The grand duchy expanded to include large portions of the formerKievan Rus' and other neighbouring states, including what is nowBelarus,Lithuania, most ofUkraine as well as parts ofLatvia,Moldova,Poland andRussia. At its greatest extent, in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe.[10] It was amulti-ethnic andmulticonfessional state, with great diversity in languages, religion, and cultural heritage.
The reign ofVytautas the Great, son of Kęstutis, marked both the greatest territorial expansion of the grand duchy and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in theBattle of Grunwald in 1410.[17] It also marked the rise of theLithuanian nobility. After Vytautas's death, Lithuania's relationship with theKingdom of Poland greatly deteriorated.[18] Lithuanian noblemen, including theRadvila family, attempted to break the personal union with Poland.[19] However, unsuccessfulwars with theGrand Duchy of Moscow forced the union to remain intact.
Eventually, theUnion of Lublin of 1569 created a new state, thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In thisfederation, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania maintained its political distinctiveness and had separate ministries, laws, army, and treasury.[20] The federation was terminated by the passing of theConstitution of 3 May 1791, when it was supposed to become a single country, the Commonwealth, under one monarch, one parliament and with no Lithuanian autonomy. Shortly afterward, the unitary character of the state was confirmed by adopting theReciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. However, the newly reformed Commonwealth was invaded by Russia in 1792 and partitioned between neighbouring states. A truncated state (whose principal cities wereKraków,Warsaw andVilnius) remained that was nominally independent. After theKościuszko Uprising, the territory was completelypartitioned among theRussian Empire, theKingdom of Prussia andAustria in 1795.
Lithuania's name in writing, 1009Lithuania's name in the Lithuanian language on a 1653 book cover (dides Kunigiſtes Lietuwos)
The name of Lithuania (Litua) was first mentioned in 1009 inAnnals of Quedlinburg. Some older etymological theories relate the name to a small river not far fromKernavė, the core area of theearly Lithuanian state and a possible first capital of the would-be Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is usually credited as the source of the name. This river's original name isLietava.[21] As time passed, the suffix -ava could have changed into -uva, as the two are from the same suffix branch. The river flows in the lowlands and easily spills over its banks, therefore the traditional Lithuanian formliet- could be directly translated aslietis (to spill), of the root derived from the Proto-Indo-Europeanleyǝ-.[22] However, the river is very small and some[who?] find it improbable that such a small and local object could have lent its name to an entire nation. On the other hand, such a fact is not unprecedented in world history.[23] A credible modern theory of etymology of the name of Lithuania (Lithuanian:Lietuva) is Artūras Dubonis's hypothesis[24] that Lietuva relates to the wordleičiai (plural ofleitis, a social group of warriors-knights in the early Grand Duchy of Lithuania). The title of theGrand Duchy was consistently applied to Lithuania from the 14th century onward.[25]
Naming convention of both title of ruler (hospodar)[26] and the state changed as it expanded its territory. Following the decline of theKingdom of Ruthenia[27] and incorporation of its lands into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,Gediminas started to title himself as "King of Lithuanians and many Ruthenians",[28][29][30] while the name of the state became the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Ruthenia.[31][32] Similarly the title changed to "King of Lithuanians and Ruthenians, ruler and duke of Semigallia" whenSemigallia became part of the state.[33][34] The 1529 edition of theStatute of Lithuania described the titles ofSigismund I the Old as "King of Poland, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Samogitia, Mazovia, and other [lands]".[35]
The country was also called the Republic of Lithuania (Latin:Respublica Lituana) since at least the mid-16th century, already before the Union of Lublin in 1569.[36]
Eastern Old Lithuanians and their lands in the 11th–12th centuriesBalts in the 12th centuryLithuania in theMappa mundi ofPietro Vesconte, 1321. The inscription reads:Letvini pagani – pagan Lithuanians.Description ofKernavė as "Kiernow primum M. Duci Lith. domicilium" (English:Kernavė, the first residence-capital of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania) in theRadziwiłł map[37]
Thefirst mention of the name Lithuania is found in theAnnals of Quedlinburg, which describes the missionary expedition ofBruno of Querfurt to Yotvingians.[38] In the 12th century, Slavic chronicles refer to Lithuania as one of the areas attacked by theRus'. Pagan Lithuanians initially paidtribute toPolotsk, but they soon grew in strength and organized their own small-scale raids. At some point between 1180 and 1183 the situation began to change, and the Lithuanians started to organize sustainable military raids on theSlavic provinces, raiding thePrincipality of Polotsk as well asPskov, and even threateningNovgorod.[39] The sudden spark of military raids marked consolidation of the Lithuanian lands inAukštaitija.[5] The Lithuanians are the only branch within the Baltic group that managed to create astate entity in premodern times.[40]
TheLithuanian Crusade began after theLivonian Order andTeutonic Knights, crusadingmilitary orders, were established inRiga and inPrussia in 1202 and 1226 respectively. The Christian orders posed a significant threat to pagan Baltic tribes, and further galvanized the formation of the Lithuanian state. The peace treaty withGalicia–Volhynia of 1219 provides evidence of cooperation between Lithuanians andSamogitians. This treaty lists21 Lithuanian dukes, including five senior Lithuanian dukes from Aukštaitija (Živinbudas,Daujotas,Vilikaila,Dausprungas andMindaugas) and several dukes fromŽemaitija. Although they had battled in the past, the Lithuanians and the Žemaičiai now faced a common enemy.[41] Likely Živinbudas had the most authority[39] and at least several dukes were from the same families.[42] The formal acknowledgement of common interests and the establishment of a hierarchy among the signatories of the treaty foreshadowed the emergence of the state.[43]
Mindaugas, the duke[44] of southern Lithuania,[45] was among the five senior dukes mentioned in the treaty with Galicia–Volhynia. TheLivonian Rhymed Chronicle, reports that by the mid-1230s, Mindaugas had acquired supreme power in the whole of Lithuania.[46] In 1236, the Samogitians, led byVykintas, defeated the Livonian Order in theBattle of Saule.[47] The Order was forced to become a branch of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, making Samogitia, a strip of land that separatedLivonia from Prussia, the main target of both orders. The battle provided a break in the wars with the Knights, and Lithuania exploited this situation, arranging attacks on the Ruthenian provinces and annexingNavahrudak andHrodna.[46]
