Kingdom of Lithuania | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1251–1263 | |||||||||
.png) | |||||||||
.png) Kingdom of Lithuania at its peak | |||||||||
| Capital | Kernavė | ||||||||
| Common languages | Lithuanian,Ruthenian | ||||||||
| Religion |
| ||||||||
| Government | Hereditary feudal absolute monarchy | ||||||||
| King | |||||||||
• 1251–1263 | Mindaugas | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 17 July 1251 | ||||||||
• Coronation of Mindaugas | 6 July 1253 | ||||||||
• Mindaugas assassinated | 12 September 1263 | ||||||||
| Currency | Ilgasis | ||||||||
| |||||||||
TheKingdom of Lithuania was asovereign state that existed from 17 July 1251 until the death of the first crownedking of Lithuania, Mindaugas, on 12 September 1263.[1]Mindaugas was the onlyLithuanian monarch crowned king with the assent of thePope and the head of the first Catholic Lithuanian state. The formation of the kingdom is widely regarded as a partially successful attempt at unifying all surroundingBaltic tribes, including theOld Prussians, into a single unified state under a common king.[2]
Other monarchs of Lithuania were referred to as grand dukes, kings or emperors in extant foreign written sources as the size of the realm and their power expanded or contracted. This practice can be compared to that of British, Japanese and many other monarchs who are known as kings or emperors in spite of not being crowned with the assent of the Pope. Because Lithuania was pagan in the 13th century, Lithuanian rulers were not treated as equals to Catholic monarchs, even though extant Christian sources referred to them as kings or emperors regardless of their religious affiliation.[3] For instance,Gediminas titled himself King of Lithuania and Rus, and Duke of Semigalia. The Pope also addressed him as King.
The confusion stems from the eastern and western European traditions of royal hierarchy and titles. In Eastern Europe, the title of grand duke equalled king and sometimes emperor. In Western Europe, the title of grand duke is reserved for monarchs of small polities and ranks junior to king and emperor.
After the formalChristianization[4] and especially after the creation of the personal union with Poland, the monarchs of Poland–Lithuania retained the separate titles of Grand Dukes of Lithuania and Kings of Poland (similarly to how the Emperors of Austria–Hungary had retained the separate titles of Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, to some extent).
The Catholic crown was to be received from the Pope or the Holy Roman Emperor. Lithuania was subservient to both and, with rare exceptions, did not pursue the title. For diplomatic reasons, three further attempts were made to re-establish the Kingdom status – byVytautas the Great in 1430, byŠvitrigaila, who wanted to continue Vytautas' attempts at the coronation, and by theCouncil of Lithuania in 1918.
In the early 13th century, Lithuania was inhabited by variouspolytheisticBaltic tribes, which began to organize themselves into a state – theGrand Duchy of Lithuania. By the 1230s, Mindaugas emerged as the leader of the Grand Duchy. In 1249, an internal war erupted between Mindaugas and his nephewsTautvilas andEdivydas. As each side searched for foreign allies, Mindaugas succeeded in convincing theLivonian Order not only to provide military assistance but also to secure for him the royal crown of Lithuania in exchange for his conversion to Catholicism and some lands in western Lithuania. The status of a kingdom was granted on 17 July 1251, when theBishop of Chełmno was ordered to crown Mindaugas byPope Innocent IV.[1] Two years later, Mindaugas and his wifeMorta were crowned King and Queen of Lithuania.[1] In 1255, Mindaugas received permission fromPope Alexander IV to crown his son King of Lithuania.
The coronation and the alliance with the Livonian Order allowed for a period of peace between Lithuania and Livonia. During that time, the Lithuanians expanded east, while Livonia attempted to conquerSamogitia. Enticed by his nephewTreniota, Mindaugas broke the peace after the Order was defeated in theBattle of Skuodas in 1259 and theBattle of Durbe in 1260. Lithuanian forces were, however, unable to prevent the devastatingMongol invasion of Lithuania in 1258–1259.[5] Treniota's influence grew as he waged a war against the Order and his priorities began to diverge from those of Mindaugas.[6] The conflict resulted in the assassination of Mindaugas and two of his sons in 1263. The country reverted topaganism and its status as a kingdom was lost. The state survived as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the subsequent monarchs are known as Grand Dukes as they could not be crowned Kings until they converted to Christianity (theChristianization of Lithuania occurred only in 1387).
There was an attempt by Grand DukeVytautas the Great (ruled 1392–1430) to receive a Catholic crown. At theCongress of Lutsk in 1430,Sigismund, King of Hungary who was yet to be elected Holy Roman Emperor, offered Vytautas the crown and proclaimed Lithuania a (presumably subservient) kingdom. It did not come to fruition, because of the opposition from Polish nobles and later from his first cousinJogaila.[7] According to some historians, the crown was sent to Lithuania by Sigismund, but it was intercepted by Polish forces,[8] but in reality, Sigismund sent only the documents proposing an alliance between him, Vytautas and theTeutonic Order, and judgement from legal experts that the coronation could be performed by the bishop of Vilnius.[9] Soon afterwards, Vytautas died without having been crowned Catholic king.
Following theUnion of Lublin, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became a part of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.Kings of Poland were also crowned as Grand Dukes of Lithuania, and therefore they did not use the title of King of Lithuania; the two parts of the Commonwealth were known as the Grand Duchy and thePolish Crown.
After Lithuaniadeclared independence in February 1918, the monarchy was re-established and the 2ndDuke of Urach was invited to become KingMindaugas II. However, the monarchy was short-lived and Mindaugas II never visited Lithuania.[10] TheKingdom of Lithuania was aclient-state of theGerman Empire, and followingGermany's defeat in World War I in the fall of 1918, the idea of a monarchy was abandoned in favor of a democratic republic.
Lithuania portalLietuvos karalystės įkūrimas buvo iš dalies sėkmingas bandymas sujungti visas baltų žemes (ir prūsus) į vieną valstybę.
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