The war for the grand prince's throne between Svidrigailov and. Svidrigailov's wars: the plot. Union of Krevo and cousins
Svidrigailo or Shvidrigailo was born around 1370. Being baptized by the Orthodox Church under the name Lev, most likely, at the request of his brother Jagiello, in 1386 he went with him to Krakow, where he was baptized into the Catholic faith under the name Boleslav, but, despite this, he remained all his life faithful to Orthodoxy.
In the struggle for the Grand Duke's throne, between Jagiello and Vitovt, Svidrigailo was on the side of his brother Jagiello, in which they lost, and after the victory of Vitovt in 1393, he took the city of Vitebsk from him, given to him by Jagiello to reign.
Svidrigailo did not put up with this state of affairs and tried, with the help of the Livonian Order, to recapture Vitebsk for himself in 1396. Vitebsk was taken, but not for long, Vitovt recaptured the city, and Svidrigailo himself was captured and was sent to his brother, the Polish king Jogaila. By 1399, Svidrigailo reconciled with Vytautas and took part in a campaign with him against Vorskla.
After the battle on Vorskla in 1400, Svidrigailo gives Vitovt a vassal oath and receives Podolia and Zhydachev land, which could not keep him, from another attempt to conquer the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1402, he goes to the Teutonic Order and returns, along with the troops of the crusaders, commanded by Konrad von Jungingen. They besiege Vilna, but they could not take the city, and having robbed the nearby lands, the Teutons go to their place. For this campaign, Svidrigailo receives Bislak Castle from Konrad von Jungingen. One castle did not mean anything to the ambitious Svidrigailo, who constantly wanted to take the place of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and in 1402 he returned to his homeland, and again reconciled with his brother Vitovt, this time he received Chernihiv-Seversk land.
Svidrigailo owned the Chernigov-Seversk land until 1408, until he decided to go to the Moscow principality, and with the help of the Moscow prince Vasily Dmitrievich, he again tried to gain power in Lithuania. The Moscow prince listened to Svidrigailo and marched with his troops to the border with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but when he reached the Ugra River, he stopped, as Vitovt was standing on the other side with his army. Both sides did not dare to start a battle, and as a result, on September 14, 1408, Vitovt and Vasily Dmitrievich concluded an eternal peace. Svidrigailo, seeing that again he didn’t succeed, and he doesn’t need the lands offered to him by the Moscow prince, he returns to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania again to once again face off with Vitovt. However, Vitovt did not forgive Svidrigailo, ordered him to be arrested and imprisoned in the Kamenets fortress, where he would stay until his escape in March 1418. After escaping, Svidrigailo fled to Hungary, where he would not stay long, and returned to his homeland in 1419, after another reconciliation with Vitovt. Having again received land with the cities of Bryansk, Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky, Svidrigailo decided to pacify and did not arrange more conspiracies against Vitovt and took part in his military campaigns.
On October 27, 1430, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt dies, and Svidrigailo has a chance to become a Grand Duke, which he took advantage of. After so many years and so many attempts, he, with the support of the majority of Orthodox princes, despite the fact that, according to the Union of Horodel, Jagiello was to become the Grand Duke of Lithuania, was chosen by the Grand Duke of Lithuania.
The actions of Svidrigailo, naturally, caused great discontent among the Catholic part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Jagiello. The Polish crown began to demand the Podolsk lands and Volhynia, as well as to recognize the supreme power of King Jagiello. The war was not long in coming, and the pretext was the slap that Svidrigailo inflicted on the Polish ambassador when he once again arrived with demands. So, at the end of June 1431, the Lutsk War began, after the name of the castle in Podolia.
The Polish army quickly approached Lutsk and defeated the Lithuanian troops, but the Poles did not succeed in taking the city. Lutsk was defended by the Volyn boyar Yursha, and the Poles had no choice but to take the city into a long siege. The war continued until September 1431, when both sides, realizing that this war was dangerous for them, concluded the Czartorysky truce, according to which Svidrigailo actually admitted defeat.
Finding no way to attract Svidrigailo to their side, Jagiello and the Polish magnates decided to get rid of the objectionable prince, who sought to completely get away from the influence of Poland and the Catholic Church, with the help of a coup.
To this end, they sent castellan Lavrenty Zaremba to the ON, who established contacts with the conspirators and the Polish crown. Poland chose Vitovt's brother Sigismund Keistutovich as his protege. The coup was organized in Oshmyany on the way of Svidrigailo to meet with King Jagiello in Brest. On the night of August 31 to September 1, 1432, Svidregailo was attacked, but he managed to escape to Polotsk. Immediately after this attack, the conspirators declared Sigismund Keistuvich the Grand Duke of Lithuania.
Having fled to Polotsk, Svidrigailo retained the support of the Orthodox population of Lithuania, and a civil war broke out in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Military actions did not bring him success, in 1435 the battle of Vilkomirskaya took place, in which Svidrigailo lost, he was also defeated in clashes in 1437 and 1440.
After the assassination of Sigismund Keistutovich, the throne was taken by the youngest son of Jagiello Kazimir. He had no choice but to reconcile himself and take Volhynia into his possession.
Despite all his attempts to come to power with the help of weapons and enemies of the GDL, despite his cruel and quick-tempered character, the rebellious and ambitious Prince Svidrigailo dies in Lutsk in 1452.