In 1248, a civil war broke out between Mindaugas and his nephewsTautvilas andEdivydas. The powerful coalition against Mindaugas included Vykintas, the Livonian Order,Daniel of Galicia andVasilko of Volhynia. Taking advantage of internal conflicts, Mindaugas allied with the Livonian Order. He promised to convert to Christianity and exchange some lands in western Lithuania in return for military assistance against his nephews and the royal crown. In 1251, Mindaugas was baptized andPope Innocent IV issued apapal bull proclaiming the creation of theKingdom of Lithuania. After the civil war ended, Mindaugas was crowned asKing of Lithuania on 6 July 1253, starting a decade of relative peace. Mindaugas later renounced Christianity and converted back to paganism. Mindaugas tried to expand his influence inPolatsk, a major centre of commerce in theDaugava River basin, andPinsk.[46] The Teutonic Knights used this period to strengthen their position in parts of Samogitia and Livonia, but they lost theBattle of Skuodas in 1259 and theBattle of Durbe in 1260.[48] This encouraged the conquered Semigallians andOld Prussians to rebel against the Knights.[49]
Encouraged byTreniota, Mindaugas broke the peace with the Order, possibly reverted topagan beliefs. He hoped to unite all Baltic tribes under the Lithuanian leadership. As military campaigns were not successful, the relationships between Mindaugas and Treniota deteriorated. Treniota, together withDaumantas of Pskov, assassinated Mindaugas and his two sons, Ruklys and Rupeikis, in 1263.[50] The state lapsed into years of internal fighting.[51]
From 1263 to 1269, Lithuania had three grand dukes –Treniota,Vaišvilkas, andŠvarnas. The state did not disintegrate, however, andTraidenis came to power in 1269. Traidenis strengthened Lithuanian control inBlack Ruthenia, fought with the Livonian Order, winning theBattle of Karuse in 1270 and theBattle of Aizkraukle in 1279, and assisted theYotvingians/Sudovians to defend from theTeutonic Order.[52] For his military assistance,Nameisis recognized Traidenis as hissuzerain.[53] There is considerable uncertainty about the identities of the grand dukes of Lithuania between Traidenis' death in 1282 and the assumption of power byVytenis in 1295. The country's capital was located inKernavė until 1316 or 1321 where Traidenis and Vytenis mainly resided and led to its prosperity.[54][55][56]
During this time, the Orders finalized their conquests. In 1274, theGreat Prussian Rebellion ended, and the Teutonic Knights proceeded to conquer other Baltic tribes: theNadruvians andSkalvians in 1274–1277, and the Yotvingians in 1283; the Livonian Order completed its conquest of Semigalia, the last Baltic ally of Lithuania, in 1291.[57] The Orders could now turn their full attention to Lithuania. The "buffer zone" composed of other Baltic tribes had disappeared, and Grand Duchy of Lithuania was left to battle the Orders on its own.[58]
TheGediminid dynasty ruled the grand duchy for over a century, and Vytenis was the first ruler of the dynasty.[59] During his reign Lithuania was in constant war with the Order, the Kingdom of Poland, and Ruthenia. Vytenis was involved in succession disputes in Poland, supportingBoleslaus II of Masovia, who was married to a Lithuanian duchess,Gaudemunda. In Ruthenia, Vytenis managed to recapture lands lost after the assassination of Mindaugas and to capture the principalities ofPinsk [lt] andTurov. In the struggle against the Order, Vytenis allied withRiga's citizens; securing positions in Riga strengthened trade routes and provided a base for further military campaigns. Around 1307, Polotsk, an important trading centre, was annexed by military force.[60] Vytenis also began constructing a defensive castle network alongNemunas.[61] Gradually this network developed into the main defensive line against the Teutonic Order.[61]
The expansion of the state reached its height under Grand DukeGediminas, also titled by some contemporaneous German sources asRex de Owsteiten (English:King ofAukštaitija),[62] who created a strong central government and established an empire that later spread from theBlack Sea to theBaltic Sea.[63][64] In 1320, most of the principalities of western Rus' were either vassalized or annexed by Lithuania. In 1321, Gediminascaptured Kiev, sendingStanislav, the lastRurikid to ruleKiev, into exile. Gediminas also re-established the permanent capital of the Grand Duchy inVilnius,[65] presumably moving it fromOld Trakai in 1323, which previously served as the country's capital since 1316 or 1321.[66][55][67] The state continued to expand its territory under the reign of Grand DukeAlgirdas and his brotherKęstutis, who both ruled the state harmonically.[68][69] During theinaugurations ofLithuanian monarchs until 1569, theGediminas' Cap was placed on the monarch's heads by theBishop of Vilnius inVilnius Cathedral.[70]
Lubart's Castle in Ukraine, built by the son of Gediminas'Liubartas in the mid-14th century, is famous for theCongress of Lutsk which took place in 1429Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the rule of Vytautas the Great (1392–1430)
Lithuania was in a good position to conquer the western and the southern parts of the formerKievan Rus'. While almost every other state around it had beenplundered or defeated by the Mongols, the hordes stopped at the modern borders of Belarus, and the core territory of the Grand Duchy was left mostly untouched. The weak control of the Mongols over the areas they had conquered allowed the expansion of Lithuania to accelerate. Rus' principalities were never incorporated directly into theGolden Horde, maintaining vassal relationships with a fair degree of independence. Lithuania annexed some of these areas as vassals through diplomacy, as they exchanged rule by the Mongols or theGrand Prince of Moscow with rule by the Grand Duchy. An example isNovgorod, which was often in the Lithuanian sphere of influence and became an occasional dependency of the Grand Duchy.[71] Lithuanian control resulted from internal frictions within the city, which attempted to escape submission toMoscow. Such relationships could be tenuous, however, as changes in a city's internal politics could disrupt Lithuanian control, as happened on a number of occasions with Novgorod and other East-Slavic cities.[citation needed]
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania managed to hold off Mongol incursions and eventually secured gains. In 1333 and 1339, Lithuanians defeated large Mongol forces attempting to regainSmolensk from the Lithuanian sphere of influence. By about 1355, the State ofMoldavia had formed, and the Golden Horde did little to re-vassalize the area. In 1362, regiments of the Grand Duchy army defeated the Golden Horde at theBattle at Blue Waters.[72]
In 1380, a Lithuanian army allied with Russian forces to defeat the Golden Horde in theBattle of Kulikovo, and though the rule of the Mongols did not end, their influence in the region waned thereafter. In 1387, Moldavia became a vassal of Poland and, in a broader sense, of Lithuania. By this time, Lithuania had conquered the territory of the Golden Horde all the way to the Dnieper River. In a crusade against the Golden Horde in 1398 (in an alliance withTokhtamysh), Lithuania invaded northern Crimea and won a decisive victory. In an attempt to place Tokhtamish on the Golden Horde throne in 1399, Lithuania moved against the Horde but was defeated in theBattle of the Vorskla River, losing the steppe region.[73]
One of the largest European countries, ruled by Gediminids–Jagiellonians
