Free Republic

Two battle axes used in hand-to-hand fighting at the Battle of Grunwald over 600 years ago have been found by detectorists during a sweep of the famous battle site in northern Poland. The find, which has astonished archaeologists, is all the more important as the melee weapons are in remarkably good condition. According to Dr. Szymon Dreja, director of the Museum of the Battle of Grunwald, the discovery of the battle axes are an archaeological sensation. "In seven years of our archaeological research we have never had such an exciting, important and well-preserved find," he stressed. According to the director,...

In 1280, victorious Teutonic Crusaders began building the world's largest castle on a hill overlooking the River Nogat in what is now northern Poland. Malbork Castle became the hub of a powerful Teutonic state that crushed its pagan enemies and helped remake Medieval Europe. Now, ancient pollen samples show that in addition to converting heathens to Christians, the Crusaders also converted vast swathes of Medieval forests to farmlands. In the early-13th century, Prussian tribes living in the south-eastern Baltic became a thorn in the side of the Monastic State of Teutonic Knights, which was formed in 1224 in what is...

Travel: The mosaic of East Poland By : SANTHA OORJITHAM The Tartar Trail in Poland is off the beaten track, even for locals. SANTHA OORJITHAM meets the descendants of the nomads from the tablelands. “THIS is the end of the world,” says Dzenneta Bogdanowicz as she surveys her rustic restaurant, horses in the paddock and traditional Tartar “jurta” hut in which tourists can stay. Kruszyniany in northeastern Poland, 16km from the Russian border, is not a village you “pass through on your way to somewhere else”. But during the “Sabantuj” harvest festival in June, the bubbly Tartar entrepreneur attracted some...

1410 Grunwald Battle re-enacted 15.07.2006 The Battle of Grunwald of 15 July 1410, one of the biggest armed clashes of Medieval Europe, is being re-enacted in mid-northern Poland this afternoon. The event began with a holy mass and the Grunwald roll call. Taking part are 1,500 amateur troops from Poland and abroad, who will recreate the battle in which allied Polish and Lithuanian troops defeated the forces of the Teutonic Knights, thus sparking off the collapse of that medieval military order.