BETWEEN THE CROSS, THE SWORD AND THE OLD GODS

Analysis of the Letters of Gediminas Duke of Lithuania as an

example of the Diplomacy of Pagan Lithuania in the 14 th Century

Jokin de Carlos Sola

S3121232
Religious Conflict in Premodern Europe
Leiden University
Introduction

After centuries of a slow process, all the tribes and groups in Europe adopted
Christianity and even with the rise of Islam the result was the same, the abandonment of
the traditional faith in the Old Gods. By the year 1100 the cross of Christ or the rising
moon where present in all the corners of the Old Continent. There was however one
exception: The Baltic Region. This part of Europe was populated by the Baltic tribes and
had maintained its Traditional Faith. This however did not seem nothing that worried the
Christian world. These groups were a collection of small tribes and clans, mostly fighting
among themselves, which in some occasions might have performed raids and attacks
against local Polish lords. It was of the expectation at the time that slowly these tribes
would adopt Christianity or would be forced by local kings and Princes from lands like
Germany, Sweden, Poland or Denmark to do so. However, something unexpected happen
and that is that one of these tribes: the Lithuanians, were able to form a Princedom, similar
to their neighbour, and therefore cement their pagan beliefs in a state. Not only that but
with the arrival of the Mongols, the destruction of the Keivan Rus, the pagan Lithuanians
under duke Gediminas launched an invasion into Eastern Europe. By 1323, a Realm
whose rulers believed in the Old Gods, was the most extensive in Europe.

At the same time, the lands of Germany were going through a series of social,
economic, agricultural and technological reforms that would make its population explode
in a couple of centuries, prompting many of their artisans and peasants to look for new
lands to call their own, many of them settling in the East while German landless nobles
and Knights were looking for new territories to make their own. At the same time the
Order of the Teutonic Knights, who had left Palestine after the fall of the Holy Land was
called by the Polish aristocracy to fight these tribes and potentially even the Lithuanians.
Prompting a crusade against them. Is here were we have two versions of German
expansion, one under the Teutonic Knights, who attempted to conquer land under the
banner of Christianising it, although in most cases they just repopulate it with German
settlers, and on the other the Hanseatic League, an alliance of German cites would try to
fund new settlements and trading posts across the Baltic Sea and their rivers.
 Their belief in the Old Gods made the Lithuanians very isolated diplomatically
and they became target of the Teutonic Order whose purpose was their destruction. In
order to solve this, the Dukes of Lithuania became very diplomatically skilled leaders and
one of the best examples of these diplomatic skills are a series of letters that Duke
Gediminas sent to a series of important actors in the Baltic, be it the religious orders of
the Franciscans and the Dominicans, a series of German cities, delegates of the Danish
kingdom and the Pope himself. The aim of these letters was to secure the position of the
realm against the Teutonic Knights but as it will be seen later there were many other
objectives related to the development of Lithuania that had to do with the internal politics
of the country.

The question that I will try to answer in this text is: What were the Objectives of
Duke Gediminas with his letters?

Methodology & Historiography

The main source that I will use during this essay will be the different letters that
Duke Gediminas sent during the years 1323 and 1324. These letters are many, and include
the letter to Pope John XXII, Lübeck, Sund, Bremen, Magdeburg, Cologne, and other
cities, the letter to the Danish viceroy in Estonia, and most importantly the letters that
later these actors sent to each other as a response to them. For example the letter that the
Pope sent to the Teutonic Knights right after receiving the from the Duke of Lithuania or
the one that city Council of Riga sent to the City of Lübeck.

Apart from these other primary sources will include contemporary Chronicles,
which could the one done by Peter von Duisburg, his Chronicon terrae Prussiae, the
chronical works done by Albert von Bardewik and also chronicle work done by religious
orders like the Franciscans. The main objective of these other primary sources would be
to offer another perspective to the information that can be found in the letters.

