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 p21  Chapter III
The First of a Dynasty

(The numbers link directly to the sections.)

During the fifty-eight years (1283‑1341), which followed the final subjugation of the Old Prussians and the Yatvegians, the Teutonic Knights proceeded to lay the groundwork for the penetration of Lithuania. The Lithuanians, while resisting this aggressor in the West, launched a program of territorial expansion that reached its culmination only in the days of Vytautas, and gave birth to a dynasty that was destined to remain sovereign in Lithuania for more than two-and-a‑half centuries.

1. The House of Liutauras

It is not certain who succeeded Traidenis to the Lithuanian throne in 1282. Although the earliest sources have mentioned the activities of several prominent Lithuanian princes, they have failed to designate any of them as the Grand Duke. And therefore, it is only known that the father of Vytenis and Gediminas, two later Grand Dukes, was the ruler of Lithuania at least in the last part of this period (1282‑1295). Ancient traditions have given his name as Liutauras.

After the battle of Durbe, the Livonian Order had been expelled from its holdings in Samogitia and the initiative for the conquest of Lithuania passed to its brother Order in Old Prussia. The latter not only sought to consolidate its gains from the Vistula to the Nemunas by systematic colonization, but attempted to pave a road that  p22 would lead into the heart of Lithuania. After the fall of the Skalovians, Nadrovians and Sudavians, the Lithuania Lowland (with the exception of Klaipeda (Memel), which was occupied by the Sword Bearers until 1328) was bounded by the Lower Nemunas and the Sudavian-Galindian wilderness. Consequently, the Teutonic Knights repeatedly attempted to establish themselves on the right bank, but without success. Their efforts were repelled by the Lithuanians, who refusing to concede the loss of the Old Prussian branch of the Aistians, even crossed the dreary stretches of Sudavia and Galindia to raid German fortifications and settlements. In 1289‑1293, Tilsit and Ragnit appeared on the left bank of the Lower Nemunas to serve as bases for the invasion of Lithuania and as models of a complete network of strongholds that was to line the Prussian-Lithuanian boundary in the fourteenth century.

While engaged in an almost incessant warfare of the guerilla type with the ambitious Teutonic Knights, whose Grand Master had transferred his seat from Venice to Marienburg on the Vistula in 1309, Grand Duke Vytenis (1295‑1315) entered into intimate relations with the Archbishop of Riga. It seems that the struggle, which had been developing between the latter and the Order of the Sword from the very beginning, was intensified towards the end of the thirteenth century. The Sword Bearers refused to surrender two‑thirds of the Lettish territories to the Archbishop as required by their agreement of 1210. As a result, the latter, supported by the city of Riga, appealed to Vytenis for assistance in 1298. The Lithuanian Grand Duke responded. The alliance, however, failed to temper the desires of the Livonian Order. Lithuanian troops continued to garrison Riga until 1313, when the Germans finally came to terms among themselves.

In the meanwhile, as early as 1298, Vytenis had opened negotiations with the Archbishop for the introduction of Christianity into Lithuania. And in 1312, he specially requested Francis de Moliano, the Papal Legate,⁠a and Frederick, the Archbishop, to send two Franciscan priests to the Grand Duchy, stressing the fact that he had already erected a church edifice for their use. The Livonian Knights manifested bitter opposition to these proceedings. They invaded Lithuania and destroyed the church. As a matter of fact,  p23 due to their obstructionist tactics, they had fallen under an ecclesiastical interdict in 1309.

Pursuing the same policy as followed by Mindaugas and Traidenis, Vytenis not only recovered Polock (1307), which had come under the influence of the Germans, but also success­fully extended the Lithuanian boundary to the Bug and Pripet Rivers by taking possession of Drochin, Brest, Pinsk, and Turov. In this manner, he definitely incorporated with Lithuania all the Aistian territories formerly held by the Yatvegians, and left to his brother a state of no little expanse.

2. Gediminas and Christianity

Gediminas (1316‑1341), Vytenis' successor, demonstrated a keen interest in the possible Christianization of Lithuania. In 1317, he had received a letter from Pope John XXII urging him to accept baptism. What his immediate reaction was, has not been recorded by history. Five years later, during 1322‑1323, through the assistance of the Archbishop of Riga, Gediminas wrote a series of letters to the Pope, to the Franciscans and the Dominicans of Saxony, and to the towns of the Hanseatic League.

In his two messages to the Pope, Gediminas made a bitter denunciation of the German Knights, who had established themselves on the Baltic shores. He branded them as political foes, who were bent not upon the Christianization, but upon the destruction of Lithuania; who intercepted Lithuanian ambassadors to the spiritual authorities of the Church, and who sought to cut off Lithuania from all contact with Christianity. He stressed the fact that some Catholic missionaries were already living in Lithuania and enjoying unrestricted freedom in their religious activities. He furthermore expressed his willingness to imitate other Christian kings and become a spiritual subject of the Pope, provided such submission would not place him under the authority of the German crusaders. Finally, he suggested that a papal legate and the Archbishop of Riga be sent to Lithuania for further discussion of the matter.