Lithuania was Christianized in 1387, led byJogaila, who personally translated Christian prayers into theLithuanian language[75][76] and his cousin Vytautas the Great who founded many Catholic churches and allocated lands for parishes in Lithuania. The state reached a peak (becoming one of the largest countries territorially in Europe) underVytautas the Great, who reigned from 1392 to 1430.[17] Vytautas was one of the most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, serving as theGrand Duke from 1401 to 1430, and as thePrince ofHrodna (1370–1382) and the Prince ofLutsk (1387–1389). Vytautas was the son ofKęstutis, uncle of Jogaila, who became King of Poland in 1386, and he was the grandfather ofVasili II of Moscow.[77]
In 1410, Vytautas commanded the forces of the Grand Duchy in theBattle of Grunwald. The battle ended in a decisive Polish-Lithuanian victory against theTeutonic Order. Thewar of Lithuania against military Orders, which lasted for more than 200 years, and was one of the longest wars in the history of Europe, was finally ended. Vytautas backed the economic development of the state and introduced many reforms. Under his rule, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania slowly became more centralized, as the governours loyal to Vytautas replaced local princes with dynastic ties to the throne. The governours were rich landowners who formed the basis for the nobility of the Grand Duchy. During Vytautas' rule, theRadziwiłł andGoštautas families started to gain influence.[78][79]
In 1440,Casimir IV Jagiellon was sent by his older brotherWładysław III to Lithuania to rule in his name, however instead a manifestation of the sovereignty of Lithuania occurred when Casimir was elected as the Grand Duke of Lithuania upon his arrival to Vilnius on 29 June 1440 and subsequently titled himself as a "free lord" (pan – dominus), this way breaching the agreements of theUnion of Grodno (1432) and terminating thePolish–Lithuanian union; Casimir also became the King of Poland in 1447.[80][81] Following Casimir's death in 1492, the factual termination of the Polish–Lithuanian union also occurred during the reign of Casimir's sonsAlexander Jagiellon andJohn I Albert who had respectively ruled Lithuania and Poland separately in 1492–1501.[82]
The rapid expansion of the influence ofMoscow soon put it into a comparable position to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and after the annexation ofNovgorod Republic in 1478, Muscovy was among the preeminent states innortheastern Europe. Between 1492 and 1508,Ivan III further consolidated Muscovy, winning the keyBattle of Vedrosha and capturing such ancient lands ofKievan Rus' asChernihiv andBryansk.[83]
On 8 September 1514, the allied forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, under the command of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski, fought theBattle of Orsha against the army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, under Konyushy Ivan Chelyadnin and Kniaz Mikhail Golitsin. The battle was part of a long series ofMuscovite–Lithuanian Wars conducted by Russian rulers striving to gather all the former lands of Kievan Rus' under their rule. According toRerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii by Sigismund von Herberstein, the primary source for the information on the battle, the much smaller army of Poland–Lithuania (under 30,000 men) defeated the 80,000 Muscovite soldiers, capturing their camp and commander. The Muscovites lost about 30,000 men, while the losses of the Poland–Lithuania army totalled only 500. While the battle is remembered as one of the greatest Lithuanian victories, Muscovy ultimately prevailed in the war. Under the 1522 peace treaty, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania made large territorial concessions.[84]
Following the death of Grand Duke Sigismund II Augustus in 1572, a joint Polish–Lithuanian monarch was to be elected as in the Union of Lublin it was agreed that the title "Grand Duke of Lithuania" will be received by a jointly elected monarch in theElection sejm on his accession to the throne, thus losing its former institutional significance, however the Union of Lublin guaranteed that the institution and the title "Grand Duke of Lithuania" will be preserved.[91][70][92]
In 1573,Henry Valua waselected as the first joint Polish–Lithuanian monarch, however his rule was short and he never personally visited the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, despite being announced as the Grand Duke of Lithuania.[93]
The double election of 1575 was held in the presence of a small number of Lithuanian lords, who additionally supported the Habsburg candidate Emperor Maximilian II, however, the race for the crown was won by Stephen Báthory, crowned on May 1, 1576.[94] The Lithuanian lords, at a convention in Grodno (on 8–20 April 1576), protested this choice, threatening to break the union and giving themselves the right to choose a separate ruler.[95] However, the king managed to rally the Lithuanian delegation by promising to preserve their rights and freedoms.[94] On May 29, 1580, inVilnius Cathedral, King and Grand DukeStephen Báthory received from the hand of the bishop of SamogitiaMerkelis Giedraitis ablessed sword and hat, given by PopeGregory XIII through the envoy Paweł Uchański.[96] This was a recognition by the Pope of the ruler's successes in the struggle against the infidels.[96][97] In Lithuania, this ceremony was treated as the celebration of the elevation of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, during which Lithuania's sovereignty was manifested.[98][99] Báthory's reign was marked with successfulLivonian campaign against tsarIvan the Terrible's military forces, which resulted in the reintegration ofPolotsk to Lithuania and the restoration of control of theDuchy of Livonia.[100]
The Third Statute of Lithuania (confirmed in 1588), which stated that Poland and Lithuania have equal rights within the Commonwealth[101]
The rule of Lithuania by the Gediminid–Jagiellonian family representatives resumed throughmatrilineal line following the death of Báthory (1586) whenSigismund III Vasa (son ofCatherine Jagiellon) waselected in 1587.[102] On 28 January 1588, Sigismund III confirmed theThird Statute of Lithuania which stated that the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is afederation of two countries – Poland and Lithuania where both countries have equal rights within it and separated the powers of the ruler, theSeimas, the executive and the courts (this for the first time in European history ensured therule of law in the state, but Lithuania's citizens, who were subjects to the Statute, were only nobles).[101] During thePolish–Swedish War (1600–1611) Polish and Lithuanian forces achieved victory and restoredstatus quo ante bellum, notably winning the decisiveBattle of Kircholm in 1605, while during thePolish–Muscovite War (1605–1618) Polish and Lithuanian armies achieved territorial gains (e.g. restored the control ofSmolensk, the capital of theSmolensk Voivodeship, in 1611) and for the first timefully captured Russia's capitalMoscow in 1610.[102] Sigismund III's son,Władysław IV Vasa, began ruling Lithuania in 1632 and achieved military success and popularity during theSmolensk War, but he renounced his claims to the Russian throne per theTreaty of Polyanovka in 1634 and failed at reclaiming the Swedish throne.[103][102]
Throughout this Polish–Lithuanian Union period, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania remained a separate state and retained many rights in the federation (including separate name, territory, coat of arms, ministries, ruling system, laws, army, courts, treasury, and seal) until theConstitution of 3 May andReciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations were passed in 1791.[107][108][85]
Radziwiłł map of Lithuania from 1613, featuring around 1020 settlements.
