On This Day: Lithuanian largest mass suicide in history to avoid death/slavery by Christian crusaders - Feb. 25, 1336
(edited from article)
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Largest Mass Suicide in Human History (Pilénai)
On February 25, 1336, the 4,000 defenders of the medieval Lithuanian fortress of Pilénai thought they had no other choice but to make the horrible decision to kill themselves and their families after torching and destroying everything they had of value to deny their Teutonic besiegers the spoils of victory and the opportunity to kill or enslave them.
The number of women and children sacrificed is unknown, but even just the number of defenders, recorded at 4,000, is more than enough to rank as history’s largest mass suicide, eclipsing the 900+ dead at Masada in 37-31 B.C. and the 900+ dead at Jonestown in 1978.
These brave defenders are remembered in an epic poem by Wladyslaw Syrokomla titled Margier, in reference to the Duke of Margiris who commanded the defenders, and also in a 1956 opera by Vytautas Klova (with J. Mackonis) titled Pilénai.
Although Lithuanians remember the event as a glorious part of their history, the exact location of the fortress is disputed, with a few different locations laying claim to be the hallowed ground. As for the Teutonic Knights (Germans), they were Crusaders who were back from the Holy Land, and in their march across Europe, attempted to convert Pagans, such as those they found in Lithuania, to Christianity.
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https://www.historyandheadlines.com/largest-mass-suicide-in-human-history-pilenai/
(edited from Wikipedia)
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Pilėnai
Pilėnai was a hill fort in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its location is unknown and is subject to academic debates, but it is well known in the history of Lithuania due to its heroic defense against the Teutonic Order in 1336. Attacked by a large Teutonic force, the fortress, commanded by Duke Margiris, tried in vain to organize a defense against the larger and stronger invader. Losing hope, the defenders decided to burn their property and commit mass suicide to deprive the Order of prisoners and loot. This dramatic episode from the Lithuanian Crusade has caught the public imagination, inspired many works of fiction, and became a symbol of Lithuanian struggles and resistance.
Attack and defense
The Teutonic Order waged the decades-long Lithuanian Crusade against the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania in hopes of converting it to Christianity. In early 1336, the Order organized another large campaign into Lithuania. Their force included nobles from France and Austria. In total, according to Wigand of Marburg, there were 200 nobles. Another German chronicle, known as Der Chronist von Wolfenbüttel, counted a total of 6,000 soldiers.
On the feast day of Saint Matthias (February 25), this large force attacked Pilėnai, where some 4,000 people from four different lands sought shelter from the invasion. Wigand's description of further events paints a chaotic and bloody scene. He claims that the people panicked as soon as they saw the Christian army and decided to burn their belongings and commit suicide.
Kurze Reimchronik von Preussen mentioned that 5,000 people were killed and only a handful escaped.
That is all of the information available from contemporary sources. Later historians and authors added many heroic and dramatic details. For example, they added a large pyre and murder of children and women; the 4,000 people seeking shelter in the fortress became 4,000 armed soldiers; Lithuanians bravely and determinedly defended the fortress but chose death over converting to Christianity and becoming slaves of the Order, etc. Possibly some of these details were inspired by similar events from the antiquity, including mass suicides in Astapa following the destruction of Illiturgis (206 BC), to "death or victory" defense of Abydos (200 BC), and mass suicide during the desperate siege of Masada (c. 74 CE).
It is difficult, if not impossible, to objectively evaluate the events as all that is known about Pilėnai comes from a single source, a German chronicler who saw Lithuanians as heathens and enemies. While there is written evidence about suicides in medieval Lithuania, Pilėnai is the only known instance where a ruler killed his own men.
Cultural significance
The heroic defense of Pilėnai inspired many artistic works, [including poems, novels, and operas].
The opera Pilėnai was written by the musical composer Vytautas Klova, and the libretto was written by Jonas Mackonis. The opera premiered in 1956, and is often performed in Lithuania. In 2001 the performances took place at the Trakai Island Castle. The Lithuanian Opera Company of Chicago performed the work in 2006 to commemorate its 50th anniversary.
Lithuanian Crusade
The Lithuanian Crusade was a series of campaigns by the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order under the pretext of forcibly Christianizing the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Livonian Order occupied Riga in 1202 and in the 1230s they settled in Chełmno Land, a fief of Poland. They first conquered other neighboring Baltic tribes—Curonians, Semigallians, Latgalians, Selonians, and Old Prussians—in the Livonian Crusade and Prussian Crusade.
The first raid against the Lithuanians and Samogitians was in 1208. From then on, the orders played a key role in Lithuanian politics, but they were not a direct threat until the 1280s. By that time, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was already a centralized state and could mount defenses.
[Ethnic cleansing]
For the next century, the order organized annual colonialist reise (raids) into Samogitian and Lithuanian lands, without great success but at immense human cost. Border regions in Samogitia and Suvalkija became sparsely inhabited wilderness due to ethnic cleansing, although the order gained very little territory. The resulting wars between the Teutonic Order and Lithuania were one of the longest conflicts in the history of Europe.
The grand duchy finally converted to Christianity in 1386, when Grand Duke Jogaila accepted baptism from Poland before his wedding to reigning Queen Jadwiga and coronation as king of Poland. However, the baptism did not stop the crusade, as the order publicly challenged the sincerity of the conversion at the papal court. Lithuania and its new ally, Poland, defeated the order in the decisive Battle of Grunwald in 1410, which is often cited as the end of the Lithuanian Crusade and the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The final peace was reached by the Treaty of Melno (1422), ending 225 years of warfare.
[War against infidels]
At its peak, Lithuania was the largest state in Europe.
Crusaders claimed to wage war to convert non-Christian "infidels" to Christianity by force. In the 12th century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote that the killing of pagans was also justified: "The Christian glories in the death of the pagan, because Christ is glorified." Only in the 15th century, with the Council of Constance, would that view be contested and a discussion on the rights of pagans begun.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pil%C4%97nai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Crusade
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= new reply since forum marked as read
I will get back to you after I read the novel