“1st [walker]: And what is this, my brother?
2nd: And this is Lithuanian ruin. Battle - see? How ours fought with Lithuania.
1st: What is this - Lithuania?
2nd: So it is Lithuania.
1st: And they say, my brother, it fell on us from the sky.
2nd: I don’t know how to tell you. From the sky, from the sky."
This quote from Ostrovsky’s drama “The Thunderstorm,” written in 1859, perfectly characterizes the image of Russia’s western neighbors that has developed in the minds of its inhabitants. Lithuania is both the Baltic people, and the territory of their residence, and, in a broad sense, the state they created and its inhabitants. Despite the centuries-long proximity of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to Russian lands, and then to Russia, we will not find its detailed image either in the mass consciousness, or in school textbooks, or in scientific works. Moreover, this situation is typical not only for the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, when the silence about the Grand Duchy or the creation of its negative image was due to political circumstances, but also for our days, when previous restrictions have been lifted, the volume scientific knowledge is constantly increasing thanks to the development of national historiographies and the improvement of research techniques, and communication problems are being successfully overcome. Russian science and public consciousness are characterized by certain images. Negative - that is, Lithuania as an invader of Russian lands, who seeks to “spoil” them by converting to Catholicism, and at the same time a weak and unviable state, torn apart internal contradictions and doomed to an alliance with Poland until complete dissolution in it. Or a positive image - “another Rus'”, which has chosen the “democratic” path, in contrast to Russia. But in any case, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania appears on the pages of textbooks, journalism, even scientific literature sporadically, from case to case, like a god from the machine of ancient river tragedies. What kind of state was this?
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is often seen as an alternative path for the development of Rus'. In many ways, this is true, because these were lands, on the one hand, quite close culturally, inhabited by the Eastern Slavs - albeit historical fates Eastern Slavs the future Russia, Great Russia and the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, whose descendants later became Ukrainians and Belarusians, already then diverged quite significantly.
On the other hand, this is a fundamentally different model of social relationships, a different political culture. And this created a certain situation of choice. This is very clearly visible from the events of the era of the Moscow-Lithuanian wars, especially the 16th century, when defectors from the Moscow state, from Russia, were sent precisely to the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania or the Polish Crown, which was in a union with it.
Now we still need to figure out where the Grand Duchy of Lithuania came from as a powerful neighbor, a rival of Russia and at the same time a source of various influences.
Contacts between Rus' and Lithuania took place back in the 11th century, when Yaroslav the Wise made campaigns in the Baltic states. By the way, at the same time the city of Yuryev was founded, named after the patron saint of this prince - the later Dorpat, now Tartu in Estonia. Then the matter was limited to the irregular collection of tribute. By this time, the prerequisites for the formation of the Lithuanian state may have already existed. And the proximity to rich, but weakened Russia, divided into many principalities, helped to realize them.
If at first the Lithuanians took part in the civil strife of the Russian princes, then later, in the second half of the 12th - early 13th centuries, they moved on to their own predatory campaigns against Rus'; they can be compared with the famous campaigns of the Vikings or the Russian campaigns against Byzantium. Lithuanians are often called “vikin-gami sushi”.
This contributed to the accumulation of wealth, property stratification, which was followed by social, and the gradual formation of the power of one prince, who would later be called the Grand Duke in Russian sources.
Back in 1219, a group of 21 Lithuanian princes concluded an agreement with the Volyn princes. And after two decades, one of them, Mindovg, began to rule alone. In 1238, the author of “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land” recalled with nostalgia those times when “Lithuania did not emerge from the swamp into the light.” And by the way, here he quite accurately described the area of settlement of the Lithuanians: these are really marshy lands.
The scope of the Lithuanian campaigns is clearly evidenced by a passage in the work of the Franciscan John de Plano Carpini, or Giovanni del Piano Carpini, who in the 40s of the 13th century went to the Mongol Khan Guyuk in Karakorum. Here is what he writes about traveling through the lands of Southern Rus': “... we were constantly traveling in mortal danger because of the Lithuanians, who often and secretly, as far as they could, raided the land of Russia and especially in those places through which we traveled. the women were passing by; and since most of the people of Russia were killed by the Tatars or taken captive, they therefore could not offer them strong resistance...” Around the same time, in the first half or mid-13th century, Mindaugas found themselves under the rule of Lithuania Russian lands with cities such as Novgorodok (modern Novogrudok), Slonim and Volko-vysk.
The Baltic peoples and in particular the Lithuanians remained the last pagans of Europe. And already during the reign of Mindaugas, in the first half of the 13th century, this problem became obvious. Mindaugas made a Western choice: in order to fight with his relatives for autocracy in Lithuania and at the same time resist Rus', he was baptized in the Catholic rite in 1251. Two years later he was crowned - thus becoming the first and remains the only king of Lithuania. But in the early 1260s, apparently, he returned to paganism for political reasons and expelled or killed Christians. Thus, Lithuania remained pagan. Paganism left a fairly deep mark on Lithuania, so that the next attempt at Christianization, already more successful, was made only at the end of the 14th century. In 1263, the first Lithuanian king was killed by conspirators.
So, Mindovg died, but the Lithuanian state that arose under him did not disappear, but survived. And moreover, it continued to develop and continued to expand its limits. According to scientists, around the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, a new dynasty was established, which, after one of its representatives who reigned in the first half of the 14th century, Prince Gedimin, received the name Gediminovich. And under the first princes of this dynasty, under the same Gediminas in particular, the lands of modern Belarus - Polotsk, Vitebsk, Mensk (that is, in modern terms, Minsk) became part of the Lithuanian state. Apparently, Kyiv also fell into the orbit of Lithuanian influence to one degree or another, already by 1331. Well, in 1340, the dynasty of Galician-Volyn princes was cut short in the female line, this marked the beginning of many decades of struggle between Lithuania, Poland and Hungary for the Galician-Volyn inheritance.
The acquisitions were continued by the sons of Gediminas; first of all, Olgerd and his brother Keistut acted in Rus'. And these acquisitions were concentrated mainly in the Chernigov-Seversk and Smolensk lands.
