Voronin I. A.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is a state that existed in the northern part of Eastern Europe in 1230-1569.
The basis of the Grand Duchy was made up of Lithuanian tribes: Samogitians and Lithuanians, who lived along the Neman River and its tributaries. The Lithuanian tribes were forced to create a state by the need to fight the advance of the German crusaders in the Baltic states. The founder of the Principality of Lithuania was Prince Mindovg in 1230. Taking advantage of the difficult situation that had developed in Rus' due to Batu’s invasion, he began to seize Western Russian lands (Grodno, Berestye, Pinsk, etc.). Mindovg’s policy was continued by princes Viten (1293-1315) and Gediminas (1316-1341). By the middle of the 14th century. the power of the Lithuanian princes extended to the lands located between the Western Dvina, Dnieper and Pripyat rivers, i.e. almost the entire territory of present-day Belarus. Under Gediminas, the city of Vilna was built, which became the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
There were ancient and close ties between the Lithuanian and Russian principalities. Since the time of Gediminas, most of the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania consisted of Russians. Russian princes played a large role in the administration of the Lithuanian state. Lithuanians were not considered foreigners in Rus'. The Russians calmly left for Lithuania, the Lithuanians - for the Russian principalities. In the XIII-XV centuries. the lands of the Principality of Lithuania were part of the Kyiv Metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and were subordinate to the Metropolitan of Kyiv, whose residence since 1326 was in Moscow. There were also Catholic monasteries on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania reached its highest strength and power in the second half of the 14th - early 15th centuries. under princes Olgerd (1345-1377), Jagiello (1377-1392) and Vytautas (1392-1430). The territory of the principality at the beginning of the 15th century. reached 900 thousand sq. km. and extended from the Black to the Baltic Seas. In addition to the capital Vilna, the cities of Grodno, Kyiv, Polotsk, Pinsk, Bryansk, Berestye and others were important political and commercial centers. Most of them were previously the capitals of Russian principalities, were conquered or voluntarily joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the XIV - early XV centuries, along with Moscow and Tver, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania acted as one of the centers of the possible unification of Russian lands during the years of the Mongol-Tatar yoke.
In 1385, at the Krevo Castle near Vilna, at a congress of Polish and Lithuanian representatives, a decision was made on a dynastic union between Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the so-called “Krevo Union”) to fight the Teutonic Order. The Polish-Lithuanian union provided for the marriage of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagiello with the Polish Queen Jadwiga and the proclamation of Jagiello as king of both states under the name Vladislav II Jagiello. According to the agreement, the king had to deal with foreign policy issues and the fight against external enemies. The internal administration of both states remained separate: each state was entitled to have its own officials, its own army and treasury. Catholicism was declared the state religion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Jagiello converted to Catholicism with the name Vladislav. Jagiello's attempt to convert Lithuania to Catholicism caused discontent among the Russian and Lithuanian populations. The dissatisfied people were led by Prince Vitovt, Jogaila's cousin. In 1392, the Polish king was forced to transfer power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into his hands. Until the death of Vytautas in 1430, Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania existed as states independent from each other. This did not prevent them from acting together from time to time against a common enemy. This happened during the Battle of Grunwald on July 15, 1410, when the united army of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania completely defeated the army of the Teutonic Order.
The Battle of Grunwald, which took place near the villages of Grunwald and Tannenberg, became decisive battle in the centuries-old struggle of the Polish, Lithuanian and Russian peoples against the aggressive policy of the Teutonic Order.
The Master of the Order, Ulrich von Jungingen, entered into an agreement with the Hungarian King Sigmund and the Czech King Wenceslas. Their combined army numbered 85 thousand people. The total number of combined Polish-Russian-Lithuanian forces reached 100 thousand people. A significant part of the army of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas consisted of Russian soldiers. The Polish king Jagiello and Vytautas managed to attract 30 thousand Tatars and a 4 thousand Czech detachment to their side. The opponents settled down near the Polish village of Grunwald.
The Polish troops of King Jagiello stood on the left flank. They were commanded by the Krakow swordsman Zyndram from Myszkowiec. The Russian-Lithuanian army of Prince Vytautas defended the center of the position and the right flank.
The battle began with an attack by Vytautas' light cavalry against the left wing of the Order's troops. However, the Germans met the attackers with volleys of cannons, scattered them, and then launched a counterattack themselves. Vytautas' horsemen began to retreat. The knights sang the victory anthem and began to pursue them. At the same time, the Germans pushed back the Polish army stationed on the right flank. There was a threat of complete defeat of the Allied army. The Smolensk regiments stationed in the center saved the situation. They withstood the fierce onslaught of the Germans. One of the Smolensk regiments was almost completely destroyed in a brutal battle, but did not retreat a single step. The other two, having suffered heavy losses, held back the onslaught of the knights and gave the Polish army and the Lithuanian cavalry the opportunity to rebuild. “In this battle,” wrote the Polish chronicler Dlugosh, “only the Russian knights of the Smolensk Land, formed by three separate regiments, steadfastly fought the enemy and did not take part in the flight. Thus they earned immortal glory.”
The Poles launched a counteroffensive against the right flank of the Order's army. Vytautas managed to strike at the detachments of knights returning after a successful attack on his position. The situation has changed dramatically. Under enemy pressure, the order's army retreated to Grunwald. After some time, the retreat turned into a stampede. Many knights were killed or drowned in the swamps.
The victory was complete. The winners received big trophies. The Teutonic Order, which lost almost its entire army in the Battle of Grunwald, was forced in 1411 to make peace with Poland and Lithuania. The land of Dobrzyn, recently torn away from it, was returned to Poland. Lithuania received Žemaitė. The Order was forced to pay a large indemnity to the winners.
Vitovt had a great influence on the policies of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily I, who was married to his daughter Sophia. With the help of his daughter, Vitovt actually controlled his weak-willed son-in-law, who treated his powerful father-in-law with trepidation. In an effort to strengthen his power, the Lithuanian prince also interfered in the affairs of the Orthodox Church. Trying to free the Russian regions that were part of Lithuania from ecclesiastical dependence on the Moscow metropolitan, Vitovt achieved the establishment of the Kyiv metropolitanate. However, Constantinople did not appoint a special independent metropolitan of Western Rus'.
In the first half. XV century The political influence of the Poles and the Catholic clergy on Lithuanian affairs increases sharply. In 1422, the union of Lithuania and Poland was confirmed in Gorodok. Polish positions were introduced in the Lithuanian lands, Sejms were established, and the Lithuanian nobility, who converted to Catholicism, were given equal rights with the Polish.
After the death of Vytautas in 1430, an internecine struggle for the grand-ducal throne began in Lithuania. In 1440 it was occupied by Casimir, the son of Jagiello, who was also the Polish king. Casimir wanted to unite Lithuania and Poland, but the Lithuanians and Russians strongly opposed this. At a number of sejms (Lublin 1447, Parczew 1451, Sierad 1452, Parczew and Petrakov 1453), an agreement was never reached. Under Kazimir's heir, Sigismund Kazimirovich (1506-1548), the rapprochement of the two states continued. In 1569, the Union of Lublin was concluded, which finally formalized the merger of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The head of the new state was the Polish king Sigismund Augustus (1548-1572). From this moment on, the independent history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania can be considered over.
The first Lithuanian princes
Mindovg (d. 1263)
Mindovg - prince, founder of the Principality of Lithuania, ruler of Lithuania in 1230-1263. Chroniclers called Mindaugas “cunning and treacherous.” The tribes of Lithuania and Samogit were prompted to unite under his rule by the increased need to combat the onslaught of German crusader knights in the Baltic states. In addition, Mindovg and the Lithuanian nobility sought to expand their possessions at the expense of the western lands of Rus'. Taking advantage of the difficult situation in Rus' during the Horde invasion, the Lithuanian princes from the 30s. XIII century began to seize the lands of Western Rus', the cities of Grodno, Berestye, Pinsk, etc. At the same time, Mindovg inflicted two defeats on Horde troops when they tried to penetrate into Lithuania. The Lithuanian prince concluded a peace treaty with the crusaders of the Livonian Order in 1249 and observed it for 11 years. He even transferred some Lithuanian lands to the Livonians. But in 1260 a popular uprising broke out against the rule of the Order. Mindovg supported him and in 1262 defeated the crusaders at Lake Durbe. In 1263, the Lithuanian prince died as a result of a conspiracy of princes hostile to him, who were supported by the crusaders. After the death of Mindaugas, the state he created fell apart. Strife began between the Lithuanian princes, which lasted for almost 30 years.
Viten (d. 1315)
Vyten (Vitenes) - Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1293 - 1315. Its origin is legendary. There is information that Viten was the son of the Lithuanian prince Lutiver and was born in 1232. There are other versions of his origin. Some medieval chronicles call Viten a boyar who had large land holdings in the Zhmud lands, and one of the legends considers him a sea robber who was engaged in pirate fishing off the southern shores of the Baltic. Viten was married to the daughter of the Zhmud prince Vikind. This marriage allowed him to unite the Lithuanians and Samogitians under his rule.
This article provides a list and characteristics of the reign of the most famous for their achievements of the Grand Dukes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of the Middle Ages.
Prince's name: Mindovg
Dates of reign: 1253 - 1263
Policy and activities: fought with the German Livonian Order. Captured by the Russians and Belarusian cities Novogrudok, Polotsk, Grodno. Being a pagan, he converted to Christianity so that the Pope would recognize Lithuania as an independent state. Later he abandoned Christianity as soon as he no longer needed the help of the Pope.
The first king of Lithuania in history. In 1261 he entered into an alliance with Veliky Novgorod for the war with the German knights of the order.
Prince's name: Voyshelk
Dates of reign: 1264-1267
Policy and activities: was also a prince in Russian Novogrudok. He voluntarily renounced the throne and entered an Orthodox monastery, traveling to distant countries as a pilgrim.
Main events of the reign and achievements: In 1254 he made peace between Lithuania and the Galician-Volhynian princes.
Prince's name: Gediminas
Dates of reign: 1316 - 1341
Policy and activities: Founded the princely dynasty of Gediminovich. He was an enemy of the Prince of Moscow and the South Russian princes and an ally of Prince Tver. He had great influence in Novgorod and Pskov.
Main events of the reign and achievements: Inflicted a number of major defeats on the German knights, with whom he fought all his life. He annexed a number of Western Russian, or rather Belarusian, lands. He re-annexed Polotsk and Grodno to Lithuania, as well as Minsk (1326), Pinsk and Turov (1336), Vitebsk (somewhat earlier, in 1320). In 1325 he entered into an alliance with Poland, marrying his daughter to the son of the Polish king. In 1323 he founded the city of Vilnius, making it his capital. In 1324 he captured Kyiv.
Prince's name: Olgerd
Dates of reign: 1345- 1377
Policy and activities: fought with the Tatars (defeated them at the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362), Moscow (war of 1368-72). He did not actively fight the Teutons and did not gather troops against them. but he did not approve of the crusaders and twice personally fought against the crusaders together with the squad of his brother Keistut. Was an ally of Tver.
Apparently, he was a pagan who formally converted to Christianity for the purpose of a diplomatic marriage with a Belarusian princess. Christianity, according to some historical sources, didn't like it.
Main events of the reign and achievements: significantly increased the territory of the Principality of Lithuania. He annexed Kyiv, Chernigov, Bryansk, Volyn, part of the Black Sea coast, and made the Smolensk Principality the patrimony of Lithuania. He failed to capture Moscow lands, since Prince Dmitry Donskoy gave him a worthy rebuff. I had to make peace and marry my daughter into the Moscow princely family.
Prince's name: Jagiello
Dates of reign: 1377-1381 (Grand Duke of Lithuania), 1382-1392, in 1386-34, King of Poland and the new state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth)
Policy and activities: Son of Olgerd. He became the founder of the European dynasty of rulers of the Jagiellons. His Christian mother baptized Jogaila into Orthodoxy under the name Yakov, but he never used his baptized name. He fought against his brother and uncle in the civil war in Lithuania (1381-84). He was an implacable enemy of the Crusaders.
Main events of the reign and achievements: He united Lithuania and Poland, creating a new powerful state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This happened on August 14, 1384 during the signing of the Krevo Union. After this, Jagiello called on all of Lithuania to accept Catholicism to strengthen the new union, he himself accepted the new faith and married the 12-year-old Queen of Poland Jadwiga. Crowned as King Vladislav.
In 1384, he also concluded a peace treaty with Moscow (before that he was hostile to Dmitry Donskoy and almost acted on the side of Mamai in the Battle of Kulikovo). In 1409-11 he fought against the crusaders in the Great War. Along with other Lithuanians and Poles, he defeated the Teutonic Order of Crusader Knights in the Battle of Grunwald on July 15, 1410. Thus, he stopped the advance of the crusaders to the east once and for all.
Prince's name: Vytautas (Alexander) the Great
Dates of reign: 1392-1430
Policy and activities: He was an ally of Moscow and the Tatar Khan Tokhtamysh, an opponent of Mamai, and intervened in the affairs of the Golden Horde (participated in the battle of the khans on Vorskla in 1399). He changed religions several times for political gain.
Main events of the reign and achievements: He was an active participant in the Great War against the Crusaders of 1409-1410. Together with the Polish king, Jagiello defeated the knights of the Teutonic Order, the German crusaders in the Battle of Grunwald on July 15, 1410. Thus, he stopped the advance of the crusaders to the east once and for all.
He also extended his power to Podol and the Tula lands. Under him, fortresses were founded on the Black Sea - the future cities of Ochakov and Odessa. He ravaged Ryazan in 1397. Under Vytautas, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania flourished.
Ivan Kalita, Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan the Terrible - these creators of the Moscow state are known to us from school. Are the names of Gediminas, Jagiello or Vytautas also familiar to us? At best, we will read in textbooks that they were Lithuanian princes and once upon a time fought with Moscow, and then disappeared somewhere into obscurity... But it was they who founded the Eastern European power, which, with no less reason than Muscovy, called itself Russia.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Chronology of the main events of history (before the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth):
9th-12th centuries- development of feudal relations and formation of estates on the territory of Lithuania, formation of the state
Early 13th century- increased aggression of the German crusaders
1236- Lithuanians defeat the Knights of the Sword at Siauliai
1260- victory of the Lithuanians over the Teutons at Durbe
1263- unification of the main Lithuanian lands under the rule of Mindaugas
XIV century- significant expansion of the territory of the principality due to new lands
1316-1341- reign of Gediminas
1362- Olgerd defeats the Tatars in the Battle of Blue Waters (the left tributary of the Southern Bug) and occupies Podolia and Kyiv
1345-1377- reign of Olgerd
1345-1382- reign of Keistut
1385- Grand Duke Jagiello
(1377-1392)
concludes the Union of Krevo with Poland
1387- adoption of Catholicism by Lithuania
1392- as a result of internecine struggle, Vytautas becomes the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who opposed the policies of Jogaila 1410 - united Lithuanian-Russian and Polish troops completely defeat the knights of the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Grunwald
1413- Union of Gorodel, according to which the rights of the Polish gentry extended to Lithuanian Catholic nobles
1447- the first Priviley - a set of laws. Together with Sudebnik
1468 it became the first experience of codification of law in the principality
1492- “Privilege Grand Duke Alexander.” First Charter of Noble Liberties
Late 15th century- formation of the general gentry Sejm. Growth of rights and privileges of lords
1529, 1566, 1588 - the publication of three editions of the Lithuanian statute - “charter and praise”, zemstvo and regional “privileges”, which secured the rights of the gentry
1487-1537- wars with Russia that took place intermittently against the backdrop of the strengthening of the Principality of Moscow. Lithuania lost Smolensk, captured by Vytautas in 1404. According to the truce of 1503, Rus' regained 70 volosts and 19 cities, including Chernigov, Bryansk, Novgorod-Seversky and other Russian lands
1558-1583- Russia’s war with the Livonian Order, as well as with Sweden, Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for the Baltic states and access to Baltic Sea, in which Lithuania suffered setbacks
1569- signing of the Union of Lublin and the unification of Lithuania into one state with Poland - Rzeczpospolita
A century later, Gediminas and Olgerd already had a power that included Polotsk, Vitebsk, Minsk, Grodno, Brest, Turov, Volyn, Bryansk and Chernigov. In 1358, Olgerd’s ambassadors even declared to the Germans: “All of Rus' should belong to Lithuania.” To reinforce these words and ahead of the Muscovites, the Lithuanian prince spoke out against the Golden Horde “itself”: in 1362 he defeated the Tatars at Blue Waters and secured ancient Kyiv to Lithuania for almost 200 years.
“Will Slavic streams merge into the Russian sea?” (Alexander Pushkin)By no coincidence, at the same time, the Moscow princes, the descendants of Ivan Kalita, began to “collect” lands little by little. Thus, by the middle of the 14th century, two centers had emerged that claimed to unite the ancient Russian “heritage”: Moscow and Vilna, founded in 1323. The conflict could not be avoided, especially since the main tactical rivals of Moscow - the princes of Tver - were in alliance with Lithuania, and the Novgorod boyars also sought the arm of the West.
Then, in 1368-1372, Olgerd, in alliance with Tver, made three campaigns against Moscow, but the forces of the rivals turned out to be approximately equal, and the matter ended in an agreement dividing the “spheres of influence.” Well, since they failed to destroy each other, they had to get closer: some of the children of the pagan Olgerd converted to Orthodoxy. It was here that Dmitry proposed to the still undecided Jagiello a dynastic union, which was not destined to take place. And not only did it not happen according to the prince’s word: it became the other way around. As you know, Dmitry was unable to resist Tokhtamysh, and in 1382 the Tatars allowed Moscow “to be poured out and plundered.” She again became a Horde tributary. The alliance with his failed father-in-law ceased to attract the Lithuanian sovereign, but rapprochement with Poland gave him not only a chance for a royal crown, but also real help in the fight against his main enemy - the Teutonic Order.
