There is the song from Skyforger album “Kauja pie Saules” (1998) called “Kauja Garozas silā/Battle at Garoza forest“. This battle occurred in 1287, in the nowadays Latvia territory, in Zemgale/Semigallia.
Not long ago (March of 2012) there was a special remembrance event held in Joniškis (Lithuania), so I decided to write about this battle.

Situation before the battle

The things were looking really bad for Semigallian pagans at that time – all surrounding tribes (Kurshi, Latgallians, Livs and Estonians) except Lithuanians, were already converted and subdued by invaded Crusaders. Their local built Livonian military Order and bishopric of Riga now finally had time and resources to attend all their attention on Zemgale and its still free pagan people.
After a few tries crusaders conquered Tērvete – the main stronghold and centre of Semigallians. That way they occupied some part of Zemgale and started to build own castles in strategically important places. Continue reading →