Grand Duchy of Lithuania- state in the XIII-XVI centuries. on the territory of modern Lithuania, Belarus, parts of Ukraine and Russia. Capitals - cities Trakai, Vilna. Founded by Mindaugas, who united the Lithuanian lands: Aukštaitija, Samogitia, Deltuva, etc. The Grand Dukes of Lithuania Gediminas, Olgerd, Keistut and others captured a number of ancient Russian lands and repelled the aggression of the German knightly orders. In the XIV-XVI centuries. Through the Polish-Lithuanian unions (Union of Krevo 1385, Union of Lublin 1569), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland were united into one state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Encyclopedic Dictionary “History of the Fatherland from Ancient Times to the Present Day”
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a feudal state that existed in the XIII-XVI centuries. on the territory of part of modern Lithuania and Belarus. The main occupation of the population was agriculture and cattle breeding. Hunting and fishing played an auxiliary role in the economy. The development of crafts based on iron production, internal and external trade (with Russia, Poland, etc.) contributed to the growth of cities (Vilnius, Trakai, Kaunas, etc.). In the IX-XII centuries. Feudal relations developed on the territory of Lithuania, and classes of feudal lords and dependent people emerged. Individual Lithuanian political associations - lands (Aukštaitija, Samogitia, Deltuva, etc.) - had an unequal level of socio-economic development. The decomposition of primitive communal relations and the emergence of a feudal system led to the formation of a state among the Lithuanians. According to the Galicia-Volyn Chronicle, the Russian-Lithuanian treaty of 1219 mentions an alliance of Lithuanian princes led by the “eldest” princes who owned lands in Aukštaitija. This indicates the existence of a state in Lithuania. The strengthening of the grand ducal power led to the unification of the main Lithuanian lands into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the rule of Mindaugas (mid-30s of the 13th century - 1263), who also captured some Belarusian lands (Black Rus'). The formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was accelerated by the need to unite to fight the aggression of the German crusaders, which had intensified since the beginning of the 13th century. Lithuanian troops won major victories over the knights in the battles of Siauliai (1236) and Durbe (1260).
In the 14th century, during the reign of Gediminas (1316-1341), Olgerd (1345-77) and Keistut (1345-82), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania significantly expanded its possessions, annexing all Belarusian, part Ukrainian and Russian lands (Volyn, Vitebsk, Turov-Pinsk, Kyiv, Pereyaslav, Podolsk, Chernigov-Seversk lands, etc.). Their inclusion was facilitated by the fact that Rus' was weakened by the Mongol-Tatar yoke, as well as the fight against the aggression of German, Swedish and Danish invaders. The entry into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian lands with more developed social relations and culture contributed to the further development of socio-economic relations in Lithuania. In the annexed lands, the Lithuanian grand dukes retained significant autonomy and immunity rights for local magnates. This, as well as differences in the level of socio-economic development and ethnic heterogeneity of individual parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, determined the lack of centralization in public administration. The head of the state was the Grand Duke, with a council of representatives of the nobility and the highest clergy. In order to unite forces to fight the advance of the German knightly orders and strengthen his power, Grand Duke Jagiello (1377-92) concluded the Union of Krevo with Poland in 1385. However, the union concealed the danger of Lithuania turning into a province of Poland in the future. In Lithuania, where until the end of the 14th century. paganism existed, Catholicism began to spread by force. Some of the Lithuanian and Russian princes, led by Vytautas, who in 1392, after an internecine struggle, actually became the Grand Duke of Lithuania, opposed Jagiello’s policy. United Lithuanian-Russian and Polish troops with the participation of Czech troops in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, they completely defeated the knights of the Teutonic Order and stopped their aggression.
The growth of large feudal landownership and the consolidation of the ruling class in the XIV-XV centuries. were accompanied by mass enslavement of peasants, causing peasant uprisings (for example, in 1418). The main form of exploitation of peasants was food rent. Simultaneously with the growth of economic dependence, national oppression in the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands intensified. Crafts and trade developed in the cities. In the XV-XVI centuries. the rights and privileges of the Lithuanian lords are growing. According to the Union of Gorodel of 1413, the rights of the Polish gentry were extended to Lithuanian Catholic nobles. At the end of the 15th century. A Rada of Gentlemen was formed, which actually put the power of the Grand Duke under its control by the privilege of 1447 and by the privilege of Grand Duke Alexander in 1492. The formation of the general gentry diet (at the end of the 15th century), as well as the publication of the Lithuanian statutes of 1529, 1566. consolidated and increased the rights of the Lithuanian nobility.
The transition to cash rent at the end of the 15th-16th centuries. was accompanied by an increase in the exploitation of peasants and an intensification of the class struggle: escapes and unrest became more frequent (especially large ones in 1536-37 on the grand ducal estates). In the middle of the 16th century. A reform was carried out on the estates of the Grand Duke, as a result of which the exploitation of peasants increased due to the growth of corvee. From the end of the 16th century. This system is being introduced in the domains of large landowners-magnates. Mass enslavement of peasants, development of corvee farming, receipt by Lithuanian landowners in the 2nd half of the 16th century. rights to duty-free export of grain abroad and import of goods delayed the development of cities.
From the moment of the formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian princes sought to seize Russian lands. However, strengthening in the 14th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow and the unification of Russian lands around it led to the fact that from the 2nd half of the 15th century. as a result of wars with Russia (1500-03, 1507-08, 1512-22, 1534-37), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lost Smolensk (captured by Grand Duke Vitovt in 1404), Chernigov, Bryansk, Novgorod-Seversky and other Russian lands . The growth of anti-feudal protests in the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the aggravation of intra-class contradictions, the desire for expansion to the East, as well as failures in the Livonian War of 1558-83. against Russia led to the unification of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Poland under the Union of Lublin in 1569 into one state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
During the century after Batu's invasion, on the site of several dozen lands and principalities of Ancient Rus', two powerful states grew up, two new Russias: Muscovite Rus' and Lithuanian Rus'. Three quarters of the ancient Russian cities - Kyiv, Polotsk, Smolensk, Chernigov and many others - became part of Lithuanian Rus. From the 13th century to the end of the 18th century, the history of these lands is closely connected with the existence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Lithuanian scientists are convinced that the word “Lithuania” came into Russian, Polish and other Slavic languages directly from the Lithuanian language. They believe that the word comes from the name of the small river Letauka, and the original Lithuania is a small area between the rivers Neris, Viliya and Neman.
In the encyclopedic dictionary “Russia” by F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron, Lithuanians are mentioned, “living mainly along the Viliya and the lower reaches of the Neman,” and are divided into Lithuanians proper and Zhmud.
Lithuania was first mentioned in 1009 in one of the medieval Western chronicles - the annals of Quedlinburg. The Lithuanians were good warriors, and under the influence of German aggression, their entire life was being rebuilt in a military manner. Many victories of the Lithuanians are narrated by German chroniclers, who are difficult to suspect of sympathizing with the enemy. However, the Lithuanians could not cope with such a strong enemy as the knights. The main task of the crusading knights was the Christianization of pagan peoples, which included the Lithuanians. Over the course of half a century, the knights gradually conquered the Prussian land and strengthened themselves there, strong both in their military structure and in the support they had from the Pope and the Emperor from Germany.
The German invasion of Lithuanian lands aroused and aroused the Lithuanian tribes, who began to unite under the threat of German conquest.
In the middle of the 13th century, the Lithuanian prince Mindaugas (Mindovg) subjugated the lands of the Lithuanian and Slavic tribes and created a powerful state entity.
Fearing German enslavement, he was baptized by them and for this received a royal crown from the pope. The act of coronation on July 6, 1253 crowned the activities of this unifier of the Lithuanian tribes, the creator of the state of Lithuania and its first ruler; it symbolized the completion of a long and complex process of creating the ancient, very first Lithuanian state.
Lithuania became a subject of the politics of that time; it carried out independent diplomacy and participated in wars of aggression and defense.
The Lithuanians became the only branch of the Balts who entered the civilization of medieval Europe with their own state and sovereign - King Mindaugas.
The formation of the state took place very dynamically, and it was the Slavic lands that became the support of the Lithuanian Grand Duke in his fight against the rebellious tribal principalities of the Lithuanians. The methods of annexing new lands were different. Many Russian lands voluntarily became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Along with this, some territories (for example, Smolensk) had to be conquered by force of arms for many years. At the same time, local authorities practically did not change: they tried not to impose new orders on anyone.
In addition, the new state gave Lithuanians protection from the Germans, and Russians - refuge from the Tatars. The first, earliest victories over the Mongol-Tatars were won by Russian regiments in alliance with the armies of the Lithuanians. It is not for nothing that in historical literature it is also called the Lithuanian-Russian state.
This difficult era, experienced by Russia in the 13th century, constitutes a transition from history Kyiv State to the history of those states that replaced it, namely: the Novgorod state, the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, and then Moscow, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In 1316, Gediminas, the founder of the Gedimin dynasty, who formed the Lithuanian and Russian lands, became the Grand Duke of Lithuania. strong state. Under him, Russian influence on the Lithuanian princes increased enormously. Gediminas himself considered himself not only a Lithuanian, but also a Russian prince. He was married to a Russian and arranged marriages for his children with Russians. Two thirds of all Gediminas's lands were Russian lands. The Lithuanian dynasty managed to form a center towards which the entire South-South, which had lost its unity, began to gravitate. Western Rus'. Gediminas began collecting it, and his children and grandchildren completed this process, which was accomplished quickly and easily, since the population of the Russian lands willingly came under the rule of the Russified Gediminas.
A federal state was formed, albeit with a peculiar, medieval, but federation (as opposed to Moscow centralization).
The sons of Gediminas - Algirdas (Olgerd) and Kestutis (Keistut) - gathered almost all of Southern and Western Rus' under their rule, freeing it from the rule of the Tatars and giving it a single strong power - power, Russian in its culture and in its methods.
According to the Russian historian M.K. Lyubavsky, “The Lithuanian-Russian state in the 14th century was essentially a conglomerate of lands and possessions, united only by subordination to the power of the Grand Duke, but standing apart from each other and not united into a single political whole.”
The situation in this region began to change at the end of the 14th century. Grand Duke Jagiello accepted the Poles' proposal to marry the Polish Queen Jadwiga and unite Poland and Lithuania, resolving the contradictions between these states: the struggle for the Russian lands of Volyn and Galich and the general opposition to the Germans, who threatened both states. Jagiello agreed to all the conditions set before him, accepted Catholicism himself, and in 1387 he baptized pagan Lithuania into Catholicism, and concluded in 1385-1386. Union of Krevo, which provided for the inclusion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Kingdom of Poland.
