Chase: The Story of Lithuania • Chapter 1

The Lithuanians and Latvians of the twentieth century are the survivors and descendants of the Aistian race, one of the eastern branches of the Indo-European family.

In the eleventh century, at the dawn of their recorded history, they were living with their related, but now extinct tribes, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea in the territory which lies between the Vistula and the Dvina Rivers. These Aistian peoples originally consisted of four main groups; namely, the Old Prussians, the Yatvegians, the Letts, and the Lithuanians. Each, however, faced a series of catastrophic events in the course of the thirteenth century and consequently were prevented from naturally merging with one another to form a sizable nation.

The Old Prussians,⁠1 who occupied the coastal areas from the Vistula to the Nemunas (Niemen), were annihilated by the Teutonic Knights; their name, nevertheless, has been retained by the land they once inhabited. The Yatvegians,⁠2 dwelling east of the Old Prussians between the Nemunas and the Bug, were exterminated by the arms of Eastern Slavs, the Poles, and the German Crusaders. The Letts,⁠3 north and south of the Dvina, were subjugated by the Livonian Order; only after an era of foreign p4 domination and foreign influence were they able to organize the Latvian state. The Lithuanians,⁠4 residing in the vicinity of the lower and upper Nemunas and its tributaries, succeeded in establishing a rather extensive empire in the late Middle Ages, lost it in the eighteenth century, and then reappeared as the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania after World War I.

By reason of their subsequent history, the Latvians and Lithuanians developed differently. Yet, even today, there exists a striking similarity between the Lithuanian and Latvian languages and characteristics.

1. Early Origins

As the origins of almost all peoples, so also the earliest beginnings of the Lithuanians are still veiled by a great deal of obscurity and are still buried under a mass of legends and oral traditions. Due to the fact that they lived in an area which was isolated from the rest of Europe by primeval forests, impassable swamps, numerous rivers and the Baltic Sea, there exists little documentary evidence concerning the inhabitants of this region during the first ten centuries of the Christian era.

Some five hundred years before Christ the residents of the Eastern Baltic maintained trade relations with Greece. It seems that amber, wax, honey, furs and salt were the chief objects of exchange. Besides the references made to the Eastern Baltic shores by Herodotus (fifth century B.C.), Polybius (second century B.C.), Pliny the Elder (first century A.D.), and Ptolemy (second century A.D.), the Roman historian Tacitus is generally credited with the first recorded note about the lands presently occupied by the Lithuanians and Latvians. In his chronicles, De Situ, Moribus et Populis Germaniae, he designated these people by the name of Aistians and briefly described their mode of life, their occupations and their religion.⁠a Archaeological excavations have substantiated the statements made by Tacitus; they have indicated rather clearly that the p5 modern Lithuanians and Latvians are the direct descendants of these Aistians, the original administrators of that part of Europe which today is known as Lithuania and Latvia.

In the fourth century the Aistians were in part subjugated by Hermanaric, the Gothic king. A letter of Cassiodorus Senator reveals that the Aistians had sent a gift of amber to Theodoric (c. 454‑526), ruler of the Ostrogoths and conqueror of Italy.⁠b In the sixth century Jordanes, bishop and historian of the Goths, wrote that the Aistians were "a very peaceful race of men."⁠c How extensive a sway the Gothic tribes succeeded in establishing over the Aistians may perhaps never be uncovered by historical research, nevertheless, comparative philology shows that only four words in the Lithuanian language can be traced to Gothic sources.

In the eighth century the name of the Lithuanians as such was brought to the attention of Charlemagne. Evidently spurred on by the intention of spreading Christianity northward, he had sought more information about the people living on the eastern shores of the Baltic, north of the Polish domains; through the expeditions of his scouts, he learned that these were the Lithuanians.

