Interesting facts about Vitovt's children. Vitovt is the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Vitovt - Grand Duke of Lithuania
Vitovt is the great Lithuanian prince since 1392, Jagiello's cousin and Keistut's son. One of the most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, he was nicknamed the Great during his lifetime. In 1395, he annexed the rather weak, but territorially connected with it, Smolensk to Lithuania. In 1395 to 1396 he successfully fought against Ryazan, and in 1398 he successfully fought against the Tatars. Lithuania became independent from Poland. He concluded a separate peace and an alliance treaty with the Teutonic Order, which were directed against Poland on October 12, 1398. Many objects in Lithuania, Poland and Belarus are named in honor of the Grand Duke. The university in Kaunas also bears his name. Vitovt's sculpture is considered part of the Grunwald monument and the Millennium of Russia monument. He had many boyars under his command. In many legends, they endowed him with mythological properties and qualities, my opinion is that he symbolized for them the transition from the old way of life to the new, which is why during his lifetime he was nicknamed the Great ruler of the Lithuanian principality.
Biography
According to approximate data, the prince was born in 1350. He was baptized three times: twice according to the Catholic rite and once according to the Orthodox under the name Alexander. He was born into a large family with three sisters and three brothers. The first information about Vitovt belongs to 1360. From a young age, the prince got acquainted with combat and marching life with his father. He lived for 80 years, 60 of them was married. The prince had three wives. Had a daughter, Sophia, by Anna Smolenskaya. Other sources also said that he also had a son. In 1368-72 he took part in campaigns against Moscow, and in 1376 he took part in campaigns against Poland. In 1377 he independently undertook a campaign to the lands of the Teutonic Order. Relying on the Russian and Lithuanian boyars, Vitovt fought for the independence of Lithuania and achieved recognition of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Under Vitovt, Lithuanian possessions reached Mozhaisk and the upper reaches of the Oka. Vitovt took away South Podolia from the Tatars and his possessions expanded to the Black Sea, and he also stubbornly fought with the German knights. Jagiello and Vitovt became the organizers of the pogrom at the Battle of Grunwald by the German knights in 1410. In 1422, Vitovt returned to Lithuania Samogitia, which was captured in 1398. With the help of the support of his servicemen, he tried to eliminate the Gediminovich princes in Russia and promote his governors there. The abolition of the reigns in Kiev, Podolia, Vitebsk by Prince Vitovt led to an increase in the political level of the Lithuanian boyars. Subsequently, Vitovt will become the hero of the Battle of Grunwald, in which he forever undermined the power of his eternal enemy of the Teutonic Order. The Moscow, Ryazan and Tver princes entered into favorable agreements with Vitovt.
The Moscow prince promised not to provide assistance to Pskov and Novgorod, and Ryazan and Tver - to become his allies. Then for more than 30 years he will rule the Great Lithuanian and Russian principality. Then the descendants of the "Cossack Mamai" will be in the service of the Moscow Tsar, and Elena Glinskaya will be the wife of Prince Vasily and the mother of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. It is likely that the blood of one of the most dangerous and powerful rivals of the Moscow state was in the veins of the Russian sovereign. At the congress in Lutsk in 1429, a congress was held, which showed the significant role of the Lithuanian principality in European politics. The coronation of the prince was supposed to take place, which was postponed to 1430, but the prince did not live to see it. He died on September 27, 1430. On September 23, 2010, a monument to Prince Vitovt was erected in Belarus. The sculpture is over six meters high and is made of a special oak species. The AKSM-420 trolleybus also bears the name "Vitovt".
Jagiello handed over the grand-ducal throne to his cousin Vitovt in 1392. In 1399, Vitovt (ruled 1392-1430) once again tried to annex the Moscow principality, this time in alliance with the Horde khan Tokhtamysh, who fled to Lithuania and dreamed of regaining the khan's throne, but suffered a severe defeat in the battle on Vorskla. This defeat greatly weakened Lithuania, and in 1401 she was forced to reaffirm the regime of "personal union" with Poland, which led to the strengthening of the position of the Polish nobility (gentry) on the lands of the principality.
In 1405, Vitovt attacked the Novgorod and Pskov lands, and they turned to Moscow for help. A war was brewing, but the forces of Lithuania and Moscow were approximately equal, besides, the conflict was not beneficial to either side, and in 1408, after standing with the troops on the Ugra, Vitovt and Moscow Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich made peace. At this time, in the west, the Polish-Lithuanian state waged a fierce struggle with the Teutonic Order. Peace on the eastern frontiers largely contributed to the fact that in 1410 the united troops of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania inflicted a crushing defeat on the Order in Battle of Grunwald(Battle of Tannenberg). A direct consequence of this victory was the final refusal of the Order in 1422 from Samogitia and the final liquidation of the Order by the Second Peace of Torun in 1466.
Once again Vitovt tried to intervene in Moscow affairs in 1427, when a dynastic strife broke out in Moscow, which was called "Shemyakin's Troubles". Vitovt, relying on the fact that the Grand Duchess of Moscow, together with her son, people and lands, herself gave herself up to him under his protection, seriously claimed the throne of the king of Lithuania and Russia. The matter was for official recognition from the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The recognition of Vitovt as a king and, accordingly, of his country - a kingdom, would mean a radical change in the status of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the international arena. This was completely unfavorable for Jagiello and the Kingdom of Poland, which was striving to expand its influence over its eastern neighbor. According to legend, Vitovt's crown was stopped on the territory of Poland, and Jagailo personally cut it with a sword. The middle-aged Vitovt could not bear such a blow and died in 1430.
