dimmit

I'm interested in learning more about the policy of paganism in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the late medieval period.

My understanding is that Lithuania was the last major country in Europe to officially convert to Christianity. It wasn't until the late 1300's that Lithuania was officially Christianized.

Why did it take so long? How was Lithuania able to hold out and grow in power at a time when alliances were sealed via marriage and religion was so important? The major powers around Lithuania had been Christian for a long time; the Russians had been Christians for centuries, Hungarians as well, Byzantine Empire...well since Constantine!

I find this puzzling. It would be one thing if the Lithuanians were a loose set of tribes but the Duchy of Lithuania was an organized "state" (at least as far as states were organized at that time). Anyway, any thoughts?

Kotromanic

Although most of the princes of Russia had adopted Christianity centuries earlier than the late 1300s the source J. Martin, "Medieval Russia 980-1584" (1993) indicates that the common people of Russia continued practicing paganism into the 13th century.

It may be that the state's status as officially pagan had no effect on relations with the Russian princes. Up until the Northern Crusades there may have been no meaningful consequence for the regime's affiliation.

dimmit

Interesting. I did not know that about the common people of Russia.

Perhaps Lithuania was able to depend on the Russian princes because their Catholic neighbors to the west probably considered them equally heretical (given the Russians were Orthodox).

Still, it seems amazing to me that a country in that time could hold out for so long being officially pagan. Diplomacy and politics at that time required intermarriage between ruling families of different kingdoms. I would presume that a Lithuanian prince would find it hard to marry his son to a daughter of a neighboring kingdom if that son was raised, and continued to practice, paganism.

Belloc

Lithuania and Poland still had close relations at this time IIRC, even though Poland was by now officially Catholic.

Kotromanic

While I don't disagree that the paganism was a drawback for dynastic marriages, King Jagiello of Poland-Lithuania (Jogaila in Lithuanian) was the product of a marriage of an pagan Grand Prince to an Orthodox princess. Per Wikipedia [ Uliana ] his mother was daughter of the Grand Prince of Tver. Jagiello's conversion to Catholicism was a prerequisite for his marriage to Queen Jadwiga (Hedwig) of Poland.

In earlier centuries, say the 1100's, it is not clear whether the educated people of Germany or Byzantium would have had any motivation to dedicate the attention of their scholars to learning to speak a Baltic language. My understanding is that there is a considerable gap between Slavic languages and Baltic languages. As the Lithuanians were not on the borders of the HRE or Byzantine Empire as were the Slavic people the need to have diplomats or missionaries fluent in the Baltic languages was orobably not as great. In fact, it seems that at the conclusion of the 1100's that Lithuania was still a diplomatic Terra Incognita or else the papacy might have put more restrictions on the Northern Crusades than they did in fact.

The last thought above I don't present as evidence, but as the counterpoint to the assumption in dimmit's post that in the 1100's the Lithuanians had a sort of "normalized" diplomacy with German speaking or Scandavian speaking nations.

BrowniesRule

All we can possibly know about the Lithuanian pagans is how they were described by the Teutonic knights and others. And christian authors always love to extrapolate the worst behavior of non-christians.

Kotromanic

The Teutonic Order was also capable of knowing a military power vacuum when they saw one. According the sources we have, the Danes left the regions at the Northern frontier of Lithuania in the early 1240s.

Also there's no evidence that the Danes had "normal" diplomacy with the Lithuanians. Language would seem to be high barrier but I can't give evidence other than what I mentioned earlier.

I am sure the previous poster knows there are Polish sources as well as sources from the Teut Order that have come down from high middle ages.

BosnianHistorian

Are you Bosnian?

House of Kotromani

Kotromanic

I chose the username after the Bosnian dynasty, yes. My family name is different.

Some of my ancestors were Bosnian in fact.

Can you suggest sources in English about the early years and establishment of the Kotromanic dynasty?

Thanks.

Mosquito

Legally Jadwiga (Hedwig) of Poland wasnt queen but king. I know its funny but its truth. Her title was "king".