Siege of Cēsis Castle (1577)

Background

After the dissolution of the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order in 1561, Polish troops garrisoned Cēsis Castle. In summer 1577, townsmen expelled the Polish garrison and submitted to Magnus, titular King of Livonia. Soon after Magnus arrived, Muscovites under Ivan the Terrible reached the town. The tsar's reputation for cruelty led the defenders to refuse surrender. According to Salomon Henning, the bombardment began in full force after a shot from the castle narrowly missed the tsar's head.

Siege and explosion

The Muscovite force numbered thousands and had heavy artillery, while the castle held a few hundred people, mostly women and children according to Laurentius Müller. They had sought refuge there, aware of the Muscovite ruler's pathological cruelty toward captives. Salomon Henning described abject despair among the defenders: whenever someone was killed by artillery fire, another would take their place, hoping to die similarly. After five days of shelling, the castle walls were severely damaged with growing cracks and holes.

The people inside resolved to avoid capture by blowing themselves up with gunpowder. Documentary and archaeological evidence indicates the first-floor hall of the western range was chosen for the suicide. Henning's account describes the scene: people knelt in the room above the gunpowder, husbands and wives holding hands, children with parents, some nursing infants, awaiting the hour. When the Muscovites began storming the castle, the gunpowder was ignited, killing all except those hidden elsewhere in the castle.