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previous: Chapter 6 This webpage reproduces a chapter of The Story of Lithuania By Thomas G. Chase printed by Stratford House, Inc. New York, 1946 The text is in the public domain. This page has been carefully proofread and I believe it to be free of errors. If you find a mistake though, please let me know! next: Chapter 8

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 p55  Chapter VII
A Decade of Uncertainty

(The numbers link directly to the sections.)

The one‑hundred-sixty‑nine years which followed the reign of Vytautas the Great witnessed the gradual, steady, and full development of all the factors that finally led to the supreme crisis in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; namely, the Union of Lublin in 1569. These factors were: the growth of the landed gentry's influence, the persistent attempts of the Poles to create a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the rise of Muscovy as a political power.

1. War with Poland

Pursuing a separatist policy, Vytautas had not only effectively disrupted Jogaila's plans to unite Lithuania and Poland under his own personal government, but he had also succeeded in maintaining friendly relations with his cousin and in winning the esteem and respect of the neighboring Polish magnates. His former opponent and immediate successor to the Grand Ducal throne, Svitrigaila (1430‑1432) found it utterly impossible to avoid an armed clash with the Poles. This was not due to the opposition offered by Jogaila, his brother, but rather to the antagonism and expansionist hopes fostered by the Polish oligarchy.

A few days after Vytautas' death, the Lithuanian boyars unanimously proclaimed Svitrigaila as the Lithuanian Grand Duke. In this fashion, the same individuals who had agreed to the Pact of Horodlo some seventeen years previously, officially repudiated Jogaila's rather questionable claims to Lithuania as well as all  p56 unnecessary political ties with Poland. Pope Eugene IV later recognized their action as thoroughly justifiable and their oath of allegiance to the new ruler as valid and binding.

Svitrigaila immediately adopted the program which Vytautas had inaugurated: he requested Emperor Sigismund to sponsor his coronation as the King of Lithuania. And once more the Poles objected most violently. Imprisoning Lithuania's ducal deputy, Daugirdas, at Kamenets, they occupied Eastern Podolia. Svitrigaila, therefore, surrounded Jogaila, who had delayed at Vilnius after attending Vytautas' funeral, with an armed guard and wrested from him a promise, which guaranteed the restoration of the seized Podolian fortresses. The Polish magnates, however, paid no heed to Jogaila's orders and even arrested Michael Baba, whom Svitrigaila had dispatched to Kamenets to effect the transfer. And in January, 1431, at the Diet of Sandomierz, the Poles issued an ultimatum: they demanded that the Lithuanian Grand Duke cede Volhynia and become Jogaila's vassal. Svitrigaila absolutely refused to give any serious consideration to such terms. As a result, war ensued.

Disregarding the truce which was supposed to last till August 15th, the Poles invaded Volhynia during the last week of June, 1431. They denounced Svitrigaila as the usurper of the Lithuanian throne and indicated that the motivating cause of these hostilities was to bring about the union of Lithuania and Poland under a Polish King. In the meanwhile, Svitrigaila had formed a military alliance with the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order (June 19, 1431, at Skirsnemune); he had also renewed his ties of friendship with Novgorod, Pskov, Moldavia, and even attempted to enlist the aid of the Tatars.

On July 31st the Polish troops forced the crossing of the river Styr and besieged Luck, quite often called the second capital of old Lithuania. They were unable to overcome the Lithuanian commander, Jursa, and after three weeks of struggling began to fall back. Furthermore, on August 23rd the Germans invaded Poland from Prussia, while the Moldavians attacked Halicz and Kamenets. With their positions exposed to the enemy on three fronts, the Poles at once reopened negotiations with Svitrigaila in a less  p57 pretentious manner. The Lithuanian Grand Duke, apparently unaware of the assistance being rendered at the moment by his allies, concluded a two year truce with Jogaila at Cartoriskas on September 2nd. Kamenets temporarily remained in Polish hands; both parties agreed to meet on February 2nd of the following year to discuss the final settlement of the entire question.

The projected conference never materialized simply because the Poles refused to permit the Knights and the Moldavians to participate. Appeals were made to Pope Eugene IV and to the Council of Basle, but without any results. Finally, at the Diet of Sieradz (April 1432), the Poles decreed to recognize Svitrigaila as the Grand Duke of Lithuania provided that after his death, Lithuania would become part and parcel of the Polish Kingdom. Svitrigaila, of course, emphatically rejected this suggestion.