The so‑called Viking era (800‑1000), which witnessed the ravaging of the coasts of Europe by the Scandinavians, also affected the life of the Aistian peoples, particularly that of the Old Prussians, the Lettish Kurs and Zemgals; they were even compelled to pay tribute. According to Rimbert (865‑888), biographer of the monk Ansgar, Swedish forces landed at Libau in 853, journeyed to Skuodas and captured the fortress Apuole.⁠d The chief activities of these Scandinavian invaders seem to have been centered along the Dvina River, where Viking colonists settled in order to protect the trade route via the Dvina and the Dnieper to Byzantium.

In the middle of the ninth century the Old Prussians were briefly, but specifically, mentioned in the register, Bavarian Geographer.⁠e Towards the end of the same century the traveler Wulfstan, who had visited the Eastern Baltic shores, gave a rather detailed description of the customs and internal organization of the same Prussian branch of the Aistians. Similarly, during the tenth century, Ibraham ibn Jacob, an Arabian-Jewish merchant who visited Germany, supplied other notes concerning the Old Prussians.

p6 In 1009 the name of Lithuania appeared in the German document Annales Quedlinburgenses, and in 1040 in the Ruthenian chronicles of the monk Nestor at Kiev. It was at this time that the Lithuanians began to emerge from their isolated existence, to regulate relations with their neighbors, and to establish contacts with the West.

2. Early Relations with the Eastern Slavs

The organization of the Eastern Slavs under the leadership of the enterprising Scandinavian merchants (known both as Varangians and as Rus) was begun in the latter part of the ninth century (c. 862). A loose political entity was created; the capital was established at Kiev; and the title of Rus was bestowed upon the territories stretching from Kiev to the Neva, from the Aistian frontier to the Volga. Seeking to insure the integrity and the safety of the trade routes with which they had mapped the Eastern Slav lands, the Kievan rulers did not hesitate to launch a series of military expeditions against the neighboring Aistians. In 983, therefore, Vladimir defeated the Yatvegians; in 1038 and 1040 Yaroslav also put the Yatvegians to rout and apparently even enslaved their easternmost populations. In 1044 Yaroslav successfully attacked the Lithuanian branch of the Aistians and founded the settlement of Naugardukas (Nowogrodek) near the upper Nemunas.

Yaroslav's complicated system of succession, however, failed to prevent the total disintegration of this Ruthenian state into a number of small principalities after his death (1054). Kiev lost its prominence a little more than a century later (1169), when the title of Grand Duke passed to Suzdal. In the meanwhile, hostilities against the Aistian peoples did not cease.

Boris of Polock in 1102 and Yaroslav of Volhynia in 1112 inflicted crushing defeats on the Yatvegians, with the result that a large portion of the Yatvegian territories fell into the hands of the conquerors. The victors were not slow in inaugurating a colonization movement and proceeded to establish Slanimas (Slonim), Volkoviskas (Wolkowysk) and Gardinas (Grodno). To support this campaign, the Grand Duke of Kiev, Mstislav (1125‑1132), p7 sponsored an unsuccessful invasion of the domains of the Lithuanian branch in 1132.

The constant quarrels among the Eastern Slav princes concerning their heritages and their rights of succession inevitably destroyed the effectiveness of their aggressive attacks against the Aistians. In 1159 and 1162 Volodar Glebovich found it necessary to seek the aid of the Lithuanians against the various dukes of the principality of Polock. Again, in 1180, Vsevolod of Polock induced them to act as his allies. And at this point the Lithuanians very definitely abandoned their defensive policies towards the Eastern Slavs and assumed the leadership of all the Aistian peoples. Consequently, Novgorod and Polock were compelled to enter into a mutual assistance pact against the Lithuanians and the Ests in 1191; but they were defeated at Velikie Luki in 1198 by the Lithuanians. Shortly afterwards the latter also captured Gardinas, an area lost to Volhynia by the Yatvegians, and in that manner registered the first Lithuanian victory marked by territorial gain. In 1203 they were even engaged in conflicts with the duchy of Chernigov, which lay east of the Dnieper. Their repeated successes against Novgorod, Pskov and Smolensk served to increase rapidly the prestige of Lithuanian military prowess. In the south, however, the Yatvegian branch of the Aistians continued to face a serious struggle against the pretensions of the Poles under Casimir II and the Ruthenians of Volhynia under Roman. After Casimir had annexed Masovia to the throne of Cracow in 1186, he seized Drochin (on the Bug near Mielnik) and proceeded to wage war on the Yatvegians. He ravaged their territories quite successfully and also sought to occupy that area which later was to be known as Podlachia. In 1196 Roman too attempted an invasion of rather vast proportions: he led a triumphant march through Yatvegian lands, crossed the lower Nemunas into Skalovia, and then returned by way of Lithuania Proper. The Lithuanians and Yatvegians immediately resorted to a series of retaliatory measures. Finally, in 1220 a significant treaty was negotiated between the Lithuanians, represented by twenty-one princes of five leading families, and the Volhynians, represented by Roman's widow. And then, in order to suppress the tendencies of the Polish rulers to expand eastward, p8 the Lithuanians and Volhynians organized a punitive expedition against the Polish Duke of Cracow and Sandomierz.

