Raid into Brandenburg

Raid on Brandenburg
Date February 10 – March 11, 1326 Location Neumark (East Brandenburg) Result Area looted and devastated
Belligerents
Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland	Margraviate of Brandenburg
Commanders and leaders
David of Hrodna and Władysław I the Elbow-high	Louis V of Germany
Strength
1,200 Lithuanians
Casualties and losses
	6,000 prisoners

The Raid on Brandenburg was a Polish–Lithuanian raid on the Margraviate of Brandenburg in February–March 1326. With papal approval and encouragement, King Władysław I of Poland allied with Gediminas of Lithuania and organized the raid against Louis V of Germany.Pope John XXII opposed Louis' ambitions to become the Holy Roman Emperor, King Władysław regarded Neumark (East Brandenburg) as Polish territory, while Lithuanians sought loot. The Teutonic Knights, under papal pressure, observed its peace treaties with Poland and Lithuania and did not interfere. The Polish–Lithuanian army raided Brandenburg for a month, reaching Frankfurt and Berlin, and took 6,000 prisoners.

After the death of Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor, in August 1313, a war erupted between cousins Louis V of Germany and Frederick the Fair of Austria for the imperial crown. Ambitious Pope John XXII saw himself as the ultimate judge and arbiter in the conflict. When Louis V ignored papal decrees and assumed full imperial authority, the pope excommunicated Louis and rallied European nobility against him.

The Margraviate of Brandenburg was ruled by the House of Ascania, which became extinct with the deaths of Waldemar in 1319 and Henry II in 1320. The succession crisis caused a lot of confusion. Louis V considered the margraviate vacant and, after his victory in the Battle of Mühldorf, appointed his son also named Louis as Margrave of Brandenburg in 1323. That created a common border between possessions of Louis V and Polish King Władysław I, who competed for influence in the Duchy of Silesia. The Poles also regarded Lubusz Land, which was incorporated into Neumark (East Brandenburg), as their territory. Thus, it did not take much encouragement from Pope John XXII to convince King Władysław to attack Brandenburg.

...
Wikipedia