Battle of Kletsk
1506 battle of the Muscovite-Lithuanian Wars
The Battle of Kletsk was fought on 5 August 1506 near Kletsk in present-day Belarus between the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army under Michael Glinski, Court Marshal of Lithuania, and the army of the Crimean Khanate under Fetih I Giray and Burnaş I Giray, sons of Meñli I Giray, Khan of Crimea. The battle was the most decisive Lithuanian victory over the Tatars in centuries after the Battle of Blue Waters.
Background
The Lithuanians had allied themselves with Hacı I Giray, founder of the Crimean Khanate. However, in the 1480s, his son Meñli I Giray, who came to power with Ottoman help, allied himself with the Grand Principality of Moscow, a long-standing enemy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Lithuanians then allied with the Golden Horde and its remnant Great Horde, which were the Crimean Khanate's enemies.
During the Lithuanian–Muscovite War of 1500–1503, the Crimean Tatar armies pillaged the Lithuanian southern towns of Slutsk, Kletsk, and Nyasvizh and even threatened the capital city of Vilnius. Alexander Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania, then ordered the construction of a defensive wall around his capital (completed in 1522).
1505–1506
In August 1505, Meñli I Giray sent his eldest son to plunder the territories of Minsk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, and Novogrudok. It was not only a raid for slaves and loot, but also for political pressure to execute imprisoned Sheikh Ahmed, the last Khan of the Great Horde.
Simultaneously, conflicts emerged within the Lithuanian Council of Lords between the quickly-rising Michael Glinski and Jan Zabrzeziński.
The public source identifies “Battle of Kletsk” as 1506 battle of the Muscovite-Lithuanian Wars. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Battle, Kletsk and battle.
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