3. Earliest Contacts with Christianity

Christianity played a very decisive and a very influential role in determining the course that the history of the Lithuanians and their related Aistian peoples was to follow. After the conversion of the Poles in the early second half of the tenth century, the attention of Western Europe was turned to the Christianization of the Aistians. Adalbert, Bishop of Prague, and Bruno of Magdeburg, made the first known missionary visits. The former entered the home of the Old Prussians by way of the Pregel River; but his efforts met with total disaster when he suffered martyrdom in 997. The latter, appointed by Pope Sylvester II as Apostle to the pagans of Northern Europe, traveled through the Old Prussian provinces of Galindia and Nadrovia, and together with his eighteen associates was put to death by the Yatvegians in the year 1009. The arrival of the emissaries of the Archbishop of Bremen, in the company of German merchants, at the mouth of the Dvina⁠5 in the late twelfth century, marked the beginning of Christianity's first real penetration into the Eastern Baltic territories.

Meinhard, a canon from St. Augustine's monastery at Sigeburg, spent some twelve years on the Isle of Uekskulº seeking to Christianize the Livs and Letts on the banks of the Dvina, but failed to achieve any lasting results. After his death in 1196, he was succeeded by Bishop Bertold, who immediately enunciated the thesis that conquest must precede conversion. He perished in battle in 1198.

During the summer of 1200, Bishop Albert of Bremen subdued the Livs with the aid of a force of German crusaders. The following year he laid the foundations for the future city of Riga. To protect this fortress and to insure the progress of his work, Albert, clearly misinterpreting the purpose and the ideals of the p9 Crusades,⁠6 in 1202, established the Fratres Militiae Christi ("Brothers of the Soldiery of Christ", known also as the Order of the Sword), whose constitution and regulations were very similar to those of the Templars. Members of this society obligated themselves to wage war against the pagan peoples of the Eastern Baltic and were bound by the usual religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Before Bishop Albert (his successors were promoted to the rank of an archbishop) died in 1229, they had overcome the Lettish branch of the Aistians (with the exception of the Zemgals and the Kurs) and had also annexed the territories of the neighboring Estonians, who belonged to the Finno-Ugric family. The Bishop, who made his residence at Riga, was acknowledged as the actual governor of the conquered lands; yet, in 1210, however, the Order, whose Grand Master lived at Wenden (Cesis), and who was under the Bishop's jurisdiction, wrested for itself the right to take possession of one‑third of vanquished Livonia as a remuneration for services rendered.

The Lithuanians opposed this Teutonic invasion of the Baltic from the very beginning. In 1186 they had attacked Uekskullº in order to expel Meinhard. In 1203 they ravaged the vicinity of Riga. In 1204 they participated in the revolt of the enslaved Livs and Letts. So continuous were their efforts to liberate the Letts (and even the Ests) from German domination that in 1212 Albert found it advisable to negotiate a mutual assistance pact with Polock and most emphatically demanded Visevalde, a defeated Lettish leader who had married a Lithuanian lady, to sever all relations with the Lithuanians. After their alliance with Novgorod failed to overcome the Knights at Wenden in 1221, the Lithuanians sent their ambassadors to Riga to arrange the peace treaty of 1225.