Gediminas' letters to the Dominicans and the Franciscans mentioned  p24 that two churches had already been built at Vilnius and one at Naugardukas; while accusing the German Knights of using Christianity as a guise for the promotion of their political ambition, he invited priests, who would concern themselves solely with missionary work, to come to Lithuania, and assured such ministers a sufficient measure of safety and protection.

In his notes to the Hanseatic cities, Gediminas extended artisans, farmers, and merchants an invitation to settle in Lithuania; he promised them full freedom in religious and business affairs as well as his own wholehearted cooperation.

The response Gediminas evoked seemed to be gratifying. The representatives of the Hanse towns indicated their willingness to deal with the Lithuanians. The Franciscans of Saxony began to arrange for the establishment of two monasteries in Old Prussia and one at Reval (Tallinn) to facilitate their visitation of Lithuania. And during October, 1323, the delegates of the Archbishop, the Sword Bearers and the Order of the Cross, the King of Denmark, the Bishops of Oesel (Saare Maa) and Dorpat (Tartu), met at Vilnius to confer with Gediminas and concluded a peace treaty and a trade agreement involving the Lithuanian state and all the component parts of Livonia.

In the meanwhile, the Teutonic Knights did not desist from strenuous efforts to discredit Gediminas and to destroy the favorable impression he was creating throughout Europe. They simply denied the Lithuanian ruler's indictments and in turn attempted to paint him as an indefatigable enemy of Christianity. Their bishops issued an appeal to the Livonian bishops, knights and towns to renounce the pact of 1323. The Synod of Elbing questioned his sincerity. Consequently, when the Papal Legates, Bartholomew and Bernard, arrived at Riga in 1324 and dispatched their deputies to Vilnius, Gediminas was no longer kindly disposed towards them. He refused to consider the formal adoption of Christianity, enunciated the fact that religious tolerance existed in Lithuania, and expressed his readiness to maintain peace with his Christian neighbors, if they so desired. Since it was evident that further discussions would only aggravate the situation, the papal legates enjoined the Teutons not to molest Gediminas and  p25 ordered a strict observance of the treaty of 1323 for a period of four years.⁠b

The German warrior-monks, nevertheless, persisted in energetically blocking Gediminas from all means of communication with the West. In 1325, therefore, Gediminas formed an alliance with Ladislas I, who five years previously had crowned himself King of Poland and anxiously sought the recovery of Pomerania and Danzig, which had been occupied by the Teutonic Knights. At this time, Gediminas' daughter, Aldona, was given in marriage to Ladislas' son, Casimir. Although the Lithuanians collaborated with the Poles against Brandenburg and the Order of the Cross, and even assisted in the defeat of the Teutons at Plowce in 1331, the pact proved to be of no great value due to Polish hesitation and Lithuania's paganism; it ceased to exist for all practical purposes after Ladislas' death in 1333.

Having seized Riga from the Archbishop in 1330, the Sword Bearers resumed their invasions of Lithuania, occasionally penetrating as far as Ukmerge and Vilnius. No significant results were attained, with the exception that the Lettish Zemgals were definitely incorporated with the political entity of the Livonian Order. The boundary separating Lithuania and Livonia remained approximately the same as that which exists between modern Lithuania and Latvia.

Similarly, the Teutonic Knights continued their campaign against Lithuania on the Prussian front. In 1337, they succeeded in erecting the fortress of Georgenburg (Jurbarkas) on the right bank of the Nemunas; and to honor the arrival of Henry of Bavaria, they built Baierburg near the junction of the Nemunas and Dubysa Rivers. Furthermore, Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria sanctioned the plans of Grand Master Dietrich von Altenburg to take title to all conquered territories of the Lithuanian state in the name of the Order (1337). The Germans, however, failed to make any further gains along the Nemunas or to advance more deeply into Lithuania. Tradition holds that Gediminas perished in the defense of the Lithuanian stronghold of Veliuona in 1341.⁠c

 p26  3. Gediminas and the Eastern Slavs

Without any hesitation Gediminas had proceeded with the program inaugurated by his predecessors; namely, to embrace under his own jurisdiction the Eastern Slav territories which had fallen under the yoke of the Tatars. In 1318 his son Algirdas took to wife the only daughter of the Duke of Vitebsk, and two years later became the master of Vitebsk as the successor of his father-in‑law. Gediminas' younger son, Liubartas, having wed the daughter of the Duke of Vladimir, inherited the northern Volhynian lands (c. 1323). In 1326 the principality of Minsk was clearly and finally made part and parcel of the Lithuanian state. In 1335 Gediminas reduced Kiev to vassalage. And for a time, his son Narimantas governed in Novgorod, while David of Gardinas presided at Pskov.