Apart from the primary sources there will also be a series of secondary sources
that will be brought up for two purposes mostly. The first is to explain the context of the
situation in the Baltic during that period and to explain the creation of the Duchy of
Lithuania, the expansion of the German Settlers and the Teutonic Order, as well as the
ascension to power of Duke Gediminas and his intentions when writing the letters. The
second usage of the Secondary Sources will be to bring up the perspectives of
contemporary historians about the rationale behind some of the actions that were taken in
this conflict.

On that regard it will be of importance to talk about what has been written on this
topic. The most extensive piece of work about the Duchy of Lithuania during this period
is Lithuania ascending: A pagan empire within east-central Europe, 1295-1345, by S. C.
Rowell. The book talks very detailed account on the reign of Gediminas and about his
foreign policy during this time, specially regarding the issue of conversion. According to
Rowell the Prince never really had the intention of Converting to Christianity and instead
wanted to use that as a promise to guarantee the safety of his Kingdom, he would also
invite monks and Catholic settlers to his Kingdom as way of showing himself as a
benefactor of Catholicism, even though he knew that he would not be able to convert
himself, if he didn’t wanted to alienate his pagan and Orthodox Christian subjects.

Another book that has heavily analysed the events in Lithuania during this time
period is the 6th Volume of the Cambridge New Medieval History, with the Chapter
talking about the Baltic, once again being written by Rowell, who as it can be seen is one
of if not the main English-speaking scholar regarding the Duchy of Lithuania. Unlike in
Lithuania ascending, Rowell explores much more the issue of the Paganism of Lithuania
in this one. To show how the actions of Gediminas were not universally supported among
his people he talks about how his son and future Duke Algirdas, who was a staunch pagan
and during the reign of his father he would act in many occasions against him and
questioned his authority whenever it was felt that his actions were too far from the
traditional beliefs of the Christian peoples.

Overall Rowell gives a very detailed account of the events that happened during
the reign of Gediminas and he talks extensively about the internal religious politics of
Lithuania as well as its geopolitical situation. However, I would like to say that it also
misses some of points that to my view are of great importance, such as the economic and
development objectives that the German settlements suppose, specially in the context of
the German eastern expansion.

Background

The Christianisation of Northern Europe and of the Baltic Sea was a very
complicated process. The foundation of the Dioceses of Bremen in 787 under the
initiative of Charlemagne started the development of missions in that region of Europe.
During the next centuries many of the Kingdoms that existed in that region would slowly
convert to Christianity, around the end of the 11th century most of the Kingdoms that
conformed that region had Christian rulers. In many cases this has been considered the
beginning of the statehood of countries like Denmark, Sweden or Poland. In all of those
cases the process of converting the local population was a longer one but at the end a
successful one. There was however one exception that by that time not only remained in
the ancient gods, but also that it managed to form a state despite not being Christian:
Lithuania.

The History of Germany: The Hanseatic League and the Ostsiedlung

In order to understand this we must firstly understand the demographic situation

of Germany during this time. Between the years 1000 to 1300 the territories that
composed the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, those being Saxony,
Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia and more were going through what it could be described as a
population boom. The reason for this had mostly to due with new reforms in agriculture
as well as an increase in urbanisation across Europe, as well as period of warmer
temperatures during the same period which allowed for better harvests . During this
period the population of the Kingdom of Germany went from four million to twelve
million, the phenomenon was present in both the peasantry and the nobility. There wasn’t
enough land for peasants to work in and there were many aristocrats who simply did not
have enough land to inherit from their parents. As the writers Ingrao, Szabo and Piskorski
explained there were simply “too many Germans”. 1

This had the consequences that many Germans were in search for new lands to
own and develop. This lead to two different colonisation processes: the Landesausbau, or
Land Expansion, and the Ostsiedlung or the Eastern Settlement. The first one consisted
on deforestation and clearing the wetland which would create vast new territories for
agricultural exploitation. This lead to an even greater expansion of the population of
Germany, as many inhabited lands became densely populated. The second phenomenon
could also be described as “Eastern Expansion”. During the same time period there would
be a gradual transfer of population from Germany towards the east, into places like
Poland, Bohemia, Translyvania, the Danube and of course the Baltic. Similar to what