Svidrigailo
Svidrigailo
Svidrigailo, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Prince of Novgorod-Seversky, Bryansk, Podolsk, Grand Duke of Russia, Grand Duke of Volyn
Švitrigaila (lit.) Svidrigailo Olgerdovich Orthodox name: a lion Catholic name: Boleslav Years of life: around 1355 - 1452 Years of government: Novgorod-Seversky: 1398 - 1430 Bryansk: 1401 - 1430 Lithuania: 1430 - 1432 Podolia: 1430-1434 Grand Duchy of Russia: 1432 - 1434 Volyn: 1442 - 1452 Father: Mother: Uliana Alexandrovna Tverskaya Wives: Anna Ivanovna Tverskaya Olga Borisovna Tverskaya Sophia Yurievna Smolenskaya
Svidrigailo was the youngest of the sons. He was baptized according to the Orthodox rite under the name Leo. In 1386, together with other brothers, Svidrigailo converted to Catholicism, but until the end of his life he remained devoted to the Russian part of Lithuania and its interests. Possessing a tough and cruel disposition, Svidrigailo often acted straightforwardly and did not know how to use circumstances to achieve his goals.
Due to his age, Svidrigailo, it seems, did not receive any inheritance from his father's will. In 1393, he settled in Vitebsk, but drove him out of there. Svidrigailo fled to the Teutons and fought with him for several years, even resorting to the help of the pope. After reconciliation with Svidrigailo, he changed destinies one after another: now we see him in Novgorod-Seversky, then in Podolia, then in Bryansk. When the war began in 1408, Svidrigailo went over to the side of the latter and surrendered to him all the Seversk cities. The Moscow prince rewarded Svidrigailo with unprecedented generosity: he received Vladimir-on-Klyazma, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Yuryev-Polsky, Volok Lamsky, Rzhev and half of Kolomna for feeding. But he was in no hurry to fight for the interests of Svidrigailo. When Edigey ruined the new Svidrigailov possessions, he fled back to Lithuania, plundering Serpukhov along the way. In Lithuania, Svidrigailo started secret relations with the Order, and with his consent, he imprisoned his restless brother in chains in the Kremenets castle. Nine years later, Daniil Ostrozhsky released Svidrigailo. He fled to Hungary and, through the mediation of the emperor, received from Novgorod-Seversky and Bryansk, where he lived quietly until 1430.
In 1430 the Grand Duke died. The Polish party in the Lithuanian Sejm would like to see the Grand Duke, but the Russian party, which supported Svidrigailo, won the victory. He proclaimed the independence of Lithuania from Poland. The Poles arrested the Lithuanian governor of Podolia, Dovgird, on the grounds that Podolia was given "to the stomach", that is, given to him personally for life, but not included in the Grand Duchy. In response, Svidrigailo arrested, who did not have time to leave Lithuania with his retinue, forced him to recognize the legitimacy of his election and achieved the convocation of the Polish-Lithuanian Sejm to decide the fate of Podolia. However, the Polish elders in Podolia refused to obey this decision. A strife began, in which Svidrigailo, instead of relying on the Russian-Lithuanian forces, turned to the emperor and the German knights for help. The Teutons began to ravage the northern borders of Poland, and the Polish troops invaded Lithuania, but Svidrigailo avoided a decisive battle.
In 1432, the parties signed a truce, but then the prince of Novgorod-Seversky rebelled against Svidrigailo. He led his army to Vilna, defeated Svidrigailo and forced him to flee to Polotsk. occupied all Lithuanian lands and was proclaimed the Grand Duke of Lithuania, while the Russian principalities remained behind Svidrigailo: Polotsk, Vitebsk, Podolia, Volyn, Smolensk, Kyiv and Seversk lands. The local nobility proclaimed him the Grand Duke of Russia. However, Svidrigailo, remaining a Catholic, continued to look for friends in the West, which alienated many Russian supporters from himself. As a result, in 1435 (already after his death), he was defeated near Vilkomir and fled to Krakow, where he began negotiations on the transition with his lands under the rule of the Polish crown. This offer was rejected.
Svidrigailo wandered for several years in Wallachia and Hungary (there were tales that he impoverished so much that he was forced to hire a shepherd to a rich Wallachian). When in 1440 he was killed by conspirators, Svidrigailo was again called to the Lithuanian table, but he was already so old that he could not do anything to seize power. In 1442, the Poles gave the old man Podolia and Volhynia. Svidrigailo began to be written as the prince of Volyn and recognized himself as a vassal of the Polish crown. In 1452, Svidrigailo died in Lutsk, transferring his possessions to the Lithuanians, which further intensified the feud between them and the Poles.
Fulfillment of Svidrigailo's dream
Grand Duke Vytautas died on October 27, 1430. Literally ten days later, the princes and boyars of the entire Grand Duchy of Lithuania gathered for a congress in Vilna. According to the Belarusian-Lithuanian annals and German chronicles, King Vladislav II (Jagiello) proposed to the congress to elect his own brother, 60-year-old Svidrigailo (in Catholicism, Boleslav), as the Grand Duke. This proposal was accepted on 7 November by a majority vote. Finally, Svidrigailo got what he had been dreaming of for 28 years - starting in 1402, when he first tried to take the throne with the help of the Crusaders.
However, the Polish nobles from the crown council, who stubbornly considered Lithuania a part of the Polish kingdom after the Union of Krevo in 1386, did not want to see this man as a grand duke.
Married to the daughter of the Grand Duke of Tver, Svidrigailo showed clear goodwill towards the Orthodox Church. His speeches against Vytautas in Vitebsk, in Podolia, in the Seversk principalities always relied on the Rusyns, who saw him as a defender of their interests. Jan Dlugosh emphasized that this Olgerdovich, although he himself was a Catholic, paradoxically "showed a great inclination towards the faith" of the Ruthenians. Therefore, the power of such a prince would call into question all the successes of the 30-year activity of the Church in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In addition, Svidrigailo was not going to cede any of the possessions of Lithuania to Poland. And he was simply not capable of playing the role of an obedient executor of the will of the Polish nobles by his nature. Consequently, with the approval of him on the throne, the prospects for the incorporation of Lithuania into Poland dissipated like smoke.
