Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European statefrom the 13th century[1] until 1795.[2] The state wasfounded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic Baltictribes from Aukštaitija.[3][4][5]

The duchy later expanded to include large portions of theformer Kievan Rus’ and other Slavic lands, covering theterritory of present-day Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania,and parts of Estonia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. At itsgreatest extent in the 15th century, it was the largest statein Europe.[6] It was a multi-ethnic and multi-confessionalstate with great diversity in languages, religion, and cul-tural heritage.Consolidation of the Lithuanian lands began in the late12th century. Mindaugas, the first ruler of the GrandDuchy, was crowned as Catholic King of Lithuania in1253. The pagan state was targeted in the religious cru-sade by the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order.The multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state emergedonly at the late reign of Gediminas[7] and continued toexpand under his son Algirdas.[8] Algirdas’s successorJogaila signed the Union of Krewo in 1386, bringingtwo major changes in the history of the Grand Duchy ofLithuania: conversion to Catholicism and establishmentof a dynastic union between the Grand Duchy of Lithua-nia and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.[9]

The reign of Vytautas the Great marked both the great-est territorial expansion of the Grand Duchy and the de-feat of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in1410. It also marked the rise of the Lithuanian nobility.After Vytautas’s death, Lithuania’s relationship with theKingdom of Poland greatly deteriorated.[10] Lithuaniannoblemen, including the Radvila family (Radziwiłłs), at-tempted to break the personal union with Poland.[11]However, the unsuccessful Muscovite–Lithuanian Warswith the Grand Duchy of Moscow forced the union toremain intact.Eventually, the Union of Lublin of 1569 created a newstate, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In thisfederation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania maintainedits political distinctiveness and had separate government,laws, army, and treasury.[12] This federation was termi-nated by the passing of the Constitution of May 3, 1791,and since then there was supposed to be but a single coun-try — Respublica Poloniae — under one monarch andone parliament. Shortly after, the unitary character of thestate was confirmed by adopting the Reciprocal Guaran-tee of Two Nations. The newly reformed Commonwealthwas invaded by Russia in 1792 and partitioned between

the neighbours, with a truncated state (principal cities be-ing Kraków, Warsaw and Vilnius) remaining only nom-inally independent. After the Kościuszko Uprising, theterritory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, theKingdom of Prussia, and Austria in 1795.

1 Etymology

The Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania namethe complete name of the state as Grand Duchyof Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogitia (Ruthenian:Великое князство Литовское, Руское, Жомойтскоеи иных).[13][14] The title of “Grand Duchy” was con-sistently applied to Lithuania from the 14th centuryonward.[15]

In other languages, the Grand Duchy is referred to as:

• Belarusian: Вялікае Княства Літоўскае

• German: Großfürstentum Litauen

• Estonian: Leedu Suurvürstiriik

• Latin: Magnus Ducatus Lituaniae

• Lithuanian: Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė

• Old literary Lithuanian: Didi Kunigystė Lietuvos

• Latvian: Lieitija or Lietuvas Lielkņaziste

• Polish: Wielkie Księstwo Litewskie

• Ruthenian: Великое князство Литовское

• Russian: Великое княжество Литовское

• Ukrainian: Велике князiвство Литовське[14]

2 History

2.1 Establishment of the state

Main article: History of Lithuania (1219–1295)The first written reference to Lithuania is found in theQuedlinburg Chronicle, which dates from 1009.[16] Inthe 12th century, Slavic chronicles refer to Lithuania asone of the areas attacked by the Rus’. Pagan Lithuani-ans initially paid tribute to Polotsk, but they soon grewin strength and organized their own small-scale raids. At

1

2 2 HISTORY

Balts in the 12th century

some point between 1180 and 1183 the situation beganto change, and the Lithuanians started to organize sus-tainable military raids on the Slavic provinces, raidingthe Principality of Polotsk as well as Pskov, and eventhreatening Novgorod.[17] The sudden spark of militaryraids marked consolidation of the Lithuanian lands inAukštaitija.[1]

The Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights, crusadingmilitary orders, were established in Riga in 1202 andin Prussia in 1226. The Christian orders posed a sig-nificant threat to pagan Baltic tribes and further gal-vanized the formation of the state. The peace treatywith Galicia–Volhynia of 1219 provides evidence of co-operation between Lithuanians and Samogitians. Thistreaty lists 21 Lithuanian dukes, including five seniorLithuanian dukes fromAukštaitija (Živinbudas, Daujotas,Vilikaila, Dausprungas andMindaugas) and several dukesfrom Žemaitija. Although they had battled in the past,the Lithuanians and the Žemaičiai now faced a commonenemy.[18] Likely Živinbudas had the most authority[17]and at least several dukes were from the same families.[19]The formal acknowledgment of common interests and theestablishment of a hierarchy among the signatories of thetreaty foreshadowed the emergence of the state.