And Jagiello still married - but not to the Moscow princess, but to the Polish queen Jadwiga. He was baptized according to the Catholic rite. Became the Polish king under the Christian name Vladislav. Instead of an alliance with the eastern brothers, the Krevo Union of 1385 happened with the western ones. Since that time, Lithuanian history has been firmly intertwined with Polish: the descendants of Jagiello (Jagiellon) reigned in both powers for three centuries - from the 14th to the 16th. But still, these were two different states, each retaining its own political system, legal system, currency and army. As for Vladislav-Jagiello, he spent most of his reign in his new possessions. His cousin Vitovt ruled the old ones and ruled brightly. In a natural alliance with the Poles, he defeated the Germans at Grunwald (1410), annexed the Smolensk land (1404) and the Russian principalities in the upper reaches of the Oka. The powerful Lithuanian could even place his proteges on the Horde throne. A huge “ransom” was paid to him by Pskov and Novgorod, and the Moscow Prince Vasily I Dmitrievich, as if turning his father’s plans inside out, married Vitovt’s daughter and began to call his father-in-law “father”, that is, in the system of the then feudal ideas, he recognized himself as his vassal. At the peak of greatness and glory, Vytautas lacked only a royal crown, which he declared at the congress of monarchs of Central and Eastern Europe in 1429 in Lutsk in the presence of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund I, the Polish king Jagiello, the Tver and Ryazan princes, the Moldavian ruler, embassies of Denmark, Byzantium and the Pope. In the autumn of 1430, Prince Vasily II of Moscow, Metropolitan Photius, the princes of Tver, Ryazan, Odoev and Mazovia, the Moldavian ruler, the Livonian master, and the ambassadors of the Byzantine emperor gathered for the coronation in Vilna. But the Poles refused to let through the embassy, which was bringing Vytautas royal regalia from Rome (the Lithuanian “Chronicle of Bykhovets” even says that the crown was taken from the ambassadors and cut into pieces). As a result, Vytautas was forced to postpone the coronation, and in October of the same year he suddenly fell ill and died. It is possible that the Lithuanian Grand Duke was poisoned, since a few days before his death he felt great and even went hunting. Under Vitovt, the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, and its eastern border passed under Vyazma and Kaluga...
“What angered you? Excitement in Lithuania? (Alexander Pushkin)
The daredevil Vitovt had no sons - after a protracted strife, Jagiello's son Casimir ascended to power in 1440, taking the thrones of Lithuania and Poland. He and his immediate descendants worked intensively in Central Europe, and not without success: sometimes the crowns of the Czech Republic and Hungary ended up in the hands of the Jagiellons. But they completely stopped looking to the east and lost interest in Olgerd’s ambitious “all-Russian” program. As you know, nature abhors a vacuum - the task was successfully “intercepted” by Vitovt’s Moscow great-grandson, Grand Duke Ivan III: already in 1478 he laid claim to the ancient Russian lands - Polotsk and Vitebsk. The church also helped Ivan - after all, the residence of the all-Russian metropolitan was Moscow, which means that Lithuanian adherents of Orthodoxy were also spiritually governed from there. However, the Lithuanian princes more than once (in 1317, 1357, 1415) tried to install “their” metropolitan for the lands of the Grand Duchy, but in Constantinople they were not interested in dividing the influential and rich metropolis and making concessions to the Catholic king.
And now Moscow felt the strength to launch a decisive offensive. Two wars take place - 1487-1494 and 1500-1503, Lithuania loses almost a third of its territory and recognizes Ivan III as the “Sovereign of All Rus'”. Further - more: Vyazma, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky lands (actually, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky, as well as Bryansk, Starodub and Gomel) go to Moscow. In 1514, Vasily III returned Smolensk, which for 100 years became the main fortress and “gate” on the western border of Russia (then it was again taken away by Western opponents).
Only by the third war of 1512-1522 did the Lithuanians gather fresh troops from the western regions of their state, and the forces of the opponents turned out to be equal. Moreover, by that time the population of the eastern Lithuanian lands had completely cooled down to the idea of joining Moscow. Still, the gap between public views and the rights of subjects of the Moscow and Lithuanian states was already very deep.
One of the halls of the Vilnius Gediminas Tower
Not Muscovites, but Russians
In cases where Lithuania included highly developed territories, the grand dukes maintained their autonomy, guided by the principle: “We do not destroy the old, we do not introduce new things.” Thus, the loyal rulers from the Rurikovich tree (princes Drutsky, Vorotynsky, Odoevsky) retained their possessions completely for a long time. Such lands received “privilege” certificates. Their residents could, for example, demand a change of governor, and the sovereign would undertake not to take certain actions in relation to them: not to “enter” into the rights of the Orthodox Church, not to resettle local boyars, not to distribute fiefs to people from other places, not to “sue” those accepted by local courts decisions. Until the 16th century, on the Slavic lands of the Grand Duchy, legal norms were in force that went back to the “Russian Truth” - the oldest set of laws given by Yaroslav the Wise.
 Lithuanian knight. Late 14th century |
In the northeastern part of Rus', that is, in that which, in the end, was preserved on the map under this name, the process of “gathering lands” took longer and more difficult, but the degree of unification of the once independent principalities under the heavy hand of the Kremlin rulers was immeasurably higher. In the turbulent 16th century, the “free autocracy” (the term of Ivan the Terrible) strengthened in Moscow, the remnants of Novgorod and Pskov liberties, the own “destinies” of aristocratic families and semi-independent border principalities disappeared. All more or less noble subjects performed lifelong service to the sovereign, and attempts by them to defend their rights were regarded as treason. Lithuania in the XIV-XVI centuries was, rather, a federation of lands and principalities under the rule of the great princes - the descendants of Gediminas. The relationship between power and subjects was also different - this was reflected in the model of the social structure and government order of Poland. “Strangers” to the Polish nobility, the Jagiellons needed its support and were forced to grant new privileges, extending them to Lithuanian subjects. In addition, the descendants of Jagiello pursued an active foreign policy, and for this they also had to pay the knights who went on campaigns.
Taking liberties with propination
But it was not only due to the goodwill of the great princes that such a significant rise in the gentry - the Polish and Lithuanian nobility - occurred. It’s also about the “world market”. Entering the phase of industrial revolutions in the 16th century, the Netherlands, England, and northern Germany required more and more raw materials and agricultural products, which were supplied by Eastern Europe and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And with the influx of American gold and silver into Europe, the “price revolution” made the sale of grain, livestock and flax even more profitable (the purchasing power of Western clients increased sharply). Livonian knights, Polish and Lithuanian gentry began to transform their estates into farms, aimed specifically at the production of export products. The growing income from such trade formed the basis of the power of the “magnates” and the wealthy gentry.
The first were the princes - the Rurikovichs and Gediminovichs, the largest landowners of Lithuanian and Russian origin (Radziwills, Sapiehas, Ostrozhskys, Volovichi), who had the opportunity to take hundreds of their own servants to war and occupied the most prominent posts. In the 15th century, their circle expanded to include “simple” “noble boyars” who were obliged to perform military service for the prince. The Lithuanian Statute (code of laws) of 1588 consolidated their broad rights accumulated over 150 years. The granted lands were declared the eternal private property of the owners, who could now freely enter the service of more noble lords and go abroad. It was forbidden to arrest them without a court decision (and the gentry themselves elected local zemstvo courts at their “sejmiks” meetings). The owner also had the right of “propination” - only he himself could produce beer and vodka and sell it to the peasants.
Naturally, corvée flourished in the farms, and along with it other serfdom systems. The statute recognized the right of peasants to only one possession - movable property necessary to fulfill duties to the owner. However, a “free man” who settled on the land of a feudal lord and lived in a new place for 10 years could still leave by paying off a significant sum. However, the law adopted by the national Sejm in 1573 gave the lords the right to punish their subjects at their discretion - up to and including the death penalty. The sovereign now generally lost the right to interfere in the relationship between patrimonial owners and their “living property,” and in Muscovite Rus', on the contrary, the state increasingly limited judicial rights landowners.
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The state structure of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was also strikingly different from Moscow. There was no central administration apparatus similar to the Great Russian system of orders - with its numerous clerks and clerks. The zemsky podskarbiy (the head of the state treasury - “skarbom”) in Lithuania kept and spent money, but did not collect taxes. Hetmans (troop commanders) led the gentry's militia when it was assembled, but the Grand Duke's standing army numbered only five thousand mercenary soldiers in the 16th century. The only permanent body was the Grand Ducal Chancellery, which conducted diplomatic correspondence and kept the archive - the “Lithuanian Metrics”.
In the year when the Genoese Christopher Columbus set off on his first voyage to the distant “Indian” shores, in the glorious 1492, the Lithuanian sovereign Alexander Kazimirovich Jagiellon finally and voluntarily embarked on the path “ parliamentary monarchy": now he coordinated his actions with the council of lords, which consisted of three dozen bishops, governors and governors of the regions. In the absence of the prince, the Rada generally completely ruled the country, controlling land grants, expenses and foreign policy.
Lithuanian cities were also very different from Great Russian ones. There were few of them, and they settled reluctantly: for greater “urbanization,” the princes had to invite foreigners - Germans and Jews, who again received special privileges. But this was not enough for foreigners. Feeling the strength of their position, they confidently sought concession after concession from the authorities: in the 14th-15th centuries, Vilno, Kovno, Brest, Polotsk, Lvov, Minsk, Kyiv, Vladimir-Volynsky and other cities received their own self-government - the so-called “Magdeburg law”. Now the townspeople elected “radtsy”-councillors, who were in charge of municipal revenues and expenses, and two mayors - a Catholic and an Orthodox one, who judged the townspeople together with the grand-ducal governor, the “voight”. And when craft workshops appeared in cities in the 15th century, their rights were enshrined in special charters.
The origins of parliamentarism: the Val Diet
But let us return to the origins of the parliamentarism of the Lithuanian state - after all, it was its main distinguishing feature. The circumstances of the emergence of the supreme legislative body of the principality - the Valny Sejm - are interesting. In 1507, he first collected for the Jagiellons an emergency tax for military needs - “serebschizna”, and since then it has been like this: every year or two the need for a subsidy was repeated, which means the gentry had to collect. Gradually, other important issues fell into the competence of the “lords’ council” (that is, the Sejm) - for example, at the Vilna Sejm in 1514 they decided, contrary to the princely opinion, to continue the war with Moscow, and in 1566 the deputies decided: not to change anything without their approval single law.
Unlike the representative bodies of other European countries, only the nobility always sat in the Sejm. Its members, the so-called “ambassadors”, were elected by povets (judicial-administrative districts) by local “sejmiks”, received “zero power” from their voters - the gentry - and defended their orders. In general, almost our Duma - but only a noble one. By the way, it is worth comparing: in Russia at that time there also existed an irregularly meeting advisory body - the Zemsky Sobor. It, however, did not have rights even closely comparable to those possessed by the Lithuanian parliament (it had, in fact, only advisory!), and from the 17th century it began to be convened less and less, to be held for the last time in 1653. And no one “noticed” this - now no one even wanted to sit in the Council: the Moscow service people who made up it, for the most part, lived off small estates and the “sovereign’s salary”, and they were not interested in thinking about the affairs of the state. It would be more reliable for them to secure the peasants on their lands...
“Do Lithuanians speak Polish?..” (Adam Mickiewicz)
Both the Lithuanian and Moscow political elites, grouped around their “parliaments,” created, as usual, myths about their own past. In the Lithuanian chronicles there is a fantastic story about Prince Palemon, who with five hundred nobles fled from the tyranny of Nero to the shores of the Baltic and conquered the principalities of the Kyiv state (try to compare the chronological layers!). But Rus' did not lag behind: in the writings of Ivan the Terrible, the origin of the Rurikovichs was traced back to the Roman emperor Octavian Augustus. But the Moscow “Tale of the Princes of Vladimir” calls Gedimina a princely groom who married his master’s widow and illegally seized power over Western Russia.
But the differences were not only in mutual accusations of “ignorance.” New series The Russian-Lithuanian wars at the beginning of the 16th century inspired Lithuanian sources to contrast their own, domestic, orders with the “cruel tyranny” of the Moscow princes. In neighboring Russia, in turn, after the disasters of the Time of Troubles, the Lithuanian (and Polish) people were looked at exclusively as enemies, even “demons”, in comparison with which even the German “Luthor” looks cute.
So, wars again. Lithuania generally had to fight a lot: in the second half of the 15th century, the combat power of the Teutonic Order was finally broken, but a new terrible threat arose on the southern borders of the state - the Ottoman Empire and its vassal, the Crimean Khan. And, of course, the many times already mentioned confrontation with Moscow. During the famous Livonian War (1558-1583), Ivan the Terrible initially briefly captured a significant part of Lithuanian possessions, but already in 1564, Hetman Nikolai Radziwill defeated the 30,000-strong army of Peter Shuisky on the Ule River. True, the attempt to go on the offensive against Moscow's possessions failed: the Kiev governor, Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky, and the Chernobyl headman, Philon Kmita, attacked Chernigov, but their attack was repulsed. The struggle dragged on: there were not enough troops or money.
Lithuania had to reluctantly go for full, real and final unification with Poland. In 1569, on June 28, in Lublin, representatives of the gentry of the Crown of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania proclaimed the creation of a single Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzecz Pospolita - a literal translation of the Latin res publica - “common cause”) with a single Senate and Sejm; monetary and tax system also merged. Vilno, however, retained some autonomy: its rights, treasury, hetmans and the official “Russian” language.
Here, “by the way,” the last Jagiellon, Sigismund II Augustus, died in 1572; so, logically, they decided to choose the common king of the two countries at the same Diet. For centuries, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth turned into a unique, non-hereditary monarchy.
Res publica in Moscow
As part of the gentry “republic” (XVI-XVIII centuries), Lithuania at first had nothing to complain about. On the contrary, it experienced the highest economic and cultural growth and again became a great power in Eastern Europe. In times of troubles for Russia, the Polish-Lithuanian army of Sigismund III besieged Smolensk, and in July 1610 defeated the army of Vasily Shuisky, after which this unfortunate king was overthrown from the throne and tonsured as a monk. The boyars found no other way out than to conclude an agreement with Sigismund in August and invite his son, Prince Vladislav, to the Moscow throne. According to the agreement, Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth concluded an eternal peace and alliance, and the prince pledged not to erect Catholic churches, “not to change the previous customs and ranks” (including serfdom, of course), and foreigners “in the governors and among the officials not to be." He did not have the right to execute, deprive of “honor” and take away property without the advice of the boyars “and all Duma people.” All new laws were to be adopted “by the Duma of the boyars and all the lands.” On behalf of the new Tsar “Vladislav Zhigimontovich”, Polish and Lithuanian companies occupied Moscow. As we know, this whole story ended in nothing for the Polish-Lithuanian contender. The whirlwind of the ongoing Russian unrest swept away his claims to the throne of Eastern Rus', and soon the successful Romanovs, with their triumph, completely marked a further and very tough opposition to the political influence of the West (while gradually succumbing more and more to its cultural influence).
What if Vladislav’s affair had “burnt out”?.. Well, some historians believe that the agreement between the two Slavic powers already at the beginning of the 17th century could have become the beginning of the pacification of Rus'. In any case, it meant a step towards the rule of law, offering an effective alternative to autocracy. However, even if the invitation of a foreign prince to the Moscow throne could actually take place, to what extent did the principles outlined in the agreement correspond to the ideas of the Russian people about a fair social order? Moscow nobles and men seemed to prefer a formidable sovereign, standing above all “ranks” - a guarantee against arbitrariness “ strong people" In addition, the stubborn Catholic Sigismund categorically refused to let the prince go to Moscow, much less allow his conversion to Orthodoxy.
The short-lived heyday of Speech
Having lost Moscow, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, however, seized very substantial “compensation”, again regaining the Chernigov-Seversky lands (they were recaptured in the so-called Smolensk War of 1632-1634 already from Tsar Mikhail Romanov).
As for the rest, the country has now undoubtedly become the main breadbasket of Europe. The grain was floated down the Vistula to Gdansk, and from there along the Baltic Sea through the Oresund to France, Holland, and England. Huge herds of cattle from what is now Belarus and Ukraine - to Germany and Italy. The army did not lag behind the economy: the best heavy cavalry in Europe at that time, the famous “winged” hussars, shone on the battlefields.But the flowering was short-lived. The reduction of export duties on grain, so beneficial to landowners, simultaneously opened up access to foreign goods to the detriment of their own producers. The policy of inviting immigrants to the cities - Germans, Jews, Poles, Armenians, who now made up the majority of residents of Ukrainian and Belarusian cities, especially large ones (for example, Lviv), which was partly destructive for the overall national perspective, continued. The offensive of the Catholic Church led to the displacement of Orthodox burghers from city institutions and courts; cities became “foreign” territory for peasants. As a result, the two main components of the state were disastrously demarcated and alienated from each other.
On the other hand, although the “republican” system certainly opened up wide opportunities for political and economic growth, although broad self-government protected the rights of the gentry from both the king and the peasants, although it could already be said that a kind of rule of law state was created in Poland , in all this there was already a destructive beginning hidden. First of all, the nobles themselves undermined the foundations of their own prosperity. These were the only “full-fledged citizens” of their fatherland, these proud people considered themselves alone as a “political people.” As has already been said, they despised and humiliated peasants and townspeople. But with such an attitude, the latter could hardly be eager to defend the master’s “liberties” - neither in internal troubles, nor from external enemies.
The Union of Brest-Litovsk is not an alliance, but a schism
After the Union of Lublin, the Polish gentry poured into the rich and sparsely populated lands of Ukraine in a powerful stream. There, the latifundia grew like mushrooms - Zamoyski, Zolkiewski, Kalinovski, Koniecpolski, Potocki, Wisniewiecki. With their appearance, former religious tolerance became a thing of the past: the Catholic clergy followed the magnates, and in 1596 the famous Union of Brest was born - a union of the Orthodox and Catholic churches on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The basis of the union was the recognition by the Orthodox of Catholic dogmas and the supreme power of the pope, while the Orthodox Church preserved rituals and services in Slavic languages.
