- Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Medieval History, Russian History, History of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Early Modern History, Russian Orthodoxy, and 22 moreNovgorod the Great, Medieval Studies, Medieval Poland, Teutonic Knights, Carolingian Studies, Medieval Livonia, Vytautas, Jagiellonians, Jagiellonowie, Old Rus', East-Central European History, Lithuanian chronicles, Kievan Rus', Paleography, Diplomatics (Medieval), The Battle of Grunwald/Tannenberg, Medieval Russia, Late Middle Ages, Teutonic Order, Emperor Sigismund (1368-1437), Itineraries (Medieval History), and Itinerariaedit
- Historian of the late medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuaniaedit
Рецензии: A. Ryčkov // Lietuvos istorijos metraštis, 2016, t. 1, p. 139-142; A. Szweda // Średniowiecze Polskie i Powszechne, 2016, t. 8 (12), s. 329-335.
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S. Polekhov, Volunt esse liberi et dominum suum Swidergal habere regem et habere jus imperiale. Švitrigaila’s accession to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after Vytautas’ death in 1430 and his dethronement in 1432 // Changes of Monarchical Rule in the Late Middle Ages. De Gruyter, 2024more
After the death of Grand Duke Alexander Vytautas of Lithuania on 27 October 1430, the new Grand Duke became his cousin Boleslaus Švitrigaila. He soon came into open and acute conflict with the Kingdom of Poland, although it was reigned by... more
After the death of Grand Duke Alexander Vytautas of Lithuania on 27 October 1430, the new Grand Duke became his cousin Boleslaus Švitrigaila. He soon came into open and acute conflict with the Kingdom of Poland, although it was reigned by his brother, King Władysław Jagiełło, who had just reconciled with Vytautas after his failed attempt to create the Kingdom of Lithuania. The main issues of the conflict were the prospects of the union with Poland and the fate of the borderlands Podolia and Volhynia. In 1432, after two years of hostlities and unproductive negotiations with Poland, Švitrigaila was unexpectedly overthrown by a group of nobles and fled to Polotsk, commencing a war against the new Grand Duke Žygimantas Kęstutaitis which lasted till 1438.
The events in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 1430s have been subject to much discussion in scholarly research. In this paper, I concentrate on the developments preceding the dynastic war, which are no less controversial than the war itself. Two questions form the topic of the paper. In the first part, I focus on Švitrigaila’s accession to the Lithuanian grand-ducal throne in 1430, and in the second part I discuss his dethronement in 1432 and its background. The discussion is largely based on new evidence – hitherto unpublished letters about the developments in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after Vytautas’ death. Their commented publication is provided in the appendix.
The events in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 1430s have been subject to much discussion in scholarly research. In this paper, I concentrate on the developments preceding the dynastic war, which are no less controversial than the war itself. Two questions form the topic of the paper. In the first part, I focus on Švitrigaila’s accession to the Lithuanian grand-ducal throne in 1430, and in the second part I discuss his dethronement in 1432 and its background. The discussion is largely based on new evidence – hitherto unpublished letters about the developments in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after Vytautas’ death. Their commented publication is provided in the appendix.
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According to the research, the reason for Vasily I drawing up the third testament between 1423 and 1425, shortly after his second testament approved by the guarantor, Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania, was the granting of a yarliq by Khan... more
According to the research, the reason for Vasily I drawing up the third testament between 1423 and 1425, shortly after his second testament approved by the guarantor, Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania, was the granting of a yarliq by Khan Ulugh Muhammad to Prince Daniil Borisovich that meant the restoration of the Principality of Nizhny Novgorod independent of Moscow. The paper provides arguments that by doing so, Ulugh Muhammad was acting independently. Although he was Vytautas’ ally, his action was contrary to the intentions of the Grand Duke of Lithuania who was interested in seeing his underage grandson Vasily Vasil’evich’s succession to the throne because Vasily I’s brother Yury Dmitrievich, an ally of Vytautas’ rival Švitrigaila, could aspire to it. Despite the struggle for power in the Horde in the early 1420s, Ulugh Muhammad seems to have had enough power to help Daniil Borisovich realize his claim to Nizhny Novgorod. Since Vytautas was not able to provide Vasily Vasil’evich with Nizhny Novgorod as a part of Vasily I’s possessions, which showed the limits of his possibilities regarding the Horde, the third testament was made in a different way than the second one: at the beginning it was signed by Metropolitan Photios, then sealed by Vasily I and his three brothers, and at the very end by Vytautas.