Perhaps this was the last attempt to establish the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as an independent state. The decisive implantation of the Catholic faith and the expansion of the influence of the Poles, although it contributed to the rise of the economy, culture and science, at the same time firmly tied the country to a more developed Catholic Poland, and the system of privileges granted to the Catholic gentry broke the country's internal unity. The conversion of the Orthodox nobility to Catholicism and its polonization became widespread. The enslavement of the peasants added fuel to the fire in the first half of the 15th century. Mass peasant movements were the answer. The Orthodox majority, especially the lower strata of the population, were increasingly oriented towards Russia. The outflow of the Orthodox began from the Lithuanian lands: they went to the empty lands in the east and southeast, the former Wild Field, where nomads were the masters. This was the beginning of the Cossacks in the lands bordering the Crimean Khanate.
In the XIV century, the division of land and power fought not only in Europe. To the east, where large territories were divided between small, but rather strong and powerful principalities, a serious struggle was also waged. The Slavs did little to unite. Almost all of them were satisfied with the situation when each principality was independent and capable of independently solving its problems. However, smaller formations were constantly attacked by the growing Moscow principality or Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania or by the Tatars, who periodically raided the Slavic lands, ravaging and turning them into a desert.
In such a difficult time for the Slavic states, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt came to power.The son of the Lithuanian pagan prince Keistut, Vitovt was baptized at birth according to the Christian tradition and first received the name Wiegand, and then (for some reason) Alexander. In the late 80s of the 14th century, it was this man who had to find himself in the very center of the whirlpool that engulfed the absurd, but huge Lithuanian Grand Duchy.
First, his uncle Algirdas (Olgerd) died, and in Lithuania a struggle begins between his son Jagaila and Keistut, Vitovt's father.
Vitovt's path to the Grand Duke's crown was not easy. In 1376, Keistut gave him the Grodno principality with the cities of Brest, Kamenets, Drogichin on the Bug. Already at that time Vitovt distinguished himself by military valor in battles with the crusaders. Chroniclers call him "Udaty Mlodzens". Several times Vitovt, at the head of the Grodno squad, repulsed the order's attacks. So, in 1377 he drove the enemy out from under the Trok, and in 1380 he defended Drogichin on the Bug. It was Vitovtu Keistut who wanted to transfer the entire Trok principality to the reign. But the Grand Duke Yagailo hatched other plans - to seize the Trok principality and put his brother Skirgailo on the rule. In 1382, inviting Keistut and Vitovt to Vilna for peace negotiations, he killed Keistut. Such a fate awaited Vitovt, whom Jagailo threw into the same dungeon of the Krevsky castle, where his father died. Vitovt was saved by his wife, daughter of the Smolensk prince Anna, and the servant Alena, who visited him. In the dungeon, the servant Alena turned to Vitovt: “Prince, you must run away as quickly as possible. Jagiello will destroy you as he killed Keistut. Put on my clothes, and go with the princess, and I will stay here. It's already dark and no one will know. " Vitovt protested: “What are you saying? Do you know what awaits you then? " “I know what awaits me, but no one will feel my death, and your death would be a misfortune for Lithuania. Run away, prince! " Vitovt refused, and then the courageous girl replied: “I wish to serve my motherland - it will be a pleasure for me to die for Lithuania. Having freed yourself, you will do so much good for her, let me also participate in this. When you love Lithuania, listen to me. " Vitovt accepted Alenin's sacrifice and put on her clothes.
The princess, together with the disguised Vitovt, left the dungeon. The guards took him for a servant. The prince came down from the castle wall by rope and fled from captivity. He went to Mazovia to Prince Janusz, who was married to his sister Danuta. Later, Princess Anna arrived in Chersk, where Vitovt was.
In 1383 and 1384. Vitovt, with the support of the Order, fought against Jagiello. The Grand Duke was forced to reconcile with Vitovt and return the Grodno principality to him, although the Troksk principality went to Skirgailo.
As a result of all the perturbations, Jagiello, who by that time had received the Polish crown, decided to negotiate with Vitovt on the terms that the latter would rule Lithuania for life, but after his death the Grand Duchy would go to the Polish king. Vitovt agreed.
In subsequent years (from 1392) Vitovt significantly strengthened his position in Eastern Europe. He gave his daughter in marriage to the Moscow sovereign Vasily Dmitrievich, which strengthened the alliance with Russia. In 1410, he personally commanded the Lithuanian army, having played a crucial role in the defeat of the Teutonic Knights - a defeat from which the Teutonic Order could no longer recover. And in 1429 the Pope grants Vitovt the title of King of Lithuania. And only the death of the Grand Duke prevented him from receiving it.
It was under the rule of Vitovt that numerous principalities were able to unite. There were legends about the power of Vitovt. Even now, historians believe that this politician and ruler played a significant role in the formation of an independent Slavic statehood. Torn apart by civil strife, attacked from the east by the Tatar hordes, and from the west by the German Teutonic knights, the Slavic land demanded a competent leader who could cope with troubles.
This is how Vitovt became. The Grand Duke of Lithuania called for the union of neighboring lands into one state in order to repel all attacks of enemies with the help of military force. So Vitovt's army rebuffed the Tatar Golden Horde. Fighting with the Tatars led to the fact that their troops stopped robbing and taking the Slavs into slavery.
Having solved one problem, another remained - these are the Teutonic knights. The Teutonic Order, under the cover of the Crusades, sought to conquer the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the surrounding lands. Vitovt's great achievement was the victory and complete defeat of the German troops at Grunwald. But the prince, having gathered an army and enlisting the support of Poland and other principalities, defeated the knights, for a long time blocking their way to the Slavic lands.
Vitovt did a lot for his lands as well. During his reign, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became a rather powerful and wealthy country. Vitovt was able to conquer lands outside the principality, expanding his possessions. The prince paid much attention to the military training of young people, as well as education. In addition, special collections of laws were written in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, according to which all the people of the principality were supposed to live.
