Švitrigaila

From Freepedia

Švitrigaila (alternative spellings: Svidryhajła, Świdrygiełło, Svitrigaylo, Svidrigailo, Swidrigailo; ca 1370 – 10 February 1452) was the last champion of Ruthenian Orthodox majority to occupy the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1430 - 1432). He was active in Lithuanian politics from the 1390s until his death.

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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
7 See also

Rebellion against Vytautas

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Svitrigaila was baptized by his father Algirdas into Eastern Orthodoxy. At the age of 11, he (together with his brother Jagiello) was converted in Krakow into Roman Catholicism and changed his Christian 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 from 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 Zygimantas 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 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 of Starodub 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 the Svyataya River in 1435. Despite continued support from Ruthenians in Kiev, Podolia, and Volhynia, he fled to Krakow, sueing 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 Lithuanian nobles, 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.