Algirdas (known as Olgierd in Slavic languages), b. ca. 1296, d. May, 1377, is widely regarded as the greatest ruler of medieval Lithuania. Probably the last pagan sovereign of Europe, he created a vast empire stretching from the Baltics to the Black Sea and reaching within 50 miles from Moscow.

Background

Algirdas was one of the seven sons of the famous grand duke Gedyminas among whom on his death in 1341 he divided his domains, leaving the youngest, Jaunutis, in possession of the capital, Vilnius, with a nominal priority. With the aid of his brother Kestutis, Algirdas in 1345 drove out the incapable Jaunutis and declared himself grand duke. The two and thirty years of his reign (1345-1377) were devoted to the development and extension of Lithuania, and he lived to make it one of the greatest states in Europe. He was the forefather of Troubetzkoys, Czartoryskis, and Sanguszkos.

Two factors contributed to produce this result, the extraordinary political sagacity of Algirdas and the life-long devotion of his brother Kestutis. They divided their dominions so neatly, that Algirdas appears only in East Slavic sources, whereas the Western chronicles are aware of his brother only. The Teutonic knights in the north and the Tatar hordes in the south were equally bent on the subjection of Lithuania, while Algirdas' eastern and western neighbors, Muscovy and Poland, were far mere frequently hostile competitors than serviceable allies.

Expansion of Lithuania

Nevertheless, Olgierd not only succeeded in holding his own, but acquired influence and territory at the expense of 1:0 to Muscovy and the Tatars, and extended the borders of Lithuania to the shores of the Black Sea. The principal efforts of this eminent empire-maker were directed to securing those of the Slavonic lands which had formed part of the ancient Kievan Rus. He procured the election of his son Andrew as prince of Pskov, and a powerful minority of the citizens of the republic of Novgorod held the balance in his favor against the Muscovite influence, but his ascendancy in both these commercial centres was at the best precarious.

On the other hand he acquired permanently the important principalities of Smolensk and Bryansk in western Russia. His relations with the grand dukes of Muscovy were friendly on the whole, and twice he married Orthodox Russian princesses; but this did not prevent him from besieging Moscow in 1368 and again in 1372, both times unsuccessfully.

Algirdas' most memorable feat was his great victory over the Tatars at the Blue Waters of the Southern Bug in 1362, which practically broke up the great Kipchak horde and compelled the khan to migrate still farther south and establish his headquarters for the future in the Crimea. Indeed, but for the unceasing simultaneous struggle with the Teutonic knights, the burden of which was heroically borne by Kestutis, Russian historians frankly admit that Lithuania, not Muscovy, must have become the dominant power of Eastern Europe. Olgierd died in 1377, accepting both Christianity and the tonsure shortly before his death.

Assessment

Unlike his descendants, Algirdas wisely vacillated between Muscovy and Poland, spoke the Ruthenian language, and was more inclined to follow the majority of his Orthodox subjects rather than to alienate them by promoting Roman Catholicism. His son Jagiello, however, ascended the Polish throne, and was the founder of the dynasty which ruled Poland for nearly 200 years.

Mother

Jewna , daughter of Prince Iwan of Polock (? – 1344)

Father

Giedymin (Gediminas; ca 1275 – winter 1341 under Wielon ), Grand Prince of Lithuania, King of Lithuanians and Ruthenians 1316 – 1341

Wives

Maria of Witebsk 1318 (? – 1346)

Julianna of Tver 1350 (ca 1325 – 1392)

Brothers

Witowt (? – 1337), Prince of Troksk

Monwid (ca 1300 – 1348), Prince of Kiernow and Wslonim (Slonim) 1341 – 1342

Narymunt (Gleb, Dawid; ca 1300 – 2 February 1348), Prince of Pinsk 13?? – 1348, Polock, Nowohorodok

Jewnut (Jaunutis, Iwan; ca 1300 – after 1366), Grand Prince of Lithuania 1341 – 1345, Prince of Izjaslawl (Zaslawsk) 1346 – 1366

Kiejstut (Kestutis; 1297 – 15 August 1382 Krewa ), Prince of Trock, Grand Prince of Lithuania 1381 – 1382;

Koriat (Michal; ca 1300 – ca 1362), Prince of Nowohorodok 1341 – 1347

Lubart (Lubko, Lubartas, Dymitr; ca 1300 – 1384), Prince of Polock 13?? – 1342, Wlodzimierz, Luck 1340 – 138?, Wolynia 1340 – 1349, 1350 – 1366, 1371 – 1383, King of Galicja (independent kingdom 1253 – 1349) 1340 – 1349

Sisters

Maria (ca 1300 – 1349), Princess of Lithuania

Aldona (Anna; after 1309 – 26 May 1339), Princess of Lithuania, Queen of Poland 1333 – 1339

Damilla (Elzbieta; 14th century – 1364), Princess of Plock

Eufemia (14th century – 5 February 1342), Princess of Halicz and Wlodzimierz-Halicz

Augusta (Anastazja; 14th century – 11 March 1345), Grand Princess of Vladimir-Moscow

Sons

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 Kijow, Kopylsk , Sluck

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 Kijow), Prince of Trock 1382 – 1395, Kijow 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 Kiernow

Swidrygiello (Svitrigaylo, Boleslaw; ca 1370 – 10 February 1452 Luck), Prince of Witebsk 1392 – 1393, 1430 – 1436, Podolja 1400 – 1402, Novgorod-Seversky 1404 – 1408, 1420 – 1438, Czernichow 1419 – 1430, Grand Prince of Lithuania 1430 – 1432, pan Wolynia 1437 – 1452

Daughters

Fiedora (born 14th century)

Nowosielska (14th century – ?)

Agrypina (Maria; 14th century – 1393)

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

Helena (after 1350 – 15 September 1438), Princess of Borowsko-Sierpuchowsk and third part of the Principality of Moscow, Princess of Wolock and Rzewsk 1389 – 1405, Horodeck and Uglick 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 , Kujawsk and Belsk

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

See also

• Gediminaiciai
• List of Lithuanian rulers