How did Russian lands fall under the rule of Lithuanian princes? This is a pressing question, since one often has to deal with diametrically opposed points of view, but it is not very clear how this happened. Some insist on the aggressive nature of the annexation, others on the voluntary and bloodless one.
Both seem to be serious simplifications. It’s worth starting with the fact that the sources that have survived to this day simply did not convey to us the details of the entry of many Russian lands into the Lithuanian state; one can only state that this or that part of Rus' at one time or another submitted to the authority of the Lithuanian prince. The military campaigns of the Lithuanians did not stop and acted as a means, if not of direct conquest, then at least of putting pressure on Russian lands. For example, according to later sources, Vitebsk was obtained by Olgerd thanks to his marriage to the daughter of the last local prince around 1320. But in previous decades, Lithuanian troops passed through this region several times.
A very interesting document has been preserved - a complaint from the residents of Riga, the Riga authorities, to the Vitebsk prince of the late 13th century. It mentions an entire military camp of Lithuanians near Vitebsk, from which they went to the capital city of the principality to sell captive slaves. What kind of voluntary accession can we talk about if we see a whole military camp of armed people, whose detachments are operating on the territory of the principality?
There were, of course, direct conquests. Perhaps the most striking example, described in detail in the sources, is Smolensk, which was conquered and annexed to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for more than a century as a result of several campaigns of the late XIV - early XV centuries.
Here we can return to the question that was already touched upon at the beginning of the lecture: what was the alternative of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in relation to Muscovite Rus' as the center of the unification of Russian lands? This is very clearly seen in the example of the social system of those Russian lands that became part of the Grand Duchy.
Local boyars and townspeople retained their influence and property (even in conquered Smolensk) and Orthodox Church. It is known that veche meetings were still convened in Polotsk and Smolensk. In many large centers, princely tables were preserved. Even if Gediminovich sat down to reign, in most cases such princes accepted Orthodoxy and became in many ways one of their own, close to the local society.
The Lithuanian princes entered into agreements with some of the annexed lands, which later formed the basis of regional privileges (the oldest of them were Polotsk and Vitebsk). But, on the other hand, already at a fairly early stage in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Western influence. Since it was such a large, border, contact zone between the Russian lands on the one hand and Latin Catholic Europe, this could not help but have an effect. And if we also remember that throughout the 14th century, the Lithuanian princes were constantly faced with a choice and repeatedly thought about and negotiated about baptism - according to the Western rite or the Eastern rite, then it becomes clear that these influences, this uniqueness should have made itself felt back in the 14th century.
In the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in a difficult foreign policy situation, because its history was far from being limited to expansion into Russian lands and relations with neighboring Russian lands and the Horde. A huge problem for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the first decade of its existence was the war with the Teutonic, or German, order, which settled in Prussia and Livonia, that is, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, and was called upon to bring Christianity Western rite to pagans and “infidels,” including “schismatics,” that is, schismatics, apostates—that’s how the Orthodox were called.
For more than a century, the troops of the order almost every year made one or several devastating campaigns against Lithuania in order to undermine its strength. And of course, the fact that a significant part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was Russian lands played into their hands. The crusading knights could always claim the connivance of the Lithuanian princes with these same schismatics. Moreover, some princes Gediminovich themselves converted to Orthodoxy.
This was a problem. It was necessary to decide, to choose the vector of foreign policy development. And this choice - perhaps they didn’t think about it then - determined the fate of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for many years, decades and centuries to come.
Lithuania was destined to be baptized - but by what rite? Western or Eastern? This question has been raised, one might say, since the time of Mindaugas, and in the 14th century attempts at negotiations were made several times. We know most about the negotiations of the Lithuanian princes with Western political forces - with emperors, popes, Polish and Mazovian rulers about baptism into Catholicism. But there was one moment when it seemed that the prospect of Orthodox baptism in Lithuania was quite realistic. This is the end of the 14th century, when after the death of Olgerd there was internecine struggle in Lithuania and Grand Duke Jagiello tried to conclude an alliance with Dmitry Donskoy. There is a mention of the project of marriage between Jagiello and the daughter of Dmitry Donskoy. But they abandoned it soon enough. Because, on the one hand, the Grand Duke of Lithuania would find himself on the sidelines, and on the other, he received a much more lucrative offer - the hand of the Polish princess Jadwiga, which made him Polish king.
Here it must be said that this moment, the end of the 14th century, is important in one more respect: very often you can hear that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an alternative to Moscow in the matter of unifying or gathering Russian lands, that the Russian lands could well have united around Vilna. But the question arises: when could this happen? And the failed marriage of Jagiello and the daughter of Dmitry Donskoy seems to be the most successful moment when such a union could occur.
The period of the end of the 14th and the first third - the first half of the 15th century became an important, turning point in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This affected both his relationships with his neighbors and his inner life.
By the end of the 14th century, Vytautas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania, cousin Jagiello, who was baptized, became the Polish king Władysław II and retained the title of Supreme Duke of Lithuania. But real power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania still belonged to Vytautas. Under him, many important changes took place - both in the foreign policy relations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and in its internal life.
Vytautas managed to annex Smolensk, and for more than a century it came under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Thanks to Polish help, he managed to defeat Teutonic Order(famous Battle of Grunwald 1410). Thanks to this, it was ultimately possible to secure the lands disputed with the order - Samogitia, Zhemoyt - to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. These are the next attempts at expansion to the east: Vytautas is fighting with Vasily I of Moscow, although Vasily I was his son-in-law and was married to his daughter Sophia; subsequently he made campaigns against Pskov and Novgorod in the 20s of the 15th century. But no less important are the social changes that took place in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And they led in the direction of increasing Westernization of this state and its society.
Perhaps the most important innovation of Vytautas was that he began to distribute land for service to his subjects. This innovation subsequently played a cruel joke on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, because its inhabitants were no longer interested in distant, costly military campaigns - they were interested in the economic development of their possessions.
In the middle and second half of the 15th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland were ruled by the same person, Casimir Jagiellon, or Casimir IV, the Polish king. He was forced to spend time between the two states, so he could not devote much time to Lithuanian affairs. He studied more Western politics, wars in Prussia, in the Czech Republic - and just this time became the turning point that subsequently allowed the Moscow Grand Dukes to launch a very active offensive on the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But the Grand Dukes of Lithuania were not ready for this at the end of the 15th and first half of the 16th centuries.