Svidrigailo was a bright and extraordinary personality. Later, ill-wishers, primarily Jan Dlugosh, and under the influence of Dlugosh, some Belarusian-Lithuanian chroniclers portrayed him as an unbalanced, narrow-minded person, an intriguer, prone to drunkenness and bouts of rage. However, it is difficult to believe the words of this chronicler - a fanatical Catholic and an ardent Polish patriot, especially if one takes into account the sympathy that various people in many countries had for Svidrigailo, not to mention the ON itself.
True, Svidrigailo promised to resolve all disputes at a congress with the Poles next summer. But the members of the Crown Rada had no illusions on this score. They preferred to force things. While Jagiello was in Vilna, the pan-rads ordered the Polish troops to enter Podolia, occupy Kamenets and Podolsk. Upon learning of this, Svidrigailo demanded that his crowned brother take action. Jagiello sent an order to Krakow for the withdrawal of troops and the return of the captured cities to the commissar of the Grand Duke of Lithuania. But, in order to disrupt the execution of this order, the pans of the crown council announced that the king had arrested Svidrigailo, and issued his order under duress.
While Jagiello was returning to Krakow, the situation worsened even more. Svidrigailo gave the order to keep the border castles under his authority. Vladimir Volynsky, Zbarazh and a number of other points were occupied. This led to armed clashes between Lithuanians and Poles in Podolia and Volhynia.
Preparing for a war against Poland, Svidrigailo was looking for allies. One of the first was the Moldavian governor Alexander "Good". It was possible to conclude an agreement with the former protege of Vytautas - Khan of the Golden Horde Ulug-Mukhammed*.
/* Ulug-Muhammed (d. 1445) - son of Jalal-ed-Din, grandson of Tokhtamysh. Khan of the Golden Horde in 1419-1423 and 1426-1437 In 1438, with his horde, he moved to the middle Volga, where he founded the Kazan Khanate.
In January 1431, a peace treaty was concluded with Veliky Novgorod, which ensured the neutrality of the Republic of Hagia Sophia in the flaring conflict. At the end of the year, the same agreement was concluded with Pskov.
Thanks to the efforts of Zhigimont Koributovich, an alliance with the Hussites loomed, but Svidrigailo preferred these heretics a more important ally - the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. As early as November 8, 1430 (the day after his election), he sent a letter to Sigismund with a proposal for a joint action against the Turks, in return for the same coronation offer that was made to Vitovt and for support in the fight against Poland. Sigismund not only agreed, but also advised the Master of the German Order to support Svidrigailo. Sigismund of Luxembourg supported the Grand Duke of Lithuania and promised him the royal crown. The parties exchanged embassies. On June 9, 1431, Svidrigailo signed an agreement with the Grand Master of the German Order, Paul Rusdorf (1422-1441), directed against the Kingdom of Poland and the Hussites. True, the Order was greatly weakened**.
/* In 1422, Vitovt sent his nephew, Prince Zhigimont Koributovich (1385-1435) with a 5,000-strong army to the Czech Republic to help the Hussites. Zhigimont's army occupied Prague, the inhabitants elected him "Pan Gospodar of Prague". But as a result of the conflict that broke out between the moderate and radical factions of the Hussites (cuppers and Taborites), in 1426 he had to leave for Polish Silesia. There he lived and preached the ideas of Jan Hus./
/** Recall that the Order lost the war to the Poles in the summer of 1422. Naturally, the crusaders dreamed of revenge./
The Polish magnates were not going to give in to Svidrigailo, who went to rapprochement with their old enemies and clearly headed for a complete break with Poland. In the second half of February 1431, at the congress of the Polish gentry in Sandomierz, the pans of the Crown Rada accused King Vladislav (Jagiello) of arbitrarily appointing the Grand Duke of Lithuania and dictated the conditions under which they could tolerate Svidrigailo. In their opinion, he should have re-asked for authority to the throne of the Grand Duke (according to the Union of Horodel in 1413), and also without any conditions to give the Crown the lands of Podolia and Volhynia, together with Lutsk. In April, Svidrigailo responded to these impudent demands with a categorical refusal, after which both sides began to intensively prepare for military operations.
In June 1431, King Vladislav II (Jagiello) declared war on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and sent his army to Volhynia. In July, Polish detachments approached the capital Lutsk, where they encountered a few formations of Svidrigailo, who retreated after the fighting. But the Lutsk castle, headed by the headman Yursh, kept the siege throughout August, until the ambassadors of Vladislav and Svidrigailo signed a two-year reconciliation on September 1, which also applied to the allies (the German Order, the Moldavian governor, the Khan of the Golden Horde).
The Polish crown council planned to declare war on the Order after the expiration of the contract. Before it began, it was important to enlist the help of the allies or the neutrality of the neighbors. But Svidrigailo acted exactly the opposite: he restored the agreement with the Germans: on May 15, 1432, in the Kristmemel castle, representatives of the order leadership, knighthood, Prussian and Livonian cities, on the one hand, the boyars and the cities of Lithuania and Russia, on the other, confirmed the agreement of 1431 with their signatures of the year of the alliance between the Grand Duchy and the German Order.
Schism in ON
In the meantime, a rather strong opposition to Svidrigailo arose in the Grand Duchy itself. The prospect of a complete break with Poland and the loss of the advantages guaranteed by the Union of Horodyel caused opposition from the Catholic part of the boyars of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Their anxiety was not in vain. Immediately after coming to power, Svidrigailo, in violation of the 9th article of the Union of Horodel, began to distribute important government posts to Orthodox boyars (“schismatics”). Bishop of Krakow Zbigniew Oleśnicki wrote indignantly in 1432 that in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania “Rusyns have taken precedence over Lithuanians, they hold in their hands almost all the most important cities and positions, which did not happen under the late Vytautas.” Svidrigailo was also dissatisfied with those who had power under Vitovt, but lost it after the approval of his rival.
