A Plan of a Siege: Jelgava Castle in 1622 or Biržai Castle in Lithuania in 1625? An Analysis of Iconography from the Russian National Library in St Petersburg

Abstract

This article aims to answer which fortress and in which year is depicted in a sketch from the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg. Do we see the Lithuanian siege of Jelgava (Ger. Mitau, Pol. Mitawa) Castle in 1622 or the Swedish siege of Biržai (Pol. Birże) Castle in 1625? This text is inspired by my article of 2023, ‘Nowe materiały dotyczące walk o Mitawę w 1622 r.’ (New Materials Regarding the Battle of Jelgava in 1622). In analysing this issue, I examined other iconographic and epistolographic sources, as well as archaeological research and the literature on both events. My analysis concludes that the fortress depicted in the plan is Biržai during the Swedish siege of 1625.