“And the great prince Vitovt was a strong lord and glorious in all lands, and many kings and princes served at his court” ─so it is said about him in the annals. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia during the reign of Vitovt reached its power and stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea, from Brest to the Ugra River - a real empire. This is the result of the life and political activities of Vitovt. It seemed that he did not know peace and devoted himself entirely to caring for the state.
The Ambassador of the Teutonic Order Konrad Kyburg, who arrived in Vilno in 1398, wrote the following about Vitovt: “The Grand Duke works a lot, he himself is engaged in the administration of the region and wants to know about everything; being at frequent audiences, we ourselves saw his amazing activity: talking with us about business, he at the same time listened to the reading of various reports and gave decisions. The people have free access to him, but anyone who wants to approach him is interrogated in advance by a specially appointed nobleman, and after that the request, which has to be submitted to the monarch, is either briefly stated on paper, or the petitioner himself goes with the mentioned nobleman and orally transmits to her grand duke. Every day we saw a lot of people coming with requests or coming from remote areas with some kind of errands. It is difficult to understand how he gets time for so many activities; every day the Grand Duke listens to the liturgy, after which he works in his office until lunchtime, dines soon, and after that for some time, also for a short time, remains in his family or amuses himself with the antics of his court jesters, then he rides on horseback to inspect the construction of a house or ship or anything that attracts his attention. He is formidable only in wartime, but in general he is full of kindness and justice, knows how to punish and have mercy. He sleeps a little, laughs a little, is colder and more reasonable than ardent; he receives good or bad news, his face remains impassive. "
The wise rule of Vitovt was also remembered in the following centuries as the golden times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The poet of the 16th century Nikolai Gusovsky glorified Vitovt with inspiration:
A torchbearer of wars with the weak
and with a strong Angel-peacemaker
He put down his drawn sword,like a border post,
Before the invasion of enemies from the south and east.
P about the materials of the sites http://great-rulers.ru andhttp://www.belarus.by/ru/belarus/history
Vitovt, baptized - Alexander (1350-1430), prince of Grodno, Grand Duke of Lithuania (from 1392), son of Keistut, cousin of Jagailo.
Grodno was the seat of Lithuanian princes and Polish kings. In 1391, the city received a small (incomplete) Magdeburg right (that is, city self-government) from the Grand Duke Jagailo, in 1398, the Grand Duke Vitovt made it the second capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the best, after Vilna, city of the principality. In Grodno, Vitovt gathered his troops before the Battle of Grunwald with the Teutons in 1410. After the victory at Grunwald, the city began to develop rapidly, and the Grodno “ saving”Eventually became one of the richest in the state.
The stone castle in Grodno was built by Vitovt at the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th century. In 1393 the crusaders captured and destroyed the castle, but Vitovt raised it from the ruins. In 1398 the old castle embraced the shook. Vitovt and his wife Anna almost died in the fire. They were awakened by the screeching of a tame monkey. Instead of a burnt down wooden castle, Vitovt ordered to build a stone one. Only a round tower has survived from the previous building, the new castle had five towers and walls up to 2.5-3 meters thick. The steep 30-meter castle hill and the 50-meter moat increased the inaccessibility of the castle. Many important events in the life of Vitovt are connected with the Gorodensky Castle. Here on January 19, 1390, he entered into an alliance agreement with the Order. Here in 1410 an army gathered for a campaign against Prussia. Here, on October 1, 1418, Vitovt also celebrated his wedding with his third wife, Princess Ulyana Golshanskaya.
Biography
Vitovt (lit. Vytautas, belor. Vitaut, Polish. Witold; about 1350 - October 27, 1430) - the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1392. Keistut's son, Olgerd's nephew and Jagailo's cousin. Prince of Grodno in 1370-1382, Lutsk in 1387-1389, Troksky in 1382-1413. The proclaimed king of the Hussites. One of the most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, nicknamed the Great during his lifetime.
He was baptized three times: the first time in 1382 according to the Catholic rite under the name Wiegand, the second time in 1384 according to the Orthodox rite under the name Alexander and the third time in 1386 according to the Catholic rite also under the name Alexander.
Vitovt was born around 1350. The exact date of his birth is unknown. Chronicler Konrad Bitschin (German Conrad Bitschin), when describing the battle of Rudau (1370), mentioned that Vitovt, who participated in the battle, was twenty years old. According to Besides, in 1430 Vitovt was eighty. Vitovt's father Keistut and his uncle Olgerd ruled together and did not fight for power among themselves. Olgerd was a grand duke and was engaged in eastern and southern affairs, Keistut fought a stubborn struggle with the Teutonic knights in the northwest. Vitovt's mother was the second wife of Keistut Birut, about whom very little is known.
Vitovt was not the eldest child in the family. He had five brothers and three sisters:
- Voidat (d. After 1401) - mentioned only twice in reliable sources. According to the Chronicle of Bykhovets, he died at a young age;
- Voishvil (Paterg) - died at a young age;
- Butovt - in 1365 he was baptized in Konigsberg under the name Henry, in 1369-1381 he was at the court of Emperor Charles IV;
- Zhigimont (Sigismund; killed in 1440) - Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1432 to 1440;
- Tovtivil (baptized - Konrad; killed in 1390) - Vitovt's supporter;
- Maria (Miklovsa) - the wife of Ivan Tversky;
- Danuta (baptized - Anna) - the wife of Janusz Mazovetsky;
- Rimgaila (baptized - Elizabeth) - the wife of Heinrich Mazovetsky.
The first information about Vitovt dates back to the end of the 1360s. In 1368 and 1372 he participated in Olgerd's campaigns against Moscow. In 1376, as a prince of Grodno, he took part in the campaign against Poland. Since 1377, he undertook independent campaigns in the lands of the Teutonic Order.