In Lithuania, the first proto-urban settlements formed in the 9th–13th centuries, often around castles where craftsmen and merchants settled, withVilnius,Kaunas,Kernavė,Merkinė, andVeliuona becoming early centers; in the Christianized regions of the Grand Duchy, towns such asGardinas (Grodno),Lyda (Lida), andNaugardukas (Navahrudak) developed, whileKlaipėda was established in the Teutonic Order’s domain. Many smaller settlements remained agrarian and did not resemble the Western European urban model, and systematic town development only accelerated after 1387, when Vilnius receivedMagdeburg rights, followed soon after byBrest and Grodno. True cities were considered only those with municipal self-government and a magistrate, although the term was also applied to administrative centers without formal rights or to places unable to exercise them effectively; trade and crafts distinguished them from rural settlements. The municipal authority was the magistrate, while judicial functions were carried out by bench courts, and royal cities were overseen by a vogt, though the presence of noble and ecclesiastical jurisdictions often hindered growth. In the 15th–16th centuries, urban rights spread to both Lithuanian and Slavic cities, includingKyiv,Polotsk,Vitebsk, andSmolensk, while the burgher estate gradually formed from merchants and wealthy artisans; larger cities (Vilnius, Gardinas,Trakai, Kaunas,Kėdainiai) were multiethnic, inhabited not only by Lithuanians but also Ruthenians, Poles, Jews, Germans, Tatars, and Karaites. TheVolok Reform (1553–1557) reorganized cities into rectangular plots, introduced regular squares with town halls, and stimulated trade, guilds, and privileges, leading to a sharp increase in the number of towns with self-government. However, the mid-17th-century wars with Russia and Sweden devastated Lithuania’s urban centers, causing massive population losses, and subsequent crises such as the Great Northern War, famine, and plague delayed recovery until the mid-18th century. In 1776, the autonomy of many declining cities was abolished, but the urban law of 1791 restored municipal rights to 42 cities and granted them for the first time to 18 others, reaffirming Magdeburg principles in the last decades of the Grand Duchy.[111]
Military
Leitis — the elite warrior of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, early 15th century, reconstruction.
The Army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a key institution that shaped the state’s political and military power from the 13th to the 18th century. Its origins lay in early local militias formed by Lithuanian tribes, where all able-bodied men were called to defend their land. As the Grand Duchy emerged under Mindaugas, the army became more centralized, combining the forces of local dukes and their retinues (kariaunos). Throughout the 13th and 14th centuries, Lithuanian troops fought constant wars against the Teutonic and Livonian Orders, as well as against Rus’ principalities and the Golden Horde. This period saw the gradual transition from irregular tribal warfare to a structured military system, including permanent garrisons, fortifications along the Nemunas River, and organized cavalry units. The army’s weaponry evolved from simple axes and spears to swords, bows, and eventuallyfirearms andartillery. By the 15th and 16th centuries, under rulers such as Vytautas the Great, the Lithuanian army reached a high level of organization and discipline, modeled increasingly on Western European forces. The introduction of the noble levy made military service the main duty of the nobility, while wealthier magnates maintained their own well-equipped regiments. The army, led by grand and field hetmans, became a professional institution capable of large-scale campaigns, achieving major victories at the Battle of Grunwald (1410) against the Teutonic Order and Orsha (1514) against Muscovite forces. Over time, specialized branches developed, includingheavy cavalry,hussars,dragoons, artillery, and later, frontier guards for border defense. However, by the 17th and 18th centuries, continuous wars with Sweden, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, combined with internal political decline and growing foreign influence, weakened the Grand Duchy’s military strength. Despite attempts at reform—such as the creation of regular regiments and national cavalry brigades—the army struggled to match the resources of neighboring powers. Following the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century, the Lithuanian army was officially disbanded in 1795. Nevertheless, its military traditions endured, inspiring later uprisings in1830–31 and1863–64, where Lithuanian insurgents again took up arms in the fight for national independence.[112]
After the baptism in 1252 and coronation of KingMindaugas in 1253, Lithuania was recognized as a Christian state until 1260, when Mindaugas supported an uprising inCourland and (according to the German order) renounced Christianity. Up until 1387, Lithuanian nobles professed their own religion, which waspolytheistic.[114] Ethnic Lithuanians were very dedicated to their faith. The pagan beliefs needed to be deeply entrenched to survive strong pressure from missionaries and foreign powers. Until the 17th century, there were relics of old faith reported by counter-reformation activeJesuit priests, like feedingžaltys with milk or bringing food to graves of ancestors. The lands of modern-dayBelarus andUkraine, as well as localdukes (princes) in these regions, were firmlyOrthodox Christian (Greek Catholic after theUnion of Brest), though. While pagan beliefs in Lithuania were strong enough to survive centuries of pressure from military orders and missionaries, they did eventually succumb. A separateEastern Orthodox metropolitan eparchy was created sometime between 1315 and 1317 by the Constantinople PatriarchJohn XIII. Following theGalicia–Volhynia Wars which divided theKingdom of Galicia–Volhynia between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and theKingdom of Poland, in 1355 theHalych metropoly was liquidated and its eparchies transferred to the metropoles of Lithuania and Volhynia.[115]
In 1387, Lithuaniaconverted toCatholicism, while most of the Ruthenian lands stayedOrthodox, however, on 22 February 1387, Supreme DukeJogaila banned Catholics marriages with Orthodox, and demanded those Orthodox who previously married with the Catholics to convert to Catholicism.[116] At one point, though,Pope Alexander VI reprimanded the Grand Duke for keeping non-Catholics as advisers.[117] Consequently, only in 1563 did Grand DukeSigismund II Augustus issue a privilege that equalized the rights of Orthodox and Catholics in Lithuania and abolished all previous restrictions on Orthodox.[118] There was an effort to polarise Orthodox Christians after the Union of Brest in 1596, by which some Orthodox Christians acknowledged papal authority and Catholic catechism, but preserved their liturgy. The country also became one of the major centres of the Reformation.[119]