But this condition remained on paper. The powerful Lithuanian nobility, led by Kestutis' son Vytautas (Vytautas), resolutely opposed the loss of independence. It got to the point that the Krevo Union was temporarily dissolved and resumed only in 1401 on the terms of equality of the parties. According to the new Union of Gorodel of 1413, Lithuania pledged not to enter into an alliance with the enemies of Poland, but at the same time the equality and sovereignty of the parties was confirmed.
Vytautas managed to gain a foothold in power so that he subjugated all the appanage Lithuanian princes. Under him, the borders of Lithuania reached unprecedented limits: they reached two seas, the Baltic and the Black. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was at the height of its power. Vytautas interfered in the affairs of all Russian lands: Novgorod and Pskov, Tver, Moscow, Ryazan. By mutual agreement between the Moscow Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, the border between the Moscow and Lithuanian lands ran along the Ugra River (the left tributary of the Oka).
But most importantly historical event What happened at this time was the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, in which the combined forces of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the army of the Teutonic Order - a long-time enemy of Poland, Lithuania and Rus'.
The strengthening of Vytautas and his high authority were a consequence of the discontent that the union with Poland aroused among the Russian and Lithuanian population of Lithuania. By supporting their Grand Duke, this population showed that they did not want to come under Polish-Catholic influence, but wanted independence and isolation in their political life.
According to the Russian historian S. F. Platonov, if Vytautas began to rely on the Orthodox Russian people and turned his state into the same Russian grand duchy as Moscow was then, he could become a rival to the Moscow princes and, perhaps, sooner unite them under his scepter the entire Russian land. But Vytautas did not do this, because, on the one hand, he needed Poland’s help against the Germans, and on the other hand, people appeared in Lithuania itself who saw their benefit in the union and pushed Vytautas towards rapprochement with Poland. Among his subjects there were three directions: Orthodox Russian, Old Lithuanian and New Catholic Polish. The Grand Duke treated everyone equally attentively and did not directly take sides. After the death of Vytautas in 1430, the political and national parties in the state remained unreconciled, in a state of mutual bitterness and mistrust. The struggle of these parties gradually destroyed the strength and greatness of the Lithuanian-Russian state.
At this time, in the context of the beginning of polonization and Catholicization (following the results of the Gorodel Union of 1413), the position of Russians in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania worsened. In 1430, a war broke out, which in literature was called the “Svidrigailo uprising.” During the movement led by Prince Svidrigailo, the son of Grand Duke Algirdas, a situation arose when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania split into two parts: Lithuania placed Sigismund, the son of Grand Duke Kestutis, in the great reign, and the Russian lands sided with Svidrigailo and it was he who was placed in the “great reign.” Russian reign." In the political development of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Lithuanian-Russian state), this period was a turning point. While Sigismund confirmed the union with Poland, the Russian lands lived their own lives and tried to build a separate political building. However, the “Svidrigailo uprising” was defeated, and after the death of Prince Sigismund, Kazimiras (Kazimir) was established on the throne in Vilnius, whose reign marked a new era in the development of the Lithuanian state. He restores the shaky foundations of Uniate politics, and in his person dynastically unites two states - the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Nevertheless, until the middle of the 16th century, despite the strengthening of Polish influence in Lithuanian society, the Lithuanian nobility managed to defend the identity and independence of the principality from any attempts on the part of Poland to strengthen the union and tie Lithuania more tightly to the Polish crown.
Until this time, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a federal state with a predominance of Slavic lands. In the middle of the 15th century, a single ruling class emerged. The gentry (nobility) made up a significant segment of the population - up to 8-10 percent, much more than in the neighboring Moscow state. The Lithuanian gentry had full political rights in the state. The bodies of the gentry - sejms and sejmiks - decided on the most important issues both at the national and local levels. Politics were decided by the largest landowners-magnates, under whose control from the middle of the 15th century the power of the Grand Duke was actually under control. At the end of this century, a collegial body was formed - the Rada of Gentlemen - without whose consent the Grand Duke could not send ambassadors. He also could not cancel the decisions of the Council of Ambassadors.
The omnipotence of the magnates and gentry received a clear legal form. In 1529, 1566 and 1588 sets of laws were adopted, called the Lithuanian Statutes. They merged traditional Lithuanian and ancient Russian law. All three statutes were Slavic-language.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania had a unique culture, the foundation of which was laid by the Eastern Slavs. The enlightener from Polotsk, the East Slavic pioneer printer Francis Skaryna, the thinker Simon Budny and Vasily Tyapinsky, the poet Simeon of Polotsk, and dozens of other immigrants from the Grand Duchy enriched European and world civilization with their creativity.
In the “golden times” of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - until the end of the 16th century - religious tolerance prevailed, and Catholics and Orthodox Christians almost always coexisted peacefully. Until the 16th century religious life Orthodoxy prevailed in the state. However, the religious Reformation, which found many supporters in the Grand Duchy, decisively changed the situation. Protestantism most strongly affected the top of the Orthodox part of society. Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, politician Lev Sapega was born Orthodox, subsequently adopted the ideas of the Reformation, and at the end of his life became a Catholic. He was one of the organizers of the Brest Church Union of 1596, which united the Orthodox and Catholic churches on the territory of the state under the primacy of the papal throne. In the 15th century, the Metropolitan of the Western Russian Orthodox Church Gregory Bolgarin made a similar attempt, which ended in failure. After the adoption of the church union, there could be no talk of any religious equality - the Orthodox Church found itself in a cramped position.
The religious union was preceded by a more durable political unification of Poland and Lithuania. In 1569, the Union of Lublin was signed, uniting the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a single state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. One of the main reasons for the unification was the inability of the Lithuanian state on our own repulse the attack from the east. In 1514, the Moscow army defeated the Lithuanians near Smolensk, returning this original Russian city to its possession, and in 1563, the troops of Ivan the Terrible took Polotsk. The further, the more the weakening state of Lithuania needed help, which came from the Kingdom of Poland.
As a result, the Polish-Lithuanian confederation was created and the system of a noble republic was imposed on Lithuania - a unique form of government that had not existed before in the world, which consolidated the power of the nobility and its right to choose a king. This system did not interfere with the development of the economy and culture, but greatly weakened the military power of the state.
Under the Union of Lublin, the southern half of the Lithuanian state was directly annexed to the Crown. Some lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, especially Belarusian ones, are becoming the scene of fierce confrontation between Moscow and Warsaw. Wars, epidemics, and crop failures dealt a terrible blow to the power of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, from which the country was never able to recover.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russian and Zhamoit (Grand Duchy of Lithuania) - a state that existed from the first half of the 13th century to 1795 on the territory of modern Belarus, Lithuania (until 1795) and Ukraine (until 1569).
From 1386 it was in a personal or personal union with Poland, known as the Union of Krevo, and from 1569 - in the Sejm Union of Lublin. Ceased to exist after the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Polish-Lithuanian state) in 1795. Most of the principality was annexed to Russian Empire.
The majority of the population of the principality was Orthodox (the ancestors of modern Belarusians and Ukrainians). The language of official documents was the Western Russian language (Old Belarusian, Old Ukrainian, Ruthenian) language (for example, Lithuanian metrics, Statute of the Grand Duchy), Latin and Polish, since the 17th century the Polish language prevailed.
In the XIV-XV centuries, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a real rival of Muscovite Rus' in the struggle for dominance in Eastern Europe.
In 1253, the Lithuanian prince Mindovg was crowned; according to some information, the coronation took place in the city of Novogrudok, which at that time, apparently, was one of the main residence of Mindovg. From the middle of the XIII - first half of the XIV centuries. covered Belarusian lands, and in 1363-1569. - and most of the Ukrainian ones. The consolidation of the initially disparate principalities took place against the backdrop of resistance to the crusaders of the Teutonic Order in the Baltic states. At the same time, there was expansion in the southwestern and southeastern directions, during which Mindovg took away lands along the Neman from the Galicia-Volyn principality.
The principality was multi-ethnic. In the XV-XVI centuries. The role of the nobility of Ruthenian origin increased; at the same time, the Polonization of the nobility of both Lithuanian and Ruthenian origin was planned, which allowed in the 17th century. to merge into a Polish-speaking political people with Lithuanian identity and Catholic faith. Under Prince Gediminas (reigned 1316-1341), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania strengthened significantly economically and politically.
Under Olgerd (reigned 1345-1377), the principality actually became the dominant power in the region. The position of the state was especially strengthened after Olgerd defeated the Tatars in the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362. During his reign, the state included most of what is now Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and the Smolensk region. For all residents of Western Rus', Lithuania became a natural center of resistance to traditional opponents - the Horde and the Crusaders. In addition, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the middle of the 14th century. The Orthodox population predominated numerically, with whom the pagan Lithuanians lived quite peacefully, and sometimes unrest that occurred was quickly suppressed (for example, in Smolensk).
The lands of the principality under Olgerd extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea steppes, the eastern border ran approximately along the current border of the Smolensk and Moscow regions.
The Lithuanian princes most seriously laid claim to the Russian grand-ducal table. In 1368-1372. Olgerd, who was married to the Grand Duke's sister Tver Mikhail, supported Tver in its rivalry with Moscow. Lithuanian troops approached Moscow, but, unfortunately, at that time Olgerd was fighting with the crusaders on the western borders, and therefore could not besiege the city for a long time. The crusaders, in contrast to the illusory hopes for all Russian lands, were seen by Olgerd as a more serious threat, and in 1372, having already approached Moscow, he untied his hands, unexpectedly offering Dmitry Donskoy “eternal peace.”
In 1386, Grand Duke Jagiello (reigned 1377-1434) entered into an alliance (the so-called Union of Krevo) with the Kingdom of Poland - he converted to Catholicism, married the heir to the Polish throne and became the king of Poland, while remaining the Grand Duke of Lithuania. This strengthened the positions of both states in the confrontation with the Teutonic Order.
Jagiello handed over the grand-ducal throne to his brother Skirgaila. Jagiello's cousin Vytautas, with the support of the Teutonic Order, winning over to his side the anti-Polish princes and boyars of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, waged a long war for the throne. Only in 1392, the Ostrov Agreement was concluded between Jagiello and Vytautas, according to which Vytautas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Jagiello retained the title “Supreme Prince of Lithuania.” In 1399, Vitovt (reigned 1392-1430), who supported the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh against Tamerlane’s protege Timur-Kutluk, suffered a heavy defeat from the latter in the Battle of Vorskla. This defeat weakened the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and in 1401 it was forced to enter into a new alliance with Poland (the so-called Union of Vilna-Radom).