Activities
He took part in his father's campaigns against Moscow (1368 and 1372), Poland and Prussia. After Olgerd's death (1377) Vitovt fought with his heir Jagail, first (1381 - 82) as an assistant to his father, and then on his own (1382 - 84). When, not having the means to defend his power in Lithuania, Jagailo decided to unite Lithuania with the kingdom of Poland through marriage with Jadwiga, Vitovt reconciled with him and, as a regional prince of Lithuania, participated in the government activities of Jagailo (1384 - 90). As the position of Jagiello, who became the Polish king and introduced Lithuania to the Polish crown (1386), was consolidating, his attitude towards Vitovt changed; contrary to his promise, he did not give Trok to Vitovt.
In 1390, Vitovt, with the help of the Teutonic Order, began to conquer Lithuania. At the same time (1390) Vitovt's rapprochement with Moscow took place: Grand Duke Vasily I married his daughter Sophia. Peace was concluded in 1392; Vitovt received all the inheritance of his father and was recognized as the Grand Duke of Lithuania for life.
Having occupied the grand-ducal table, Vitovt immediately presented the regional princes with a demand for " submission"which significantly reduced their ownership rights and undermined the original" antiquity". Having met a refusal, partly supported by the population, Vitovt by force destroyed a number of large regional reigns, rallied the distant parts of his state more closely; service people.
The Lithuanian boyars were betrayed by Vitovt, because his main principle of his activity was the independence of Lithuania. The significance acquired by the Lithuanian boyars before the union was consolidated and developed by acts and events that accompanied it (legalization of the selectivity of the throne and the participation of the boyars in the election of the Grand Duke, the destruction of regional reigns, the creation of large administrative posts). Attracting the sympathies and hopes of the boyars and other strata of the population, Vitovt formed a strong state, not alien to Polish borrowings and nationally not homogeneous, but skillfully welded together by a single anti-Polish mood and imperiously directed from one center.
In the hands of Vitovt was also the ideological center of the Russian land - Kiev, which Vitovt used, showing concern for Orthodoxy. However, the Polish-Catholic influence that overtook Lithuania, against the will of Vitovt, gave the ethnographic difference in the composition of the population the nature of national and political enmity.
In 1395, Vitovt annexed to Lithuania the relatively weak and territorially connected with it Smolensk; in 1395 - 96 he successfully fought against Ryazan; in 1397 - 98 years Vitovt successfully fought against the Tatars; in 1398 Tokhtamysh asked him for help. Success in foreign affairs and the strengthening of Lithuania's internal forces made Vitovt's dependence on Poland fragile. Meanwhile, Poland demanded the complete subordination of Lithuania. When Yadviga turned to Vitovt for a tribute, he, with the approval of his boyars, refused and concluded with the order not only a separate peace, which he had been striving for for a long time (since 1392, Vitovt helped Yagailo in the fight against the Order), but also a treaty of alliance directed against Poland (October 12, 1398, at the Salin Congress), on the conditions:
- concessions to the Order of Zhmudi, which crashed into his possession;
- the conclusion of a treaty with Poland only with the general consent of the allies;
- the obligations of Vitovt and the Order to help each other in the conquest of Novgorod by the first, and Pskov by the second.
Lithuanian and Russian boyars proclaimed Vitovt king. However, Yagailo reached a successful resolution of the conflict, thanks to Vitovt's failure in the fight against the Tatars. In 1399, with little help from the Order and Poland, Vitovt organized a large campaign against the Tatars in the steppe, which ended unsuccessfully on August 12 of the same year with a battle on the Vorskla River. Without giving up after that from the fight against the Tatars, Vytautas turned his main attention to the regulation of relations with Poland, where after the death of Jadwiga (1399), Jagiello's position was complicated to the point of being overthrown and returning to Lithuania.
The Vilna act of January 18, 1401 confirmed the agreement of 1392. The diplomas of the lords of Lithuania (at the same time) and the Polish ones (March 11) established that if Jagailo dies before Vitovt, then the Polish king will not be elected without him and his boyars knowing. Jagiello approved the Salin Treaty, an act of August 17, 1402, explained in favor of the Poles. Vitovt's strict loyalty in his Polish relations in itself created the basis for complications with the order. Misunderstandings due to the fugitive Zhmudins and the betrayal of Vitovt Svidrigail, who turned to the order, led to an unsuccessful campaign in 1402-4 (peace on May 23, 1404, generally on the old grounds). In 1401 the Vyazma princes (unsuccessfully) and Smolensk raised their indignation. The fruitless campaign against Novgorod in 1401 ended in peace. In 1402 the Ryazanites were defeated in an attempt to seize Bryansk. The movement to the East intensified after the peace with the order: in 1405 Smolensk was conquered, in 1406 the Pskov city of Kolozhe was captured. The latter led to a war with Moscow: the fruitless campaigns of 1406-8 ended in peace. Vitovt's influence in Novgorod, which was connected with Lithuania by old trade routes, increased. After some hesitation, relations with the Tatars were peaceful.
In 1409 the question of the fugitive Zhmudins was resumed. Outwardly good relations (Vitovt helped the Order in Zhmud, the Order of Vitovt in Russian affairs) deteriorated. Poland sided with Lithuania and the war broke out in August.
On July 15, 1410, near Tannenberg, the so-called Battle of Grunwalden took place, fatal for the order. He was saved from the final death only by Vitovt's fear that the strengthening of Poland at the expense of the order would harm him. Although Vitovt's relations with Poland, established by the peace treaties of Thorns (with the order: Zhmud goes into the lifelong possession of Jagiello and Vitovt; 1411) and Lyubovlsky (with the order's indecisive ally, Emperor Sigismund, 1412) - were honorable and profitable, nevertheless from the victory over the knights more won by Poland. Vitovt and his advisers wanted more.
