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Battle on the Ice

Not to be confused with Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern.
For other battles on ice, see List of military operations on ice.

The Battle on the Ice,[b] also known as the Battle of Lake Peipus (German: Schlacht auf dem Peipussee or am Peipussee) or Battle of Lake Chud (Russian: битва на Чудском озере, romanized: bitva na Chudskom ozere), took place on 5 April 1242. It was fought on or near the frozen Lake Peipus when the united forces of the Republic of Novgorod and Vladimir-Suzdal, led by Prince Alexander Nevsky, emerged victorious against the forces of the Livonian Order and Bishopric of Dorpat, led by Bishop Hermann of Dorpat.[a]

Battle on the Ice
Battle of Lake Peipus/Chud
Part of the Northern Crusades and the Livonian campaign to Novgorod

Depiction of the battle in the late 16th century illuminated manuscript Life of Alexander Nevsky
Date5 April 1242
Location
Lake Peipus, between Estonia and Russia
Result Novgorodian victory
Territorial
changes		 Teutonic Order drops all territorial claims over Russian lands[1]
Belligerents

Livonian Order
Bishopric of Dorpat
Kingdom of Denmark

Novgorod Republic
Grand Duchy of Vladimir

Commanders and leaders
Hermann of Dorpat
Andreas von Velven
 Alexander Nevsky
Andrey Yaroslavich
Strength

from 200–400[a] to as much as 1,800:

  • 1,000 Estonian infantry;
  • 800 Danish and German knights.[3]

from 400–800[a] to as many as 6,000–7,000:

  • Novgorod militia;
  • Finno-Ugrian tribal contingents;
  • Nevsky's druzhina;
  • Hundreds of horse archers.[3]
Casualties and losses
Livonian Rhymed Chronicle:
20 knights killed
6 knights captured
Novgorod First Chronicle:
400 Germans killed
50 Germans imprisoned
"Countless" Estonians killed[4]		 No exact figures

The outcome of the battle has been traditionally interpreted by Russian historiography as significant for the balance of power between Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Whether the battle represented a significant defeat for the Catholic forces during the Northern Crusades, bringing an end to their campaigns against the Orthodox Novgorod Republic and other Rus' territories is disputed.[a][5] Estonian historian Anti Selart asserts that the crusades were not an attempt to conquer Rus', but still constituted an attack on the territory of Novgorod and its interests.[6]

Background

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Further information: Livonian campaign to Novgorod
 
Medieval Livonia

Pope Honorius III (1216–1227) received a number of petitions regarding new Baltic crusades, mainly concerning Prussia and Livonia but also a report from the Swedish Archbishop concerning difficulties with their mission in Finland. At that time, Honorius responded to the Swedish Archbishop only by declaring an embargo against trade with pagans in the region; it is not known if the Swedes requested further help for the moment.[7]

In 1237, the Swedes received papal authorization to launch a crusade, and in 1240, new campaigns began in the easternmost part of the Baltic region.[8] The Finnish mission's eastward expansion led to a clash between Sweden and Novgorod, since the Karelians had been allies and tributaries of Novgorod since the mid-12th century. After a successful campaign into Tavastia, the Swedes advanced further east until they were stopped by a Novgorodian army led by Prince Alexander Yaroslavich who defeated the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva in July 1240 and received the nickname Nevsky.[9] Novgorod fought against the crusade for economic reasons, to protect their monopoly of the Karelian fur trade.[10]

In Livonia, although the missionaries and Crusaders had attempted to establish peaceful relations with the Novgorod Republic, Livonian missionary and crusade activity in Estonia caused conflicts with Novgorod: Novgorod had also attempted to subjugate, raid and convert the pagan Estonians.[11] The Estonians would also sometimes ally with various Russian principalities against the crusaders, since the eastern Baltic missions also constituted a threat to Russian interests and the tributary peoples.[12] In 1240, the combined forces of the exiled prince of Pskov, Yaroslav Vladimirovich, and men from the Bishopric of Dorpat attacked the Pskov Land and Votia, a tributary of Novgorod.[13][14] This triggered the counterattack from Novgorod in 1241.[15] The delayed response was a result of the internal strife in Novgorod.[16]