The Union, as one would expect, did not resolve religious contradictions: clashes between those who remained faithful to Orthodoxy and the Uniates were fierce (for example, during the Vitebsk revolt of 1623, the Uniate bishop Josaphat Kuntsevich was killed). The authorities were closing orthodox churches, and priests who refused to join the union were expelled from their parishes. Such national-religious oppression ultimately led to the uprising of Bohdan Khmelnitsky and the actual fall of Ukraine from Rech. But on the other hand, the privileges of the gentry, the brilliance of their education and culture attracted Orthodox nobles: in the 16th-17th centuries, the Ukrainian and Belarusian nobility often renounced the faith of their fathers and converted to Catholicism, along with the new faith, adopting a new language and culture. In the 17th century, the Russian language and the Cyrillic alphabet fell out of use in official writing, and at the beginning of the New Age, when the formation of national states was underway in Europe, the Ukrainian and Belarusian national elites became Polonized.
Freedom or bondage?
...And the inevitable happened: in the 17th century, the “golden liberty” of the gentry turned into paralysis of state power. The famous principle of liberum veto - the requirement of unanimity when passing laws in the Sejm - led to the fact that literally none of the “constitutions” (decisions) of the congress could come into force. Anyone bribed by some foreign diplomat or simply a tipsy “ambassador” could disrupt the meeting. For example, in 1652, a certain Vladislav Sitsinsky demanded that the Sejm be closed, and it resignedly dispersed! Later, 53 meetings of the supreme assembly (about 40%!) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ended ingloriously in a similar manner.
But in fact, in economics and big politics, the total equality of the “brother lords” simply led to the omnipotence of those who had money and influence - the “royalty” tycoons who bought themselves the highest government positions, but were not controlled by the king. The possessions of such families as the already mentioned Lithuanian Radziwills, with dozens of cities and hundreds of villages, were comparable in size to modern European states such as Belgium. The “krolevats” maintained private armies that were superior in number and equipment to the crown troops. And at the other pole there was a mass of that same proud, but poor nobility - “A nobleman on a fence (a tiny piece of land - Ed.) is equal to a governor!” - which, with its arrogance, had long instilled in itself the hatred of the lower classes, and was simply forced to endure anything from its “patrons.” The only privilege of such a nobleman could remain only the ridiculous demand that his owner-magnate flog him only on a Persian carpet. This requirement - either as a sign of respect for ancient freedoms, or as a mockery of them - was observed.
In any case, the master's liberty has turned into a parody of itself. Everyone seemed to be convinced that the basis of democracy and freedom was the complete impotence of the state. Nobody wanted the king to become stronger. IN mid-17th century century, his army numbered no more than 20 thousand soldiers, and the fleet created by Vladislav IV had to be sold due to lack of funds in the treasury. The united Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland were unable to “digest” the vast lands that merged into a common political space. Most neighboring states had long ago turned into centralized monarchies, and the gentry republic with its anarchic freemen without an effective central government, a financial system and a regular army turned out to be uncompetitive. All this, like a slow-acting poison, poisoned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
 Hussar. 17th century |
In 1654, the last great war between Russia and Lithuania-Poland began. At first, the Russian regiments and Cossacks of Bogdan Khmelnitsky seized the initiative, conquering almost all of Belarus, and on July 31, 1655, the Russian army led by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich solemnly entered the capital of Lithuania, Vilna. The Patriarch blessed the sovereign to be called the “Grand Duke of Lithuania,” but the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth managed to gather forces and go on the offensive. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, after the death of Khmelnytsky, a struggle between supporters and opponents of Moscow broke out, a civil war raged - “Ruin”, when two or three hetmans with different political views acted simultaneously. In 1660, the Russian armies were defeated at Polonka and Chudnov: the best forces of the Moscow cavalry were killed, and the commander-in-chief V.V. Sheremetev was completely captured. The Muscovites had to leave the newly triumphantly conquered Belarus. The local gentry and townspeople did not want to remain subjects of the Moscow Tsar - the gap between the Kremlin and Lithuanian orders had already run too deep.
The difficult confrontation ended with the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, according to which Left Bank Ukraine went to Moscow, while the right bank of the Dnieper (with the exception of Kyiv) remained with Poland until the end of the 18th century.
Thus, the protracted conflict ended in a “draw”: during the 16th-17th centuries, the two neighboring powers fought for a total of more than 60 years. In 1686, mutual exhaustion and the Turkish threat forced them to sign " Eternal Peace" And a little earlier, in 1668, after the abdication of King Jan Casimir, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was even considered as a real contender for the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In Russia at this time, Polish clothing came into fashion at court, translations were made from Polish, the Belarusian poet Simeon of Polotsk became the heir’s teacher...
Last August
In the 18th century, Poland-Lithuania still stretched from the Baltic to the Carpathians and from the Dnieper to the interfluve of the Vistula and Oder, with a population of about 12 million. But the weakened gentry “republic” no longer played any important role in international politics. It became a “traveling inn” - a supply base and theater of military operations for the new great powers - in the Northern War of 1700-1721 - Russia and Sweden, in the War of the "Polish Succession" of 1733-1734 - between Russia and France, and then in The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) - between Russia and Prussia. This was also facilitated by the magnate groups themselves, who focused on foreign candidates during the election of the king.
However, the Polish elite's rejection of everything connected with Moscow grew. “Muscovites” aroused hatred greater than even the “Swabians”; they were perceived as “boors and cattle.” And according to Pushkin, Belarusians and Litvinians suffered from this “unequal dispute” of the Slavs. Choosing between Warsaw and Moscow, natives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in any case chose a foreign land and lost their homeland.
The result is well known: the Polish-Lithuanian state could not withstand the onslaught of the “three black eagles” - Prussia, Austria and Russia, and became a victim of three partitions - 1772, 1793 and 1795. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth disappeared from the political map of Europe until 1918. After abdicating the throne, the last king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Stanislav August Poniatowski, remained to live in Grodno virtually under house arrest. A year later, Empress Catherine II, whose favorite he had once been, died. Paul I invited the ex-king to St. Petersburg.
Stanislav was settled in the Marble Palace; the future Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Prince Adam Czartoryski, saw him more than once in the mornings in the winter of 1797/98, when he, unkempt, in a dressing gown, wrote his memoirs. Here the last Grand Duke of Lithuania died on February 12, 1798. Paul gave him a magnificent funeral, placing the coffin with his embalmed body in the Church of St. Catherine. There, the emperor personally said goodbye to the deceased and placed a copy of the crown of the Polish kings on his head.
However, the dethroned monarch was unlucky even after his death. The coffin stood in the basement of the church for almost a century and a half, until they decided to demolish the building. Then the Soviet government invited Poland to “take back its king.” In July 1938, the coffin with the remains of Stanislav Poniatowski was secretly transported from Leningrad to Poland. There was no place for the exile either in Krakow, where the heroes of Polish history lay, or in Warsaw. He was placed in the Church of the Holy Trinity in the Belarusian village of Volchin - where the last Polish king was born. After the war, the remains disappeared from the crypt, and their fate has haunted researchers for more than half a century.
The Moscow “autocracy”, which gave birth to powerful bureaucratic structures and a huge army, turned out to be stronger than the anarchic gentry. However, the cumbersome Russian state with its enslaved classes was not able to keep up with the European pace of economic and social development. Painful reforms were required, which Russia was never able to complete at the beginning of the 20th century. And the new little Lithuania will now have to speak for itself in the 21st century.
Igor Kurukin, Doctor of Historical Sciences
Preface
Very few documents have survived about early history The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and its first rulers: Mindovga, Voishelka, Shvarna, Troyden, Viten, Gedimina. Historians have collected information about them bit by bit. But the Grand Duchy of Lithuania they created became eloquent evidence of their life; the castles and temples they erected remained monuments to their deeds.
The Grand Duke united the principality lands and was the overlord of the appanage princes. He acted as a guarantor of the rule of law, held councils of nobles, and convened diets. The Grand Duke ruled, relying on the central and local administration. Since the 15th century, under the Grand Duke, a Grand Duke's Rada (lords of the Rada) has been formed, consisting of persons close to him, representatives of the central administration, local authorities authorities and appanage princes. Over time, the institute of lords of the rada becomes a national political body governing the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the absence of the Grand Duke in the state.
After the conclusion of the Union of Krevo in 1385 - an agreement on a dynastic union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland - the Grand Dukes Jagiello, Casimir Andrei, Alexander, Sigismund and Sigismund Augustus were simultaneously Polish kings. They had to pursue Polish policy, often to the detriment of the interests of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The Union of Krevo became the ideological basis for the “incorporation” of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Kingdom of Poland. Ultimately, in 1569, the Union of Lublin was concluded, under which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland united into a federal state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, led by a single monarch. The title of Grand Duke of Lithuania became nominal, which actually meant the liquidation of the grand ducal institution in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Although the rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were called the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, they were first and foremost Polish kings. This is how they were perceived abroad. The prerogative of grand-ducal power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania belonged to the lords of the rada, who sought to preserve the remnants of the state independence of Lithuania. Therefore, the proposed publication tells about the life of the great princes precisely before the Union of Lublin. The fate of each of them was connected with the history of Lithuania and the Litvins, as Belarus and Belarusians were called in the past. Too many unknowns remain in their biographies. This means that there will be new searches for data and facts, and new interpretations of them will appear. And the reader will again touch the pages of the revived history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Mindovg (late 1230–1262)
A. Bozz. Mindovg. Engraving of the 19th century, from an engraving of the 16th century.
There are heated debates among historians around the personality of Mindaugas. The meager information about his life has given rise to many versions and even falsifications. Mindovgas is called the creator of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who conquered the western lands of Belarus and thus established the power of “Lithuanian feudal lords” on them. But not a single historical document testifies to this.
Belarusians have preserved legends about Mindaugas, where he is called the “Prince of Novograd”.
There is a mound of Mindovga in Novogrudok. Kurgan and Mindovga Street were also in Pinsk in the past. People's memory preserved his name.
Apparently, the ancestral nest of Mindovg was the city of Ruta, which is mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle. There are several settlements with the name Ruta near Novogrudok, and a river with the same name flows right there.
The coincidence of these data cannot be accidental. Perhaps these are traces of Neman Lithuania on the right bank of the Neman, which the Polish chronicler Matej Stryjkowski wrote about in the 16th century. He reported that this Lithuania “has served the Novogorod principality since ancient times.” Perhaps Mindovg was a prince in this Lithuania and was in vassal dependence on the Novgorod prince Izyaslav, as evidenced by the entry in the Ipatiev Chronicle under the year 1237. At this time, Prince Daniil of Galitsky fought with Kondrat of Mazowiecki and “raised Mindovg Izyaslav of Novogorodsky against Konrat Lithuania.” The meaning of the name “Lithuania” here means a military squad of pagans. Perhaps Mindovg was a mercenary and entered the service of the Novgorod prince. The so-called pagan gods to whom Mindovg prayed - Nanadai, Telyavel and Diviriks - are nothing more than the words from the prayer in the Yatvingian language “Our Father”: “numandai tavevalle deiveriks” - “let your will be done, Lord God.” Probably, the Galician chronicler mistakenly took this phrase, heard either by himself from the lips of Mindaugas, or transmitted to him by informants, for the names of pagan gods. According to researchers Aleksey Daylidov and Kirill Kostyan, Mindovg was taught Christianity by priests of non-canonical, probably Bogomil, orientation. “Such training most likely occurred in childhood, for Mindovg remained faithful to his former prayers, even after converting to Catholicism,” believe Dailidov and Kostyan. Cardinal Peter d'Elli wrote in 1418 about the practice of pilgrimage by the great princes and boyars of Lithuania since the 13th century. “We note in passing that the native language of Mindaugas and his surroundings (the Litvins noted in the chronicle) must be recognized as Yatvingian-Prussian (Western Baltic), and not Eastern Baltic (Zhemoytsky), in which the indicated expression sounds completely different,” write Dailidov and Kostyan. In the light of these data, it becomes clear why for the author of the Polish “Great Chronicle”, a contemporary of Mindaugas, he is, first of all, a Prussian (Yatvingian) king, i.e. a Yatvingian. Obviously, Mindovg came from the Yatvingians who lived in the Novogorod land.
We find the first mention of Mindovga in the Ipatiev Chronicle, in a record under 1219, among the princes of Lithuania and Samogitia, who came to Daniil of Galicia to make peace with the Galician-Volyn principality. He is named among the oldest princes, and therefore, even then he had significant power in Lithuania. In the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle one can read that his father was “a great king and in his time had no equal in Lithuania,” but his name is not mentioned there. In the “Chronicle of Bykhovts”, the father of Mindovg is named Prince Ringold of Novgorod, who allegedly defeated troops on the Neman near the village of Mogilno Prince of Kyiv Svyatoslav, Prince Lev of Vladimir and Prince Dmitry of Drutsk, who wanted to “drive him out of their homeland - from Russian cities.” Further in the “Chronicle” the following is reported: “And he lived for many years in Novogorod and died, and left his son Mindovg in the great reign of Novgorod.” But there is no news about Ringold and his victory over the Russian princes in historical documents. Although it can be assumed that the narrative of the “Chronicle of Bykhovets” about Ringold recorded the local legend about the Lithuanian prince, who, after the death of Izyaslav Novogorodsky, began to reign in Novogorod and defended his rights with weapons from the encroachments of the Russian princes. If this is so, then Mindovg, as a son, received hereditary power in Novogorod from his father. The name of the mythical Ringold is noteworthy - it is of Gothic origin, which means that the father of Mindaugas, called the “Chronicle of Bykhovets”, could come from the dynasty of the Prussian “king” Widevut. According to Prussian legends, Videvut and his brother Bruten, at the head of the Gothic tribe of the Cimbri, moved from the island of Gotland to Prussia. Bruten was chosen as the high priest, and Videvut became the Prussian king. He had 12 sons, the youngest of whom Litfo ruled the Yatvingian lands in Gorodno. From Litfo these lands received the name Lithuania. This means, according to Prussian legends, the rulers of Lithuania descended from Videvut. The Prussians honored the memory of Videvut and Bruten by erecting stone statues of them, which may indicate their real existence. There is an opinion that the father of Mindovg was Prince Dovgerd, mentioned in the “Chronicle of Livonia” by Henry of Latvia, written at the beginning of the 13th century. According to the chronicler, he was one of “the most powerful Litvins.” From the “Chronicle” it is known that Dovgerd was the father-in-law of Prince Gertsike (Polotsk fortress on the Dvina) Vsevolod and together with him fought against the knights of the Order of the Sword. In 1213, Dovgerd traveled to Novgorod and concluded an alliance there directed against the Swordsmen. On the way back he was captured by them. The proud Litvin committed suicide. Apparently, this is why Mindovg hated the sword-bearers so fiercely, taking revenge on them for the death of his father.
One thing is clear that the Mindovg family occupied a prominent place in the Lithuanian land, had strong power, if one of the powerful princes of Rus', the Galician-Volhynian prince Daniel, became related to it, and married the daughter of Mindovg's brother Dovsprung. This is all that is known about early period life of Mindovg.
There is no exact data on how Mindovg ended up in Novogorod and became a prince there, or whether he was even a prince of Novgorod. As the Belarusian historian N. Ermolovich believed, Mindovg, after defeat in the internecine struggle with other Lithuanian feudal lords, fled to Novogorodok, converted to Orthodoxy there (“accepting the faith of Christ from the East”) and was elected prince. Mindaugas could have been pushed to take such a step by the consciousness of his powerlessness. At the end of 1244 or the beginning of 1245, he suffered a crushing defeat from the crusaders at the castle of Amboten in Curonia and lost more than one and a half thousand soldiers. Fleeing from the crusaders, Mindovg hid in his castle, unable to protect the land under his control from attack.
The enemies took advantage of this defeat, starting a fight against Mindaugas. Mindovg could only find support in Novogorod, where he was well known as an ally of the former Novgorod prince Izyaslav. Perhaps, after the death of Izyaslav, Novogorod chose Mindovg as its prince with the condition of annexing his possession to the Novogorod land. But the decisive argument, in our opinion, was the desire of the Novgorod residents to get rid of vassal dependence on the Galician-Volyn principality and not pay a burdensome tribute to the Golden Horde. Legally, the Litvin prince was not subject to the Horde and the Horde’s power did not extend to his possession.
V. Staschenyuk. Mindovg in Novgorod. 1990
Or maybe Mindovg’s first wife was the daughter of the Novgorod prince Izyaslav and he inherited power in Novogorod? The data of the Russian Empress Catherine II deserves attention, which she took for her historical works from sources that have not reached our time. According to these data, Mindovg was a relative of Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich Novogorzhsky and married a Tver princess, with whom he had two sons - Vyshleg (Voishelka) and Domant (Dovmont). Perhaps Prince Novogorzhsky is the Prince of Novgorod, for there was no city of Novogorozhsk and an error crept in when copying the chronicle or notes. As for the second son of Mindovg - Domont, he can be considered the Grand Duke Domant mentioned in the Laurentian Chronicle, who died in 1285 in the Tver volost of Oleshnya. He could become a Grand Duke if his father was Mindovg. This means that the data of Empress Catherine II is trustworthy. It is possible that Mindovg was related to the Novgorod prince. In the early 50s of the 13th century, Prince Mindovg conquered Lithuania. Murder, cunning, deception, treason - Mindovg stopped at nothing. Anyone who stood in his way was killed or forced to share the fate of the outcasts. The power of Mindaugas was felt and feared. The petty princes flee to Riga: “Since Mindovg turned out to be against IAS, we cannot live in this country,” they bitterly admit their powerlessness. Mindovg sent his nephews Tevtivil, Edevid and their maternal uncle Vikent on a campaign against Smolensk, telling them: “Whatever you accept, keep it to yourself.” And they, believing him, went on a hike. It is unknown how it ended. Maybe it was they who, at the end of 1248, near the Protva River, defeated the army of Moscow Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich the Brave, who died in this battle. The Litvins did not receive any benefits from this victory; moreover, near Zubtsov they were completely defeated by the Suzdal princes. If this army was commanded by the nephews of Mindaugas, then it becomes clear how Mindaugas was able to get rid of them and then seize their estates. But, according to the Ipatiev Chronicle, the nephews did not go on a campaign, but fled to Vladimir to princes Daniil and Vasilka Romanovich. Meanwhile, Mindovg captured the entire land of Lithuania and took the wealth and possessions of his escaped relatives. But, as it turned out, he turned neighboring rulers against himself. Daniil Galitsky did not heed his request to deal with the fugitives, (“do not do me mercy”) and began to create a coalition. He sent a proposal to the Polish princes: “As time eats up the peasants on the worst, as they themselves have to fight among themselves.” The Polish princes promised to participate in the campaign, but did not come. But Vikent managed to persuade the Yatvingians and Samogitians to come to his side. They were joined by the Livonian Order of the Sword. Mindovg was surrounded on all sides by enemies. He did not have the strength to resist everyone at once; he could only resort to his proven method - deceit. It was important to find weak point in a coalition.