According to the Gorodelsky Acts (October 2, 1413), Lithuania from a temporarily autonomous Grand Duchy is made autonomous forever; the Lithuanian boyars are granted some new rights (the acceptance of the Lithuanian boyars into the Polish coats of arms, the establishment of posts and Polish-Lithuanian Seimas in the Polish manner, but all this is only for Catholics). The Gorodelsky acts developed the privileges of the gentry - the military class for the most part. Vitovt's cash military forces at that time were reinforced by the Tatars, whom he settled many within Lithuania after the campaigns of 1397-98, taking little interest in the issue of faith, as well as wealthy peasants, whom military service replaced all burdens and duties, and the bourgeoisie of privileged cities (with Vytautas penetrates Lithuania by the Magdeburg Law). Misunderstandings with the order began with Jagiello and Vitovt almost immediately after the conclusion of the peace; their goals were not fully achieved, and the agreement allowed different interpretations... In the summer of 1414, the war began, intermittently reaching out to September 27, 1422 (the Melninsky peace, according to which the order lost Zhmud forever).
At the same time, Vitovt's relations with the Czech Hussites, hostile to the emperor Sigismund, were tied up, who offered him the Czech crown. Vitovt agreed and sent the Czechs Olgerd's grandson, Sigismund Koributovich, with a significant detachment. However, the unanimous protest of the spiritual and secular authorities of Europe forced Vitovt and Jagiello, in agreement with which he acted, to sever the established ties with the Czechs (the Treaty of Kesmark in 1423).
Employed mainly in the West, Vitovt acted less energetically in the East. In 1415-16 the Western Russian bishops were separated from the all-Russian metropolitanate; Gregory Tsamblak was elected metropolitan. The division continued until 1419, when Vitovt was reconciled, apparently, with Photius of Moscow. Tsamblak went to the Cathedral of Constance on the matter of uniting churches, but to no avail (1418). Friendly, and since 1423 patronizing relations with Moscow, an allied treaty with Tver (August 3, 1427), the dependence of Ryazan (1427) and other Upper Oka princes, peace with Novgorod (except for the disagreements of 1412-14 and the war of 1428) and Pskov (except for the war of 1426-27) - characterize the Russian relations of Vitovt. In the Tatar East, Vitovt diligently intervened in the disorder and victoriously repelled the raids (especially in 1416, 21 and 25). The entire right-bank steppe up to the Black Sea recognized his power.
At the conclusion of the Melnin peace, Vitovt began to support the almost completely weakened order and Sigismund against the ever-growing Poland. Inspired by the latter, the idea of the royal crown (and previously flashed by Vitovt) answered the old dream of Vitovt and his advisers about the independence of Lithuania from Poland. Yagailo at the Lutsk Congress (early 1429) gave his consent to the coronation of Vitovt, but then, under the influence of his lords, took him back. Vitovt tried to do without him, but died amid negotiations and preparations (October 27, 1430). Vitovt's case was fragile: his acquisitions were short-lived, the unbroken connection with Poland introduced and strengthened the Polish-Catholic influence in Lithuania, which aggravated the national question in Lithuania to the degree of political; The Gorodelskaya union was violated by the unauthorized election of Svidrigail, with the participation of the Orthodox boyars; As a result of the Tatar policy of Vitovt, the mighty Crimean Khanate of Gireev was created, which was dangerous for Lithuania.
Memory
Many objects in Lithuania, Belarus and Poland are named in honor of the Grand Duke Vitovt. Vitovt is a popular name in Lithuania (lit. Vytautas), less popular in Belarus (belor. Vitaut) and Poland (Polish. Witold). The University in Kovno (Lithuania) bears the name of Vitovt the Great.
Monuments to the Grand Duke were installed in Kovno, Kernava, Vilna, Starye Troki, Birštonas, Betygal, Perloj, Velen and many other cities. The sculptural image of Prince Vitovt is also part of the monument “ Millennium of Russia"And the monument" Grunwald»In Krakow.
The most recent monument was erected on September 23, 2010 in the village of Pelesa, Voronovskiy district, Grodno region, Belarus. The author is the famous Lithuanian sculptor Algimantas Sakaluskas. The sculpture is over 6 meters high, made of a special oak species.
Name " »Carries a trolleybus AKSM-420 manufactured by Belkommunmash (2007).
1350-1430
Vitovt is the Grand Duke of Lithuania since 1392. Keistut's son, Olgerd's nephew and Jagailo's cousin. Prince of Grodno in 1370-1382, Lutsk in 1387-1389, Troksky in 1382-1413. The proclaimed king of the Hussites. One of the most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, nicknamed the Great during his lifetime.
Relying on the Lithuanian and Russian boyars who lived in the Russian regions of Lithuania, he fought for the independence of Lithuania from Poland and won from the Polish king Jagailo the recognition of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for himself (as governor). Hindered the unifying policy of the Moscow princes; concluded treaties with the princes hostile to Moscow of Tver (1427), Ryazan (1430), Pronsky (1430); captured Smolensk (1404); intervened in the affairs of Novgorod and Pskov and three times (1406-08) invaded the Moscow principality.
Vitovt
He was baptized three times: the first time in 1382 according to the Catholic rite under the name Wiegand, the second time in 1384 according to the Orthodox rite under the name Alexander and the third time in 1386 according to the Catholic rite also under the name Alexander.
Lithuanian possessions under Vitovt reached the upper reaches of the Oka and Mozhaisk. Vitovt took South Podolia from the Tatars and expanded his possessions to the Black Sea; stubbornly fought with the German knights.
Vitovt and Jagailo were the organizers of the defeat of the German knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410.
In 1422 Vitovt returned to Lithuania Samogitia, captured by the order (1398). Relying on the service people who were with him, he tried to eliminate the appanage princes of the Gediminovichs in Russia and put his governors in prison. The abolition of local reigns by Vytautas in Podolia, Kiev, Vitebsk and others led to an increase in the political importance of the Lithuanian boyars.
