Siege of Bartenstein
1264 CE.
Shown on the map at 54.251°, 20.811°.
Siege of Bartenstein was a medieval siege laid upon the castle of Bartenstein (now Bartoszyce in Poland) by the Prussians during the Great Prussian Uprising. Bartenstein and Rößel (Reszel) were the two major Teutonic strongholds in Barta, one of the Prussian lands. The castle endured years of siege until 1264 and was one of the last to fall into the hands of the Prussians. The garrison in Bartenstein numbered 400 against 1,300 Bartians who lived in three forts surrounding the city. Such tactics were very common in Prussia: build your own forts so that any communication with the outside world would be cut off. However, at Bartenstein the forts were far enough away to allow the castle to send out men on raids of the surrounding area. Local noble Miligedo, who showed the Knights secret ways in the area, was killed by the Prussians. The Knights managed to burn down all three forts when Bartians were celebrating a religious holiday. However, they soon returned and rebuilt the forts. Bartenstein was running out of supplies and no help was coming from the headquarters of the Teutonic Knights. They had already eaten their horses, so the only way to escape was on foot.
Text from the Wikipedia article Siege of Bartenstein, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.