Origin Gediminas was born in about 1275. Because written sources of the era are scarce, Gediminas' ancestry, early life, and assumption of the title of Grand Duke in c. 1316 are obscure and continue to be the subject of scholarly debate. Various theories have claimed that Gediminas was either his predecessor Grand Duke
Vytenis' son, his brother, his cousin, or his
hostler. For several centuries only two versions of his origins circulated. Chronicles—written long after Gediminas' death by the Teutonic Knights, a long-standing enemy of Lithuania—claimed that Gediminas was a hostler to Vytenis; according to these chronicles, Gediminas killed his master and assumed the throne. Another version introduced in the Lithuanian Chronicles, which also appeared long after Gediminas' death, proclaimed that Gediminas was Vytenis' son. However, the two men were almost the same age, making this relationship unlikely. Recent research indicates that Gediminias' ancestor may have been
Skalmantas. In 1974 historian Jerzy Ochmański noted that
Zadonshchina, a poem from the end of the 14th century, contains a line in which two sons of Algirdas name their ancestors: "We are two brothers—sons of Algirdas, and grandsons of Gediminas, and great-grandsons of Skalmantas." This discovery led to the belief that Skalmantas was the long-sought ancestor of the Gediminids. Ochmański posited that the poem skipped the generation represented by Butvydas, and jumped back to the unknown ancestor. Baranauskas disagrees, believing Skalmantas was Butvydas' brother rather than his father, and that Vytenis and Gediminas were therefore cousins.
Choice of religion Gediminas inherited land consisting of
Lithuania proper,
Samogitia,
Navahrudak,
Podlasie,
Polotsk and
Minsk. However, these possessions were all threatened by the
Teutonic Knights and the
Livonian Order, which desired to conquer them. in Eastern Europe until 1434 The systematic raiding of Lithuania by the knights under the pretext of converting it had long since
united all the Lithuanian tribes. For this purpose, he entered into direct diplomatic negotiations with the
Holy See. At the end of 1322, he sent letters to Pope
John XXII soliciting his protection against the persecution of the knights, Gediminas also asked that legates should be dispatched to him in order to be baptized. This action was supported by the
Archbishop of Riga, Frederic Lobestat. Following these events, peace between the Duchy and the Livonian Order was eventually conducted on 2 October 1323. On receiving a favourable reply from the Holy See, Gediminas issued circular letters, dated 25 January 1323, to the principal
Hanseatic towns, offering a free access into his domains to men of every order and profession from nobles and knights to tillers of the soil. The immigrants were to choose their own settlements and be governed by their own laws. Priests and monks were also invited to come and build churches at
Vilnius and Navahrudak. In October 1323, representatives of the archbishop of
Riga, the
bishop of Dorpat, the king of Denmark, the Dominican and Franciscan orders, and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order assembled at Vilnius, when Gediminas confirmed his promises and undertook to be baptised as soon as the papal legates arrived. A compact was then signed at Vilnius, in the name of the whole Christian World, between Gediminas and the delegates, confirming the promised privileges. On his raid upon
Dobrzyń, the latest acquisition of the knights on Polish soil, gave them a ready weapon against him. The
Prussian bishops, who were devoted to the knights, questioned the authority of Gediminas' letters and denounced him as an enemy of the faith at a
synod in
Elbing; his Orthodox subjects reproached him with leaning towards the Latin heresy, while the pagan Lithuanians accused him of abandoning the ancient gods. Gediminas disentangled himself from his difficulties by repudiating his former promises; by refusing to receive the papal legates who arrived at Riga in September 1323, and by dismissing the Franciscans from his territories. This led Gediminas to maintain paganism in Lithuania,even if more than twice as many Orthodox Christians lived in his realm than pagans. He had in the meantime improved his position by an alliance with
Wladislaus Lokietek, king of Poland, and had his daughter
Aldona baptized for the sake of betrothing her to Władysław's son
Casimir III. Baptizing himself would have implications for Gediminas domestically; it would have offended the staunchly pagan inhabitants of the major Lithuanian regions of
Žemaitija and
Aukštaitija. In addition, these heartland pagans together with the Orthodox Rus' threatened Gediminas with death if he decided to convert; a similar scenario also happened to
Mindaugas, which he desperately wanted to avoid. His strategy was to gain the support of the Pope and other Catholic powers in his conflict with the Teutonic Order by granting a favourable status to Catholics living within his realm and feigning a personal interest in the Christian religion. While he allowed Catholic clergy to enter his realm for the purpose of ministering to his Catholic subjects and to temporary residents, he savagely punished any attempt to convert pagan Lithuanians or to insult their native religion. Thus in about 1339–1340 he executed two
Franciscan friars from
Bohemia, Ulrich and Martin, who had gone beyond the authority granted them and had publicly preached against the
Lithuanian religion. Gediminas ordered them to renounce Christianity, and had them killed when they refused. Five more friars were executed in 1369 for the same offence. Despite Gediminas' chief goal to save Lithuania from German attacks, he still died as a pagan reigning over semi-pagan lands. Also, he was equally bound to his pagan kinsmen in Samogitia, to his
Orthodox subjects in
Belarus, and to his
Catholic allies in
Masovia. Nevertheless, Gediminas began a new baptism campaign in 1340–41 to prevent the Teutonic Knights aggression.
Incorporation of Ruthenian lands in
Lida While on his guard against his northern foes, Gediminas from 1316 to 1340 was aggrandizing himself at the expense of the numerous Ruthenian principalities in the south and east. Gediminas conquered a long series of cities across Belarus and northern Ukraine as well, but the various stages of these battles are impossible to follow. Especially from 1325 to 1340, sources about Eastern campaigns being few and conflicting, and the date of every salient event exceedingly doubtful. One of his most important territorial accretions, the principality of
Halych-Volynia, was obtained by the marriage of his son
Lubart with the daughter of the Galician prince. is named after the founder of Vilnius, although it was built considerably later. From about 23 km (14 mi) south west of Kiev, Gediminas defeated Stanislav of Kiev and his allies in the
Battle on the Irpin River. He then besieged and conquered
Kiev sending Stanislav, the last descendant of the
Rurik Dynasty to ever rule Kiev, into exile first in
Bryansk and then in
Ryazan.
Theodor, brother of Gediminas, and Algimantas, son of Mindaugas from the
Olshanski family, were installed in Kiev. After these conquests, Lithuania stretched very close to the
Black Sea. While exploiting Ruthenian weakness in the wake of the
Mongol invasion, Gediminas avoided war with the
Golden Horde, a great regional power at the time, while expanding Lithuania's border almost towards the
Black Sea. He also secured an alliance with the nascent
Grand Duchy of Moscow by marrying his daughter,
Anastasia, to the grand duke
Simeon. However, Gediminas offset the influence of Muscovy in northern Russia, and assisted the republic of
Pskov, which acknowledged his overlordship, to break away from
Great Novgorod.
Domestic affairs and death Gediminas was known for protecting Catholics and Orthodox people in addition to pagans, and he is known for improving the efficiency of the Lithuanian Army. Also, he is known for building a chain of fortresses as well as numerous castles in towns including
Vilnius. At first he moved the capital to the newly built town of
Trakai, but in c. 1320 re-established a permanent capital in
Vilnius. Gediminas died in 1341, presumably killed during a
coup d'état. He was succeeded by one of his sons,
Jaunutis, who was unable to control the unrest in the country, as a result of which he was deposed in 1345 by his brother
Algirdas. ==Legacy==