Švitrigaila

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Švitrigaila (alternative spellings: Śvidryhajła, Świdrygiełło, Svitrigaylo, Svidrigailo, Swidrigailo; ca 1370 – 10 February 1452). Švitrigaila was the Grand Duke of Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1430 to 1432. He was active in Lithuanian politics from the 1390s until his death.

Pillars of Gediminas (Gedimino stulpai)

Contents

1 Rebellion against Vytautas
2 Defection to Moscow and its aftermath
3 Grand Duke of Lithuania
4 Downfall and later years
5 Titles
6 Relatives

6.1 Mother
6.2 Father
6.3 Brothers
6.4 Sisters

7 See also

Rebellion against Vytautas

He was born to Algirdas and Uliana of Tver. He was baptized by his father into Eastern Orthodoxy. At the age of 11, he (together with his brother Jogaila) was converted in Kraków into Roman Catholicism and changed his first name from Lev to Boleslaw.

At that time, the town of Polotsk was the capital of his lands. In 1392, however, Svitrigaila made an ill-fated attempt to seize neighbouring Vitebsk, but was ousted by his cousin Vytautas of Lithuania to Prussia.

While living abroad, Svitrigaila sided with the Teutonic Knights in their prolonged struggle against Vytautas. In 1400, he was allowed to return to Lithuania, receiving Podolia as his demesne. Four years later, he moved eastward to Severia.

Defection to Moscow and its aftermath

It is believed that Svitrigaila sympathized with the Russians, being born of a Russian mother (Ulyana of Tver) and married to a princess of Tver. When the war broke out between Vytautas and his Muscovite son-in-law in 1408, Svitrigaila cast his lot with the latter, surrendering all the Severian towns to the Russian army and defecting to Moscow.

During his brief stay in Muscovy, Svitrigaila was rewarded with Volokolamsk and several other towns and put in charge of the Russian army operating against Vytautas. Lacking any military talent, he failed to win a single battle and, on hearing about the invasion of Edigu, fled to Lithuania, pillaging Serpukhov on his way.

Back in Lithuania, he was apprehended as an inveterate traitor and a dangerous pretender and imprisoned in the castle of Kremenets for 9 years. Finally delivered by Prince Daniel of Ostrog, he escaped to Hungary. It was through mediation of the Holy Roman Emperor and his brother Jagailo that he was allowed to return to Lithuania as a sovereign ruler of Severia in 1420.

Grand Duke of Lithuania

Upon Vytautas's death in 1430, Svitrigaila immediately pressed his claim to the throne. He was supported by the Ruthenian and Orthodox population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, while the Lithuanian and Catholic population advanced Žygimantas Kestutaitis as a rival candidate. At last Svitrigaila prevailed over his rivals, and was crowned the Grand Duke of Lithuania in Vilnius.

Svitrigaila started his reign by proclaiming full independence of the Grand Duchy from Poland and granting important privileges to his Orthodox subjects. That enraged Poland, which declared a war on Svitrigaila and occupied the Podolian towns, notably the key castle of Kamenets-Podolsky. Svitrigaila sought help in the West and instigated the Teutonic Knights invasion of Poland. Despite the successful operations of his generals, he eschewed a decisive battle and signed an armistice in Lutsk, obtaining from Poland full recognition of his claims.

Downfall and later years

In 1432, however, Zygimantas Kestutaitis raised a rebellion and, supported by ethnic Lithuanians and Poles, overran much of the Grand Duchy. Svitrigaila, constrained to leave the Lithuanian capital for Vitebsk, was thoroughly defeated near Pabaiskas in 1435. Despite continued support from Ruthenians in Kiev, Podolia, and Volhynia, he fled to Kraków, suing for peace. After his proposals were dismissed, Svitrigaila had to leave the country for ignominious exile in Wallachia, where he was reported to have become a shepherd.

In 1440 Zygimantas was assassinated by nobles who supported Svitrigaila, and Svitrigaila returned to rule Podolia and Volhynia. At the age of 70 (or 85, according to some sources), he was too old to resume his endless struggle for the Lithuanian throne. Shortly before his death in Lutsk in 1452, he bequeathed all his possessions in Podolia and Volynia to the Lithuanian state.

Titles

Prince of Vitebsk 1392 – 1393, 1430 – 1436, Podolia 1400 – 1402, Novhorod-Siversky 1404 – 1408, 1420 – 1438, Chernihiv 1419 – 1430, Grand Prince of Lithuania (1430-1432), pan of Volhynia 1437 – 1452.

Relatives

Mother

Uliana of Tver 1350 (ca 1325 – 1392)

Father

Algirdas (ca 1296 – end of May 1377), Grand Prince of Lithuania 1345 – 1377

Brothers

Demetrius I Starszy (1327 – 12 May 1399 Battle of the Worskla River), Prince of Trubczewsk 1357 – 1399, Briansk 1357 – 1379, Starodub 1370 – 1399, Druck 13?? – 13??

Andrzej (14th century – 12 August 1399), Prince of Polock 1342 – 1387, Pskow 1341 – 1343, 134? – 1348, 1377 – 1379, 1394 – 1396

Konstanty (14th century – before 30 October 1390), Prince of Czartorysk

Wlodzimierz (14th century – after October 1398), Prince of Kiev, Kopyl, Slutsk

Fiodor (Theodore; 14th century – 1399), Prince of Rylsk 1370 – 1399, Ratnie 1387 – 1394, Briansk 1393

Wladyslaw II Jagiello (ca 1351 – 1 June 1434 Grodek Jagiellonski), Grand Prince of Lithuania 1377 – 1381, 1382 – 1392, King of Poland 1386 – 1434

Skirgiello (Iwan; ca 1354 – 11 January 1397 Kiev), Prince of Troki 1382 – 1395, Kiev 1395 – 1397, regent of Lithuania

Korybut (Dymitr; after 1350 – after 1404), Prince of Novgorod-Seversky 1386 – 1392/93

Lingweni (Szymon; 14th century – after 19 June 1431), Prince of Mscislaw, regent of Great Novgorod

Korygiello (Kazimierz; after 1350 – 1390), Prince of Mscislaw, regent

Wigunt (Aleksander; after 1350 – 28 June 1392), Prince of Kernave

Sisters

Fiedora (born 14th century)

Nowosielska (14th century – ?)

Agrypina (Maria; 14th century – 1393)

Kenna (Joanna; ca 1350 – 27 April 1368), Princess of Słupsk

Helena (after 1350 – 15 September 1438), Princess of Borowsko-Sierpuchowsk and third part of the Principality of Moscow, Princess of Wolock and Rzhev 1389 – 1405, Horodeck and Uglich 1405 – 1410

Maria (after 1350 - ?), Princess of Lithuania

Wilheida (Katarzyna; after 1350 – after 4 April 1422), Princess of Lithuania

Aleksandra (after 1350 – 19 June 1434), Princess of Czersk, Rawsk, Sochaczewsk, Plock, Gostynin, Plonsk, Wisk, Kujawy and Belsk

Jadwiga (after 1350 – after 1407), Princess of Oświęcim 1395/96 – 1405