In 1405, Vitovt began military operations against Pskov, and he turned to Moscow for help. However, Moscow declared war on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania only in 1406; no major military operations were actually carried out even after several truces and standing on the river. In Ugra in 1408, Vytautas and the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily I concluded an eternal peace. At this time, in the west, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was fighting the Teutonic Order; in 1410, the united troops of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Grunwald. The consequence of this victory, and after several more wars, was the final refusal of the Teutonic Order in 1422 from Samogitia and the final liquidation of the Order by the Second Peace of Torun in 1466.
Vytautas intervened in the affairs of the Grand Duchy of Moscow when, in 1427, a dynastic feud began there between Vytautas's grandson Vasily II the Dark and Vasily's uncle Yuri of Zvenigorod. Vitovt, relying on the fact that the Grand Duchess of Moscow, his daughter, Sophia, together with her son, people and lands, accepted his protection, laid claim to dominance over all of Russia. Vytautas also intervened in the politics of European countries and had significant weight in the eyes of European sovereigns. The Holy Roman Emperor offered him the royal crown twice, but Vytautas refused and accepted only the third offer from the emperor. The coronation was scheduled for 1430 and was to take place in Lutsk, where numerous guests gathered. The recognition of Vytautas as king and, accordingly, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a kingdom did not suit the Polish magnates who hoped for the incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Jagiello agreed to the coronation of Vytautas, but Polish magnates seized the royal crown on Polish territory. Vytautas was ill at that time; according to legend, he could not bear the news of the loss of the crown and died in 1430 in his Troka (Trakai) castle in the arms of Jagiello.
After the death of Vytautas, the princes and boyars of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, having gathered at the Diet, elected Svidrigailo, the younger brother of Yagaila, as Grand Duke. This was done without the consent of the Polish king, magnates and lords, although this was provided for by the unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland. Thus, the union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland was broken; moreover, a military conflict soon began between them over Volhynia. However, in 1432, a group of pro-Polish princes carried out a coup and elevated Vitovt’s brother, Sigismund, to the throne. This led to a feudal war in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania between supporters of the pro-Polish and patriotic parties. During the war, Jogaila and Sigismund had to make a number of concessions in order to win over Svidrigailo’s supporters. However, the outcome of the war was decided in 1435 in the battle of Vilkomir, in which Svidrigailo’s troops suffered very heavy losses.
Sigismund's reign did not last long, dissatisfied with his pro-Polish policy, suspicion and unfounded repressions, the princes and boyars plotted against him during which he was killed in Troki Castle. Kazimir Jagailovich was chosen as the next Grand Duke, again without the consent of Poland. After some time, Casimir was offered the Polish crown; he hesitated for a long time, but still accepted it, while promising the princes and boyars of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to maintain the independence of the grand duchy.
In 1449, Casimir concluded a peace treaty with the Moscow Grand Duke Vasily II, which was observed until the end of the 15th century. At the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. A series of wars of the Moscow state against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania began, the princes of the eastern lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania began to serve the Moscow Grand Duke, and as a result, the so-called Seversky principalities and Smolensk went to the Moscow state.
In 1569, under the Union of Lublin, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania united with Poland into a confederate state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
V.V. Maksakov.
“1st [walker]: And what is this, my brother?
2nd: And this is Lithuanian ruin. Battle - see? How ours fought with Lithuania.
1st: What is this - Lithuania?
2nd: So it is Lithuania.
1st: And they say, my brother, it fell on us from the sky.
2nd: I don’t know how to tell you. From the sky, from the sky."
This quote from Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm,” written in 1859, perfectly characterizes the image of Russia’s western neighbors that has developed in the minds of its inhabitants. Lithuania is both the Baltic people, and the territory of their residence, and, in a broad sense, the state they created and its inhabitants. Despite the centuries-long proximity of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to Russian lands, and then to Russia, we will not find its detailed image either in the mass consciousness, or in school textbooks, or in scientific works. Moreover, this situation is typical not only for the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, when the silence about the Grand Duchy or the creation of its negative image was due to political circumstances, but also for our days, when previous restrictions have been lifted, the volume of scientific knowledge is constantly increasing due to the development national historiographies and improvement of research techniques, and communication problems are successfully overcome. Russian science and public consciousness are characterized by certain images. Negative - that is, Lithuania as an invader of Russian lands who seeks to “spoil” them by converting to Catholicism, and at the same time a weak and unviable state, torn apart by internal contradictions and doomed to an alliance with Poland until complete dissolution in it. Or a positive image - “another Rus'”, which has chosen the “democratic” path, in contrast to Russia. But in any case, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania appears on the pages of textbooks, journalism, even scientific literature sporadically, from case to case, like a god from the machine of ancient river tragedies. What kind of state was this?
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is often seen as an alternative path for the development of Rus'. In many ways, this is so, because these were lands, on the one hand, quite close culturally, inhabited by the Eastern Slavs - even though the historical fates of the Eastern Slavs of the future Russia, Great Russia and the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, whose descendants later became Ukrainians and Belarusians, and even then they diverged quite significantly.
On the other hand, this is a fundamentally different model of social relationships, a different political culture. And this created a certain situation choice. This is very clearly visible from the events of the era of the Moscow-Lithuanian wars, especially the 16th century, when defectors from the Moscow state, from Russia, were sent precisely to the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania or the Polish Crown, which was in a union with it.
Now we still need to figure out where the Grand Duchy of Lithuania came from as a powerful neighbor, a rival of Russia and at the same time a source of various influences.
Contacts between Rus' and Lithuania took place back in the 11th century, when Yaroslav the Wise made campaigns in the Baltic states. By the way, at the same time the city of Yuryev was founded, named after the patron saint of this prince - the later Dorpat, now Tartu in Estonia. Then the matter was limited to the irregular collection of tribute. By this time, the prerequisites for the formation of the Lithuanian state may have already existed. And the proximity to rich, but weakened Russia, divided into many principalities, helped to realize them.
If at first the Lithuanians took part in the civil strife of the Russian princes, then later, in the second half of the 12th - early 13th centuries, they moved on to their own predatory campaigns against Rus'; they can be compared with the famous campaigns of the Vikings or the Russian campaigns against Byzantium. Lithuanians are often called “vikin-gami sushi”.
This contributed to the accumulation of wealth, property stratification, which was followed by social, and the gradual formation of the power of one prince, who would later be called the Grand Duke in Russian sources.
Back in 1219, a group of 21 Lithuanian princes concluded an agreement with the Volyn princes. And after two decades, one of them, Mindovg, began to rule alone. In 1238, the author of “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land” recalled with nostalgia those times when “Lithuania did not emerge from the swamp into the light.” And by the way, here he quite accurately described the area of settlement of the Lithuanians: these are really marshy lands.
The scope of the Lithuanian campaigns is clearly evidenced by a passage in the work of the Franciscan John of Plano Carpini, or Giovanni del Piano Carpini, who in the 40s of the 13th century went to the Mongol Khan Guyuk in Karakorum. Here is what he writes about traveling through the lands of Southern Rus': “... we were constantly traveling in mortal danger because of the Lithuanians, who often and secretly, as far as they could, raided the land of Russia and especially in those places through which we traveled. the women were passing by; and since most of the people of Russia were killed by the Tatars or taken captive, they therefore could not offer them strong resistance...” Around the same time, in the first half or mid-13th century, Mindaugas found themselves under the rule of Lithuania Russian lands with cities such as Novgorodok (modern Novogrudok), Slonim and Volko-vysk.
The Baltic peoples and in particular the Lithuanians remained the last pagans of Europe. And already during the reign of Mindaugas, in the first half of the 13th century, this problem became obvious. Mindaugas made a Western choice: in order to fight with his relatives for autocracy in Lithuania and at the same time resist Rus', he was baptized in 1251 Catholic rite. Two years later he was crowned - thus becoming the first and remains the only king of Lithuania. But in the early 1260s, apparently, he returned to paganism for political reasons and expelled or killed Christians. Thus, Lithuania remained pagan. Paganism left a fairly deep mark on Lithuania, so that the next attempt at Christianization, already more successful, was made only at the end of the 14th century. In 1263, the first Lithuanian king was killed by conspirators.
So, Mindovg died, but the Lithuanian state that arose under him did not disappear, but survived. And moreover, it continued to develop and continued to expand its limits. According to scientists, around the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, a new dynasty was established, which, after one of its representatives who reigned in the first half of the 14th century, Prince Gedimin, received the name Gediminovich. And under the first princes of this dynasty, under the same Gediminas in particular, the lands of modern Belarus - Polotsk, Vitebsk, Mensk (that is, in modern terms, Minsk) became part of the Lithuanian state. Apparently, Kyiv also fell into the orbit of Lithuanian influence to one degree or another, already by 1331. Well, in 1340, the dynasty of Galician-Volyn princes was cut short in the female line, this marked the beginning of many decades of struggle between Lithuania, Poland and Hungary for the Galician-Volyn inheritance.
The acquisitions were continued by the sons of Gediminas; first of all, Olgerd and his brother Keistut acted in Rus'. And these acquisitions were concentrated mainly in the Chernigov-Seversk and Smolensk lands.
How did Russian lands fall under the rule of Lithuanian princes? This actual question, since one often has to deal with diametrically opposed points of view, but it is not very clear how this happened. Some insist on the aggressive nature of the annexation, others on the voluntary and bloodless one.
Both seem to be serious simplifications. It’s worth starting with the fact that the sources that have survived to this day simply did not convey to us the details of the entry of many Russian lands into the Lithuanian state; one can only state that this or that part of Rus' at one time or another submitted to the authority of the Lithuanian prince. The military campaigns of the Lithuanians did not stop and acted as a means, if not of direct conquest, then at least of putting pressure on Russian lands. For example, according to later sources, Vitebsk was obtained by Olgerd thanks to his marriage to the daughter of the last local prince around 1320. But in previous decades, Lithuanian troops passed through this region several times.
A very interesting document has been preserved - a complaint from the residents of Riga, the Riga authorities, to the Vitebsk prince of the late 13th century. It mentions an entire military camp of Lithuanians near Vitebsk, from which they went to the capital city of the principality to sell captive slaves. What kind of voluntary accession can we talk about if we see a whole military camp of armed people, whose detachments are operating on the territory of the principality?
There were, of course, direct conquests. Perhaps the most striking example, described in detail in the sources, is Smolensk, which was conquered and annexed to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for more than a century as a result of several campaigns of the late XIV - early XV centuries.
