Having married the Polish queen Jadwiga, he was proclaimed king of Poland.
Background
The terms of the Union of Krevo (in 1401 they were clarified by the Vilna-Radom Union) were in effect for 184 years, until 1569, when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland signed the Union of Lublin, uniting both states into a confederal limited elected monarchy. And also one of the consequences of the Krevo Union was that the Catholic feudal lords received additional rights and liberties.
See also
Write a review about the article "Union of Krevo"
Notes
Excerpt characterizing the Union of Krevo
“Cependant, mon cher,” he said, examining his nail from afar and picking up the skin above his left eye, “malgre la haute estime que je professe pour le Orthodox Russian army, j"avoue que votre victoire n"est pas des plus victorieuses. [However, my dear, with all due respect to the Orthodox Russian army, I believe that your victory is not the most brilliant.]He continued in the same way in French, pronouncing in Russian only those words that he contemptuously wanted to emphasize.
- How? You with all your weight fell upon the unfortunate Mortier with one division, and this Mortier leaves between your hands? Where is the victory?
“However, seriously speaking,” answered Prince Andrei, “we can still say without boasting that this is a little better than Ulm...
- Why didn’t you take us one, at least one marshal?
– Because not everything is done as expected, and not as regularly as at the parade. We expected, as I told you, to reach the rear by seven o'clock in the morning, but did not arrive at five in the evening.
- Why didn’t you come at seven o’clock in the morning? “You should have come at seven o’clock in the morning,” Bilibin said smiling, “you should have come at seven o’clock in the morning.”
– Why didn’t you convince Bonaparte through diplomatic means that it was better for him to leave Genoa? – Prince Andrei said in the same tone.
“I know,” Bilibin interrupted, “you think it’s very easy to take marshals while sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace.” This is true, but still, why didn’t you take it? And do not be surprised that not only the Minister of War, but also the August Emperor and King Franz will not be very happy with your victory; and I, the unfortunate secretary of the Russian embassy, do not feel any need to give my Franz a thaler as a sign of joy and let him go with his Liebchen [sweetheart] to the Prater... True, there is no Prater here.
He looked straight at Prince Andrei and suddenly pulled the collected skin off his forehead.
“Now it’s my turn to ask you why, my dear,” said Bolkonsky. “I confess to you that I don’t understand, maybe there are diplomatic subtleties here that are beyond my weak mind, but I don’t understand: Mack is losing an entire army, Archduke Ferdinand and Archduke Charles do not show any signs of life and make mistakes after mistakes, finally, alone Kutuzov wins a real victory, destroys the charme [charm] of the French, and the Minister of War is not even interested in knowing the details.
“That’s exactly why, my dear.” Voyez vous, mon cher: [You see, my dear:] hurray! for the Tsar, for Rus', for the faith! Tout ca est bel et bon, [all this is fine and good,] but what do we, I say, the Austrian court, care about your victories? Bring us your good news about the victory of Archduke Charles or Ferdinand - un archiduc vaut l "autre, [one Archduke is worth another,] as you know - even over a company of Bonaparte’s fire brigade, that’s another matter, we’ll thunder into the cannons. Otherwise this , as if on purpose, can only tease us. Archduke Charles does nothing, Archduke Ferdinand is covered in shame, you abandon Vienna, you no longer defend, comme si vous nous disiez: [as if you told us:] God is with us, and God is with us. you, with your capital. One general, whom we all loved, Shmit: you bring him under the bullet and congratulate us on the victory!... Agree that it is impossible to think of anything more irritating than the news that you bring C "est comme un fait expres, Comme un fait expres. [It’s as if on purpose, as if on purpose.] Besides, well, if you had definitely won a brilliant victory, even if Archduke Charles had won, what would it have changed in the general course of affairs? It is too late now that Vienna is occupied by French troops.
-How busy are you? Is Vienna busy?
“Not only is she busy, but Bonaparte is in Schönbrunn, and the count, our dear Count Vrbna, goes to him for orders.”
Bolkonsky, after the fatigue and impressions of the journey, the reception, and especially after dinner, felt that he did not understand the full meaning of the words he heard.
“Count Lichtenfels was here this morning,” Bilibin continued, “and showed me a letter in which the French parade in Vienna is described in detail. Le prince Murat et tout le tremblement... [Prince Murat and all that...] You see that your victory is not very joyful, and that you cannot be accepted as a savior...
- Really, it doesn’t matter to me, it doesn’t matter at all! - said Prince Andrey, beginning to understand that his news about the battle of Krems really had little importance in view of such events as the occupation of the capital of Austria. - How was Vienna taken? What about the bridge and the famous tete de pont [bridge fortification] and Prince Auersperg? “We had rumors that Prince Auersperg was defending Vienna,” he said.