2.2 Kingdom of Lithuania

Main article: Kingdom of LithuaniaMindaugas, duke[20] of southern Lithuania,[21] wasamong the five senior dukes mentioned in the treaty withGalicia–Volhynia. The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, re-ports that by the mid-1230s Mindaugas had acquiredsupreme power in the whole of Lithuania.[22] In 1236,

Navahrudak Castle

the Samogitians, led by Vykintas, defeated the LivonianOrder in the Battle of Saule. The Order was forced to be-come a branch of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, mak-ing Samogitia, a strip of land that separated Livonia fromPrussia, the main target of both orders. The battle pro-vided a break in the wars with the Knights, and Lithua-nia exploited this situation, arranging attacks towardsthe Ruthenian provinces and annexing Navahrudak andHrodna.[22] Belarusian historians consider that Mindаu-gas was invited to rule Navahrudak and that the unionwas peaceful.[23][24]

Trakai Island Castle

In 1248 a civil war broke out between Mindaugas andhis nephews Tautvilas and Edivydas. The powerful coali-tion against Mindaugas included Vykintas, the LivonianOrder, Daniel of Galicia, and Vasilko of Volhynia. Min-daugas, taking advantage of internal conflicts, allied withthe Livonian Order. He promised to convert to Chris-tianity and gift some lands in western Lithuania in ex-change for military assistance against his nephews andthe royal crown. In 1251 Mindaugas was baptized andPope Innocent IV issued a papal bull proclaiming the cre-ation of the Kingdom of Lithuania. After the civil warended, Mindaugas was crowned as King of Lithuania onJuly 6, 1253, starting a decade of relative peace. Min-daugas later renounced Christianity and converted backto paganism. Mindaugas tried to expand his influencein Polatsk, a major center of commerce in the DaugavaRiver basin, and Pinsk.[22] The Teutonic Knights used this

2.4 Territorial expansion 3

period to strengthen their position in parts of Samogi-tia and Livonia, but they lost the Battle of Skuodas in1259 and the Battle of Durbe in 1260, encouraging theconquered Semigallians and Prussians to rebel against theKnights.Encouraged by Treniota, Mindaugas broke the peace withthe Order, possibly reverted to pagan beliefs, and alliedwith Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod. He hoped to uniteall Baltic tribes under the Lithuanian leadership. As mili-tary campaigns were not successful, the relationships be-tween Mindaugas and Treniota deteriorated. Treniota to-gether with Daumantas assassinated Mindaugas and histwo sons, Ruklys and Rupeikis, in 1263,[25] and the statelapsed into years of internal fights.

2.3 Rise of the Gediminids

Gediminas Tower in Vilnius

From 1263 to 1269, Lithuania had three Grand Dukes– Treniota, Vaišvilkas, and Svarn. The state did notdisintegrate, however, and Traidenis came to power in1269. He strengthened Lithuanian control in BlackRuthenia and fought with the Livonian Order, winningthe Battle of Karuse in 1270 and the Battle of Aizkrauklein 1279. There is considerable uncertainty about theidentities of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania between hisdeath in 1282 and the assumption of power by Vytenisin 1295. During this time the Orders finalized their con-quests. In 1274 the Great Prussian Rebellion ended, andthe Teutonic Knights proceeded to conquer other Baltictribes: the Nadruvians and Skalvians in 1274–1277, and

the Yotvingians in 1283; the Livonian Order completedits conquest of Semigalia, the last Baltic ally of Lithuania,in 1291.[26] The Orders could now turn their full attentionto Lithuania. The “buffer zone” composed of other Baltictribes had disappeared, and Grand Duchy of Lithuaniawas left to battle the Orders on its own.The Gediminids dynasty ruled the Grand Duchy forover a century, and Vytenis was the first ruler from thedynasty.[27] During his reign Lithuania engaged in con-stant warfare with the Order, the Kingdom of Poland,and Ruthenia. Vytenis was involved in succession dis-putes in Poland, supporting Boleslaus II of Masovia, whowas married to a Lithuanian duchess, Gaudemunda. InRuthenia, Vytenis managed to recapture lands lost afterthe assassination of Mindaugas and to capture the prin-cipalities of Pinsk and Turaŭ. In the struggle against theOrder, Vytenis allied with citizens of Riga; securing po-sitions in Riga strengthened trade routes and provideda base for further military campaigns. Around 1307,Polotsk, an important trading center, was annexed bymil-itary force.[28] Vytenis also began the construction of adefensive castle network along the Neman River. Grad-ually this network developed into the main defensive lineagainst the Teutonic Order.

2.4 Territorial expansion

The expansion of the state reached its height under GrandDuke Gediminas, who created a strong central govern-ment and established an empire that later spread from theBlack Sea to the Baltic Sea. In 1320, most of the prin-cipalities of western Rus’ were either vassalized or an-nexed by Lithuania. In 1321 Gediminas captured Kiev,sending Stanislav, the last Rurikid to rule Kiev, into ex-ile. Gediminas also re-established the permanent capi-tal of the Grand Duchy in Vilnius, presumably movingit from Trakai in 1323; some researchers, such as MaciejStryjkowski,[29] claim that Navahrudak was the capital ofthe 13th century state.

