The formation of the Principality of Lithuania is brief. Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia

Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a feudal state that existed in the 13th-16th centuries. on the territory of part of modern Lithuania and Belarus. The main occupation of the population was agriculture and cattle breeding. Hunting and fishing played an auxiliary role in the economy. The development of crafts based on iron production, internal and external trade (with Russia, Poland, etc.) contributed to the growth of cities (Vilnius, Trakai, Kaunas, etc.). In the 9th-12th centuries. Feudal relations developed on the territory of Lithuania, and classes of feudal lords and dependent people emerged. Individual Lithuanian political associations had different levels of socio-economic development. The decomposition of primitive communal relations and the emergence of a feudal system led to the formation of a state among the Lithuanians. According to the Galician-Volyn Chronicle, the Russian-Lithuanian treaty of 1219 mentions an alliance of Lithuanian princes led by the “eldest” princes who owned lands in Aukštaitija. This indicates the existence of a state in Lithuania. The strengthening of the grand ducal power led to the unification of the main Lithuanian lands into V. k. L. under the rule of Mindaugas (mid-30s of the 13th century - 1263), who also captured some Belarusian lands (Black Rus'). The formation of the VKL was accelerated by the need to unite to fight the aggression of the German crusaders, which had intensified since the beginning of the 13th century. Lithuanian troops won major victories over the knights in the battles of Siauliai (1236) and Durbe (1260).

In the 14th century, during the reign of Gediminas (1316-1341), Olgerd (1345-77) and Keistut (1345-82). The Principality of Lithuania significantly expanded its possessions, annexing all Belarusian, part of Ukrainian and Russian lands (Volyn, Vitebsk, Turov-Pinsk, Kyiv, Pereyaslavl, Podolsk, Chernigov-Seversk lands, etc.). Their inclusion was facilitated by the fact that Rus' was weakened by the Mongol-Tatar yoke, as well as the fight against the aggression of German, Swedish and Danish invaders. Joining the Great. Prince Lithuanian. Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian lands with more developed social relations and culture contributed to the further development of socio-economic relations in Lithuania. In the annexed lands, the Lithuanian grand dukes retained significant autonomy and immunity rights for local magnates. This, as well as differences in the level of socio-economic development and the ethnic heterogeneity of individual parts of the VKL, determined the lack of centralization in public administration. The head of the state was the Grand Duke, with a council of representatives of the nobility and the highest clergy. In order to unite forces to fight the advance of the German knightly orders and strengthen his power, Grand Duke Jagiello (1377-92) concluded the Union of Krevo with Poland in 1385. However, the union was fraught with the danger of Lithuania becoming a province of Poland in the future. In Lithuania, where until the end of the 14th century. paganism existed, Catholicism began to spread by force. Some of the Lithuanian and Russian princes, led by Vytautas, who in 1392, after an internecine struggle, actually became the Grand Duke of Lithuania, opposed Jagiello’s policy. The united Lithuanian-Russian and Polish troops, with the participation of Czech troops, completely defeated the knights of the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 and stopped their aggression.

The growth of large feudal landownership and the consolidation of the ruling class in the 14th - 15th centuries. were accompanied by mass enslavement of the peasants, causing peasant uprisings (for example, in 1418). The main form of exploitation of peasants was food rent. Simultaneously with the growth of economic dependence, national oppression in the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands intensified. Crafts and trade developed in the cities. In the 15-16th centuries. the rights and privileges of the Lithuanian lords are growing. According to the Union of Gorodel of 1413, the rights of the Polish gentry were extended to Lithuanian Catholic nobles. At the end of the 15th century. A Rada of Gentlemen was formed, which actually put the power of the Grand Duke under its control by the privilege of 1447 and by the privilege of Grand Duke Alexander of 1492. The formation of the general gentry Sejm (at the end of the 15th century), as well as the publication of the Lithuanian statutes of 1529 and 1566, consolidated and increased the rights of the Lithuanian nobility.

