List of banners in the Battle of Grunwald

The following tables list the banners of the Lithuanian and Polish forces participating in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410.

Poland

The exact Order of Battle of the Polish forces is unknown. However, Ioannes Longinus in his Historiæ Polonicæ written after 1455 recorded 51 Polish banners, together with their descriptions, blazoning and commanders.

Unfortunately, this list also has some obvious errors:

at the time of the battle several of the banners attributed to Poland were constituents of the Lithuanian army (e.g. Lwów, Podolia, Halicz); Coat of Arms of Lithuania (Vytis) was a banner exclusively of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; arrows, axes and horseshoes are typical to Lithuanian heraldry, but not the Polish one, etc...

It is not certain whether the list is complete.

Banner of Battle signBlazon from Longinus' Historiae Polonicae Origin Remarks   Army of The Crown - Court Banners Great Banner of Kraków and the Kingdom of Poland Arms of PolandPrimum vexillum magnum Cracoviensis terrae, cuius alba aquila coronata, extensis alis, in campo rubeo Elite troops, under Zyndram of Maszkowice "Gończa" Court Banner Goncza Coat of ArmsSecundum vexillum Goncza, cuius duae cruces caeruleae in campo caelestino under Andrzej of Ochocice of Osorya Coat of Arms of Lithuania Court Banner Coat of Arms of LithuaniaTertium Cubiculariorum, cuius vir armatus equo candido insidens, gladimque manu vibrant, in campo rubeo under Andrzej Ciołek of Żelechów and Jan of Sprowa of Odrowąż Saint George Quartum Sancti Georgiu, habens crucem albam in campo rubeo Bohemian and Moravian mercenaries, under Sokol and Zbyslavek   Army of The Crown - Regional Banners Land of Poznań Coat of Arms of PoznańQuintum terrae Posnaniensis, albam aquilamin campo rubeo, non coronatam Land of Sandomierz Flag of SandomierzSextium Sandomiriensis terrae, in quo pro una medierate tres barrae, seu tractus glauci, in campo rubeo, pro altera septem stellae, in campo caelestino Land of Kalisz Flag of KaliszSeptimum Calissiense, caput bubali in skakorum tabula, diademate Regio ornatum, ex cuius naribus circulus rotundus pendebar Land of Sieradz Flag of SieradzOctavum terrae Siradiensis, in quo pro una medierate, medietas aquilae albae in campo rubeo, pro altera medietas leonis flammei in campo albo Land of Lublin JeleńNonum terrae Lubliensis, ceruum cornibus extensis in campo rubeo Land of Łęczyca Flag of ŁęczycaDecimum terrae Lancitiensis, euius insigne media pars nigrae aquilae, media vero albi leonis picti, in campo caeruleo, capita habentes coronata Land of Kuyavia Coat of Arms of CuyaviaUndecimuni terrae Cuiaviensis, in quo pro una inedietate aquilae nigrae in campo caeruleomedietas; pro altera medietas leonis albi in campo rubeo, capita coronata gestantes Land of Lwów Banner of LwówDuodecimum terrae Leopoliensis, leonem caeruleum per modum pertam conscendentem, in campo caelestino Land of Wieluń Flag of WieluńTredecimum terrae Vielunensis, lineam niveam transversitate, in campo rubeo, proportionaliter locatam Reinforced with mercenaries from Silesia Land of Przemyśl Flag of PrzemyślQuartum decimum terrae Premisliensis, quod aquilam caeruleam, duo capita a se invicem proportionaliter aversa, in campo caelestino Land of Dobrzyń Coat of Arms of DobrzyńQuintum decimum terrae Dobrzinensis, faciem numanam senilem ad femur se portendentem, capite diademate coronato cornibus quoque exasperato, in campo caerulio Land of Chełm Coat of Arms of ChełmSextum decimum terrae Chelmensis, ursum album inter duas arbores consistentem in campo rubeo Three banners of Podolia Coat of Arms of PodoliaDecimum septinum, decumum octavum, & decimum nonum, terrae Podolia, ... faciem solarem, in rubeo campo Split up due to large number of knights Land of Halicz Coat of Arms of HaliczVigesimum terrae Haliciensis, monedulam nigram in capite coronata, in campo albo   Army of The Crown - Masovian Banners Two banners of Duke Siemowit IV of Masovia Coat of Arms of Masovia Masovia, mostly Płock area Dukes of Masovia Duke Janusz I of Masovia own Masovia, mostly Warsaw area Dukes of Masovia   Army of The Crown - Personal Banners Archbishop of Gniezno Mikołaj Kurowski Śreniawa Bishop of Poznań Wojciech Jastrzębiec Jastrzębiec under Jarand of Brudzewo Castellan of Kraków Krystyn of Ostrów Rawicz Voivod of Kraków Jan of Tarnów Leliwa Voivod of Poznań Sędziwój of Ostroróg Nałęcz Voivod of Sandomierz Mikołaj of Michałowo Poraj Voivod of Sieradz Jakub of Koniecpol Pobóg Castellan of Śrem Iwo of Obiechów Wieniawa Voivod of Łęczyca Jan Ligęza Półkozic Castellan of Wojnice Andrzej of Tęczyn Topór Marshal of The Crown Zbigniew of Brzezie Zadora Chamberlain of Kraków Piotr Szafraniec Starykoń Castellan of Wiślica Klemens of Moskorzów Piława Castellan of Śrem and mayor of Greater Poland Wincenty of Granów Leliwa Dobko of Oleśnica Dębno Spytko of Tarnów Leliwa Lord High Steward of Kalisz Marcin of Sławsko Zaremba Dobrogost Świdwa of Szamotuły Nałęcz Krystyn of Koziegłowy Lis Master King's Cup-Bearer Jan Mężyk Wadwicz Deputy Chancellor of the Crown Mikołaj Trąba Trąby Mikołaj Kmita of Wiśnicz Śreniawa Gryf Clan Gryf Family of Gryf, under Zygmunt of Bobowa Zaklika of Korzkiew Syrokomla Clan of Koźlerogi Koźlerogi Family, under Castellan of Wiślica Florian of Korytnica Jan of Jičín Odrowaz Benešovici Moravia Volunteers from Moravia, commanded by Jan Helm, the hejtman in the duty of aristocratic family of Kravaře Steward of the Crown and starost of LwówGniewosz of Dalewice Strzegomia Czech lands Only volunteers and mercenaries from Silesia, Bohemia and Moravia Duke of Lithuania Sigismund Korybut Coat of Arms of Lithuania

