Crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights (1)

Castles control, and the most important way they exercise that control is through their location. Castles such as Marienburg and Elbing were sited n strategic rivers, the main means of communication in Medieval Europe. When such a river was a disputed frontier the factor of control by castles became more acute. The river Neman (Nemunas) provided the outstanding example for the situation of the Teutonic Order’s Prussian castles. The Neman enters the Courland lagoon, divided from the Baltic by the Courland Spit, and forms the modern border between Kalingrad and Lithuania. At the most northern point of the Courland Lagoon lay Memel (Klaipeda), the Order’s most northerly outpost. Beyond lay the enemy territory of Samogitia (Zemaitija – lower Lithuania), which divided the Teutonic Knights of Prussia from their brethren in the Livonian Order. Along the Neman lay Teutonic castles such as Tilsit (Sovetsk) and Ragnit (Neman), but once Ragnit was passed the Neman began to take the Teutonic Knights into the heart of Lithuania.