Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century,[5] succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century,[6] when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 partitions of Poland–Lithuania. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation of several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija, which by 1440, became the largest European state controlling an area from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south.[7][8][9]
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
- Sovereign state (1236–1386, 1440–1447, 1492–1501)
- Personal union with the Kingdom of Poland (1386–1440, 1447–1492, 1501–1569)
- Real union with the Kingdom of Poland (1569–1655)
- Sovereign state under protection of the Swedish Empire (1655–1657)
- Real union with the Kingdom of Poland (1657–1795)
Lithuanian, Ruthenian, Polish, Latin, German, Yiddish, Tatar, Karaim (see § Languages)
- Hereditary monarchy (1230–1572)
- Elective monarchy (1572–1795)
Mindaugas (first)
Stanisław August Poniatowski (last)
1180s
1251–1263
14 August 1385
1 July 1569
24 October 1795
200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi)
930,000 km2 (360,000 sq mi)
320,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi)
250,000 km2 (97,000 sq mi)
132,000 km2 (51,000 sq mi)
400,000
2,500,000
1,700,000
2,500,000
1,800,000
The grand duchy expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus' and other neighbouring states, including what is now Belarus, Lithuania, most of Ukraine as well as parts of Latvia, Moldova, Poland and Russia. At its greatest extent, in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe.[10] It was a multi-ethnic and multiconfessional state, with great diversity in languages, religion, and cultural heritage.
The consolidation of the Lithuanian lands began in the late 13th century. Mindaugas, the first ruler of the grand duchy, was crowned as the Catholic King of Lithuania in 1253. The pagan state was targeted in a religious crusade by the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order, but survived. Its rapid territorial expansion started late in the reign of Gediminas,[11] and continued under the diarchy and co-leadership of his sons, Algirdas and Kęstutis.[12] Algirdas's son Jogaila signed the Union of Krewo in 1386, bringing two major changes in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: conversion to Christianity of Europe's last pagan state,[13] and establishment of a dynastic union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.[14] This marked the beginning of the rule of other countries by the patrilineal members of the Lithuanian ruling Gediminids dynasty who since the 14th–15th centuries ruled not only Lithuania, but also Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, and Moldavia.[15][16]
The reign of Vytautas the Great, son of Kęstutis, marked both the greatest territorial expansion of the grand duchy (it became one of the largest countries territorially in Europe) and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410.[17] It also marked the rise of the Lithuanian nobility. After Vytautas's death, Lithuania's relationship with the Kingdom of Poland greatly deteriorated.[18] Lithuanian noblemen, including the Radvila family, attempted to break the personal union with Poland.[19] However, unsuccessful wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow forced the union to remain intact.
Eventually, the Union of Lublin of 1569 created a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the Federation, 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 the Constitution of 3 May 1791, when it was supposed to become a single country, the Commonwealth, under one monarch, one parliament and no Lithuanian autonomy. Shortly afterward, the unitary character of the state was confirmed by adopting the Reciprocal 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 were Kraków, Warsaw and Vilnius) remained that was nominally independent. After the Kościuszko Uprising, the territory was completely partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Austria in 1795.
The name of Lithuania (Litua) was first mentioned in 1009 in Annals of Quedlinburg. Some older etymological theories relate the name to a small river not far from Kernavė, the core area of the early 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 is Lietava.[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 form liet- could be directly translated as lietis (to spill), of the root derived from the Proto-Indo-European leyǝ-.[22] However, the river is very small and some 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 word leičiai (plural of leitis, a social group of warriors-knights in the early Grand Duchy of Lithuania). The title of the Grand Duchy was consistently applied to Lithuania from the 14th century onward.[25]
In other languages, the grand duchy is referred to as:
Naming convention of both title of ruler (hospodar)[27] and the state changed as it expanded its territory. Following the decline of the Kingdom of Ruthenia[28] and incorporation of its lands into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Gediminas started to title himself as "King of Lithuanians and many Ruthenians",[29][30][31] while the name of the state became the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Ruthenia.[32][33] Similarly the title changed to "King of Lithuanians and Ruthenians, ruler and duke of Semigallia" when Semigallia became part of the state.[34][35] The 1529 edition of the Statute of Lithuania described the titles of Sigismund I the Old as "King of Poland, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Samogitia, Mazovia, and other [lands]".[36]
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.[37]