In 1579,Stephen Báthory, King ofPoland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, foundedVilnius University, one of the oldest universities inNorthern Europe. Due to the work of the Jesuits during theCounter-Reformation the university soon developed into one of the most important scientific and cultural centres of the region and the most notable scientific centre of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[121] The work of the Jesuits as well as conversions from among the Lithuanian senatorial families turned the tide and by the 1670sCalvinism lost its former importance though it still retained some influence among the ethnically Lithuanian peasants and some middle nobility.[citation needed]
Islam inLithuania, unlike many other northern and western European countries, has a long history starting from 14th century.[125] Small groups of MuslimLipka Tatars migrated to ethnically Lithuanian lands, mainly under the rule of Grand DukeVytautas (early 15th century). In Lithuania, unlike many other European societies at the time, there was religious freedom. Lithuanian Tatars were allowed to settle in certain places, such asTrakai andKaunas.[126]Keturiasdešimt Totorių is one of the oldest Tatar settlements in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After a successful military campaign of theCrimean Peninsula in 1397, Vytautas brought the firstCrimean Tatar prisoners of war toTrakai and various places in theDuchy of Trakai, including localities nearVokė river just south of Vilnius. The first mosque in this village was mentioned for the first time in 1558. There were 42 Tatar families in the village in 1630.[127]
The majority of inhabitants ofLithuania proper, which included the voivodeships ofVilnius,Trakai andSamogitia, spoke Lithuanian.[128] These areas remained almost wholly Lithuanian-speaking, both colloquially and by ruling nobility.[129] Despite its frequent oral use, Lithuanian did not begin to be used in writing until the 16th century.[130]
Ruthenians, ancestors of modern Belarusians and Ukrainians, living in the eastern and southern lands of the Grand Duchy spokeRuthenian language.[128] The Ruthenian language had an old writing tradition.[131] The language of the Orthodox Church wasOld Church Slavonic, while official documents used the so-calledChancery Ruthenian, close to but not identical to the spoken language, which over time absorbed many Lithuanian and Polish words.[132][133][134]
Some Poles (mainlyburghers, clergy, merchants, andszlachta) moved to Lithuania, although this migration was small-scale.[135] After theUnion of Lublin, this movement significantly increased.[136] Polish was adopted also gradually by the local inhabitants.[citation needed] Already in early 16th century, Polish became the Lithuanian magnates' first language.[citation needed] The following century it was adopted by the Lithuanian nobility in general.[137] The Polish language also penetrated other social strata: the clergy, the townspeople, and even the peasants.[138] Since the 16th century,Polish was used much more often than other languages for writing.[citation needed] Polish finally became the Commonwealth's official chancellery language in 1697.[139][140][141][142]
Other important ethnic groups throughout the Grand Duchy of Lithuania wereJews.[139] Jews spoke mainly in the eastern dialect of Yiddish.[143] TheLithuanian Tatars used a language ofKipchak origin that was full of borrowings fromTurkish andArabic.[144] It ceased to be used in the 16th century, and was replaced by Ruthenian and Polish, written in theArabic alphabet.[144] Brought in 1397 from Crimea,Karaites used a dialect of WestKaraite language, whileHebrew was used for religious purposes.[145]
In addition,Livonia, which had been politically connected to the Grand Duchy since the mid-16th century, was inhabited byLatgalians who spoke adialect of theLatvian language.[146] Inhabiting the towns, mainly in Livonia, the mostly Protestant Germans used a local variety of German calledBaltendeutsch.[143] Prussian and Yotvingians refugees, pushed out by the Teutonic Knights, also found their footing in the Grand Duchy.[146] Similarly, Russian Old Believers emigrated to Lithuanian lands in the 17th century.[143]
Languages of administration
Title of the Statute of Grand Duchy of Lithuania written in the Ruthenian language, 1588
The Grand Duchy's linguistic and ethnic situation, as well as the fusion of Lithuanian and Ruthenian elements in its culture, became the trigger for a long-running debate among historians from Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine over whether the state was essentially Lithuanian or Ruthenian-Lithuanian, in which the more advanced Ruthenian culture played a central role.[147]
Before the Lithuanian expansion into the Ruthenian lands, Lithuanian was the only language of public life.[148] However, the conquests, already initiated byMindaugas in 13th century, began the process of fusing Ruthenian and Lithuanian culture and, in the absence of its own writing tradition, adopting Ruthenian as the language of administration and written communication.[148][149] From at least the time ofVytautas, but probably much earlier, the language of internal administration wasChancery Ruthenian, a language similar to, but not the same as, the spoken language used by Ruthenians living in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[134] As for the correspondences with foreign courts the grand ducal chancellery prepared it in the language appropriate to the recipient: Latin for the correspondence with the West, German with theTeutonic Order and Chancery Ruthenian with the East Slavic and Tatar rulers.[128][150][151]
The Grand Duke of Lithuania,Alexander Jagiellon, specified that the Roman Catholic priests in these 28 churches must know the Lithuanian language, according to his letter of 18 September 1501, which was addressed to the Bishop of Vilnius Albertas.[152][153]
