A civil war had broken out in 1296 in Terra Mariana between burghers of Riga and the Livonian Order.
Johannes III von Schwerin, Archbishop of Riga, had unsuccessfully attempted to mediate the dispute.
As the conflict grew, Johannes III had joined the cause of the Riga residents, but was defeated and taken prisoner.
Riga in March 1298 concludes an alliance with the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which is a subject of the Catholic crusade by the Teutonic Knights and Livonian Order.
The Lithuanians, commanded by Grand Duke Vytenis, invade Livonia and besiege Karkhus (Karksi).
The Lithuanians loot, massacre, and take many prisoners once the castle falls.
The defensive Livonian forces engage the Lithuanians on the Gauja River.
The knights seem at first to be winning the battle, but Vytenis vigorously counterattacks with reinforcements from the Archbishop and deals a decisive defeat.
Livonian Grand Master Bruno and the komtur of Fellin are killed.
According to different sources, either sixty or twenty to twenty-two noble knights were killed in the battle.
If indeed it was sixty, then the battle would be comparable to the Battle of Saule in terms of casualties.
If about twenty knights were killed, it would still be in the top ten defeats suffered in the thirteenth century by the Teutonic and Livonian crusader forces.