The transition to cash rent at the end of the 15th and 16th centuries. was accompanied by an increase in the exploitation of peasants and an intensification of the class struggle: escapes and unrest became more frequent (especially large ones in 1536-37 on the grand ducal estates). In the middle of the 16th century. A reform was carried out on the estates of the Grand Duke, as a result of which the exploitation of peasants intensified due to the growth of corvée (see Volga Pomera). From the end of the 16th century. This system is being introduced in the domains of large landowners-magnates. Mass enslavement of peasants, development of corvee farming, receipt by Lithuanian landowners in the 2nd half of the 16th century. rights to duty-free export of grain abroad and import of goods delayed the development of cities.

From the moment of the formation of the VKL, the Lithuanian princes sought to seize Russian lands. However, strengthening in the 14th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow and the unification of Russian lands around it led to the fact that from the 2nd half of the 15th century. as a result of the wars with Russia (1500-03, 1507-08, 1512-22, 1534-37) B. K. L. lost Smolensk (captured by Grand Duke Vitovt in 1404), Chernigov, Bryansk, Novgorod-Seversky and other Russians land. The growth of anti-feudal protests in the lands of the VKL, the aggravation of intra-class contradictions, the desire for expansion in the East, as well as failures in the Livonian War of 1558-83 against Russia led to the unification of the VKL with Poland under the Union of Lublin in 1569. one state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA (ON), a state in Eastern Europe in the 13th-16th centuries. The ethnic core is the land of Lietuva in Aukštaitija.

Formation ON. The Union of Lithuanian lands, which included Lietuva, the regions of Upita and Deltuva, Siauliai and part of Samogitia, was first mentioned in 1219. In the 1230-40s, the transformation of this union, led by the prince of Lietuva Mindaugas (Mindaugas), into a single state was accelerated by the threat posed by the Teutonic Order. In the fight against it, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania claimed the role of unifier of the Baltic lands south of the Western Dvina. In 1236, at the Battle of Saul, the Lithuanians and Samogitians defeated the Crusaders. By the middle of the 13th century, Black Rus' became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Since the mid-13th century, monks of spiritual orders preached in Lithuania. To contain the advance of the order and strengthen his power, Mindaugas converted to Catholicism (1251), was crowned (1253) and secured a promise from Pope Alexander IV for the coronation of his son. Under pressure from the Samogitians, who defeated the troops of the Livonian Order at Durben (1260), Mindaugas broke with Catholicism. However, from the end of the 13th century, after the murder of Mindaugas and internal strife, which was ended by Troyden (Traidenis; 1269-1281/82), the question of Lithuania’s adoption of Catholicism was again repeatedly raised. The Lithuanian princes associated his decision with the end of the aggression of the Livonian Order.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania developed as a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state, which contributed to the establishment of the power of the duumvirs (usually brothers) - the Grand Duke (residence - Vilno, now Vilnius) and his co-ruler (residence - Troki, now Trakai), between whom political power was distributed in various parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Boudikid (Butigeidis) (1280s - c. 1290) and Pukuver-Budivid (Pukuveras-Butvydas) (1280s - c. 1295); Vyten (Vytenis) (about 1295-1316) and Gediminas (Gediminas).

From the 2nd half of the 13th century, the cities of Vilna, Troki, Kovno (now Kaunas), Grodno, Novogrudok and others developed, the economic growth of which was facilitated by the policy of the Grand Dukes aimed at encouraging trade, establishing international trade relations, attracting European merchants and artisans.

In 1307, the Principality of Polotsk was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Heyday ON. During the period of the sole reign of the founder of the Gedimin dynasty, Gedimin (1316-1341) and the reign of his sons - Olgerd (Algirdas) (1345-77) and Keistut (Kestutis) (1345-77, 1381-82), a significant strengthening of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania occurred. During the attack on Russian lands in the 1310-1320s, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania included the Drutsk, Vitebsk, Minsk, Pinsk, Turov and Slutsk principalities, around 1360 - the Bryansk Principality, around 1362 - the Kiev Principality, in the 1360s - Chernigov principality, in the 1340-70s - Volyn. The annexed principalities concluded a series of agreements with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; the borders of the principalities, the governance structure, the immunity rights of local feudal lords were preserved, and in small principalities - local dynasties. The vassal duties of the nobility included payment of tribute and participation in hostilities. Some representatives of the nobility (Khodkiewicz, Ostrozhsky, etc.) became part of the top of the largest landowners of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and played a large role in political life. By the middle of the 14th century, the active offensive of the Crusaders on the borders of Lithuania was stopped; a period of long positional wars began with periodic invasions of the order into Samogitia and Lithuanians into Prussia and Zemgale. At the same time, Samogitia, while maintaining broad autonomy, gradually integrated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania acted as rivals of the Moscow princes in the unification of Russian lands: they supported the Tver Principality in the fight against the Moscow Grand Duchy, and during Olgerd’s campaigns, Lithuanian troops tried to capture Moscow three times.

