FritzVicari on DeviantArthttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/https://www.deviantart.com/fritzvicari/art/Breaching-the-Walls-Fellin-Estonia-early-1211-597340980FritzVicari

Deviation Actions

FritzVicari's avatar

Breaching the Walls, Fellin, Estonia, early 1211

By
Published:
3.9K Views

Description

Better late than never. :)

[...] Lyvones cum Lettis struem lignorum siccis lignis superadaugent usque ad plancas. Eylardus de Dolen desuper ascendit. Sequuntur Theuthonici in armis [...]


Chronicon Livoniae, XIV, 11

ENGLISH (based on Henrici Chronicon Livoniae, R. Bartlett, The Making of Europe, E. Christiansen, The Northern Crusade, W. Urban, The Baltic Crusade, S. Turnbull, Crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights (2))

Livs and Letts raised the pile of wood with dry logs, until it reached the top of the walls. Eylard of Dolen climbed the pile, with armored Germans followed him... 

On the fifth day of the siege, a pile of wood was raised high enough to reach the top of the outer walls of Fellin, which the Germans breached. The Saccalian estonians vigorously defended themselves with stones, javelins, arrows, burning vehicles and even logs, but could not resist the assault and reatreated in an inner fortification, presumably the main body of the castle. The battle would have raged another full day inside the heavily damaged fortress...

In the drawing you can see the assault on the outer walls, probably a bit more slow paced than you may have imagined it. The Estonians on the breach had formed a shieldwall, and so the charging Germans, which are attacked with stones from the nearby towers.

ITALIANO (basato sulla Henrici Chronicon Livoniae, R. Bartlett, The Making of Europe, E. Christiansen, La Crociata del Nord, W. Urban, The Baltic Crusade, S. Turnbull, Crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights (2) ) :

I Livoni e i Lettoni accrescono fino all'assito la catasta di legna, con tronchi secchi. Eilardo da Dolen vi sale sopra, seguito da Tedeschi in armi...

Il quinto giorno dell'assedio, una catasta di legna, accumulata già nei giorni precedenti e attaccata più volte col fuoco, venne accresciuta fino a raggiungere l'assito delle mura esterne di Fellin. Gli Estoni Saccali si difesero vigorosamente con pietre, giavellotti, frecce, veicoli in fiamme e persino tronchi, ma non poterono resistere a quest'ultimo assalto e si ritirarono in una fortificazione interna, probabilmente nel corpo principale del forte. La battaglia avrebbe continuato a infuriare ancora per una giornata...

Nel disegno, l'assalto alle mura esterne, forse a passo un po' più lento di come ve lo sareste immaginato. Gli Estoni sulla breccia hanno formato un muro di scudi e così i tedeschi, che sono anche attaccati da pietre lanciate dalle torri.
Image size
3169x4574px 4.87 MB
Comments16
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Libra1010's avatar
 Is it just me or does that quote give anyone else the mental image of Eylard of Dolen going unarmored before the Germans? (although that may just be because I don't actually know where Dolen is or was and therefore mentally filed him under "German").

 In any case, please keep up the very fine work Master Fritz!Nod