Armia króla Władysława Jagiełły w drodze pod Grunwald

Abstract

For years, the route followed by the Polish-Lithuanian army on its way to Grunwald in 1410 has been arousing controversy as the sources do not allow for its clear-cut determination. From the moment when Jagiello’s army crossed the Vistula river at Czerwińsk (3rd July) until it reached the fields of Grunwald only some of its halting-places are known. The passage from Dąbrówno to the battlefield covered on the 15th of July is given special attention in the historians’ discussion. S. Ekdahl claims that the Polish-Lithuanian army pitched a camp to the north of Dąbrówno and stormed the town from that direction. Other historians incline towards the opinion that the army’s camp was situated to the south of Dabrówno, near the village Kalbornia. As a consequence they assume that the town was also attacked from the south. A few routes of the march from Dąbrówno to the site where the battle was supposed to take place were suggested in the present literature. According to S. Ekdahl, Jagiello’s army moved from the camp situated to the north of Dąbrówno to the east through Samin to stop near Grunwald. In the newest monograph of the 1409-1411 war it was stated that Jagiello’s army got to Grunwald by a route running through previously captured Dąbrówno and later on through Samin to Grunwald. The author of a different variant, S. Kuczyński believes that Jagiello’s army, after breaking up its camp at Kolbornia, moved east to turn north after a few kilometres and continue its march through Osiekowo, Łodgowo. A. Nadolski did not agree with those assumptions as he believed that from the camp in Dąbrówno the army headed for Turowo and then marched north towards Mielno circumventing the Ulnowo Lake from the east. The author of the article propounds a hypothesis that Jagiello’s army could act both to the north and south of Dąbrówno where the main camp of the Polish-Lithuanian forces was situated. He also considers that the conception of S. Kuczyński criticised by A. Nadolski and S. Ekdahl concerning the final phase of the march should still be taken into consideration as very probable. The author believes that there was no serious discussion on the Grunwald campaign during the last twenty years in Poland. Both the last monograph of the 1409–1411 war and this article show that a new view on that topic is still possible.