“Prince Auersperg stands on this, our side, and protects us; I think it protects very poorly, but it still protects. And Vienna is on the other side. No, the bridge has not yet been taken and, I hope, will not be taken, because it is mined and they have ordered it to be blown up. Otherwise, we would have been in the mountains of Bohemia long ago, and you and your army would have spent a bad quarter of an hour between two fires.
The death of Grand Duke Olgerd caused deep internal discord in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Olgerd's eldest sons did not agree that power in Vilna passed to Jogaila. The latter’s agreement with the German knights led to the fact that Olgerd’s brother, the old Prince Keistut, occupied Vilna in 1381, deprived his nephew of power and arrested him, but then released him. And the next summer, Jagiello, with the support of the German knighthood and the Vilna townspeople, captured Keistut and imprisoned him in the tower of the Krevsky Castle, where on August 15, 1382, the prince was strangled. Keistut's son, Vitovt, was able to escape from captivity and found refuge with the crusaders in Malbork.
Having seized the grand-ducal throne, Jagiello was forced to strengthen his power, since he was not recognized by princes Andrei Polotsky, Dmitry Bryansky and his main rival, Vytautas, who began to bring troops of knights to the lands of the Grand Duchy.
Only in the summer of 1384 Jagiello and Vytautas came to an agreement. Vitovt returned from Prussia and received his Gorodenshchyna and Beresteyshchyna. However, Andrei Olgerdovich, together with the Polotchina subject to him, surrendered under the patronage of the Inflant Order. Thus, the Grand Duchy found itself in a very difficult situation.
Jagiello sought an alliance with neighboring states. There was an opportunity to choose rapprochement either with Moscow or with Poland. At the end of 1382, Jagiello, through his mother Ulyana, negotiated with Moscow and even reached a preliminary agreement with the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich.
It was envisaged that Jagiello would accept Christianity of the Eastern rite and marry the daughter of the Moscow ruler Sophia. But when Moscow demanded that he recognize himself as a vassal (“younger brother”) of Prince Dmitry and baptize “all of Lithuania” into Orthodoxy, Vilna abandoned such a prospect.
Jagiello was in a precarious position, and the advantage was given to the bloc with Poland, with whose ambassadors negotiations were held back in 1383. The union of the Grand Duchy and the Crown then met the interests of both sides. It made it possible to unite the forces of the two states against a common enemy - the crusaders. German expansion in Poland reached alarming proportions. It was important for the Poles to ensure the peace of their borders on the part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, since the Litvinians withdrew 23 thousand prisoners from Poland in just one campaign in 1376.
In the future, the Polish magnates apparently counted on their dominance in the neighboring power. They were especially attracted to the lands of Volyn and Podolia.
In January 1385, the Vilna delegation held negotiations in Krakow, and in the summer the Poles came to the Grand Duchy.
The Act of Union was signed on August 14 in Belarus, in the princely tower of the Krevsky Castle. Jagiello received the right to marry the Polish Queen Jadwiga and become King of Poland. To this end, he pledged to convert to Catholicism and baptize his brothers, relatives and other subjects, release captured Christians (Poles), pay 200,000 florins for breaking the marriage agreement between Jadwiga and William of Habsburg, return the occupied territories and permanently annex his lands to the Kingdom of Poland. .
The final approval of the union occurred in 1386, after Jogaila was baptized at the Wawel See in Krakow, married Jadwiga and was solemnly crowned on March 4. Officially, he began to bear the title of “King of Poland, Supreme Prince of Lithuania and Grand Duke of Russia.”
From the legal side, the act of the Krevo Union (by the way, some researchers consider this document a later falsification, since it was unknown during Jogaila’s life and there is no mention of it in the Belarusian chronicles) meant the incorporation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into Poland. However, in practice it was impossible to incorporate such a strong state. Thanks to the political activity of social circles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania dissatisfied with the union, this plan never became a reality. Already in 1386, Prince Andrei of Polotsk rebelled, believing that after the adoption of Catholicism, Jagiello had no right to be the head of the Grand Duchy.
