the latter he used a large number of native troops instead of a few thousand professional mercenaries 11 Swedish forces were besieged in Reval Tallinn Danish Estonia was raided and so was central Livonia as far as Dunaburg Daugavpils since 1561 formally under Polish Lithuanian suzerainty 11 The conquered territories submitted to Ivan or his vassal Duke Magnus of the House of Oldenburg 11 who was declared as king of Livonia in 1570 9 The year 1576 marked the height of Ivan s campaign and another 30 000 Russian forces crossed into Livonia in 1577 9 Magnus had fallen into disgrace when he defected from Ivan IV during the same year 12 and started to subordinate castles without consulting the tsar 9 When Kokenhusen Koknese submitted to Magnus in the hope of avoiding Ivan IV s army the tsar sacked it and executed its German commanders 9 The campaign then focussed on Wenden Cesis Vonnu the heart of Livonia which as the former capital of the Livonian Order was not only of strategic importance but also a symbol for Livonia itself 11 1577 Edit Ivan IV of Russia In the summer of 1577 Magnus of Livonia laid siege to Wenden 3 11 The Russian army under Ivan IV appeared before Wenden s walls in late August 3 11 Ivan had Magnus arrested sacked the town and laid siege to the castle 3 11 The last 300 defenders men women and children retreated to the castle s main tower and either died in an accidental explosion of gunpowder stored in the tower 13 or committed collective suicide by blowing themselves up with 4 pounds 1 8 kg of gunpowder probably because the garrison had been promised a terrible fate by the tsar in response to them having fired at him with cannons 3 11 nb 1 Thus Wenden fell to Ivan in September and was made a seat of four newly appointed voivodes who were to administer the province for Russia 14 The sack of Wenden was a huge symbolic victory for Ivan 3 15 Among his opponents in the Livonian War John III of Sweden only controlled Reval Tallinn Stephen Bathory of Poland only held Riga Frederick II of Denmark was limited to the island of Osel Osel Saaremaa Magnus of Livonia though released by Ivan abdicated in 1578 and withdrew to Piltene 12 in Courland 11 Ivan s control of nearly all of Livonia and Estonia was secured by garrisons numbering 22 000 men in total 3 15 John III of Sweden 1578 Edit John III and Stephen Bathory formed an alliance against Ivan IV in December 1577 after Bathory had concluded the Danzig War 3 15 Already in November Lithuanian forces had started an offensive from the south and captured Dunaburg Daugavpils 3 15 A Polish Swedish force 15 took the town and castle of Wenden in early 1578 3 15 Russian forces tried to re take the town in February but failed 3 A subsequent Swedish offensive targeted Leal Lihula Lode Koluvere Hapsal Haapsalu Pernau Parnu Dorpat Tartu and Novgorod 3 In September Ivan responded by sending in an army which the Livonian Chronicle claimed to be 18 000 strong 3 who re captured Oberpahlen Poltsamaa from Sweden and then marched on Wenden 3 15 Battle Edit Stephen Bathory of Poland Upon their arrival at Wenden the Russian army laid siege to the town 15 Soon the Russian artillery breached the wall 5 but then an allied relief force consisting of 5 500 3 15 to 6 000 3 German Lithuanian Polish Transylvanian Bohemian Romanian and Swedish soldiers 3 15 confronted the Russians on 21 October 16 The right flank around 2 000 cavalry was commanded by Andrzej Sapieha while the left flank consisted of Swedish forces 2 000 infantry commanded by Goran Boye 17 First the Russian cavalry was defeated 15 and driven off 3 15 in open field 15 with the Tatar cavalrymen being the first to retreat 5 then the Russian infantry still entrenched for the siege 3 15 was defeated or taken prisoner 3 Russian casualties were substantial 3 15 and among the captives there were several high ranking boyars 3 Livonian reports of the Russian casualties were inflated 5 with the official proclamation Moscouische Niderlag und Belegerung der Statt Wenden Nurnberg 1579 and the Livonian Chronicle of Balthasar Russow claiming that the Russians lost 6 000 men 