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The paper deals with the problem of the dating of the Old Russian letter of the Novgorodian authorities stating Danila Andreev's claim against a certain German merchant. Basing on the comparison of the letter with the correspondence... more
The paper deals with the problem of the dating of the Old Russian letter of the Novgorodian authorities stating Danila Andreev's claim against a certain German merchant. Basing on the comparison of the letter with the correspondence preserved in the Tallinn City Archive, which allows to identify the German merchant, the conclusion is made that the letter was written between February and June 1423.
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The article analyses the problem of authenticity of one of the treaties between Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania and Duke Skirgaila of Trakai and the Teutonic Order concluded on 31 October 1382 and ceding the land of Samogitia (Lithuanian:... more
The article analyses the problem of authenticity of one of the treaties between Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania and Duke Skirgaila of Trakai and the Teutonic Order concluded on 31 October 1382 and ceding the land of Samogitia (Lithuanian: Žemaitija) to the Teutonic Order. The treaty’s authenticity has been questioned in Belarusian research in recent years, as the Teutonic Order has been accused of forgery. In the article, it is shown that the surviving text is known from several copies, dating back to the last decade of the fourteenth century, and it fits the diplomatics of the Teutonic Order’s treaties of that time as well as the notion of power and the ruler’s rights of both sides. Therefore, there is no sufficient reason to consider the analysed document a forgery.
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This article is devoted to the last decades of the existence of the independent Novgorod Republic and its fall. The events of 1470–1471, namely, the attempts to call into service a prince from Lithuania, to conclude an alliance with... more
This article is devoted to the last decades of the existence of the independent Novgorod Republic and its fall. The events of 1470–1471, namely, the attempts to call into service a prince from Lithuania, to conclude an alliance with Lithuania and with the Teutonic Order in Livonia, and the campaign of Ivan III and the military defeat of Lord Novgorod the Great, have been considered on a wide background of social and political development of Novgorod the Great throughout the fifteenth century, in the context of the history of its foreign relations and the position of its neighbors, the organization of its armed forces, with a comprehensive account of a variety of sources (not only chronicles but also charters, epistolary and literary sources, etc.) and a rich research literature. In contrast to the approaches widespread in historiography, emphasis has been placed on contemporary reliable sources rather than on later ideological interpretations. Analysis of the chronicles also involve...
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Research objectives: This article offers annotated editions of nine letters from the archive of the grand masters of the Teutonic Order written between the spring of 1431 and the summer of 1432 concerning the Tatars. Research materials:... more
Research objectives: This article offers annotated editions of nine letters from the archive of the grand masters of the Teutonic Order written between the spring of 1431 and the summer of 1432 concerning the Tatars. Research materials: The originals and copies of the letters preserved in the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin – the historical Königsberg archive (XX. Hauptabteilung), subsidiary materials, published and unpublished, from the same archive, as well as materials from the archives of Cracow and Warsaw. Results and novelty of the research: It is established that at least nine letters written between the spring of 1431 and the summer of 1432 concerning the Horde’s relations with its neighbors (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, Moldavia, and Walachia) and its ongoing internal power struggle are preserved in the historical Königsberg archive, presently named the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, in Berlin. Only three of ...
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In the article, the author analyzes the information about the delimitation of the Polish-Lithuanian border in Rus demanded by Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania during his attempt to get the crown and to create the Kingdom of Lithuania. It... more
In the article, the author analyzes the information about the delimitation of the Polish-Lithuanian border in Rus demanded by Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania during his attempt to get the crown and to create the Kingdom of Lithuania. It is shown that Vytautas’ demand was caused by the character of the border which had been changing for several previous decades – the fact which led to the aggravation of the borderland conflicts in Volhynia after Vytautas’ death in 1430.
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The article is devoted to the relations between Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania and the Republic of Pskov in 1398–1409. It is shown that, despite the cession of Pskov as a sphere of interest to the Teutonic Order according to the treaty... more
The article is devoted to the relations between Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania and the Republic of Pskov in 1398–1409. It is shown that, despite the cession of Pskov as a sphere of interest to the Teutonic Order according to the treaty of Salin in 1398, Vytautas kept trying to subdue Pskov in the first decade of the 15th century. As a result, the tensions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and its ally, the Teutonic Order, were gradually becoming more and more acute. Vytautas was interested in Pskov after the war with the Teutonic Order of 1409–1411 as well. In turn, it led to the increasing rapprochement between Pskov and the Grand Duchy of Moscow, starting at the end of the 14th century.