Here we can return to the question that was already touched upon at the beginning of the lecture: what was the alternative of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in relation to Muscovite Rus' as the center of the unification of Russian lands? This is very clearly seen in the example of the social system of those Russian lands that became part of the Grand Duchy.
Local boyars and townspeople (even in conquered Smolensk) and the Orthodox Church retained their influence and their property. It is known that veche meetings were still convened in Polotsk and Smolensk. In many large centers, princely tables were preserved. Even if Gediminovich sat down to reign, in most cases such princes accepted Orthodoxy and became in many ways one of their own, close to the local society.
The Lithuanian princes entered into agreements with some of the annexed lands, which later formed the basis of regional privileges (the oldest of them were Polotsk and Vitebsk). But, on the other hand, already at a fairly early stage in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Western influence manifested itself. Since it was such a large, border, contact zone between the Russian lands on the one hand and Latin Catholic Europe, this could not help but have an effect. And if we also remember that throughout the 14th century, the Lithuanian princes were constantly faced with a choice and repeatedly thought about and negotiated about baptism - according to the Western rite or the Eastern rite, then it becomes clear that these influences, this uniqueness should have made itself felt back in the 14th century.
In the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in a difficult foreign policy situation, because its history was far from being limited to expansion into Russian lands and relations with neighboring Russian lands and the Horde. A huge problem for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the first decade of its existence was the war with the Teutonic, or German, order, which settled in Prussia and Livonia, that is, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, and was called upon to bring Christianity Western rite to pagans and “infidels,” including “schismatics,” that is, schismatics, apostates—that’s how the Orthodox were called.
For more than a century, the troops of the order almost every year made one or several devastating campaigns against Lithuania in order to undermine its strength. And of course, the fact that a significant part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania consisted of Russian lands played into their hands. The crusading knights could always claim the connivance of the Lithuanian princes with these same schismatics. Moreover, some princes Gediminovich themselves converted to Orthodoxy.
This was a problem. It was necessary to decide, to choose the vector of foreign policy development. And this choice - perhaps they didn’t think about it then - determined the fate of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for many years, decades and centuries to come.
Lithuania was destined to be baptized - but by what rite? Western or Eastern? This question has been raised, one might say, since the time of Mindaugas, and in the 14th century attempts at negotiations were made several times. We know most about the negotiations of the Lithuanian princes with Western political forces - with emperors, popes, Polish, Mazovian rulers about baptism into Catholicism. But there was one moment when it seemed that it was quite possible for the future Orthodox baptism Lithuania. This is the end of the 14th century, when after the death of Olgerd there was an internecine struggle in Lithuania and Grand Duke Jagiello tried to conclude an alliance with Dmitry Donskoy. There is a mention of the project of marriage between Jagiello and the daughter of Dmitry Donskoy. But they abandoned it soon enough. Because, on the one hand, the Grand Duke of Lithuania would find himself on the sidelines, and on the other, he received a much more lucrative offer - the hand of the Polish princess Jadwiga, which made him the Polish king.
Here it must be said that this moment, the end of the 14th century, is important in one more respect: very often you can hear that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an alternative to Moscow in the matter of unifying or gathering Russian lands, that the Russian lands could well have united around Vilna. But the question arises: when could this happen? And the failed marriage of Jagiello and the daughter of Dmitry Donskoy seems to be the most successful moment when such a union could occur.
The period of the end of the 14th and the first third - the first half of the 15th century became an important, turning point in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This affected both his relationships with his neighbors and his inner life.
By the end of the 14th century, Vytautas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania, cousin Jagiello, who was baptized, became the Polish king Władysław II and retained the title of Supreme Duke of Lithuania. But real power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania still belonged to Vytautas. Under him, many important changes took place - both in the foreign policy relations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and in its internal life.
Vytautas managed to annex Smolensk, and for more than a century it came under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Thanks to Polish help, he managed to defeat the Teutonic Order (the famous Battle of Grunwald in 1410). Thanks to this, it was ultimately possible to secure the lands disputed with the order - Samogitia, Zhemoyt - to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. These are the next attempts at expansion to the east: Vytautas is fighting with Vasily I of Moscow, although Vasily I was his son-in-law and was married to his daughter Sophia; subsequently he made campaigns against Pskov and Novgorod in the 20s of the 15th century. But no less important are the social changes that took place in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And they led in the direction of increasing Westernization of this state and its society.
Perhaps the most important innovation of Vytautas was that he began to distribute land for service to his subjects. This innovation subsequently played a cruel joke on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, because its inhabitants were no longer interested in distant, costly military campaigns - they were interested in the economic development of their possessions.
In the middle and second half of the 15th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland were ruled by the same person, Casimir Jagiellon, or Casimir IV, the Polish king. He was forced to spend time between the two states, so he could not devote much time to Lithuanian affairs. He was more involved in Western politics, wars in Prussia, in the Czech Republic - and it was precisely this time that became the turning point that subsequently allowed the Moscow Grand Dukes to launch a very active attack on the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But the Grand Dukes of Lithuania were not ready for this at the end of the 15th and first half of the 16th centuries.
The Lithuanian princes began to grant privileges not only to the Lithuanian boyars, but also to the top of the Orthodox part of society. And gradually the entire boyars began to be called lords in the Polish-Czech manner, and subsequently all the nobility received the name gentry. This, of course, was a great innovation in social terms. This is not just a change of name, it is also a different self-awareness than that of the service people of, say, North-Eastern Rus'. After all, the gentry participated in governing the state, albeit nominally at first. And subsequently she actually participated in the elections of the ruler, which fundamentally distinguished the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from Muscovite Rus'. And this was largely the reason why people like Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky fled from Russia to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And, of course, not only him, but also many others. Still, there were quite a lot of Moscow emigrants in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania throughout the 16th century.
One cannot fail to note such a moment as the transformation of the Old Russian language, which also experienced more and more Western influences on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the neighboring Kingdom of Poland. It was enriched with words and constructions from Polish, Czech, German, Lithuanian, Latin, even Hungarian, and so a language was gradually formed, which scientists call differently: “Western Russian”, “Old Belarusian”, “Old Ukrainian”, “ Russian" (with one "s"), "Ruthenian". It can be called differently in different scientific traditions, this is acceptable, but the fact is that over time it became the basis of the Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. And the process of their demarcation and the formation of the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples intensified especially after the Union of Lublin in 1569, when the southern voivodeships of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - that is, the territory of modern Ukraine, which had previously been part of it - passed to the Polish crown.
Of course, the historical destinies of Western Rus' cannot but be influenced by the fact that it was under the rule of rulers of other faiths - first pagans, and then Catholics. At first, the Orthodox Church retained its influence on the Russian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But already in the 14th century, the Lithuanian princes - in fact, like the Galician-Volyn Rurikovichs, and later the Polish king Casimir the Great - tried to create a separate metropolis under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople, which would not be in any way connected with the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
After the conclusion of the Polish-Lithuanian union at the end of the 14th century, Catholicism found itself in a privileged position: the Catholic clergy and laity were not endowed with exclusive rights, and Catholic rulers made attempts to convert “schismatics” to Catholicism with the help of preaching, to re-baptize them forcefully or enter into a church union with Rome. But these attempts were not crowned with much success for a long time. The largest such attempt was associated with the conclusion of the Union of Florence. It was concluded, one might say, at the highest level between Constantinople, which was interested in Western assistance against the Ottoman onslaught, and Rome in 1439. At the same time, the Orthodox recognized the supremacy of the Pope and the dogma of the Catholic Church, but retained traditional rituals. In Moscow, this union was rejected, and Metropolitan Isidore was forced to leave the possessions of the Moscow princes (but he managed to maintain church authority over the Orthodox part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland).
It should be noted that at the same time, the Orthodox of the Grand Duchy had little interest in the spiritual traditions of Western Christianity and its dogmatic differences from the “Greek faith.” Even several years after the conclusion of the Union of Florence, the Orthodox Kiev prince Alexander (Olelko) Vladimirovich, a man of extraordinary influence and extraordinary connections, asked the Patriarch of Constantinople: on what conditions was the union concluded? Here it is worth recalling that Kyiv remained under the rule of Lithuanian princes in the first third of the 15th century. With all the destruction during the Mongol invasion, with all the Tatar raids at the beginning of this century, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt wrote that Kyiv is the head of the Russian lands. This was largely explained by the fact that in Kyiv, at least nominally, there was a metropolitan see.
But gradually the fates of Lithuanian Orthodoxy and Orthodoxy in the rest of Rus' diverge. Because, despite Lithuanian Rus' being under the rule of the Moscow Metropolitan Jonah for some time, already in the middle of the 15th century it returned under the rule of the Patriarchs of Constantinople. This meant a split in the metropolis. Subsequently, in the life of the Orthodox part of society, the Orthodox Church in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown, phenomena were observed that led to quite turbulent events at the end of the 16th and 17th centuries. It can be said that the Orthodox Church of these lands was experiencing a real crisis, since secular persons often became bishops, not at all concerned about the interests of the church, and sometimes mired in sins. Secular rulers played a big role in this, who thus rewarded those faithful to them - by granting them episcopal sees. In response, the laity united into brotherhoods, such as Vilna or Lvov, and directly appealed to Constantinople. This, of course, caused the bishops to fear that they would lose their influence.
In 1596, the Union of Brest was concluded between the Orthodox hierarchy of the Polish-Lithuanian state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Roman Curia. It meant the withdrawal of some local Orthodox Christians into direct subordination to the Roman Catholic Church - despite the fact that the main ritual differences from Catholicism were preserved and dogmatic differences were only partially smoothed out. For some time, the Orthodox hierarchy in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in the Polish Crown ceased to exist altogether. All Orthodox bishops turned out to be Uniates. It was only in 1620 that a separate hierarchy was restored. And a few years later it was recognized by the state authorities.
In the middle - second half of the 17th century, the Kiev Orthodox Metropolis defended the original image of local Orthodoxy, but as a result of the fact that Kyiv was under the rule of Moscow, it became subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate. By this time, in Corona and Lithuania, the participation of non-Catholics (called dissidents) in political life was again limited, the possibility of Orthodox Christians obtaining higher positions was reduced to zero, and Orthodoxy was in a very peculiar position, since, on the one hand, it was increasingly was identified with Russia and its religious and political culture, but at the same time, in Russia itself, even the Orthodox immigrants from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as they were called - “Belarusians”, were treated with obvious distrust by the clergy. It was prescribed to carefully find out how they received baptism, and to baptize them again through triple immersion in the font, if they had previously been baptized into Orthodoxy through pouring (that is, like Catholics). This would seem to be an external sign, but what attention was given to it during contacts of fellow believers on opposite sides of the Moscow-Lithuanian border.
