Encyclopedia
The
Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern European state of the
12th /
13th century untill the
18th century. Founded by
Lithuanians, one of the pagan
Baltic tribes, whose initial lands extended in
Aukštaitija. Later on territory expanded beyond the boundaries of the initial area, acquiring large parts of former
Kievan Rus. Grand Duchy of Lithuania covered the territory of present-day
Lithuania,
Belarus,
Ukraine,
Transnistria and parts of
Poland and
Russia during the period of its greatest extent in the
15th century and was the largest state in Europe.
Consolidation of Lithuanian lands started in the 12th century, as marked by extensive raids of Lithuanians towards wealthy cities such as
Novgorod and
Pskov. Lithuanians plundered territories of other Baltic tribes as well. The 13th century signified begining of the wars with
Teutonic Knights,
Livonian Order and rise of
Mindaugas, who was crowned as King of Lithuania in 1253.
The title Grand Duchy to
Lithuania was consistently applied from the 14th century on, multi-ethnic and multi-confessional shape of the state emerged only at late reign of
Gediminas. Gediminas not only continued to expanding state lands, but also tried to neutralize Christians military orders by diplomatic means negotiating with
Holy See. During his reign state capital became
Vilnius in 1323. After death of Gediminas and short reign of
Jaunutis, Grand Duke title captured
Algirdas, but shared his power with
Kestutis. Algirdas continued his father’s policy in East, trying to gain more influence in Slavic regions, which lead to military conflicts with
Moscow.
Algirdas` successor was
Jogaila and according to Krewo agreement, which was signed in 1386, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania made a personal union with the Kingdom of Poland as Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila married Queen
Jadwiga.Jogaila started Christianization of Lithuania in 1387, which marked conversion of Lithuanians, last pagans in Europe, to the Catholic faith. Soon afterwards supreme power in Grand Duchy of Lithuania was acquired by
Vytautas the Great. Vytautas lead army of Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the
Battle of Grunwald in 1410, which signified downfall of the
Teutonic Order. After Vytautas death, relationship with Kingdom of Poland greatly deterioated. In 1432 internal fights erupted as two pretenders,
Švitrigaila and Žygimantas Kestutaitis, rivaled for the throne. Žygimantas Kestutaitis emerged as victorious after the Battle of Pabaiskas. and only unsuccessful wars with
Muscovy forced to revive the union, despite the opposition from some noble families like
Radvilos. Several attempts were made to restore and strengthen broken union ties in the 16th century, and after the
Lublin Union in 1569, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania joined Kingdom of Poland creating the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In this
federation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had a separate government, laws, army, and treasury. Death of Sigismund II Augustus, who mediated creation of Liublin Union, marked an end of
Gediminids era, which representatives ruled Lithuania from the late 13th century.
During Commonwealth times, Grand Duchy of Lithuania was involved in many wars, like Livonian War, Northern War and others. Despite military gains and loses cultural life flourished in Grand Duchy of Lithuania, signified by opening of
Vilnius University, increased publishing of books, construction of new palaces and churches.
Union with Kingdom of Poland did not prevent from territorial loses of the state to the rising Muscovy power and finnaly in 1795, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was destroyed by the
partitions among
Imperial Russia,
Prussia and
Austria.
Establishment of the state
Rise to power
The first written reference to Lithuania is found in the Quedlinburg Chronicle, which dates from 1009. This contemporary account mentions little of the state or its social structure, except that Lithuania bordered
Rus and that there were active pagans in the region.
References to Lithuania appear and in Slavic chronicles, as one of the areas that the Ruthenians attacked; apparently their initial raid was unsuccessful, but Ruthenian dukes continued to mount forays into Lithuanian territory. Pagan
Lithuanians in the early 12th century paid tribute to
Polatsk, including the Semigallians, the Curonians and the Lettigallians. In 1131 Lithuania suffered a major attack by
Mstislav of Kiev. However, as Mstislav's army was returning home, laden with plunder, Lithuanians were able to beat the regiments, which had lagged behind the main Mstislav's army. It was not a major victory to Lithuanians, but it did indicate that Lithuania was gaining strength.
During this time Lithuanians usually acted as part of one or another Ruthenian dukes’ allies and apparently did not initiated full scale attacks by themselves towards Ruthianian provinces. At some point between 1180 and 1183 the situation began to change, and the Lithuanians started to organize sustainable military raids on the Slavic provinces, raiding the
Polatsk duchy as well as
Pskov, and even threatening to
Novgorod. After a successful Lithuanian raid of
Livonia in 1185, the local inhabitants built several castles in the region, trying to protect population. From the 12th century on, the Lithuanians represented a real threat to the western neighbours and missions as well as to their Slavic neighbors. possibly by the end of the 12th century Grand Duchy of Lithuania was already formed in these lands. The formal acknowledgment of common interests, and the establishment of a hierarchy among the participants of the treaty, foreshadows the emergence of a the state.