The power struggle after the death of Olgerd between his brother Keistut and his son Jagiello, supported by the Teutonic Order, ended in 1382 with the victory of the latter. The renewal of the war with the order in 1383 forced Jagiello to turn to Poland. As a result of the Union of Krevo in 1385, Jogaila became both the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1386. The privileges of Jagiello (1387, 1389) determined the status of Catholicism as the state religion and secured the immune rights of the Catholic Church. At the same time, the Grand Dukes of Lithuania repeatedly tried to achieve the establishment of a special metropolis in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, since Orthodoxy, although it did not have the status of a state church, was preserved in Russian lands and cities (some princes were also Orthodox, for example, the Gediminovichs, who ruled in the Russian principalities). At the same time, measures were taken to prevent the spread of Orthodoxy in ethnically Lithuanian lands. In 1388, the war against Jagiello was started by his cousin, Keistut’s son, Vytautas (Vytautas), supported by the Samogitians and the Teutonic Order. The conflict ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ostrov (1392), according to which Vytautas became the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; The status of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the new state-political entity was also clarified. In 1393, Vytautas concluded a peace treaty with Novgorod. Since 1395, Vytautas has been officially called the Grand Duke in documents. According to the Salina Treaty of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Teutonic Order (1398), Novgorod was recognized as a zone of interests of Lithuania, Pskov - of the Livonian Order; Samogitia was transferred to the Teutonic Order. According to the Vilna-Radom Union of 1401, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania remained an independent state in alliance with Poland. In 1404, Vytautas managed to annex the Smolensk principality to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Union with Poland contributed to victories in the fight against the Teutonic Order (Battle of Grunwald in 1410; return of Samogitia in 1409-10, finally in 142). According to the Gorodel Union of 1413, the rights of the Polish gentry were extended to the Catholic feudal lords of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The privileges of 1432 and 1434 equalized the Orthodox and Catholic nobility in some economic and political rights. “Russian” (Old Belarusian) was the language of the office of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th and 16th centuries. By the 1430s, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded to the upper reaches of the Oka River and the Black Sea, recaptured part of the southern Russian lands from the Golden Horde and included the territories of modern Lithuania, Belarus, as well as parts of modern Ukraine and Russia. In the 14th-15th centuries, large feudal landownership was formed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Many cities received Magdeburg law and became centers of multinational culture.

Development of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 2nd half of the 15th - mid-16th centuries. As a result of the Russian-Lithuanian wars, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lost the Verkhovsky principalities, Smolensk, Chernigov, Bryansk, Novgorod-Seversky. From the end of the 15th century, the struggle between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crimean Khanate began. By interfering in the war between the Archbishopric of Riga and the Livonian Order, the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania sought to subjugate Livonia to their influence. According to the Posvolsky agreements of 1557, an alliance of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Livonia was created to confront the Russian state. After the start of the Livonian War of 1558-83, the Treaty of Vilnius of 1559 established the suzerainty of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania over the Livonian Order. After the 2nd Truce of Vilna (November 28, 1561), the order’s possessions in Livonia underwent secularization and came under the joint ownership of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland.

From the end of the 15th century, the Sejms (local and national) of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania gathered; The privileges of 1447 and 1492 actually put the power of the Grand Duke under the control of the Rada of Lords - the council of the nobility and the highest clergy. The rights of the feudal estate of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania are enshrined in the Lithuanian statutes (1529, 1566). During the era of the Reformation (mid-16th century), Protestantism (Calvinism in the form of Reformation) became widespread among the highest nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Radziwills and others). Some magnates of Russian origin (Sapegas, Orshaskys, Khodkeviches, etc.) converted to Catholicism in the 15th and early 16th centuries.