1
Ingrao, C., Szabo, F., & Piskorski, J. (2007). The Germans and the East. Purdue University Press.
happened in Germany these settlers would also clear forests and marshes with the
objective of establishing new settlements. 2

The eastern expansion was not performed by a method of conquest, with the
exception of the Teutonic Knights. Even though there had been eastern military
expeditions during the reign of the Ottonian and Salian kings many of the German
settlements that had been expanding during this time period were established under the
invitation, protection and patronage of Slavic princes. The reasons for this were
economical. Many of the people that these Slavic princes invited to move to their territory
were experienced agricultural workers or engineers, which were intended to be used to
both expand agricultural operations and to drain the swamps and marshlands that are so
common in the Central European landscape. All of this with the expectation of increasing
the food production as well as the urbanisation, and therefore the wealth of their
respective kingdoms. A good example of this is the city of Greifswald, in the Baltic Sea,
established in a previously unsettled area in the coast of Pomerania. This settlement had
ben constructed by settlers invited by the Dukes of Pomerania and it became a very
important trading hub in the Baltic. Other cities that serve as a good example of the
Ostsiedlung are Riga, Stettin and Posen. It will be in these new settlements where new
merchant classes will be formed. 3

Is in this contest in where the Hanseatic League appears. During the 13th century
many of the cities in Germany had experienced a great growth in population and
importance. The economic prosperity had lead to an increase in power of the merchant
class that controlled these cities, which inherently lead to these cites desiring a greater
independence from the German Princes. This allowed the cities of the alliance, which
would eventually would be known as the Hansa or Hanseatic League, to heavily expand
their influence throughout the North Sea and the Baltic, expanding on the business of
products like fishery or salt. 4

Christianisation of the Baltic

2
Rady, M. (1999). The German Settlement in Central and Eastern Europe during the High Middle Ages.
In Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks (pp. 11–47). [Link]
3
Ingrao, C., Szabo, F., & Piskorski, J. (2007). The Germans and the East. Purdue University Press.
4
H. Zimmern (2015) The Hanseatic League - A History of the Rise and Fall of the Hansa
Towns
 In the region of the Baltic there had been for centuries a series of tribes that
practiced traditional religion, described by the Christians as “Paganism”. These tribes
were neither Slavic or Germanic and therefore required their own method of conversion
and transmission of the Christian Faith. Previously, the conversion of the Nordic peoples
had been done mostly by German monks while the Christianisation of Poland through
Bohemia and the conversion of the Kievan Rus by Byzantium. However, the Baltic tribes,
spoke a different series of languages and had their own culture which heavily differ from
the ones previously mentioned. 5

However, instead of a more subtle method the conversion would be attempted by

monastic military orders coming mostly from Germany. The first one would be Livonian
Brothers of the Sword, also known as Fratres militiæ Christi Livoniae in latin and as
Schwertbrüderorden. This military order was founded in 1202 by Albrecht bishop or Riga
in the context of the Livonian crusade against the Baltic and Finnic tribes that populated
Livonia, modern day Estonia and Latvia. Is in this context where the first monastic state
is established, the new land was to be called Terra Mariana. Unlike previous experiences
of conversion, the Brothers of the Sword would instead establish a very harsh rule over
the local populations and it will bring settlers from Germany to work the land and develop
their lands. On the other corner of the Baltic meanwhile another monastic order would
arrive to the region, establishing itself in the eastern region of Pomerania: The Teutonic
Order. 6