In May, 1432, Lawrence Zaremba and John of Kujavia, Polish emissaries, meeting with Svitrigaila in Lithuania, arranged for a council to be held at Brest on September 15th. Two months later Zaremba again arrived in Lithuania with explicit instructions from the Polish magnates to organize a conspiracy for the overthrow of the Grand Duke in favor of Zigmantas, who was Vytautas' brother and the acting governor of Starodub. At Asmena, near Vilnius, on September 1st, the conspirators made an attempt on Svitrigaila's life. The latter, however, succeeded in escaping; accompanied by George Gedgaudas and John Monvidaitis, he fled to Polock.

2. The Succession of Zigmantas

These events divided the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into two parts: Svitrigaila retained jurisdiction over the eastern provinces of Polock, Smolensk, Novgorod-Severski, Chernigov, and Kiev; Zigmantas, proclaiming himself Grand Duke, took possession of Vilnius, Trakai, Gardinas, Kaunas, Brest, Podlachia, and Samogitia.

Indebted greatly to the Poles for this sudden change of affairs and pressed by the necessity of protecting himself against Svitrigaila, Zigmantas consented to make the extravagant concessions sought by the Polish gentry. And on October 15, 1432, he entered  p58 into the Pact of Gardinas with the Polish delegation, which was headed by Zbigniew Olesnicki, and which was endowed with full authority to act in Jogaila's name. The Polish ambassadors formally acknowledged Zigmantas as the Grand Duke on this occasion, but only after he had agreed to recognize the supremacy of Jogaila, to cede Podolia and the Volhynian district of Horodlo, to cherish no intentions of crowning himself King and allow Lithuanians to pass to Jogaila or his successors after his death. One week later, in order to win their good will, Zigmantas, drawing no distinction between Catholic and Orthodox,⁠1 extended the personal and property rights of the residents of Vilnius and relieved them of tax obligations throughout the entire Grand Duchy.

3. Civil War

Svitrigaila immediately attempted to reestablish himself in western Lithuania. He appealed to the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order for aid. He sought to encourage the uprising plotted against Zigmantas by Jaunius of Trakai, Rumbaudas of Vilnius, Kesgaila of Samogitia and Sediboras of Ukmerge.⁠2 Finally, late in November, 1432, he marched on the Lithuanian territories held by Zigmantas and captured Minsk and Kreva. But at Asmena on Dec. 8th, Zigmantas defeated him and caused him to retreat to the East.

Svitrigaila's supporters continued to be active in Podolia and Volhynia. Theodore Kaributaitis refused to surrender Eastern Podolia, ceded by Zigmantas to Poland. Likewise, Alexander Nosas success­fully repelled Polish efforts to seize control of Luck. Furthermore, when Svitrigaila, assisted by the Livonians, launched his second campaign (July, 1433) to banish Zigmantas from Vilnius, they endeavored to occupy Lithuania's Brest. The dethroned Grand Duke, after routing Zigmantas' troops and recovering Minsk, Borisov, Kreva, Lyda and even reaching Kaunas, failed to retain his  p59 newly gained strategic positions; a plague, which seriously affected both soldiers and horses, halted his victorious advance and compelled him to turn back to Kiev.

The following year, seeking to reduce his opponent's influence in the East and to dispose the gentry towards himself, Zigmantas equalized the rights of the Ruthenian and Orthodox subjects with those of the Lithuanian Catholics. The Act of Trakai (May 6, 1434) really constituted the first charter which applied to every section of the Grand Duchy. It was undoubtedly responsible to a large extent for the abortive rebellion of Smolensk against Svitrigaila during that same summer. Still, it had not made the Ruthenes eligible for the more important government posts.