Hoping to exploit Novgorod's weakness in the wake of the Mongol and Swedish invasions, the Teutonic Knights attacked the neighboring Novgorod Republic and occupied Pskov, Izborsk, and Koporye in the autumn of 1240.[11] When they approached Novgorod itself, the local citizens recalled to the city 20-year-old Prince Alexander Nevsky, whom they had banished to Pereslavl earlier that year.[17]

In regards to the pagans still living between Pskov and Novgorod and the Latin Christian settlements in Finland, Estonia and Livonia ("the land between christianized Estonia and Russia, meaning Votia, Neva, Izhoria, and Karelia"),[c] a treaty was concluded in 1241 at Riga between the bishop of Ösel–Wiek and the Teutonic Order, which stipulated that the bishop was granted spiritual superiority in the newly conquered territories.[19] The treaty indicated that the crusaders were well aware of the existence of these pagans.[18]

During the campaign of 1241, Alexander managed to retake Pskov and Koporye from the crusaders,[11][20][21] and executed those local Votians who had worked with the invaders.[16] Alexander then continued into Estonian-German territory.[16] In the spring of 1242, the Teutonic Knights defeated a detachment of the Novgorodian army about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the fortress of Dorpat (now Tartu). As a result, Alexander set up a position at Lake Peipus.[16] Led by Prince-Bishop Hermann of Dorpat, the knights and their auxiliary troops of local Ugaunians then met with Alexander's forces on 5 April 1242,[16] by the narrow strait (Lake Lämmijärv or Teploe) that connects the north and south parts of Lake Peipus (Lake Peipus proper with Lake Pskovskoye).[16]

Accounts in primary sources

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Brief Laurentian Codex battle account (lower right corner)

According to the Livonian Order's Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (written in the 1290s[22]), verses 2235–2262:

Original text

sie quâmen zû der brûdere macht.
sie hatten zû cleine volkes brâcht;

der brûdere her was ouch zû clein.
îdoch sie quâmen uber ein,

daʒ sie die Rûʒen ritten an:
strîtes man mit in began.

die Rûʒen hatten schutzen vil,
die hûben dô daʒ êrste spil

menlich vor des kuniges schar.
man sach der brûder banier dar

die schutzen underdringen,
man hôrte schwert dâ clingen

und sach helme schrôten.
an beider sît die tôten

vielen nider ûf daʒ gras.
wer in der brûdere her was

die wurden ummeringet gar.
die Rûʒen hatten sulche schar,

daʒ ie wol sechzic man
einen dûtschen ritten an.

die brûder tâten wer gnûc,
îdoch man sie dar nider slûc,

der von Darbete quam ein teil
von deme strîte, daʒ war ir heil:

sie mûsten wîchen durch die nôt.
dar bliben zwenzic brûder tôt

und sechse wurden gevangen.
sus was der strît ergangen.[23]



...[Bishop Henry's men] joined the Brothers' forces. But they had brought along too few people, and the Brothers' army was also too small. Nevertheless they decided to attack the Rus' [Rûʒen]. The latter had many archers. The battle began with their bold assault on the king's men [Danes]. The Brothers' banners were soon flying in the midst of the archers, and swords were heard cutting helmets apart. Many from both sides fell dead on the grass [ûf daʒ gras]. Then the Brothers' army was completely surrounded, for the Rus' had so many troops that there were easily sixty men for every one German knight. The Brothers fought well enough, but they were nonetheless cut down. Some of those from Dorpat escaped from the battle, and it was their salvation that they had been forced to flee. Twenty Brothers lay dead and six were captured. Thus the battle ended.[22][24]

According to the Laurentian continuation of the Suzdalian Chronicle (compiled in 1377; the entry in question may originally have been composed around 1310[25]):