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The article presents an analysis of a significant aspect regarding problems with the coronation of Grand Duke Vytautas and his wife Uliana – data from the story behind the rulers’ crowns that has hitherto practically not been noticed is... more
The article presents an analysis of a significant aspect regarding problems with the coronation of Grand Duke Vytautas and his wife Uliana – data from the story behind the rulers’ crowns that has hitherto practically not been noticed is being brought into academic circulation. Several important historical sources are being analysed: inscriptions from the book of expenses of the city of Nuremberg, a description of the Teutonic Order’s legation under the Vogt of Stuhm Klaus von Redwitz to meet with the Roman-German King Sigismund of Luxemburg (in 1429), and a previously unknown document regarding the coronation that has survived in manuscript form at the Bavarian State Library (BSB, Clm 22372), which once belonged to Sigismund’s advocate, the Bishop of Augsburg Peter von Schaumberg. These sources contain records indicating that the crowns were richly adorned with gemstones, and were in the past associated with Emperor Henry VII (Sigismund’s great-grandfather) and Roman-German King, Ruprecht von der Pfalz. This kind of link reveals the symbolic significance of the crowns, while their cost – one was priced at 50 thousand guldens – testifies to the scale of importance of the Kingdom of Lithuania project in Sigismund’s political plans in 1429–1430. The analysis of the above historical sources also allows researchers to speculate that the failure to have Vytautas crowned could have been due to his overly unilateral dependence on Sigismund’s actions.
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The article offers a source study and an edition of the missive of Khan Safa Giray of Kazan attached to the letter of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund the Old (Zygmunt Stary) which he sent to the Council of Lords of... more
The article offers a source study and an edition of the missive of Khan Safa Giray of Kazan attached to the letter of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund the Old (Zygmunt Stary) which he sent to the Council of Lords of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on November 8, 1538. The research aims to contextualize the khan’s missive and to establish its date.
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The paper deals with the question of authenticity of the judicial charter that was allegedly issued by Vytautas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, on the legal case between Švitrigaila and Andrey Vasilo, at the end of the 14th century.... more
The paper deals with the question of authenticity of the judicial charter that was allegedly issued by Vytautas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, on the legal case between Švitrigaila and Andrey Vasilo, at the end of the 14th century. Analysis of the pseudo-original found in the Department of Written Sources of the State Historical Museum in Moscow allows to draw the conclusion that it is, indeed, a forgery, copied from a reproduction of an original Vytautas' charter published in the 1820s. The same is true of another recently published Vytautas' charter known from a 19th-century copy.DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2018.7.2.17В статье рассмотрен вопрос о подлинности судной грамоты Витовта по делу между Свидригайлом и Андреем Васило, якобы конца XIV в. Рассмотрение псевдооригинала, обнаруженного в Отделе письменных источников Государственного исторического музея в Москве, позволяет заключить, что это — подделка, срисованная с репродукции подлинной грамоты Витовта, опубликованной в 20-е ...
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Research objectives: The aim of the article is to trace the origins of the Old Russian text of Tokhtamish Khan’s 1393-dated yarliq-letter to King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland, as well as the place and time of its emergence. Research... more
Research objectives: The aim of the article is to trace the origins of the Old Russian text of Tokhtamish Khan’s 1393-dated yarliq-letter to King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland, as well as the place and time of its emergence. Research materials: The Turkic and the Old Russian texts of Tokhtamish Khan’s 1393 yarlıq-letter to King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland, as well as published and unpublished auxiliary materials. Results and novelty of the research: It is established that the Old Russian text of Tokhtamish Khan’s 1393 yarlıq-letter to Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland was written down in the royal chancery by the king’s Ruthenian scribe, Małochiej. This text was a record of the embassy of the khan’s envoys which explains its additional information when compared to the Turkic original.
