THE BATTLE OF GRUNWALD, JULY 15, 1410

[Queen Yadviga's Black Christ in the Wawel Cathedral]

Today, July 15, 2010, marks the 600^th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, one of the largest medieval battles. This decisive defeat of the Teutonic Knights by the armies of the Polish-Lithuanian Union changed the balance of power in Eastern Europe, making the United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania the dominant power. The emblem of the battle is two swords. The poem below presents the story.   

THE TWO SWORDS OF GRUNWALD

Not in school – such stories forbidden there –

but from my pious grandmother I learned

the legend behind the Great Union

of Poland and Lithuania. The beloved 

Polish Queen Yadviga, secretly engaged

to a young French prince, dreads marrying

a barely baptized Lithuanian king

she pictures as half beast.

About to flee to France, she stops to pray;

sees Christ nod to her from the crucifix.

Thus she too consents to her crucifixion:

the marriage to Yogaila, that barbarian

whose armies her country needs to fight

against the Teutonic Knights of the Cross.

*

1410, a hot July the Fifteenth:

the Teutonic Knights, out in open plain,

sweat in their armor. In the shade,

the Polish king attends the High Mass;

the Germans broiling, slowly broiling.

Two heralds arrive. Not deigning

to dismount, they declare to the king:

“Since you are afraid to begin the battle,

the Grand Master, Ulrich von Jungingen,

to encourage you, sends these swords.”

And they thrust two swords

into the ground, where they quiver.

The Polish nobles seethe.

The king, that barbarian,

replies, “We thank the Grand Master

for this gift. Let the battle start.

Victory is in the hand of God,

who punishes pride, which is unbearable.”

*

Fighting flares up. The Lithuanian

cavalry suddenly retreats.

A storm of black crosses,

the Teutonic Knights

give chase; are trapped in a marsh.

The heavy stallions begin to sink.

From the pagan forest,

from that grüner Wald,

Lithuanians pour out. The swift

Polish cavalry cuts off escape.

The rest is carnage –

the Grand Master slain,

and other elders – terrible news

for the Polish nobles, who want

to seize the Knights alive for ransom.

The Lithuanians do not understand.

They slaughter the enemy until dusk.

What can one expect of peasants.

*

Those two swords quivering, thrust

by the haughty heralds –

what a lesson for schoolchildren.

Later I discover

another lesson: the staged retreat

was a favorite Tatar stratagem,

learned by the Lithuanians

in their battles with the Mongols –

those slant-eyed barbarians

on their small, invincible mares.

   ~ Oriana

**

Thus, most credit should go to Lithuania, and my poem implies that, along with the whole irony of this battle: Germans deeming Poles barbarians, Poles deeming Lithuanians barbarians or semi-barbarians, and everyone seeing Tatars as total barbarians.