The language used at court continued to be Lithuanian until the mid-16th century, the other being Ruthenian; later, both languages began to be replaced by Polish.[154] Ruthenian culture dominated the courts of theGediminid princes since the 14th century, especially those ruling directly over Ruthenian subjects.[155][156] Grand DukeJogaila was most likely bilingual, knowing and speaking Lithuanian and Ruthenian, and was able to communicate in theSamogitian dialect of the Lithuanian language.[157][158][159] The Lithuanian language was still strongly present at the Vilnius court ofCasimir Jagiellon, who had to learn it when he assumed power in the Grand Duchy in 1444.[160] Casimir's assumption of power in Poland in 1447 marked the end of the existence of a separate court in Vilnius (it later existed only in years 1492–1496 and 1544–1548[161]). Many Lithuanians and Ruthenian nobles joined the court in Kraków, they learned Polish language over time.[162] Casimir was the last Grand Duke to know the Lithuanian language.[163] From 1500, the elite of the Lithuanian state rapidly adopted the Polish language.[161][164]
The process of moving away from Ruthenian to Polish in administration was soon apparent. The first were the nobles ofPodlachia, who adopted Polish laws as early as the 1440s, and repeatedly demanded that official documents be written in Polish, since they no longer knew Ruthenian.[165] The political reforms of 1564–1566 establishedsejmiks, local land courts, appellate courts modelled on Polish system, through which the Polish language flowed into Lithuania.[166] The first codification of Lithuanian laws, the Statute of Lithuania, was issued in Chancery Ruthenian (1529), but was quickly translated into Latin (1530) and Polish (1532).[167]Court Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of LithuaniaLew Sapieha noted in the preface of theThird Statute of Lithuania (1588) that all state documents to be written exclusively in Ruthenian.[168] Despite this, after the Polish translation of the statute was published in 1614, it was not reissued in Ruthenian ever again.[169] Polish was increasingly used in official documents, especially after the Union of Lublin.[141] Finally, in 1697, the Sejm, as part of the equalization of law between Lithuania and Poland, confirmed that only the Polish language was to be used in administration in Lithuania,[142][131] although Ruthenian continued to be used on a few official documents until the second half of the 18th century.[140]
KingWładysław IV's universal of March 22, 1639 forbidding his subjects to hunt on the territory ofDucal Prussia. The universal was translated into Old Lithuanian at the Prussian chancellery.[170]
After the baptism, the use of Latin, still the main language of learning and writing in Western Europe, also spread in Lithuania as a language of document. Latin was the second language of the grand ducal chancellery in the 14th–16th centuries, although it was used less frequently than Ruthenian in internal administration.[171] This was accompanied by the spread since mid-15th century of the legend of the Roman origin of the Lithuanian nobility (from thePalemon lineage), and the closeness of the Lithuanian language and Latin. This let some intellectuals in the mid-16th century to advocate for replacement of Ruthenian with Latin, as they considered Latin as the native language of Lithuanians.[172][173]
Despite the appearance of literature in Lithuanian in the 16th century, the language did not gain the status of a chancellery language in the Grand Duchy until the late 18th century.[174] Unlike neighboringPrussia, where the custom of issuing official documents in Lithuanian, especially those addressed to Lithuanian subjects, appeared as early as the 16th century.[175] The Prussian chancellery translated two universals of 1639 and 1641 prepared by the royal chancellery ofWładysław IV in Latin forbidding the passage of his subjects from thePolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to Prussia, which was then a Polish fief.[175] In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the first document in Lithuanian was a translation from the Polish text of theMay 3 Constitution, which was issued in 1791.[176] Subsequently, several documents were published in Lithuanian during theKościuszko Uprising.[176] Of course, Lithuanian was used in speech, in administrative offices and by government officials when dealing with residents who were unable to communicate in another language.[177] Vilnius city charter of November 18, 1551 declared that summons to court and verdicts had to be announced in Lithuanian, Polish, and Ruthenian.[178][179] A similar charter was issued in Kaunas in 1540.[180][181][178]
In 1260, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the land ofLithuania, and ethnic Lithuanians formed the majority (68%) of its 400,000 people.[182] With the acquisition of newRuthenian territories, in 1340 this portion decreased to 30%.[183] By the time of the largest expansion towardsRus' lands, which came at the end of the 13th and during the 14th century, the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was 800 to 930 thousand km2, just 10% to 14% of which was ethnically Lithuanian.[182][184]
On 6 May 1434, Grand DukeSigismund Kęstutaitis released his privilege which tied the Orthodox and CatholicLithuanian nobles rights in order to attract theSlavic nobles of the eastern regions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania who supported the former Grand DukeŠvitrigaila.[185]
An estimate of the population in the territory of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania together gives a population at 7.5 million for 1493, breaking them down by ethnicity at 3.75 millionRuthenians (ethnicUkrainians,Belarusians), 3.25 million Poles and 0.5 million Lithuanians.[186] With theUnion of Lublin, 1569, Lithuanian Grand Duchy lost large part of lands to the Polish Crown.
According to an analysis of the tax registers in 1572,Lithuania proper had 850,000 residents of which 680,000 were Lithuanians.[187]
In the mid and late 17th century, due to Russian and Swedish invasions, there was much devastation and population loss on throughout the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,[188] including ethnic Lithuanian population inVilnius surroundings. Besides devastation, the Ruthenian population declined proportionally after the territorial losses toRussian Empire. By 1770 there were about 4.84 million inhabitants in the territory of 320 thousand km2, the biggest part of whom were inhabitants of Ruthenia and about 1.39 million or 29% – of ethnic Lithuania.[182] During the following decades, the population decreased in a result ofpartitions.[182]
Prussian tribes (ofBaltic origin) were the subject of Polish expansion, which was largely unsuccessful, so DukeKonrad of Masovia invited theTeutonic Knights to settle near the Prussian area of settlement. The fighting between Prussians and the Teutonic Knights gave the more distant Lithuanian tribes time to unite. Because of strong enemies in the south and north, the newly formed Lithuanian state concentrated most of its military and diplomatic efforts on expansion eastward.