While Bishop Albert was progressing with his campaign in Livonia, Christian, a Cistercian monk from Oliva, had been attaining modest successes since 1209 among the Old Prussians living near the Vistula River. In recognition of his efforts, Christian was p10 raised to the dignity of the episcopacy in 1215. The repeated relapses of his converts, due particularly to the Polish Duke Conrad's desire to incorporate Prussian domains with Masovia, severely handicapped the missioner's work. Resorting to the use of armed force, Christian invited crusaders from Western Europe to assist him; meanwhile Conrad granted him some territories in the Kulm (Chelmno) sector to be used as a base for his activities. And in 1228, Christian, cooperating with Conrad, established the Order of Dobrzyn, whose attempts to overcome the pagan Old Prussians proved to be thoroughly insufficient. Then Conrad and Christian invited the Teutonic Knights⁠7 to the shores of the Baltic and endowed them with lands near the Prussian frontier. Hermann von Salza, the Grand Master of these Knights of the Cross, did not hesitate to accept the proposal. This step was furthermore approved by Emperor Frederick II, who also recognized the Order's right to assume ownership of all territories taken from the Old Prussians.

Early in 1230 the Teutonic Knights arrived at Nieszawa (Nessau) on the left bank of the Vistula. The following year they crossed to the right bank, founded the fortress of Thorn (Torun), and began their conquest of the Old Prussians. After fifty-two years, having guaranteed the permanence of their victories in Old Prussia by the construction of a vast number of fortresses about each of which German colonists were settled, the Order reached the mouth of the Nemunas — but only to attempt to subjugate the Lithuanian branch of the Aistians.

The Author's Notes:

1 The Old Prussians were subdivided into some nine groups: Pomesanians, Galindians, Pogesanians, Varmians, Natangians, Bartonians, Sambians, Nadrovians and Skalovians.

2 Those living nearer the Nemunas River, east of the Skalovians and Nadrovians in the district traversed by the Sesupe and Juodoji Ancia, were also known as Sudavians.

3 The chief divisions among the Letts were: the Sels, south of the Dvina; the Letgals, north of the Dvina; the Zemgals, directly northeast of the Lithuanians; and the Kurs, directly northwest of the Lithuanians.

4 The Lithuanians were composed of the Lowlanders (Samogitians) on the Baltic Sea and the Highlanders on the Upper Nemunas.

5 This particular strip of land was inhabited by the Livs, a people belonging to the Finno-Ugric family. They were later absorbed by the Letts. Nevertheless, it is from them that the Lettish lands received the incorrect and inexact title of Livonia.

6 The object of the Crusades sponsored by the Christians of Western Europe was not to convert the Mohammedans, but to recover the Holy Land from them. Albert's Livonian Order, however, aimed to Christianize the inhabitants of the Baltic by force and threat of force; this policy is diametrically opposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

7 Organized during the third crusade as the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital at Jerusalem (1190‑1191).

Thayer's Notes:

In his quick enumeration of authors preceding his mention of Tacitus, Chase is simply following earlier scholars seeking to identify various Baltic peoples in ancient Greek and Roman sources. In Herodotus, IV.105 it is the Neuri who are taken to be the Baltic people; Rawlinson's commentary (p93‑94, note 8) cites a full set of passages in ancient authors:

As Herodotus recedes from the sea his accounts become more mythic, and less trustworthy. Still the Neuri must be regarded as a real nation. They seem, in the time of Herodotus, to have inhabited the modern Lithuania and Volhynia, extending eastward perhaps as far as the government of Smolensk. Their name may perhaps be traced in the town Nur, and the river Nuretz, which lie in this district. They are mentioned by Ephorus (Frag. 78) ; Pliny (Hist. Nat. IV.xiii.95); Mela (II.1); and Ammianus Marcellinus (XXII.8). Perhaps also by Ptolemy, under the name of Ναυάροι (III.5). Schafarik (Slav. Alt. pp194‑9) ventures to pronounce them Slavesº, but on very slight grounds.