Великъıи кнѧз̑ Ӕрославъ посла сн҃а своѥго Андрѣа в Новъгородъ Великъıи в помочь Ѡлександрови на Нѣмци. и побѣдиша ӕ за Плесковом̑ на ѡзерѣ и полонъ многъ плѣниша. и възвратисѧ Андрѣи къ ѡц҃ю своєму с чс̑тью.[26]
Grand Prince Iaroslav sent his son Andrei to Great Novgorod in aid of Alexander against the Germans and defeated them beyond Pskov at the lake (на озере) and took many prisoners. Andrei returned to his father with honor.[25]

According to the Synod Scroll (Older Redaction) of the Novgorod First Chronicle (the entry of which has been dated to c. 1350[22]):

Prince Alexander and all the men of Novgorod drew up their forces by the lake, at Uzmen, by the Raven's Rock; and the Germans [Nemtsy] and the Estonians [Chuds] rode at them, driving themselves like a wedge through their army. And there was a great slaughter of Germans and Estonians... they fought with them during the pursuit on the ice seven versts short of the Subol [north-western] shore. And there fell a countless number of Estonians, and 400 of the Germans, and they took fifty with their hands and they took them to Novgorod.[27]

The Younger Redaction of the Novgorod First Chronicle (compiled in the 1440s) increased the amount of "Germans" (Nemtsy) killed from 400 to 500.[28]

The Life of Alexander Nevsky, the earliest redaction of which was dated by Donald Ostrowski to the mid-15th century, combined all the various elements of the Laurentian Suzdalian, Novgorod First, and Moscow Academic (Rostov-Suzdal) accounts.[29] It was the first version to claim that the battle itself took place upon the ice of the frozen lake, that many soldiers were killed on the ice, and that the bodies of dead soldiers of both sides covered the ice with blood.[30] It even states that 'There was ... a noise from the breaking of lances and a sound from the clanging of swords as though the frozen lake moved,' suggesting the clamor of battle somehow stirred the ice, although there is no mention of it breaking.[30] This narration of events appears irreconcilable with the report of the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle that the dead soldiers "fell on the grass".[31]

Scholarly reconstructions of the battle

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Summer view of Lake Peipus from the Estonian shore

On 5 April 1242 Alexander, intending to fight in a place of his own choosing, retreated in an attempt to draw the often over-confident Crusaders onto the frozen lake.[17] Estimates on the number of troops in the opposing armies vary widely among scholars. A more conservative estimation by David Nicolle (1996) has it that the crusader forces likely numbered around 2,600, including 800 Danish and German knights, 100 Teutonic knights, 300 Danes, 400 Germans, and 1,000 Estonian infantry.[3] The Novgorodians fielded around 5,000 men: Alexander and his brother Andrei's bodyguards (druzhina), totalling around 1,000, plus 2,000 militia of Novgorod, 1,400 Finno-Ugrian tribesmen, and 600 horse archers.[3]

The Teutonic knights and crusaders charged across the lake and reached the enemy, but were held up by the infantry of the Novgorodian militia.[17] This caused the momentum of the crusader attack to slow. The battle was fierce, with the allied Rus' soldiers fighting the Teutonic and crusader troops on the frozen surface of the lake. After a little more than two hours of close quarters fighting, Alexander ordered the left and right wings of his army (including cavalry) to enter the battle.[17] The Teutonic and crusader troops by that time were exhausted from the constant struggle on the slippery surface of the frozen lake. The Crusaders started to retreat in disarray deeper onto the ice, and the appearance of the fresh Novgorod cavalry made them retreat in panic.[17]

Historical legacy

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The knights' defeat at the hands of Alexander's forces prevented the crusaders from retaking Pskov, the linchpin of their eastern crusade.[32] The battle thus halted the eastward expansion of the Teutonic Order.[33] Thereafter, the river Narva and Lake Peipus would represent a stable boundary dividing Eastern Orthodoxy from Western Catholicism.[34]