Death of Olgerd. Jagiello
The death of Olgerd (1377) completely changed the further development of the Russian-Lithuanian state. First of all, the friendly cooperation between the Lithuanian government and its Russian part, which lasted throughout the reign of Olgerd, who shared power with his brother Keistut, was disrupted. Olgerd's heir, his son from his second wife (Princess Tverskaya) Jagiello (Jacob), did not get along with his pagan uncle Keistut and led a fight against him, concluding an alliance with the enemies of Lithuania, the Sword Bearers, with the help of whom he won and imprisoned, although a pagan, but the humane ruler of Lithuania Keistut and his son Vytautas. Grand Duke Keistut died (or was killed) in prison in Kyiv, and his son Vitovt managed to escape. He went to the Swordsmen, converted to Christianity and, with their help, began to prepare for the fight against Jagiel, counting on his great popularity among the Lithuanians. In the east, Jagiel also faced danger: the elder Gediminovichs, deprived of Olgerd in favor of Jagiel, openly went over to the side of Moscow and were preparing to defend their rights with its help. Jagiello, threatened from the west and east, begins to seek friendship from the Tatars and promises them his help against Moscow. How far the discord between the Olgerdovichs went can be seen from the fact that in the Battle of Kulikovo the Olgerdovichs - the Polotsk prince Andrei and the Bryansk prince Dimitri - fought on the side of Dimitri Donskoy, and Jagiello hurried to the aid of Mamai, but was late for the battle.
After the brilliant Kulikovo victory, the chances of Jogaila's opponents increased, and the danger to him from the east increased. The situation for Jagiel became threatening. The Lithuanians of his state were against him for the reprisal against Keistut; Russians - for helping Mamai.
A coincidence of historical circumstances helped Yagaila to his rescue. Just at this time, King Ludwik died in Poland (1382), who was also the King of Hungary. With his death, the personal union between Hungary and Poland ended, and Poland was faced with the question of who would take the throne. Supporters of the deceased King Ludwik managed to proclaim his daughter Jadwiga, a young girl, Queen of Poland.
Polish policy leaders decided to follow the path of a personal union, but this time not with Hungary, but with Lithuania. Jagiello was offered to marry Jadwiga and become both the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, for which he was promised full support of the Catholic Church. Jagiello agreed to this proposal and on August 14, 1385, an agreement on the unification of the two states was signed in the city of Kren. At the same time, Jagiello pledged to convert to Catholicism, baptize all Lithuanians into the Catholic faith and preserve this unification forever. Under the terms of this agreement - the “Union of Krevo” - all Russian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also became part of the united Polish-Lithuanian state. Their conversion to Catholicism was not mentioned in the agreement.
Fulfilling the conditions of the Krevo Union, Jagiello converted to Catholicism in 1386, took the name Vladislav, married Jadwiga and was crowned King of Poland (Vladislav II). Then he went to Lithuania, where within one year he converted all pagan Lithuanians to Catholicism and destroyed everything reminiscent of the previous cult: the sacred fire “Znich” was extinguished, sacred oak trees were cut down, sacred snake snakes were killed. The people accepted the new faith without complaint - the Lithuanians were accustomed to unquestioningly obeying their prince.
While Jagiello was baptizing the Lithuanians, Jadwiga, partly by force, partly by diplomacy, ended the Polish-Hungarian-Lithuanian dispute over the “Cherven cities” of Kievan Rus - for Galicia. Since 1387, Galicia became an integral part of Poland. Not Lithuania, which formally owned all Russian lands, and which laid claim to Galicia, but Poland. This made it possible for Poland to begin its Catholicization and Polishization activities in Galicia much earlier than in the rest of the Russian lands, although they were located in the Polish-Lithuanian state, but were part of Lithuania, not Poland. The results of this were soon felt: the Russian socio-cultural elite very soon completely disappeared - everyone became “Poles”.
The Union of Krevo was the largest historical event in the history of Poland, Rus' and Lithuania. It predetermined the paths of their development and the relationships between these peoples for many centuries.
Poland became a conductor of Catholic aggression to the east and introduced a policy of forced Catholicization, Polishization and social oppression in the Russian lands, which ultimately led to the death of Poland itself.
In Lithuania, the process of spontaneous merging of the Russian and Lithuanian peoples stopped and discord and antagonism began to grow between them, generated by Catholic fanaticism and Polish chauvinism, which were quickly adopted by the Lithuanian upper classes. In the Russian lands of the united state, the hope that the Russian-Lithuanian state would be the defender of Orthodoxy and the unification of Rus' was lost. The Russian element of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania turned from a leading one into a persecuted and persecuted one. And he reached out to the growing Moscow.
The historical role of the Russian-Lithuanian state was played. The completely objectively real possibility of uniting Rus' was not realized. The leadership of the united state ended up in the hands of Polish and purely Catholic hands, hostile to the original Orthodox Rus'.
The Union of Krevo was the end of the short golden age of Lithuania, the Russian-Lithuanian state.
Chronological table of the most important events of the Russian-Lithuanian state
from the beginning of the 13th century to its end in 1386
Beginning of the 13th century - Creation of the Lithuanian State by Mindaugas.
