Battle of Rakovors

Prince Dovmont was forced to leave the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the struggle for the throne after the death of Mindovg ( 1263 ) and was adopted in Pskov . In 1267, the Novgorodians organized a campaign against Lithuania, but because of disagreements among the command, the campaign did not take place. Instead, troops invaded Danish possessions located in the territory of modern Estonia and approached Rakvere Castle, but after the death of seven people from the arrows, the troops retreated and turned for help to Grand Duke Vladimir Yaroslav Yaroslavich , who sent his sons Svyatoslav and Mikhail instead (Elder) ^[7] , as well as Dmitry Pereyaslavsky and other princes.

In Novgorod began the manufacture of siege weapons for the upcoming campaign. The order of the bishops and knights from Riga , Viljandi and St. George arrived in Novgorod (between March 1 and December 31, 1267 ^{[8] [9]} ) to ask for peace and vowed not to help the Rakorians and revelators , however, during the subsequent collection of troops, the Livonian chronicle mentions Viljandians and warriors from other cities ( all German land , according to the Russian annals).

On January 23, the campaign began. Russian troops invaded the Virumaa land, which belonged to the Danes .

The battle took place on February 18, on a raw Saturday.

The army of the Livonian Order ^[10] , which became the Livonian landmaster of the Teutonic Order in 1237, came out from St. George's , and after joining the Danes, who had more significant forces, took a position on the left flank against Svyatoslav, Dmitry and Dovmont. The Danes stood on the right, against Mikhail Yaroslavich (the Elder). The Novgorod Chronicle cites a story, absent in the chronicle, about a fierce battle in the center between the Novgorodians and the enemy’s iron regiment , during which the Novgorod posad and 13 other boyars were killed by name, the thousand and 2 more boyars were missing by name, and Prince Yuri retreated, due to with which he was even suspected of treason.

Meanwhile, the Russians inflicted a powerful counterattack. The composition of its participants is precisely called by the Livonian Chronicle: 5,000 soldiers, led by Dmitry Alexandrovich, but reports that the knights managed to stop him with small forces. At the same time, the chronicle connects with this counterattack the overall victory of the Russian army in the battle and talks about the pursuit of a running enemy for 7 miles to Rakovor himself by three roads, because the horses could not step on the corpses ^[8] .

In the evening, another Livonian detachment approached the scene of the battle, but limited itself to plundering the Novgorod convoy. The Russians waited in the morning to fight him, but the knights departed ^[8] .

Russian troops stood under the walls of Rakovor for three days. Apparently, the siege and the assault on the city were prevented by the loss in the battle of the convoy with siege devices ( vices ). At this time, the Pskov squad of Dovmont with fire and sword walked through Vironia ^[11] , repairing the looting and capturing prisoners. Not a single castle was besieged or taken.

In 1269, the Order embarked on a return campaign , ending in a futile 10-day siege of Pskov, the retreat of the knights upon the approach of the Novgorod army led by Prince Yuri and the conclusion of peace "with all the will of Novgorod." Just 8 years after the battle of Durba with the Lithuanian forces, the crusaders suffered a new defeat, halting German-Danish expansion for 30 years ^[1] .

In the Russian historiographic tradition, the Russian army is recognized as the undisputed winner, nevertheless, despite the greater number of participants, the battle is given only secondary importance in comparison with the Battle of the Ice ^[12] . There are a number of reasons for this: firstly, well-known figures of the scale of Alexander Nevsky did not take part there. Secondly, from a military point of view, the objectives of the campaign — the capture of Wesenberg Castle and the imposition of indemnities — were not achieved. Thirdly, the place of battle and the number of casualties are not exactly known. German and Russian sources can give only an approximate picture. However, the death of the Novgorod posadnik and Derpt bishop Alexander had serious political consequences ^[13] .

According to I. N. Danilevsky , “if we do not know how the events took place in Poland and the Baltic states, we cannot adequately assess what happened in the northwestern Russian lands of the 12th-13th centuries. The massacre of ice turned into almost the main battle of the 13th century, and no one recalls the Battle of Rakovors in 1268, although in terms of scale and significance, it significantly exceeds the battle on Lake Peipsi. I think that these are simply disparate events for the country's stories. I once wrote a textbook for the 6th grade, and they told me that I wrote a small paragraph about the Battle of the Ice, and I covered the Battle of Rakovors in a much larger volume. Meanwhile, the Battle of the Ice was generally rarely remembered until 1941 ” ^[14] .

in Russian

• Matuzova V.I. , Nazarova E.L. Crusaders and Russia. The end of XII — 1270. Texts, translation, commentary. - M .: Indrik , 2002 .-- 450 p. - (The oldest sources on the history of Eastern Europe). - ISBN 5-85759-183-X.
• Nikolle D., Shpakovsky V. Russian army 1250-1500. - M .: Astrel: AST , 2004 .-- 54 p. (Military-historical series "Soldier". Uniforms, weapons, organization). ISBN 5-17-022243-2
• Novgorod first annals of senior and junior editions // Complete collection of Russian chronicles / Preparation by A. N. Nasonov . - M.-L.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR , 1950. - T. 3. - 612 p.
• Khrustalyov D.G. Northern Crusaders. Russia in the struggle for spheres of influence in the Eastern Baltic of the 12th-13th centuries T. 2. - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2009 .-- 464 p. - ISBN 978-5-91852-006-2 .
• Shefov N. A. The most famous wars and battles of Russia. - M .: Veche, 2002. - ISBN 5783805394 .

in other languages

• Selart, A. Livland und die Rus' im 13. Jahrhundert. - Köln: Böhlau, 2007 .-- ISBN 978-3-412-16006-7 . (German)
• Selart, A. Livonia, Rus' and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century. - Leiden: Brill, 2015 .-- ISBN 978-9-004-28474-6 . (eng.)

• Herman Wartberg, The Livonian Chronicle
• Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. Battle of Rakovor and the siege of Pskov
• Front annalistic vault. Book 6 (1248–1297)
• Novgorod first chronicle
• Rakovors battle // Big Russian encyclopedia
• The legend of the blessed prince Dovmont and his courage

• External video files
  	Intelligence: Klim Zhukov about the Battle of Rakovorsky (Analysis of the Battle of Rakovorsky by the military historian K. A. Zhukov in D. Intelligence broadcast by D. Yu. Puchkov )