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The article analyses the privilege of the grand duke of Lithuania Alexander for the Smolensk land granted on the 1st of March, 1505. Its original has survived in the Main Archive of the Old Acts (Archiwum Glowne Akt Dawnych) in Warsaw.... more
The article analyses the privilege of the grand duke of Lithuania Alexander for the Smolensk land granted on the 1st of March, 1505. Its original has survived in the Main Archive of the Old Acts (Archiwum Glowne Akt Dawnych) in Warsaw. The author defines more exactly its components and their dating (the oldest privilege of grand duke Casimir Jagiellonian for the Smolensk land of 1447, his and his counsellors’ judicial decision on the litigation between the Smolensk dwellers and its governor Mikolaj Radziwill of 1482-1488, the same monarch’s order for him of 1482-1488 and Alexander’s order for Smolensk governor Stanislaw Hlebowicz of 1492-1499). The comparison of the oldest part of the Smolensk land privilege with the same documents for the lands of Novgorodok, Vitebsk, Polotsk and Volhynia brings to the conclusion that the Smolensk dwellers were interested in the fixation of the interests balance with the central authority 138 Петербургские славянские и балканские исследования Studi...
The paper presents a missive from the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III declaring war to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Aleksander Jagiellończyk on June the 24th, 1500. The missive, so far unaccounted in scientific publications, survives in a... more
The paper presents a missive from the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III declaring war to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Aleksander Jagiellończyk on June the 24th, 1500. The missive, so far unaccounted in scientific publications, survives in a Middle Low German translation kept in the archive of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck. The declaration of war is motivated by alleged injustices done to Ivan III, to his subjects and to his daughter Elena Ivanovna, who was Aleksander’s wife. Judging by the particular dialect of Low German, the translation was made in Lübeck. Its literality allows conclusions about the content of the original missive and the sources on which it was based. Analysis shows that the arguments included complaints formulated by Muscovite diplomats after the conclusion of the ‘eternal peace’ of 1494, beginning with the negotiations in 1495. Compared to indirect and short textual evidence available so far, this document gives a fuller picture of the events, including a more precis...
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The paper discusses an early unaccomplished publication of the Lithuanian Metrica materials proposed by Sergey A. Bershadsky - the concept of the publication, the attempts to prepare it, and their failure.
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TThe paper presents a missive from the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III declar- ing war to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Aleksander Jagiellończyk on June the 24th, 1500. The missive, so far unaccounted in scientific publications, survives in a... more
TThe paper presents a missive from the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III declar- ing war to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Aleksander Jagiellończyk on June the 24th, 1500. The missive, so far unaccounted in scientific publications, survives in a Middle Low German translation kept in the archive of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck. The declaration of war is motivated by alleged injustices done to Ivan III, to his subjects and to his daughter Elena Ivanovna, who was Alek- sander’s wife. Judging by the particular dialect of Low German, the translation was made in Lübeck. Its literality allows conclusions about the content of the original missive and the sources on which it was based. Analysis shows that the arguments included complaints formulated by Muscovite diplomats after the conclusion of the ‘eternal peace’ of 1494, beginning with the negotiations in 1495. Compared to indirect and short textual evidence available so far, this document gives a fuller picture of the events, including a more p...
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The paper is an attempt to answer the question: when could prince Švitrigaila, son of Algirdas (Świdrygiełło Olgierdowicz, Svidrigailo Olgerdovich), possess Halych, situated in the territory of the Kingdom of Poland, along with the... more
The paper is an attempt to answer the question: when could prince Švitrigaila, son of Algirdas (Świdrygiełło Olgierdowicz, Svidrigailo Olgerdovich), possess Halych, situated in the territory of the Kingdom of Poland, along with the adjacent territory? Until recently this fact was known only from a short mention in a document from the beginning of the 15th century, and it remained unclear, how to date this page in his riotous biography. Documents found in the archives of Warsaw and Lviv and published in the appendix allow us to date his Halych tenure to the period between October, 1405 and June, 1408, when Švitrigaila deserted to Moscow for Vasily I’s service, where he was granted the town of Vladimir and other possessions. It is shown that his short tenure in Halych allowed Švitrigaila to establish and strengthen his ties with the Ruthenian nobility under the rule of the Polish king. Even in May, 1408 (if the date of the document surviving in a 16th-century copy is correct), i. e., on the eve of his departure for Moscow, Švitrigaila was granting land near Halych to local nobles. Later he would use these ties to reconcile with his brother, king Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland, and to return to the dominions of the Gediminids, as he certainly did later.
