Historical calendar: anniversary of the robbery and arson by the Mongol hordes of the Polish capital – Krakow. Robbery and rape against civilians lasted as long as 3 days.
Today in our calendar, we will look at the destiny of this woman.
In 1241, the first and most tragic Mongol invasion of Poland took place. Major military attack Batu-chana went to Hungary, but rightly provided for the anticipation of Polish aid, The Mongols have directed the auxiliary attack over the Vistula River. Asian barbarians, according to the principles of their Turkish civilization, did not admit any holiness. They destroyed everything in their path. They smoked villages and castles, robbed, raped and murdered the population for fun.
The Polish capital was theoretically not peculiarly crucial in the plans of invaders. She was considered 1 of respective opposition sites that had to be broken and demolished. Earlier, the Mongols had completely destroyed the Malopolska knighthood in respective battles, which caused Kraków to be given only its own strength and trembled with panic in anticipation of the arrival of invaders.
The Mongols had a terrible opinion, they were referred to as Tartari, which evoked the thought of ancient hell (later the word Tatars developed from this phrase). They deliberately cared for the reputation of the cruel, allowing a certain group of people to escape, so that they would fear them, infecting those who would defy the invaders.
The inhabitants of the city, learning about the approaching Mongols, decided to leave them and take shelter in close forests, swamps, and hills. Thanks to their excellent cognition of local topography, they had the advantage over invaders and knew places good to hide themselves, their families and the most crucial part of the possession.
On March 28, the Mongols entered abandoned Krakow. There is simply a legend that those who could not escape took refuge in St. Andrew's Church on Grodzka Street and survived the invasion there. Even if this was the case, the Mongols did not want to gain a stone church that was at that time a real fortress. The losses they suffered during his siege would be disproportionate to the benefits achieved.
After 3 days of the Krakow robbery, the Mongols set fire to the city and moved further west towards Silesia. Fortunately, after this disaster Krakow was rapidly rebuilt. The population of the city mostly survived and after the aggressor's resignation began rebuilding it.
In the meantime, amazed by the tactics and scale of the invasion, the Piast princes faced the Gentiles again, in the conflict of Legnica. The clash proved to be a full defeat of Western-style Polish troops, completely unprepared to face Mongolian horse archers. But the worst consequence of the conflict was the death of Henry the Pious. The largest principality of the city, which was ruled by the district, and Silesia after any time completely fell distant from Poland. That was the most permanent consequence of that raid.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here..
