When Mindaugas, King of Lithuania, transferred most of Samogitia to the Livonian Order in 1257, Duke Alminas was elected as the Samogitian leader and organized resistance.
In his previous position he was replaced by the former komtur of the Königsberg Castle, Burchard Hornhauzen, who was almost immediately faced with a serious challenge – a Samogitian army which invaded the Memel area.
Hornhauzen hurriedly gathered about a thousand soldiers (over 40 knights and about 500 Curonians and an unknown number of ordinary order's warriors and marched to meet the invaders, but he clearly underestimated the enemy's strength.
There is no data that the battle ended in the Order's defeat, but 12 knights were killed according to Livonian Rhymed chronicle.
Hornhauzen and komtur of Courland were injured and barely managed to escape the battlefield.