Lithuania The sole source on the banners from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is Jan Długosz. He counted 40 banners on the right flank of the Polish–Lithuanian forces, 10 flying the Columns of Gediminas and 30 flying the Vytis. The flags varied in the colors of the background, horse and its harness. Długosz listed 18 lands that supplied the banners: Trakai, Vilnius, Hrodna, Kaunas, Lida, Medininkai (Varniai?), Smolensk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Kiev, Pinsk, Navahrudak, Brest, Vawkavysk, Drohiczyn, Mielnik, Kremenets, Starodub. One land might have supplied more than one banner as evidenced by Smolensk which provided three banners. That is all information currently available from contemporary sources. However, it is unclear how complete or accurate Długosz's information is.

Historians pointed out several notable absences from the list, including the banners from Volhynia (Lutsk and Volodymyr) as well as Samogitia. It is unclear whether Medininkai mentioned by Długosz referred to Varniai in Samogitia or to Medininkai Castle near Vilnius. The absence of Samogitian forces could be explained by a diversionary maneuver: according to 27 June 1410 report from Königsberg, a Lithuanian force was attacking Skalva. Other historians argued that the Medininkai banner represented at least seven Samogitian banners based on the seven regions mentioned in the Treaty of Königsberg (1390). Długosz's list is also missing three banners from Moldavia and a Tatar contingent known from German sources. Historians stipulate that in addition to banners from territories there should have been banners presented by nobles, but Długosz mentioned only Sigismund Korybut whose banner he counted with Polish forces.

Some Belarusian historians attempted to divide the 40 banners by nationality to Lithuanian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Russian banners. However, such analysis is fundamentally flawed as it is impossible to determine how many banners each territory provided, how many men were in each banner, or what was the ethnic composition in each land. For example, Smolensk had rebelled against Vytautas in 1404 and 1408 and therefore it is unlikely that the three Smolensk banners included just local soldiers.

Historians express skepticism over the lack of heraldic diversity. Heraldic symbols of various lands, including of Trakai, Kyiv and Novogrudok, are known from contemporary sources, to have included the great seal of Vytautas. Historians suggest that perhaps the two heraldic flags represented gonfalons, e.g. the 10 banners of Columns of Gediminas represented forces from domains of Grand Duke Vytautas and the 30 banners of Vytis represented different territories.

References

Sven Ekdahl Die "Banderia Prutenorum" des Jan Długosz: Eine Quelle zur Schlacht bei Tannenberg 1410 : Unters. zu Aufbau, Entstehung u. Quellenwert d. Hs. : mit e. ... Klasse; Folge 3, Nr. 104).