The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Order during the reign of Vytenis (original) (raw)
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The Problem of the Beginning of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (abstract)
. Cukurova 10th International Scientific Research Conference April 2-4, 2023. Adana / Türkiye. Abstract Book Editors Dr. Ethem İlhan Şahin, Merve Kidiryuz. IKSAD Publishing House. Issued: 25.04.2023 - ISBN: 978-625-367-063-4 , 2023
Video here: https://youtu.be/WV6r05k7TmY -- Slides here: https://www.academia.edu/99912304/ The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) was a puffer-state in the Middle Ages, between the western, Roman Catholic part of Europe on one side, and the evolving Muscovy, which began to grow in the 14th c, on the other side. By the 1300s, it reached its borders from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Already in 1219, the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia, a Slavic State, made a peace treaty with it. Thus, this date of 1219 must be accepted for the beginning of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Therefore, we cannot agree with Rowell, who dates the beginning of the Lithuanian state to the very end of the 13th century (1295). According to some other theories, the beginning of the GDL is counted from the coronation of Mindaugas (Mindog in Slavic sources) in 1253, which was not continued, it did not ground any dynasty. He remained an episodic-only Lithuanian king who was murdered by his Lithuanian elite. The Lithuanian state remained a ‘grand duchy’ after him, therefore, it was not subordinated under the indirect political rule of the Roman Pope. On the other hand, it was not a ‘pagan’ state at all, in contrary to Rowell, 1994, even if Lithuanians cultivated pagan costumes as their confessional identification. The Lithuanian rulers often married Slavic princesses of Orthodox confession, and they baptized themselves, too, according to the Byzantine-rite form of the Christian religion. Their chancellery was managed in the Church Slavic language, their clerks were Slavic priests and scribes of Orthodox Christianity. Therefore, it was a de facto Christian state with a huge number of Orthodox believers and a written chancellery language, the local redaction of the Church Slavonic. It was a powerful and dynamically developing state in Eastern Europe from the early 13th up to the late 14th cc.
WSCHODNI ROCZNIK HUMANISTYCZNY, 2023
The article is devoted to the representation of Christian knights of the Teutonic Order and pagan Lithuanians as the Self and the Other in the chronicles of the Teutonic Order from the 14th century. The primary criteria for evaluating the Self and the Other (faith, belief, actions) and the terms used to identify the pagan Lithuanians as the Other are studied. The characteristic features of the Christians and the pagans described in the Teutonic chronicles are examined. In this way, the author attempts to analyse the methodological approaches used by the chroniclers to portray and emphasise the otherness of the Lithuanians as a way to explain and justify the Crusade of the Teutonic Order in this region. The author claims that in order to achieve this goal, the narrators not only used specific and often metaphorical terms and characteristics to distinguish the pagans, but also put emphasis on their negative traits and described cruel rituals that could hardly be accepted by the Christian Church, listed all destructive deeds and crimes committed by the Lithuanians in the Christian lands during their attacks. Since religion was the main regulating force of a society in the medieval era, it was God who was supposed to correct the lifestyle of the pagans or punish them for their crimes, if not with his own hands, then with the help of real people acting on his behalf. Therefore, the depiction of divine retribution or God`s punishment was one more effective method to represent the otherness of the pagan Lithuanians in comparison with the Christian knights of the Teutonic Order.
As the prophet of the Gentiles, Job states, the life of Man upon earth is a warfare. During the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries war against the Tatars and later the Turks and increasingly the Muscovites impinged considerably on the Catholic and Orthodox populations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. War and its consequences made their mark on devotions (to St George, St Casimir, the Ten thousand Military Martyrs) and church and chantry building; pilgrimage contributionswere sidelined for rebuilding churches as well as castles destroyed by the Tatars. The spoils of war were displayed publicly in Vilnius (Wilno) cathedral and thanksgiving for victory and intercession for the fallen took physical form in the building of churches by both Catholic and Orthodox leaders. Personal and patriotic memory of the dead was visualised publicly in religious buildings. Growing traditions of organising public processions around the city of Vilnius placed the Kletsk (Klecko) memorial church of St George clearly on the annual calendar. In the documentary record war was both a literary topos and a harsh everyday reality.
Ordines Militares Colloquia Torunensia Historica. Yearbook for the Study of the Military Orders, 2019
The book covers a wide variety of topics, such as commerce, realpolitik, personalities, sex, alcoholism, travels, disputes, etc. It is written in non-formal style, so the general reader should find it easy to read and learn much about East-Central Europe. However, fellow colleagues in the field of history may be disappointed.
Open Political Science, 2018
At the beginning of the Renaissance Lithuanians understood that to join the civilization of Western Europe, it was necessary to have an appropriate (it means: very long) tradition. Like other countries, they had to create their own myth of origin. The most prestigious tradition was Greek-Roman antiquity, so the country's origin story was invented, claiming its people descended directly from Rome. According to subsequent chronicles, the founder of the new state was Palemon (Publius Libon, initially Vilia). Using the theory of cultural memory of Jan and Aleida Assmann, the article presents how and why the Lithuanian myth of origin was transformed from 15th to the end of the 18th century. Particular attention was paid to the current needs of the state and the powerful noble families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which also found their origins in the state myth. During the early modern period, the changes in the story were made (including the date of Palemon's arrival in the Lithuanian lands). Nonetheless, the myth was not questioned for a long time. Even once it had already been established that it was no more than a fairy tale, the story was revived again, performing other functions in the 19th century.