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Formation and Transformations of Dynastic Ties Between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland from 1386-1795

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Formation and Transformations of Dynastic Ties Between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland from 1386-1795 Formation and Transformations of Dynastic Ties Between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland from 1386-1795 JŪRATĖ KIAUPIENĖ The first 600 years in the history of Lithuania include the four- centuries-long relationship with Poland lasting from 1386-1795, historiographically known as the history of the Polish-Lithua­ nian Commonwealth. From the very beginning, the true mean­ ing of this relationship has received varying interpretations by contemporaries and has left differing imprints on the historic memory of Lithuanians and Poles and the historiography of Poland and Lithuania. However, the field of research is con­ tinuously widening, and historians find new, previously un­ explored or "unnoticed" findings which allow them to expand and change their previous interpretations. At the juncture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, paving the way for further discussion, new aspects emerged concerning the mean­ ing of the Polish-Lithuanian Union in a European as well as re­ gional context. In the present article, the author deals with one of these aspects and introduces new interpretations proposed by post-1990 Lithuanian historians concerning the beginning of the dynastic ties and the reasons behind the subsequent fluc­ tuations in the period from 1386 101501.' Cf. the discussion of unions in the context of the Middle Ages and in the historiography of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Kiaupienė and Petrauskas. JŪRATĖ KIAUPIENĖ is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Lithu­ anian History, Vilnius, Head of the Section on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Professor of History at the Vytautas Magnus Univer­ sity in Kaunas. She published numerous books and articles on this subject. 5 1386: Tite Formation of the Dynastic Union A major controversy revolves around the meaning of the first union between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Known in Polish historiography as the Krewo (Krėva) Union of 1385, it was said to signify the incorpo­ ration of Lithuania into the state of Poland. This interpretation was widely disseminated and eventually became entrenched.2 It was more or less accepted in Lithuania during the Soviet pe­ riod, ignoring arguments by Lithuanian historians of the first half of the twentieth century about the true nature of the dynas­ tic relationship.3 The new impetus for researchers to reexamine this matter was Jonas Dainauskas's thesis in 1976 that the Krėva Act of 1385 was a falsification; it was translated into Polish by Polish historian Jerzy Ochmanski in 1987.4 After 1990, it be­ came possible to revisit and examine Dainauskas's claim. This topic was formulated and discussed in 2002 at the Lithuanian History Institute in Vilnius, and the results were published in The Krėva Act of August 14,1385.5 After a thorough evaluation of the Krėva Act from various standpoints, including the historical circumstances of its gene­ sis, researchers published both the original text of 1385 and the copy of 1445, with accompanying Lithuanian translations, con­ cluding that the manuscript of 1385, preserved in the Cracow Chapter Archive, is indeed authentic and not counterfeit. The act in question was the ratification of the negotiated agreement concerning the marriage of Lithuania's Grand Duke Jogaila to Jadvyga of Anjou, the heiress to the throne of Poland. Since a marriage contract does not have the weight of an international treaty, there is no basis for referring to it as the Poland-Lithua­ nia Act of Union of 1385. Moreover, among other international 2 For a historiographical survey see Blaszczyk, Dzicje stosunkozu pol- sko-litcwskich, vol. I and II. 3 Dainauskas, „Kriavo akto autentiškumas", 51-71. 4 Dainauskas, „Autentycznošč aktu krewskiego", 125-144. 5 Čapaitė, R.E. Rimša, S.C. Rovvell, J. Kiaupienė, and E. Ulčinaitė, eds. 6 treaties entered into between Poland and Lithuania, nothing exists that could be deemed the "Kreva Union of 1385." In 1386, negotiations concerning the marriage and suc­ cession to the Polish throne were concluded, and Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania, descendant of the line of Gediminas, ar­ rived in Poland, was baptized, married Jadvyga, and, while remaining sovereign of Lithuania, was crowned King of Po­ land, henceforth to be known by his Christian Polish name Wladyslaw Jagieffo. Thus, in the late Middle Ages, a dynastic union was founded with vast influence throughout East Cen­ tral Europe. It is not known whether the Gediminians were the initia­ tors of this dynastic alliance. However, it is clear that Jogaila's decision was useful for Lithuania's ruling dynasty and of great importance for the future: it raised the prestige of the Gedi­ minas line, ensured the Christianization of pagan Lithuania, guaranteed an ally against the aggressions of the