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 Libri
Questa serie di narrazioni si addentra nelle epiche avventure di una famiglia nobile lituana del XIII secolo, con l'obiettivo di forgiare una saga eroica che la Lituania non aveva mai posseduto. L'autenticità dei racconti è rafforzata dal loro stretto legame con eventi storici reali dell'epoca. Le storie si estendono attraverso le terre lituane e oltre, comprendendo regioni dell'odierna Lettonia e Russia, dettagliando le interazioni tra le tribù lituane e samogitiane e i loro popoli vicini. Una figura centrale in molte puntate è Uvis, uno dei cinque figli del Rikių Žybartas e di sua moglie Medeina.
