The 1329 Crusade to Samogitia in the Poetry of Guillaume de Machaut
The 1329 crusade to Samogitia in the poetry of Guillaume de Machaut Most of the early journeys to Lithuania are not documented from the perspective of the study of travel writing, at best they are reported by political opponents, rivals, foreigners, and commoners.
One such example is the poem "Confort d'Ami" (The Support of a Friend) by the French poet Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377). In the work, written in 1357, the secretary of the Czech king Johann von Luxemburg (John the Blind, 1296-1346), among others, described the 1329 crusade to Lithuania: „And afterward he went / Straight to the kingdom of Krakow / And across the ice into Lithuania. / He had Christianized in one village / More than six thousand unbelievers. / The place was called Medvegalis, / And don’t consider it a mere tale / That afterward he took four fortresses, / The most dominant in that country: Kvėdarna and Gediminas, Geguže, Aukaimis, and afterward / There was no man or woman / Who did not lose body and soul; Nothing at all, in fact, was still alive, Despite the Khan of Tartary / To whom Lithuania is tributary. / And then the king harassed them terribly, / Devastating more of their territory / Than what lies between Bruges and Paris. / Indeed I was present at that celebration. / I witnessed it with the eyes in my head. / Then he traveled twice to Prussia, / Gaining much honor, and to Russia as well“.
Until now, this march to Samogitia has been shrouded in legends, with no precise localisation of the sites mentioned, Aukaimis being identified with the Batakiai castle mound, and Gediminas' castle being associated with the Padievaitis castle mound in Šilalė district (Gintautas Zabiela). It is believed that the main castles of the Samogitian defence system, including Gegužkalnis and Žiesdyte, were captured during the crusade. Peter von Dusburg and Wigand von Marburg state that the raid was attended by the rulers of Leiningen, Etingen, Hanau, Württemberg and others, together with "a large number of noblemen from the German and English kingdoms". The attack on Medvėgalis Castle took place on 1 February 1329, and it was only the pleas of King John that saved the lives of the prisoners, who were converted to the Catholic faith by baptism on the Feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, 2 February. This information does not contradict the poet's celebration of John of Luxemburg's lovingkindness and cruelty, which he showed to the pagans by leaving no survivors on the subsequent campaign. King John later became blind, presumably due to the blinding effects of the Lithuanian snows. Snow and ice on John of Luxembourg's route is also mentioned in the poem by Machaut. The poem is set in the first person with an emphasis on participation. This is one of the earliest poetic works to mention Lithuania in the context of the Crusades.
Sources: Guillaume de Machaut, The Boethian Poems: Le Confort d'Ami, in: https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/palmer-machaut-the-boethian-poems-confort, eil. 3030-3045; Prioult Albert: Un poète voyageur : Guillaume de Machaut et la Reise de Jean l'Aveugle, roi de Bohême, en 1328-1329, in Lettres romanes, 1950, vol. 4, p. 3-29 (Machaut‘s description of John of Luxembourgs Lithuanian campaign); Juozas Jakštas: Das Baltikum in der Kreuzzugsbewegung des 14. Jahrhunderts. Die Nachrichten Philipps de Mezieres über die baltischen Gebiete, in Commentationes Balticae, 1959, t. VI/VII, 3, p. 148-149; Vygandas Marburgietis, Naujoji Prūsijos kronika. Vertė Rimantas Jasas. Vilnius: Vaga, 1999; Petras Dusburgietis, Prūsijos žemės kronika. Vertė Leonas Valkūnas. Vilnius: Vaga, 1985. Archeologai neabejoja, iš: https://www.lrt.lt/naujienos/kultura/12/1204912/archelogai-neabejoja-rasta-pirmoji-kunigaikscio-gedimino-pilis-nuo-cia-jis-pradejo-savo-politine-karjera