These military monastic order founded by German knights was created in

Jerusalem to protect the pilgrims (specially those coming from Germany) in their way to
the Holy Land, similar to other monastic orders. Once the Crusaders had been defeated
the Order moved to Transylvania under the invitation of the Kingdom of Hungary in order
to fight against the Cumans, Turkic nomadic tribes that were attacking their eastern
border. Already in Transylvania the Order was operating in a different way. In the territory
that they took from the Cumans, it started bringing German settlers and building their
own institutions. This was started to be seen as a threat by local Hungarian noblemen and
when the knights demanded to be put under the sole authority of the pope, King Andras

5
Žemaitis, A. (2021, August 3). Grand Duchy of Lithuania ethnic relations (1253-1569) | True Lithuania.
True Lithuania | Sights, cities, culture, history and more. [Link]
duchy-of-lithuania-ethnic-relations-1253-1569-10667
6
Górski, K. (2017). The Teutonic Order in Prussia. In The North-Eastern Frontiers of Medieval Europe.
[Link]
of Hungary expelled them in 1225. The settlers stayed becoming the so called
“Transylvanian Saxons”. 7

Meanwhile, a new opportunity appeared for the Teutonic Knights. At the time
Konrad of Mazovia, a polish nobleman, was fighting the Prussians, a Baltic tribe who
practice traditional old Baltic faith. Konrad asked the Teutonic Knights for help after their
experience in Transylvania. This move was supported by both the Holy See and by
Frederick II Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor, as way of controlling the eastern lands
from raids from the pagan tribes, as well as a way of increasing the influence of both the
Catholic Church and the Roman Empire against the Presence of the Kievan Rus and the
Orthodox Church. 8

Teutonic Rule

Once the Teutonic Knights had established their own state among the Prussian
lands they started to rule it according to both Christian principles but also German law.
The order had forced the conversion of the local population through violent means a all
of those who refused would be banished from their lands, others would be killed in raids
or purges. To make up for the loss of population the Teutonic Order would encourage the
migrations of peoples from Germany and the Low Countries to Settle in this new territory.
At first the Order would accept the ruling of ancient local aristocracy with the condition
of conversion. However, even this proved not to be enough for the Teutonic Knights who
ruled with a harsh authority against the native Prussians, this lead to the many Prussian
uprising in which the local tribes, both Christian and pagan would ally themselves to fight
the authority of the Knights, for example the Teutonic Knights outlawed many folkloric
ritual practices that at the time were being mixed with the Catholic religion. This is why
the Order gave preferences to German Settlers. There were two of these uprisings, one in
1242 and another one in 1260 that lasted until 1274. 9
This latter one had profound
consequences for Prussia. After that uprising had been defeated most of the Prussian
aristocracy lost its status as noblemen, had died or were exiled while most of the free

7
Rady, M. (1999). The German Settlement in Central and Eastern Europe during the High Middle Ages.
In Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks (pp. 11–47). [Link]
8
Pelinski, J. (1982). The Contest between Lithuania-Rus’ and the Golden Horde in the Fourteenth
Century for Supremacy over Eastern Europe. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, 2.
9
Klavins, K. (2006). The Ideology of Christianity and Pagan Practice among the Teutonic Knights: The
Case of the Baltic Region. Journal of Baltic Studies, 37(3), 260–276.
[Link]
Prussian peasants were turned into serfs and the land was taken by the order, given to
German settlers or German aristocrats, who now ruled over their knew workforce of
Baltic serfs. Some have described these policies as an early form of ethnic cleansing. 10

All of this made out of the Teutonic Order a new power in the Baltic, but this also
came with its consequences. Many had witnessed the brutality by which they had
subjugated the Prussians and in the next centuries, many other realms in the Baltic would
eventually see them as a threat. During the conquest of Prussia however, many of the
Baltic tribes had decided to unite themselves under a new state: Lithuania. 11

The Establishment of Lithuania

The new monastic state of the Teutonic Knights was an instant threat to the many
tribes that existed in the region, since many of them still practiced the old faith and
became really worried about their situation after seeing what had happened to the
Prussians. The Lithuanians were just another of the tribes of the Baltic but they would be
the ones that would unite many others including the Samogitians, the Selonians and the
Curonians. The prince or duke of the Lithuanians that would be the first leader of a new
Lithuanian state would be Mindaugas. 12
According to the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle
by 1230 he had become the dominant force among the pagan Baltic tribes. In 1236 the
Baltic tribes would defeat the Livonian Order in the Battle of Saule, showing that the
German crusaders could be defeated. 13
Historically it had been difficult to unite all of
these tribes, this was still a kinship society based on family clans and make them give up
their power was something challenging, but the threat of the Teutonic Knights had been
enough for all of these clans to unite under Mindaugas. This however, would not last.