The ruins of Kaunas Castle from the mid-14th century were re-stored in the late 20th century

Lithuania was in an ideal position to inherit the westernand the southern parts of Kievan Rus’. While almost ev-

4 2 HISTORY

ery other state around it had been plundered or defeatedby theMongols, the hordes stopped at themodern bordersof Belarus, and the core territory of the Grand Duchy wasleft mostly untouched. The weak control of the Mongolsover the areas they had conquered allowed the expansionof Lithuania to accelerate. Rus’ principalities were neverincorporated directly into the Golden Horde, maintainingvassal relationships with a fair degree of independence.Lithuania annexed some of these areas as vassals throughdiplomacy, as they exchanged rule by the Mongols or theGrand Prince of Moscow with rule by the Grand Duchy.An example is Novgorod, which was often in the Lithua-nian sphere of influence and became an occasional de-pendency of the Grand Duchy.[30] Lithuanian control re-sulted from internal frictions within the city, which at-tempted to escape submission to Muscovy. Such rela-tionships could be tenuous, however, as changes in a city’sinternal politics could disrupt Lithuanian control, as hap-pened on a number of occasions with Novgorod and otherEast-Slavic cities.The Grand Duchy of Lithuania managed to hold offMon-gol incursions and eventually secured gains. In 1333 and1339, Lithuanians defeated large Mongol forces attempt-ing to regain Smolensk from the Lithuanian sphere ofinfluence. By about 1355, the State of Moldavia hadformed, and the Golden Horde did little to re-vassalizethe area. In 1362 regiments of the Grand Duchy army de-feated the Golden Horde at the Battle at Blue Waters.[31]In 1380 a Lithuanian army allied with Russian forces todefeat the Golden Horde in the Battle of Kulikovo, andthough the rule of the Mongols did not end, their influ-ence in the region waned thereafter. In 1387, Moldaviabecame a vassal of Poland and, in a broader sense, ofLithuania. By this time, Lithuania had conquered the ter-ritory of the Golden Horde all the way to the DnieperRiver. In a crusade against the Golden Horde in 1398 (inan alliance with Tokhtamysh), Lithuania invaded north-ern Crimea and won a decisive victory. In an attempt toplace Tokhtamish on the Golden Horde throne in 1399,Lithuania moved against the Horde but were defeated inthe Battle of the Vorskla River, losing the steppe region.

2.5 Union with Poland

Lithuania was Christianized in 1387, led by Jogaila,who personally translated Christian prayers into theLithuanian language.[32] The state reached a peak underVytautas the Great, who reigned from 1392 to 1430. Vy-tautas was one of the most famous rulers of the GrandDuchy of Lithuania, serving as the Grand Duke from1401–1430, and as the Prince of Hrodna (1370–1382)and the Prince of Lutsk (1387–1389). Vytautas was theson of Kęstutis, cousin of Jogaila, who became King ofPoland in 1386, and he was the grandfather of Vasili II ofMoscow.In 1410 Vytautas commanded the forces of the GrandDuchy in the Battle of Grunwald. The battle ended in

Poland and Lithuania 1386-1434

a decisive Polish-Lithuanian victory against the TeutonicOrder. Vytautas backed economic development of thestate and introduced many reforms. Under his rule, theGrand Duchy of Lithuania slowly became more central-ized, as the governors loyal to Vytautas replaced localprinces with dynastic ties to the throne. The governorswere rich landowners who formed the basis for the no-bility of the Grand Duchy. During Vytautas’ rule, theRadziwiłł and Goštautas families started to gain influ-ence.

The Battle of Grunwald, 1410, with Ulrich von Jungingen andVytautas at center

The rapid expansion of Muscovy influence soon put itinto a position to rival the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,and after the annexation of Novgorod in 1478, Muscovywas among the preeminent states in Northeastern Europe.Between 1492 and 1508, Ivan III further consolidatedMuscovy, winning the key Battle of Vedrosha and regain-ing such ancient lands of Kievan Rus’ as Chernigov andBryansk.On 8 September 1514, the allied forces of the GrandDuchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland, under thecommand of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski, fought theBattle of Orsha against the army of Grand Duchy ofMoscow under Konyushy Ivan Chelyadnin and KniazMikhail Golitsin. The battle was part of a long series of

5

Muscovite–LithuanianWars conducted by Russian rulersstriving to gather all the former lands of Kievan Rus’under their rule. According to Rerum MoscoviticarumCommentarii by Sigismund von Herberstein, the primarysource for the information on the battle, the much smallerarmy of Poland–Lithuania (under 30,000 men) defeatedthe 80,000 Russian soldiers, capturing their camp andcommander. The Russians lost about 30,000 men, whilethe losses of the Poland–Lithuania army totaled only 500.While the battle is remembered as one of the greatestLithuanian victories, Muscovy ultimately prevailed in thewar. Under the 1522 peace treaty, the Grand Duchy ofLithuania made large territorial concessions.

2.6 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Main article: Polish–Lithuanian CommonwealthThe loss of land to Moscow and the continued pres-

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealth c.a. 1635

sure threatened the survival of the state of Lithuania,so it was forced to ally more closely with Poland, unit-ing with its western neighbor as the Polish–LithuanianCommonwealth (Commonwealth of Two Nations) in theUnion of Lublin of 1569. During the period of the Union,many of the territories formerly controlled by the largelyRuthenized[33] Grand Duchy of Lithuania were trans-ferred to the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, while thegradual process of Polonization slowly drew Lithuania it-self under Polish domination.[33][34][35] The Grand Duchyretained many rights in the federation (including a sepa-rate government, treasury and army) until the May Con-stitution of Poland was passed in 1791.