Grand Duke of Lithuania Keistut
Vitovt, the son of the Trotsky and Zhmud prince Keistut from the forcibly taken as his wife, Vaydelotka Biruta, was born around 1350. From a young age, Vitovt got acquainted with the vicissitudes of fate, and with a marching, military life: in 1363 he was hiding with his father in the possession of the order, in 1370 he was in the campaign of Olgerd and Keistut against the Germans, in 1372 - against Moscow, in 1376 again went to the Germans. In 1377, Olgerd was succeeded by his son Jagailo, whom Keistut recognized as the Grand Duke. Soon, however, clashes arose between Keistut and Jagail, ending with Keistut being cunningly taken prisoner by his nephew, sent to Kreva and strangled there, and Vitovt was kept in captivity in Vilna (1382). Disguised in the dress of his wife's servant, Vitovt fled to his son-in-law, Prince. Mazovian Janusz, and then went to Prussia to the Master of the German Order.
From Marienburg Vitovt got in touch with Zhmudins, and his successes among Zhmudis frightened Jagail; he freed Vitovt's wife, who went to live with her husband. At the same time, many Lithuanian princes and boyars were going to Vitovt. Jagiello protested, reminiscent of treatises, and the master made orders to march on Lithuania (1383), having previously obtained consent from Vitovt to be baptized (with which Vitovt took the name of Wigand) and rule over Lithuania in fief dependence on the Order. The knights took Troki and, leaving the German garrison there, gave them to Vitovt, together with the fortress of Marienburg, to be placed there from everywhere flowing to Vitovt of Lithuania. But from Trok Jagailo and Skirgailo the Germans were driven out; Vitovt himself had to retire to Konigsberg and again raise the Order, yielding to Zhmud, through which the path from Prussia to Inflants ran, and from which the Order surrounded Lithuania.
Large ("maestat") seal of Vytautas
Soon Vitovt won a victory over Yagaila, but there was no benefit from it. In the aforementioned treaty, the issue of Lithuania's legacy after Vitovt was framed in such a way that Lithuanian principality it was difficult to avoid the German hands. Soon, however, the relations between the brother-enemies took a new direction: Vitovt was striving for the possession of Lithuania, and Jagiello, in his relations with Poland, wanted to calm him down one way or another. Secretly, through the boyars, Yagailo offered his brother an inheritance from Brest, Drogichin, Melnik, Bedsk, Surazh, Kamenets, Volkovysk and Grodno. Vitovt, for his part, had to swear allegiance and filial respect to Jagaila, warn him about conspiracies against him not to intervene in his fatherland, not to communicate with anyone by embassies. The fatherland of Vitovt, Troki, was left to Skirgail.
Denarius with a spear and a legend in a circle "SEAL". Vitovt, 1392-1396.
Vitovt accepted the conditions and decided to solemnly throw off the guardianship of the Order. Gathering, as it were, on a campaign to Lithuania, he moved to Jurgenburg and invited the local commander von Kruste to his feast.
During the feast, Vitovt's relative, Sudemund, attacked the fortress, burned it down, the garrison massacred it, then burned Marienburg; the same fate befell Marienwerder, Neuhaus and others (July 1384). Before this campaign, one must think, Jagiello gave Vytautas Troki: the latter gives this city a privilege written in Russian on August 23, 1884, in which he calls himself "baptized Alexander". Obviously, having severed political ties with the order, he also severed religious ones, converting to Orthodoxy. The master of the order, Zollner von Rothenstein, tried in vain to win Vitovt over to his side; the brothers left for Krakow, where Vitovt again converted to Catholicism, continuing, however, to be called Alexander.
The agreement between Jagaila and Vitovt soon broke: Jagaila declared Skirgaila the Grand Duke of Lithuania and signed an act of this on the hunt, secretly from Vitovt; at the same time, Skirgailo remained Prince Trotsky, which should have especially outraged Vitovt, since the Trotsky principality was considered his fatherland. Vitovt remained only with his Podlasie and was called the prince of Grodno. Finally, on May 3, 1388, he resigned all obligations towards the king and the Polish crown. Then Yagailo increased his inheritance with lands in Volyn, gave him Lutsk and Vladimir. But soon (1389), mistrust and hostility on the part of Jagiel was again revealed. Vitovt gathered a secret council from the boyars and, seeing the sympathy of the latter, made a plan to master Vilna's cunning.
Vitovt's Church in Kaunas, built around 1400
The trick failed, and he had no choice but to throw himself back into the arms of the Order.
At the beginning of 1390 he signed a treatise with the Order, taking upon himself all the previous obligations in relation to the Order. Vitovt turned to Zhmudi, where his father's memory was still fresh. The congress of the Zhmudins and Prussian knights in Konigsberg ended with an alliance of the two nationalities against common enemies and the establishment of trade relations. In the acts of this congress, Vitovt is named king, but he also calls himself the prince of Lithuania.
Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Dmitrievich visiting the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt (Metropolitan Photius, King Jagailo of Poland, Grand Duke of Tver Boris Alexandrovich, Prince of Mazovshansk, King of Bohemia, Roman cardinal, etc. are also depicted here). 1430. Miniature of the chronicle collection of the 16th century.
Soon after, the wedding of Vitovt's daughter, Sophia, with the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily (January 1391) took place. A new campaign against Lithuania took place under Master Konrad Wallenrode (1392). The knights set up two fortresses near Kovno, which, together with Rittersvert, gave Vitovt and, leaving him part of the army, advised him to get Lithuania and ask for help from Moscow. Soon Vitovt captured Grodno; his affairs went so well that it seemed that the whole of Lithuania would soon be in his hands. Jagiello began negotiations with his brother, promising to give him the inheritance of his father. In the hope of getting even more over time, Vitovt, accepting the king's offer, under plausible pretexts freed all relatives and friends who were hostages there from the hands of the Order, and left, to destroy suspicion, one brother Konrad.