 
1985 mosaic of the battle in a Saint Petersburg metro station

Some historians have argued that the launch of the campaigns in the eastern Baltic at the same time were part of a coordinated campaign; Finnish historian Gustav A. Donner argued in 1929 that a joint campaign was organized by William of Modena and originated in the Roman Curia.[35] This interpretation was taken up by Russian historians such as Igor Pavlovich Shaskol'skii and a number of Western European historians.[35] More recent historians have rejected the idea of a coordinated attack between the Swedes, Danes and Germans, as well as a papal master plan due to a lack of decisive evidence.[35] Some scholars have instead considered the Swedish attack on the Neva River to be part of the continuation of rivalry between the Rus' and Swedes for supremacy in Finland and Karelia.[36] Anti Selart also mentions that the papal bulls from 1240 to 1243 do not mention warfare against "Russians", but against non-Christians.[37]

In 1983, a revisionist view proposed by historian John L. I. Fennell argued that the battle was not as important, nor as large, as has often been portrayed. Fennell claimed that most of the Teutonic Knights were by that time engaged elsewhere in the Baltic, and that the apparently low number of knights' casualties according to their own sources indicates the smallness of the encounter.[38] He also says that neither the Suzdalian Chronicle (the Lavrent'evskiy), nor any of the Swedish sources mention the occasion, which according to him would mean that the 'great battle' was little more than one of many periodic clashes.[38] In 2000, Russian historian Aleksandr Uzhankov suggested that Fennell distorted the picture by ignoring many historical facts and documents. To stress the importance of the battle, he cites two papal bulls of Gregory IX, promulgated in 1233 and 1237, which called for a crusade to protect Christianity in Finland against her neighbours. The first bull explicitly mentions Russia. The kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark and the Teutonic Order built up an alliance in June 1238, under the auspices of the Danish king Valdemar II. They assembled the largest western cavalry force of their time. Another point mentioned by Uzhankov is the 1243 treaty between Novgorod and the Teutonic Order, where the knights abandoned all claims to Russian lands. Uzhankov also emphasizes, with respect to the scale of battle, that for each knight deployed on the field there were eight to 30 combatants, counting squires, archers and servants (though at his stated ratios, that would still make the Teutonic losses number at most a few hundred).[39][better source needed]

Cultural legacy

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Tsarist Russia

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Alexander was canonised as a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1574.[40]

Soviet Russia

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In the 1938 film Alexander Nevsky, Novgorodians chase Teutonic knights across the frozen lake; the ice breaks, and many Teutons drown.

The event was glorified in Sergei Eisenstein's patriotic historical drama film Alexander Nevsky, released in 1938.[41] The movie, bearing propagandist allegories of the Teutonic Knights as Nazi Germans, with the Teutonic infantry wearing modified World War I German Stahlhelm helmets, has created a popular image of the battle often mistaken for the real events.[41] In particular, the image of knights dying by breaking the ice and drowning originates from the film.[42] Sergei Prokofiev turned his score for the film into a concert cantata of the same title, the longest movement of which is "The Battle on the Ice".[43] The editors of the 1977 English translation of the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, Jerry Smith and William Urban, commented that 'Eisenstein's movie Alexander Nevsky is magnificent and worth seeing, but he tells us more about 1939 than 1242.'[44]

Donald Ostrowski writes in his 2006 article Alexander Nevskii's "Battle on the Ice": The Creation of a Legend that accounts of ice breaking and knights drowning are a relatively recent embellishment to the original historical story.[42] None of the primary sources mention ice breaking; the earliest account in the LRC explicitly says killed soldiers "fell on the grass" and the Laurentian continuation that it was "at a lake beyond Pleskov" (rather than "on a lake"). It was not until decades later that more details were gradually added of a specific lake, that the lake was frozen, that the crusaders were supposedly chased across the frozen lake, and not until the 15th century that a battle (not just a chase) allegedly took place on the ice itself.[42] He cites a large number of scholars who have written about the battle, including Karamzin, Solovyev, Petrushevskii, Khitrov, Platonov, Grekov, Vernadsky, Razin, Myakotin, Pashuto, Fennell, and Kirpichnikov, none of whom mention the ice breaking up or anyone drowning when discussing the battle of Lake Peipus.[42] After analysing all the sources, Ostrowski concludes that the part about ice breaking and drowning appeared first in the 1938 film Alexander Nevsky by Sergei Eisenstein.[42]