2.7 Partitions and the Napoleonic period

Following the Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Com-monwealth, most of the lands of the former Grand Duchywere directly annexed by the Russian Empire rather thanattached to the Kingdom of Poland, a rump state in per-sonal union with Russia. However, in 1812, soon before

the French invasion of Russia, the lands of the formerGrand Duchy revolted against the Russians. Soon afterhis arrival to Vilnius, Napoleon proclaimed the creationof a Commissary Provisional Government of the GrandDuchy of Lithuania, which in turn renewed the Polish-Lithuanian Union.[36] However, the union was never for-malized, as only half a year later Napoleon’s Grande Ar-méewas pushed out of Russia and forced to retreat furtherwestwards. In December 1812, Vilnius was recapturedby Russian forces, bringing all plans of recreation of theGrand Duchy to an end.[36]

3 Religion and culture

See also: Lithuanian mythologyAfter the baptism in 1252 and coronation of King

"Christianization of Lithuania in 1387”, oil on canvas by JanMatejko, 1889, Royal Castle in Warsaw

St. Anne’s Church and the church of the Bernardine Monasteryin Vilnius

Mindaugas in 1253, Lithuania was recognized as a Chris-tian state until 1260, when Mindaugas supported an up-rising in Courland and (according to the German order)renounced Christianity. Up until 1387, Lithuanian noblesprofessed their own religion, which was polytheistic. Eth-nic Lithuanians were very dedicated to their faith. Thepagan beliefs needed to be deeply entrenched to survivestrong pressure from missionaries and foreign powers.Until the seventeenth century there were relics of old faith

6 4 LANGUAGES

reported by counter-reformation active Jesuit priests, likefeeding žaltys with milk or bringing food to graves of an-cestors.The lands of modern-day Belarus and Ukraine, as wellas local dukes (princes) in these regions, were firmlyOrthodox Christian (Greek Catholic after the Union ofBrest), though. While pagan beliefs in Lithuania werestrong enough to survive centuries of pressure from mil-itary orders and missionaries, they did eventually suc-cumb. In 1387, Lithuania converted to Catholicism,while most of the Ruthenian lands stayed Orthodox. Atone point, though, Pope Alexander VI reprimanded theGrand Duke for keeping non-Catholics as advisers.[37]There was an effort to polarise Orthodox Christians af-ter the Union of Brest in 1596, by which some OrthodoxChristians acknowledged papal authority and Catholiccatechism, but preserved their liturgy. The country alsobecame one of the major centers of the Reformation.In the second half of the 17h century Calvinism spreadin Lithuania, supported by the families of Radziwiłł,Chodkiewicz, Sapieha, Dorohostajski and others. By the1580s the majority of the senators from Lithuania wereCalvinist or Socinian Unitarians (Jan Kiszka).In 1579, Stefan Batory, King of Poland and Grand Dukeof Lithuania, founded Vilnius University, one of the old-est universities in Northern Europe. Due to the work ofthe Jesuits during the Counter-Reformation the universitysoon developed into one of the most important scientificand cultural centers of the region and the most notablescientific center of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[38] Thework of the Jesuits as well as conversions from among theLithuanian senatorial families turned the tide and by the1670s Calvinism lost its former importance though it stillretained some influence among the ethnically Lithuanianpeasants and some middle nobility, by then thoroughlyPolonized.

4 Languages

In the 13th century, the center of the Grand Duchyof Lithuania, was inhabited by a majority which spokeLithuanian,[39] but it was not a written language until the16th century.[40] In the other parts of the duchy, the ma-jority of the population, including Ruthenian nobles andordinary people used both spoken and written Ruthenianlanguages.[39] Nobles who migrated from one place to an-other would adapt to a new locality and adopt the localreligion and culture and those Lithuanian noble familieswhich moved to Slavic areas, often took up the local cul-ture quickly over subsequent generations.[41] Ruthenianswere native to the east-central and south-eastern parts ofthe Grand Duchy of Lithuania.The Ruthenian language, also called Chancery Slavonicin its written form, was used to write laws alongside Pol-ish, Latin and German, but use varied between regions.

The Constitution of May 3 was one of the first official state doc-uments, issued in both Polish and Lithuanian language. Lithua-nian language edition of the Constitution.

From the time of Vytautas, there are fewer remainingdocuments written in Ruthenian than there are in Latinand German, but later Ruthenian became the main lan-guage of documentation and writings, especially in east-ern and southern parts of the Duchy. In the 16th centuryat the time of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Lithua-nian lands became increasingly polonized over time andstarted to use the Polish language instead of the Lithua-nian and Ruthenian languages and Polish officially be-came the chancellery language of the Lithuanian-PolishCommonwealth in 1697.[41][42][43][44]

The voivodeships with the predominant ethnic Lithuanianpopulation, Vilnius, Trakai and Samogitian voivodeships,remained almost wholly Lithuanian speaking, both col-loquially and by ruling nobility. In the extreme south-ern parts of Trakai voivodeship, and south-eastern partsof Vilnius voivodeship Ruthenian communities were alsopresent. In addition to Lithuanians and Ruthenians, otherimportant ethnic groups on throughout the Grand Duchyof Lithuania were Jews and Tatars.[41] Vilnius city pop-ulation and its surroundings were multi-ethnic, amonglanguages spoken here, there were Lithuanian, Polish,Belarusian, Yiddish, German also Tatar, Karaim etc.

