Battle of St. Matthew's Day

1217 CE.

Shown on the map at 58.447°, 25.483°.

The Battle of Matthew's Day (Estonian: Madisepäeva lahing) was fought near Viljandi (probably in Vanamõisa) on 21 September 1217 during the Livonian Crusade. The adversaries were the Sword Brethren (a German Crusading order) with their recently converted Livonian and Latgalian allies versus an army of 6,000 Estonian men from different counties, led by Lembitu, who had attempted to unify the Estonians. The Germans won, although the converted Livonian chieftain Caupo of Turaida died. Lembitu was also killed, and many other Estonians were forced to convert.

Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of St. Matthew's Day, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Everything else in 1217 CE

HistoryLayer draws the world as it was in any year from 123,000 BCE to 2026. Move the slider and the borders redraw for that year; the map carries 23,890 events, 12,790 people, 837 wars and 13,183 cities, each one readable in place. Signing in is optional and lets you keep what you find.

HistoryLayer
1914CE
World Wars
123,000 BCE2026 CE
54 stops — one per surviving map on file, evenly spaced drag the pin · ←→ steps one stop the same 54 stops by true elapsed time ↑
Map & filters
Show on the map
Filter
Colour by
Polity Empire