Siege of Königsberg

Pagan Prussians rose against their conquerors, who tried to convert them to Christianity, after Lithuanians and Samogitians soundly defeated the joint forces of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order in the Battle of Durbe in 1260.

Anno von Sangershausen, the Grand Master of the Knights, was working to provide relief to the starving garrison in Königsberg Castle.

With the arrival of the Königsberg garrison as reinforcements, the Battle of Kalgen was won, with the Knights counting some 3,000 dead of their enemy.

The Knights considered it revenge for the Prussians' victory in the Battle of Pokarben in Natangia, which occurred on the same day the previous year.

[5] A sea captain from Lübeck, along with a crew of loyal Prussians, was able to infiltrate the Sambian blockade at night and sink some vessels.

Königsberg historian Richard Armstedt[6] wrote that the starving Knights decided to fight a final open battle, from which the Prussians retreated in defeat.