Teutonic Knights, and opened the door to association with other Cen­ tral European sovereigns. With Jogaila, the heir of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, becoming the sovereign of two states, the Gediminian dynasty underwent a major transformation that opened new political vistas. The manner in which the Polish and Lithuanian dynas­ ties were aligned in 1386 was not exceptional by the European standards of the late Middle Ages. In 1382, the death of Lud- wig I ended Poland's dynastic ties with Hungary through the Anjou dynasty, and the Kingdom of Poland established a new dynastic connection with the line of Gediminas through Jogaila, ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The dynastic nature of this relationship was comprehended by other European rulers of the period and is supported by some mid-fifteenth century iconography. The writings of Eberhart Windecke, a Luxemburg courtier and annalist to Emperor Sigismund, contain illustra­ tions by the famous manuscript artist Loubert Diebolt of Ha- genau that portray Jogaila, King of Poland, not with the Polish 7 eagle, but with the Lithuanian mounted knight, the vytis, the coat of arms of the Gediminians.6 Placing the dynastic union of Jogaila and Jadvyga with­ in a European context, S.C. Rowell introduces the concept of "composite monarchy," which was new in Polish-Lithuanian historiography and signified the joining of two states under the same ruler.7 In modern historiography, the term "compos­ ite state/monarchy" is used to describe a specific yet variable means for alignment and coexistence between European na­ tions during the late Middle Ages and Early Modern periods.8 The "composite state/monarchy" (of which more than one ex­ isted) was comprised of independent states which did not nec­ essarily share a common border. Some of these constructs were short-lived, while others persisted for a long time. This term thus can well be applied to the 1386 affiliation of the Kingdom of Poland with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the Crown of Poland. In the political usage of the Middle Ages, the concept of the Crown of Poland (Coronae Regni Poloniae) had a number of meanings during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but in the fifteenth century it began to include all lands governed by Jogaila, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. The Kingdom of Poland was one entity of the composite whole, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania the other. The prominent placement of the word "Poland" in the name of the composite monarchy is of little significance: in the hierarchical value system of the times, a kingdom ranked above a duchy. That is the reason Jo­ gaila sought the Polish crown and why Vytautas (Witold, Pol­ ish; Vitovt, East Slavic) and his successors, as well as the nobil­ ity of the 1430s, vigorously pursued the status of kingdom for Lithuania. By assuming the Polish throne while remaining Grand Duke of Lithuania, Jogaila clearly demonstrated his intention 6 Windecke. See also Kiaupienė, „Lietuvos valdovų profiliai," 323- 350. 7 Rovvell, „Krėvos aktas," 77. ? Koenigsberger, 6-21. 8 to rule both states. He entrusted Lithuania to his brother Skir- gaila by appointing him viceroy. At about the same time, Vy- tautas embarked on a quest to secure his own birthright and to obtain the rule of Lithuania for himself. The first stage in his efforts to claim Lithuania culminated in the Treaty of Astrava (Astravas) in 1392. This treaty was not meant to affect the terms of the dynas­ tic union of 1386 but to regulate the relationships between the Gediminians (Jogaila, Vytautas, and Skirgaila) and to establish who was to govern Lithuania, the patrimony of Jogaila. In actu­ ality, there were significant changes. Jogaila had to concede that his cousin Vytautas had gained precedence in ruling the Grand Duchy of Lithuania because Jogaila's brother Skirgaila, the ap­ pointed viceroy in Lithuania, had failed to gain sufficient trust and authority there. The Treaty of Astrava did not formally ad­ dress the exact extent of Vytautas's jurisdiction in Lithuania, nor its effect on Skirgaila's administration, but in real terms it did represent Vytautas's first documented victory in his battle for primacy. The treaty had international repercussions too. The ter­ ritorially ambitious Luxemburgers (Jogaila's brother-in-law, King Sigismund of Hungary, and Sigismund's brother Vaclav, King of the Bohemians and the Romans) were disquieted by the apparent formation of a new diarchy with the potential for Jogaila's large composite monarchy to increase in regional strength. King Sigismund's position was complicated by the death of his wife Maria, of Luxemburg lineage, which made her sister Jadvyga, the queen of Poland, sole heiress to the Hungarian throne. The entire situation was also observed with great interest by the Teutonic Order, an ally of the Luxemburg­ ers and an enemy of both Poland and Lithuania. While Jogaila was preoccupied with his Luxemburg ri­ vals, Vytautas used the opportunity to strengthen his own po­ sition within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
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