The rest of the former Ruthenian lands were conquered by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Some other lands in Ukraine were vassalized by Lithuania later. The subjugation of Eastern Slavs by two powers created substantial differences between them that persist to this day. While there were certainly substantial regional differences in Kievan Rus', it was the Lithuanian annexation of much of southern and western Ruthenia that led to the permanent division between Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Russians, and even four Grand Dukes of Lithuania are appeared on theMillennium of Russia monument.
In the 19th century, the romantic references to the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were an inspiration and a substantial part of both theLithuanian andBelarusian national revival movements andRomanticism in Poland.
Notwithstanding the above, Lithuania was a kingdom under Mindaugas, who was crowned by the authority of Pope Innocent IV in 1253. Vytenis, Gediminas and Vytautas the Great also assumed the title of King, although uncrowned by the Pope. A failed attempt was made in 1918 to revive the Kingdom under a German Prince,Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach, who would have reigned as Mindaugas II of Lithuania.
TheAct of Independence of Lithuania, signed by theCouncil of Lithuania on February 16, 1918, proclaimed that "the Council of Lithuania, as the sole representative of the Lithuanian nation, based on the recognized right tonational self-determination, and on theVilnius Conference's resolution of September 18–23, 1917, proclaims the restoration of the independent state of Lithuania, founded on democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital, and declares the termination of all state ties which formerly bound this State to other nations".[193] In thepreamble of the most recentConstitution of Lithuania, adopted during the1992 Lithuanian constitutional referendum, the continuity of Lithuanian statehood is also stressed.[194]
^abBaranauskas, Tomas (2000)."Lietuvos valstybės ištakos" [The Lithuanian State] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: viduramziu.istorija.net. Archived fromthe original on 29 September 2016. Retrieved20 July 2016.
^Sužiedėlis, Saulius (2011).Historical dictionary of Lithuania (2nd ed.). Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. p. 119.ISBN978-0-8108-4914-3.
^Z. Kiaupa. "Algirdas ir LDK rytų politika." Gimtoji istorija 2: Nuo 7 iki 12 klasės (Lietuvos istorijos vadovėlis). CD. (2003). Elektroninės leidybos namai: Vilnius.
^J. Kiaupienė. Gediminaičiai ir Jogailaičiai prie Vytauto palikimo. Gimtoji istorija 2: Nuo 7 iki 12 klasės (Lietuvos istorijos vadovėlis). CD. (2003) Elektroninės leidybos namai: Vilnius.
^J. Kiaupienë, "Valdžios krizës pabaiga ir Kazimieras Jogailaitis." Gimtoji istorija 2: Nuo 7 iki 12 klasės (Lietuvos istorijos vadovėlis). CD. (2003). Elektroninės leidybos namai: Vilnius.
^Dubonis, Artūras (1998).Lietuvos didžiojo kunigaikščio leičiai: iš Lietuvos ankstyvųjų valstybinių struktūrų praeities (Leičiai of Grand Duke of Lithuania: from the past of Lithuanian stative structures (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Lietuvos istorijos instituto leidykla.
^By contemporary accounts, the Lithuanians called their early rulerskunigas (kunigai in plural). The word was borrowed fromGerman –kuning,konig. Later onkunigas was replaced by the wordkunigaikštis, used to describe to medieval Lithuanian rulers in modern Lithuanian, whilekunigas today meanspriest.
^Gudavičius, Edvardas; Spečiūnas, Vytautas."Kancleris".Vle.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved27 December 2023.
^Gudavičius, Edvardas."Pakancleris".Vle.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved27 December 2023.
^Makuch, Andrij."Ukraine: History: Lithuanian and Polish rule".Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved20 July 2016.Within the [Lithuanian] grand duchy the Ruthenian (Ukrainian and Belarusian) lands initially retained considerable autonomy. The pagan Lithuanians themselves were increasingly converting to Orthodoxy and assimilating into the Ruthenian culture. The grand duchy's administrative practices and legal system drew heavily on Slavic customs, and an official Ruthenian state language (also known as Rusyn) developed over time from the language used in Rus. Direct Polish rule in Ukraine in the 1340s and for two centuries thereafter was limited to Galicia. There, changes in such areas as administration, law, and land tenure proceeded more rapidly than in Ukrainian territories under Lithuania. However, Lithuania itself was soon drawn into the orbit of Poland following the dynastic linkage of the two states in 1385/86 and the baptism of the Lithuanians into the Latin (Roman Catholic) church.
^"Union of Lublin: Poland-Lithuania [1569]".Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved20 July 2016.Formally, Poland and Lithuania were to be distinct, equal components of the federation, [...] But Poland, which retained possession of the Lithuanian lands it had seized, had greater representation in the Diet and became the dominant partner.
^Stranga, Aivars."Lithuania: History: Union with Poland".Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved12 August 2016.While Poland and Lithuania would thereafter elect a joint sovereign and have a common parliament, the basic dual state structure was retained. Each continued to be administered separately and had its own law codes and armed forces. The joint commonwealth, however, provided an impetus for cultural Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility. By the end of the 17th century, it had virtually become indistinguishable from its Polish counterpart.
^Gudavičius, Edvardas."Didysis kunigaikštis".Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Retrieved4 November 2023.
^Tyla, Antanas."Elekcinis seimas".Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Retrieved4 November 2023.
^abBesala, Jerzy (1992).Stefan Batory. pp. 295–296.
^Petrus, Jerzy T. (1977). "Miecze poświęcane królewicza Władysława Zygmunta i króla Jana III" [Blessed swords of Prince Władysław Zygmunt and King Jan III.].Biuletyn Historii Sztuki.39: 157.
^Górak-Sosnowska, Katarzyna. (2011).Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe : widening the European discourse on Islam. University of Warsaw. Faculty of Oriental Studies. pp. 207–208.ISBN978-8390322957.OCLC804006764.
^Potašenko, Grigorijus (2008).Multinational Lithuania: History of Ethnic Minorities. Šviesa. pp. 23–25.ISBN978-5430052508.
^Leśniewska-Napierała, Katarzyna (2015).Geograficzno-polityczne uwarunkowania sytuacji mniejszości polskiej na Litwie i Łotwie po 1990 r. (in Polish).University of Łódź. pp. 37–38.ISBN978-83-7969-952-0.