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The aim of the article is to trace the origins of the Old Russian text of khan Tokhtamısh’s yarlıq-letter to king Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland of 1393, the place and time of its emergence. It is established that the Old Russian text of... more
The aim of the article is to trace the origins of the Old Russian text of khan Tokhtamısh’s yarlıq-letter to king Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland of 1393, the place and time of its emergence.
It is established that the Old Russian text of khan Tokhtamısh’s yarlıq-letter to king Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland of 1393 was written down in the royal chancery by the king’s Ruthenian scribe Małochiej; this text is a record of the embassy of the khan’s envoys, that explains its additional information as compared to the Turkic original.
It is established that the Old Russian text of khan Tokhtamısh’s yarlıq-letter to king Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland of 1393 was written down in the royal chancery by the king’s Ruthenian scribe Małochiej; this text is a record of the embassy of the khan’s envoys, that explains its additional information as compared to the Turkic original.
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Old Russian inscriptions regarding the topics of the Latin documents on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s relations with the Teutonic Order and the Kingdom of Poland and written on the back sides (in dorso) of these documents are analyzed in... more
Old Russian inscriptions regarding the topics of the Latin documents on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s relations with the Teutonic Order and the Kingdom of Poland and written on the back sides (in dorso) of these documents are analyzed in the article. It is shown that these inscriptions were not made simultaneously, while systemizing early archives and compiling their inventories, but due to the Ruthenian scribes’ need to mark single documents written in a foreign language, in the period of intensified intercultural contacts, probably in the second half of the 14th century, in the archives of three different rulers.
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A commented edition of five letters written in Smolensk between 1447 and 1509 (two of them hirtherto unpublished).
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The article provides a commented edition of a grant document issued by prince Władysław Opolczyk for the nobleman Danilo Dažbogovič in 1375 which is now preserved in the National Archive in Cracow.
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The aim of the article is to analyze the widely spread idea that the late medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania could unite the whole Rus' and pose an alternative to Moscow. It is shown that the Lithuanian rulers didn't lay such claims; the... more
The aim of the article is to analyze the widely spread idea that the late medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania could unite the whole Rus' and pose an alternative to Moscow. It is shown that the Lithuanian rulers didn't lay such claims; the attempts to detect them in their statements made in 1358 and (allegedly) in 1399 are nothing but misinterpretations. It is also shown that Algirdas, Jogaila and Vytautas had no real chances to subjugate the Duchy of Moscow and its allies and vassals, both as the result of their military expeditions (1368–1372, 1406–1408) and due to the matrimonial union (1383/84).
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An edition of Ivan III's declaration of war to Aleksander Jagiellończyk, grand duke of Lithuania, issued on June 24th, 1500, surviving in a damaged Middle Low German translation in the Lübeck City Archive (Archiv der Hansestadt Lübeck).
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This article investigates the case of four Lithuanian-Ruthenian dukes vouching for Duke Żedywid before the Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło. The original Ruthenian document does not include a date nor does it contain any information... more
This article investigates the case of four Lithuanian-Ruthenian dukes vouching for Duke Żedywid before the Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło. The original Ruthenian document does not include a date nor does it contain any information about the circumstances in which the surety (poręczenie) was issued. There have been attempts to solve this riddle in the historical literature, with reference to information about Żedywid contained in primary sources, biographies and genealogies of the vouching dukes, and the political history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the late fourteenth century. However, the majority of conclusions that have been drawn so far are based on misreadings of the text of the surety. The identification of the scribe who prepared the document has made it possible to determine its chronological framework, and information about the vouching dukes and King Władysław’s itinerary indicates that it was written between August 1392 and October 1393, most likely in Kraków. An attempt to put the surety into a broader political context requires us to take into account its possible connection with the actions undertaken by Vytautas aimed at extending and strengthening his power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after the Ostrów Agreement of 1392. This connection, however, remains only in the sphere of hypothesis. The exceptionally short diplomatic form of the document and lack of detailed information about these events and Żedywid himself in contemporary sources indicate that Żedywid’s actions did not pose any serious threat to Jagiełło.