In 1248 Mindaugas would fight a civil war against two of its nephews and in the
process would ally himself with the Livonian Order in exchange for a conversion to
Catholicism and a baptism. This was a political move since he knew that, after their defeat
at Sule, the Livonian knights would be ready to accept a baptism and not a submission.
He would be baptised in 1251 and proclaimed by the Pope as King of Lithuania. However,

10
Pluskowski, A. (2013). The Archaeology of the Prussian Crusade. In Routledge eBooks.
[Link]
11
Sterns, I. (1982). Crime and Punishment among the Teutonic Knights. Speculum, 57(1), 84–111.
[Link]
12
Christiansen, E. H. (1980). The Northern Crusades. [Link]
13
Bartholomäus Hoeneke. Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. 1343
this wouldn’t last. It is not clear what made Mindaugas revert to paganism but it could
have been that his position within Lithuanian society became more fragile following his
conversion, as the majority of the country remained with the old beliefs. By 1259 the
Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order invaded Lithuania once again but they were
eventually defeated. It was this victory which encouraged the second Prussian uprising.
This however, only weakened the position of Mindaugas who had made peace with the
Order and instead strengthen the one of his nephew Treniota, who had defeated the
Knights and was a staunch pagan. He allied himself with the leader of Novgorod
Alexander Nevsky, and in 1263 he assassinated Mindaugas and his sons, becoming Duke
of Lithuania. After this Treniota would also have to face multiple internal conflicts
between the different clans, however they manage to maintain their states whenever the
Teutonic Knights performed raids against them. 14

With time the Duchy of Lithuania manage to play in geopolitics of the region,
having diplomatic exchanges with Christian. One of the best examples was the alliance
that the Duke Vytenis made with the city of Riga in 1297 against the Livonian Order,
easing relations and allowing German merchants to expand their activities in Lithuania.

Despite the opposition of the pagans of Lithuania to have a Catholic king or

convert to Christianity none of the rulers after Mindaugas opposed to the presence of
Christians in their lands, despite the conflicts their presence was tolerated and with time
there would be a growing number of Orthodox Christian Ruthenians living in the Duchy.
15

The Letters

Duke Gediminas has a very dark origins, in the sense that we know very little from
primary sources about his origins. Some Chronicles written long after his death claimed
that he was the horse boy of the previous Duke. Other sources describe him as his son or
his brother. Like his predecessors he would maintain the faith in the old gods amidst
maintain his own grip on power over the nobility. However, he would also try to
modernise the realm, by implementing a series of reforms. He would also try to slowly
develop a series of diplomatic channels with the different countries in his surroundings.

14
Christiansen, E. H. (1980). The Northern Crusades. [Link]
15
Rowell, S. C. (2008). Baltic Europe. In The New Cambridge Medieval History (Vol. 6, pp. 699–745).
Cambridge University Press.
For that he would use the promise of a future conversion to Christianity, without actually
doing it. 16

Gediminas would also be one of the most expansive dukes of Lithuania. Taking
advantage of the chaos and weakness that had proceeded the Mongol Invasion of the
Kievan Rus, Gediminas and the Lithuanians would embark on the conquest of the Western
Part of the Russian principality. They would eventually conquer the city of Kiev and many
other Ruthenian lands. With this the religious structure of Lithuania heavily change, with
now Orthodox Christians becoming the biggest religion in the country. 17