^abBurant, S. R.; Zubek, V. (1993). "Eastern Europe's Old Memories and New Realities: Resurrecting the Polish-lithuanian Union".East European Politics & Societies.7 (2):370–393.doi:10.1177/0888325493007002007.ISSN0888-3254.S2CID146783347.
^Baranauskas, Tomas (1 January 2009)."Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė ir lietuvių tauta" [The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Lithuanian nation].Lietuvių tauta (in Lithuanian). 11: Tirpstančios lietuvių žemės: 82.
^Butėnas, Domas (1997).Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės valstybinių ir visuomeninių institucijų istorijos bruožai XIII–XVIII a. Vilnius: Lietuvos istorijos instituto leidykla. pp. 145–146.
^abcdLetukienė, Nijolė; Gineika, Petras (2003). "Istorija. Politologija: kurso santrauka istorijos egzaminui" (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Alma littera: 182.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help). Statistical numbers, usually accepted in historiography (the sources, their treatment, the method of measuring is not discussed in the source), are given, according to which in 1260 there were about 0.27 million Lithuanians out of a total population of 0.4 million (or 67.5%). The size of the territory of the Grand Duchy was about 200 thousand km2. The following data on population is given in the sequence – year, total population in millions, territory, Lithuanian (inhabitants of ethnic Lithuania) part of population in millions: 1340 – 0.7, 350 thousand km2, 0.37; 1375 – 1.4, 700 thousand km2, 0.42; 1430 – 2.5, 930 thousand km2, 0.59 or 24%; 1490 – 3.8, 850 thousand km2, 0.55 or 14% or 1/7; 1522 – 2.365, 485 thousand km2, 0.7 or 30%; 1568 – 2.8, 570 thousand km2, 0.825 million or 30%; 1572, 1.71, 320 thousand km2, 0.85 million or 50%; 1770 – 4.84, 320 thousand km2, 1.39 or 29%; 1791 – 2.5, 250 km2, 1.4 or 56%; 1793 – 1.8, 132 km2, 1.35 or 75%
^Letukienė, N.,Istorija, Politologija: Kurso santrauka istorijos egzaminui, 2003, p. 182; there were about 0.37 million Lithuanians of 0.7 million of a whole population by 1340 in the territory of 350 thousand km2 and 0.42 million of 1.4 million by 1375 in the territory of 700 thousand km2. Different numbers can also be found, for example: Kevin O'Connor,The History of the Baltic States, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003,ISBN0-313-32355-0,Google Print, p. 17. Here the author estimates that there were 9 million inhabitants in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and 1 million of them were ethnic Lithuanians by 1387.
^Gałędek, Michał (January 2003)."Wielkie Księstwo Litewskie w myśli politycznej Stanisława Cata-Mackiewicza" [The Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Political Thought of Stanisław Cat-Mackiewicz].Ostatni Obywatele Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego [Last Citizens of Grand Duchy of Lithuania], Eds. T. Bujnicki, K. Stępnik, Lublin: University of Mariae Curie Skłodowska Press (in Polish). academia.edu. Archived fromthe original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved12 August 2016.
Alan V. Murray.Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier 1150–1500 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series).Routledge, 2001.ISBN978-0754603252.
Zenonas Norkus.An Unproclaimed Empire: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania: From the Viewpoint of Comparative Historical Sociology of Empires,Routledge, 2017, 426 p.ISBN978-1138281547.
A. Dubonis, D. Antanavičius, R. Ragauskiene, R. Šmigelskytė-Štukienė.The Lithuanian Metrica : History and Research.Academic Studies Press. Brighton & United States, 2020.ISBN978-1644693100
Jūratė Kiaupienė.Between Rome and Byzantium: The Golden Age of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's Political Culture. Second half of the fifteenth century to first half of the seventeenth century.Academic Studies Press. Brighton & United States, 2020.ISBN978-1644691465
Drungila, Jonas (2019).Erelis lokio guolyje. Lenkų bajorai Žemaitijoje XVI–XVIII a.: migracija, kalba, atmintis [An eagle in a bear's bed. Polish nobility in Samogitia in the 16th–18th centuries: migration, language, memory] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Lithuanian Institute of History Press.ISBN978-609-8183-65-8.
Frost, Robert (2015).The Oxford History of Poland–Lithuania. Vol. I: The Making of the Polish–Lithuanian Union,1385–1569. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-820869-3.
Gudavičius, Edvardas (2006). "Rusini (Gudowie)" [Ruthenians (Gudais)]. In Ališauskas, Vytautas; Jovaiša, Liudas; Paknys, Mindaugas; Petrauskas, Rimvydas; Raila, Eligijus (eds.).Kultura Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego. Analizy i obrazy. Kraków. pp. 544–560.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Kiaupa, Zigmantas; Kiaupienė, Jūratė; Kuncevičius, Albinas (2000).The history of Lithuania before 1795. Vilnius.ISBN9789986810131.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Rachuba, Andrzej (2010). "Litwini". In Kopczyński, Michał; Tygielski, Wojciech (eds.).Pod wspólnym niebem. Narody dawnej Rzeczypospolitej [Under a Common Sky. Peoples of the former Commonwealth] (in Polish). Warsaw.ISBN978-83-11-11724-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Rowell, Stephen Christopher (1994).Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire within East-Central Europe, 1295–1345. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series. Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1-107-65876-9.
Rowell, Stephen Christopher; Baronas, Darius (2015).The Conversion of Lithuania. From Pagan Barbarians to Late Medieval Christians. Vilnius: Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore.ISBN978-609-425-152-8.
Wiemer, Björn (2003). "Dialect and language contacts on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 15th century until 1939". In Braunmüller, Kurt; Ferraresi, Gisella (eds.).Aspects of Multilingualism in European Language History. John Benjamins. pp. 105–144.ISBN90-272-1922-2.
Wisner, Henryk (2008).Rzeczpospolita Wazów. Sławne Państwo, Wielkie Księstwo Litewskie [The Commonwealth of the Vasas. The Illustrious State, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania] (in Polish). Vol. 3. Warsaw: Neriton.
Young, Francis (2024).Poetry and Nation-Building in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Arc Humanities Press.ISBN9781802702293
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