Showdown at Grunwald

"ndividual banners were made up of 50 to 120 lances. Each lance was composed of a lance carrying armored knight and three to seven armed retainers, armed and equipped at the knights expense. The quality of the arms and armor depended on a knight’s income. The number of men in a lance and the number of lances in a banner varied. With Jagiello’s 18,000 men organized into 51 banners, a common Polish banner appeared to have averaged approximately 350 warriors. Not all banners being equal in size, they were balanced out by combining smaller banners into one. On campaign, each knight was responsible for providing his own supplies, and the large number of wagons required slowed the progress of the army. However, during the battle these wagons typically formed a wagenburg, a mobile fortress, to protect the camp in the rear of the fighting lines.

After inspecting and organizing his forces, Jagiello crossed the Vistula River on July 2. In a carefully timed and executed maneuver, Grand Duke Vytautas joined him with the Lithuanian army later the same day with 40 banners. Thirty-seven of Vytautas’s banners were composed of Lithuanians and Ruthenians with a small number of Samogitians. The remaining three banners consisted of Russians from the Duchies of Smolensk and Pskov and the Republic of Novgorod. The men of Novgorod were led by Lengvenis, Jagiello’s younger brother. Vytautas’s banners, totaling roughly 11,000 men, averaged approximately 275 soldiers each. In addition, the exiled Khan Jelal ad- Din of the Golden Horde brought close to 2,000 Tatars riders, seeking Lithuania’s support in his struggle to regain his throne."