The Lithuanian princes began to grant privileges not only to the Lithuanian boyars, but also to the top of the Orthodox part of society. And gradually the entire boyars began to be called lords in the Polish-Czech manner, and subsequently all the nobility received the name gentry. This, of course, was a great innovation in social terms. This is not just a change of name, it is also a different self-awareness than that of service people, say, North-Eastern Rus'. After all, the gentry participated in governing the state, albeit nominally at first. And subsequently she actually participated in the elections of the ruler, which fundamentally distinguished the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from Muscovite Rus'. And this was largely the reason why people like Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky fled from Russia to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And, of course, not only him, but also many others. Still, there were quite a lot of Moscow emigrants in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania throughout the 16th century.
It is impossible not to note such a moment as the transformation Old Russian language, which also experienced more and more Western influences on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the neighboring Kingdom of Poland. It was enriched with words and constructions from Polish, Czech, German, Lithuanian, Latin, even Hungarian, and so a language was gradually formed, which scientists call differently: “Western Russian”, “Old Belarusian”, “Old Ukrainian”, “ Russian" (with one "s"), "Ruthenian". It can be called differently in different scientific traditions, this is acceptable, but the fact is that over time it became the basis of the Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. And the process of their demarcation and the formation of the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples intensified especially after the Union of Lublin in 1569, when the southern voivodeships of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - that is, the territory of modern Ukraine, which had previously been part of it - passed to the Polish crown.
Of course, for historical destinies Western Rus' cannot but be influenced by the fact that it was under the rule of rulers of other faiths - first pagans, and then Catholics. At first, the Orthodox Church retained its influence on the Russian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But already in the 14th century, the Lithuanian princes - in fact, like the Galician-Volyn Rurikovichs, and later the Polish king Casimir the Great - tried to create a separate metropolis under the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople, which would not be in any way connected with the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
After the conclusion of the Polish-Lithuanian union at the end of the 14th century, Catholicism found itself in a privileged position: the Catholic clergy and laity were not endowed with exclusive rights, and Catholic rulers made attempts to convert “schismatics” to Catholicism with the help of preaching, to re-baptize them forcefully or enter into a church union with Rome. But these attempts were not crowned with much success for a long time. The largest such attempt was associated with the conclusion of the Union of Florence. It was concluded, one might say, at the highest level between Constantinople, which was interested in Western aid against the Ottoman onslaught, and by Rome in 1439. At the same time, the Orthodox recognized the supremacy of the Pope and the dogma of the Catholic Church, but retained traditional rituals. In Moscow, this union was rejected, and Metropolitan Isidore was forced to leave the possessions of the Moscow princes (but he managed to maintain church authority over the Orthodox part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland).
It should be noted that at the same time, the Orthodox of the Grand Duchy had little interest in the spiritual traditions of Western Christianity and its dogmatic differences from the “Greek faith.” Even several years after the conclusion of the Union of Florence, the Orthodox Kiev prince Alexander (Olelko) Vladimirovich, a man of extraordinary influence and extraordinary connections, asked the Patriarch of Constantinople: on what conditions was the union concluded? Here it is worth recalling that Kyiv remained under the rule of Lithuanian princes in the first third of the 15th century. With all the destruction during the Mongol invasion, with all the Tatar raids at the beginning of this century, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt wrote that Kyiv is the head of the Russian lands. This was largely explained by the fact that in Kyiv, at least nominally, there was a metropolitan see.
But gradually the fates of Lithuanian Orthodoxy and Orthodoxy in the rest of Rus' diverge. Because, despite some time of Lithuanian Rus' being under the rule of the Moscow Metropolitan Jonah, already in the middle of the 15th century it returned under the rule of the Patriarchs of Constantinople. This meant a split in the metropolis. Subsequently, in the life of the Orthodox part of society, the Orthodox Church in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish Crown, phenomena were observed that led to quite turbulent events at the end of the 16th and 17th centuries. It can be said that the Orthodox Church of these lands was experiencing a real crisis, since secular persons often became bishops, not at all concerned about the interests of the church, and sometimes mired in sins. Secular rulers played a big role in this, who thus rewarded those faithful to them - by granting them episcopal sees. In response, the laity united into brotherhoods, such as Vilna or Lvov, and directly appealed to Constantinople. This, of course, caused the bishops to fear that they would lose their influence.
In 1596, the Union of Brest was concluded between the Orthodox hierarchy of the Polish-Lithuanian state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Roman Curia. It meant the withdrawal of some local Orthodox Christians into direct subordination to the Roman Catholic Church - despite the fact that the main ritual differences from Catholicism were preserved and dogmatic differences were only partially smoothed out. For some time, the Orthodox hierarchy in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in the Polish Crown ceased to exist altogether. All Orthodox bishops turned out to be Uniates. It was only in 1620 that a separate hierarchy was restored. And a few years later it was recognized by the state authorities.
In the middle - second half of the 17th century, the Kiev Orthodox Metropolis defended the original image of local Orthodoxy, but as a result of the fact that Kyiv was under the rule of Moscow, it became subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate. By this time, in Corona and Lithuania, the participation of non-Catholics (called dissidents) in political life was again limited, the possibility of Orthodox Christians obtaining higher positions was reduced to zero, and Orthodoxy was in a very peculiar position, since, on the one hand, it increasingly was identified with Russia and its religious and political culture, but at the same time, in Russia itself, even the Orthodox immigrants from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as they were called - “Belarusians”, were treated with obvious distrust by the clergy. It was prescribed to carefully find out how they received baptism, and to baptize them again through triple immersion in the font, if they had previously been baptized into Orthodoxy through pouring (that is, like Catholics). This would seem to be an external sign, but what attention was given to it during contacts of fellow believers on opposite sides of the Moscow-Lithuanian border.
The given example with the requirement to rebaptize even already baptized Orthodox Christians from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth very well shows how the relations developed between the Moscow State, or the Russian State, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and subsequently the Polish-Lithuanian State, which can be discussed since 1569 , and on state level, and at the level of social and cultural contacts.