7 Reinhold Heidenstein a Polish diplomat described their casualties as severe without specifying the number of losses 18 A 17th century Russian sinodik that is a book of the deceased to be prayed for mentions the names of 162 men killed in the battle but the list doesn t include a large part of the army 8 Some 30 siege guns 19 and large numbers of horses nb 2 were captured enabling the whole Swedish infantry to ride back to Reval 3 15 The captured cannons were taken by the Lithuanians and paraded through Vilnius contrary to the Swedish wishes and the agreements between the allies prior to the battle 17 The battle was unusual insofar as only a few battles of the Livonian War were fought in the open field usually one of the parties took a defensive position in a fortress while the opposing party laid siege 20 Furthermore Wenden was to remain the only occasion of a Swedish Polish Lithuanian collaboration in battle 16 as the alliance fell apart in the following years 21 The allied victory marked the turning point of the Livonian War 3 15 16 Ivan IV was for the first time seriously defeated in Livonia 15 A series of further Russian defeats followed 16 and paved the way for the Swedish storming of Narva in September 1581 22 which resulted in a massacre of 6 000 of its citizens 23 forcing Ivan to accept an unfavourable outcome of the war in the Truce of Jam Zapolski with Stephen Bathory 21 and the Treaty of Plussa with John III 24 Notes Edit Allegedly responsible for the blast was the Livonian noble Hinrik Heinrich Boismann Derrik Torsten 2000 Das Bruderbuch der Revaler Tafelgilde 1364 1549 in German Marburg Tectum p 56 A thousand according to Frost thousands according to Peterson Sources EditReferences Edit a b c d Kwartalnik Sarmacki 1 3 2013 Issuu Robert Payne Nikita Romanoff Ivan the Terrible 1975 p 368 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Frost 2000 p 28 a b Hedberg 1975 a b c d Filjushkin A Ivan the Terrible A Military History Pen and Sword 2008 p 204 Moscouische Niderlag und Belegerung der Statt Wenden Nurnberg 1579 a b Russow B Chronica Der Provintz Lyfflandt darinnne vermeldet werdt Andreas Seitner 1584 p 116 a b Sinodik po ubiennyh vo brani www vostlit info a b c d e Frost 2000 p 27 a b Peterson 2007 p 91 a b c d e f g h i j Peterson 2007 p 93 a b Oakley 1992 p 37 Nolan C J The Age of Wars of Religion 1000 1650 An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization Volume 2 Greenwood Publishing Group 2006 p 640 Angermann 1972 p 29 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Peterson 2007 p 94 a b c d Roberts 1986 p 263 a b Antanaitis Kastytis 2005 Lietuvos Kariuomene Livonijos Karo Kampanijose 1578 1581 m Karo Archyvas 20 63 64 Heidenstein R Reinoldi Heidenstenii Secr Regii De Bello Moscovitico commentariorum lib sex Krakow 1584 p 36 Solikowski D Krotki pamietnik pp 43 44 Peterson 2007 p 95 a b Roberts 1986 p 264 Kirby D G Northern Europe in the Early Modern Period The Baltic World 1492 1772 Routledge 2013 p 119 Derry T K History of Scandinavia Norway Sweden Denmark Finland and Iceland U of Minnesota Press 2000 p 101 Roberts 1986 p 265 Bibliography Edit Hedberg Jonas 1975 Kungl Artilleriet Medeltid och aldre vasatid Stockholm Militarhistoriska forlaget ISBN 91 85266 03 5 Angermann Norbert 1972 Studien zur Livlandpolitik Ivan Groznyjs Marburger Ostforschungen in German Vol 32 Hamburg ISBN 3 87969 098 7 Frost Robert I 2000 The Northern Wars War State and Society in Northeastern Europe 1558 1721 Longman pp 27 28 ISBN 978 0 582 06429 4 Oakley Steward 1992 War and peace in the Baltic 1560 1790 War in Context Abingdon New York Routledge p 37 ISBN 0 415 02472 2 Peterson Gary Dean 2007 Warrior kings of Sweden The rise of an empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries McFarland pp 94 95 ISBN 0 7864 2873 2 Roberts Michael 1986 The early Vasas A history of Sweden 1523 1611 CUP Archive ISBN 0 521 31182 9 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Battles of Wenden 1577 1578 amp oldid 1070212547, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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