| dc.description.abstract | The author of the article explores the onomastic conceptions of the battle of Grunwald
appearing in the Lithuanian literature. The name „Žalgirio mūšis,” which is a translation of
the German “Grünwald” into Lithuanian, was adopted. The author discuses the works of the
Lithuanian historians which were developed in a strong opposition to the Polish apprehension
written by Karol Szajnocha. The main reason for the criticism of Szajnocha’s work, as well as of
numerous other Polish studies, was that they uncritically adopted Długosz’s version about the
Lithuanians’ abandonment of the battlefield. The Lithuanian historiography has always been
sensitively reacting to any attempts of belittling the importance of the Lithuanian army and
Vytautas’ role in the battle of Grunwald. Instead, the Lithuanian historians were developing
a conception of a diversionary flight manoeuvre which was generally accepted before Sven
Ekdahl published the famous letter of a Teutonic commander. For a long time, a thesis that the
Polish army was unwilling to fight and the whole burden of combat in the battle of Grunwald
was borne by the Lithuanians was prevailing in many works of the Lithuanian historians.
The author shows that the tense Polish-Lithuanian relationships during the interwar period
had influence on the historiography. The Lithuanian literature attaches much importance to
the account of Bychowiec’s Chronicle which is usually disregarded by the Polish historians
and considered rather unreliable. With the course of time, analyses of various aspects of
the battle conducted mainly from the military point of view, started to appear (the place of
the battle, the route of the march, the strength of the army, the art of the warfare and the
course of the battle). Many aspects, i.e. the strength of the army, are still discussed in the
works of the Lithuanian authors. In the most recent literature the issue of the diversionary
flight manoeuvre still arouses controversy. The manoeuvre is almost commonly accepted as
a historic fact, however, the historians dispute whether the Lithuanians culled it from the
Tatars or was it an immanent feature of their art of warfare. The author concludes his article
with a discussion of the latest treaties by M. Jučas, R. Batūra, E. Gudavičius, K. Gudmantas,
R. Petrauskas. The significant role of the Lithuanians in the initial and final stages of the
battle is contemporarily commonly accepted. The author concludes that for a long time the
Lithuanian historiography has been presenting the battle of Grunwald as an epoch-making
event that led to the destruction of the power of the Teutonic Order. | en |