The situation of the Duke was complicated to say the least. It ruled over a
population that was two thirds Orthodox Ruthenians and one third Baltic Pagan. This last
third composed most of the aristocracy and military class. Because of this conversion was
never considered an option by the Lithuanian royal family. This is because on the one
hand the native Lithuanians and other tribes would not accept a Catholic conversion and
on the other hand the local peasant population would not tolerate a Catholic monarch.
Mindaugas and all of his immediate successors had been murdered which showed the
future Dukes of Lithuania that the kingdom would not accept a Catholic monarch. 18

At the same time the faith of the realm was a true geopolitical liability. It made
really difficult to do any diplomatic activity. Gediminas, knew this and that’s why he
introduced a policy strong religious tolerance in his realm amidst calming the worries of
foreign threats. 19

As it has seen before the Teutonic Knights were not as interested in converting
pagans as they were more interested the establishing and strengthening of their state.
Their actions were renowned for their brutality, even in the Christian World, and their
actions of expelling native Baltics, even those who were in the process of conversion in
favour of German settlers was not short of criticism throughout Europe. That’s why
Gediminas knew that he needed to exploit those divisions between the Christian factions.

16
Murray, A. (2010). The Saracens of the Baltic: Pagan and Christian Lithuanians in the Perception of
English and French Crusaders to Late Medieval Prussia. Journal of Baltic Studies, 41(4), 413–
429.
17
Baranauskas, T. (2007). Veliuona and the Lithuanian Crusade. Lietuvai Pagražinti Draugija.
18
Aleknaitė, E. (2017). Baltic Paganism in Lithuanian Neoshamanic Communities. Nova Religio, 20(3),
13–35. [Link]
19
Rowell S. C. Lithuania ascending: a pagan empire within east-central Europe, 1295-1345. (1995).
Choice Reviews Online, 32(05), [Link]
At the same he saw the advancements that the German settlers were doing in neighbouring
kingdoms and saw to bring more to Lithuania. He also knew that this would help both its
diplomatic leverage when dealing with Christian kingdoms, it would also work as a
counterbalance to the pagan elites in the Kingdom and would also enrich the kingdom. 20

THE LETTERS FROM THE PRINCE OF LITHUANIA

The primary source that this essay will use will be the letters that Duke Gediminas
sent to a variety of Christian actors throughout the Baltic Sea and Northern Europe. The
recipients of these letters include Pope John, a series of Hanseatic cities throughout
Northern Germany and the Baltic, two monk orders and the Danish delegates. All of these
letters were written in Latin and sent between 1322 and 1323. After that another wave of
correspondence followed both in the form of responses and in interactions between the
receivers of these letters. Examples of these are for instance Pope John sent to the
Teutonic Knights or what the city of Riga wrote to the City of Lübeck. They also include
the different responses that Gediminas received from the City of Riga or the Danish
ambassadors.

Something to note of this letters is that despite that they were written by a man
who remined faithful to the old gods during all of his life, these are full of Christian
terminology and allegories to Christ. Fore example using words like “year of our lord” or
“lord Jesus Christ”. This was probably done as a way of hinting the idea that the duke had
the desire of Christianising the country. There are moments in where he talks about it, as
it will later be shown.

What they show us these letters is the knowledge that Gediminas possessed about
the diplomatic language as well as the doubts and internal conflicts that actors such as the
Pope, Denmark or the Hanseatic City had with the Teutonic Knights.

To understand these letters this essay will be structured in the following way.
Firstly we will go through the letter that Gediminas sent to the Pope, arguably the most
important one, then we will see how he wrote to German cities of the Hansa, then the
letters that he sent to the Dominican and Franciscan, then what he wrote to the Danish

20
Klavins, K. (2006). The Ideology of Christianity and Pagan Practice among the Teutonic Knights: The
Case of the Baltic Region. Journal of Baltic Studies, 37(3), 260–276.
[Link]
viceroy in Tallin and finally what responses did this initiative generate among its
recipients.