Lithuania began its rise under the reign of Grand Duke
Mindaugas, in 1238 he assumed supreme power in Lithuania . Mindaugas was baptized in 1252 and crowned King of Lithuania in 1253 . During Mindaugas rule Lithuania was proclaimed as
Kingdom of Lithuania for the first time. On September 12, 1263, Mindaugas was killed and afterwards there was a fight among Lithuanian dukes, but the state survived and expanded southward and eastward, incorporating large parts of
Rus'.
The expansion reached its heights under
Gediminas, who created a strong central government and established an empire, which later spread from the
Black Sea to the
Baltic Sea. In 1320, most of the principalities of Western Rus' were either vassilized or annexed by Lithuania. In 1321 Gediminas captured Kiev sending Stanislav, the last Rurikid to ever rule
Kiev, into exile. Gediminas also re-established permanent capital of Lithuania in
Vilnius, which was moved from
Trakai in 1323.
The ease with which Lithuania built up its empire can be accredited to the diplomatic and tactical skill of Lithuanian grand dukes as well as to the weakness of all Ruthenian principalities; Lithuania was in an ideal position to take advantage of
Eastern Slavs. While almost every other state around it had been plundered or defeated by the Mongols, their hordes never reached as far north as Lithuania and its territory was left untouched. The expansion of Lithuania was also accelerated because of the weak control the Mongols had over the areas they had conquered. The rise of Lithuania occurred at the ideal time when they could expand while meeting very little resistance in the territories populated by East Slavs and only limited opposition from the Mongols.
The Lithuanian state was not built only on military aggression. Its existence always depended on diplomacy just as much as on arms. Most, while not all, cities it annexed were never defeated in battle but agreed to be vassals of Lithuania. Since most of them were already vassals of the Golden Horde or of
Muscovite Russia, such decision was not one of giving up the independence but rather of exchanging one master for another. This can be seen in the case of
Novgorod, which was often brought into the Lithuanian sphere of influence and became an occasional dependency of Lithuania, but Lithuanian armies never attacked the city. Rather, Lithuanian control was the result of internal frictions within the city, which attempted to escape submission to Russia. This method of building the state was, however, unstable. The change of internal politics within a city could pull it out of Lithuania's control, as happened on a number of occasions with Novgorod and other Russian cities.
Lithuania was Christianized in 1387. Christianization was led by Jogaila, who personally translated Christian prayers into
Lithuanian language . State reached a peak under
Vytautas the Great , who reigned from 1392 to 1430. Vytautas was one of the most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was the Grand Duke from 1401-1430, also the
Prince of
Hrodna and the Prince of
Lutsk . Vytautas was the son of
Kestutis, cousin of
Jogaila, who became King of Poland in 1386, and Grandfather of
Vasili II of Russia. In 1410 Vytautas himself commanded the forces of the Grand Duchy in the
Battle of Grunwald . The battle ended in a decisive Polish-Lithuanian victory. Vytautas backed economic development of his state and introduced many reforms. Under his rule Grand Duchy of Lithuania slowly became more centralized, as local princes with dynastic ties to the throne were replaced by the governors loyal to Vytautas. The governors were rich landowners who formed the basis for the Lithuanian nobility. During Vytautas rule influential
Radziwill and Goštautas families started to form.
The speedy expansion of Russia soon put it into a position to rival Lithuania, however, and after the annexation of Novgorod in 1478 Russia was unquestionably the preeminent state in Northeast Europe. Between 1492 and 1508
Ivan III, after winning the key Battle of Vedrosha, regained such ancient lands of Rus as
Chernigov and
Bryansk. The loss of land to Russia and the continued pressure from the expanding Russian state posed a real threat of destroying the state of Lithuania, so it was forced to make closer alliance with
Poland thus uniting with its western neighbour in the
Commonwealth of Two Nations in the
Union of Lublin of 1569. According to the Union many of the territories formerly controlled by largely Ruthenized Grand Duchy of Lithuania were transferred to the
Crown of the Polish Kingdom, while the gradual Polonization started the slower process of the drawing Lithuania itself under the Polish domination., Latin and Polish. Until 1697, the first one was used to write laws and to correspond with Eastern countries; Latin was used in dealings with Western countries; and, in 1697, Polish replaced Ruthenian as the chancellery language.
Although usage of Lithuanian language in ruling the state after
Vytautas and
Jogaila is disputable, it is stated that King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania
Alexander I still could understand and speak Lithuanian, after him there are no valid evidences.
Also, at the time nationalism was not present, and the nobles who migrated from one place to another would adapt to a new locality and take local religion and culture. Therefore those Lithuanian nobles who moved to Slavic areas in generations took up their culture. There is no available information what languages these nobles spoke in their everyday lives.