The given example with the requirement to rebaptize even already baptized Orthodox Christians from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth very well shows how the relations developed between the Moscow State, or the Russian State, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and subsequently the Polish-Lithuanian State, which can be discussed since 1569 , both at the state level, and at the level of social and cultural contacts.
The eastern lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth served as a contact zone, and in the field of school education, distribution of books and information, it was the Polish-Lithuanian borderland, which is often called Polish word“kresy” (kresy), which means “outskirts”, served as a transit point between Muscovite Russia and Europe. Samples high school, and above all theological scholarship, were developed jointly by the Orthodox of Moscow and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Cyrillic printing originated in Krakow: it was there in 1491 that the Oktoich, or Osmoglasnik, was published in the printing house of the German printer Schweipolt Fiol. Of course, in no case should we forget about the activities of Francis Skaryna, who began printing liturgical books 500 years ago.
According to the English traveler Giles Fletcher, in Moscow at the end of the 16th century they remembered that the first printing house was brought to Russia from Poland. Even if this is an exaggeration, Moscow printers Ivan Fedorov and Peter Msti-slavets, who published the first dated Moscow book “The Apostle” in 1564, soon found themselves in exile precisely in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of Poland, where they continued their activities. Here it is appropriate to recall, of course, the Ostrog Bible.
The Jesuit colleges served as a model for the first theological schools of the Rusyns and Muscovites. In the 1560s, the Jesuit Order expanded its activities first in Corona and then in Lithuania. The Jesuits, one after another, opened several schools to educate “schismatics,” hoping to gradually convert the Russian population to Catholicism. It should be added here that the educational activities of the Jesuits, of course, were also connected with the Catholic reform, when the Catholic Church tried, through education, to restore the positions lost as a result of the Reformation.
And so the Jesuits, one after another, opened several schools for teaching schisms, that is, Orthodox Christians, hoping to gradually convert them to Catholicism. But their activity coincided with the flowering of the theological creativity of the Orthodox themselves, who enthusiastically accepted the educational concept of the Catholics and managed to create their own schools. Among them are the Ostrog Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and the Mogila Academy, on the model of which the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy arose in Moscow at the end of the 17th century.
The Ostroh printing house in 1580-1581 published the first complete printed Bible, the Ostroh Bible, which until the time of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and later the Bible Society was adopted as the basis in Russia. Focused on Latin and Greek examples, the “Grammar” of Lavrenty Zizaniy, and later Melety Smotritsky, served as the prototype and source of the “Grammar”, printed in Moscow in 1648, from which Mikhailo Lomonosov studied.
Intellectual exchange brought new ideas to Moscow. Even in the first half of the 16th century, Sebastian Munster’s “Cosmography” became famous in Moscow. In the royal archives of Ivan the Terrible, Marcin Bielski’s “Chronicle of the Whole World” was kept, which described in detail the discovery of America. In the middle of the 17th century, Jan Blau’s “Great Atlas, or Cosmography” was delivered to Russia. Where, in addition to geographical knowledge, the foundations of the heliocentric teachings of Nicolaus Copernicus were outlined.
Moscow practically did not have its own secular press either in the 16th or 17th centuries - almost all books published by Moscow printing houses were of a church-teaching nature, and books borrowed from the Russian lands of the Polish-Lithuanian state aroused suspicion and were repeatedly destroyed due to censorship. considerations.
Of course, cultural life was influenced political life The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown, which united into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and their relationship with the Moscow state. But these relations remained far from simple, and, despite certain attempts at rapprochement, it can still be said that the states not only competed, but most of the time were openly hostile.
At that time, Lithuanian-Moscow relations had already worsened under Ivan III at the end of the 15th century. Ivan III had a fairly good idea of the situation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, his weak sides, and already in 1478 (the year of the final annexation of Novgorod to the Muscovite state), Ivan III publicly declared his claims to Polotsk, Vitebsk and Smolensk, that is, the cities of Lithuanian Rus.
Subsequently, he took advantage of the fact that eastern lands The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was relatively weakly integrated into its composition; here the power of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania was weakest and relied on agreements with local princes. A whole series of Moscow-Lithuanian wars begins, which took place at the end of the 15th and first half of the 16th centuries.
Under these conditions, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was forced to increasingly seek help from Poland. For the time being, they were united only by the personality of the monarch - the same person occupied the throne of both Lithuania and Poland. But gradually the question came up on the agenda not just about a personal or dynastic union, but about a real union, which also implies unification state institutions. After long difficult negotiations, the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania concluded such a real union in Lublin - the Lublin Union of 1569. This is how the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth arose. This word comes from the Polish version of the word "republic", that is, "common cause", res publica.
For this, the Grand Duchy paid a high price, since the Podlaskie, Kiev and Volyn voivodeships - huge territories - became part of the Polish Crown. Some government bodies were also liquidated. But at the same time, it should be noted that the Grand Duchy was far from losing its statehood and, of course, could not suddenly lose the features of its social system.
Soon the Jagiellon dynasty, descendants of Vladislav Jagiello, came to an end. Its last representative, the Polish king and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund Augustus, died in 1572. The question arose about who would be the new ruler. A series of kinglessness followed in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (that is, periods when certain candidates for the throne were considered), while part of the Lithuanian gentry supported the candidacies of Ivan the Terrible and his son Feodor, hoping that this would normalize relations with Russia. It must be said that such projects have been put forward before. For example, back in the early 16th century, Vasily III, the same one who annexed Smolensk, having just ascended the throne, proposed his candidacy after the death of the next Polish-Lithuanian ruler, Alexander Jagiellon. But neither then nor in the second half of the 16th century were these projects implemented. The historical paths of Russia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - now the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - diverged more and more. Of course, this had a special impact in the political sphere. Ultimately, the candidacy of the Transylvanian prince Stefan Batory, or Istvan Batory, won, who managed to turn the tide of the war with Russia, Livonian War, in his favor - so that it almost ended in disaster for the Russian Tsar, since he managed to recapture Polotsk from Ivan the Terrible and organize a campaign against Pskov.
After this, relatively peaceful mutual relations were established for some time, since the Lithuanian nobility saw priority in the fight with Sweden for Livonia, and these relations worsened only at the beginning of the 17th century, during the Time of Troubles. Especially after the adventure of the first Dmitry the Pretender, which was supported by the magnates of the Kingdom of Poland - Adam and Konstantin Vishnevetsky and Jerzy, or Yuri, Mniszek.
In 1610, crown hetman Stanislav Zolkiewski even concluded an agreement with the boyars, according to which Vladislav Vaza (the future Vladislav IV), the son of the then reigning Sigismund Vasa, was proclaimed Tsar of Moscow. Interestingly, for some time coins were even minted with the name of “Russian Tsar Vladislav Zhigimontovich.” But this project was never actually implemented; Sigismund Vasa decided that Smolensk was more important and that it should be limited to this. And as a result, the Polish-Lithuanian garrison, settled in the Moscow Kremlin, became hostage to this situation. He found himself besieged, in a very difficult situation: there was simply not enough food. Very vivid and terrible evidence of this has been preserved. Ultimately, in November 1612, this garrison surrendered the Kremlin to the Second Militia; and soon Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov became king. And after some time, Vladislav IV renounced his claims to the Moscow throne.
You could say the pendulum has swung to reverse side in the middle of the 17th century, when the Zaporozhye Cossacks recognized the power of the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The war between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began, and a very significant part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, including its capital Vilna, came under the rule of the Russian Tsar for several years. The wars with Russia and Sweden in the mid-17th century and the accompanying plague epidemic brought ruin and huge human losses to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which by the end of the next century greatly facilitated the establishment of Russian domination in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Over the course of several centuries that have passed since the beginning of the rise of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, on the one hand, and the Moscow Principality, and subsequently the Russian state, on the other hand, they remained fairly close neighbors, maintained various contacts - and at the level states, dynasties, and at the societal level. But with all this, Western influence in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the baptism of Lithuania according to the Latin rite, union with Poland, the reception of Western social orders - all this increasingly alienated the two parts of Rus' from each other. Of course, this was also facilitated by the formation of the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples on lands subordinate to the power of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and the Kings of Poland.
That is, mutual distrust and mutual interest, population migrations in both directions and cultural borrowings with noticeable differences in the social, political, economic system, hopes for the help of the last Orthodox ruler and loyalty to their own rulers of other faiths - all these features must be kept in mind when we talk about another Rus'.
In the XIV-XV centuries. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia was a real rival of Muscovite Rus' in the struggle for dominance in Eastern Europe. It strengthened under Prince Gediminas (ruled 1316-1341). Russian cultural influence prevailed here at this time. Gedemin and his sons were married to Russian princesses, and the Russian language dominated at court and in official business. Lithuanian writing did not exist at that time. Until the end of the 14th century. Russian regions within the state did not experience national-religious oppression. Under Olgerd (reigned 1345-1377), the principality actually became the dominant power in the region. The position of the state was especially strengthened after Olgerd defeated the Tatars in the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362. During his reign, the state included most of what is now Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and the Smolensk region. For all residents of Western Rus', Lithuania became a natural center of resistance to traditional opponents - the Horde and the Crusaders. In addition, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the middle of the 14th century, the Orthodox population numerically predominated, with whom the pagan Lithuanians lived quite peacefully, and sometimes unrest was quickly suppressed (for example, in Smolensk). The lands of the principality under Olgerd extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea steppes, the eastern border ran approximately along the current border of the Smolensk and Moscow regions. There were trends leading towards the formation of a new version of Russian statehood in the southern and western lands of the former Kyiv state.
FORMATION OF THE GRAND DUCHIES OF LITHUANIA AND RUSSIAN
In the first half of the 14th century. A strong state appeared in Europe - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia. It owes its origin to Grand Duke Gediminas (1316-1341), who during the years of his reign captured and annexed the Brest, Vitebsk, Volyn, Galician, Lutsk, Minsk, Pinsk, Polotsk, Slutsk and Turov lands to Lithuania. The Smolensk, Pskov, Galicia-Volyn and Kiev principalities became dependent on Lithuania. Many Russian lands, seeking protection from the Mongol-Tatars, joined Lithuania. The internal order in the annexed lands did not change, but their princes had to recognize themselves as vassals of Gediminas, pay him tribute and supply troops when necessary. Gediminas himself began to call himself “the king of the Lithuanians and many Russians.” Official language and the old Russian (close to modern Belarusian) language became the language of office work of the principality. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania there was no persecution on religious or national grounds.