Nevertheless, the opposition itself did not dare to take a swing at the Grand Duke. The plan to overthrow him arose in the crown council, which was actively preparing for a war with the Order. It was important for the Poles to win over Svidrigailo to their side, or at least secure his neutrality. But all the efforts of their diplomats were shattered by the firm position of the prince of Lithuania; under no circumstances did he want to break the alliance with the Germans. “Nothing in the world can separate us from you,” he wrote to the Grand Master, and the Poles categorically replied that if they attacked the Order, he, along with the Tatars, would strike at the Crown.
Svidrigailo himself accused the Archbishop of Gniezno Yastrebets, the Bishop of Krakow Olesnitsky and other members of the crown council of unleashing the war for Lutsk and all other conflicts.
Since it was not possible to break the alliance of the Grand Duke with the Order. So far, there is only one means left - to eliminate him himself. It is known that the Polish embassy, headed by the Seradian governor Zaremba Vavrinets, sent to the GDL on May 30, 1432, had a secret assignment to incite the Lithuanian princes and boyars so that they “did not allow Svidrigaila to dominate”, and on July 20 the new crown embassy again arrived in Vilnius with the same task. The pro-Polish party in the Grand Duchy prepared for action and was waiting for a signal. The sign was given at the end of summer, when Svidrigailo with his wife, retinue and servants went to Brest to meet with Jagiello. The assassination attempt took place on the night of August 31 to September 1, 1432 in Oshmyany, where the Grand Duke stopped along the way. The coup was carried out by his cousin, 67-year-old Zhigimont Keistutovich, who reigned in Starodub, and Simon Golshansky, who had long been close to the Keistutovichs. Warned at the last moment by Ivashka Manividovich, Svidrigailo managed to escape to Polotsk, but his wife, courtiers and servants were captured.
Thus began a civil war between the two factions of feudal lords.
The power of Zhigimont Keistutovich was recognized by Vilnia, Troki, Kovno, Garodnya, Zhamoitia, Podlachie and Minsk land. This recognition was greatly facilitated by the Catholic clergy. Later, Brest was subjugated by force. As a result, the lands of Western Belarus followed Zhigimont. The possession of Vilnius gave him the right to the role of Grand Duke. However, the whole of Eastern Belarus (including the Smolensk land), as well as the whole of Ukraine, did not recognize Zhigimont and still considered Svidrigailou their Grand Duke. So the state was temporarily divided into Lithuania and Russia. As the author of the Chronicle of Bykhovets noted, “the Lithuanian princes and lords, with the help of King Jagaila, took Grand Duke Zhigimont as their ruler, the Russian princes and boyars put Prince Svidrigaila on the great reign of Russia.”
Having received power thanks to the Poles, Zhigimont immediately restored the union with the Kingdom of Poland, signing it in Grodno on October 15 of the same year. According to the new agreement, King Vladislav II (Jagiello), as the supreme ruler (“princeps supremus”) of Lithuania, transferred the ON to Zhigimont Keistutovich only for life. For this, he undertook to help the Kingdom of Poland in every need. After the death of Zhigimont, all the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were to pass into the possession of the Kingdom of Poland:
"The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the lands belonging to it, together with Russia, up to the same king Vladislav, his worthy sons Vladislav and Casimir and their successors, as well as up to the crown of the Kingdom of Poland, must return by right of grandfather."
Only Troki remained the patrimony of the Grand Duke and his children, but on the terms of fief. Zhygimont renounced all rights to Podolia and agreed to the division of Volhynia between the Crown and the Principality. In foreign policy, he pledged to break all international treaties concluded by Svidrigailo and never join anti-Polish actions.
Many researchers (A. Levitsky, M. Grushevsky, A. Kopystyansky and others) noted that the text of the Union of Grodno in 1432 contained a small concession to the Lithuanian lords: it was mentioned twice that the consent of both parties was required to elect the future Grand Dukes of Lithuania. But on the whole, it became a triumph of the Polish policy aimed at the incorporation of the GDL. Compared to the Union of Horodello in 1413, which provided for relatively equal relations between the Crown and the Principality, now the legal status of the latter was reduced to the level of a vassal of Poland. After the death of Zhigimont, all power was to pass to the Yagailovichs. That is how the Polish lords understood the union of 1432. Signing the act of ratification of the Union of Grodno in 1437, they noted in it that Lithuanian castles could be given only to those princes who swore that after the death of Zhigimont they would be returned to the Polish king.
Beginning of the civil war
The overthrown Svidrigailo did not at all consider his cause lost. He retained power in the eastern part of the state, and in the west of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, his supporters were the social classes (in the majority of the Orthodox faith). Based on Polotsk and Vitebsk, from the autumn of 1432, Svidrigailo began to make campaigns on the lands subject to Zhigimont.
At the end of November, he, with an army consisting of Polotsk and Smolensk, and also including a detachment from Tver, went to Vilna, the possession of which was decisive in the struggle for the lost throne. Shortly after leaving Oshmyany, it met the forces of Zhigimont Keistutovich, which consisted of Zhamoits and Litvins, including residents of the Drogichin land.
The battle took place on December 8th. The fight continued until night. The numerical superiority was on the side of Svidrigailo, and at first he took the upper hand, drove the enemy for three miles. Zhigimont, however, managed to turn the tide of the battle and forced Svidrigailo to flee. Many supporters of Svidrigailo were captured, including princes Yuri Gedigold, Mitka Zubrovitsky, Vasily Krasny, Yuri Lugvenevich, Fedor Odintsevich.