At the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century, the transition to cash rent was accompanied by increased exploitation of peasants and an intensification of the struggle between peasants and feudal lords. In the mid-16th century, with the development of commodity farming, corvee rent prevailed. From the 1st half of the 16th century, book printing in Russian and Lithuanian developed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

ON as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Under the terms of the Union of Lublin in 1569, a new state was created - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, headed by the Polish king, who was also the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who was elected for life by the gentry of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A common diet was created, but the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland retained their own administration, army, finances, judicial system, and legislation. The gentry received equal rights to own land in any part of the federation. The Podlyash and Kiev voivodeships, Volyn, and Podolia came under the king’s rule.

Lithuanian statehood gradually withered away. In the 1560s, local gentry self-government was organized according to the Polish model. In 1579, a university was opened in Vilnius. In 1588, a new Lithuanian statute was issued, cementing the victory of serfdom. In the 17th and 18th centuries, polonization of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania took place. By the end of the 17th century, most of the gentry spoke Polish; since 1697, Polish was the official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was completely liquidated in accordance with the Constitution of the Third of May 1791. As a result of the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became part of the Russian Empire.

Lit.: Lyubavsky M.K. Essay on the history of the Lithuanian-Russian state up to and including the Union of Lublin. M., 1910; Pashuto V. T. Formation of the Lithuanian state. M., 1959; Dvornichenko A. Yu. Russian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: (Before the beginning of the 16th century): Essays on the history of the community, estates, statehood. St. Petersburg, 1993; Kiaupenè J. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania in East Central Europe or once again about the Lithuanian-Polish Union // Lithuanian Historical Studies. 1997. No. 2; Yanin V. L. Novgorod and Lithuania. Border situations of the XIII-XV centuries. M., 1998; Dubonis A. Lietuvos didziojo kunigaiksöio leiciai. Is Lietuvos ankstyviyij valstybiniij struktürq praeities. Vilnius, 1998; Blaszczyk G. Litwa na przelomie sredniowiecza i nowozytnosci: 1492-1596. Poznan, 2002; Petrauskas R. The Lithuanian nobility in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries: composition and structure // Lithuanian Historical Studies. 2002. No. 7; Gudavichyus E. History of Lithuania: from ancient times to 1569. M., 2005.

The Principality of Lithuania was initially Lithuanian-Russian in composition with a predominance of Russians and could become a powerful Orthodox state. It is unknown what would have happened to the Principality of Moscow if the Lithuanian princes had not turned to the West, towards Poland.

Zhemgola, Zhmud, Prussians and others

Lithuanian tribes, close to the Slavs, judging by both language studies and analysis of beliefs, lived quite calmly and carelessly on the Baltic coast between the Western Dvina and the Vistula. They were divided into tribes: on the right bank of the Dvina lived the Letgola tribe, on the left - the Zhemgola, on the peninsula between the mouth of the Neman and the Gulf of Riga - the Korsi, between the mouths of the Neman and the Vistula - the Prussians, in the Neman basin - the Zhmud in the upper reaches, and Lithuania itself - on average, plus the most dense of the listed Yotvingians on Narva. Cities in these territories did not exist until the 13th century, when the city of Voruta among the Lithuanians and Tveremet among Zhmudi were first noted in the chronicle, and historians tend to attribute the formation of the beginnings of the state to the 14th century.

German knights

Young and aggressive Europeans, mainly Germans, as well as Swedes and Danes, naturally could not help but begin colonizing the eastern Baltic Sea. So the Swedes took the lands of the Finns, the Danes built Revel in Estland, and the Germans went to the Lithuanians. At first they only traded and preached. The Lithuanians did not refuse to be baptized, but then they plunged into the Dvina and “washed away” the baptism from themselves, sending it back to the Germans by water. The Pope then sent the crusaders there, led by Bishop Albert, the first bishop of Livonia, who in 1200 founded Riga, the Order of the Swordsmen, fortunately there were plenty of knights in those days, and conquered and colonized the surrounding lands. Thirty years later, another order, the Teutonic Order, was located nearby, in the possessions of the Polish prince Konrad of Mazovia, which was driven out of Palestine by the Muslims. They were called upon to defend Poland from the Prussians, who constantly robbed the Poles. The knights conquered all Prussian lands in fifty years and a state was founded there in fief subordination from the Emperor of Germany.