The eastern lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth served as a contact zone, and in the field of school education, distribution of books and information, it was the Polish-Lithuanian borderland, which is often called by the Polish word “kresy”, which means “outskirts”, which served as a transshipment area a point between Muscovite Russia and Europe. Samples high school, and above all theological scholarship, were developed jointly by the Orthodox of Moscow and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Cyrillic printing originated in Krakow: it was there in 1491 that the Oktoich, or Osmoglasnik, was published in the printing house of the German printer Schweipolt Fiol. Of course, in no case should we forget about the activities of Francis Skaryna, who began printing liturgical books 500 years ago.
According to the English traveler Giles Fletcher, in Moscow at the end of the 16th century they remembered that the first printing house was brought to Russia from Poland. Even if this is an exaggeration, Moscow printers Ivan Fedorov and Peter Msti-slavets, who published the first dated Moscow book “Apostle” in 1564, soon found themselves in exile precisely in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of Poland, where they continued their activities. Here it is appropriate to recall, of course, the Ostrog Bible.
The Jesuit colleges served as a model for the first theological schools of the Rusyns and Muscovites. In the 1560s, the Jesuit Order expanded its activities first in Corona and then in Lithuania. The Jesuits, one after another, opened several schools to educate “schismatics,” hoping to gradually convert the Russian population to Catholicism. It should be added here that the educational activities of the Jesuits, of course, were also connected with the Catholic reform, when the Catholic Church tried, through education, to restore the positions lost as a result of the Reformation.
And so the Jesuits, one after another, opened several schools for teaching schisms, that is, Orthodox Christians, hoping to gradually convert them to Catholicism. But their activity coincided with the flowering of the theological creativity of the Orthodox themselves, who enthusiastically accepted the educational concept of the Catholics and managed to create their own schools. Among them are the Ostrog Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and the Mogila Academy, on the model of which the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy arose in Moscow at the end of the 17th century.
The Ostroh printing house in 1580-1581 published the first complete printed Bible, the Ostroh Bible, which until the time of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and later the Bible Society was adopted as the basis in Russia. Focused on Latin and Greek examples, the “Grammar” of Lavrenty Zizaniy, and later Melety Smotritsky, served as the prototype and source of the “Grammar”, printed in Moscow in 1648, from which Mikhailo Lomonosov studied.
Intellectual exchange brought new ideas to Moscow. Even in the first half of the 16th century, Sebastian Munster’s “Cosmography” became famous in Moscow. In the royal archives of Ivan the Terrible, Marcin Bielski’s “Chronicle of the Whole World” was kept, which described in detail the discovery of America. IN mid-16th century In the 1st century, Jan Blau’s “Great Atlas, or Cosmography” was delivered to Russia. Where, besides geographical knowledge, laid out the foundations of the heliocentric teachings of Nicolaus Copernicus.
Moscow practically did not have its own secular press either in the 16th or 17th centuries - almost all books published by Moscow printing houses were of a church-teaching nature, and books borrowed from the Russian lands of the Polish-Lithuanian state aroused suspicion and were repeatedly destroyed due to censorship. considerations.
Of course, cultural life was influenced political life The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of Poland, which united into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and their relationship with the Moscow state. But these relations remained far from simple, and, despite certain attempts at rapprochement, it can still be said that the states not only competed, but most of for a time they were openly at odds.
At that time, Lithuanian-Moscow relations had already worsened under Ivan III at the end of the 15th century. Ivan III had a fairly good idea of the situation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, its weaknesses, and already in 1478 (the year of the final annexation of Novgorod to the Moscow state) Ivan III publicly declared his claims to Polotsk, Vitebsk and Smolensk , that is, the cities of Lithuanian Rus.
Subsequently, he took advantage of the fact that eastern lands The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was relatively weakly integrated into its composition; here the power of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania was weakest and relied on agreements with local princes. A whole series of Moscow-Lithuanian wars begins, which took place at the end of the 15th and first half of the 16th centuries.
Under these conditions, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was forced to increasingly seek help from Poland. For the time being, they were united only by the personality of the monarch - the same person occupied the throne of both Lithuania and Poland. But gradually the question came up on the agenda not just about a personal or dynastic union, but about a real union, which also implies unification state institutions. After long difficult negotiations, the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania concluded such a real union in Lublin - the Lublin Union of 1569. This is how the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth arose. This word comes from the Polish version of the word "republic", that is, "common cause", res publica.
For this, the Grand Duchy paid a high price, since the Podlaskie, Kiev and Volyn voivodeships - huge territories - became part of the Polish Crown. Some government bodies were also liquidated. But at the same time, it should be noted that the Grand Duchy was far from losing its statehood and, of course, could not suddenly lose the features of its social system.
Soon the Jagiellon dynasty, descendants of Vladislav Jagiello, came to an end. Its last representative, the Polish king and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund Augustus, died in 1572. The question arose about who would be the new ruler. A series of kinglessness followed in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (that is, periods when certain candidates for the throne were considered), while part of the Lithuanian gentry supported the candidacies of Ivan the Terrible and his son Feodor, hoping that this would normalize relations with Russia. It must be said that such projects have been put forward before. For example, back in the early 16th century Vasily III, the same one who annexed Smolensk, having just ascended the throne, proposed his candidacy after the death of the next Polish-Lithuanian ruler, Alexander Jagiellon. But neither then nor in the second half of the 16th century were these projects implemented. The historical paths of Russia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - now the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - diverged more and more. Of course, this had a special impact in the political sphere. Ultimately, the candidacy of the Transylvanian prince Stefan Batory, or Istvan Batory, won, who managed to turn the tide of the war with Russia, the Livonian War, in his favor - so that it almost ended in disaster for the Russian Tsar , since he managed to recapture Polotsk from Ivan the Terrible and organize a campaign against Pskov.
After this, relatively peaceful mutual relations were established for some time, since the Lithuanian nobility saw priority in the fight with Sweden for Livonia, and these relations worsened only in early XVII century, during the Troubles. Especially after the adventure of the first Dmitry the Pretender, which was supported by the magnates of the Kingdom of Poland - Adam and Konstantin Vishnevetsky and Jerzy, or Yuri, Mniszek.