Meanwhile, Lithuania was attacked by Livonian crusaders led by Master Andrei Stirland. As noted in the Livonian “Chronicle of Ryussov”, the master “went to meet the enemies, killed many of them, came and burned their lands, ravaged and devastated, and reached the hillock in which King Mindovg lived, plundered and walked around all the lands, and everyone he found, he beat and captured; then he went to Samitia and ruled there in the same way as in Lithuania. After such a conquest, he returned to Riga with with great joy and in triumph and brought with him rich booty, of which the master gave most of it to the glory of God and the poor, and divided the rest among his soldiers.” This was the first predatory campaign of the crusaders on the lands of Lithuania. And, as you can see, they did not spread the Christian faith, but killed and robbed the civilian population. They made no secret of this shameful war. And Prince Mindovg cowardly hid behind the walls of his castle.
The main blow was delivered by the forces of the Galician-Volyn princes Daniil and Vasilka Romanovich against Volkovysk, Slonim, and later the princes “went to Novugorod”, which they failed to take. Mindovg could not defeat his enemies by force, then he again uses cunning and deceit. He bribed the master with “darmi many” and met with him. Stirland set his own conditions: “You will not be saved and will not defeat the enemy unless you send your message to the Pope and accept Christianity. But I am glad to serve you, and even though I have blinded my eyes with the gold I received from you, I will still help you.” Mindovg promised to convert to Christianity and asked the master to obtain a royal crown for him from the pope, and for this he was ready to transfer part of the Samogitian and Lithuanian lands to the Order of the Swordsmen. The master agreed. Essentially, the crusaders used Mindaugas in their politics, neutralized him and could now calmly conquer the Baltic lands. As we see, Mindovg was not at all guided by national interests; the main thing for him was to retain power. That's why I accepted the master's offer. In 1252, Mindovg was baptized according to the Catholic rite.
Pope Innocent IV was very happy about the baptism of the pagan ruler. In a bull dated June 17, 1251, he wrote “to the very dear son in Christ, the illustrious King of Lutovia” warm words of gratitude and support: “Our hearts were filled with great joy, for the kindness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ showed you his appearance in his mercy and inspired you , so that you, once shrouded in darkness, with a large multitude of bastards, allow yourself to be reborn for the glory of God’s name through the caress of the baptismal font and completely surrender your person, kingdom and all property under the jurisdiction and protection of the apostolic throne. But since, through official and plenipotentiary ambassadors, you humbly asked to be received as a special son of the holy Catholic Church and taken under paternal guardianship, we, affectionately inclining to your just desires, worthy of the greatest favor, accept the kingdom of Lutovia and all the lands that, with God's help, you already snatched from the hands of the infidels or you can snatch in the future, under the jurisdiction and ownership of St. Peter and we decree that they, as well as your wife, sons and family, remain under the protection and subjection of the apostolic see. We punish you severely so that no one frivolously dares to hinder or bother you in relation to the mentioned kingdom and lands, who have become under the tutelage and protection of the apostolic see.” It is interesting that the kingdom of Mindovga is called Lyutovia - the Belarusian (in particular Slutsk) name for Lithuania - Lyutva, lyutviny.
Pope Innocent IV. 17th century engraving
Probably, the pope heard this name from the ambassadors of Mindaugas.
The mention of lands “snatched” from the hands of infidels is also noteworthy. We are talking about the lands of Orthodox princes conquered by Mindaugas. It can be assumed that Mindovg not only “zane Lithuania”, but also the Slonim-Volkovysk and Goroden lands.
Mindovga found a place in the political system created by the pope. The Kingdom of Lutovia was supposed to contain the Teutonic Order - a military ally of the Holy Roman Emperor - an enemy of the papal curia - and at the same time be a buffer power on the border of Catholic Europe with the possessions of the Golden Horde. For this purpose, the pope offered the royal crowns to the Galician-Volyn prince Daniil Romanovich and the Rostov-Suzdal prince Alexander Nevsky. And if Daniil Galitsky accepted the offer and was crowned, then Alexander Nevsky refused papal favor, maintaining vassal relations with the Golden Horde, which gave him power over the Grand Duchy of Vladimir.
Pope Innocent IV instructed Bishop Henry of Kulma to crown Mindaugas “king of all Lithuania and all the lands that, with the help of the power of God, he has already wrested or will wrest in the future from the hands of the infidels.” At the same time, the pope asked the bishop to ensure that “all those present there unconditionally obey him as the Catholic king in everything that concerns royal dignity. But in such a way that he himself and his successors recognize that the said kingdom and the mentioned lands, which we, at their insistent request, took under the jurisdiction and possession of St. Peter, they received forever from the apostolic see.”
Mindovg did not feel strong and needed the support of his father. In July 1253, Mindaugas was crowned. Chronicles of the late 16th century call Novogorodok the site of the coronation. So Mindaugas became “by the grace of God” the king of Lithuania. History gave Lithuania a chance to take its place among European countries. But unfortunately, Mindovg turned out to be not the person whom history should have chosen. He lacked the strength, understanding of his historical mission, and state mentality to be a king. He still remained a prince, thinking about personal gain, and the methods of his rule corresponded to his character - deceit, deceit, cunning. The royal crown, the kingdom itself, were not a goal, but a means to maintain power, for the sake of which he could renounce the crown. It was not Mindaugas’s fault, but his misfortune, even his curse.
As promised, Mindovg assigned to the Order what did not belong to him: Yatvyaz, Samogitia, Dainova (land between the Neman and Viliya), Nalshany (land in the region of Golshan, Oshmyan, Krevo). This was payment for past help and for future help. In the deed of gift, Mindovg wrote: “... so that they could fulfill this sacred duty of helping us more actively, which is very necessary for us in these new circumstances, we, with the consent of our grandfathers, transferred free and safe possession to their house for eternity the lands named below." But Mindovg transferred the lands on the condition that the knights would help “us and the legitimate successors of our kingdom with a material sword, support and advice against our enemies and enemies of the faith.” For his part, Mindovg promised to support the brother knights. Thus, the Order became an ally of Mindaugas. But Mindovg did not win the war. Tevtivil with Russian, Samogitian and Yatvingian troops besieged Mindaugas in the Voruta castle. And now Mindaugas hid behind the fortress walls, not relying on his own strength. Only a detachment of crusaders who came to the rescue drove Tevtivil away. But Mindovg never took advantage of this temporary victory. His campaign in Samogitia against the city of Vikenta Twiremet was unsuccessful. In the battle, Mindovg almost died when his horse was wounded. When in 1253 Prince Daniil of Galitsky “captivated the entire land of Novogorod”, Mindovg asked him for peace. His son Voishelk made peace in 1254, ceding the cities of Novogorodok, Slonim and Volkovysk to Daniil. It is unknown in which city Mindaugas began to rule. His position was not easy. The pagan population of Lithuania was dissatisfied with their Christian ruler, so he showed that his baptism was “flattering” and secretly worshiped pagan gods.
Mindovg did not show zeal for the spread of Christianity. For this, Pope Alexander IV exhorted him in a fatherly manner in a bull dated March 7, 1255: “We warmly ask and implore your lordship, for the remission of your sins, that out of respect for God and for us you help the same bishop (the Lithuanian bishop) in his needs Christian. - Author), directly a subject of the apostolic throne, guarded and defended him from the filthy ones who attack his diacesis from all sides, and the attacks of other enemies, as well as from ill-wishers subordinate to your power, so that with God’s help he would have fruits, fulfilling his pastoral duty in accordance with his vow, and for this may you be rewarded with God’s blessing and due gratitude from me.” The bishop had no fruits from his pastoral activities. And the point is not that Mindaugas did not support him and condoned the pagans and “infidels,” but also in the attacks of the crusaders. In the King of Lithuania they saw a rival and contender for the pagan lands that they wanted to take possession of. Oddly enough, the crusaders were interested in preserving paganism in Lithuania, so they ravaged the Lithuanian bishopric with predatory raids. Later, in 1310, this would be blamed on the knights of the Livonian Order: “Oh shame,” wrote the indictment of the commission under Pope Clement V, “how the destroyers of the same faith tried some of these bishops, presbiters and brothers in hidden, secret ways from there expel, and even kill some.” This, according to the conclusions of the investigation, was the reason that the church in Lithuania “was brutally destroyed,” and the pagans “even those brought to faith, casting aside the light of truth, oh woe, again accepted old errors.” It is not surprising that Christian soon left Lithuania, which was not hospitable for him.
Meanwhile, in Polotsk he sat on the throne main enemy Mindovga Tevtivil. And Mindaugas himself had to serve as the “handyman” of yet another newly-minted king, Daniil of Galicia, and spend his energy on his adventures. So, in 1267, Mindovg was forced to send a squad for Daniel’s unsuccessful campaign against Kyiv. The campaign caused anger in the Golden Horde. There they decided to teach Mindaugas a lesson with fire and sword. And so in 1258, the Tatar army of the Temnik Burundai “made war on Lithuania and Nalshany,” which weakened the position of Mindaugas. The petty princelings, who dreamed of getting rid of the elderly ruler, began to raise their heads again. Therefore, feeling the danger, Mindaugas, back in 1255, asked Pope Alexander IV to confirm his rights to the kingdom and allow him to crown one of his young sons Ruklya or Repekya after his death. Thus, Mindovg wanted to legally formalize the succession of his power and create a hereditary dynasty, and although he received confirmation, he still felt insecure, “so that with a strong hand we could hold back the rebels against the faith and violators of our kingdom,” his letter said. Mindaugas was forced to admit that without the help of the Order his kingdom would have perished. “But before our baptism and after it, we and our kingdom of Lithuania were so excited and upset by the enemies of the Christian faith and apostates that if the said master and brothers had not supported us with their great help and advice, then our entire kingdom would have been overthrown into nothingness and faith is destroyed." In the end, feeling that power is leaving his hands, Mindovg goes to the last victim and in June 1260 he issues a charter, which he donates to the Order after his death “our entire kingdom to Letovia.” True, historians consider this letter to be a fake forged by the Order.
In 1260, Mindaugas, under pressure from the Samogitian prince Trenyata, renounced Christianity. “Your father was a great king, and in his time he had no equal in Lithuania. Do you really want to accept the yoke yourself and your children when you can be free? When the crusaders conquer the Samogitians, your glory will perish, and with it your entire kingdom, for you will then have to submit to them with all your children. Are you really that blind? When you now want to free yourself from the Catholics, with the Samogitians on your side who love you, you must agree to renounce Christianity. Wish with all your heart that you, a revered, strong and also rich king, left your gods, who so often helped your fathers. If you want to remain a Christian, stay, but later you will regret that you stayed. Anyone who wishes you fame will advise you to do this. As soon as you and I come to the Latgalians in Livonia, these two lands will immediately fall into your hands, because they really want to become pagans,” Trenyata said convincingly. Mindovg could not resist, renounced Christianity and thereby lost his royal dignity. Lithuania again became a principality.
Trained and encouraged Mindaugas to go to Latgale and Livonia. In 1261, Prince Mindovg came with an army to Livonia. The trainees betrayed him and took away the Samogitians, but the Livonians did not rebel. Finally, Mindovg realized that Trenyata had used him in his political purposes to weaken it. The author of the order’s “Rhymed Chronicle” conveys Mindovg’s anger towards Trenyata, whom he calls a villain and a liar: “Because of you, I have become an enemy of the master. What advice will you give me now? The Letts, the Livs and this country that you promised me, they did not submit to me in the least. This trip may bring me difficulties. I want to leave now, return back to my land and intend to stop the campaign.” But Mindovg had to blame himself, first of all, for listening to the Trainee. Why does he need a head then? Mindovg looks like a victim of his ambitions and feelings, but he lacks an understanding of the political situation and perspective. He creates problems for himself that he cannot solve. He was forced to admit the correctness of the words of his wife Martha, that it was in vain to listen to such a monkey as the Trainees. Mindovg did not see a way out of this situation - he had to submit to circumstances. With bitterness, the former king told his wife: “Whether you like it or not, I abandoned Christianity, broke up with the master and returned to paganism. It’s too late to return to Catholicism now. Therefore, wife, be silent now. What will be will be, I adhere to the instructions of Trenyata and the Samogitians. I know what I did was stupid, but your instructions are now over.”
Blinded by deceptive greatness, Mindovg makes mistake after mistake, loses allies, and quarrels with his neighbors. “In the same year, the mentioned Mendolf, having gathered a multitude of up to thirty thousand fighting: his Prussians, Lithuanians and other pagan peoples, invaded the Masovian land. There, first of all, he ravaged the city of Polotsk, and then the cities and villages of the entire Polotsk land, cruelly devastated by sword and fire, robberies and robbery. Having also attacked Prussia, he destroyed cities, destroyed almost the entire land of Prussia, and his baptized Prussians committed a brutal massacre of the Christian people,” reports the Polish “Great Chronicle of Poland, Rus' and its neighbors.” According to other sources, the army was led by Trenyata. If this is so, then it becomes obvious that the elderly Mindovg was losing his influence and was already playing a secondary role. Trenyata was eager for power and quietly weaved the threads of a conspiracy. An opportune moment was needed to eliminate Mindovg, and therefore Trenyata waited.
Mindovg made a dangerous enemy when he started a war with the Vladimir-Volyn prince Vasilka Romanovich. Mindovg's detachment was defeated near Kovel. Mindovg's position became even more complicated when Vasilko entered into an agreement with the Bryansk prince Roman. But Prince Mindovg did not feel any danger. Confident in his strength, he forgot about caution and acted rudely and insidiously. After the death of his wife in 1262, he forcibly took her sister, the wife of the Nalshan prince Dovmont. “Your sister, when she was dying, told me to drink you like this, and other children should not bloom,” he said. But this arbitrariness cost Mindovg his life.
The trainees pulled the offended Dovmont into his conspiracy. Concerned about their rapprochement, Mindovg in 1263 sent Dovmont’s army to Bryansk in the hope that it would be defeated. But Dovmont returned from the campaign, attacked Mindovg’s house at night and killed him along with his two sons. There is another version of the death of Mindaugas, which was told in 1310 by the procurator of the Teutonic Order: “Mindaugas, the former king of Lithuania, arrived at the Roman Curia and was baptized in the Roman Curia with some of his relatives.” After returning to Lithuania, the king was killed by the Lithuanians for accepting baptism. This version looks attractive - the return to Christianity is akin to the return of the prodigal son. Mindovg seemed to have seen the light, realized his mistakes and swore, and now he appears as tragic figure- a victim of harsh events. But one cannot believe in the spiritual enlightenment of a man who considered force and deceit to be the only means of governing power.
“And so at that hour the kingdom of Lithuania ended with King Mendovshm, who had been king for eleven years,” writes the Chronicle of Lithuania and Zhmoitskaya.
The first Grand Duke of Lithuania and the first and last king of Lithuania, the cunning and treacherous Mindovg, became entangled in his intrigues. As it turned out, to rule the state, he lacked either political wisdom or statesmanship. He remained a rude warrior who did not know how to use the power he had won. And he fell from the same weapon with which he won power - from deceit. His state collapsed, and the “mindovgs’ spoils” were captured by enemies. Mindovg did not fulfill his historical mission. What he could not do, his eldest son Voishelk did.
Voyshelk (1263–1268)
A. Krivenko. Voyshelk. XX century
Voishelk, unlike Mindovg, did not act with brute force or deceit. It was Voishelk who had the mission to become the founder of the largest European medieval power - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The Ipatiev Chronicle calls Voyshelk the Prince of Novgorod. “Voishelk began to reign in Novgorodets, in filthiness, and began to shed a lot of blood. Kill three or four every day. Whose days will not kill someone, then he will be sad. If you kill someone, then you are happy to kill. Therefore, the fear of God entered his heart, thinking to himself that he would accept holy baptism. And she was baptized in Novgorodets, and began to live among the peasantry.”
This chronicle news can be understood literally - Voishelk at the beginning of his reign in Novogorod was a pagan. It is necessary to take into account the specifics of the ancient Novograd region - a mixed Slavic-Baltic population and the weak position of Christianity. So, it may be true that Voishelk, at the beginning of his reign, remained a pagan and persecuted his Christian enemies. But on the other hand, in the chronicle story about Voyshelk, one can clearly read the desire of the chronicler-monk to show, using the example of a wild and cruel pagan, the charitable influence of the Christian faith, which miraculously makes him a God-loving monk. This story must still be viewed critically and accepted as a religious legend. Perhaps the pagans won in the city and they invited Voishelk to reign. This event took place somewhere in 1253. Voishelk dealt with his opponents: “began to shed a lot of blood.” Apparently, because of this split, Daniil Galitsky set out on a new campaign against Novgorodok, “I went to war against Lithuania, against Novgorodok, the former Roskal.” Voishelk was forced to ask for peace. But in order to make peace with Daniil Galitsky, he converted to Orthodoxy.