1252 - Mindaugas is crowned king of Lithuania and converts to Catholicism.
1263 - Death of Mindaugas and the beginning of the Troubles.
1263-1316 - Troubles and civil strife.
1316 - Gediminas comes to power.
1341 - Death of Gediminas. The beginning of the reign of Olgerd and Keistut.
1363 - Defeat of the Tatras near Blue Waters.
1377 - Death of Olgerd. Jagiello, His fight with Keistut.
1385 - Union of Krevo. The end of the independence of the Russian-Lithuanian state.
The causes and consequences of the Krevo Union of 1385 in modern historiography are assessed very controversially. Some historians consider this event to be a kind of “Rubicon that split Rus',” for others it is significant in that this marked the beginning of a voluntary union of two peoples. Their states did not lose their own sovereignty. The unification of Poles and Litvins took place against the backdrop of increasing confrontation between East and West. The reasons that served as the impetus for the Krevo Union of 1385 will be discussed in the article.
Olgerd and Keistut
The Crusaders' pressure on the East intensified. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania stood in the way of their advance. The Lithuanian prince Gedymin did not have time to appoint a successor for himself. The nobility immediately took advantage of this. Local separatism intensified, undermining the power of the state. The Teutonic Order, even more insolent from impunity, carried out predatory raids under the plausible pretext of “baptizing the Slavs.”
Two brothers - princes Olgerd and Keistut - voluntarily shared their responsibilities for the defense of the state, being its co-rulers. Each chose their own direction: Keistut was interested in relations with the West, and Olgerd positioned himself in the East. If necessary, they provided each other with full support. This policy soon bore fruit. The power of ON has intensified.
Even after the death of his brother, Keistut did not change the tradition. Jagiello's son took his father's place. In order to understand the issue of the causes and consequences of the Krevo Union of 1385, it is necessary to say a few words about the heir of Olgerd.
Jagiello
He was a very cunning, insidious and cruel ruler, for whom personal power was above all. Therefore, very soon he began to intrigue against his uncle. At this time, there was a convergence of interests between Dmitry Donskoy and Keistut. They both saw the Golden Horde as the main threat. Jagiello decided to take advantage of this and became close to Mamai. After the famous Battle of Kulikovo, the authority of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy increased. They saw him as the main defender and support of Russian lands. They listened to his opinion and sought his support. Among them was Jagiello.
Only one thing confused this power-hungry prince. If he accepts Dmitry Ivanovich’s conditions, then he himself, and at the same time the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, will have to recognize the supreme power of the winner of the Battle of Kulikovo. This was not in Jagiello's interests. The nephew managed to destroy his uncle Keistut in 1382, and his son Vytautas fled to the crusaders. Now he was the main contender for supreme power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Soon Jagiello received a very tempting offer from the Pope. It needs to be voiced in more detail in order to understand the reasons and conditions for the conclusion of the Krevo Union.
Advancement of Catholicism to the East
Rome had long cherished the hope of converting the Russian lands into the fold of its church. Promises, threats, and the use of military force did not help. The Teutonic Order was repeatedly kicked in the teeth by the Russians, and this suggested the idea that something needed to be changed in strategy.
It was necessary to find a ruler willing to instill Catholicism. The ideal candidate was the Orthodox Prince Jagiello. He needed support more than ever. His power was threatened from the east by Moscow, from the west by Vytautas, and in Lithuania itself many fellow countrymen were dissatisfied with the reprisal against Keistut. Poland's offer for him was the only acceptable option not only for salvation, but also for strengthening his own power. The causes and consequences of the Krevo Union of 1385 cannot be considered without dwelling on the very concept of “union”. What does it consist of, what characteristics does it have?
What is union
A union is a union that can only be concluded between states with a monarchical form of government, in which one monarch is the head of all member states of such a union. Moreover, there does not necessarily have to be close economic and political cooperation between them, and the sovereignty of such countries remains unshakable.
The rapprochement of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Poland and the Union of Krevo in 1385 is a striking example of this. Each side had its own army, treasury, border and did not interfere much in each other’s affairs. However, in the event of a common danger, such allies acted as a united front. It was a forced union of two weakened states experiencing enormous pressure from outside.
Terms of the agreement
Behind Poland stood the powerful Roman Catholic Church. She was the main guarantor of compliance with agreements on the part of the West. In exchange for his support, resolving conflict situations with the Teutonic Order, the following was required from the Lithuanian Prince Jagiello:
Accept Catholicism and contribute to its promotion in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Return all the disputed territories that the Lithuanians, in their naivety, considered theirs and annexed them to the principality by force of the sword.