Letter to the Pope

The main aspect of the letter that Duke Gediminas writes to the pope is its
emphasis on the desire to Christianise Lithuania. Now, it is not clear whether he was
honest or not in this claim but the fact his that in his letter to Pope John, Duke Gediminas
makes a reference to the conversion of Duke Mindaugas, as an example for what he
claims to be his desire for a future Lithuania.

“It is for this that by the present letter we declare to your reverence that our predecessor
king Mindaugas with his whole kingdom was converted to the faith of Christ”. 21

However, in order to explain why this conversion failed Gediminas argues that it
was the actions of the Teutonic Knights which prompted many Lithuanians to abandon
Christianity and instead return to the faith in the old god.

“but because of the savage wrongs and innumerable treacheries of the master of the
brothers from the Teutonic house, they all fell away from the faith; for this reason we, to
our sorrow, up to this very day have constantly remained in the errors of our forefathers” 22

He mentions the presence of the Dominican and Franciscan orders who have
freedom of practicing and of baptising whoever they want to. He also explains that he has
no quarrel with the Catholic faith and that conversion could still happen again if the
Teutonic Knights withdrew and he asks the pope to intervene in their favour.

“we most earnestly appeal that you turn your attention upon our lamentable state, because
we, like other Christian kings, are ready to obey you in all things and to receive the
Christian faith, provided that by the mentioned torturers, namely the mentioned master
and brothers, we may be oppressed in no manner”.23

21
Letter of Gediminas to Pope John XXII, |1322| Goettingen. F. G. Bunge ed., Liv- Est- und Curlaendisches
Urkundenbuch (LUB), vol. I, Reval, 1853; vol. II, Reval, 1855; vol. VI, Riga, 1871; vol. II, no. 687
22
Letter of Gediminas to Pope John XXII, |1322| Goettingen. F. G. Bunge ed., Liv- Est- und
Curlaendisches Urkundenbuch (LUB), vol. I, Reval, 1853; vol. II, Reval, 1855; vol. VI, Riga, 1871; vol.
II, no. 687
23
Letter of Gediminas to Pope John XXII, |1322| Goettingen. F. G. Bunge ed., Liv- Est- und
Curlaendisches Urkundenbuch (LUB), vol. I, Reval, 1853; vol. II, Reval, 1855; vol. VI, Riga, 1871; vol.
II, no. 687
 As later will be seen, is very likely that Gediminas is now telling the Pope just
what he wants to hear, since, as we’ll see later the situation inside Lithuania was far more
complicated. However, it is clear that he understands the way of thinking of the Pope and
he tries to talk in a way that feels genuine and also talking about the faith in the Old Gods,
not as another creed but rather as “errors of our forefathers”, a language that he would
never use in front of the pagan aristocracy.

Letters to the Cities

In its letters Gediminas addresses a series of different cities, both in Germany and
in the Baltic Sea. The cities being Lübeck, Sund, Bremen, Magdeburg, Cologne on his
first letter and then also the cities of Rostov, Sund, Greifswald, Stettin, and Gotland in
his second letter. The first letter was addressed to the cities that are not located in the
Baltic sea but were the main leading cities of the Hanseatic League, those being Lübeck,
Bremen and Cologne and others. The second letter are cities that are also part of the
Hanseatic League such as Greifswald but not solely, others include Rostov or Gotland.
The second group of letters are important and influential cities in the Baltic trade, in some
cases like Greifswald or Stettin created as a consequence of the Ostsiedlung. Both letters
are very similar in structure and form, and both contain the same message.

The first that the letter does is to acknowledge the letter that Duke Gediminas sent
to the Holy See, and briefly explaining what he said to the Pope. In his letters Gediminas
is very explicit in his desire for German settlers from these cities to move to Lithuania.
He specifically mentions farmers to cultivate the land and also merchants, artisans and
traders to develop the urban areas of the country.