Voyshelk concluded peace in 1254, and was forced to leave his reign and transfer Novogorodok to Daniil’s son Roman. This is where the question arises: “Who was the prince in Novgorod - Mindovg or Voishelk?” The Ipatiev Chronicle not only does not give a clear answer, but contradicts itself. Speaking about the conclusion of peace, the chronicler indicates that Voyshelk gave Novogorodok “from Mindog and from himself both Voslonim and Volkovysek,” which meant Novogorod belonged to Mindovg. But in another message, the chronicler directly speaks of Voishelk’s reign in Novogorodok: “Voyshelk began his reign in Novgorodets” and, independently of Mindovg, he made peace, ceded Novogorodok and gave his sister to Prince Shvarn Romanovich. As we see, at this time Mindaugas was not the prince of Novogorod, and if we judge that Popes Innocent IV and Alexander IV only titled him King of Lithuania, then it is unlikely that his power extended to the Russian principalities in Upper Ponemania, including Novogorod. Perhaps, having converted to Catholicism, Mindovg left the Orthodox city and began to rule only in Lithuania, and his son Voyshelk, who recognized himself as his father’s vassal, began to reign in Novgorod. Then the chronicler’s clarification is clear that Voyshelk handed over Novgorod “from Mindog,” that is, with the consent of his overlord. But in the message of the same chronicle under 1257 it is said that “Voishelk gave Novogorodok to Prince Roman,” that is, he disposed of the city himself. Voishelk was supposed to live at the Galician court as a hostage. To get rid of “honorable captivity”, he goes to a monastery. Voishelk spent three years in Polonin in a monastery, and then decided to visit the Holy Mountain. But because of the war in the Balkans, he returned from Bulgaria to Novogorodok. On the Neman between Novogorod and Lithuania, Voishelk built a monastery. It is believed that the monastery was founded in the village of Lavrishovo (now Novogrudok district) near Novogorodok. Enmity broke out between Voishelk and Mindovg. “His father Mindovg will reproach him for his life. He doesn’t admire his father.” The meager report of the Ipatiev Chronicle is unlikely to explain the reason for the hostility between father and son. It is plausible that Voishelk “did not admire Velmi” Mindovg for his decision to make one of his two younger sons from his second wife - Ruklya or Repekya - heir. He himself aspired to power in Lithuania, but had not yet shown it, hiding his intentions behind the mask of a God-fearing monk. From behind the monastery walls, the prince-monk carefully observed the political events in the region and prepared an uprising against the Galician-Volyn conquerors. He also found an ally - Tevtivil, whom the Polotsk people chose as their prince.
V. Staschenyuk. Novogorodok in the 13th century. Reconstruction. XX century
In 1258, Voishelk left the monastery. The Polotsk squad led by Prince Tevtivil came from Polotsk. Voishelk, with the help of Polotsk residents and his people in Novogorod, took possession of the city and again sat down in the princely settlement, and Roman was captured. In a rage, Daniil Galitsky personally led an army to the Novogorod principality. But Voishelk and Tevtivil did not engage in battle, skillfully maneuvered and gained time, waiting for the arrival of the Tatar-Mongol army of Burundai. By order of Burundai, Daniel fought with the Tatars against Mindaugas in Lithuania and Nalshany. This is how Voishelk regained power in Novogorod land. Neither Daniil Galitsky nor Mindovg had the strength to subjugate Voishelk. He became the independent ruler of the Novgorod principality.
After the death of Mindaugas in 1263, the Samogitian prince Trenyata ruled “in the whole land of Lithuania and in Zhemoyti.” The new ruler immediately declared his strength and made it clear that he would continue the work of Mindaugas - the war with the Order. The order's chronicler Peter Dusburg writes about Trenyata's campaign in Prussia, although it seemed that he should have been concerned about strengthening his power: “Trinata, the son of the King of Lithuania, having joined himself with many other pagan warriors, gathered almost 30 thousand people for the battle and, approaching to the land of Prussia, he divided his army into three detachments, one of which he sent to Mazovia, the other to Pomezania, and devastated both lands with fire and sword. The rest invaded the land of Kulm, and, among other evils they committed there, they took the castle of Birgelov, stealing the cattle and all the property of the brothers and those who fled to the said castle. The brothers and other people escaped by hiding in one tower.” Although Trenyata was supported by Lithuania and Samogitia, he still could not consider himself their absolute ruler. Tevtivil and Voishelk laid claim to power, and he was afraid to openly fight with them. As always, cunning came in handy. The trainees decided to deal separately with Tevtivil and Voishelk. He invited Tevtivil to share the “boots of the Mindovgs.” In Polotsk they decided that the time had come to act - to kill Trenyata and annex Lithuania to the Principality of Polotsk. Perhaps this decision was also influenced by Voyshelk’s desire to convey to Tevtivil, a Christian and brother, “all his natural rights in the common Russian faith, if he had killed Trenyata,” as the chronicler Matej Stryjkowski believed. But Tevtivil’s intention was revealed by the boyar Procopius, and Trenyata was ahead of his rival, killed him, and captured the Polotsk boyars. The Polotsk people, in order to free their boyars, were forced to accept Trenyata’s protege, apparently Prince Gerden. Now that Polotsk had stopped fighting, Trenyata could deal with Voyshelk. But Voishelk turned out to be more cunning. He left Novogorodok and went to Pinsk to gather an army. And it was not without his participation that a conspiracy arose against Trenyata. According to the story of the Ipatiev Chronicle, Trenyata was killed by four former grooms of Mindovg on the way to the bathhouse. But Matej Stryjkovsky in the historical book “On the Beginnings” tells a different story: as if Wojshelk made peace with Trenyata and lived at his court. A heart wound tormented him, and Voishelk decided to avenge his father’s death. One day, when they went hunting, Voishelk attacked Trenyata from behind and hit him on the head with a sword so hard that he “knocked out his brain.” After which he fled to his monastery. And yet we will trust the Galician-Volyn chronicler - a contemporary of those events.
Voishelk was unarmed in front of his enemies, and if it were not for the help of Novogorod and Pinsk, it is unknown how it would have ended. As soon as the conspirators killed Trenyata, Voyshelk and the Pinsk squad came to Novogorod, where the Novgorod squad was already waiting for him. With the residents of Pinsk and Novgorod, Voishelk went to Lithuania. The chronicle presents this campaign as a campaign against the pagans: “Lord God, see this unrighteousness, but glorify your name, so that they do not boast in their iniquity in their wickedness, and grant me help and strength to come against them for your holy name, as your holy name will be glorified.” .
Voishelk was accepted in Lithuania as the rightful ruler: “Lithuania all accepted and with joy its master,” notes the Ipatiev Chronicle. But not everyone treated Voishelk with “joy.” And the former monk, forgetting about Christian charity, “before beating up his enemies, beat up a numberless multitude of them, and the friends fled as soon as anyone saw them.” This was Voyshelk’s conquest of Lithuania and its subordination to Novgorod, as the Novgorod Chronicle also speaks of: “I attacked filthy Lithuania and won, and stood on their land all summer, then the Lord was in the way of their cause; Conquer the whole land with their weapons.” This cruelty was caused not only by political considerations to get rid of opponents and bring the dissatisfied into obedience, but also by the desire to destroy paganism by force. Having dealt with internal enemies in Lithuania, Voishelk ensured peace with its neighbors. He entered into an alliance with the Livonian Order and ceded Samogitia to it. “All the Christians whom he found captive in his state, he mercifully sent back to Riga, to the master. But then he deceived the Lithuanians, formed a conspiracy with them and in the same year sent an army to Vik and Pernov and devastated these regions on the Meeting of the Lord (February 2). And a week after this holiday, the Lithuanians were given the Battle of Dunaminda,” reports the Wartberg Chronicle. It is unclear what caused the end of peace with the Order, perhaps some territorial disputes. The campaign in Livonia ended in defeat, and Voishelk was forced to look for a new ally.
Voishelk made peace with the Galicia-Volyn principality, recognizing himself as a vassal of the Vladimir prince Vasilko Romanovich. With his help, Prince Shvarn Daniilovich of Drogichin and Lutsk, Voishelk conquered the Baltic lands - Devoltva and Nalshany. Both in Lithuania and in the newly conquered lands, Voishelk brutally dealt with his enemies, “beating up his enemies.” The killer of Mindovg, Dovmont, with a squad of 300 soldiers, boyars, and their families fled to Pskov, where he was placed on the princely throne.
Voishelk used the Polotsk prince Gerden against him, transferring Nalshany to him. To knock Gerden out of his land, Dovmont-Timofey (his godname) with his squad and Pskovites attacked Nalshany twice. On his first campaign, he captured Gerden's wife Epraskeia and his two sons. The 16th century chronicle (Voskresenskaya) names the sons of Gerden - Viten and Andrey. As you know, Viten will become the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Andrei will become the Bishop of Tver. During Dovmont’s second campaign in 1267, Gerden died, but Dovmont did not have enough strength to return Nalshany. Or maybe the prudent Voishelk won the diplomatic war again. After all, his alliance with the Order threatened Pskov, and the Pskovites were afraid to fight with Lithuania.
Voishelk also benefited from the death of Gerden. He got rid of the strong appanage prince, and the Polotsk settlement was occupied by Prince Izyaslav, who recognized his will. Thus, Voishelk united the Novogorod land, Lithuania, Devoltva, Nalshany and the Polotsk-Vitebsk land under his rule, which Mindovg could not do. The alliance with the Principality of Pinsk and the patronage of the strong Principality of Vladimir guaranteed stability and sustainability to the federation he created. This is how the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was formed. Voyshelk should rightfully be considered its founder. The first capital of this state was Novogorodok.
Voishelk managed to do a little at the Grand Duke's Posad. In 1266, he, together with Prince Schwarn, took part in the campaign against Poland.
V. Staschenyuk. Polotsk in the 13th century. Reconstruction. XX century
The combined army devastated Mazovia and the Sandomierz Voivodeship.
Perhaps the initiator of this campaign was Voishelk, for Schwarn justified himself to the Polish prince Boleslav: “It was not I, but Lithuania who fought.” The purpose of the campaign was the struggle for the Yatvingian lands between Lithuania and Mazovia. Apparently, under Voishelka, Eastern Sudovia was annexed, where Troyden, who was probably his relative, began to reign.
Voishelk built his state on the model of the Russian principalities, taking from there not only faith, but also political, administrative and military structures of power and methods of government. Voishelk became an “apostle”, an educator, and a reformer for Lithuania.
Voishelk baptized Lithuania into Orthodoxy. The Nikon Chronicle reports that he “baptized many, and erected churches and monasteries.” Matej Stryikovsky also notes this in “Principles”: “He brought many pagans from Lithuania to Christianity... he multiplied the Christian church in Lithuania.”
In order to baptize Lithuania, Voishelk in 1265 asked Pskov to send him priests, but he never received them and went to the Poloninsky monastery to recruit monks there.
Voishelk left Shvarn at the Grand Duke's Posad. He dissuaded Voishelk from returning to the monastery, but he replied: “I have sinned a lot before God and people. You are princes, and your land is dangerous.” It is possible that Voishelk, having fulfilled his princely duty, established the state and secured it from enemies, returned to the monastery at the behest of his soul, for he decided to devote himself to serving God. There is a unique case in history - the ruler of a state voluntarily enters a monastery, transferring power to another person.
Prince Lev Daniilovich found out about Voishelk’s arrival in Galicia and informed Uncle Vasilka about this: “I would like to have a dream with you, if only Voishelk was here.” Vasilko persuaded Voyshelk to meet with Lev Daniilovich: “Lev sent me, but they removed him. Don’t be afraid of anything.” Voishelk had no choice but to go to meet Lev in Vladimir. As the Ipatiev Chronicle tells, Voishelk, Vasilko and Lev met in the house of the German Marcolt and “started having dinner, drinking and having fun.” Drunk Vasilko went to sleep in the monastery where Voishelk was staying. Lev Daniilovich came here next and suggested to Voishelk: “Kume! Let's get drunk." During the cup of intoxication, Lev’s long-standing resentment against Voishelok awakened due to the fact that he “gave the land of Lithuania to his brother Shvarnovi.” The Galician prince may have threatened to demand the transfer of Novogorod to him. Voishelk did not agree, which angered Lev, and he, in a drunken fit, pulled out a saber and hacked to death Voishelk.
A different version of Voyshelk’s murder is given by the Chronicle of Lithuania and Zhmoitskaya. According to the chronicle, after the death of Daniil Galitsky, his sons began to divide their father’s inheritance with fire and sword. Prince Lev Daniilovich captured the Shvarnov inheritance - Dorogichinsky land. Schwarn turned to Woishelk for help. The Novogorod prince, at the head of the army, occupied the Dorogichin and Berest lands and moved towards the capital of Volyn, Vladimir. Then Lev Daniilovich invited Voishelk to negotiations. Shwarn and Vasilko “with their faith” promised Voishelk “carelessness.” Voishelk believed their oath, stopped the army and came to Vladimir. Lev showed up at the monastery where Voishelk was staying and, having gotten drunk, cut his head with a saber. That same night, the “living room” owners flogged all the Voyshelk ambassadors. This version seems more plausible, and, apparently, the Galician-Volyn chronicler kept silent about the true reasons for the murder of Voyshelk.
Voyshelk's death did not solve anything. The foundation he laid was strong. On it, Voishelk’s followers built the largest state in Europe, which became a common home for Belarusians, Lithuanians and Ukrainians for many centuries.
Three days (1270–1282)
The Papal Curia did not forget about Lithuania. Pope Clement IV in 1268 allowed the King of the Czech Republic, Otakar (Přemysl II), if he “wrests the land of Letovia from the hands of his enemies, then he is free to establish a royal throne in it, as it was before, and to install there a person faithful and devoted to the Roman Church to the royal dignity.” . In the same year, Otakar arrived with an army in Prussia, wanting to conquer Lithuania and elevate one of the Polish princes as his vassal, but, having learned about the attack on his kingdom by the Bavarians, he was forced to return to the Czech Republic. One can guess how events would have developed if Otakar had nevertheless restored the kingdom in Lithuania, but history chose a different path for the Litvinians. Triday entered upon it.
A. Krivenko. Three days. XX century
Very little news has been preserved about Troyden, the prince who ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after Voishelk and Shwarn. You can turn to the Belarusian chronicles of the 16th century, but the events of the times of Mindaugas and Troyden are mixed up there, and you won’t find the truth. Belarusian chronicles call Troyden the brother of the mythical Grand Duke Narimont, who allegedly founded the city of Kernov and “raised his capital from Novagorodka to Kernov,” and he is also credited with capturing Dovmont’s wife.
Echoes of old legends about Mindaugas were embodied in the image of the mythical Narimont. One must think that the chronicler also wrote about Troyden according to legend. Here is what the “Chronicle of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania” writes about Troyden: “And the fifth brother Troyden was procrastinating with his brother, the Grand Duke Narymon. And the great prince Narymont realized that the Yatvez princes had died, and their people were procrastinating without a ruler. And Prince Narymont went to see them. And they, without contradiction, succumbed and bowed to him. And so he, having left them as ruler and taken them in, gave them to his brother Trinity for the deed. And the great prince of the Trinity saw the red mountain above the Bebreya river. And he was honored with greatness there and cut down the city and called it Raigorod, and was called the Prince of Yatvez and Doinovsky. And while he was there to reign, he carried out great attacks on the Lyakhi, and on Russia, and on Mazovshany, and he sought out and carried out strong encirclements over their lands.” So, so, so - Troyden fought a lot with the enemies of his state. His name caused attacks of hatred among the Livonian crusaders. “Three Day Dashing” - it is called in the order’s “Rhymed Chronicle”. And how much bile and anger the Galician-Volyn chronicler poured out of his soul! “The wicked and lawless, cursed, merciless Troyden began to reign in Lithuania; So the lawless man behaved like Antiochus of Surya, Herod of Jerusalem and Nero of Rome, and many other things more evil than that lawlessness were committed.” These words of the chronicler suggest that the Novgorod prince was a powerful, decisive and cunning man, did not choose means to achieve his goals and had a heavy hand, holding power tightly in it.
Wars were a common thing for him, “...the whole life of the Rozlyans was idle before the war and the blood,” the “Chronicle of Lithuania and Zhmoitsk” tells about Troyden. At that time of war, such a ruler was needed: the crusaders, Galician-Volyn squads, Tatar-Mongols threatened the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Only a ruler strong in character, courageous in military combat, “cut and felled” could repel the enemy threat.
In our opinion, Troyden was the son of Edivid, brother of Tevtivil, and had a legal right to grand-ducal power as the closest relative (cousin) of Voyshelk. Therefore, none of the chronicles reports his seizure of power. Together with Tevtivil, he was in Polotsk, which can be indicated by the village of Troydevichi near Polotsk. The suffix "vich" shows that this place name is formed from the name Troyd. This short form of the name Troyden is found in written sources dedicated to the Mazovian Prince Troyden, the son of Troyden’s daughter and the Masovian Duke Bolesław. Maybe Troyden’s name in childhood was Troyda, and the settlement where he lived began to be called Troydevichi.
Another fact testifies to Troyden’s connection with Polotsk: the name of his daughter is Predslava - the family name of the Polotsk princesses.
Perhaps, under Voyshelk and Shvarna, Troyden ruled in the Yatvingian land over the Bobra River and Dainovsky land.
During the reign of Troyden, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania suffered severe trials. Having conquered the Prussians and Zemigals, the knights of the Teutonic Order, who in their dreams were already dividing its lands, reached the borders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In its death throes, the Galicia-Volyn principality twice tried to conquer the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to the “Chronicle of Lithuania and Zhmoitskaya”, Troyden, “who had steadfastly established the lordship and completely evaporated the borders from the raids of the Russian and Krizhatsky princes, out of great fear of an outsider enemy he lorded over.”
From the very beginning of his reign, Troyden had the opportunity to take a sword to defend his state. A stubborn struggle broke out between Troyden and the Volyn prince Vladimir Vasilkovich. And although they fought “not as great armies,” a lot of blood was shed. The Troyden brothers Lesy and Svelkeniy died. From small sparks the fire of a great war could break out. And he burst into flames. Quite unexpectedly, in 1274, Prince Troyden sent a Goroden squad to Dorogichin, which belonged to the Galician prince Lev Daniilovich. And with him, Triday “lives in the greatness of love, loving the many gifts among oneself.” How can we explain the actions of the Grand Duke? Because you forgot “Lwovi’s love”? Perhaps Lev himself started a war with Troyden, and he was forced to send an army to Dorogichin. The Gorodny squad captured the city on Easter, “killing everything, small and large.” There is no need to take the chronicle news literally. The chronicler, faithful to the tradition of showing his enemies and his lands as cruel and unmerciful, probably exaggerated this time too. But it is obvious that Troyden wanted to destroy the center from where Lev threatened his domain - Doinovsky land.