During World War II, the image of Alexander Nevsky became a national Soviet Russian symbol of the struggle against German occupation.[38] The Order of Alexander Nevsky was established as a military award in the Soviet Union in 1942 during the Great Patriotic War.[45]

Russian Federation

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Battle of the Ice anniversary, 750 years. Russian postage stamps, 1992

The Novgorodian victory is commemorated in the modern Russian Federation as one of the Days of Military Honour.[46]

In 2010, the Russian government amended the statute of the Order of Alexander Nevsky as an award for excellent civilian service to the country.[47]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d According to Dittmar Dahlmann (2003), footnote 4, the number of combatants vary considerably between the various authors.[2]
  2. ^ German: Schlacht auf dem Eise; Russian: Ледовое побоище, romanized: Ledovoye poboishche; Estonian: Jäälahing.
  3. ^ "inter Estoniamiam conversam et Rutiam, in terris videlicet Watlande, Nouve, Ingriae et Carelae, de quibus spes erat conversionis ad fidem Christi".[18]

Bibliography

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Primary sources

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Literature

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References

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  1. ^ Riley-Smith Jonathan Simon Christopher. The Crusades: a History, US, 1987, ISBN 0300101287, p. 198.
  2. ^ Dahlmann 2003, p. 63.
  3. ^ a b c d Nicolle 1996, p. 41.
  4. ^ Michell & Forbes 1914, p. 87.
  5. ^ The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2003. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-85229-961-6.
  6. ^ Selart, Anti (2001). "Confessional Conflict and Political Co-operation: Livonia and Russia in the Thirteenth Century". Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier 1150–1500. Routledge. pp. 151–176. doi:10.4324/9781315258805-8. ISBN 978-1-315-25880-5.
  7. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, p. 136.
  8. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, pp. 216–217, In 1240 new campaigns were launched... first was organized by the Swedes... obtained papal authorization in 1237.
  9. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, pp. 216–217, The Russian victory was later depicted as an event of great national importance and Prince Alexander was given the sobriquet "Nevskii".
  10. ^ Andrew Jotischky (2017). Crusading and the Crusader States. Taylor and Francis. p. 220. ISBN 9781351983921.
  11. ^ a b c Martin 2007, pp. 175–219.
  12. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, p. 216, The missions in the eastern Baltic constituted a threat to the Russians of Novgorod and Pskov, their tributary peoples and their interests in the region..
  13. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, p. 220, The campaigns to the River Neva and into Votia were... crusades aiming at expanding the Catholic Church... the campaign against Izborsk and Pskov was a purely political undertaking... the co-operation between the exiled Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich of Pskov and the men from the bishopric of Dorpat..
  14. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, pp. 218, In the winter of 1240–41, a group of Latin Christians invaded Votia, the lands north-east of Lake Peipus which were tributary to Novgorod..
  15. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, p. 218, The Novgorodian counterattack came in 1241..
  16. ^ a b c d e f Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, p. 218.
  17. ^ a b c d e Hellie 2006, p. 284.
  18. ^ a b Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, p. 220.
  19. ^ Murray 2017, p. 164.
  20. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, p. 218, After pleas from Novgorod Alexander returned in 1241 and marched against Kopor'e. Having conquered the fortress and captured the remaining Latin Christians, he executed those local Votians who had cooperated with the invaders..