Not suspecting anything, the knights were building new fortresses for him, in which they planted their garrisons, when suddenly Vitovt turned against them. Then the Germans burned Surazh and destroyed Grodno. Vitovt could not interfere with them, because, on the instructions of the king, he went to Koribut and Skirgail, whom he expelled from Vitebsk. Fulfilling the commission of the king, Vitovt acted in his favor: he took Vitebsk for himself. Having built Skirgaila in Kiev, Yagailo declared Vitovt the Grand Duke of Lithuania, under his rule, which was almost only nominal.
Wojciech Gerson, Keistut and Vitovt in captivity at Jagiello, 1873
The borders of Lithuania began to expand: Vitovt took Orsha, conquered the Drutsk princes and captured Smolensk in 1395; at that time almost all the land of the Vyatichi was in his hands; in the south, he took Podillia from the Koriatovichs, and then received from Jagail the crown Podillia, so that his possessions, which were in contact with Chervonnaya Rus in the west, in the south and east reached almost the very Tatar uluses, to which he made himself feel strongly. He received the exiled khans (Tokhtamysh), once he put the khan to the horde, took a whole Tatar ulus near Azov, which he settled near Vilna along the river. Vake. But, in turn, he suffered a terrible defeat on the banks of the river. Vorskla, from Timur and Edigei (1399). The Ryazan prince Oleg took advantage of this and delivered Smolensk to his son-in-law, Yuri Svyatoslavich, but three years later (1404) Vitovt again took possession of it; then he turned to the Pskov region, why there was a break with Moscow: Moscow troops went to Lithuania.
Vitovt opposed Moscow, but peace was concluded on the Ugra, perhaps because the Moscow prince already knew about Edigei's intention to go to Moscow (1407). Meanwhile, Jagiello was preparing for a war with the Order and called Vitovt to him for help. On July 15, 1410, the Battle of Grunwald (near Tannenberg) broke out, in which the master with many knights laid down their heads. Although Vitovt seems to be in ambitious forms, and did not want to continue a further offensive against the Order to destroy it and the latter remained alone for the time being, nevertheless this battle was a harbinger of the fact that Poland would have Prussia, and Lithuania - Inflants.
Jan Matejko. "Battle of Grunwald", 1878. Fragment of a painting depicting Vitovt
Now Vitovt's cherished dreams are beginning to emerge: having eliminated the pretender for Lithuania Svidrigaila even earlier and feeling under him a solid political ground, he decided to isolate the state in church terms, and for this he wanted to have a special metropolitan for his Orthodox subjects. Novogrodsk Cathedral (1414) elected Gregory Samblak from the Orthodox bishops to this title.
By the end of the first quarter of the 15th century, Vitovt's affairs developed in such a way that the Moscow, Tver and Ryazan princes concluded agreements with him that were very beneficial for him: the Moscow one promised not to help Novgorod and Pskov, the Tver and Ryazan princes - to be his allies, enemies of his enemies.
In 1426, Vitovt went to Pskov, in 1428 - to the Novgorod region, from which a large ransom was taken. Now he lacked only the royal crown, but he decided to achieve the last one, in which the Emperor Sigismund assisted him in his views on Poland. Under the pretext of forming a coalition against the Turks, Vitovt invited neighboring sovereign sovereigns to his place in Lutsk.
At the beginning of 1429 Sigismund appeared, to him, with the aim of placing the royal crown on his head and at the same time embroil him with Jagaila.
Prince Vitovt at the 1000th Anniversary of Russia Monument in Veliky Novgorod
The Polish lords made every effort; to destroy Sigismund's plans. Jagailo both earlier and now yielded his crown to Vitovt, but he did not want to take it from his brother and again invited his neighbors to Vilna, already for the coronation, in 1430. Among the few princes Vitovt expected, Jagailo unexpectedly appeared. Feasts began in Vilna and Troki. But the Polish lords were not asleep: the Pope was reinstated against the idea of Vitovt; the royal crown, intended for him by Sigismund, on the way from Hungary was intercepted by the Polish masters, and the feasts ended in nothing. Weak and sick for a long time, Vitovt died of frustration and grief in the same year.
Lithuania, at the end of his reign, begins to take on the appearance of a strong and well-ordered state: it destroys inheritances, gives self-government to many cities (Magdeburg law), equalizes the rights of nationalities, and even, after acquiring Lutsk, gives Jews the same rights as their brothers enjoyed during Lvov. By isolating himself politically from Poland, he allows, through her, a strong European influence to soften the mores and customs of his land.
One day in the life of Grand Duke Vitovt
On the banks of the Vorskla River, not far from present-day Poltava, almost at the same place where after 310 years the brilliant Peter will defeat the invincible Karl of Sweden, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Zhmudsky and Russian Vitovt was preparing for battle. It was a clear morning on August 12, 1399. In a few hours, the fate of a huge territory should have been decided of Eastern Europe from the Danube to the Urals, from the Crimea to the upper reaches of the Don. Vitovt acted at the head of a hundred thousandth army, consisting of Russian, Lithuanian and Polish squads and banners. There were many mercenaries and crusaders from the Order, Germany, Hungary and other European powers in the united army. And, of course, there was a large detachment of the Tatar khan Tokhtamysh, who concluded a military alliance with Vitovt in Kiev last summer. It was because of Tokhtamysh that this war began. Defeated by the formidable Timur, he did not lay down his arms and found himself allies in the northwest.