Lev Daniilovich asked for help from the Tatar ruler Mengu Timer. The Khan sent troops led by leader Yagurchin and forced the princes who were in the “will of the Tatar” to go on a campaign: Roman Bryansky, Gleb Smolensky. They were joined by “other princes of the Trans-Dnieper”, Pinsk and Turov. With such force, Lev Daniilovich hoped to conquer the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Not everything came true as Lev Daniilovich wished. Roman Bryansky and Gleb Smolensky lagged behind his army. And the Turov and Pinsk princes generally avoided the campaign. The blow, which according to Lev Daniilovich’s plan should have been fatal for the Grand Duchy, could still have turned out strong, but it did not turn out that way. The allies approached Novogorod, surrounded it and began to wait for the approach of the Smolensk and Bryansk squads. And then Lev Daniilovich could not stand it. This is how the Ipatiev Chronicle tells about this “feat of arms” of the Galician prince: “The lion inflicted flattery between the borders of his brothers, hiding Mstislav and Volodimer, taking the roundabout city.” And not a word of support: hatred and anger flew from the lips of the princes and Tatar commanders. The allies quarreled so much among themselves that they could no longer agree on further joint actions and returned back with “anger about Leo.” It seems that Troyden was lucky: he achieved victory without a fight. But wasn’t he the one who strengthened his state day after day?
I. Belov. Princes in front of a besieged city. 2003
Three days begin to build castles. The first stone tower was built in Novogorodka, the “pillar without stones” was erected in Gorodno. Troyden settles the Prussians who fled from the crusaders near important crossings across the Neman and assigns them the duty of building bridges. A well-armed and trained army is created, which makes campaigns in Volhynia, Podlasie, Mazovia, Prussia, and Livonia. Troyden also strengthened the internal situation of the country. After a stubborn struggle, the power of the Grand Duke was finally established in Nalshany. Prince Sukse of Nalshan fled to Riga, but was unable to return his possessions.
Lev Daniilovich still hoped to conquer the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He again took up arms and, together with Vladimir Vasilkovich, attacked Turiisk and Slonim. In response, Troyden sent his brother Sirputius “to fight near Kamene.” The Galician-Volyn princes did not have enough strength for a major war. But how long was peace concluded between them and Troyden? They understand that it won’t last long, and everyone is trying to take advantage of the respite. Lev Daniilovich sends ambassadors to the Golden Horde to ask for help against Lithuania, and Vladimir Vasilkovich strengthened Kamenets on the border. “Gradorub” Oleks erected a donjon tower there, now known as the White Vezha.
Meanwhile, Troyden set out on a campaign near Dinaburg. In 1275, Master of the Livonian Order Ernest von Ratzeburg founded the Dinaburg fortress on the Dvina. The author of the “Rhymed Chronicle” wrote that the master boasted: “We will pacify many infidels, even the Dashing Triday.” But the crusaders did not pacify Troyden. In 1277, he himself came to the walls of Dinaburg to “pacify” the crusaders. According to all the rules of military art, the siege of the order's fortress lasted four weeks. Four tall movable assault towers were built. Ballistas fired stone cannonballs at the fortress. The “Russian” archers distinguished themselves with accurate shooting. They could have been Troyden's allies - Polotsk residents. Even Henry of Latvia in his “Chronicle of Livonia” wrote about the Polotsk warriors as “experienced in archery.”
The siege was not successful. The Grand Duke was forced to retreat. On the southern borders of the Grand Duchy the rattling of weapons was heard. The Galician-Volyn princes were preparing for a campaign, and it was necessary to meet them with dignity.
Dinaburg Castle. Reconstruction by A. Plater. 1893
In the winter of 1278, the Galician-Volyn squads and Tatar tumens moved to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And again history repeated itself, again this persistent desire, “hidden” from each other, to plunder villages and cities, as if the allies did not believe in victory, realizing the doom of their efforts to conquer Lithuania, as if the only thing they dreamed of was rich booty. The Tatar army, led by Mamshin, headed towards Novgorod. And the Galician-Volyn squads gathered in Berestye. Then the princes learned that the Tatars were already near the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. “We’ll go to Novougrodkou, and there the Tatars have already conquered everything,” and therefore we decided to go to Gorodno.
Kamenets Castle. Reconstruction by O. Job and A. Bashkov. 2008
Already beyond Volkovysk, the Lutsk prince Mstislav and the Galician prince Yuri, “withdrawn” from Vladimir Vasilkovich, sent their squads to plunder the Gorodny suburbs. Intoxicated by the rich booty, the vigilante robbers did not even post a guard for the night. The defector reported such carelessness to the residents of Gorodno. A squad of Prussians and Borts living in the city was immediately dispatched. “And I beat everyone up, and took the others and led them to the city,” notes the Ipatiev Chronicle. The wounded governor Tayuma was captured. The son of Mstislav, “naked and barefoot,” escaped. The enraged princes surrounded Gorodno the next day. Only the townspeople, “standing like they were dead on the ramparts of the city,” repelled the assault. The princes did not expect such a rebuff. The only thing they could do was ask for peace and get away. And, having received prisoners, “the city did not hastily return anything to its own.” This is how this campaign ended ingloriously. The Galician-Volyn princes had to finally abandon their intentions to conquer the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
At the same time, the Crusaders threatened the Grand Duchy from the north. A large army - Livonian crusaders, detachments of Livs, Letts, Zemigals, Curonians, Danish and German knights - set off at the end of 1278 on a crusade against the Grand Duchy. All winter the crusaders devastated the Lithuanian lands. But they did not escape punishment. Troyden and his squad caught up with the crusaders as they were returning to Riga. On March 5, 1279, near Asheraden, Troyden defeated the crusaders in a fierce battle. Master Ernest von Ratzeburg himself and 71 knights died. The detachments of Livs, Letts and Zemigals fled. Only the Danish knights, who were surrounded and lost their leader Eilart, were able to break out of the encirclement. The Livonian knights were dealt another crushing blow, from which they could not recover for a long time.
The victory made it possible for Troyden to support the uprisings of the Prussians, Yatvingians and Semigallians against the crusaders. The Zemgale prince Naimes recognizes the power of Troyden. He sends his squads to help the rebels. And, in order to somehow tame Troyden’s warlike temper, the Riga archbishop invited him to accept Catholicism - the faith with which the Litvins identified the crimes of the crusaders. Troyden replied: “Following the example of the events of past years, we do not find any desire to accept Christianity. The people of Lithuania are strongly opposed to the Roman faith because of the cases that occurred among their Semigallian brothers, who voluntarily accepted the new faith in the hope of the best, but found severe bondage, this would be a voluntary preparation for accepting the shackles of the Order of the Crusaders.” This means that the war with the Order has not subsided.
Grand Duke Troyden is increasingly active in the international arena. In 1279, he made peace with Mazovia, sealing it with the marriage of his daughter Predsława-Gaudemunda to the Mazovian prince Bolesław. It is noteworthy that their son was named Troydenem in honor of his grandfather.
The death of Grand Duke Troyden is shrouded in mystery. According to the Belarusian chronicles, he died at the hands of assassins sent by the Pskov prince Dovmont. And when Troyden “walked carelessly to Novgorodka,” the assassins sent “killed him to death.” And Dovmont himself went with the Pskov and Polotsk squads to Lithuania, “though they were the prince of Lithuania and Zhomoit,” reports the “Chronicle of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania.”
The fact of Troyden’s violent death is not confirmed by other sources, but still cannot be denied. In our opinion, the chronicler confused the Pskov prince Dovmont-Timofey, the murderer of Mindaugas, with the Grand Duke Dovmont, who died in 1285 near Tver. It was he who became the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1283. It is possible that he seized power as a result of the conspiracy and murder of Troyden. We know nothing about the life of this Dovmont, except for a brief mention in the Laurentian Chronicle in 1285: “That same summer, the Lithuanian ruler of Tfer, the volost of Oleshnya, fought; and the scoop-drinking Tferichs, Muscovites, Volochans, Novotorzhstsi, Zubchans, Rzhevichis, and marching towards Lithuania into the forest, on the eve of Spasov days (August 1. - Author), and God help the peasants, killed their Grand Duke Domont, and confiscated others, and they beat them up, they were all full, and they ran away.” From the above fact, one thing is clear: Grand Duke Dovmont had a significant Lithuanian squad, against which six squads were forced to oppose. The fact of continuity of power of the grand dukes is also obvious, which indicates the strength of the institution of grand ducal power.
Wasn't Dovmont the same Domont, the son of Mindaugas, whom Empress Catherine II mentioned in her historical notes? One thing is clear that this mysterious Dovmont (Domont) had the right to the grand-ducal throne, which means he was blood related to Mindaugas or his relatives.
Troyden's death did not lead to the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was strong enough to maintain its independence and withstand new formidable challenges. And this was Troyden’s merit.
Vyten (1296–1315)
Grand Duke Viten is a mysterious person for us. We don’t know where and when he was born, and we don’t know anything definite about his death. What about life? About those years when he ruled the Grand Duchy?
The “Chronicle of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania” reports that Viten lived in Samogitia and there, on the estate of Airagola, he saw him, “the child is reproached well and grows well,” Troyden. Viten was a chamberlain for the Grand Duke, “and while in his chamber, he sang and celebrated every speech of the Tsudna and Radna Panskaya. And so he, having appreciated him and given him good care, made him a marshal. And he was in him, a mercenary and all sorts of helper. And then, after his death, they took him to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.”
Viten. Engraving from the book “Chronicle of European Sarmatia” by A. Gwagninya. 1578
But this story is similar to the legend that justified the legality of the resurrection of Viten. The reality was probably different. The order chronicler Peter from Dusburg calls Vitenya the son of the ruler of Lithuania Pukuver (Putuver). And the Resurrection Chronicle claims that Viten was the son of the Polotsk and Nalshan prince Gerden. In Moscow, at the royal court, the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were considered the descendants of the Polotsk prince Rostislav Rogvolodovich, which the Moscow boyars officially declared to the lords of the Grand Duchy: “Just remember the old days, how the Lithuanian hetmans Rogvolodovich Davila and Movkold Principality of Lithuania took..."
According to another Moscow version, Viten from the “family of Polot princes”, fleeing from the Tatars, moved to Samogitia, where he married the daughter of “a certain beekeeper.” He lived with her childless for thirty years and died from a lightning strike. Vitenya's widow was taken as his wife by his servant Gediminas. But this version is a political pamphlet of the 16th century, which indicated that the Gediminovichs were “not native sovereigns.” The most plausible is the family tree in “Zadonshchina”, where the Gediminovichs are called the great-grandchildren of Prince Skolomend. Polish historian Jerzy Ochmanski considered Skolomend to be the father of Pukuwer. In historical literature, Pukuvera is identified with Prince Budivid, who, together with his brother Budikid, gave Volkovysk to the Volyn prince Mstislav in 1289.
Viten probably came from a family that, through the female line, was connected with Mindaugas. It is known that Mindaugas had a sister, her son Trenyata even became a Grand Duke. Perhaps she was the wife of the Sudavian-Yatvingian prince Skolomend. A prince with a similar name (Skomond, Skumand) was among the Yatvingians in the middle of the 13th century. In addition to Trenyata, Skolomend apparently had sons Budikid and Budivid.
It is possible that Budiwid-Pukuver became Grand Duke after the death of Boudikid, sometime in 1290, and reigned until 1294–1296, for it was in 1296 that Peter of Dusburg, in his Chronicle of the Land of Prussia, names Viten as King of Lithuania.
The reign of Viten passed through wars with the Polish and Samogitian feudal lords, with the Prussian and Livonian crusaders. I could only dream of a quiet life.
Already in 1291, according to Peter from Dusburg, “Pukuver, king of Lithuania, also sent his son Viten with a large army to Poland in the land of Brest, and he caused great damage there by killing and capturing people, fire and sword.” The Kuyavian prince Casimir and the Polish king Władysław Loketok asked for help from the master of the Teutonic Order, Meinike von Querfurt. The joint action of the Poles and the crusaders against Viten ended in disgrace for them. Casimir and Loketok with their troops cowardly fled from the battlefield, and the crusaders retreated after them, frightened by the lack of strength for the battle. Doesburg did not want to record the defeat of the Order's army for history. Therefore, he called the shameful flight a “retreat.” But still, he was forced to admit that the brother knights retreated “not without great damage to their people.” Dusburg's news of this campaign is the first mention of Witen. And he celebrated his appearance on the stage of history with a glorious victory. He had victories and he also had defeats. Due to the paucity of information, it is difficult not only to imagine the image of Viten, but also to find out how he ruled, what he did that is worthy of the memory of his descendants. But even this meager news gives us an idea of Witen as a great figure in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In 1294, Vyten ravaged the Lenchitsky region. According to the “Chronicle of Lithuania and Zhmoitskaya”, Viten, having 1800 soldiers with him, “quietly desecrated the forests, drove into the land of Lenchiska, monasteries, churches were drilled, people of the spiritual and secular camp, the corrupt and the commonwealth, were taken into captivity, then the villages and towns were taken by fire and spat with a sword.” Near Sochaczew, Viten gave battle to the army of Prince Casimir. As always, the Grand Duke was ahead of his squad, “fighting with the enemies.” Viten won and defeated Casimir himself.
Dusburg tells a slightly different story about this campaign. Vyten, at the head of 800 soldiers, attacked Łęčica on June 6 and captured the city. The chronicler describes the cruelty of Viten's warriors, who killed 400 people and took even more prisoners. For each warrior there were 20 prisoners. And Viten is the embodiment of Satan. As a sign of “contempt” for God, he committed sacrilege and burned churches. Otherwise, the order’s chronicler could not describe the king of the “pagans.” When the Kuyavian prince Casimir with 1800 soldiers pursued Witen, he concluded a truce with the Masovian prince Boleslaw. And then they attacked Casimir together, defeated his army, and killed him. Mazovia did not renounce its alliance with the Order, but it could not actively fight against the Grand Duchy. And this was Viten’s victory.
Unexpectedly, the Order had a new ally - Samogitia. Samogitian elders in 1294 rebelled against the power of the ruler of Lithuania. Vyten calmed the Samogitians with his sword, but never achieved their consent to help him in the war with the Order. Bloody battles took place in which many people died on each side. “And never during his reign could the king of Lithuania come to an agreement with the Samogitians to go together to war against their brothers,” writes Peter Dusburg. And their help was needed to fight the crusaders. It is obvious that Samogitia opposed the new dynasty. It's hard to explain why. Apparently, Vyten in the eyes of the Samogitians was an ethnic stranger. Perhaps the new Grand Duke was also a Christian, for Bishop Yakov of Polotsk called him “my son” - a traditional designation for a Christian ruler for his spiritual children.
The Prussian crusaders, having fortified themselves on the left bank of the Neman, persistently sought to capture Gorodno. In 1284, the Teutonic Knights attacked the city for the first time. As Peter Doesburg writes, there was “ great battle that the timid would not dare to look at such a thing.” The besieged “put up powerful resistance,” but the crusaders broke into the castle and killed or captured the defenders. “After this, 1800 people entered the volost of the said castle, devastating everything around with fire and sword, and, having captured and killed many people, they left with enormous booty.”
The city and castle were restored. But in the winter of 1296, the crusaders again ravaged the outskirts of Gorodno with “fire and sword.” And in the spring, the former commander of Balga, Heinrich Zukschwert, taking advantage of Viten’s campaign in Livonia, attacked Gorodno with a large army, but “met such resistance from the inhabitants of the castle, who showered him with a rain of arrows, that, since many Christians were seriously wounded, he returned with nothing ", writes Peter Doesburg. Viten also did not remain in debt. In the same year, his army ravaged the outskirts of the Golub castle in the Kulm land.
M. E. Andriolli. The battle of the Litvins with the crusaders. 1883
But a favorable situation developed for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Livonia. In Riga in 1298, the townspeople rebelled against the authority of the Order. Viten closely followed the events in Livonia. In order to persuade Riga to an alliance with the Grand Duchy, he promises the Riga Archbishop Friedrich to baptize Lithuania. This was reported in the charter of the Riga magistrate and chapter dated April 30, 1298. “And now, having despised the changing fate of the world, they wish, on the advice of the holy mother of the church, to abandon superstitious rituals, enter into a narrow marriage with the faithful and, in accordance with their obligations, unite with them by the inextricable bond of the contract, professing the true faith and maintaining the conditions of peace, as before the king of the same pagans named Mindov, who was crowned and anointed by the church and received clergy and monks. These same pagans confirmed what was said earlier with obvious evidence and cocraments, which, according to their custom and for the sake of the inviolable preservation of treaties, they created in front of all of us... and other persons from different countries who had gathered for an unusual spectacle. Having done this with joy, the same ambassadors said: “Oh, how much the soul of our king would have been pleased if he had seen this!” How serious was Viten's intention? He probably considered the possibility of baptizing pagans into Catholicism. Viten confirms his promise with the construction of a church in Novogorodka. As soon as the people of Riga turned to Viten for help, the Grand Duke approached Riga, where he united with the city militia. The allies captured the knight's city castle and the Karkus fortress. On June 1, 1298, the troops of Viten and the residents of Riga met on the Trader River with the army of the Livonian Order. At the beginning of the battle the crusaders were successful. 800 of Viten’s warriors died from their swords, but he still managed to rebuild the ranks of his army and led it into the attack. The blow was devastating. Master Bruno, 22 knights of the order and 1500 bollards died (according to Wartberg’s chronicle - 66 knights and 3000 bollards). The Livonian Order has not known such a defeat since the day of its foundation. Prussian knights came to the aid of the Livonians. On June 29, they attacked the army of Viten and the Riga residents, who were besieging the Neiermüllen castle, and defeated it. The profitable alliance with Riga had to be abandoned. But the peace concluded with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania tied the hands of the Livonian Order.