In 1610, crown hetman Stanislav Zolkiewski even concluded an agreement with the boyars, according to which Vladislav Vaza (the future Vladislav IV), the son of the then reigning Sigismund Vaza, was proclaimed Tsar of Moscow. Interestingly, for some time coins were even minted with the name of “Russian Tsar Vladislav Zhigimontovich.” But this project was never actually implemented; Sigismund Vasa decided that Smolensk was more important and that it should be limited to this. And as a result, the Polish-Lithuanian garrison, settled in the Moscow Kremlin, became hostage to this situation. He found himself besieged, in a very difficult situation: there was simply not enough food. Very vivid and terrible evidence of this has been preserved. Ultimately, in November 1612, this garrison surrendered the Kremlin to the Second Militia; and soon Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov became king. And after some time, Vladislav IV renounced his claims to the Moscow throne.
One might say that the pendulum swung in the opposite direction in the middle of the 17th century, when Zaporozhye Cossacks recognized the power of the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The war between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began, and a very significant part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, including its capital Vilna, came under the rule of the Russian Tsar for several years. The wars with Russia and Sweden in the mid-17th century and the accompanying plague epidemic brought ruin and huge human losses to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which by the end of the next century greatly facilitated the establishment of Russian domination in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Over the course of several centuries that have passed since the beginning of the rise of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, on the one hand, and the Moscow Principality, and subsequently the Russian state, on the other hand, they remained fairly close neighbors, maintained various contacts - and at the level states, dynasties, and at the societal level. But with all this, Western influence in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the baptism of Lithuania according to the Latin rite, union with Poland, the reception of Western social orders - all this increasingly alienated the two parts of Rus' from each other. Of course, this was also facilitated by the formation of the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples on lands subordinate to the power of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and the Kings of Poland.
That is, mutual distrust and mutual interest, population migrations in both directions and cultural borrowings with noticeable differences in the social, political, economic system, hopes for the help of the last Orthodox ruler and loyalty to their own rulers of other faiths - all these features must be kept in mind when we talk about another Rus'.
In ancient times, Lithuanian tribes occupied the northern lands almost to present-day Tambov. But then they merged with the Finno-Ugric and Slavic populations. Lithuanian tribes survived only in the Baltic states and Belarus. Central part This area was occupied by the Lithuanian tribe or Lithuanians, to the west lived the Zhmud, and even further to the west lived the Prussians. In the east of modern Belarusian lands lived the Yatvags, and the Golyad tribe was located in the Kolomna region.
From these scattered tribes, the Lithuanian prince Mindovg created a single principality. After his murder by conspirators in 1263, the Lithuanian princes fought among themselves for power until the beginning of the 14th century. The winner in these internecine wars turned out to be Prince Gediminas (reigned 1316-1341). It was to him that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania owed its successful policy of conquest in the 14th century.
The very first conquest was Black Rus'. This is an area near the city of Grodno - the westernmost part of Rus'. Then Gedimin subjugated Minsk, Polotsk, and Vitebsk. After this, the Lithuanians penetrated into Galicia and Volyn. But Gedimina failed to conquer Galicia. The Poles occupied it, and the Lithuanians settled only in eastern Volyn and began to prepare for a campaign against Kyiv.
Black Rus' on the map
At the time described, Kyiv had already lost its greatness, but Stanislav, who reigned in the city, decided to defend himself and the townspeople to the end. In 1321, he entered into battle with the army of Gediminas, but was defeated. And the victorious Lithuanians besieged Kyiv. The people of Kiev were forced to submit to the Grand Duke of Lithuania on the basis of vassalage. That is, all property was left to the people of Kiev, but the Kiev prince fell into complete submission to the victors.
After the capture of Kyiv, the Lithuanian army continued its military expansion. As a result of this, Russian cities as far as Kursk and Chernigov were conquered. Thus, under Gediminas and his son Olgerd, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania arose in the 14th century. It continued its policy of conquest after the death of Gediminas, when his sons Olgerd and Keistut entered the political arena.
The brothers divided their spheres of influence. Keistut settled in Zhmudi and resisted the Germans, and Olgerd pursued a policy of conquest in the Russian lands. It should be noted that Olgerd and his nephew Vytautas formally converted to Orthodoxy. Lithuanian princes married Russian princesses and united the Rurikovichs from the Turovo-Pinsk land around them. That is, they gradually included Russian lands into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Olgerd managed to subjugate a vast territory up to the Black Sea and the Don. In 1363, the Lithuanians defeated the Tatars at the Blue Waters (Sinyukha River) and captured western part steppes between the Dnieper and the mouth of the Danube. Thus, they reached the Black Sea. But Lithuania continued to remain sandwiched between Orthodox Russia and Catholic Europe. The Lithuanians waged active wars with the Teutonic and Livonian Orders, and therefore Poland could become their ally.
Poland at that time was in a state of deep crisis. She was periodically tormented by both the anti-papist German orders and the Czechs, who captured Krakow and the surrounding lands. The latter were driven out with difficulty by the Polish king Wladyslaw Loketek from the Piast dynasty. In 1370, this dynasty ceased to exist, and the Frenchman Louis of Anjou became the Polish king. He passed the crown on to his daughter Jadwiga. The Polish magnates strongly advised that to marry legally with the Lithuanian prince Jogaila, the son of Olgerd. Thus, the Poles wanted to unite Poland with Lithuania and stop German expansion.
In 1385, Jagiello married Jadwiga and became the full ruler of Lithuania and Poland in accordance with the Union of Krevo. In 1387, the population of Lithuania officially adopted the Catholic faith. However, not everyone greeted this with enthusiasm. Those Lithuanians who associated themselves with the Russians did not want to accept Catholicism.
Jagiello's cousin Vitovt took advantage of this. He led the opposition and led the fight for the grand ducal throne. This man was looking for allies among the Lithuanians, and among the Poles, and among the Russians, and among the crusaders. The opposition was so strong that in 1392 Jagiello concluded the Ostrov Agreement with Vytautas. According to him, Vytautas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Jogaila appropriated to himself the title of Supreme Prince of Lithuania.
Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century on the map
Vytautas continued his conquest of Russian lands and in 1395 captured Smolensk. He soon refused to obey Jogaila and, thanks to an alliance with the Tatars, annexed the large territory of the Wild Field to Lithuania. Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania significantly expanded its borders in the 14th century. However, in 1399, military luck turned away from Vytautas. He lost Smolensk and part of other lands. In 1401, Lithuania was so weakened that it again entered into an alliance with Poland - the Vilna-Radom Union.
After this, Vitovt again acquired serious political weight. In 1406, an official border was established between Muscovite Russia and Lithuania. The Principality of Lithuania waged a successful fight against the Teutonic Order. In 1410, the Battle of Grunwald took place, in which the crusading knights suffered a crushing defeat. In the last years of his reign, Vytautas sought to once again separate Lithuania from Poland and, for this purpose, decided to be crowned. But this idea ended in failure.
Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century became a militarily and politically strong state. It united, significantly expanded its borders and acquired high international authority. Important historical event became the adoption of Catholicism. This step brought Lithuania closer to Europe, but alienated it from Rus'. This played a big role political role in subsequent centuries.
Alexey Starikov
As already noted, by the 12th century. On the territory of the Baltic tribes living in the Nemunas basin, several political associations arose - “lands”: Samogitia (Zhmud), Deltuva (Dyaltuva), etc. These associations, headed by princes (kunigas), became the basis for the formation of the Lithuanian state. Its territorial core was one of the principalities that emerged in the first half of the 13th century. in military-political terms, Aukštaitija (Auxtote in Western sources), or “Upper Lithuania” comes to the fore. This “land” occupied the right bank of the middle Neman and the basin of its tributary, the Viliya River. Education of a single Principality of Lithuania associated with the activities of Prince Mindaugas (Mindaugas ruled from the 1230s to 1263). By the end of his reign, he subjugated all the Lithuanian principalities-“lands” and, in addition, captured the western part of the Principality of Polotsk from the headwaters of the Vilia to the Western Dvina and Black Rus' - the territory along the left tributaries of the Neman with the cities of Novgorodok, Volkovysk and Slonim. It is known that in the early 1250s. Mindaugas accepted Christianity according to the Catholic rite (although most of his subjects continued to remain pagans) and the title of king. Nevertheless, in Russian sources the Lithuanian state was almost always called a “principality” or “grand duchy”, and its heads were called “princes”.
The lands united by Mindaugas (with the exception of Samogitia) in the 13th–15th centuries. were called “Lithuania” in the narrow sense of the word. The Western Russian territories included in this region underwent some Lithuanian colonization, which was predominantly military in nature. The capital city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the second half of the 13th century. was Novgorod. As the state grew, this area became susceptible to the process political fragmentation: in the XIV–XV centuries. here existed the Vilna, Trotsky (Trakai), Goroden and Novgorod principalities. Samogitia (Zhmuda land), which occupied the right bank of the Neman from the shore to the Western Dvina in its middle reaches, retained a certain administrative isolation from Lithuania in the 14th–15th centuries, although the power of the grand dukes extended to it.
It should be noted that in the “collection” of Russian lands by the Lithuanian princes in the 14th–15th centuries. Military takeovers were far from the only method. Appanage principalities turned out to be their property and as a result dynastic marriages, and as a result of the voluntary recognition of vassal dependence on Lithuania by some Russian princes.
Under the heirs of Mindaugas, growth state territory The Principality of Lithuania continued. Under Vytenis (1295–1316) in 1307, Polotsk and its surroundings were recaptured from the Livonian Order. During the reign of Gediminas (Gediminas, 1316–1341), the capital of the state became the city of Vilna (Vilnius from 1323), the Minsk appanage principality, which reached the upper Dnieper, and Vitebsk were annexed, and in the southwest - the Berestey land (Podlasie). At the same time, the spread of Lithuanian influence began in Polesie, where the appanage principalities of the Turovo-Pinsk land were located. Thus, by the middle of the 14th century. Russian lands as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania exceeded Lithuanian ones both in area and in population. It is not surprising that Gediminas began to call himself the prince of “Lithuania, Zhmud and Russian,” and subsequently historians and the entire state sometimes began to call him “Lithuanian-Russian” or “Russian-Lithuanian.” This name more adequately reflects the essence of this power, since further, in the second half of the 14th – 15th centuries, it expanded almost exclusively at the expense of the former Russian principalities and lands. Although ruling dynasty remained Lithuanian, she, like all Lithuanian nobility, experienced significant Russian influence. It is interesting that those annexed in the 14th century. the lands along the upper Dnieper, Berezina, Pripyat and Sozh in Lithuanian-Russian documents were called “Rus” in the narrow sense of the word, and this name was retained for this region throughout the entire period of the existence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
In 1345–1377 Gediminas' sons Algirdas and Kestutis jointly headed the state. As co-rulers, they delimited the foreign policy sphere between themselves: Olgerd tried to establish the influence of Lithuania in the Russian lands, and Keistut, having received Samogitia and Trakai under control, fought with the Livonian Order. If Keistut's activities were mainly defensive in nature, then Olgerd managed to carry out several more territorial annexations. On the left bank of the Dnieper, he captured the northern appanages of the Chernigov-Seversk land with the cities of Bryansk, Trubchevsk, Starodub, Novgorod Seversky, Chernigov, Rylsk and Putivl. The Verkhovsky principalities located in the basin of the upper reaches of the Oka - Novosilskoye, Odoevskoye, Vorotynskoye, Belevskoye, Kozelskoye, etc. - also recognized their dependence on Lithuania. True, these territories were repeatedly transferred from Lithuania to the Moscow principality and back. To the west of the Dnieper, Olgerd managed to annex the entire Kiev region, and after the victory over Horde army in the battle of Blue Waters Around 1363, the state's possessions in the south reached the middle reaches of the Dniester. The spread of the power of the Lithuanian princes to Volyn, Galician land and Podolia (the region between the upper reaches of the Southern Bug and the Dniester) began. However, here the Kingdom of Poland provided serious opposition to Lithuania and the struggle for these lands went on with varying degrees of success.