Svidrigailo had to retreat to Polotsk. He wrote to the Grand Master that Zhigimont's losses in the battle were much greater than his own, but this is not true. However, the message of Jan Dlugosh that Svidrigailo lost 10 thousand killed and 4 thousand captured is also a big exaggeration.
In the Pskov Chronicle, this battle is mentioned as a major one and with heavy losses (although it is dated December 8, 1438, and not 1432): kostekh, and there are a lot of rati of that prince and this prince, Svitrigail has a padosha, and ineh a lot of hands poimash ”(Pskov Chronicle.).
The Basel Council offered its mediation to the warring parties. At the beginning of 1433, the embassy of the cathedral, headed by Bishop Delfin, tried to reconcile the Crown with the German Order. But his efforts were in vain, except that the demands of both sides were clearly outlined. The Poles, as before, wanted the return of Pomerania, the Chelminsk and Michalov lands, as well as compensation for other losses in the amount of 400 thousand hryvnias, and the Germans demanded that the Poles recognize the existing borders of the order's possessions, return the grand throne to Svidrigailo Olgerdovich and break the alliance with the Czech heretics * .
/* The Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church began its meetings in Basel on December 7, 1431. The victories of the Hussites in the Czech Republic forced the participants in the council to compromise with the moderate Hussites (cuppers). This compromise was later formalized by the Prague Compactates on November 30, 1433.
After the defeat of Svidrigailo near Oshmyany, his main ally Paul Rusdorf began to pursue a double-minded policy. On the one hand, he continued to incite the deposed Lithuanian prince, in letters to the emperor and to the Basel Cathedral he wrote that he had to save Svidrigailo. And on the other hand, he interpreted him as having already lost the fight, to whom, in order to solve the problem, it is quite enough to give "a couple of distant nooks and crannies of the earth." Apparently, the position of the master was influenced by mobilization in Poland and especially in the Czech Republic. Jerome of Prague at the Cathedral in Basel threatened the Order with an invasion of a 200,000-strong army of heretics (although in reality the Hussite army barely reached 7,000). The Hussites rendered the main service to Poland back in September 1432, when they wrote a threatening letter to Rusdorf, thereby ensuring his non-interference in the affairs of the deposed Svidrigailo.
But the Livonian master carried out a predatory raid on the lands of Zhamoitia in the winter of 1433. The entire Order had to be responsible for this 10-day campaign, which did not bring the desired results. The Zhamoits attacked Prussia at a difficult moment for the Order, when, after the signing of the final agreement between the Polish Crown and the Hussites (April 1433), the Poles, together with the Czechs, attacked Novaya Marka and East Pomerania in the summer.
Prince Svidrigailo promised the Grand Master to oppose the common enemy with a large army (the detachments of Fyodor Ostrozhsky and the Tatars were to join his forces in Belarus), but he began hostilities only at the end of August. The general situation in the Grand Duchy was quite favorable for him, since with his unjustified cruelty Zhigimont Keistutovich managed to set many pans of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania against him. True, only the Livonian master and the Tver prince Yaroslav Alexandrovich came to the aid of Svidrigailo. Their forces united near Braslav and, without encountering significant resistance, reached Oshmyany, Vilnia and Troki.
The enemy avoided the big battle, hiding in the cities and forests. But Svidrigailo did not storm the cities. After minor skirmishes, Zaslavye and Krevo were taken, as well as several unfortified places. Having not achieved any important result, Svidrigailo had to go back. First, he came to Lukoml, where he sent home most of the troops, then, with the soldiers who had become soldiers, he went to Kiev. The actions of the Livonian master Franz von Kerskorff also ended in vain. If in mid-August 1433 he was still near Vilna, then on September 19 he informed the Grand Master that he was returning from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with losses.
Prince Fyodor Ostrozhsky acted more successfully, capturing a number of castles with Polish garrisons in Volhynia. Lutsk head Alexander Nos devastated the Brest district until he was defeated near Kletsk by Prince Olelka.
Meanwhile, Zhigimont Keistutovich, supported by the Poles, carried out a campaign deep into the Belarusian lands. In October 1433, he reached Mstislav and kept the city under siege for three weeks, but also without success.
On the lands of Eastern Belarus and in Ukraine, Prince Svidrigailo still enjoyed wide support, due to which he had a quantitative advantage in forces, but he did not know how to use it effectively. Prosperous Orthodox families, who remained faithful to him as the Grand Duke, were his main social base, while Zhigimont relied mainly on Catholics (although the Catholics were on the side of Svidrigailo, and the Orthodox boyars were in Zhigimont's camp). This circumstance gives the war, at first glance, a national-religious character. But in reality it was a struggle between the princely-boyar parties. It did not affect the interests of the general population. The Catholic Svidrigailo led the camp of princes and boyars, mostly Orthodox, but they fought not for faith, but for their dominant position in the state. Not without reason among his supporters were wealthy Lithuanian families of the Catholic faith - those who opposed the union with Poland and for an alliance with the Teutonic Order.
Fight on the political field
With the invasion of the Polish-Czech army in New Mark and its approach to Danzig (Gdansk), the position of Grand Master Rusdorf was seriously complicated. Although Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg still demanded that Svidrigailo be saved, Rusdorf, being also the Duke of Prussia, could not ignore the interests of his subjects. He needed to get out of the conflict. Having agreed to negotiate, on December 15, 1433, in Lenchitsy, he signed a truce with Poland for a period of 12 years. The terms of the treaty ordered the Order to end the war and withdraw their support for the deposed Grand Duke of Lithuania. So Svidrigailo lost his main ally and was left alone with Poland and Zhigimont Keistutovich.