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Two letters of duke Michał Lwowicz Gliński († 1536) to the city authorities of Riga and the covering letters of grand duke Vasili III of Moscow written in 1528–1529 are published in the article. In his letters Michał Gliński asked to... more
Two letters of duke Michał Lwowicz Gliński († 1536) to the city authorities of Riga and the covering letters of grand duke Vasili III of Moscow written in 1528–1529 are published in the article. In his letters Michał Gliński asked to assist the grand duke’s dyak Istoma Maloi in buying the medicinal herbs delivered to the Rigan pharmacy from Indonesia, the territory penetrated by the Europeans shortly before. These letters were hitherto published incompletely and with mistakes and didn’t attract the researchers’ attention. It is shown that both letters signed with Gliński’s own hand in Latin, the language he had learned in his youth in Western Europe, provide an important source for the research of his consciousness and biography, as well as Russia’s international contacts in the 1st third of the 16th century.
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Itinerary of Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania: 4/5 August 1392 – 27 October 1430 The presented itinerary of Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania (1392–1430) is based on extensive source material, both published and unpublished, preserved in... more
Itinerary of Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania: 4/5 August 1392 – 27 October 1430
The presented itinerary of Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania (1392–1430) is based on extensive source material, both published and unpublished, preserved in the archives and libraries of Belarus, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. It also takes into account the critical opinions of the previous version of his itinerary, prepared by Jerzy Purc (1971), and the literature on the rulers’ mobility in medieval Europe. In this context, it turns out that no system of the ruler’s regular tours emerged in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, unlike in the neighbouring Poland under Władysław Jagiełło. The grand duke of Lithuania spent most of his time in Lithuania proper (Lithuania propria) and in the neighbouring Grodno land, leaving the core of the state for the outlying districts (Ruthenian lands, Samogitia) and foreign states in connection with specific tasks of home and foreign policy, such as strengthening his power, meetings with other rulers and war expeditions. Such travels demanded comprehensive supply planning and organization in advance. The comparison of this practice with relatively scarce evidence on the system of exercising power in the earlier period makes it possible to determine that the system of state progresses disappeared quite early as the result of its territorial growth and the threat from the Teutonic Order in the 13th and 14th centuries.
The presented itinerary of Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania (1392–1430) is based on extensive source material, both published and unpublished, preserved in the archives and libraries of Belarus, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. It also takes into account the critical opinions of the previous version of his itinerary, prepared by Jerzy Purc (1971), and the literature on the rulers’ mobility in medieval Europe. In this context, it turns out that no system of the ruler’s regular tours emerged in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, unlike in the neighbouring Poland under Władysław Jagiełło. The grand duke of Lithuania spent most of his time in Lithuania proper (Lithuania propria) and in the neighbouring Grodno land, leaving the core of the state for the outlying districts (Ruthenian lands, Samogitia) and foreign states in connection with specific tasks of home and foreign policy, such as strengthening his power, meetings with other rulers and war expeditions. Such travels demanded comprehensive supply planning and organization in advance. The comparison of this practice with relatively scarce evidence on the system of exercising power in the earlier period makes it possible to determine that the system of state progresses disappeared quite early as the result of its territorial growth and the threat from the Teutonic Order in the 13th and 14th centuries.
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The edition "Codex diplomaticus Swidrigali magni ducis Lithuaniae", which is now being prepared, is presented in the paper.
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The article is devoted to the corrections in the original charter of prince Fyodor Koriatovich of Podolia (Pol. Podole, Ukr. Podillya) to his servant Hrynko donating to him the district of Sokolets (Pol. Sokolec, Ukr. Sokilets’) and... more
The article is devoted to the corrections in the original charter of prince Fyodor Koriatovich of Podolia (Pol. Podole, Ukr. Podillya) to his servant Hrynko donating to him the district of Sokolets (Pol. Sokolec, Ukr. Sokilets’) and issued on June 20, 1391 – the oldest document of the National Historical Archive of Belarus. The examination of the original has shown that in all three cases the name of the recipient of the tribute which was to be payed by Hrynko’s subjects was corrected soon after issuing the document – instead of “v Tatary” (“to the Tatars”, i. e. to the Golden Horde) it was written “to us” (i. e. to the prince of Podolia). The study of the formulae led to the conclusion that it was the result of the war between khan Tokhtamysh and emir Timur, when the former suffered a defeat at the Kondurcha river on June 18, 1391. Having learned this news soon after issuing the document, Fyodor Koriatovich tried to seize the opportunity and take for his own the tribute payed to the Golden Horde. However, by the summer of 1392 Tokhtamysh regained the power in the Golden Horde, and the clause of paying the tribute “to the Tatars” appeared in Fyodor Koriatovich’s documents again.