Olgerd's heir Jogaila (Jogaila, 1377–1392) waged a fierce struggle for the grand-ducal table with Keistut, and then with Vytautas. Having won the victory, he concluded the Union of Krevo (1385), according to which he pledged to accept the Catholic faith with all his relatives and forever annex the Grand Duchy to the Kingdom of Poland. In 1386 he was baptized and, under the name of Władysław II, became king of Poland. However, the incorporation of Lithuania into Poland did not last long. A few years later, Vytautas (1392–1430) became the Grand Duke of Lithuania, under whom Lithuania gained actual independence. Vytautas managed to return the lands seized by the Teutonic Order during the Lithuanian civil strife, to subjugate the Smolensk land, as well as the territory in the upper Dnieper basin and along the Ugra. Taking advantage of the infighting in the Golden Horde, he also captured part of the Northern Black Sea region from the Dnieper to the Dniester. A number of new fortifications were built here.
In the 15th century The growth rate of the state territory of the Principality of Lithuania decreased significantly, and its borders stabilized. The state achieved its greatest expansion under Casimir IV, who combined the thrones of the Grand Duke of Lithuania (1440–1492) and the King of Poland (from 1447). During this period, it covered the lands from the Baltic to and from the Carpathians to the upper Oka. In the Baltic, Lithuania owned a small stretch of coastline with the town of Palanga. From it, the northern border went to the middle reaches of the Western Dvina and the upper reaches of the Velikaya, then, skirting Velikiye Luki from the south, crossed Lovat and went to the southeast. In the east, the possessions of Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow were separated by the Ugra and Oka from Kaluga to Lyubutsk, beyond which the border turned south to the source of the Sosna, and then passed along Oskol and Samara to the Dnieper. In the south, the borders were the Dnieper and the Black Sea coast, and in the southwest - the Dniester and the foothills of the Carpathians. From the middle reaches of the Western Bug, the border went to the Neman, west of Kovno, and to the Baltic.
At the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. Lithuania's territory in the east was significantly reduced. The losses were associated with Russian-Lithuanian wars, in which success accompanied the Moscow Grand Dukes. According to the treaties of 1494, 1503 and 1522. the upper reaches of the Lovat (from the city of Nevel) and the Western Dvina (Toropets), the Smolensk, Vyazemsky and Belsky destinies, the Verkhovsky principalities, Bryansk, Trubchevsk, Chernigov and Novgorod Seversky, as well as the steppe territory from Putivl and Rylsk to the Oskol River, went to Moscow.
The rapprochement between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland, which began under Jogaila, finally ended in 1569, when, as a result of the Union of Lublin, the territory of the principality was incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland, and a new state arose - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Geographically, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania consisted of several regions in which the population concentration was quite high. The fact is that the population of the principality was grouped in peculiar “oases”, separated from each other by uninhabited or sparsely populated spaces. Such spaces were areas of dense forests or vast swamps, some of which Eastern Europe occupied by Lithuania was quite a lot. These forests separated the Lithuanian land (in the narrow sense) from Prussia, the Berestey land (Podlasie) and the Turov-Pinsk principalities. A wooded and swampy forest stretched in the north of the Zhmud land, delimiting it and the possessions of the Livonian Order; forest space separated the Volyn land from Beresteyskaya and from the Turov-Pinsk appanage principalities; forests stretched in a strip in the Berezina and Disna basins, isolating the Polotsk and Vitebsk lands from Lithuania, which in turn were separated from the Smolensk land by a similar forest barrier. These forests, lying between the populated parts of the state, isolating them, favored the preservation of their social, everyday and political individuality.
Opinion
“The Lithuanian land itself, whose forces created the state under these historical circumstances, naturally occupied the politically dominant and
privileged position. In addition to the ancestral territory of the Lithuanian tribe, this region also included Russian lands, occupied already in the 13th century. and more or less
colonized by it. More closely than other regions, Russian territories joined their own Lithuanian land, which Lithuania received by right of conquest from neighboring Russian lands, or at the time of annexation to Lithuania they were politically divided and therefore were too weak to occupy a separate and independent position in the Lithuanian-Russian federations, which were: the so-called Rus' (in a special, private sense), Podlasie or the land of Berestey, the principalities of Turovo-Pinsk in Polesie. Together with these lands, Lithuania itself was divided at the time under study into two voivodeships, Vilna and Trotsky, which was reflected in the military-political dualism that established in Lithuania in the 14th century, from the time of Olgerd and Keistut. The remaining regions, i.e. the lands of Polotsk, Vitebsk, Smolensk, Zhmud, Kiev and Volyn, the Chernigov-Seversky principalities and Podolia, which joined the Grand Duchy by agreement and treaty, while maintaining local independence and identity, continued to maintain their special position from Lithuania as part of the Grand Duchy and at the time under study. This is the preservation of local political antiquity, except geographical location of the named regions, which favored their independence, was due to the lack of original creative aspirations in the matter of state building on the part of the Lithuanian government, which in turn was determined by the comparative political weakness and underdevelopment of the dominant tribe.”
Regional and administrative divisions of the State of Lithuania
The administrative-territorial structure of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania has evolved throughout its history. In the XIII–XIV centuries. The appanage system prevailed: the vassals of the Grand Duke were at the same time his representatives in the territories under their control. Sometimes Lithuanian princes used their sons or other representatives of the Lithuanian aristocracy as governors. At the same time, in many Russian appanage principalities that were part of the Lithuanian state, Russian princely dynasties remained, ruling their “fatherland”, but recognizing vassalage from Gediminovich. In the 15th century The appanage system is replaced by direct grand-ducal administration. Governors were appointed to the centers of the former appanage principalities (as they became closer to Poland, they began to be called the terms “voivodes” and “elders” borrowed from there). The largest former principalities had governors: Vilna, Trotsky, Kiev, Polotsk, Vitebsk and Smolensk. The districts, which were governed by governors, elders and other representatives of the princely administration, were initially called by the old Russian term “volost”, and then the word “povet” was borrowed from Poland. By the turn of the XV–XVI centuries. A fairly clear system of administrative-territorial division has developed.