The decisive factor for the outcome of the war was the great zemstvo privilege, published by Zhigimont on May 6, 1434 in Troki. This act proclaimed the equality of Rusyns and Litvins within the borders of the entire state. In other words, the rights guaranteed to Catholics under the terms of the Union of Horodello now extended to all subjects, regardless of religion (Catholics retained a monopoly only on the positions of governor and commandant of Vilnius and Trok). Now the Belarusian-Ukrainian boyars received guarantees of the inviolability of their land holdings, freedom to dispose of land, benefits in state duties, as well as the right to knightly coats of arms.
The Troksky privilege, the publication of which necessitated the struggle against Svidrigailo, became the first legal basis for the equality of Orthodox and Catholics in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after 1386. Equalizing the rights of all the lands of the state, he contributed to the consolidation of the boyars. In fact, this was the first nationwide privilege, which was issued, as emphasized in the text, so that there would be no more inequality and discord between the peoples of the Principality, so that everyone would take care of the common state in agreement.
Privilei in 1434 became a fatal barrier for Zhigimont's opponent. Svidrigailo hoped for the help of Catholic Europe, in whose eyes he wanted to be the patron of the Latin faith. On the advice of Grand Master Paul von Rusdorf, he decided to turn to the Basel Cathedral and declare his readiness to bring his subjects to the Union. On March 22, 1433, the Orthodox lords and boyars, who had gathered in Vitebsk, wrote a letter to Basel, in which they spoke in favor of union with the Roman church and strongly supported Svidrigailo's rights to the Grand Duke's table. At the same time, Svidrigailo named the order representative at the cathedral, Dr. Andreas Pfaffendorf, as his personal representative in Basel.
The prince sent a delegation of two persons to the cathedral. This is John Perling (Ambassador Svidrigailo) and Procurator of the German Order Pfafendorf. They first appeared at the cathedral on June 16, 1433. Pfafendorf read out the aforementioned Vitebsk letter, approved by the seals of the signatories, and the message of the Grand Master dated April 25. But no decision was made, the protocol only noted that the legate of the cardinal expressed the gratitude of the cathedral to the envoys of the prince.
Svidrigailo really believed in the possibility of uniting the churches. The letter from Vitebsk to Basel was the beginning of his stormy efforts to prepare the union. The main thing was to get consent from the Kiev Metropolitan Gerasim. In 1434, a new delegation went to Rome from Svidrigailo, which testified that Gerasim was ready to arrive in the Apostolic capital on the matter of church union. However, this hardly corresponded to reality. After Zhigimont Keistutovich granted the rights of Catholics to the Orthodox, Svidrigailo's actions to introduce the union undermined his authority, repelled Orthodox supporters, and increased the number of dissatisfied. Since the spring of 1435, betrayals and uprisings began in the Svidrinailo camp. Metropolitan Gerasim stood at the head of the conspiracy. It turned out that Gerasim was preparing the surrender of Smolensk to Prince Zhigimont. Whether this is actually the case is hard to say. It is alarming that the Smolensk commandant Yuri Butrim (Catholic!) revealed the betrayal. The main thing is different - Svidrigailo believed. The Kiev Metropolitan was arrested, brought to Vitebsk, and on July 28, 1435, he was burned alive at the stake.
Defeat of Svidrigailo. State reunification
Losing supporters, Svidrigailo was in a hurry to deliver a decisive blow to the enemy. He was preparing a common speech with all the allies. In the summer of 1435, Rusdorf was supposed to start actions against Poland in Pomerania (in violation of the truce!), And Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg was going to invade the crown lands from the south (looking ahead, it should be noted that Polish diplomacy thwarted his speech.). A war on three fronts would not have allowed the Poles to send significant assistance to Zhigimont and would have increased Svidrigailo's chances.
In July 1435, in Vitebsk, Svidrigailo gathered forces for a general campaign. It consisted of warriors from cities and lands of Eastern Belarus (including the Smolensk region), Volhynia and Kiev region. From the Czech Republic through Malbork and Livonia, Zhigimont Koributovich came to him with a detachment of mercenaries (Silesians and Czechs), who had long been eager to help his brother.
About 6 thousand Tatars joined them. From Vitebsk, Svidrigailo went to Braslav, where he met with the Livonians (about a hundred knights and bollards, the number of which was not established, under the command of Franz von Kerskorff himself). The united forces were led by the hero of the Hussite wars, Prince Zhigimont Koributovich. According to researchers, the army of Svidrigailo numbered a little more than 10 thousand people (with a slight predominance of Rusyns) and consisted mainly of cavalry.
From Braslav, the allies moved west and captured Vilkomir. Then they planned to advance in the Troki-Vilnia area.
The army of Zhigimont Keistutovich (up to 10 thousand people) consisted of Litvins and Zhamoits, as well as the cavalry corps of Yakub Kobylyansky sent to help him from Poland. Litvinov-Zhamoits and Poles were equally divided. This army set out from Trok in the direction of Vilkomir, towards Svidrigailo.
The battle took place on September 1, 1435 near Vilkomir (now Ukmerge) on the Holy (Shventa) River - two and a half years after the Oshmyany battle. The opponents met about 10 km from Vilkomir and stood for two days, separated by the Svyato (Shventy) River. The fate of the battle was determined by a trifle: on September 1, Koributovich ordered his troops to withdraw to more advantageous positions. But as soon as his forces began to withdraw, Kobylyansky instantly threw his cavalry into the attack across a shallow river. During this attack, the camp (Wagenburg), arranged by the enemy on the model of the Czech Taborites, was destroyed. Then the fighting began on the flanks. The slaughter lasted about an hour and led to panic, and then to the flight of the troops of Svidrigailo and the crusaders. The main reason for their failure was that part of the Rusyn-Livonian army did not have time to take their place in the battle formations.