For the Latin-challenged, the Pliny passage as Englished by Bostock & Riley reads:

Xenophon of Lampsacus tells us that at a distance of three days' sail from the shores of Scythia, there is an island of immense size called Baltia, which by Pytheas is called Basilia. Some islands called Oönæ are said to be here, the inhabitants of which live on the eggs of birds and oats; and others again upon which human beings are produced with the feet of horses, thence called Hippopodes. Some other islands are also mentioned as those of the Panotii, the people of which have ears of such extraordinary size as to cover the rest of the body, which is otherwise left naked.

The most closely germane passage in Pomponius Mela is not II.1, which merely mentions the Rhiphaean Mountains in passing, but the very confused sections III.31‑33, in which he speaks of the Belcae (Balts?) that live near those Rhiphaean Mountains, and of the quasi-mythical Hyperboreans who live far up north on the Asiatic shore, in groves and woods. Mela then goes on to spoil it all by saying this has something to do with the Caspian Sea and its outlet to the ocean.

As for Ammianus Marcellinus, although I've provided a link above to the chapter Rawlinson cites, that very long chapter covers mostly areas on or near the Black Sea and its gulf the Sea of Azov, with very unsatisfactory mentions of other regions, that get vaguer and vaguer and more geographically confusing the farther away from Greece. It's quite unclear, to me at least, where in all that Ammian may be saying something about the inhabitants of the Baltic shores.

b The amber trade between the Baltic and the Mediterranean is much older than that, and it seems likely to me at least that the Aistians, inhabiting the area that produced it, would have been the first ones in the chain of those conducting it. Writing of some unspecified period probably just after Trajan (2c A.D.) but maybe well before that, Hodgkin (Italy and Her Invaders, II.148) speaks of a trade in amber brokered by Aquileia, referring us in his footnote there to Mommsen's opinion, based on archaeological finds near Poznań, that the amber trade with Rome may go back to the sixth or seventh century B.C..

I've been unable to track down the passage in Cassiodorus, which may be Variarum V.2.

c Jordanes' makes two very slight passing references to the Aesti. In their entirety:

This ruler [Hermanaric, king of the Goths] also subdued by his wisdom and might the race of the Aesti, who dwell on the farthest shore of the German Ocean, and he ruled all the nations of Scythia and Germany by his own prowess alone.

(de rebus Geticis, XXIII.120, tr. Mierow)

Ad litus autem Oceani, ubi tribus faucibus fluenta Vistulae fluminis ebibuntur, Vidivarii resident, ex diversis nationibus adgregati; post quos ripam Oceani item Aesti tenent, pacatum hominum genus omnino.	But on the shore of Ocean, where the floods of the river Vistula empty from three mouths, the Vidivarii dwell, a people gathered out of various tribes. Beyond them the Aesti, a subject race, likewise hold the shore of Ocean.
(de rebus Geticis, V.36)	English translation by Charles C. Mierow

Chase or his source has chosen to translate the Latin word pacatum, that I've italicized above, as "peaceful". It can equally well mean "pacified", which underlies Mierow's translation (although nothing is said about who might have pacified them) — which also skips two words. I render the passage:

Beyond them the Aesti cling to the shore of Ocean as well: a thoroughly tame race of men.

e A very brief list, translated in full at The Historian's Sketchpad; as noted there — in passing, the entire page of commentary is very good — the putative Prussians are the Prissani (I might read Prussani) and Bruzi; we can check for ourselves in the original manuscript, p2 (line 5).

1.	Early Origins
2.	Early Relations with the Eastern Slavs
3.	Earliest Contacts with Christianity

p3 Chapter I Beginnings of the Lithuanian Nation

1. Early Origins

2. Early Relations with the Eastern Slavs

3. Earliest Contacts with Christianity

The Author's Notes:

Thayer's Notes:

p3 Chapter I
Beginnings of the Lithuanian Nation