The Vilna Voivodeship included, in addition to the volosts of the former Vilna Principality, the volosts of the Novgorod Principality and the appanages of Slutsk, Kletsk and Mstislavsky. The largest cities in this territory were Vilna - the capital of the state since 1323, Novgorodok, Slutsk, Minsk, Kletsk, Mogilev, Mstislavl. The Trotsky Voivodeship occupied the middle Neman basin and the Berestey land. Its largest cities are Troki (Trakai), Koven (Kovno), Gorodno (Grodno), Belsk, Dorogichin, Berestye, Pinsk, Turov. Samogitia (Zhmud land) was headed by an elder, major cities wasn't here.
The Volyn land consisted of several povets, in which judicial and administrative power belonged to local feudal lords. The largest cities are Vladimir, Lutsk, Kremenets, Ostrog. Administrative district The Kyiv governor was determined by the composition of the volosts and estates that belonged to the Kyiv princes in the 14th–15th centuries. This included the basin of the lower Pripyat with its tributaries, the Teterev basin and the strip of the right bank of the Dnieper to the Tyasmin River, and to the east of the Dnieper - the coast from the mouth of the Sozh to Samara, almost all of Posemye (until 1503), Posule and the basins of Psel, Vorskla and the upper Donets to Oskol. At the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. The eastern volosts of the voivodeship were lost. The main area of concentration of cities here was the right bank of the Dnieper, where Kyiv, Chernobyl, Vruchy (Ovruch), Zhitomir, Cherkasy, Vyshgorod, Kanev, Mozyr, etc. were located. On the left bank there were mainly old Russian centers - Chernigov, Novgorod Seversky, Starodub, Rylsk and Putivl. To the south of Putivl and Rylsk there were almost uninhabited steppes.
Smolensk Voivodeship included volosts belonging to the latter to the Smolensk princes(many of these volosts came into the possession of service princes and lords), as well as the eastern judicial-administrative districts, which became part of the Lithuanian-Russian state later than the Smolensk povet. The territory of the voivodeship covered the space from the headwaters of the Lovat in the north to the source of the Oka in the south, and in the east it reached the Ugra. The largest cities in this region are Smolensk, Toropets, Vyazma, Vorotynsk, Odoev, Mosalsk, Bryansk, Lyubutsk, Mtsensk. In 1503, the Toropetsk, Bryansk, Mtsensk, Lyubutsky districts, the Belskoye, Vyazemskoye and Verkhovsky principalities went to Moscow, and in 1514 formally (in 1522 legally) - Smolensk and the surrounding area.
The Vitebsk voivodeship consisted of volosts and estates that belonged to the Vitebsk and Drutsk princes in the 14th century, and covered the upper reaches of the Western Dvina and Dnieper with the cities of Vitebsk, Orsha and several towns. In a similar way, the Polotsk Voivodeship arose from the appanages of the Polotsk and Lukom princes, located in the middle reaches of the Dvina. The city, in in every sense words, here we can name, perhaps, only Polotsk, the rest settlements were small, but there were a large number of them.
Braslav, Venitsky and Zvenigorod districts of Lithuanian Podolia (Podolia) occupied the territory from the Dniester to the lower Dnieper. They were inhabited only by the basin of the upper Bug, where the cities and towns of Venitsa (Vinnitsa), Braslavl, Zvenigorodka and others were located.
A strong Lithuanian-Russian state existed on the territory of Eastern Europe for more than three centuries. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia3 arose on the lands of the former Kyiv state, where the Mongols did not “come”. The unification of Western Russian lands began in the second third of the 13th century under the Grand Duke of Lithuania Mindaugas. During the reign of Gediminas and his son Olgerd, the territorial expansion of Lithuania continued. It included Polotsk, Vitebsk, Minsk, Drutsk principalities, Turov-Pinsk Polesie, Beresteyshchyna, Volyn, Podolia, Chernigov land and part of the Smolensk region. In 1362, Prince Olgerd defeated the Tatars at the Battle of Blue Water and captured Podolia and Kiev. Indigenous Lithuania was surrounded by a belt of Russian lands, which made up 9/10 of the entire territory of the resulting state, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Today these are the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine.
Russian cultural influence prevailed in the new state, subjugating the politically dominant nationality - the Lithuanians. Gediminas and his sons were married to Russian princesses, and the Russian language dominated at court and in official business. Lithuanian writing did not exist at all at that time.
Until the end of the 14th century, Russian regions within the state did not experience national-religious oppression. The structure and character of local life was preserved, Rurik’s descendants remained in their economic positions, losing little in political terms, since the structure of the Lithuanian and Russian states was federal in nature. The Grand Duchy was more of a conglomeration of lands and possessions than a single political entity. For some time now, Russian cultural influence in the Lithuanian and Russian states has been increasing. The Gediminites became Russified, many of them converted to Orthodoxy. There were trends leading towards the formation of a new version of Russian statehood in the southern and western lands of the former Kyiv state.
These trends were broken when Jagiello became the Grand Duke. In 1386, he converted to Catholicism and formalized the union of the Lithuanian-Russian principality with Poland. The aspirations of the Polish gentry to penetrate the vast Western Russian lands were satisfied. Her rights and privileges quickly exceeded those of the Russian aristocracy. Catholic expansion into the western lands of Rus' began. Large regional principalities in Polotsk, Vitebsk, Kyiv and other places were abolished, self-government was replaced by governorship. The Lithuanian aristocracy changed its cultural orientation from Russian to Polish. Polonization and Catholicization captured part of the Western Russian nobility. However, the majority of Russians remained faithful to Orthodoxy and ancient traditions.
National-religious enmity began, which did not exist until the 80s of the 14th century. This enmity developed into a fierce political struggle, during which part of the Western Russian population inevitably grew stronger in favor of the Moscow state. The “departure” of Orthodox princes to Muscovy began. In 1569, under the Union of Lublin, two states - Polish and Lithuanian-Russian - united into one - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Later, in late XVIII century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist, and its territory was divided between three states: Russia, Prussia and Austria-Hungary.