Now Grand Duke Viten is transferring the blow to Prussia. In 1298, on September 29, the Litvins captured the city of Streisberg, and in 1299 they ravaged the Prussian parish of Nattangija. In 1300, the six thousand-strong army of Witen devastated the Dobrzyn Principality. For a while, the crusaders stopped the war against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Short peacetime Grand Duke Viten sought to use it for the benefit of the Grand Duchy. At the beginning of the 14th century there was a rapprochement between the Grand Duchy and Polotsk. Historians call the year 1307 the time of unification of the two principalities. It is believed that the Prince of Polotsk bequeathed Polotsk to the Bishop of Riga. The bishop's people, having arrived in the city, began to instill Catholicism. Polotsk residents rebelled and asked for help from Viten, and he drove the Livonians out of the city. His brother Warrior became the Prince of Polotsk. Maybe that's what happened. There is no exact data about these events. But around this time, Bishop Yakov of Polotsk concluded an agreement with the Riga magistrate, which means that he ruled Polotsk and was in alliance with Viten. It is noteworthy that the bishop calls Viten “my son”: this is how he could only call his spiritual child, and not a pagan. Vitenya pointed to Christianity in her historical works Empress Catherine I, who wrote that in holy baptism he bore the name Lavrenty. Viten's activities testify, if not about his Christianity, then about his affection for him. Viten wants to establish an Orthodox metropolitanate in his state, builds a church in Novogorodok and invites Minorite monks to the city. A pagan prince would not have cared about establishing Christianity in his state and would not have been the spiritual son of the Polotsk bishop.
Another noteworthy thing is that in the order documents the Polotsk land is called a kingdom, i.e. the Order recognized it as a state equal in political status to European countries. And as we see, the Principality of Polotsk at that time was not part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but was in allied relations with it. Bishop Yakov, who headed the government in Polotsk, coordinated Polotsk policy with Viten.
Both Lithuania and Polotsk benefited from this union. In the army of Viten there appeared squads of “Rusyns” who took part in campaigns against the Order and Poland in 1293, 1298, 1306, 1308, 1311, 1315. Viten could rely on the material and human forces of the Polotsk land. And Polotsk acquired a strong ally in the person of Viten. It is no coincidence that the Livonian knights did not attack Polotsk until the 1330s.
The Grand Duchy met the beginning of the 14th century, having withstood more than one test, and was able not only to protect its lands, but also to annex new ones. The state felt its strength and was preparing for a new war with the crusaders.
In 1304, Prussian knights attacked the Goroden land and burned the castle, and also ravaged Samogitia with fire and sword. The next campaign in August 1305 ended in failure for the crusaders. Viten at that time held a council of “the best people of his kingdom.” When he learned about the enemy invasion, he led 1,500 soldiers against the enemy. The crusaders, after an unsuccessful battle for them, hastily retreated. In 1306 they attacked Gorodno twice. After the first attack, when the suburb was burned, Viten, as Doosburg reports, “sent best husbands and many, tested in battles, for defense.” It was probably at this time that Viten appointed the son of the former Nalsha and Pskov prince Dovmont-David, who would become famous for his victories over the crusaders, as head of Goroden. “That is why it happened that when the brothers attacked the castle, the inhabitants of the castle, for their part, courageously resisted, came out to the battle, which was fought for a long time between them. Finally the brothers put them to flight. Then, returning to the castle, after a while, having gathered their strength and spirit, they again went out to battle, and this was done many times from sunrise to noon. And sometimes these crowded those, sometimes vice versa. In this battle, many of the pagans were mortally wounded and many fell,” writes Peter Dusburg about the assault on Gorodno. The Crusaders suffered losses and did not attack Lithuania for five whole years, suffering a blow to Samogitia.
In 1311, a new disaster occurred: a terrible famine began in Lithuania, Poland, and Prussia. At the end of February, Viten attacked the Prussian lands of Sambia and Nattangia and devastated them, taking not only prisoners and rich booty, but also grain supplies. In response, the crusaders from the Prussian land of Natangia made a campaign to the Goroden land, “killing and taking many people captive.” Viten took revenge on the Order with a campaign against Prussia and the ruin of the Warmian bishopric. On April 7, in the Barten land on a field called Voiplock, a battle took place between the army of Witen and the order army led by the great commander Heinrich von Plock. The Litvinians repulsed the first attack, but when the main forces of the crusaders entered the battle, they could not stand it and fled from the battlefield.
The chronicler Dusburg presents this defeat of Witen as God's punishment to the pagan prince, who mockingly said to the captured Christians: “Where is your God? Why doesn’t he help you, as our gods helped us now and another time?” Doesburg notes that Viten "in this and the previous war caused great damage to churches, church vestments and vessels, ministers and church shrines, and in addition to other booty, which was very large, he took with him more than 1200 captured Christians." Unable to take the Order's castles, Witen undermined the influence of the Catholic Church in Prussia, and therefore the position of the Order itself.
Two defeats in a row weakened the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the same year, 1311, at the beginning of July, the Crusaders went to the Goroden land. But having learned that Viten and his army were waiting for them in ambush beyond the Neman, the leader of the crusaders, Heinrich von Plocke, led his army of five thousand back. Wanting to rehabilitate himself, Heinrich von Plocke in early July with a detachment of two thousand crusaders, passing through Gorodensky land, attacked the Salseniki parish (modern Shalchininkai in southeastern Lithuania), “where a Christian army had never been seen.” So we saw the crusaders, how they carried the faith of Christ, destroying everything around with fire and sword. Having captured 700 people, the crusaders returned home with great booty. And this is “not to mention the killed, the number of which is known only to God,” as Peter Doesburg notes. It is not surprising that after such an acquaintance with Christians, the pagans saw them as robbers and enemies and did not want to leave their faith. The crusaders' campaigns against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania resumed in 1314. The restless Heinrich von Plocke, who became a great marshal, “with all the strength of his army came to the Krivich land” and destroyed Novogorodok, and “considerably spoiled the land around the city with fire and sword.” But the assault on the castle was unsuccessful, and the crusaders retreated. Goroden elder David captured the order's warehouses. When the crusaders arrived at the first, they saw the dead guards and the loss of 1,500 horses, bread and provisions. The crusaders forgot about Novgorod and rushed to the next warehouse. “So, when the angry brothers came to the second camp and there, too, they found neither bread nor anything else that had been left, they set out on the road and were without bread for many days; hunger forced some to eat their horses, others to eat herbs and their roots, others died of hunger, many, weakened from hunger, died upon their return, the rest returned by the end of the sixth week from the day of the speech,” writes Dusburg about this inglorious campaign.
V. Staschenyuk. Crusaders besiege Novgorod Castle, 1990
Grand Duke Viten wanted to take advantage of this victory and in 1315, “gathering all the people of his kingdom who were capable of fighting,” he besieged the order’s castle of Christmemel on the left bank of the Neman. The siege of the castle lasted 17 days. The Litvins fired at Christmemel with two stone throwers and bows and stormed it with “strong blows.” But, having learned that the Grand Master was coming with an army to help the castle, Viten lifted the siege. On the way back, Grand Duke Viten was killed by a lightning strike.
That's all that we managed to find out about the man whose name was conveyed to us by the chronicles. The fate of his son Svelegot, mentioned in order documents in 1309, is unknown. Perhaps he died or died, for it was not he who became the Grand Duke, but Vitenya’s brother, Gediminas. He was to continue the work of Vitenya.
Gediminas (1316–1341)
Yu. Ozemblovsky. Gediminas. 1841
The life and reign of Gediminas, due to the lack of a sufficient number of historical sources, are also shrouded in mystery. The little information that has reached us does not give a complete picture of Gediminas. Perhaps what speaks most clearly about Gediminas is his deeds?
If we analyze them, we see the extraordinary personality of the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - a courageous fighter against the enemy, a talented commander, and a prudent politician. Historians associate the beginning of the rise of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Gediminas.
In the Belarusian chronicles, Gediminas is called the son of Viten. For a long time it was thought so. In the 19th century, when the “Livonian Acts” were published, it turned out that in a letter from the Riga magistrate to Gediminas in 1323, he was named Vitenya’s brother. So the document corrected the errors of the annals and chronicles.
Almost nothing is known about the activities of Gediminas before his grand-ducal period. Where were you, what were you doing? One can only assume that he was the governor of Viten in Aukštaitija, for in the order documents he is called the king of this land.
From the very beginning of his reign, Gediminas had to wage war with the crusaders. The Order continued to advance on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with fire and sword. In the winter of 1316, Marshal Heinrich von Plocke made a trip to the border parish of Pastovia, killed and captured 500 people. The campaign was repeated - now to the Samogitian volost of Medenike, where the marshal led many pilgrims who had arrived from Germany. Another detachment ravaged the outskirts of Bisena Castle, and in the spring the crusaders captured the castle itself. In the summer they attacked Medenike again. And this is just for one year. The Order persistently sought to conquer Samogitia in order to unite its Prussian and Livonian lands.
The tactics were simple but effective - turning Samogitia into a desert.
The Crusades against Samogitia took place in 1317–1319. In 1320, the order's army, led by the warlike Heinrich von Plocke, again marched on Samogitia. According to the “Chronicles of Lithuania and Zhmoitsk”, the crusaders divided “their troops into three, destroyed the entire land of Zhmoitsk with fire and sword and conquered without resistance and took Jurborka for the castle.” Afterwards, the crusaders stormed Kovno and burned it.
Gediminas stood with his army between Jurborg and Kovno and waited for the squads from Polotsk and Novogorod to approach. And only when help arrived did the Grand Duke move against the crusaders. On July 27, enemy troops met near the town of Zheymy. The crusaders were the first to begin the battle. Armed with handguns, they opened fire. The Tatars, who stood in front of Gediminas' army, answered them with a hail of arrows. But, unable to withstand the onslaught of the armored knights, they retreated. Believing in an easy victory, the crusaders chased the Tatar cavalry and were ambushed, where Gediminas was with the main forces. A bloody battle ensued... “And so the Germans fought with their armor, and Lithuania with their flexibility, with spears, swords, grips, fought a fierce battle on both sides, the cry of people, the thunder of armor, the razne of horses, the sound of trumpets and tambourines,” says the “Chronicle of Lithuania and Zhmoitskaya” . At the very height of the battle, the Samogitians, who were in the order’s army, rebelled in the rear of the knights. “The Germans immediately got involved, leaving unsatisfied health,” and this was enough for Gediminas’ troops to go on the offensive. The Novogorod and Polotsk regiments struck on the flanks. But cowardly flight did not save the knights. The Litvins drove the enemy, “beating, stabbing, barbed, shooting, trampling, and so on, so that for ten miles along the roads and fields there were a lot of German corpses.” 29 knights and 220 warriors died. Heinrich von Plocke also fell in the battle. Peter Dusburg also writes about the great losses of the crusaders: “The others, wandering in the forest for many days and nights, returned, weakened from hunger.” For two years after this defeat, the Order did not attack Lithuania, and only in 1322, when knights from Silesia and Bohemia came to the rescue, the crusaders devastated the volosts of Vaiken, Russigen and Ariogala in Samogitia, “destroying both castles and other buildings with fire and sword, they carried out such a massacre of those people that even the one urinating against the wall did not survive.” But the Litvins also acted “with fire and sword.” David of Goroden destroyed the Derp bishopric in Livonia. Five thousand Christians died and were taken “into eternal captivity.”
Lida Castle. Drawing by M. Bekteneev. Reconstruction by M. Tkachev. XX century
Thus began the reign of Gediminas. One of his main tasks was to create a powerful defensive line, based on which it was possible to repel the attacks of the crusaders. It is obvious that the state had enough material and human resources to implement this difficult task. Gediminas understood that the situation required the exertion of all forces. He begins the construction of stone castles along the lines of Troki, Vilno, Medniki, Gorodno, Novogorodok, Lida, Krevo, Myadel. Builders were gathered from all over the state, the princely tivuns drove ordinary people to build ramparts, dig ditches, and pull stones. Centuries later, people remembered these grandiose construction projects, and since then the expressions still live: “Kabtsyabe rolled up the mountains near Vshnyu!” or “Keep you on Kreusyu zamak kamenne tsyagau!”
Somewhere at this time, Gedimin moved the capital of the Grand Duchy from Novogorod to Vilna and built a castle there, on Krivaya Gora. Already in 1323, Vilna was called a royal city in the Charters of Gediminas. It is believed that it was Gediminas who founded this city. “The Chronicle of Lithuania and Zhmoitskaya” narrates: “And in short hours after that, the great prince Kgidimin went to fishing from Troki, four miles away, and to find the red mountain above the Vilna River, on which to find the beast of the great tour, and to kill it on that mountain where Now the name is Turya Gora. And the nobles had time to go to the Troki, and stand on the lutse on Shvintoroz, where the first great princes were burned, and spent the night here. And bake him there, I saw a dream that on the mountain, which was called Kryvaya, and now Bald, there would be a great iron wolf, and in it it would roar like a hundred forks. And he woke up from his sleep and called the sorcerer by his name Lizdeyka, who was found in the eagle’s nest, and that Lizdeyko was the highest sorcerer of Prince Kgidimin, and then the priest of the bastard: “I saw, dey, I am a wondrous dream.” And he told him everything that he had seen in his dream. And that Lizdeyko told the ruler: “Prince, the great iron wolf will signify that the capital city will be here, and if it roars inside, then its glory will be known throughout the world.” And the great prince Kgidymin the next day, without giving up, he sent people and founded a city, one on Shvintoroz Nizhny, and the other on Kryva Mountain, which is now called Lysaya, and to decorate the name of your city with Vilnius.”
A colorful legend. But the order’s ambassador, Kondrad Kyburg, who visited Vilna in 1397, wrote in his diary that Lizdeiko saw a dream about a wolf, who told the Grand Duke about it. The High Priest was interested in his residence Krivich-Gorod becoming the capital.
Historians V. Golubovich and E. Golubovich, based on archaeological excavations, established that Krivich-city was located on Mount Krivoy. According to historians, the ancient settlement of Vilna, called “Krivich-town,” existed already in the 11th–12th centuries, when part of the Lithuanian lands belonged to the Principality of Polotsk. But, according to archaeological data, the Krivichi settlement was also located on the left, eastern bank of the Viliya River. The castle built by Gediminas on Crooked Mountain protected this settlement from the west. Therefore, the order chronicler Wigand of Marburg called Vilna a Slavic city. The transfer of the capital was also influenced by the military situation in Vilna. Kyburg wrote: “Militarily, the position of the city is excellent; it can be defended with minor fortifications: numerous hills, gorges and deep ravines provide very convenient occasions to attack the besiegers. In this situation, it is possible to let the besieger into the city and, having surrounded him, cut him down to the last man; If only the garrison were courageous and faithful, and at the same time well led, it would be impossible to cause much harm to Vilna. From this it follows that it was not the dream of the iron wolf or the prediction of the warlock that gave Gediminas the idea of founding the capital of the state here, but knowledge of military affairs, and the advantages of the location could not be hidden. Gediminas was a great commander of his time and worthy of our imitation, although he is a pagan.” From all these facts it follows that even before Gediminas there was a fortification in this area, and he just built a castle there.
M. E. Andriolli. Priest Lizdeiko explains his dream to Gediminas. 1882
Gediminas is also credited with the conquest of the Galicia-Volyn and Kyiv principalities in 1320. This is reported in the Belarusian chronicles of the 16th century. The Russian historian N. Karamzin believed that the story about Gediminas’ campaign in 1320 against Volyn and Kyiv was a fiction of the chroniclers. Historical documents contemporary with Gediminas do not mention this campaign, and yet the possibility of Gediminas’ campaign against Volyn and Kyiv cannot be denied. Probably the Tatar raid on Lithuania in 1324 was caused by this campaign. But neither Kyiv nor Volyn were conquered by Gediminas.
It was impossible to defeat the Order with weapons alone, and Gediminas understood this well. Meanwhile, favorable events for Gediminas were taking place in Livonia. Once again, the people of Riga and the Archbishop of Riga began to fight with the Livonian knights for the freedom of Riga from the order's power. Then the Riga residents had the idea to turn to Gediminas with a request for help. In 1322, the Riga embassy arrived in Vilna. Gediminas willingly accepted the offer of the Riga residents to enter into an alliance with them. The ambassadors managed to persuade the Grand Duke to turn to Pope John XXII with a message in which he would show the bloody nature of the Order and promise to baptize Lithuania. Gediminas sent the pope a message in which it was written: “To the highest father, Pope John, high priest of the Roman table, Gediminas, king of the Litvins and many Rusyns.
M. E. Andriolli. Construction of Gediminas's Castle in Vilna. 1882
We have long heard that all followers of the Christian faith must submit to your will and paternal authority, and that the Catholic faith itself is guided by the care of the Roman Church, therefore by this message we inform your grace that our predecessor King Mindaugus with his whole kingdom accepted the Christian faith, but because for the outrageous injustices and numerous betrayals of the brothers of the Teutonic Order, everyone abandoned the faith, and we, because of the insults that they do to us, are still in the mistakes of our ancestors to this day. Our predecessors more than once sent their ambassadors to make peace with the gentlemen archbishops of Riga, whom they (the Teutons) mercilessly killed, as evidenced by cases during the time of Mr. Isark, that from the person of Pope Boniface he helped establish peace between us and the brothers of the Teutonic Order and sent us his message ; but when the ambassadors from Mr. Isark returned, some were killed along the way, others were hanged or forced to drown themselves.
Also, our predecessor, King Viteni, sent a message to the lord legate Francis, Archbishop Frederick, asking him to send him two brothers of the Minor Order, giving them a place and a church built. Having learned about this, the Prussian brothers of the Teutonic Order sent a detachment along roundabout routes and burned this church.
Pope John XXII. 17th century engraving
They also capture the lords of the archbishops, and bishops, and clerics, as evidenced by the case of Mr. John, who was killed in the Curia in the time of Pope Boniface, and of the lord Archbishop Frederick, whom they deceived from expelling from the church: and from the case of one cleric, Mr. Berthold, whom they mercilessly killed in his house in the city of Riga.
They also devastate the lands, as evidenced by the example of Zemgale and many others. But they say that they are doing it to protect Christians.