The first reliable reign

But the Lithuanians did not submit to the Germans. They began to unite in large groups and build alliances, in particular, with the Polotsk princes. Considering that the Russian western lands were weak at that time, the passionate Lithuanians, who were called into service by one or the other prince, acquired primitive management skills, and began to seize first the Polotsk land, then the lands of Novgorod, Smolensk, and Kyiv. The first reliable reign was that of Mindaugas, the son of Romgold, who created a principality of Russians and Lithuanians. However, it was impossible to turn around too much, since in the South there was a strong Galician principality led by Daniel, and on the other side the Livonian Order was not asleep. Mindovg ceded the occupied Russian lands to Daniil's son Roman, but formally retained power over them and consolidated this matter by marrying his daughter to Daniil's son Shvarna. The Livonian Order recognized Mindaugas when he was baptized. As a sign of gratitude, he handed over to the Germans letters of approval for Lithuanian lands, which he did not own.

Founder of the dynasty

After the death of Mindaugas, as one would expect, various civil strife began in the principality, which lasted half a century, until in 1316 the princely throne was occupied by Gedimin, the founder of the Gedimin dynasty. Over the previous years, Daniil and other Russian princes had great influence in Lithuania and transferred a lot there in terms of urban planning, cultural and military. Gediminas was married to a Russian and, in general, pursued a Lithuanian-Russian policy, understanding that this was necessary for the construction of the state. But he subjugated Polotsk, Kyiv, and partly Volyn. He himself sat in Vilna, and two-thirds of his state were Russian lands. The sons of Gediminas Olgerd and Keistut turned out to be friendly guys - one sat in Vilna, and was engaged in north-eastern Russia, and Keistut lived in Troki, and acted against the Germans.

Jagiello - apostate

Befitting the sound of his name, Prince Jagiello turned out to be the unworthy son of Olgerd; he agreed with the Germans to destroy his uncle Keistut. That Jagiello won, but did not kill his nephew, and in vain, because at the first opportunity Jagiello strangled his uncle, but his son Vytautas was able to hide with the Teutonic knights, however, he later returned and settled on small lands. The Poles began to approach Jagiello with a proposal to marry him to Queen Jadwiga. She was recognized as queen after the death of the Hungarian King Louis, who ruled according to the dynastic principle in Poland. The lords argued and fought for a long time about who Jadwiga should take as a husband, and Jagiello was very suitable: the disputes over Volyn and Galich would stop, Poland would strengthen itself against the Germans who captured the Polish seaside, and would drive the Hungarians out of Galich and Lvov. Jagiello, baptized into Orthodoxy, was very happy at the offer, was baptized into Catholicism and baptized Lithuania. In 1386, the marriage was concluded and Jagiello received the name Vladislav. He destroyed pagan temples, etc., helped remove the Hungarians and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Teutonic Order at Grunwald. But, as Russian historian Sergei Platonov notes, the union “introduced the seeds of internal hostility and decay into Lithuania,” since the preconditions were created for the oppression of Orthodox Russians.

Vytautas - collector of lands

The son of the murdered Keistut, Vytautas, as soon as Jagiello left for Poland, with the help of appanage princes, began to rule in Poland (1392), and with such support that he achieved complete personal independence from King Vladislav, the former Jagiello. Under Vytautas, Lithuania expanded from the Baltic to the Black Sea and advanced deeply to the East at the expense of the Smolensk Principality. Vasily I was married to Vytautas's only daughter Sophia, and the left tributary of the Oka Utra was designated as the border between Moscow and Lithuanian lands. Some historians believe that this powerful eastern policy, which could lead to the creation of a huge Lithuanian-Russian state, was promoted by the Orthodox princes of Lithuania, but was sharply opposed by the Poles and the new Polized Lithuanian nobility, which received all the privileges of the gentry and lords. Vytautas even began to apply for a royal title to the Emperor of Germany in order to become independent from Poland, but died (1430) in the midst of this process.