4.2 Lithuanian language situation 7

4.1 Languages for state and academic pur-poses

Tribunal of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, printed in Ruthenianlanguage, 1586

Numerous languages were used in state documents de-pending on which period in history and for what pur-pose. These languages included Lithuanian, Ruthenian(East Slavonic; Old Belarusian or Old Ukrainian),[44][45]Polish and, to a lesser extent (mostly in diplomatic com-munication), Latin and German.[40][41][43]

The Court used Ruthenian to correspond with Easterncountries while Latin and German were used in foreignaffairs with Western countries.[44][46] During the latterpart of the history of the Grand Duchy, Polish was in-creasingly used in State documents, especially after theUnion of Lublin.[43] By 1697, Polish had largely replacedRuthenian as the “official” language at Court,[40][44][47]although Ruthenian continued to used on a few officialdocuments until the second half of the 18th century.[42]

Usage of the Lithuanian language still continued at Courtafter the death of Vytautas and Jogaila while GrandDuke Alexander I could understand and speak Lithua-nian. The last Grand Duke, Zygmunt August, maintained

both Polish- and Lithuanian-speaking courts.[48]

From the beginning of the 16th century, and especiallyafter a rebellion led by Michael Glinski in 1508, therewere attempts by the Court to replace the usage of Ruthe-nian with Latin.[49] But the Ruthenian tongue had deepcultural roots. Its use by academics in areas formerlypart of Rus’ and even in Lithuania proper was widespread.Court Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania LewSapieha, noted in the preface of the Third Statute ofLithuania (1588) that this code was to be written exclu-sively in Ruthenian.

And clerk must use ruthenian letters andruthenian words in all pages, letters and re-quests, and not any other language or words...—А писаръ земъский маеть по-рускулитерами и словы рускими вси листы,выписы и позвы писати, а не иншимъезыкомъ и словы..., The Statute of GPL1588. Part 4, article 1[50]

Nonetheless, Mikalojus Daukša, writing in Polish, notedin his Postilla (1599) that many people, especiallyszlachta, preferred to speak Polish rather than Lithuanian,but spoke Polish poorly. Such were the linguistic trendsin the Grand Duchy that by the political reforms of 1564–1566 parliaments local land courts, appellate courts andother State functions were recorded in Polish.[49] and Pol-ish became increasingly spoken across all social classes.

4.2 Lithuanian language situation

Area of the Lithuanian language in the 16th century

Ruthenian and Polish languages were used as state lan-guages of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, besides Latin

8 5 DEMOGRAPHICS

and German in diplomatic correspondence. Vilnius,Trakai and Samogitia were the core voivodeships of thestate, being part of Lithuania Proper, as evidenced by theprivileged position of their governors in state authorities,such as the Council of Lords. Peasants in ethnic Lithua-nian territories spoke exclusively Lithuanian, except tran-sitional border regions, but the Statutes of Lithuania andother laws and documentation were written in Ruthenian.Following the royal court, there was tendency to replaceLithuanian with Polish in the ethnic Lithuanian areas,whereas Ruthenian was stronger in ethnic Belarusian andUkrainian territories. There is Sigismund von Herber-stein's note left, that there were in an ocean of Russianlanguage in this part of Europe two non Ruthenian re-gions: Lithuania and Samogitia.[49]

At one point in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithua-nia, the higher strata of Lithuanian society from ethnicLithuania spoke Lithuanian, although since the later 16-thcentury gradually began using Polish, and from Belarus –Old Belarusian. Samogitia was exclusive through state inits economical situation – it lay near ports and there werefewer people under corvee, instead of that, many simplepeople were money payers. As a result, the stratificationof the society was not as sharp as in other areas. Be-ing more similar to a simple population the local szlachtaspoke Lithuanian to a bigger extent than in the areas closeto the capital Vilnius, which itself had become a centerof intensive linguistic Polonization of surrounding areassince the 18th century.In Vilnius University there are preserved texts writtenin the Lithuanian language of the Vilnius area, lyingsouth-eastwards fromVilnius, then called Lithuanian lan-guage, today called a dialect of Eastern Aukštaitian.The source are preserved in works of graduates fromStanislovas Rapalionis Vilnius based Lithuanian languageschool graduate Martynas Mažvydas and Rapalionis rel-ative Abraomas Kulvietis.One of the main sources of Lithuanian written and com-mon language is Eastern Aukštaitian dialect (Vilnius di-alect), preserved in the Konstantinas Sirvydas in a trilin-gual (Polish-Latin-Lithuanian) 17th-century dictionary,the main Lithuanian language dictionary used until thelate 19th century.

5 Demographics

See also: Demographics of the Polish-Lithuanian Com-monwealth.In 1260 the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the landof Lithuania, and ethnic Lithuanians formed majority(67.5%) of its 400,000 people.[51]With the acquisition ofnew Ruthenian territories, in 1340 this portion decreasedto 30%[52] By the time of the largest expansion towardsRus’ lands, which came at the end of the 13th and dur-ing the 14th century, the territory of the Grand Duchy

The Statute of Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1588) in Ruthenianprinted in Vilnius

of Lithuania was 800 to 930 thousand km2, just 10% to14% of which was ethnically Lithuanian.[51][53]

An estimate of the population in the territory ofPoland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania together givesa population at 7.5 million for 1493, breaking themdown by ethnicity at 3.75 million Ruthenians (ethnicUkrainians, Belarusians), 3.25 million Poles and 0.5 mil-lion Lithuanians.[54] With the Union of Lublin, 1569,Lithuanian Grand Duchy lost large part of lands to thePolish Crown.In the mid and late 17th century, due to Russian andSwedish invasions, there was much devastation andpopulation loss on throughout the Grand Duchy ofLithuania,[55] including ethnic Lithuanian population inVilnius surroundings. Besides devastation, Ruthenianpopulation declined proportionally after the territoriallosses to Russian Empire. By 1770 there were about 4.84million inhabitants in the territory of 320 thousand km2,the biggest part of whom were inhabitants of Rutheniaand about 1.39 million or 29% – of ethnic Lithuania.[51]During the following decades, the population decreasedin a result of partitions.[51]