Holy and respected father, we Christians fought not to destroy the Catholic faith, but to resist injustice, as Christian kings and princes do; this is clear, because we have brothers of the Minor Order and the Order of the Righteous, to whom we have given complete freedom to baptize under other rites.
We, dear father, wrote this to you so that you know why our ancestors fell into the sin of infidelity and unbelief. But now, holy and respected father, we diligently pray that you will pay attention to our plight, since we are ready, like other Christian kings, to follow you in everything and accept the Catholic faith, if only we would not be oppressed in any way by these executioners, namely masters and brothers.” Here is the voice of justification for the “paganism” of the Litvins, the story of their dramatic opposition to the predatory Teutonic Order, which, with its predatory attacks on Lithuania, turned them away from Christianity, as from the faith of their enemies. Gediminas wanted Europe to know the truth about the Teutonic knights.
A year passed, and Pope John XXII did not respond to Gediminas’ letter.
Meanwhile, new letters from Gediminas appeared in Europe. In a message to the townspeople of Lübeck, Stralsund, Bremen, Magdeburg, Cologne dated January 25, 1323, Gediminas invited them to the Grand Duchy, promised to allocate land, give Magdeburg law, exempt merchants from duties, and priests to build churches and freely preach the word of God. “For our desire now is not to harm anyone, but to help everyone and strengthen the alliance of peace, brotherhood and true love with all the believers of Christ,” wrote Gediminas. In the second letter dated May 26, 1323, he assured: “We promise you all with an oath that we will establish a peace that Christians have never known.” These words contain the dream of Gediminas, a politician and a person, to which he sincerely strived with all his heart, a dream of peace.
Finally, on August 6, 1323, a joint embassy arrived in Vilna from the Riga archbishop and magistrate, the Danish ruler of the Revel land and representatives of the Livonian Order. The ambassadors asked Gediminas whether he would fulfill his promise. The Grand Duke avoided a direct answer. “As soon as the ambassadors from the pope, whom I wait for every day, come to me, then everything will be known. What I have in my heart now, God knows and I myself know. From my fathers I heard that the pope is our common father, his neighbors are the archbishops, then other bishops. I allow every person to live in my land according to his custom and according to his faith.” It seems that Gediminas either changed his mind about accepting the Catholic faith, or doubted the correctness of his decision, and there were serious reasons for this. As soon as it became known about Gediminas’ desire to baptize Lithuania, the Samogitian feudal lords opposed him. They threatened the Grand Duke to capture him and his family and, with the help of the crusaders, drive him out of the state or kill him. The Crusaders skillfully used the discontent of the Samogitians and incited them against Gediminas. At the same time, the Order offered Gediminas a bribe of 1000 marks, if only he would be baptized by the order priests: thereby the bishopric of Lithuania would be under the jurisdiction of the order metropolis. Gediminas rejected this proposal, well understanding where the crusaders were going: to subjugate Lithuania to the Order through the church.
Gediminas concluded the necessary peace with Livonia. Moreover, according to Wartberg’s Chronicle, Gediminas forced the Livonian ambassadors to sign peace, “otherwise they will see if they will be able to get out of his land.” This argument had a clear effect on the ambassadors, and on October 2 they made peace, which was also recognized by the Livonian Order. And Pope John XXII approved it on August 31, 1324.
But the Order did not comply with the peace treaty. In 1323, Livonian knights went to Myadel, where they devastated its outskirts. “They also ravaged the Polotsk land and 40 days later they ravaged the same land again, brutally killed eighty people, and took some with them,” Gediminas reported to the Riga magistrate.
And finally, the papal legates arrived. On July 3, 1324, Gediminas received them in his Vilna castle.
Gediminas, realizing that the baptism of Lithuania would not bring the desired peace with the Order, but would only lead to discord with Samogitia and the Orthodox population of the state, abandoned his intentions. “I didn’t order anything like that to be written. If Brother Berthold wrote this, then let the responsibility for this lie fall on his head. If I ever intended to be baptized, I would turn to the devil for it, and not to you. I really said, as it is written in the letter, that I will honor the pope, for he is older than me, and I also respect the lord archbishop as a father, for he is older than me, and I will respect my peers as brothers, and those who are younger than me like sons. I do not forbid Christians to serve God according to their customs. The Rusyns have their own way, but we serve God according to our customs, and we all have one God. What are you telling me about Christians? Where there is more injustice, violence, cruelty and excess than among Christians, especially those who seem pious, such as the crusaders, who commit all kinds of evil... Since the time these Christians appeared here, they have never done what promised in their vows. Last year there were ambassadors from your land here; with common consent, without any coercion, they made peace with us and, on behalf of all Christianity, confirmed the agreement with an oath, kissed the cross and did not fulfill what was sealed by the oath. They killed my ambassadors, whom I sent to establish peace, and not only them alone, but also many others, and many times they killed, captured, kept in severe captivity - I no longer believe their oaths,” answered Gediminas.
The religious tolerance of Gediminas, rare at that time, deserves respect, especially humane in comparison with the belligerence towards other confessions and religions of the papal curia and the crusaders. We must agree with the historian V. Vasilevsky, who wrote: “In order to come to the consciousness of the unity of the Supreme Being, whom each equally serves and worships in his own way - the Polish Catholic, the Orthodox Russian, and the Lithuanian pagan, for this Gediminas had to become higher of its paganism and even beyond its time.”
Gediminas was painfully worried about the collapse of his hopes. He was probably an emotional person and could not contain his feelings of disappointment and resentment. The ambassadors testify: “Afterwards we heard from some brother of the Minorite Order, as if one woman close to the queen told him that while we were there and after leaving the reception, the king retired to his bedchamber for the whole night, taking Erudone’s brother-in-law with him, and wept bitterly, and, having stopped, began again, and it seemed that every night he did this three times and, as this woman suggested, he did this because he had to abandon his original decision.”
As before, the Order was not going to maintain peace with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and planned to raise Europe against it. Gediminas also intensified his politics. The city elder David was elected prince in Pskov, who in 1322 and 1323 repelled the Livonian knights from the city and ravaged the Dorpat and Revel lands. Gediminas made peace with the Polish king Władysław Loketka in 1325, sealing it with the marriage of his daughter Aldona to Loketka's son Casimir. Peace was concluded with Novgorod. Gediminas once again confirmed his desire to preserve peace. Ambassador Lesiy declared in Riga to the master and the Riga authorities that “our king wishes to strictly honor the world, unless he is forced by necessity to abandon this, defending himself from his enemies, to whose enemy attacks we, as you know, are constantly exposed.” Apparently, it was Lesy (“one noble Litvin, supposedly second after the king,” according to Dusburg) who officially conveyed on behalf of Gediminas to the prelates and legates that they would never wait for any letter of consent from the king to baptize himself or his people, and added that this king swore by the power of his gods that he would never accept another religion than that followed by his ancestors.
Grand Duke Gediminas, in the eyes of Europe, remained the prince of the pagans, which justified the Order’s war against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But Gediminas created a coalition against the Order, which included Poland, Riga, Novgorod, and Pskov. Now he was already going on the offensive against the Order.
In 1326, joint actions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland began. The Polish army and a squad of 1200 horsemen of David Gorodensky reached Frankfurt-on-Oder. Margrave Louis of Brandenburg was forced to abandon for a long time his plans to conquer Western Pomerania and support the Order. In response, the Prussian knights ravaged the Goroden land in 1328, burned the outskirts of two castles in Samogitia, and in 1330 attacked the outskirts of Gediminas' castle there and burned it. The war became protracted and required Gediminas to find ways to contain the Order’s offensive.
Gediminas again took advantage of the enmity of the Riga residents with the Livonian knights. The people of Riga promised to hand over the bishop's castles to Gediminas. But when Gediminas came to Livonia in April 1329, he learned that the castles had been captured by the crusaders. The enraged Gediminas attacked the ambassadors with threats. But they promised him as a consolation that they would take him to a place where he could cause great harm to the Order. In fact, the guides showed Gediminas the rich Livonian possessions, which the Litvins destroyed and caused losses to the Order of more than 6,000 marks of silver.
V. Lyakhor. The battle of David Gorodensky's squad with the crusaders. 2010
In Wartberg's description, Gediminas looks like a ferocious pagan. Thus, in the parish of Peistele, “the king and his brothers used the church as a stable for their horses for two nights and committed countless shameful deeds.” Valuable for us is Wartberg’s mention of Gedimin’s brothers, probably the Warrior of Polotsk and Fyodor of Kiev, which may indicate the participation of Polotsk and Kyiv squads in the campaign.
Nevertheless, the Livonian knights subjugated Riga and now did not need peace with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Twice - in 1330 and 1332 - they went to Samogitia. And in 1333, Master Eberhard of Mannheim with a large army on boats sailed along the Dvina to Polotsk. Polotsk residents drove out the crusaders. The following year, Livonian knights ravaged Aukštaitija, killing 1,200 people. Afterwards they headed to Polotsk, from where the Polotsk residents again drove them away.
At the same time, Grand Duke Gediminas pursued a policy of unifying the Belarusian lands. After his death in 1341, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania included the Polotsk, Vitebsk, Mensk, Pinsk, Berestey lands and Podlasie, as well as the Galicia-Volyn land. Therefore, in the charters Gediminas is titled as “the king of Lithuania and many Rusyns,” although by status he was a grand duke, as he is called in the chronicles. Historical documents do not say anything about how the unification of the Belarusian lands took place under the rule of Gediminas. Therefore, we can assume that this process was peaceful. Already in 1326, the Principality of Men was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Prince Vasily of Mensk traveled as Gediminas' ambassador to Novgorod. The embassy was also represented by the Prince of Dorogobuzh and Vyazma Fyodor Svyatoslavich. This makes it possible to think that Gediminas’s power extended to the Smolensk principality. It is no coincidence that the Smolensk prince called himself the “young brother” of Gediminas, emphasizing his vassal dependence on him. Later, in 1338, the Smolensk prince Ivan Alexandrovich, in an agreement with Riga, indicated that he was concluding it “on the basis of my elder brother Ketdimin and his children Gleb and Alkerd.” Thus, the Smolensk prince coordinated his policy with Vilna, Polotsk and Vitebsk.
The Principality of Vitebsk was annexed peacefully. Gediminas' son Olgerd in 1318 married the daughter of the Vitebsk prince Yaroslav Vasilyevich Maria and after his death in 1320 began to own Vitebsk. The Berestey land and Podlasie were annexed, probably in 1323, when the last Galician-Volyn prince Andrei Yurievich, whose daughter Gediminas' son Lubart was married, died. But the Galician-Volhynian reign was claimed by the son of the Dobrzyn princess Anastasia and Boleslav Troydenevich Mazowiecki (great-grandson of Troyden), the maternal nephew of Andrei and Lev Yurievich, who was supported by his father, the Czersky prince Troyden, and his uncle, the Plock prince Vaclav. They probably entered into an agreement with Gediminas and divided the Galician-Volyn inheritance: Boleslav received Galicia and Volyn, and Gediminas received Podlasie, Beresteyskaya and Pinsk-Turov lands. Fulfilling this agreement, Gediminas sent the squad of David Gorodensky to Dobrzyn in the fall of 1323. Dobrzyn was captured, many villages of the principality were burned, 20 thousand people were killed and captured. A crushing blow, as Doesburg noted, from which Dobrzyn's land "was hardly ever able to escape." This defeat allowed Boleslav Troydenovich to become the Galician-Volyn prince, and Gedimina to occupy Podlasie, Berestey and Pinsk-Turov lands. But, apparently, a conflict arose between Gediminas and Vaclav Plock over these lands. And this time Gediminas resolved the issue with weapons. The army he sent, led by David Gorodensky, captured Płock and ravaged Mazovia. Podlasie was probably handed over by Gedimin to David Gorodensky, his son-in-law. And in order to strengthen the new land acquisition, Gedimin sealed the alliance with Boleslav Troydenovich, marrying off his daughter Efimia (Ofka) to him in 1331. After the death of Boleslav in 1340, Poland captured Galicia, and Lubart began to reign in Volhynia. This is how the division of the Galicia-Volyn principality took place, but the struggle for its inheritance between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Kingdom did not end.
Gediminas, taking advantage of his political position and marriage alliances, peacefully expanded the borders of his state. The political wisdom of Gediminas was manifested in the fact that when new lands were included in his state, he guaranteed them “not to destroy the old, and not to introduce new things”, retained local laws, the rights of feudal lords, townspeople and clergy, jurisdiction of their local courts, independence in concluding trade agreements . This is confirmed by the peace letter of 1338 with the Order. Gediminas indicated in it that he was making peace with the consent of the bishop, the king (Gleb-Narimont) and the city of Polotsk and the king (Olgerd) and the city of Vitebsk. It is noteworthy that the agreement also specifies the urban communities of Polotsk and Vitebsk, which means that in these cities the veche has been preserved - a self-government body that controls power. Decisions were made at the will of the city community. The Veche also controlled the zemstvo “secret”, taxes, customs duties, trade, and issued zemstvo charters. The very choice of Lithuanian princes as rulers freed the Belarusian cities from tribute to the Golden Horde, for they were no longer under the rule of the Rurikovichs and were not part of the “Russian Ulus”.
In collecting the lands of the Eastern Slavs, Gediminas clashed with the Moscow prince Ivan Kalita. Kalita's political enemies sought support from Gediminas. This is what the Tver and Smolensk princes, Pskov and even the “great lord Novgorod” did. Gediminas especially supported allied ties with Tver: first with Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich, to whom he married his daughter Maria in 1320, and after his death in 1325 - with his brother Alexander. When Kalita captured Tver in 1327, Alexander fled to Pskov and, with the support of Gediminas, became the prince of Pskov. Gedimin’s influence also spread to Novgorod, which was afraid of both Swedish expansion and Kalita’s greedy servants, who raked silver from the pockets of Novgorodians to pay for the “Horde”. In 1333, Novgorod invited Gleb-Narimont as a serving prince and gave him the suburbs of Ladoga, Orekhovy, Koporye and Karelian land. Ivan Kalita was forced to take this into account, so he entered into an alliance with Gediminas and in 1333 married his son Simeon to his daughter Augusta. But friendly relations did not develop between the two rulers. Each pursued their own policies, although both had common enemies - the Order and the Horde, who were interested in inciting hostility between them. At Kalita's request, Uzbek Khan summoned Alexander Mikhailovich and his son to the Horde, and they were killed there.
Grand Duke Gediminas also lost his influence in Novgorod. Gleb-Narimont, apparently, was more concerned about affairs in the Principality of Polotsk, where he was a prince. He did not respond to the requests of the Novgorodians to come to Novgorod and ruled them through his son Alexander. In the end, Ivan Kalita in 1339, with the help of the Horde, restored his power in Novgorod. But Smolensk remained in the orbit of the politics of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which in 1333 and 1339 Gediminas helped drive out the Tatar army sent by Kalita.
Gediminas spent the last years of his life fighting the Prussian knights. As Doesburg wrote, “following in the footsteps of his predecessors, he directed all his efforts towards the destruction of faith and Christians.” The German Emperor Louis of Bavaria in 1338 “granted” Samogitia, Kuronia, Rus' and Lithuania to the Order and thereby pushed “God’s” knights to new conquests. In 1341, the crusaders besieged the Samogitian castle of Velona. Gediminas and his army hastened to help. On the way, he decided to take possession of the order's castle of Bayerburg. During the assault, the Grand Duke was in the ranks of his soldiers. A stone cannonball from a bombard hit Gediminas and killed him.
According to other news, Gediminas was poisoned. In 1341, the Grand Duke, in order to secure an alliance with the Czech king John of Luxembourg, wanted to baptize Lithuania with his help. Here is what the court chronicler of the Czech king, Beneš Veitmilijsky, writes: “In that same year, the Lithuanian prince, wanting to accept the Christian faith, invited 10 priests and many Christians. Their own people, after consulting, poisoned the prince.” That's probably what happened. As a wise politician, Gediminas understood the harmfulness of the endless and bloody war with the Order, the reason for which was the paganism of some of his subjects. The first attempt at baptism failed due to the resistance of themselves and the crusaders. Now, when the Czech king was looking for allies against Emperor Louis of Bavaria, who supported the Order, Gediminas decided to take advantage of the advantageous moment. But, as we see, “our own people” poisoned him.
Gediminas left behind a strong power. Almost all Belarusian lands became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and now it was taken into account in the international arena, in particular the Kingdom of Poland, the Livonian Order, the Pskov and Novgorod Republics, the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, because they felt the increased strength of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
To be continued...
Some modern historians, disputing the conclusions of the Imperial Geographical Society (although without access to its archives - no one worked with the Polotsk Chronicle after Tatishchev), consider Gedimina a descendant of the Zhmudins, who “they had been sitting on the princely thrones of the appanages of the Principality of Polotsk for a long time - it was weakened and princes from strong Lietuva (Zhmudi) were invited/appointed there, so the annexation of the Polotsk lands took place voluntarily and peacefully”
A question immediately arises that cannot be answered.
How likely is an invitation (peaceful - there was no conquest) to the princely throne to the Christian center of the pagan aboriginal leaders
[
“The Samogits wear poor clothes and, in the vast majority of cases, are ashen in color. They spend their lives in low and, moreover, very long huts; in the middle they maintain a fire, near which the father of the family sits and sees the cattle and all his household utensils. For they have the custom of keeping cattle, without any partition, under the same roof under which they themselves live. The more noble ones also use buffalo horns as cups... They blast the earth not with iron, but with wood... When going to plow, they usually carry it with them. there are a lot of logs with which to dig the ground"
S. Herberstein, “Notes on Muscovy”, 16th century, about contemporary Zhmudins. (It was even sadder in the 13th century) ]
And what guided the residents, preferring them to people from neighboring (Volyn, Kyiv, Smolensk, Novgorod, Mazovia) principalities, which
- represent a powerful state entity
- closer in culture
- closer in language
- dynastically related
- live in cities, know writing and similar laws
And this despite the fact that at that time in Polotsk there was "freedom Polotsk or Venice"- undesirable rulers were quite often simply expelled.