Full union

For more than 100 years, the union was largely formal. This, as in the case of Vytautas, could have the most dire consequences for Poland, so it was decided to always elect one person as both prince and king. Thus, the union conceived in 1386 was implemented only at the beginning of the 16th century. Polish influence in Lithuania began to grow after this. Previously, local princes could rule in their lands without Catholic and Polish dictates, now the Grand Duke subjugated them, the Roman faith became suppressive and oppressive towards the Orthodox. Many converted to Catholicism, others tried to fight, moved to Moscow, which, thanks to this situation, was able to squeeze Lithuania. In the internal politics of the principality, the Polish order was finally established, first of all, the gentry with its enormous rights in relation to the king and peasants. This process naturally ended in 1569 with the Union of Lublin and the formation of another state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In ancient times, Lithuanian tribes occupied the northern lands almost to present-day Tambov. But then they merged with the Finno-Ugric and Slavic populations. Lithuanian tribes survived only in the Baltic states and Belarus. The central part of this area was occupied by the Lithuanian tribe or Lithuanians, to the west lived the Zhmud, and even further to the west lived the Prussians. In the east of modern Belarusian lands lived the Yatvags, and the Golyad tribe was located in the Kolomna region.

From these scattered tribes, the Lithuanian prince Mindovg created a single principality. After his murder by conspirators in 1263, the Lithuanian princes fought among themselves for power until the beginning of the 14th century. The winner in these internecine wars was Prince Gediminas (reigned 1316-1341). It was to him that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania owed its successful policy of conquest in the 14th century.

The very first conquest was Black Rus'. This is an area near the city of Grodno - the westernmost part of Rus'. Then Gedimin subjugated Minsk, Polotsk, and Vitebsk. After this, the Lithuanians penetrated into Galicia and Volyn. But Gedimina failed to conquer Galicia. The Poles occupied it, and the Lithuanians settled only in eastern Volyn and began to prepare for a campaign against Kyiv.

Black Rus' on the map

At the time described, Kyiv had already lost its greatness, but Stanislav, who reigned in the city, decided to defend himself and the townspeople to the end. In 1321, he entered into battle with the army of Gediminas, but was defeated. And the victorious Lithuanians besieged Kyiv. The people of Kiev were forced to submit to the Grand Duke of Lithuania on the basis of vassalage. That is, all property was left to the people of Kiev, but the Kiev prince fell into complete submission to the victors.

After the capture of Kyiv, the Lithuanian army continued its military expansion. As a result of this, Russian cities as far as Kursk and Chernigov were conquered. Thus, under Gediminas and his son Olgerd, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania arose in the 14th century. It continued its policy of conquest after the death of Gediminas, when his sons Olgerd and Keistut entered the political arena.

The brothers divided their spheres of influence. Keistut settled in Zhmudi and resisted the Germans, and Olgerd pursued a policy of conquest in the Russian lands. It should be noted that Olgerd and his nephew Vytautas formally converted to Orthodoxy. Lithuanian princes married Russian princesses and united the Rurikovichs from the Turovo-Pinsk land around them. That is, they gradually included Russian lands into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Olgerd managed to subjugate a vast territory up to the Black Sea and the Don. In 1363, the Lithuanians defeated the Tatars at the Blue Waters (Sinyukha River) and captured the western part of the steppe between the Dnieper and the mouth of the Danube. Thus, they reached the Black Sea. But Lithuania continued to remain sandwiched between Orthodox Russia and Catholic Europe. The Lithuanians waged active wars with the Teutonic and Livonian Orders, and therefore Poland could become their ally.

Poland at that time was in a state of deep crisis. She was periodically tormented by both the anti-papist German orders and the Czechs, who captured Krakow and the surrounding lands. The latter were driven out with difficulty by the Polish king Wladyslaw Loketek from the Piast dynasty. In 1370, this dynasty ceased to exist, and the Frenchman Louis of Anjou became the Polish king. He passed the crown on to his daughter Jadwiga. The Polish magnates strongly advised that to marry legally with the Lithuanian prince Jogaila, the son of Olgerd. Thus, the Poles wanted to unite Poland with Lithuania and stop German expansion.

In 1385, Jagiello married Jadwiga and became the full ruler of Lithuania and Poland in accordance with the Union of Krevo. In 1387, the population of Lithuania officially adopted the Catholic faith. However, not everyone greeted this with enthusiasm. Those Lithuanians who associated themselves with the Russians did not want to accept Catholicism.

