Battle of Rudau

Part of the Northern Crusades

Date	17 or 18 February 1370
Location	Rudau north of Königsberg 54°52′19″N 20°27′37″E / 54.87194°N 20.46028°E / 54.87194; 20.46028Coordinates: 54°52′19″N 20°27′37″E / 54.87194°N 20.46028°E / 54.87194; 20.46028
Result	Teutonic victory

Belligerents

Teutonic Knights

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Commanders and leaders

Winrich von Kniprode and Henning Schindekop †

Algirdas and Kęstutis

Strength

2,000–3,000 (realistically)

Casualties and losses

26 Knights and 100 or 300 men

1,000 men or 3,500 men

The Battle of Rudau (German: Schlacht bei Rudau, Lithuanian: Rūdavos mūšis) was a medieval pitched battle fought between the Teutonic Knights and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on 17 or 18 February 1370 near Rudau village north of Königsberg (now Melnikovo village in the Kaliningrad oblast). According to the Teutonic chronicler Wigand of Marburg and the Livonian chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, the Lithuanians suffered a great defeat.

The Teutonic Knights had waged a crusade against the pagan Lithuanians since the 1290s in order to Christianize the country. Each side would organize military expeditions against each other and then retaliate. In August 1369 the Knights burned a Lithuanian fort in the mouth of the Nevėžis River; 109 people perished in the fire. During truce negotiations Kęstutis, brother and right-hand man of the Grand Duke Algirdas, warned the Prussian Marshal Henning Schindekop that he would organize a retaliation. This gave time for the Knights to prepare for an attack and they organized their army in Königsberg.

Kęstutis and Algirdas led their army, composed of Lithuanians, Samogitians, Ruthenians, and Tatars, to Prussia earlier than anticipated by the Knights. The Lithuanians took and burned Rudau Castle. Grand Master Winrich von Kniprode decided to take his army from Königsberg to meet the Lithuanians near Rudau. Contemporary Teutonic sources do not give details about the course of the battle, which is somewhat unusual. Details and battle plans were later provided by Jan Długosz (1415–1480), but his sources are unknown.

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