The famous battle between the combined army of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (led by the King of Poland Jagiello and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas) and the army of the Teutonic Order under the command of Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen took place during the Great War (1409-1411) near the villages of Grunwald, Tanenberg and Ludwigsdorf (Ludwigova) on the territory of East Prussia (modern Poland).
The scale and political significance of the battle was one of the largest in medieval Europe. This epoch-making event predetermined the fate of many states and peoples and left a significant mark in Belarusian history. The defeat of the Teutonic Order marked the beginning of its political decline, halted the centuries-old expansion of the Crusaders to the Slavic and Baltic lands. As a result of the victory, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania gained access to the Baltic trade routes, which contributed to the economic growth and development of the state.
Evidence of annals and chronicles was left about the Battle of Grunwald, this iconic battle attracted the attention of many historians, researchers and writers. M. Stryikovsky, J. Dlugash, T. Narbut, A. Levitsky, Yu. Krashevsky, G. Senkevich, G. Delbrück, D. Dovgyallo are among them. The historical event became a source of inspiration for graphic artists and painters (M. Andriolli, Y. Mateiko, V. and Yu. Kosak, Y. Damel, A. Mucha, etc.), composers and musicians.
The collections of the National Library of Belarus (NLB) contain a large collection of documents (monographs, collections, articles, visual materials, sheet music, sound recordings, etc.) on this topic in Belarusian, Polish, Russian, Lithuanian and other languages. The library issued a set of postcards “The Grunwald Battle Picture Book: from the collections of the National Library of Belarus” on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the event.
Information on all these documents can be obtained through the e-catalogue of the NLB. The consolidated EIR “National Bibliography of Belarus” provides information on those publications that are not available in the libraries of our country. The detailed description of the Battle of Grunwald is contained in the factual database “Belarus in Persons and Events”.
Bibliology Research Department