9

The first printed book in Lithuanian The Simple Words of Cate-chism (by Martynas Mažvydas) printed in Königsberg (Prussia).Dedicated to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

6 Legacy

See also: Statutes of Lithuania.Some Russian historians claim, one of the most crucialeffects of Lithuanian rule was ethnic divisions amongstthe inhabitants of former Kievan Rus’. From this pointof view, the creation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuaniaplayed a major role in the division of Eastern Slavs. Afterthe Mongolian conquest of Rus’, Mongols attempted tokeep Eastern Slavs unified and succeeded in conqueringmost of Ruthenian lands.Prussian tribes (of Baltic origin) were attacking Masovia,and that was the reason Duke Konrad of Masovia in-vited the Teutonic Knights to settle near the Prussian areaof settlement. The fighting between Prussians and theTeutonic Knights gave the more distant Lithuanian tribestime to unite. Because of strong enemies in the south andnorth, the newly formed Lithuanian state concentratedmost of its military and diplomatic efforts on expansioneastward.The rest of former Ruthenian lands (Belarusian princi-palities) joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Someother lands in Ukraine were vassalized by Lithuania later.The subjugation of Eastern Slavs by two powers createdsubstantial differences between them, that persist to this

day. While there were certainly substantial regional dif-ferences in Kievan Rus, it was the Lithuanian annexationof much of southern and western Ruthenia that led to thepermanent division between Ukrainians, Belarusians, andRussians. Some argue, that the ethnic and linguistic divi-sions amongst inhabitants of Ruthenia were not initiatedby division of this area between Mongols and Lithuania,and are older than the creation of the Grand Duchy ofLithuania. They state that until the twentieth century, eth-nic and linguistic frontiers between Ukrainians, Belaru-sians, and Russians coincided with no political borders.Notwithstanding the above, Lithuania was a kingdom un-der Mindaugas I, who was crowned by authority of PopeInnocent IV in 1253. Gediminas and Vytautas the Greatalso assumed the title of King, although uncrowned. Afailed attempt was made in 1918 to revive the Kingdomunder a German Prince, Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach,who would have reigned as Mindaugas II of Lithuania.

7 Gallery

• Lithuanian ancient hill fort in Rudamina

• Lithuanian ancient hill fort mounds in Kernavė, nowlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

• Ruins of Navahrudak Castle. Current state (2004)

• Mir Castle

• St. George church (1487) in Kaunas

• Vilnius University and the Church of St. John

8 See also

• Belarus

• Cities of Grand Duchy of Lithuania

• Crimea

• Duchy of Lithuania

• History of Lithuania

• List of Belarusian rulers

• List of Lithuanian rulers

• Lithuania

• Lithuania proper

• Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

• Ukraine

10 9 NOTES AND REFERENCES

9 Notes and references[1] T. Baranauskas. Lietuvos valstybės ištakos. Vilnius, 2000

[2] Sužiedėlis, Saulius. Historical dictionary of Lithuania(2nd ed.). Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. p. 119. ISBN978-0-8108-4914-3.

[3] Rowell S.C. Lithuania Ascending: A pagan empire withineast-central Europe, 1295-1345. Cambridge, 1994.p.289-290

[4] Ch. Allmand, The New Cambridge Medieval History.Cambridge, 1998, p. 731.

[5] Encyclopædia Britannica. Grand Duchy of Lithuania

[6] R. Bideleux. A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis andChange. Routledge, 1998. p. 122

[7] Rowell, Lithuania Ascending, p.289.

[8] Z. Kiaupa. “Algirdas ir LDK rytų politika.” Gimtoji is-torija 2: Nuo 7 iki 12 klasės (Lietuvos istorijos vadovėlis).CD. (2003). Elektroninės leidybos namai: Vilnius.

[9] N. Davies. Europe: A History. Oxford, 1996, p. 392.

[10] J. Kiaupienė. Gediminaičiai ir Jogailaičiai prie Vytautopalikimo. Gimtoji istorija 2: Nuo 7 iki 12 klasės (Lietu-vos istorijos vadovėlis). CD. (2003) Elektroninės leidybosnamai: Vilnius.

[11] J. Kiaupienë, “Valdžios krizës pabaiga ir Kazimieras Jo-gailaitis.” Gimtoji istorija 2: Nuo 7 iki 12 klasės (Lietuvosistorijos vadovėlis). CD. (2003). Elektroninės leidybosnamai: Vilnius.

[12] D. Stone. The Polish-Lithuanian state: 1386-1795. Uni-versity of Washington Press, 2001, p. 63.

[13] Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1529), Part.1., Art. 1.: «На первей преречоным прелатом,княжатом, паном, хоруговым, шляхтам и местомпреречоных земель Великого князства Литовского,Руского, Жомойтского и иных дали есмо:...»; Ac-cording to.: Pervyi ili Staryi Litovskii Statut // VremennikObschestva istorii i drevnostei Rossiiskih. 1854. Book18. p. 2-106. P. 2.