Pay a penalty for violating the marriage contract. Jadwiga was already promised to the Austrian Duke, but 200,000 florens should help the “poor fellow” drown out his mental suffering.
The history of the Krevo Union of 1385 is a sad story of betrayal of the faith of our ancestors by the top of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The common people, as well as part of the aristocracy, did not accept a faith alien to them. A bloody confrontation began. Vitovt, the son of the vilely murdered Prince Keistut, took advantage of this situation. In this massacre he was supported by the Muscovites and the Crusaders. Gradually, Vilna, Gorodnya, and Novogrudok fell under the rule of Vytautas. In this increasingly widening conflict, a compromise was necessary. The Kingdom of Poland, represented by Jagiello, understood this very well.
Conclusion
If we briefly characterize the causes and consequences of the Krevo Union of 1385, it is necessary to highlight several of the most important points. The West, trying to prevent the strengthening of the Moscow state, attracted another ally to its side - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This became possible not only due to the fact that the top of this state was flattered by privileges and liberties. The conscious choice of Europe occurred because its culture, economy, and military power were the most attractive to the people who understood that they still had a lot to learn from others.
The real threat of the fall of Russian lands prompted the Aukštaitsky nobility to turn their gaze towards their rapidly growing western neighbor - the Kingdom of Poland. Polish feudal lords by the 14th century. captured Galician-Volyn Rus - the ethnic core of the future Ukraine, and plans were developed for further expansion into Russian lands. In this, their interests collided with the discontent of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, the common threat from the German crusaders pushed both sides towards rapprochement.
The German (Teutonic) Order appeared in the Baltic states after its expulsion from Palestine. In 1226 he was invited by the Polish Mazovian prince Kondrat, who hoped that the knights would protect his possessions from Prussian raids. The prince miscalculated. Having subdued the Prussians, the Germans began to devastate the possessions of their “benefactor.”
Even earlier, the German Order of the Swordsmen appeared in the Eastern Baltic. In 1201 at the mouth of the Western Dvina, he founded the Riga castle and entered into confrontation with the neighboring Russian principalities and Lithuania. Defeated by the Russians and Lithuanians, the Order of the Swordsmen in 1237. was annexed to the more powerful Teutonic Order, and the lands of the Swordsmen began to be considered as a branch of the Teutonic Order located in Livonia. After the weakening of the Prussian core of the order, this branch acquired independence and began to be called the Livonian Order after its location.
The German crusaders, under the banner of Catholic missionary work, with the blessing of the Roman Curia, did not hesitate in their means, strove to expand their Baltic possessions. They brutally devastated the neighboring Polish, Lithuanian and Russian lands. However, a comprehensive historical analysis shows that the crusaders never had such forces and means that they could seriously threaten the existence of such large states as Poland, Lithuania or Rus'. The crusader threat could not be compared with the Tatar threat, which more than once called into question the very existence of peoples who found themselves victims of the invasion of nomadic hordes.
To defeat the main forces of the German Order on Lake Peipsi in 1242 and push the Germans back from the Russian borders, it turned out that the forces of essentially one, not the most populous Novgorod land, were enough.
A great threat to the ethnic integrity of Poland was the gradual absorption of its western lands by the neighboring German principalities of the German Empire, which began in the 10th century. This process was accompanied by the German trade and craft colonization of Polish cities and the seizure of leading positions in the Polish church by the German clergy.
Thus, the crusaders, with their aggression, influenced the conclusion of the Polish-Lithuanian union. The main reason was the desire of the Lithuanian feudal lords, relying on the help of Poland, to retain and expand Russian possessions. The Polish feudal lords sought to strengthen Poland in an alliance with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The rapprochement between Lithuania and Poland had another extremely important point. Lithuania was the last pagan state in Europe, where paganism dominated over Christianity. Moreover, this Christian majority already belonged to Greek Orthodoxy, which competed with Western Catholicism. This put Lithuania in a vulnerable position. The Christianization of Lithuania was an inevitable condition for its inclusion in the system of European civilization, and the choice between Poland and Russia meant for the Lithuanian nobility not only a rejection of paganism. It meant a choice between Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. This was not only a political, but also a civilizational choice.
Conditions of the union: the united states must be ruled by one person, first it will be Jagiello, and then a direct descendant from their marriage with Jadwiga, the struggle of both states with the Teutonic Order, the adoption of the Catholic faith by Jagiello and the baptism of the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into Catholicism. The terms of the Krevo Union were more beneficial to the Polish nobility, which persistently strove to annex the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to Poland for eternity.
- VKontakte 0
- Google+ 0
- OK 0
- Facebook 0