  21. ^ Murray 2017, p. 164, These conquests were lost in 1241–42, when the Russians destroyed Kopor'e..
  22. ^ a b c d Ostrowski 2006, p. 291.
  23. ^ Meyer 1876, p. 52.
  24. ^ Smith & Urban 1977, pp. 31–32.
  25. ^ a b c Ostrowski 2006, p. 293.
  26. ^ "Въ лЂто 6745 [1237] — въ лЂто 6758 [1250]. Лаврентіївський літопис" [In the year 6745 [1237] – 6758 [1250]. The Laurentian Codex]. litopys.org.ua (in Church Slavic). 1928. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  27. ^ Christiansen, Eric (4 December 1997). The Northern Crusades. Penguin UK. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-14-193736-6.
  28. ^ Ostrowski 2006, p. 298.
  29. ^ Ostrowski 2006, pp. 298–299.
  30. ^ a b Ostrowski 2006, pp. 299–300.
  31. ^ Ostrowski 2006, p. 300.
  32. ^ Riley-Smith Jonathan Simon Christopher. The Crusades: a History, US, 1987, ISBN 0300101287, p. 198.
  33. ^ Riley-Smith Jonathan Simon Christopher. The Crusades: a History, US, 1987, ISBN 0300101287, p. 198.
  34. ^ Hosking, Geoffrey A. Russia and the Russians: a history, US, 2001, ISBN 0674004736, p. 65.
  35. ^ a b c Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, p. 219.
  36. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, p. 219, Some scholars therefore regard the Swedish attack on the River Neva as merely a continuation of the Russo-Swedish rivalry..
  37. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, pp. 219–220, Selart stresses, none of the papal bulls of 1240–43 mention warfare against the Russians. They only refer to the fight against non-Christians and to mission among pagans.
  38. ^ a b c John Fennell, The Crisis of Medieval Russia 1200–1304, (London: Longman, 1983), 106.[ISBN missing]
  39. ^ Александр Ужанков. Меж двух зол. Исторический выбор Александра Невского (Alexander Uzhankov. Between two evils. The historical choice of Alexander Nevsky) (in Russian)
  40. ^ "The Faithful Saint Prince Alexandr Nevsky" Archived 23 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian), article read on 4 November 2010.
  41. ^ a b "Alexander Nevsky and the Rout of the Germans". The Eisenstein Reader: 140–144. 1998. doi:10.5040/9781838711023.ch-014. ISBN 9781838711023.
  42. ^ a b c d e Ostrowski 2006, pp. 289–312.
  43. ^ Danilevsky, Igor (22 May 2015). Ледовое побоище (in Russian). Postnauka. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  44. ^ Smith & Urban 1977, p. 32.
  45. ^ "Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 29, 1942" (in Russian). Legal Library of the USSR. 1942-07-29. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
  46. ^ "Федеральный закон от 13.03.1995 г. № 32-ФЗ".
  47. ^ "Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 7, 2010 No 1099" (in Russian). Russian Gazette. 2010-09-07. Retrieved 2012-02-07.
  48. ^ Ostrowski 2006, p. 299.
  49. ^ Ostrowski 2006, p. 294.
  50. ^ Ostrowski 2006, pp. 295–296.

Further reading

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  • Military Heritage did a feature on the Battle of Lake Peipus and the holy Knights Templar and the monastic knighthood Hospitallers (Terry Gore, Military Heritage, August 2005, Volume 7, No. 1, pp. 28–33), ISSN 1524-8666.
  • Basil Dmytryshyn, Medieval Russia 900–1700. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973.
  • John France, Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000–1300. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999.
  • Terrence Wise, The Knights of Christ. London: Osprey Publishing, 1984.
  • Anti Selart. Livland und die Rus' im 13. Jahrhundert. Böhlau, Köln/Wien 2012, ISBN 9783412160067. (in German)
  • Anti Selart. Livonia, Rus’ and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century. Brill, Leiden/Boston, 2015.
  • Kaldalu, Meelis; Toots, Timo, Looking for the Border Island. Tartu: Damtan Publishing, 2005. Contemporary journalistic narrative about an Estonian youth attempting to uncover the secret of the Ice Battle.
  • Joseph Brassey, Cooper Moo, Mark Teppo, Angus Trim, "Katabasis (The Mongoliad Cycle Book 4)" 47 North, 2013 ISBN 1477848215
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