[14] Lithuanian-Ruthenian state at the Encyclopedia ofUkraine

[15] E. Bojtár. Forward to the Past: A Cultural History of theBaltic People. Central European University Press, 1999 p.179

[16] Encarta.Lithuania. Accessed September 21, 2006.Archived 2009-10-31.

[17] Encyclopedia Lituanica. Boston, 1970-1978, Vol.5 p.395

[18] Lithuania Ascending p.50

[19] A. Bumblauskas, Senosios Lietuvos istorija, 1009–1795[The early history of Lithuania], Vilnius, 2005, p. 33.

[20] By contemporary accounts, the Lithuanians called theirearly rulers kunigas (kunigai in plural). The word was bor-rowed from the German language – kuning, konig. Lateron kunigas was replaced by the word kunigaikštis, used todescribe to medieval Lithuanian rulers in modern Lithua-nian, while kunigas today means priest.

[21] Z.Kiaupa, J. Kiaupienė, A. Kunevičius. The History ofLithuania Before 1795. Vilnius, 2000. p. 43-127

[22] V. Spečiūnas. Lietuvos valdovai (XIII-XVIII a.): Enciklo-pedinis žinynas. Vilnius, 2004. p. 15-78.

[23] А. Кравцевич История Великого КняжестваЛитовского.

[24] Краўцэвіч, А.К. Стварэнне Вялікага КнястваЛітоўскага.

[25] Senosios Lietuvos istorija p. 44-45

[26] Kiaupa, Zigmantas; Jūratė Kiaupienė; Albinas Kunevičius(2000) [1995]. “Establishment of the State”. The Historyof Lithuania Before 1795 (English ed.). Vilnius: Lithua-nian Institute of History. pp. 45–72. ISBN 9986-810-13-2.

[27] Lithuania Ascending p.55

[28] New Cambridge p.706

[29] Maciej Stryjkowski (1985). Kronika polska, litewska,żmódzka i wszystkiéj Rusi Macieja Stryjkowskiego. War-saw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe. p. 572.

[30] Glenn Hinson. The Church Triumphant: A History ofChristianity Up to 1300. 1995, p.438

[31] Battle at Blue Waters (Ukrainian Pravda)

[32] Jerzy Kloczowski, A History of Polish Christianity, Cam-bridge University Press, 2000, p. 55.

[33] “Within the [Lithuanian] Grand Duchy, the Ruthenianlands initially retained considerable autonomy. The paganLithuanians themselves were increasingly converting toOrthodoxy and assimilating into Ruthenian culture. Thegrand duchy’s administrative practices and legal systemdrew heavily on Slavic customs, and Ruthenian becamethe official state language. Direct Polish rule in Ukrainesince the 1340s and for two centuries thereafter was lim-ited to Galicia. There, changes in such areas as admin-istration, law, and land tenure proceeded more rapidlythan in Ukrainian territories under Lithuania. However,Lithuania itself was soon drawn into the orbit of Poland.”from Ukraine. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica.

[34] “Formally, Poland and Lithuania were to be distinct, equalcomponents of the federation,[...] But Poland, which re-tained possession of the Lithuanian lands it had seized,had greater representation in the Diet and became thedominant partner.from Lublin, Union of (2006). In Encyclopædia Britan-nica

11

[35] “While Poland and Lithuania would thereafter elect a jointsovereign and have a common parliament, the basic dualstate structure was retained. Each continued to be admin-istered separately and had its own law codes and armedforces. The joint commonwealth, however, provided animpetus for cultural Polonization of the Lithuanian nobil-ity. By the end of the 17th century it had virtually becomeindistinguishable from its Polish counterpart.”from Lithuania, history in Encyclopædia Britannica

[36] Marek Sobczyński. “Procesy integracyjne i dezinte-gracyjne na ziemiach litewskich w toku dziejów” (pdf)(in Polish). Zakład Geografii Politycznej UniwersytetuŁódzkiego. Retrieved 2007-10-11.

[37] Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes, from theClose of the Middle Ages, Vol. 6, p. 146. Quote: "...hewrote to the Grand Duke of Lithuania, admonishing himto do everything in his power to persuade his consortto 'abjure the Russian religion, and accept the ChristianFaith.'"

[38] Vilniaus Universitetas. History of Vilnius University. Re-trieved on 2007.04.16

[39] Daniel. Z Stone, A History of East Central Europe, p.4

[40] Kevin O'Connor, Culture And Customs of the Baltic States,Greenwood Press, 2006, ISBN 0-313-33125-1, GooglePrint, p.115

[41] Stephen R. Burant and Voytek Zubek, Eastern Europe’sOld Memories and New Realities: Resurrecting the Polish-lithuanian Union, East European Politics and Societies1993; 7; 370, online, p.4

[42] (Lithuanian) Lietuvos Didžiosios kunigaikštystėskanceliarinės slavų kalbos termino nusakymo problemaZ. Zinkevičius

[43] Daniel. Z Stone, A History of East Central Europe, p.46

[44] Bjorn Wiemer, Dialect and language contacts on the ter-ritory of the Grand Duchy from the 15th century un-til 1939, Kurt Braunmüller, Gisella Ferraresi, Aspects ofmultilingualism in European language history, John Ben-jamins Publishing Company, 2003, ISBN 90-272-1922-2, Google Print, p.109-114

[45] Stone, Daniel. The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795.Seattle: University of Washington, 2001. p. 4.

