Pabaisko mūšyje dalyvavusių kariuomenių sudėtis ir skaičiai

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Pabaisko mūšis; Švitrigaila, 1370-1452 (Boleslovas Švitrigaila, Svidrigiello, Boleslau Switrigail); Frankas Kerskorfas; Žygimantas Kęstutaitis, 1365-1440 (Sigismund Kęstutaitis); Mykolas Žygimantaitis; Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (LDK; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; GDL); Vokiečių Ordinas (Teutonic Order; Kryžiuočių ordinas); Livonija (Livonia); Battle of Pabaiskas; Švitrigaila; Franke Kerskorff; Žygimantas Kęstutaitis; Mykolas Žygimantaitis; Livonia.

ENThe Battle of Pabaiskas which took place on 1 September 1435 between the armies of Grand Duke Žygimantas Kęstutaitis supported by Poland, and his rival Švitrigaila supported by the Teutonic Order was probably the biggest battle on the territory of modern Lithuania. No doubt both Švitrigaila and Žygimantas tried to muster as numerous forces as possible for the military campaign of 1435. However, both the absolute numbers and the proportional ratio between the armies offered by the historians attempting to identify their sizes differ dramatically: there is no clarity as to which of the rivals had a larger army, and the total number of the soldiers in the battle varies from 15,000 to 60,000, thus differing fourfold. This paper focuses on the numbers provided in contemporary descriptions of the battle and on their critical analysis enabling a possible re-interpretation. Based on the data retrieved from the sources, it is concluded that Žygimantas Kęstutaitis had about 15,000 men (12,000 coming from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and 3,000 from Poland), whereas Švitrigaila had 20,000 men (12,000 Livonians and 8,000 Lithuanians and Tartars). Therefore Švitrigaila lost the battle despite of the odds being in his favour and the defeat was caused solely by mistakes made by him and the Livonian Landmaster Franke von Kerskorff.Moreover, it is worth stressing that local Lithuanian troops made about four-fifths of Žygimantas’ army, whereas Švitrigaila relied mostly on his foreign allies which were dominated by the troops brought in by the Livonian Landmaster Franke von Kerskorff; also, a part of Švitrigaila’s own forces were troops sent by Khan Sayd Akhmat. Therefore, although Švitrigaila had the numbers, his army was heterogeneous and hard to coordinate. It is also worth noting that according to the relation of Guillebert de Lannoy of 1413, the mounted troops of the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald amounted to 21,000 men, which is very close to what the Teutonic Order brought to Švitrigaila’s side in 1435 and therefore contemporary sources could have been right when stating that the battles of Grunwald and Pabaiskas were comparable. However, Lithuanian and Polish forces at the Battle of Grunwald must have been much larger than the Teutonic ones as the Lithuanian troops were mustered from a larger territory, and the Polish army was engaged on a far bigger scale. [From the publication]

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