Battle on Vorskla on a miniature from the Obverse Chronicle Arch
Vitovt was opposed by the troops of two Tatar commanders - Edigei and Timur Kutluga, who united just before the battle. The forces were approximately equal. The best weapons of the heavy cavalry spoke in favor of the Christian army, while the tough discipline that was absent in Vitovt's motley army spoke in favor of the Tatars. Polish and Western European knights treated the Tatars with contempt, not considering them worthy rivals. The negotiations ended in nothing, and Vitovt gave the order to advance. The first blow of the heavy cavalry, crossing the Vorskla on the move, seemingly crushed the Tatars. The vanguard of Edigei began to retreat in disarray. The allied cavalry rushed headlong into pursuit, not adhering to any formation. The Tatars retreated for several miles, and then unexpectedly turned around and fell on the horsemen stretching across the steppe in heavy knightly weapons, not very suitable for maneuvering combat. The massacre was terrible. In the battle, the entire flower of the chivalry of the Lithuanian-Russian state was lost. The participants of the Battle of Kulikovo, brothers Andrei and Dmitry Olgerdovich, and their close relative, one of the main heroes of the Don battle, Dmitry Bobrok Volynsky, laid down their heads.
Battle on Vorskla on modern reconstruction.
Tokhtamysh and Vitovt managed to save not only their lives, but also their freedom. The Tatar khan, who was well acquainted with the tactics of his fellow tribesmen, was the very first to understand that things were going to be routed, and managed to leave in time with his close squad. Vitovt survived literally by a miracle. According to one of the versions, he was brought out of the battle by a descendant (grandson or grand-nephew) of the famous Tatar temnik Mamai, who died in the fight against Vitovt's current ally Tokhtamysh. The Grand Duke thanked his savior by giving him possession of the local lands with the clay tract, and later the princely title. So a descendant of the ruler of the Golden Horde became Prince Glinsky. It is possible that it was he who served as one of the prototypes of the popular character of Ukrainian folklore, the steppe knight of the Cossack Mamai.
Subsequently, Vitovt will have both victories and defeats. He will become one of the heroes of the Battle of Grunwald, in which he will forever be able to undermine the power of the eternal enemy of Lithuania, the Teutonic Order. For more than 30 years he will rule the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia, stretching from sea to sea. Well, the descendants of the "Cossack Mamai" will go into the service of the Moscow sovereign. Elena Glinskaya will become the wife of Grand Duke Vasily and the mother of the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible. So, it is quite possible that the blood of one of the most powerful and dangerous rivals of the Moscow state flowed in the veins of the famous Russian sovereign.
The painting by Lithuanian artist Rimas Matskvyavichus, "Vitovt the Great at the Congress in Lutsk" painted in 1935, hangs in the residence of the presidents of Lithuania.
A copy of the canvas was transferred to the Lutsk castle.
In January 1429, the rulers of all neighboring states gathered in Lutsk in Volyn, the favorite residence of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt.
The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Sigismund I of Luxembourg, the king of Poland Vladislav II Jagailo, the king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden Erik Pomeransky, the owner of the Moldavian principality Alexander I the Good arrived. The Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily II Vasilyevich, whose mother Sofia was the daughter of Vitovt, was 14 years old. Therefore, Metropolitan Photius accompanied him to the congress. Also among the guests were two masters of the Teutonic Order, petty princes from northeastern Russia, khans of the Perekop, Don and Volga hordes, ambassadors of the Byzantine emperor Ivan Palaeologus and Pope Martin, V.
At the beginning of the 15th century. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in addition to modern Lithuania, occupied Belarus and most of Ukraine - up to the Black Sea. The Polish kingdom, which included Galicia, was half the size. In 1385, the ruler of Lithuania, 34-year-old Jagailo, married the 11-year-old Polish queen Jadwiga, and also became the Polish king. Then he adopted the Catholic faith and received the name Vladislav. Lithuania faced the threat of being absorbed by Poland. The opposition to Vladislav was led by his cousin Vitovt. After many years of struggle, he achieved that Jagailo recognized him as the ruler of Lithuania.
But the best opportunity to assert his power was the coronation. Only the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund could do this. Therefore, the alliance with Vitovt was on hand. The Lithuanian crown would distract him from encroachments on the Czech Republic, for the crown of which he claimed on a par with Sigismund. In addition, the Lithuanian prince was in good relationship with the Tatar khans, who remained a threat to Europe. Sigismund invited Vitovt to hold a congress of monarchs at the beginning of 1429, at which, among other issues, a decision on coronation would be made. Lutsk was chosen as the meeting place. Vitovt went there from the Lithuanian capital Vilna (now Vilnius) in advance - in order to personally invite as many influential nobles of the state as possible to the congress.
The invitees began to come to Lutsk in early January. Almost 15 thousand people gathered - more than lived in those days in Lutsk itself.
The main participants of the congress - Sigismund, Vladislav Yagailo and Vitovt - gathered with their advisers in three chambers of the Lutsk castle. Sigismund, in particular, proposed to divide Moldova between Poland and Hungary, to unite the Orthodox and Catholic branches of Christianity, asked for support from Poland and Lithuania in the fight against the Turks. Most of the misunderstandings arose when it was finally the turn of Vitovt's coronation. The Polish representatives protested and left the congress. After the meetings, Vitovt and Sigismund decided that the coronation could take place without Vladislav's consent. Then they exchanged valuable gifts. In particular, Sigismund left good horses to Vitovt. And he presented an old horn of a tour in a gold frame. In early February, the congress participants left Lutsk.
Vitovt's coronation was first scheduled for August next year, later it was postponed to September. However, the Poles detained the emperor's delegation, which was carrying crowns made in Nuremberg to Vilna. And a month and a half later, on October 27, 1430, Vitovt died unexpectedly. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania never became a kingdom. For the next 140 years, both states were ruled by the descendants of Jagail. And in 1569 Poland and Lithuania merged into one state - Rzeczpospolita.
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History of Russian Goverment