This Lithuanian expansion eastward was not at all seriously opposed by the Eastern Slavs for it spelled their liberation from the exacting demands of the Tatars and still permitted them to retain their traditional form of government. Gediminas did not attempt to introduce any radical reforms; he simply appointed his own deputy-governor or required an oath of allegiance and loyalty from the local duke. Residing at his capital, Vilnius, on the river Neris, Gediminas directly exercised authority over the Lithuanian Highlanders, the Yatvegian lands,⁠1 Polock, Vitebsk, and the district known later as Podlesia. The Samogitians, while recognizing his supremacy, maintained their own princes, and remained a semi-autonomous unit of Lithuania. Liubartas seemed to follow a similar pattern in Volhynia, at least until the outbreak of the Polish war in 1340. Since the area of his state included a large number of non-Lithuanian peoples, Gediminas was accustomed to style himself as "The King of the Lithuanians and many Ruthenians" (Rex lithuanorum et multorum ruthenorum). His political influence was further extended by the various marital ties entered into by his children. Thus, Mary became the wife of Dimitrov of  p27 Tver in 1320‑22; Auka married Boleslas George of Halicz in 1331; and Aiguste's husband was Ivan Kalita's son, Simeon (1333).

4. Jaunutis (1341‑1345)

Gediminas left the government of the Lithuanian state divided among his seven sons. Algirdas had been assigned to Vitebsk and Kreva; Manvydas ruled in Kernave and Slanimas; Narimantas acted as the administrator of Turov and Pinsk; Liubartas presided in Volhynia; Karijotas governed in Volkoviskas and Naugardukas; Kestutis had been placed in charge of the entire western frontier, from the vicinity of Brest through Trakai and Samogitia; Jaunutis inherited his father's capital, Vilnius, and therefore, became the Grand Duke⁠2 in whose person supreme authority was vested.

Jaunutis' reign was of very short duration. It is not certain whether it was his inability to assist Liubartas against the Poles in Volhynia, or to repel the renewed pretensions of the Livonian Order to Polock, or to execute internal affairs efficiently, or some other reason that prompted Algirdas and Kestutis to banish him from Vilnius. And one winter's night, in 1344‑45, Kestutis in a surprise move occupied the Lithuanian capital, dethroned Jaunutis, and proclaimed Algirdas as the country's Grand Duke. Jaunutis and Narimantas alone attempted to resist this act; but their respective appeals to Muscovy and the Tatars proved in vain, and a reconciliation was soon effected (1346). Narimantas returned to Pinsk; Jaunutis was appointed governor of Zaslaulis, near Minsk. Although Kestutis had permitted the primacy of honor to pass to Algirdas, yet in reality he and his brother became the co‑rulers of Lithuania. They made no further innovations; the latter concerned himself chiefly with the administration and control of the eastern areas, while the former concentrated his attention mainly on Lithuania's needs in the western territories.

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The Author's Notes:

1 Later incorrectly referred to by many as Black Russia.

2 From the times of Mindaugas to the days of Vytautas the title of the Lithuanian ruler varied. He was referred to as king and as duke. The appellation, Grand Duke, was adopted almost exclusively only after 1411. Nevertheless, since this term has become a tradition in Lithuanian history, its use here helps to simplify matters.

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Thayer's Notes:

a Franciscus de Moliano (b. mid‑13c in Moliano, now Mogliano in the Marche, Italy; d. 1325 as bishop of Fermo) was appointed envoy and inquisitor (nuntius super inquisitionis negotio) to Livonia by Clement V in 1312 in response to a complaint by the Archbishop of Riga, and spent several months there that year interrogating witnesses, to conclude by pronouncing a sentence of excommunication on the Teutonic Knights which, however, was later overturned.

Most of the above information comes from the entry in Latvian Wikipedia, which seems to be based on a scholar­ly study by Dr. Ēvalds Mugurēvičs (of the Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia), of Moliano's official investigation of 1312: particularly important to medieval Latvian history but very obscure elsewhere.

b A sharply different view of Gediminas' approach to Christianity and his treatment of the legates is given by the conservative 19c Catholic encyclopedist Gaetano Moroni, s.v. Lituania (XXXVII, p30).

c Gediminas does seem to have died in 1341 or possibly 1342, but the siege of Veliuona occurred in 1337. The place, exact date, and manner of his death are all unknown. For fairly comprehensive details of the confused tradition, see my note to Moroni's article Lituania.

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