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Rahoza. A contribution to the history of the grand‑dukal chancery and court in Lithuania in the epoch of Vytautas The article is devoted to Rahoza, a man appearing several times in the milieu of grand duke Švitrigaila (Świdrygiełło) of... more
Rahoza. A contribution to the history of the grand‑dukal chancery and court in Lithuania in the epoch of Vytautas
The article is devoted to Rahoza, a man appearing several times in the milieu of grand duke Švitrigaila (Świdrygiełło) of Lithuania during his reign in Vilnius (1430–1432). Since his origins were unknown, and his name’s ethymology is Ruthenian, I tended to suppose that he came to Lithuania together with Švitrigaila from the Chernigov land where he had ruled in 1420–1430. However, a new source was found among the papers of the Königsberg archive (nowadays preserved in Berlin), a summary of grand duke Vytautas’ letter to grand master of the Teutonic Order Michael Küchmeister written in 1418, which mentions Rahoza as the supreme Ruthenian scribe („obirster Ruwssche Schreiber”) of the grand‑ducal chancery. This mention sheds an important light on the structure and organization of the Ruthenian department of this chancery. It allowed to reveal one more mention of Rahoza, namely his „signature” in a shortened form on Vytautas’ document of donation for Sanko in Podillya (Podole), issued in 1424.
The article is devoted to Rahoza, a man appearing several times in the milieu of grand duke Švitrigaila (Świdrygiełło) of Lithuania during his reign in Vilnius (1430–1432). Since his origins were unknown, and his name’s ethymology is Ruthenian, I tended to suppose that he came to Lithuania together with Švitrigaila from the Chernigov land where he had ruled in 1420–1430. However, a new source was found among the papers of the Königsberg archive (nowadays preserved in Berlin), a summary of grand duke Vytautas’ letter to grand master of the Teutonic Order Michael Küchmeister written in 1418, which mentions Rahoza as the supreme Ruthenian scribe („obirster Ruwssche Schreiber”) of the grand‑ducal chancery. This mention sheds an important light on the structure and organization of the Ruthenian department of this chancery. It allowed to reveal one more mention of Rahoza, namely his „signature” in a shortened form on Vytautas’ document of donation for Sanko in Podillya (Podole), issued in 1424.
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A review of Tomas Baranauskas' book about the battle at Pabaiskas / Święta / Ukmergė/Wiłkomierz (1435) in Belarusian.
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A review of the new edition of the treaties between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Muscovy, 1449-1556.
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A review of Tomas Baranauskas' book about the battle at Pabaiskas / Święta / Ukmergė/Wiłkomierz (1435) in Lithuanian.
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Some remarks on the recently published itinerary of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir Jagiellon (Kazimierz Jagiellończyk) by Grażyna Rutkowska, with additions and an edition of a new source from 1459.
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An encyclopaedia entry about Boleslovas Švitrigaila (Bolesław Świdrygiełło), grand duke of Lithuania.
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An entry on grand duke Algirdas (Olgierd) of Lithuania for the "Orthodox Encyclopaedia" (in Russian).
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In memoriam Anna Leonidovna Choroškievič (1933-2017) (in Lithuanian).
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In memoriam Anna Leonidovna Choroškievič (1933-2017) (in Russian).
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An interview about the book "Nasledniki Vitovta" published in the newspaper "Lietuvos žinios" (January 3rd, 2017).
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"Lietuvos žinios" (2016-11-30) apie Polocko dokumentų publikacijos pristatymą Vilniuje.
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О новом издании "Полоцких грамот". About the new edition of the "Polotsk documents".
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The paper presents an addition to Vytautas' itinerary, the data about his hitherto unknown visit to Smolensk, where he wrote a letter to the commander of Rhein (nowadays Ryn, Poland; by mistake interpreted here as Ragnit, nowadays Neman,... more
The paper presents an addition to Vytautas' itinerary, the data about his hitherto unknown visit to Smolensk, where he wrote a letter to the commander of Rhein (nowadays Ryn, Poland; by mistake interpreted here as Ragnit, nowadays Neman, Russian Federation) on 25 January 1419.
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New data on Švitrigaila's land donations made between 1430 and 1432 on the basis of a late 16th century forgery.
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A very brief overview of the information concerning Ruś (its lands not belonging to the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) in the correspondence of the Teutonic Order's officials in the 1st half of the 15th century.