In the meanwhile, Svitrigaila had zealously imitated Vytautas' course of action in seeking to effect a reunion of the Orthodox elements of the Lithuanian state with the Roman Catholic Church. Urged by the Council of Basle to do so, he had corresponded with the Patriarch of Constantinople, the Byzantine emperor, the princes of Moscow, Tver, Pskov, and Novgorod in reference to this question. It was through his influence that Herasim of Smolensk, who favored the much discussed union, had succeeded Photius⁠3 as the Metropolitan of the Ruthenian and Muscovite Christians (1432‑33). Furthermore, Svitrigaila's letters to the Council of Basle (as well as those of his supporters), in 1433, promised the ecclesiastical authorities the closest cooperation in this matter. In 1434, Peter, Svitrigaila's chaplain, and John Nicolsdorf, a member of the Teutonic Order, were sent as the ousted Grand Duke's, Herasim's, and the German Knights' representatives to Pope Eugene IV. Svitrigaila's interest in the Church reunion, however, failed to strengthen his position against Zigmantas in any way. As a matter of fact, Herasim had even participated in a conspiracy directed against him at Smolensk.⁠4

The climax of the civil war between the two claimants of the  p60 Lithuanian throne was reached in 1435 at Ukmerge. On August 30th Svitrigaila's forces, which had been conscripted from the provinces of Kiev, Smolensk and Polock, joined their allies, the troops of the Livonian Order, near the Dvina River between Daugavpils and Polock. They then penetrated into the Lithuanian territories held by Zigmantas. But at Ukmerge, on the river Sventoji, their progress was halted by Zigmantas' army, consisting of Lithuanian and Polish soldiers and directed by his son, Michael. In the ensuing battle, Svitrigaila's men were thoroughly defeated and completely routed. Svitrigaila himself was sufficiently fortunate to escape to Polock.

This victory guaranteed Zigmantas the continued possession of the Lithuanian throne. By the following summer he had occupied Smolensk, Vitebsk, Polock and Novgorod-Severski. His attempt to take Kiev, Volhynia, and Eastern Podolia, which were still held by Svitrigaila, failed when his armies were repulsed at Luck and at Kiev in August, 1437. Finally, unable to obtain any favorable response from the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order, Svitrigaila, rather than recognize Zigmantas as the Lithuanian Grand Duke, surrendered to Poland on September 4th. According to the terms of the capitulation formulated at Lwow, he agreed to cede Luck and to federate his governed Ruthenian provinces with the Polish Kingdom, which areas were to be incorporated with Poland after his death.

Zigmantas denounced this treaty as a violation of the pact of 1432 and as an unjust mutilation of the Grand Duchy's territorial integrity. Nevertheless, at Gardinas on Dec. 6, 1437, he succeeded in eliciting from the Polish delegates an express promise that Poland would restore Luck to Lithuania and would immediately terminate all relations with Svitrigaila. In turn, he reiterated his own previously given promise — that Lithuania was to pass to the Polish Crown at the end of his reign. Svitrigaila, finding the situation entirely hopeless, retired to Galicia.

Having at last exiled his irreconcilable foe, Zigmantas clearly demonstrated during the last two years of his rule that he cherished no genuine desire to bring about the union of Lithuania with Poland. While the Poles vied with Albert of Austria for the  p61 Bohemian throne, he manifested a keen interest in the possible formation of a coalition in Eastern Europe, involving Prussia, Livonia, Albert II, and himself. Again, in a letter written to the German Emperor (autumn, 1439), Zigmantas plainly decried the ceaseless efforts of the Polish magnates to create a Polish-Lithuanian state. And in harmony with his temporizing policy, he once more renewed his agreement with Poland on October 31, 1439. But to what extent Zigmantas would have pursued his separatist aims will always remain a matter of speculation; his career ended suddenly on March 20, 1440, when he was assassinated by the boyar Skabeika and the princes of the rising Cartoryskis family. This deed is generally regarded as the result of the gentry's reaction against the ruthlessness Zigmantas had often shown in his dealings with different members of the upper classes.

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The Author's Notes:

1 cf.  p40, 49.

2 The conspirators were detected early in November; Jaunius and Rumbaudas were executed, while Kesgaila and Sediboras were imprisoned.

3 cf. p51.

4 Herasim's disloyalty was discovered by George Butrimas, and he was consequently punished by death (1434). Although ultimately an Act of Reunion between the Western and Eastern churches was concluded at Florence in 1439, Isidore, Herasim's successor, did not achieve any significant results in promulgating the decree of reunion among the Eastern Slavs living under the Lithuanian and Muscovite governments.

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