In 1323, Lithuania had a new capital - Vilnius. According to legend, one day Gediminas was hunting at the foot of the mountain at the confluence of the Vilni and Neris rivers. Having killed a huge aurochs, he and his warriors decided to spend the night near an ancient pagan sanctuary. In a dream, he dreamed of a wolf dressed in iron armor, who howled like a hundred wolves. The high priest Lizdeika, called to interpret the dream, explained that he should build a city in this place - the capital of the state and that the fame of this city would spread throughout the world. Gediminas listened to the priest's advice. A city was built, which took its name from the Vilna River. Gediminas moved his residence here from Trakai.
From Vilnius in 1323-1324, Gediminas wrote letters to the Pope and the cities of the Hanseatic League. In them, he declared his desire to convert to Catholicism and invited artisans, merchants, and farmers to Lithuania. The Crusaders understood that Lithuania’s adoption of Catholicism would mean the end of their “missionary” mission in the eyes of Western Europe. Therefore, they began to incite local pagans and Orthodox Christians against Gediminas. The prince was forced to abandon his plans - he announced to the papal legates about the alleged mistake of the clerk. However, Christian churches in Vilnius continued to be built.
The Crusaders soon resumed military operations against Lithuania. In 1336 they besieged the Samogitian castle of Pilenai. When its defenders realized that they could not resist for long, they burned the castle and themselves died in the fire. On November 15, 1337, Ludwig IV of Bavaria presented the Teutonic Order with a Bavarian castle built near the Nemunas, which was to become the capital of the conquered state. However, this state had yet to be conquered.
After the death of Gediminas, the principality passed to his seven sons. The Grand Duke was considered the one who ruled in Vilnius. The capital went to Jaunutis. His brother Kestutis, who inherited Grodno, the Principality of Trakai and Samogitia, was unhappy that Jaunutis turned out to be a weak ruler and could not come to his aid in the fight against the crusaders. In the winter of 1344-1345, Kestutis occupied Vilnius and shared power with his other brother, Algirdas (Olgerd). Kestutis led the fight against the crusaders. He repelled 70 campaigns to Lithuania by the Teutonic Order and 30 by the Livonian Order. There wasn't one major battle, in which he would not take part. Kestutis’s military talent was appreciated even by his enemies: each of the crusaders, as their own sources report, would consider it the greatest honor to shake Kestutis’s hand.
Algirdas, the son of a Russian mother, like his father Gediminas, paid more attention to the seizure of Russian lands. During the years of his reign, the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania doubled. Algirdas annexed Kyiv, Novgorod-Seversky, Right Bank Ukraine and Podol to Lithuania. The capture of Kyiv led to a clash with the Mongol-Tatars. In 1363, the army of Algirdas defeated them at Blue Waters, the southern Russian lands were freed from Tatar dependence. Algirdas' father-in-law, Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich of Tver, asked his son-in-law for support in the fight against Moscow. Three times (1368, 1370 and 1372) Algirdas made a campaign against Moscow, but could not take the city, after which peace was eventually concluded with the Moscow prince.
After the death of Algirdas in 1377, civil strife began in the country. The throne of the Grand Duke of Lithuania was given to the son of Algirdas from his second marriage, Jagiello (Yagello). Andrey (Andryus), the son from his first marriage, rebelled and fled to Moscow, asking for support there. He was received in Moscow and sent to reconquer the Novgorod-Seversky lands from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the fight against Andrei, Jagiello turned to the Order for help, promising to convert to Catholicism. In secret from Kestutis, a peace treaty was concluded between the Order and Jogaila (1380). Having secured a reliable rear for himself, Jagiello went with an army to help Mamai against, hoping to punish Moscow for supporting Andrei and to share with Oleg Ryazansky (also an ally of Mamai) the lands of the Moscow principality. However, Jagiello arrived at the Kulikovo field late: the Mongol-Tatars had already suffered a crushing defeat. Meanwhile, Kestutis learned of a secret agreement concluded against him. In 1381 he occupied Vilnius, expelled Jogaila from there and sent him to Vitebsk. However, a few months later, in the absence of Kestutis, Jogaila, together with his brother Skirgaila, captured Vilnius and then Trakai. Kestutis and his son Vytautas were invited to negotiations at Jogaila's headquarters, where they were captured and placed in Krevo Castle. Kestutis was treacherously killed, and Vytautas managed to escape. Jagiello began to rule alone.
In 1383, the Order, with the help of Vytautas and the Samogitian barons, resumed military operations against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The allies captured Trakai and burned Vilnius. Under these conditions, Jagiello was forced to seek support from Poland. In 1385, a dynastic union was concluded between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish state in Krevo (Krakow) Castle. IN next year Jagiello was baptized, receiving the name Vladislav, married the Polish queen Jadwiga and became the Polish king - the founder of the Jagiellonian dynasty, which ruled Poland and Lithuania for over 200 years. Implementing the union in practice, Jagiello created the Vilnius bishopric, baptized Lithuania, and equalized the rights of the Lithuanian feudal lords who converted to Catholicism with the Polish ones. Vilnius received the right of self-government (Magdeburg Law).
Vytautas, who fought with Jogaila for some time, returned to Lithuania in 1390, and in 1392 an agreement was concluded between the two rulers: Vytautas took possession of the Principality of Trakai and became the de facto ruler of Lithuania (1392-1430). After campaigns in 1397-1398 to the Black Sea, he brought Tatars and Karaites to Lithuania and settled them in Trakai. Vytautas strengthened the Lithuanian state and expanded its territory. He deprived the appanage princes of power, sending his governors to manage the lands. In 1395, Smolensk was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and attempts were made to conquer Novgorod and Pskov. The power of Vytautas extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea. In order to provide himself with a reliable rear in the fight against the crusaders, Vytautas signed an agreement with the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily I (who was married to Vytautas’s daughter, Sophia). The Ugra River became the borders between the great principalities.
OLGERD, AKA ALGIDRAS
V. B. Antonovich (“Essay on the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania”) gives us the following masterful description of Olgerd: “Olgerd, according to the testimony of his contemporaries, was distinguished primarily by deep political talents, he knew how to take advantage of circumstances, correctly outlined the goals of his political aspirations, and advantageously positioned alliances and successfully chose the time to implement his political plans. Extremely reserved and prudent, Olgerd was distinguished by his ability to keep his political and military plans in impenetrable secrecy. Russian chronicles, which are generally not favorable to Olgerd due to his clashes with northeastern Russia, call him “evil,” “godless,” and “flattering”; however, they recognize in him the ability to take advantage of circumstances, restraint, cunning - in a word, all the qualities necessary to strengthen one’s power in the state and to expand its borders. In relation to various nationalities, it can be said that all Olgerd’s sympathies and attention were focused on the Russian people; Olgerd, according to his views, habits and family connections, belonged to the Russian people and served as its representative in Lithuania.” At the very time when Olgerd strengthened Lithuania by annexing the Russian regions, Keistut was its defender before the crusaders and deserved the glory of the people's hero. Keistut is a pagan, but even his enemies, the crusaders, recognize in him the qualities of an exemplary Christian knight. The Poles recognized the same qualities in him.
Both princes divided the administration of Lithuania so precisely that Russian chronicles know only Olgerd, and German ones only know Keistut.
LITHUANIA AT THE RUSSIA MILLENNIUM MONUMENT
The lower tier of figures is a high relief on which, as a result of a long struggle, 109 finally approved figures are placed, depicting outstanding figures of the Russian state. Under each of them, on a granite base, there is a signature (name), written in a Slavic stylized font.
The figures depicted on the high relief are divided by the author of the Monument project into four sections: Enlighteners, State people; Military people and heroes; Writers and artists...
The Department of State People is located on the eastern side of the Monument and begins directly behind the “Enlighteners” with the figure of Yaroslav the Wise, after which come: Vladimir Monomakh, Gediminas, Olgerd, Vytautas, the princes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Zakharenko A.G. History of the construction of the Monument to the Millennium of Russia in Novgorod. Scientific notes" of the Faculty of History and Philology of the Novgorod State Pedagogical Institute. Vol. 2. Novgorod. 1957
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a feudal state that existed in the 13th-16th centuries. on the territory of part of modern Lithuania and Belarus. The main occupation of the population was agriculture and cattle breeding. Hunting and fishing played an auxiliary role in the economy. The development of crafts based on iron production, internal and external trade (with Russia, Poland, etc.) contributed to the growth of cities (Vilnius, Trakai, Kaunas, etc.). In the 9th-12th centuries. Feudal relations developed on the territory of Lithuania, and classes of feudal lords and dependent people emerged. Individual Lithuanian political associations had different levels of socio-economic development. The decomposition of primitive communal relations and the emergence of a feudal system led to the formation of a state among the Lithuanians. According to the Galician-Volyn Chronicle, the Russian-Lithuanian treaty of 1219 mentions an alliance of Lithuanian princes led by the “eldest” princes who owned lands in Aukštaitija. This indicates the existence of a state in Lithuania. The strengthening of the grand ducal power led to the unification of the main Lithuanian lands into V. k. L. under the rule of Mindaugas (mid-30s of the 13th century - 1263), who also captured some Belarusian lands (Black Rus'). The formation of the VKL was accelerated by the need to unite to fight the aggression of the German crusaders, which had intensified since the beginning of the 13th century. Lithuanian troops won major victories over the knights in the battles of Siauliai (1236) and Durbe (1260).
In the 14th century, during the reign of Gediminas (1316-1341), Olgerd (1345-77) and Keistut (1345-82). The Principality of Lithuania significantly expanded its possessions, annexing all Belarusian, part of Ukrainian and Russian lands (Volyn, Vitebsk, Turov-Pinsk, Kyiv, Pereyaslavl, Podolsk, Chernigov-Seversk lands, etc.). Their inclusion was facilitated by the fact that Rus' was weakened by the Mongol-Tatar yoke, as well as the fight against the aggression of German, Swedish and Danish invaders. Joining the Great. Prince Lithuanian. Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian lands with more developed social relations and culture contributed to the further development of socio-economic relations in Lithuania. In the annexed lands, the Lithuanian grand dukes retained significant autonomy and immunity rights for local magnates. This, as well as differences in the level of socio-economic development and the ethnic heterogeneity of individual parts of the VKL, determined the lack of centralization in public administration. The head of the state was the Grand Duke, with a council of representatives of the nobility and the highest clergy. In order to unite forces to fight the advance of the German knightly orders and strengthen his power, Grand Duke Jagiello (1377-92) concluded the Union of Krevo with Poland in 1385. However, the union was fraught with the danger of Lithuania becoming a province of Poland in the future. In Lithuania, where until the end of the 14th century. paganism existed, Catholicism began to spread by force. Some of the Lithuanian and Russian princes, led by Vytautas, who in 1392, after an internecine struggle, actually became the Grand Duke of Lithuania, opposed Jagiello’s policy. The united Lithuanian-Russian and Polish troops, with the participation of Czech troops, completely defeated the knights of the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 and stopped their aggression.
