The Grand Dukes of Lithuania Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis resided in the castle after 1430. Žygimantas Kęstutaitis was assassinated by conspirators in the gate tower of the Peninsula Castle on Palm Sunday, 20 March 1440.
The Chronicle says: "The conspiracy was organised because 'the Grand Duke Sigismund, the damned one, did not keep his anger in check, and fueled by Satan, thought secretly to exterminate the entire nobility and drown them in their blood, and exalt the lowbrow peasants - the dog's blood.' However, when the dukes and the nobles got wind of his intentions, they started plotting against the Grand Duke himself. The conspiracy was led by the Duke of Vilnius, Daugirdas, the Duke of Trakai, Leliušas, and the duke Chartoriskis. These three noblemen decided to forestall the events and decided to kill Duke Sigismund themselves.
"And when they had made up their minds to do so, they sent Skabeika, a courtier from Kiev, and gave him three hundred carts of hay, and in each cart, they hid five armed men under the hay, and one of them held the reins of the cart; and they sent this Skabeika to Trakai, ostensibly with the hay load. On Palm Sunday, duke Alexander Czartoriskis and Skabeika entered Trakai Castle. The son of Duke Sigismund had left the castle to go to church, and Duke Sigismund himself was listening to mass in the castle bedroom. When Duke Czartorisky and Skabeika and all the carts had entered the castle, the gates were locked, and all the men came out of the carts and rushed upright into Duke Sigismund's bedroom, where he was hearing mass. Duke Sigismund had a bear, which he was very fond of, whenever the bear came to the door of his bedroom and scratched it with his paw, he always let him in. Duke Czartorisky came with Skabeika and all the men, and pulled the door with his hand, Duke Sigismund thought it was a bear, and ordered it open. All at once the conspirators broke into the bedroom, Duke Czartorisky jumped in front of him, attacked him, with the intention of killing him, grabbed the poker and stabbed him with it, while at that very moment the priest was lifting up the most holy sacrament. And the blood from his head gushed out onto the wall. The stain is still visible on the wall of the bedroom in the tower of the Great Castle”.
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