Jagiello's cousin Vitovt took advantage of this. He led the opposition and led the fight for the grand ducal throne. This man was looking for allies among the Lithuanians, and among the Poles, and among the Russians, and among the crusaders. The opposition was so strong that in 1392 Jagiello concluded the Ostrov Agreement with Vytautas. According to him, Vytautas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Jogaila appropriated to himself the title of Supreme Prince of Lithuania.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century on the map

Vytautas continued his conquest of Russian lands and in 1395 captured Smolensk. Soon he refused to obey Jogaila and, thanks to an alliance with the Tatars, annexed the large territory of the Wild Field to Lithuania. Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania significantly expanded its borders in the 14th century. However, in 1399, military luck turned away from Vytautas. He lost Smolensk and part of other lands. In 1401, Lithuania was so weakened that it again entered into an alliance with Poland - the Vilna-Radom Union.

After this, Vitovt again acquired serious political weight. In 1406, an official border was established between Muscovite Russia and Lithuania. The Principality of Lithuania waged a successful fight against the Teutonic Order. In 1410, the Battle of Grunwald took place, in which the crusading knights suffered a crushing defeat. In the last years of his reign, Vytautas sought to once again separate Lithuania from Poland and, for this purpose, decided to be crowned. But this idea ended in failure.

Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century became a militarily and politically strong state. It united, significantly expanded its borders and acquired high international authority. The adoption of Catholicism was also an important historical event. This step brought Lithuania closer to Europe, but alienated it from Rus'. This played a major political role in subsequent centuries.

Alexey Starikov

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is an Eastern European state that existed from the first half of the 13th century to 1795 on the territory of modern Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Poland (Podlasie), Latvia (1561-1569) and Estonia (1561-1569).

Since 1385 it was in a personal union with Poland, known as the Union of Krevo, and from 1569 - in the Sejm Union of Lublin. In the XIV-XVI centuries, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a rival of Muscovite Rus' in the struggle for dominance in Eastern Europe.

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
Beginning of the 13th century - increased aggression of the German crusaders
1236 - Lithuanians defeat the Knights of the Sword at Siauliai
1260 - Lithuanian victory 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 - Lithuania adopted Catholicism
1392 - as a result of internecine struggle, Vytautas becomes the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who opposed the policies of Jagiello 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 - code of laws. Together with Sudebnik
1468, it became the first experience of codification of law in the principality
1492 - “Privilege Grand Duke Alexander.” The first charter of the nobility's liberties
The end of the 15th century - the 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 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 - the war between Russia and the Livonian Order, as well as with Sweden, Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for the Baltic states and access to the Baltic Sea, in which Lithuania suffered failures
1569 - signing of the Union of Lublin and the unification of Lithuania into one state with Poland - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which shows territorial changes in various historical periods:

Here is an excerpt from Igor Kurukin’s article “Great Lithuania or “alternative” Rus'?”, published in the magazine “Around the World” in N1 for 2007:

In the middle of the 13th century, Prince Mindaugas (Mindaugas) united chaotic tribal unions with an iron hand. Moreover, in an effort to overcome the Teutons, he either accepted the royal crown from the Pope (Mindaugas remained in history as the first and only Lithuanian king), then turned to the east and sought support against the crusaders from Alexander Nevsky. As a result, the country did not recognize the Tatar yoke and quickly expanded its territory at the expense of the weakened Western Russian principalities (the lands of present-day Belarus).

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.

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...

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.

The multi-ethnic composition of the state was then reflected even in its name - “The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia”, and Russian was considered the official language of the principality... but not the Moscow language (rather, Old Belarusian or Old Ukrainian - there was no big difference between them until the beginning of the 17th century ). Laws and acts of the state chancellery were drawn up there. Sources from the 15th-16th centuries testify: the Eastern Slavs within the borders of Poland and Lithuania considered themselves a “Russian” people, “Russians” or “Rusyns”, while, we repeat, without identifying themselves in any way with the “Muscovites”.

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 more and more 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.

After the Union of Lublin, according to which in 1569 Poland and Lithuania united into one state - the Salted River, the Polish gentry poured into the rich and then 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 closed Orthodox churches, and priests who refused to join the union were expelled from 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 under the control of 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 the middle of the 17th 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.
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