Deluge (history)The Deluge (potop szwedzki, švedų tvanas) was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense, it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, comprising the Polish theatres of the Russo-Polish and Second Northern Wars.
Grand Duchy of LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to the late 18th century, when the territory was partitioned in 1795 among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation born from several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija. The Grand Duchy expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus' and other neighbouring states, including what is now Belarus, Lithuania, most of Ukraine as well as parts of Latvia, Moldova, Poland and Russia.
Adalbert of PragueAdalbert of Prague (Sanctus Adalbertus, svatý Vojtěch, svätý Vojtech, święty Wojciech, Szent Adalbert (Béla); 956 - 23 April 997), known in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia by his birth name Vojtěch (Voitecus), was a Czech missionary and Christian saint. He was the Bishop of Prague and a missionary to the Hungarians, Poles, and Prussians, who was martyred in his efforts to convert the Baltic Prussians to Christianity.
KlaipėdaKlaipėda (ˈkleɪpɛdə; ˈkɫɐɪpjeːdɐ; Memel; Kłajpeda; Клайпеда; Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the third largest city and the capital of its eponymous county, as well as the only major seaport in Lithuania. The city has a complex recorded history, partially due to the combined regional importance of the usually ice-free Port of Klaipėda at the mouth of the river Akmena-Danë.
Lithuania MinorLithuania Minor (Mažoji Lietuva; Kleinlitauen; Litwa Mniejsza; Ма́лая Литва́), or Prussian Lithuania (Prūsų Lietuva; Preußisch-Litauen, Litwa Pruska), is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, where Prussian Lithuanians (or Lietuvininkai) lived, now located in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. Lithuania Minor encompassed the northeastern part of the region and got its name from the territory's substantial Lithuanian-speaking population.
Teutonic OrderThe Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society 1190 in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their s to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, having historically served as a crusading military order for supporting Catholic rule in the Holy Land and the forced conversion to Catholicism in the Baltics during the Middle Ages, as well as providing military protection for Catholics in Eastern Europe.
Sambia PeninsulaSambia (Самбийский полуостров) or Samland (Земландский полуостров) or Kaliningrad Peninsula (official name, Калининградский полуостров, Kaliningradsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The peninsula is bounded by the Curonian Lagoon to the north-east, the Vistula Lagoon in the southwest, the Pregolya River in the south, and the Deyma River in the east. As Sambia is surrounded on all sides by water, it is technically an island.
Kulm lawKulm law, Culm law or Chełmno Law (Kulmer Recht; Jus Culmense vetus; Prawo chełmińskie) was a legal constitution for a municipal form of government used in several Central European cities during the Middle Ages. It was initiated on 28 December 1233 in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights by Hochmeister Hermann von Salza and Hermann Balk when the towns of Thorn (Toruń) and Chełmno (Kulm) received German town law, in particular as a modification of Magdeburg rights.
BaltiyskBaltiysk (Балти́йск; Pillau; Old Prussian: Pillawa; Piliava; Yiddish: פּילאַווע, Pilave) is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separating the Vistula Lagoon from Gdańsk Bay. Population: Baltiysk, the westernmost town in Russia, is a major base of the Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet and is connected to St. Petersburg by ferry.
WittenbergWittenberg (ˈwɪtənbɜːrɡ,_ˈvɪt- , ˈvɪtn̩bɛʁk; Low Saxon: Wittenbarg; meaning White Mountain; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Luther City Wittenberg)), is the fourth-largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of Berlin, and has a population of 46,008 (2018). Wittenberg is famous for its close connection with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, for which it received the honorific Lutherstadt.