The setting for this series of narratives is the Northern Crusades, a fascinating and particularly brutal period within the generally bloody history of the Crusades. Unlike the well documented and frequently fictionalized crusades in the Mediterranean region, little attention has been paid to the crusades in the Baltic region. They were initiated and strongly supported by the Popes of that period and drew fighting men from all of Europe. The original intent of the crusades was to Christianize the Baltic peoples who at the beginning of the XII-th century were still adamantly pagan. Over time, however, they degenerated into straightforward genocidal campaigns to acquire lands and serfs. Several orders of knightly monks participated in the prolonged war, of these the most prominent was the Teutonic Order of Holy Mary of Jerusalem. The members of this order were drawn from the noble or knightly class and had to be of German birth. They succeeded in completely exterminating the Prussian people, and expropriated not only their land, but also their name. After over 200 years of bitter struggle only the Lithuanians and Samogitians remained unconquered and pagan. They accepted Christianity on their own terms at the beginning of the XV-the century.
Skomantas Bücher
Diese Erzählreihe taucht in die epischen Abenteuer einer litauischen Adelsfamilie aus dem 13. Jahrhundert ein, mit dem Ziel, eine heroische Saga zu schaffen, die Litauen nie besaß. Die Authentizität der Geschichten wird durch ihre enge Verbindung zu tatsächlichen historischen Ereignissen der damaligen Zeit verstärkt. Die Erzählungen erstrecken sich über litauische Gebiete und darüber hinaus, umfassen Regionen des heutigen Lettlands und Russlands und schildern die Interaktionen zwischen litauischen und samogitischen Stämmen und ihren Nachbarvölkern. Eine zentrale Figur in vielen Teilen ist Uvis, eines der fünf Kinder des Rikių Žybartas und seiner Frau Medeina.