The growth of large feudal landownership and the consolidation of the ruling class in the 14th - 15th centuries. were accompanied by mass enslavement of the peasants, causing peasant uprisings (for example, in 1418). The main form of exploitation of peasants was food rent. Simultaneously with the growth of economic dependence, national oppression in the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands intensified. Crafts and trade developed in the cities. In the 15-16th centuries. the rights and privileges of the Lithuanian lords are growing. According to the Union of Gorodel of 1413, the rights of the Polish gentry were extended to Lithuanian Catholic nobles. At the end of the 15th century. A Rada of Gentlemen was formed, which actually put the power of the Grand Duke under its control by the privilege of 1447 and by the privilege of Grand Duke Alexander of 1492. The formation of the general gentry Sejm (at the end of the 15th century), as well as the publication of the Lithuanian statutes of 1529 and 1566, consolidated and increased the rights of the Lithuanian nobility.
The transition to cash rent at the end of the 15th and 16th centuries. was accompanied by an increase in the exploitation of peasants and an intensification of the class struggle: escapes and unrest became more frequent (especially large ones in 1536-37 on the grand ducal estates). In the middle of the 16th century. A reform was carried out on the estates of the Grand Duke, as a result of which the exploitation of peasants intensified due to the growth of corvée (see Volga Pomera). From the end of the 16th century. This system is being introduced in the domains of large landowners-magnates. Mass enslavement of peasants, development of corvee farming, receipt by Lithuanian landowners in the 2nd half of the 16th century. rights to duty-free export of grain abroad and import of goods delayed the development of cities.
From the moment of the formation of the VKL, the Lithuanian princes sought to seize Russian lands. However, strengthening in the 14th century. The Grand Duchy of Moscow and the unification of Russian lands around it led to the fact that from the 2nd half of the 15th century. as a result of the wars with Russia (1500-03, 1507-08, 1512-22, 1534-37) B. K. L. lost Smolensk (captured by Grand Duke Vitovt in 1404), Chernigov, Bryansk, Novgorod-Seversky and other Russians land. The growth of anti-feudal protests in the lands of the VKL, the aggravation of intra-class contradictions, the desire for expansion in the East, as well as failures in the Livonian War of 1558-83 against Russia led to the unification of the VKL with Poland under the Union of Lublin in 1569. one state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
At the time of its formation, at the end of the 13th century and the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a confederation of Lithuanian and Russian lands and principalities united under the suzerainty of the Grand Duke. Each of the lands constituted an independent sociopolitical unit. Throughout the 15th century, the grand dukes tried to strengthen the power of the central government over all the territories of the grand duchy.
However, for a long time it was difficult to overcome the resistance of local authorities trying to maintain their former rights. Each region enjoyed broad autonomy, which was ensured by a special privilege (charter) of the Grand Duke. In the privilege issued in 1561 to the Vitebsk land, the Grand Duke swore an oath not to force the inhabitants of this region to resettle to any other region of the Grand Duchy (unlike Moscow policy); not to send soldiers from the indigenous population for garrison service in any other land; and not to summon a Vitebsk citizen (resident of Vitebsk land) to Lithuania for trial. Similar charters were issued to Polotsk, Smolensk (nine years before its capture by Muscovy), Kyiv and Volyn lands. In many cases, the affairs of each of these lands were discussed and conducted by local residents - landowning nobles and those who lived in large cities. Local noble assemblies constantly met in Volyn.
The process of strengthening the power of the central government over the autonomous lands was motivated, as in Muscovy, by the military and financial considerations of the Grand Duke and the council of nobles. In the 14th and early 15th centuries, the Teutonic Order posed a danger to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the end of the 15th century, the Grand Duke of Moscow laid claim to the Western Russian lands, considering them an equal inheritance to his gender. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as well as Muscovy, was constantly attacked by the Tatars, and in the 16th and 17th centuries, Western Rus' and Poland were forced to repel the advance of the Ottoman Turks. Better organization needed economic resources countries and more efficient system management so that the Lithuanian state can cope with constantly emerging difficulties.
One of the first tasks of the Grand Duke was to bring into order those parts of the territory over which he had direct power, that is, the lands of the rulers. The main population in these domains were the sovereign's peasants, but part of the sovereign's lands was transferred to the "sovereign nobility", those who owned plots of the sovereign's lands, being in the position of servants of the Grand Duke. Their position was similar to the owners of estates in Muscovy, and the term “estate” itself was often used in Western Russian documents. Residents of small towns located on the ruler's lands were also under the direct authority of the Grand Duke.
In order to make the management of the crown's possessions more efficient, they were divided into a number of districts, each of which was headed by a grand-ducal governor, also called the “sovereign”. The Derzhavetz was the chief manager. collector of taxes from gospodar lands in his area. was also the military head of the district, responsible for mobilization in case of war, and the local judge in the Gospodar lands. These governors were given the right to keep a portion of the collected taxes and court fees - a method of remuneration that corresponded to the "feeding" system in Muscovy.
Outside the district of the rulers lay the lands of the nobility - the vast possessions of princes and lords and the smaller lands of the gentry. The nobles enjoyed the same legal rights in relation to the population of their possessions as the ruler in the hospodar lands entrusted to him. The gentry demanded for themselves similar power over their servants and farmers - the tenants of their lands.
It should be noted that in the second half of the 15th century, the Polish gentry managed to achieve the right to local self-government, as well as a number of other privileges. The expansion of the rights of the small landed nobility in Poland could not but speed up a similar process in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. During the war, each nobleman joined the army with his retinue, and the gentry of each region formed a separate regiment. For participation in hostilities, the minor nobles demanded the satisfaction of their political claims, and the Grand Duke and the council of nobles were gradually forced to give in to these demands. At the same time, however, they tried to establish political and military control over the provinces.
In the middle of the 16th century, a balanced system of governing regions and districts was established. A network of districts (povets) constituted the lower layer of the system. By 1566 the total number of districts was thirty-one. The ruler of the district, the headman, was at the same time the “holder” (deputy) of the ruler’s lands and the head of the general administration of the district.
To conduct litigation over the land of the gentry, a special noble “zemsky court” was organized in each povet. The nobility of each povet, upon mobilization, constituted a separate military unit with its own banner. At the head was a special officer who was called the cornet of the regiment.
The areas that constituted a higher level of local government were called voivodships. Each voivodeship included from one to five povets. Each was headed by a governor or governor. In the end, the latter title was preferable. The voivode was the "holder" of the central region of the voivodeship, the head of the voivodeship's administration, the commander-in-chief of all armed forces mobilized within his voivodeship in the event of war, and the chief judge. His power extended to the population of the ruler's lands and to the small nobility, but not to the nobles.
In addition to the voivode, in many voivodeships there was the position of “commander of the castle (fortress),” called “castellan.”
The offices of voivode and castellan were established in 1413, at first only in Lithuania proper (not including Samogitia), which was divided on this occasion into two voivodeships, Vilno and Trokai. During the reign of Svidrigailo, the position of “marshal” of Volyn was established. The marshal exercised military leadership. In the 16th century, Volyn became an ordinary voivodeship. In 1471, when Kyiv lost its status as a principality, the post of governor of Kyiv was created. In 1504, the voivodeship was formed by Poloshcha land, and in 1508 by Smolensk (captured by the Muscovites in 1514). By 1565, thirteen voivodeships had been formed (not counting Smolensk, which at that time belonged to Moscow).
The ethnic composition of three voivodeships was predominantly Lithuanian: Vilno (five districts), Trokai (four districts) and Samogitia. The latter consisted of only one povet, and its head was called the headman, not the governor; however, his power was equal to that of a voivode. In all other voivodeships, Russians made up the bulk of the population. These are the following areas:
1. Novogrudok Voivodeship (Novgorod-Litovsk). It included three districts: Novogrudok (Novogorodok), Slonim Volkovysk.
2. Voivodeship Berestie (Brest), which consisted of two districts: Brest and Pinsk.
3. Voivodeship Podlaskie, three districts: Bielsk, Dorogiczyn and Melnik.
4. Minsk Voivodeship, two districts: Minsk and Rechitsa.
5. Mstislavl Voivodeship, one povet.
6. Polotsk Voivodeship, one povet.
7. Voivodeship of Vitebsk, two povets: Vitebsk and Orsha.
8. Kiev Voivodeship, two povets: Kyiv and Mozyr.
9. Volyn Voivodeship, three povets: Lutsk, Vladimir and Kremen.
10. Braslav Voivodeship, two povets: Braslav and Vinnitsa.
The borders of the Polotsk and Vitebsk voivodeships almost completely coincided with the borders of the former Russian principalities with the same names. Three other voivodships in the Russian part of the grand duchy (Kiev, Volyn, Minsk) also almost corresponded to the ancient Russian principalities.
Due to both the ancient Russian traditions that still existed in most of the Western Russian lands, and the creation of a powerful administrative center in each voivodeship, the local government played a much more important role in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania than in Muscovy. On the other hand, the central administration services were less developed than in Moscow.
The main connection between the central and local government of the grand duchy was provided by the aristocracy - the lords. It was they who occupied the most important positions at both the central and provincial levels and constituted the lords of the rada (government council), which not only gave advice to the Grand Duke, but actually led the country.
Legally, the Grand Duke was at the head of the Lithuanian-Russian state. According to tradition, he was chosen from the descendants of Gediminas, but there was no specific law on succession to the throne. After the unification of Lithuania and Poland in 1385, Vytautas, son of Keistut, led the Lithuanian opposition to his cousin, King Jogaila (son of Olgierd), and he managed to establish himself as the Grand Duke of Lithuania. After the death of Vytautas (1430), several princes from the house of Gediminas began to lay claim to the crown. Only after Jagiello's youngest son Casimir was proclaimed Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1440 was dynastic peace restored. In 1447, Casimir was elected King of Poland, while remaining at the same time Grand Duke of Lithuania. Thus, the descendants of Jagiello (the Jagiellons) managed to found a common Polish-Lithuanian dynasty. At first, only the personality of the ruler testified to the unification of Poland and Lithuania. Only during the Union of Lublin in 1569 did the connection between the two states become real.