During the battle, and especially during the flight, the defeated suffered huge losses. Of the 25 princes who were in the army of Svidrigailo, 13 died, the rest were captured along with thousands of boyars. As noted in the Gustyn Chronicle, it was as a result of this defeat that "the Russian princes began to become impoverished and impoverished." Wounded Zhigimont Koributovich was poisoned in captivity. The Livonian chivalry killed Master Kerskorf, several commanders and many ordinary soldiers. Svidrigailo fled to Polotsk literally "on 30 horses." Contemporaries compared the battle of Vilkomir with the Battle of Grunwald, presumably not by chance.
This victory marked a turning point in the war in favor of Zhigimont Keistutovich. After the disaster on the Holy River, the leadership of the German Order had to sign on December 31, 1435 in Brest-Kuyavsky an "eternal peace" with Jagiello and Zhigimont Keistutovich. Grand Master Rusdorf renounced all ties with Svidrigailo and recognized Zhigimont Keistutovich as Grand Duke of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, pledged in the future to recognize only that monarch of Lithuania who would be elected with the consent of the Kingdom of Poland, and not to support the anti-Polish actions of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. The treaty confirmed the state borders between the parties in accordance with the treaty of 1422 and declared freedom of trade.
End of the war and further events
The defeated Svidrigailo retained the support of Polotsk and Vitebsk. Even at the beginning of his great reign, he gave these cities governors of Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Golshansky and Prince Vasily Semenovich Krasny from the Drutsk Rurikovich. But if in 1435 Polotsk and Vitebsk still fought off Zhigimont's army, then at the end of the next summer, having no help, they recognized his authority. Smolensk submitted to Keistutovich in 1435. Svidrigailo held out for the longest time in the Kiev region and Volhynia. The Golden Horde remained in his allies. Khan Ulug-Mukhammed sent his army to the old Olgerdovich, with the help of which he fought in Podolia in 1436, and in 1437 defeated the Lithuanian detachment sent by Zhigimont Keistutovich to capture Kiev. Later, Svidrigailo had to leave Ukraine as well. He received a refuge in Moldova.
The new Livonian master informed P. Rusdorf about this in a letter dated September 15, 1436.
The chronicler noted the complete victory of Zhigimont as his establishment "on the great reign in Lithuanian and Russian", which meant the unification of both parts of the state. This also manifested the strengthening of the centralist, “pro-Lithuanian” orientation of the population of the Belarusian lands.
From Zhigimont to Casimir
Zhigimont Keistutovich occupied the Grand Duke's table for more than 7 years.
In order to expand his support, he appointed petty boyars personally devoted to him to government posts, which caused discontent among the magnates and princes. In addition, Zhigimont was very suspicious, conspiracies seemed to him everywhere and he severely punished suspects - he confiscated estates, passed death sentences (see "Chronicle of Bykhovets").
In addition, Zhigimont, although he gave Podillia into the ownership of Poland, began to increasingly argue with Krakow and move away from him, as a result of which he lost the support of the Poles.
In such a situation, princes and boyars of both faiths united against Zhigimont. Prince Alexander Czartorysky, the Vilna voivode Dovgird and the Trok voivode Lelyusha (these two were supporters of Svidrigailo) prepared an assassination attempt on the Grand Duke. On March 20, 1440, it was carried out by the aforementioned Prince Czartoryski and a citizen of Kiev Skabeyka, who secretly traveled to the Trok Castle, hiding their armed men in wagons with hay.
With the death of Zhigimont, the line of the Keistut family was interrupted on the grand ducal throne. The Olgerdovichi remained, but of them only the descendants of Jagiello established their dynasty - the Yagailovichi.
Immediately after the assassination of Zhigimont Keistutovich, Svidrigailo reappeared in Volyn, who already called himself the "Supreme Prince of Lithuania." The son of Zhigimont Keistutovich, Prince Mikhalyushka (Mikhalka) and Vladislav III Yagailovich, who had been the king of Poland since 1434, also hoped to occupy the Vilna throne. However, the latter was delayed in the Hungarian campaign. On June 29, 1440, in Vilna, a council of nobles headed by Jan Gashtovt, without agreement with the crown council, declared 13-year-old Casimir, the son of Jagiello from Sophia Golshanskaya, grand duke. He occupied the Lithuanian throne for 52 years, until his death! (And in 1447 he also became the Polish king).
The minor sovereign Casimir and his regents had to urgently unite the state, because after the murder of Zhigimont, the lands-regions again “fell away” from the center. Zhamoitia almost immediately recognized Casimir as the Grand Duke, the Polotsk and Vitebsk lands quickly accepted him, but to subjugate Smolensk, where Yuri Lugvenovich sat down with the title of “Lord of Smolensky”, the new monarch had to send an army. Finally, in 1442, the rebellious descendant of Olgerd fled to Novgorod, and Andrei Sakovich (until 1458) became the viceroy of the Grand Duke in Smolensk. Kazimir Yagailovich ensured the loyalty of the Smolensk people with a statutory charter that enshrined local norms and customs.
The Ukrainian lands were also quickly brought to obedience, where the Kyiv land was returned to Prince Olelka, the youngest son of Vladimir Olgerdovich. As for Svidrigailo, Kazimir gave him the Principality of Volhynia, where he lived for the last 12 years of his life. After his death on February 10, 1452, the principality was headed by the widow of an old rebel for about four years.
