62
1
ALEXANDER ON THE ICE
Prince Alexander is shown charging the Teutonic Knights in this illustration
from a 16th-century manuscript. A minor member of the Russian ruling house of Kiev, Alexander had been
summoned by the people of Novgorod to defend them from invaders including Sweden and the Teutonic
Knights. He was nicknamed “Nevsky” for his victory over Sweden at Lake Neva, two years before Lake Peipus.
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63
LAKE PEIPUS
◼
1242
Pope Innocent III authorized
a crusade against the pagan
peoples of the Eastern Baltic
in 1198, beginning a series of
Northern Crusades aimed at
converting Lithuania, Latvia,
and Prussia to Christianity. Just
as in the Holy Land, military orders played a key role in the
crusades, and from 1236 the Teutonic Knights (see right)
led the campaign. In addition to conducting crusades against
pagans, the Knights extended their attacks to include
Russian principalities, which they regarded as heretical
because the Russians were Eastern Orthodox.
In 1240, the Knights launched an attack on the city of
Novgorod in western Russia and seized the key port of Pskov
to the west. Although Russian ruler Prince Alexander Nevsky
recovered the town, in spring 1242 the Knights renewed their
attack. Alexander lured the Knights' 2,500-strong army onto
the frozen waters of Lake Peipus—on what is now the Russia-
Estonia border—and the ice made it hard for them to maneuver.
Alexander's infantry held the mounted Knights in check until
they were exhausted, and he then committed his cavalry to
nish them o. The Knights pulled back from the melée and
ed farther out onto the frozen lake, where the ice broke under
the weight of their horses and armor, and many drowned.
As a result of Alexander's victory, the Knights ceased their
attacks on Russia, and Lake Peipus and the Narva River to
the north became the boundary between the two powers'
territories—a border that still exists today. Instead, the Knights
concentrated their eorts on converting the pagan Prussians
and Lithuanians, and expanding west toward Poland.
Lake Peipus
1242
◼
RUSSIA–ESTONIA BORDER
◼
NOVGOROD REPUBLIC VS. TEUTONIC KNIGHTS
NORTHERN CRUSADES
In context
3
A LANDMARK IN RUSSIAN HISTORY
This Russian stamp
depicts the ice breaking beneath the Teutonic Knights at the Battle
of Lake Peipus. The stamp was released in 1992 as part of the 750th
commemoration of the battle and Alexander's victory, which still
holds a special place in Russian history.
2
THE ORDER OF THE TEUTONIC
KNIGHTS
This German military
order was established at Acre in
Palestine in 1198 with the aim of
aiding Christians on pilgrimage.
In 1237 they absorbed the Sword
Brothers order in Livonia, and
operated primarily in the Baltic
and Prussia. After the defeat at
Lake Peipus, they continued to
carve out a territory in Prussia and
the western Baltic, establishing
their headquarters at Marienburg
in eastern Poland in 1309. Shown
here is Heinrich von Plauen, a
leader of the order.
… God gave him the wisdom of
Solomon… this Prince Alexander: he
used to defeat but was never defeated.
ALEXANDER NEVSKY AS DESCRIBED IN THE SECOND PSKOV CHRONICLE
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