Trakai Pilis & the Battle of Grunwald 1410

Vytautas the Great was born at Trakai. He referred to Sūduva as his inheritence, due to his Sūdovian lineage. Vytautas was the prince of Grodno from 1376 to 1392, and he stayed in Grodno during his preparations for the Battle of Grunwald (1410). Since there were many exiled Yotvingian / Sūdovians finding refuge from the Crusaders near Grodno at that time, there is no doubt that Vytautas was in command of the Яцьвягі / Sūdovians during the Battle of Grunwald. Fifty Polish and 41 Lithuanian banners included Russian and Belarusian - Ruthenian lands controlled by Poland and Lithuania, respectively, as well as the banners from independent territories that joined the alliance (including the Novgorod banner.)

Grunwald painting

The long centuries of Sūdovian sacrifice and resistance against the Crusaders of the Roman Catholic Church allowed crucial time for Lithuanians - Poles - Belarusians to prepare a defense.

Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania used Grodno (Hrodna) as his primary military headquarters and staging ground. Historically, the Grodno region had deep ties to the Yotvingians. Once the entire army was synchronized, Vytautas led his troops out of the Grodno region to cross the Narew River.

In 1410, Vytautas, with his Яцьвягі / Sūdovian kinsmen and Allies, defeated the Papal led Crusade against Baltic people by the Catholic Church and it's Western European Crusaders. The Яцьвягі / Sūdovians survived.

painting of Grunwald battlefield

A census by clergy in the area around Grodno, Belarus in the later half of the 1800's identified about 31,000 surviving Яцьвягі ( Yotvingians ). Their descendents now fill that region. Modern genetic studies prove it. FTDNA Y-dna documents Яцьвягі nearby.

FTDNA Y-dna documents Яцьвягі.

Many unique customs in that same area persist and are practiced to this very day.
The language suffered.

The ethnocide against Яцьвягі / Sūdovians is very real and actively practiced* in Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, and Sweden.

* The Republic of Lithuania ruled in 2005 that SŪDUVA is only an ethnic/cultural term.
~ Sūduva was not allowed to vote! ~