Svidrigailo Olgerdovich - or Svadrigello Olgerdovich - Grand Duke of Lithuania, the youngest son of Olgerd Gediminovich and Juliana Alexandrovna, Princess of Tver. Born in 1355 and baptized according to the Orthodox rite, with the name Leo. In 1386, together with his brother Jagail, he accepted Catholicism to Krakow, receiving the name Boleslav, but until the end of his life he retained devotion to the Russian people and its interests; besides, he was married to the daughter of the Tver prince Boris. As a result, S. is portrayed by the old Polish writers in the darkest colors. There is no doubt that he was distinguished by a tough and cruel disposition and did not know how to take advantage of circumstances. Initially, Polotsk was the lot of S.. In 1392, he captured Vitebsk, but was soon ousted from there by Vitovt, who entered the Grand Duke of Lithuania, fled to Prussia, fought with Vitovt for several years, using the help of the order troops and resorting even to the mediation of the pope, until, finally, he received Podolia as an inheritance , and then the Seversk land. In 1408, when the war broke out between the Great. book. Moscow Vasily Dimitrievich and Vitovt, S. took the side of the first, surrendered the Seversk cities to him and himself, with several princes and many boyars, went to Moscow. The Grand Duke gave him several cities and entrusted him with command over the army sent against the Lithuanians. S. did not win a single big victory, and when Edigey appeared, he fled to Lithuania, devastating the dear Serpukhov. In Lithuania, he was captured and imprisoned in the Kremenets prison, where he was held for 9 years. Released from here by Daniil Fedorovich Ostrozhsky, S. fled to Hungary to Emperor Sigismund and, thanks to his mediation before Jagail, received Novgorod-Seversky and Bryansk as inheritance, where he remained calm until 1430. This year Vitovt died; the Polish party nominated Sigismund Keistutovich as their candidate for the grand-ducal table, but the Russian party prevailed, and S. sat on the great reign, declaring himself completely independent of the Polish crown. The Poles captured several Podolsk cities, and despite the resistance of S., they retained some of them, for example. Kamenets. The following year, war broke out between Lithuania and Poland. Instead of rallying Russian and Lithuanian forces around him, S. began to seek help from the emperor. Sigismund, among the knights of the Teutonic and Livonian orders, but could not prevent the Poles from rampaging in the Lithuanian-Russian possessions. At a meeting with the king near Lutsk, S. refused to fight, while the governor Yursha, who was left by him in Lutsk, repelled all the attacks of the Poles. Despite the successful invasion of the knights of the Teutonic Order on the northern possessions of Poland, S. concluded a truce, according to which all his former possessions remained behind him and independence from the Polish king was declared. In 1432, Sigismund Keistutovich, the specific prince of Starodub-Seversky, raised an uprising against S., forced him to flee to Vitebsk and occupied the entire Lithuanian part of the Grand Duchy. On the side of S. remained Russian cities in Belarus and Severshchina, ready to fight; but in his pursuit of foreign help, S. lost many outstanding Russian allies and on the banks of the river. The saint, near Vilkomir, was utterly defeated (1435). Although a part of Podolia and Volyn, as well as Kyiv, remained behind him, he fled (1437) to Krakow and from there offered to become, with all his lands, a prisoner of the Polish crown. This proposal was rejected; S. left Russia, wandering for several years now in Wallachia, then in Hungary (exaggerated stories about his then 6thness gave rise to a false rumor, picked up by some historians, that he had been a shepherd for several years with a rich Wallachian). When in 1440 Sigismund Keistutovich fell at the hands of the conspirators, S. was again called to the Grand Duke's table, but, not being able, due to old age, to do something energetic, he remained until his death in the Podolsk and Volyn lands, which were behind him in 1442 was approved by the Poles. He died in 1452, in Lutsk, having managed to transfer his possessions to the Lithuanians, which further intensified the strife between them and the Poles.Wed Aug. Kotzebue, "S., Grand Duke of Lithuania" (translated from German, St. Petersburg, 1835); Bryantsev, "History of the Lithuanian State" (Vilna, 1889).
V. R-v. Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron. - St. Petersburg: Brockhaus-Efron 1890-1907
If it were necessary to give in one word a capacious description of Svidrigailo, one of the sons of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd, then the best word would be - indomitable. His date of birth is unknown - historians are at a loss, referring it to approximately 1355 or 1370. His entire political career is full of conspiracies, intrigues, petty skirmishes and real wars. For almost half a century, Svidrigailo was one of the most prominent figures in the turbulent history of the Lithuanian-Russian state. Fate then exalted him high, allowing him to reign in different years of his life in large cities at that time - Vitebsk, Bryansk, Novgorod-Seversky; then suddenly she snatched from him everything obtained by long labors.
Svidrigailo had to leave his native Lithuania for a long time. For some time he served the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily I and received from him as an inheritance (ie, possession) Vladimir, Yuryev and other cities. But the restless nature of Svidrigailo forced him to flee from this honorable service back to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The main political opponent of Svidrigailo, the powerful Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt, captured him and imprisoned him, from which Svidrigailo came out only nine years later. In the most desperate, hopeless situations, Svidrigailo found the strength to continue the fight against his enemies and not lose hope of victory.
In 1430, a strange story happened in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Vytautas, already middle-aged, decided to accept the royal crown from the German emperor. Guests from Moscow Russia, from the Tatars, the Livonian Order, etc. were invited to the coronation celebrations. But the Poles, who did not want the rise of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and its transformation into a kingdom, prevented the coronation by intercepting the crown and cutting it into pieces. Vitovt soon died.
Grand Duke of Lithuania Svidrigailo.
Rise of Svidrigailo
It was necessary to choose his successor. Prince Svidrigailo, already a well-known political figure by that time, was known as a cruel and quick-tempered man, but at the same time he had a generosity and breadth of character. He was considered the patron of the Orthodox (mostly Russian) population of the Grand Duchy and an implacable opponent of the Polish-Lithuanian union concluded under Vitovt (according to the terms of the union, the Orthodox nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had much less political rights compared to the Catholic nobility). Lithuanians and Russians, equally annoyed by the autocracy of the Poles, unanimously elected Svidrigailo the Grand Duke.
