| Duchy of Trakai Trakų Kunigaikštystė | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duchy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania | |||||||||
| 1337–1413 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||
| Capital | Senieji Trakai, later Trakai | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established by Kęstutis | 1337 | ||||||||
| 1413 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Duchy of Trakai was a subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the 14th and early 15th centuries. [1] The Duke of Trakai was an important position held either by the Grand Duke of Lithuania himself or his second-in-command. [1]
After the demise of Gediminas in December 1337, the Duchy of Lithuania was divided into two parts: Grand Duke Algirdas ruled Vilnius and the Eastern Aukštaitija while his brother Kęstutis received the Duchy of Trakai. [1] [2] The ruler of the Duchy of Vilnius also was the Grand Duke of Lithuania. [2] [3]
In 1382, during the Lithuanian Civil War, Kęstutis was imprisoned at the Kreva Castle and died. His nephew Skirgaila was named the new Duke of Trakai by his brother Grand Duke Jogaila.
Vytautas, son of Kęstutis, then waged a new Lithuanian Civil War to regain his patrimony in Trakai and seize power in Lithuania. The war was ended by the Ostrów Agreement on August 4, 1392. The agreement transferred the Duchy from Skirgaila to Vytautas.
On October 2, 1413, Vilnius and Trakai Voivodeships were created by the Union of Horodło from the Duchy of Trakai. The voivodeships were ruled by an appointed official and not by the dukes.
One could delineate the boundaries of the Duchy of Trakai by referring to the donative writ of Grand Duke Jogaila: from the Livonian border (Upytė) to Kobrynin (Masuria), and eastward from Podlesie to Pinsk. Naugardukas was still part of the Duchy of Trakai.
| Name | Lifespan | Reign start | Reign end | Notes | Family | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kęstutis | 1 January 1297 – 1 January 1382 (aged 85) | 1337 | 1382 | First Duke of Trakai | Gediminids |  |
| Skirgaila | 1 January 1354 – 11 January 1397 (aged 43) | 1382 | 1392 | Speculated to have murdered Kęstutis. Skirgaila's death itself happened in unclear circumstances. | Gediminids |  |
| Vytautas the Great | 1 January 1350 – 27 October 1430 (aged 80) | 1392 | 1413 | Son of Kęstutis; cousin of Skirgaila | Gediminids |  |
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to the late 18th century, when the territory was partitioned in 1795 among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation born from several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija.
Kęstutis was the Grand Duke of Lithuania. He was the Duke of Trakai and governed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1342–1382, together with his brother Algirdas, and with his nephew Jogaila.
The House of Gediminid or simply the Gediminids were a dynasty of monarchs in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that reigned from the 14th to the 16th century. A cadet branch of this family, known as the Jagiellonian dynasty, reigned also in the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Hungary and Kingdom of Bohemia. Several other branches ranked among the leading aristocratic dynasties of Russia and Poland into recent times.
Tautvilas or Towtwil was one of the sons of Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and a strong supporter of his brother Vytautas the Great in his struggles against their cousin Jogaila.
Skirgaila was a regent of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for his brother Jogaila from 1386 to 1392. He was the son of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his second wife Uliana of Tver.
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The Treaty of Dovydiškės, Daudiske, or Daudisken was a secret treaty signed on 31 May 1380 between Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Winrich von Kniprode, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. The treaty was directed against Jogaila's uncle Kęstutis and its effect was to precipitate the Lithuanian Civil War (1381–1384).
Edvardas Gudavičius was a Lithuanian historian. He was known as one of the best historians in Lithuania specializing in the early history of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and is an author of many publications.
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The Duchy of Lithuania was a state-territorial formation of ethnic Lithuanians that existed from the 13th century to 1413. For most of its existence, it was a constituent part and a nucleus of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Other alternative names of the territorial formation, used in different periods, were Aukštaitija or Land of Lithuania, Duchy of Vilnius, Lithuania proper, or simply Lithuania.
The Ostrów or Astrava Agreement was a treaty between Jogaila, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his cousin Vytautas the Great, signed on 4 August 1392. The treaty ended the destructive Lithuanian Civil War, launched in 1389 by Vytautas who hoped to gain political power, and concluded the power struggle between the two cousins that erupted in 1380 after Jogaila secretly signed the Treaty of Dovydiškės with the Teutonic Knights. The Ostrów Agreement did not stop attacks from the Teutonic Knights and the territorial dispute over Samogitia continued up to 1422. According to the treaty, Vytautas became the ruler of Lithuania, but he also acknowledged Jogaila's rights to Lithuania. The details of the Polish–Lithuanian relationship were clarified in several later treaties, including the Union of Vilnius and Radom in 1401 and Union of Horodło in 1413.
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Vygantas was Duke of Kernavė. He was one of the sons of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania (1345–1377), and his second wife Uliana Alexandrovna of Tver.
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The Jagiellonian or Jagellonian dynasty, otherwise the Jagiellon dynasty, the House of Jagiellon, or simply the Jagiellons, was the name assumed by a cadet branch of the Lithuanian ducal dynasty of Gediminids upon reception by Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, of baptism as Władysław in 1386, which paved the way to his ensuing marriage to the Queen Regnant Jadwiga of Poland, resulting in his ascension to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło, and the effective promotion of his branch to a royal dynasty. The Jagiellons reigned in several European countries between the 14th and 16th centuries. Members of the dynasty were Kings of Poland (1386–1572), Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Kings of Hungary, and Kings of Bohemia and imperial electors (1471–1526).
The Christianization of Lithuania occurred in 1387, initiated by King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila and his cousin Vytautas the Great. It signified the official adoption of Christianity by Lithuania, the last pagan country in Europe. This event ended one of the most complicated and lengthiest processes of Christianization in European history.
Gediminas' Cap was the most important regalia of the Lithuanian monarchs who ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until the Union of Lublin in 1569. During the inaugurations of Lithuanian monarchs, Gediminas' Cap was placed on the monarch's heads by the Bishop of Vilnius in Vilnius Cathedral.
