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GEDYMIN (d. 1342)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 549 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GEDYMIN (d. 1342) , See also:grand-See also:duke of Lithuania, was supposed by the earlier chroniclers to have been the servant of Witen, See also:prince of Lithuania, but more probably he was Witen's younger See also:brother and the son of Lutuwer, another Lithuanian prince. Gedymin inherited a vast domain, comprising Lithuania proper, Samogitia, Red See also:Russia, See also:Polotsk and See also:Minsk; but these possessions were environed by powerful and greedy foes, the most dangerous of them being the See also:Teutonic Knights and the Livonian knights of the See also:Sword. The systematic raiding of Lithuania by the knights under the pretext of converting it had See also:long since See also:united all the Lithuanian tribes against the See also:common enemy; but Gedymin aimed at establishing a See also:dynasty which should make Lithuania not merely secure but mighty, and for this purpose he entered into See also:direct See also:diplomatic negotiations with the See also:Holy See. At the end of 1322 he sent letters to See also:Pope See also:John XXII. soliciting his See also:protection against the persecution of the knights, informing him of the privileges already granted. to the See also:Dominicans and the See also:Franciscans in Lithuania for the See also:preaching of See also:God's Word, and desiring that legates should be sent to receive him also into the bosom of the See also:church. On receiving a favourable reply from the Holy See, "Gedymin Issued circular letters, dated 25th of See also:January 1325, to the See also:principal Hanse towns, offering a See also:free See also:access into hisdomains to men of every See also:order and profession from nobles and knights to tillers of the See also:soil. The immigrants were to choose their own settlements and be governed by their own See also:laws. Priests and monks were also invited to come and build churches at See also:Vilna and Novogrodek. Similar letters were sent to the Wendish or Baltic cities, and to the bishops and landowners of See also:Livonia and See also:Esthonia. In See also:short Gedymin, recognizing the superiority of western See also:civilization, anticipated See also:Ivan the Terrible and See also:Peter the See also:Great by throwing open the semi-See also:savage See also:Russian lands to influences of culture. In See also:October 1323 representatives of the See also:archbishop of See also:Riga, the See also:bishop of Dorpat, the See also:king of See also:Denmark, the Dominican and Franciscan orders, and the Grand See also:Master of the Teutonic Order assembled at Vilna, when Gedymin confirmed his promises and undertook to be baptized as soon as the papal legates arrived. A compact was then signed at Vilna, " in the name of the whole See also:Christian See also:World," between Gedymin and the delegates, confirming the promised privileges.

But the christianizing of Lithuania was by no means to the liking of the Teutonic Knights, and they used every effort to nullify Gedymin's far-reaching See also:

design. This, unfortunately, it was easy to do. Gedymin's See also:chief See also:object was to See also:save Lithuania from destruction at the hands of the Germans. But he was still a See also:pagan reigning over semi-pagan lands; he was equally See also:bound to his pagan kinsmen in Samogitia, to his orthodox subjects in Red Russia, and to his See also:Catholic See also:allies in Masovia. His policy, therefore, was necessarily tentative and ambiguous, and . might very readily be misinterpreted. Thus his See also:raid upon Dobrzyn, the latest acquisition of the knights on See also:Polish. soil, speedily gave them a ready weapon against him. The Prussian bishops, who were devoted to the knights, at a See also:synod at See also:Elbing questioned the authority of Gedymin's letters and denounced him as an enemy of the faith; his orthodox subjects reproached him with leaning towards the Latin See also:heresy; while the pagan See also:Lithuanians accused him of abandoning the See also:ancient gods. Gedymin disentangled himself from his difficulties by repudiating his former promises; by refusing to receive the papal legates who arrived at Riga in See also:September 1323; and by dismissing the Franciscans from his territories. These apparently retrogressive See also:measures simply amounted to a statesmanlike recognition of the fact that the pagan See also:element was still the strongest force in Lithuania, and could not yet be dispensed with in the coming struggle for See also:nationality. At the same See also:time Gedymin through his ambassadors privately informed the papal legates at Riga that his difficult position. compelled him for a time to postpone his steadfast resolve of being baptized, and the legates showed their confidence in him by forbidding the neighbouring states to See also:war against Lithuania for the next four years, besides ratifying the treaty made between Gedymin and the archbishop of Riga. Nevertheless in 1325 the Order, disregarding the censures of the church, resumed the war with Gedymin, who had in the meantime improved his position by an See also:alliance with See also:Wladislaus Lokietek, king of See also:Poland, whose son Casimir now married Gedymin's daughter Aldona. While on his guard against his See also:northern foes, Gedymin from 1316 to 1340 was aggrandizing himself at the expense of the numerous Russian principalities in the See also:south and See also:east, whose incessant conflicts with each other wrought the ruin of them all.

Here Gedymin's triumphal progress was irresistible; but the various stages of it are impossible to follow, the See also:

sources of its See also:history being few and conflicting, and the date of every salient event exceedingly doubtful. One of his most important territorial accretions, the principality of See also:Halicz-See also:Vladimir," was obtained by the See also:marriage of his son Lubart with the daughter of the Haliczian prince; the other, See also:Kiev, apparently by See also:conquest. Gedymin also secured an alliance with the grand-duchy of Muscovy by marrying his daughter, Anastasia, to the grand-duke See also:Simeon. But he was strong enough to counterpoise the See also:influence of Muscovy in northern Russia, and assisted the re-public of See also:Pskov, which acknowledged his overlordship, to break away from Great See also:Novgorod. His See also:internal See also:administration bears all the marks of a See also:wise ruler. He protected the Catholic as well as the orthodox See also:clergy, encouraging them both to civilize his subjects; he raised the Lithuanian See also:army to the highest See also:state of efficiency then attainable; defended his See also:borders with a See also:chain of strong fortresses; and built numerous towns including Vilna, the See also:capital (c. 1321). Gedymin died in the See also:winter of 1342 of a See also:wound received at the See also:siege of Wielowa. He was married three times, and See also:left seven sons and six daughters. See Teodor Narbutt, History of the Lithuanian nation (Pol.) (Vilna, 1835); Antoni Prochaska, On the Genuineness of the Letters of Gedymin (Pol.) (See also:Cracow, 1895); Vladimir Bonifatovich Antonovich, Monograph concerning the History of Western and South-western Russia (Rus.) (Kiev, 1885). (R. N.

End of Article: GEDYMIN (d. 1342)

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