[46] Kamuntavičius, Rustis. Development of Lithuanian Stateand Society. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University, 2002.p.21.

[47] Piotr Eberhardt, Jan Owsinski, Ethnic Groups and Popu-lation Changes in Twentieth-Century Central-Eastern Eu-rope: History, Data, Analysis, M.E. Sharpe, 2003, ISBN0-7656-0665-8, Google Print, p.177.

[48] Daniel. Z Stone, A History of East Central Europe, p.52

[49] (Lithuanian) Lietuvių kalba: poreikis ir vartojimo mastai(XV a. antra pusė - XVI a. antra pusė); A. Dubonis

[50] [...] не обчымъ яким языкомъ, але своимъ властнымъправа списаные маемъ [...]; Dubonis, A. Lietuvių kalba

[51] Letukienė, Nijolė; Gineika, Petras (2003). “Istorija. Poli-tologija: kurso santrauka istorijos egzaminui” (in Lithua-nian). Vilnius: Alma littera. p. 182.. Statistical num-bers, usually accepted in historiography (the sources, theirtreatment, the method of measuring is not discussed in thesource), are given, according to which in 1260 there wereabout 0.27 million Lithuanians out of a total populationof 0.4 million (or 67.5%). The size of the territory ofthe Grand Duchy was about 200 thousand km2. The fol-lowing data on population is given in the sequence - year,total population in millions, territory, Lithuanian (inhab-itants of ethnic Lithuania) part of population in millions:1340 - 0.7, 350 thousand km2, 0.37; 1375 - 1.4, 700 thou-sand km2, 0.42; 1430 - 2.5, 930 thousand km2, 0.59 or24%; 1490 - 3.8, 850 thousand km2, 0.55 or 14% or 1/7;1522 - 2.365, 485 thousand km2, 0.7 or 30%; 1568 - 2.8,570 thousand km2, 0.825 million or 30%; 1572, 1.71,320 thousand km2, 0.85 million or 50%; 1770 - 4.84, 320thousand km2, 1.39 or 29%; 1791 - 2.5, 250 km2, 1.4 or56%; 1793 - 1.8, 132 km2, 1.35 or 75%

[52] Letukienė, N., Istorija, Politologija: Kurso santrauka is-torijos egzaminui, 2003, p. 182; there were about 0.37million Lithuanians of 0.7 million of a whole populationby 1340 in the territory of 350 thousand km2 and 0.42million of 1.4 million by 1375 in the territory of 700 thou-sand km2. Different numbers can also be found, for ex-ample: Kevin O'Connor, The History of the Baltic States,Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, ISBN 0-313-32355-0, Google Print, p.17. Here the author estimates that therewere 9 million inhabitants in the Grand Duchy of Lithua-nia, and 1 million of them were ethnic Lithuanians by1387.

[53] Bjorn Wiemer, Dialect and language contacts on the ter-ritory of the Grand Duchy from the 15th century un-til 1939, Kurt Braunmüller, Gisella Ferraresi, Aspects ofmultilingualism in European language history, John Ben-jamins Publishing Company, 2003, ISBN 90-272-1922-2, Google Print, p.109; 125

[54] Based on 1493 population map (p.92) from Iwo CyprianPogonowski, Poland a Historical Atlas, HippocreneBooks, 1987, ISBN 0-88029-394-2

[55] Jarmo Kotilaine, Russia’s foreign trade and economic ex-pansion in the seventeenth century: windows on the world,BRILL, 2005, ISBN 90-04-13896-X, Google Print, p.45

1. S. C. Rowell. Chartularium Lithuaniae res gestasmagni ducis Gedeminne illustrans. Gedimino laiškai.Vilnius, 2003.

2. Norman Davies. God’s Playground. Columbia Uni-versity Press; 2nd edition (2002), ISBN 0-231-12817-7.

3. Вялікае княства Літоўскае: Энцыклапедыя. —Мінск: БелЭн, 2005—2010. — Т. 1—3.

4. Гісторыя Беларусі: Падруч. у 2 ч. / Я.К. Новік,Г.С. Марцуль, І.Л. Качалаў і інш.; Пад рэд. Я.К.Новіка, Г.С. Марцуля. — Мінск : Выш. шк.,2003. —Ч. 1. Ад старажытных часоў— па люты1917 г. — 416 с.

12 10 EXTERNAL LINKS

5. Гісторыя Беларусі: у 6 т. / Ю. Бохан [і інш.];рэдкал: М. Касцюк (гал. рэд.) [і інш.]. —Мінск : Экаперспектыва, 2000—2012. — Т. 2.Беларусь у перыяд Вялікага Княства Літоўскага.— Мінск : Экаперспектыва, 2008. — 688 с.

6. Краўцэвіч, А.К. Стварэнне Вялікага КнястваЛітоўскага / А.К. Краўцэвіч. — Rzeszów, 2000.— 238 с. ISBN 985-08-0249-9

7. Насевiч, В.Л. Пачаткі Вялікага княстваЛітоўскага: Падзеі і асобы. — Мінск : Полымя,1993. — 160 с.

10 External links• History of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

• Cheryl Renshaw. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania1253-1795

• Grand Duchy of Lithuania

• Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Administrative map

• Lithuanian-Ruthenian state at the Encyclopedia ofUkraine

13

11 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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