At the birth of the state, ethnical Lithuanians made 70% of population. With the acquisition of new Slavic territories, this part decreased to 50% and later to 30%. Other important nations were
Jews and Tatars. By the time of the late Grand Duchy, Slavs made overall majority, and Slavic languages were used to write laws. This is the reason why the late GDL is often called a Slavic country, among
Poland,
Russia etc.
Military
Despite Lithuania's mainly peaceful acquisition of much of its Ruthenian holdings it could call upon military strength if needed and were the only power in
Eastern Europe that could effectively contend with the Golden Horde. When the Golden Horde did try to prevent Lithuanian expansion they were often rebuffed. In 1333 and 1339 Lithuanians defeated large Mongol forces attempting to regain
Smolensk from the Lithuanian sphere of influence. By about 1355, the State of
Moldavia had formed. The Golden Horde did little if nothing to re-vassalize the area. In 1387, Moldavia became a vassal of Poland and in a broader sense, Lithuania. By this time, Lithuania had conquered territory of the Golden Horde all the way to the Dnieper river. In a crusade against the Golden Horde in 1398, , Lithuania invaded northern Crimea and won a decisive victory. Then in 1399, Lithuania moved against the Horde. In the Battle of the Vorskla River however, Lithuanaia was crushed by the horde and lost the steppe region.
The GDL army brought some innovations in military art.
Religion
After the baptism in 1252 and coronation of King
Mindaugas in 1253, Lithuania was recognized as a Christian state until 1260, when Mindaugas supported an uprising in
Courland and renounced Christianity. Up until 1387, Lithuanian nobles professed their own religion, which was a
pagan belief based on deification of natural phenomena. Ethnic Lithuanians were very dedicated to their faith. The pagan beliefs needed to be deeply entrenched to survive strong pressure from missionaries and foreign powers. Until XVII century there were relics of old faith, like feeding
grass snakes or bringing food to graves of ancestors. The lands of modern-day
Belarus and
Ukraine, as well as local dukes in these regions, were firmly
Orthodox Christian , though. While pagan beliefs in Lithuania were strong enough to survive centuries of pressure from military orders and missionaries, they did eventually succumb. In 1387, Lithuania converted to Catholicism, while most of the Ruthenian lands stayed Orthodox. There was an effort to polarize Orthodoxes after the Union of Brest in 1596, by which Orthodox Greek Catholics acknowledged papal authority and Catholic catechism, but preserved Orthodox liturgy.
- '
Culture
One of the oldest universities in
Eastern Europe,
Vilnius University, was founded by
Stefan Batory, King of
Poland and Grand Duke of
Lithuania, in 1579.
Due to the work of the
Jesuits during the
Counter-reformation the university soon developed into one of the most important scientific and cultural centers of the region and the most notable scientific center of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Legacy
According to some historians , one of the most crucial effects of Lithuanian rule was ethnic divisions amongst inhabitants of former
Kievan Ruthenia. From this point of view, creation of Grand Duchy of Lithuania played a major role in division of
Eastern Slavs. After the Mongolian conquest of Ruthenia, Mongols attempted to keep Eastern Slavs unified and succeeded in conquering most of Ruthenian lands.
Prussian tribes were attacking
Masovia, and that was the reason Duke
Konrad of Masovia invited the
Teutonic Knights to settle near the Prussian area of settlement. The fighting between Prussians and the Teutonic Knights gave the more distant Lithuanian tribes time to unite. Because of strong enemies in the south and north, the newly formed Lithuanian state concentrated most of its military and diplomatic efforts on expansion eastward.
The rest of former Ruthenian lands joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the very beginning, some other lands in Ukraine were vassalized by Lithuania later. The subjugation of Eastern Slavs by two powers created substantial differences that persist to this day. According to this claim, while under Kievan Ruthenia there were certainly substantial regional differences, it was the Lithuanian annexation of much of southern and western Ruthenia that led to the permanent division between
Ukrainians,
Belarusians, and
Russians.
Besides, ethnic and linguistic divisions amongst inhabitants of Ruthenia were not initiated by division of this area between
Mongols and
Lithuania, and are older than creation of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And finally, until 20th century, ethnic and linguistic frontier between Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Russians coincided with no political borders.
Notwithstanding the above, Lithuania was a Kingdom under Mindaugas I, who was conditionally crowned by authority of Pope Innocent IV in 1253. Gediminas and Vytautas the Great also assumed the title of King, although uncrowned. A failed attempt was made in 1918 to restore the Kingdom under German Prince Urich.
See also
Notes and references
- S. C. Rowell. Chartularium Lithuaniae res gestas magni ducis Gedeminne illustrans. Gedimino laiškai. Vilnius, 2003
- Norman Davies. God's Playground. Columbia University Press; 2 edition ISBN 0-231-12817-7
External links