The Grand Duke was not an autocrat even before the First Statute of Lithuania constitutionally limited his power in favor of a council of nobles. He could act independently only when it came to the possessions of the crown, but even in the management of the sovereign lands he was, in fact, dependent on officials who, according to custom, were chosen from among the aristocracy. The Gospodarev lands were not in the personal possession of the Grand Duke, but belonged to the state in his person. But the great princes and members of their families also had personal, quite extensive lands.
The Grand Duke also had the right to collect taxes and fees himself of different nature. However, taxes intended for the needs of the army and collected from the entire territory of the grand duchy were established by the council of nobles, and later by the Diet. Taxes on the use of crown properties could be determined by the Grand Duke himself. In fact, they were usually also approved by individual members of the council of nobles, although not necessarily by the entire council.
The Grand Duke also enjoyed certain royal prerogatives ("regalia"), such as minting coins and trading in salt and alcohol. Exclusive right for trade alcoholic drinks was known as the "right of propination" The Grand Duke could dispose of his right to maintain inns and often sold it for a suitable fee to private individuals or gave it to those to whom he wanted to show favor. In this way, many members of the nobility could acquire this right. In Poland, the gentry received the exclusive right of propination (propinacja) based on the Statute of Piotrkow of 1496.
We can add to this that the purified alcoholic drink, now known throughout the world under the Russian name “vodka,” was first mentioned in the documents of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the very beginning of the 16th century. It was called “burnt wine”, hence the Ukrainian word “gorelka” (vodka).
The Grand Duke was assisted by a number of state dignitaries, whose positions were established according to the Polish model and whose titles were mainly of Polish origin. Polish positions of this kind were initially associated with the prince's household (court positions, urzydy dworskie). During the 13th and 14th centuries they became positions in the royal administration.
The closest assistant to the Grand Duke was the land manager (marshalor zemsky). This official was responsible for maintaining etiquette at the court of the Grand Duke, as well as at meetings of the Sejm. In the absence of the Grand Duke at meetings of the council of nobles, the land manager was his authorized representative. His deputy was called the steward of the court. He stands at the head of the court servants (nobles). The remaining court positions were as follows: cupbearer, butcher, equerry, and so on.
More important were the positions of chancellor, land treasurer, his deputy - court treasurer, who was responsible for the treasury of the Grand Duke, commander-in-chief and his deputy - field commander. In wartime, the commander-in-chief had complete control over the army, especially during long campaigns.
None of these officials had political power; the course of affairs was determined by the council of nobles, and the influence of any of the highest dignitaries was based mainly on their membership in the council. Otherwise, they simply carried out the decisions of the council.
The council of nobles was finally established under Casimir and his sons. By this time, its composition had grown so large that “plenary” meetings of the council were convened only in in case of emergency or when the Sejm was in “session”.
At the “plenary” meetings of the council, seats in the front row were occupied by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Vilna, the voivode of Vilna, the voivode and castellan of Trokai and the headman of Samogitia. In the seats of the second row sat the Roman Catholic bishops of Lutsk, Brest, Samogitia and Kyiv; behind them sat the governor of Kyiv, the headman of Lutsk, the governors of Smolensk and Polotsk, the headman of Grodno and the governors of Novogrudok, Vitebsk and Podlasie. Higher dignitaries - such as marshals and hetmans - did not have places specially assigned to them, since usually the steward or hetman combined his position with the position of voivode or headman. The seats of junior court ranks were behind the second row.
In between the "plenary" meetings of the council, its inner circle, known as the highest or secret council, continued to operate on a permanent basis. The inner circle consisted of the Roman Catholic bishop of Vilna (and any other Catholic bishop if he was present at the council meeting), all the governors who were members of the council, the elders of Samogitia and Lutsk, two governors and the secretary of the treasury.
The Council of Nobles, especially its inner circle, was the main driving force of the government. The constitutional powers of the council were formulated in charters of 1492 and 1506. and finally formalized by the First Lithuanian Statute of 1529. According to the latter, the sovereign (sovereign) was obliged to preserve intact all previous laws and not to issue new laws without the knowledge of the council (Section III, Article 6).
Nobles played a prominent role in foreign affairs Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They represented the principality in its negotiations with Poland, as well as with the Moscow state.
In 1492 and 1493 Three Lithuanian nobles took an active part in preliminary negotiations regarding the proposed marriage of Ivan III's daughter Elena and Grand Duke Alexander of Lithuania: Jan Zaberezinsky, Stanislav Glebovich and Jan Khrebtovich. Each of them visited Moscow in turn. Zaberezinsky and Glebovich established friendly relations with the senior Moscow boyar, Prince Ivan Yuryevich Patrikeev (who, by the way, was a descendant of Gediminas) and some other Moscow boyars. When Princess Elena arrived in Lithuania, Vilna she was met by Prince Konstantin Ivanovich Ostrogsky and princes Ivan and Vasily Glinsky.
In November 1493, the Lithuanian “great embassy” was sent to conclude a peace treaty between Lithuania and Moscow. The embassy consisted of three nobles: Peter Ivanovich (who was the governor and land manager of Trokai), Stanislav Kezgail (the headman of Samogitia) and Vojtech Janovich. At the same time, the Lithuanian Council of Nobles sent a message to Prince Patrikeev, asking him to contribute to the establishment of friendly relations between the two states. The message was signed by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Lutsk and Brest, Jan, Peter Yanovich (member of the embassy), Prince Alexander Yurievich Golshansky (vicar of Grodno) and Stanislav Kezgayl (member of the embassy).
Attempts by the Lithuanian council of nobles to establish close relations between it and the Moscow boyar Duma were frustrated due to the disgrace of Prince Patrikeev in 1499; but even after this, the exchange of envoys between Lithuania and Moscow contributed to the establishment of personal contacts between the citizens of the two countries. Among the Lithuanian envoys who visited Moscow in the first half of the 16th century were Sapieha (in 1508), Kiszka (1533 and 1549), Glebovich (1537 and 1541), Tyshkevich (1555) and Volovich (1557). ). During his stay in Moscow in 1555, Yuri Tyshkevich, being Greek Orthodox, paid a visit to Metropolitan Macarius and asked for his blessing.
The Council of Nobles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania can be compared to the Polish Senate - the highest chamber of the Polish Sejm. The lower house of this Sejm was the house of representatives of the local nobility - izba poselska (embassy chamber).
Local assemblies of the Polish gentry took a different form in the second half of the 16th century. It was at these assemblies that the small nobility elected their deputies to the national diet.
Under Polish influence, the local nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also began to achieve both local government, and national representation. To achieve this, the small nobles took advantage of political or military circumstances in which the Grand Duke and the council of nobles especially needed their active help. First, for help in mobilizing the army for great war or support for the interests of the Grand Duchy in conflicts and negotiations with Poland, only representatives of the Lithuanian nobility were addressed. The first national diet of the grand duchy - in which not only representatives of Lithuania itself, but also the Russian regions took part - took place in 1492 after the death of Casimir to elect a new grand duke.
After this, representatives of the small nobility took part in the meetings of the Sejm whenever it was convened. The governors were given instructions to ensure the presence of two deputies from the gentry from each povet at the Sejm meetings. Local electoral diets of the szlachta (sejmiks) did not function regularly at that time. At first, deputies from the gentry were not elected, but were appointed by local or regional officials. Only during the reign of Sigismund II Augustus (1548–78) were the sejmiks of the small nobility officially recognized and given the right to elect “envoys” to the national diet. This right was granted by the Vilna Charter of 1565 and confirmed by the Second Lithuanian Statute (Section III, Articles 5 and 6).
What was the participation of Russians in the government and administration of the Lithuanian-Russian state? In view of the fact that most of the population of the Grand Duchy was Russian and that the Russian language was predominantly used both in the administration and in the courts, one would expect that Russians would constitute a majority in the government. In fact, this was not the case.
Among the factors that prevented Russian participation in governing the country was strong position occupied by the Roman Catholic Church. It should be remembered that it was proclaimed the state church of Lithuania under the terms of the first union with Poland. After this, the Lithuanian people were converted to Roman Catholicism. The first Catholic bishopric organized in Lithuania was Vilna. In 1417, another one was formed in Samogitia. Twelve years later, two Catholic bishops were appointed to Ukrainian lands - to Lutsk and Kyiv. Another Catholic bishopric was organized in Brest. Since the Ukrainian people at that time belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church, the establishment of Roman Catholic bishoprics in these lands actually mattered only for small groups of the population, mainly for Lithuanians and Poles living in Ukraine. However, this action marked the beginning of an ambitious program of Roman proselytism in Ukraine.
Under the terms of the Charter of 1434, the existence of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Grand Duchy was recognized, and Orthodox believers were promised equality in rights with Catholics. The same promise was repeated by Casimir in 1447. Despite this, not a single Orthodox clergyman was ever admitted to the council of nobles. On the other hand, as noted above, all Catholic bishops were provided with permanent seats on the council.
As for the secular members of the council, there were both Russians and Lithuanians among them. In the middle of the 16th century, the Radziwills (Lithuanian family) enjoyed the greatest influence in deciding state affairs. However, some of the Russians, such as the princes Ostrog, Chodkiewicz and Volovich, played a prominent role in the council. The situation of those who held positions in the central and local administration was similar.
The charter issued in 1564 in Bielsk mentions the following Russian (or adhering to Russian traditions) dignitaries: Jan Hieronymovich Chodkiewicz, headman of Samogitia; Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhsky (son of Konstantin Ivanovich), governor of Kyiv and ruler of Volyn; Pavel Ivanovich Sapega, governor of Novogrudok; Prince Stepan Andreevich Zbarazhsky, governor of Vitebsk; and Ostafiy Volovich, manager of the court and secretary of the treasury. These people witnessed the sealing of the letter (grafted) with a seal. Other Russian witnesses included Grigory Aleksandrovich Khodkevich, Vasily Tyshkevich, Prince Alexander Fedorovich Czartoryski and Prince Andrei Ivanovich Vishnevetsky.
Despite the high position that some Russian dignitaries occupied, they did not constitute an organized group. There was no “Russian party” in the council of nobles. Most Russian nobles were loyal subjects of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, completely satisfied with their position in the government.
It seems that Russians showed greater national consciousness in regions such as Smolensk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Kyiv and Volyn. In many cases, however, here, as in other regions of Lithuania, the difference in social and economic interests of the aristocracy and the landed nobility was reflected, which undermined the sense of ethnic community. At the Lublin Sejm (1569), it became obvious that the transition of Ukrainian regions from Lithuania to Poland was greatly facilitated by the dissatisfaction of the Ukrainian small nobility with their position.
In the Russian regions of the Grand Duchy, the nobility constituted a minority of the population; the majority were peasants. However, they had no voice in the government. Only the nobility enjoyed political influence.