“knights, armsbearers, merchants, healers, smiths, carpenters, cobblers, fur-makers,

millers, storekeepers, and each person of mechanical arts”. 24

Not only that he is also inviting men of arms and knights offering them status in
his kingdom “If knights and arms bearers will want to remain, I will grant them incomes
and possessions, as is proper” In exchange for that he is offering land to farmers and
taxation rights to the merchants.

24
Letter of Gediminas to the citizens of Luebeck, Sund, Bremen, Magdeburg, Cologne, and other cities,
January 25, 1323 Riga. K. E.. Napiersky ed., Russisch - Livlaendische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868, no.
54.
 “These colonists who will wish to come, let them cultivate our land for ten years without
taxes. Let merchants come and leave freely without any taxes and duties, with all
impediments completely removed”. 25

He would also allow these settlements to be ruled under the “law of Riga” by
which it meant that that Lithuanian law would not apply but instead the German town law
that it was present in most of the German settlements in the East. This was done, like
many other Slavic and Eastern Princes amidst making the settlements of Germans a more
attractive options for them.

Similar to the letter of the Pope, Gediminas makes the point that the Teutonic
Knights have also been responsible for the murders of several priests. Making the point
that despite the fact they are seen as a threat to Christianity because of their belief in the
Old Gods but it’s the Teutonic Knights who are actually engaging in violence and brutality
against them.

“those for Franciscans, one in Vilnius our aforesaid city and the other in Novgorodok, this
last one was burned by fire by the Prussian cross bearers for the destruction of Christians
and the extirpation of Franciscans in our land”. 26

Letters to the Monk Orders

Gediminas sent two letters to religious orders. The first was to the Dominican
Order and the second was to the order of the Franciscans. In both of this letter the Duke
Gedminas tries to convince them of the safety of Lithuania for this orders to establish
themselves there.

The main objective here is two persuade this two orders to establish themselves
in Lithuania. The reason for this can be seen in the letters that Gediminas sent to the
German cities, in which he acknowledges that both Franciscan and Dominican orders
have establish churches and congregation in their territories. This would only give to
Lithuania a bigger recognition but also would give Germans a feeling of being in a

25
Letter of Gediminas to the citizens of Luebeck, Sund, Bremen, Magdeburg, Cologne, and other cities,
January 25, 1323 Riga. K. E.. Napiersky ed., Russisch - Livlaendische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868, no.
54.
26
Letter of Gediminas to the citizens of Luebeck, Rostov, Sund, Greifswald, Stettin, and Gotland, May 26,
1323 Goettingen. LUB, vol. II, no. 690.
Christian land. In a way it could be said that Gediminas is not opposed to the idea of these
orders of further the conversion of the population to Catholicism, since it could make a
baptism in the future a more likely scenario than the one that currently stands, in which
an Orthodox population and a pagan elite and army make this option unfeasible.

In the letter Gediminas invites the clerics to establish themselves in Lithuania and
for that, similar to the settlers grants them security and freedom from taxation if they
establish themselves in Lithuania. At the same time he asks these Orders to spread the
word throughout Germany so settlers would eventually come.

“Therefore we wish to collect bishops, priests, religious, except those who sell their
monasteries and engineer the slaying of clerics. We wish to protect the rights of the
church, honor the clergy, and spread the worship of God. Therefore we ask that you
announce this to men in cities, places, and villages, wherever anyone of you will happen
to preach. Also if there be any knights and armsbearers, we will give them incomes and
land, as much as they wish; to merchants, wrights, carpenters, missile makers, cobblers,
and craftsmen of any kind, we grant the freedom to enter and leave our land, with wives,
children, and beasts of burden, without any taxes or duties and with every disturbance far
removed” 27

He also mentions the work that he has already done for the Catholic Church. He
talks about the construction of Chapels and Churches throughout the kingdom and he
promises to sponsor the creation of a Church for the Dominicans.

“Thus we wish to collect bishops, priests, and religious of all orders, especially from yours
for which we have already built two churches: one in our royal city called Vilnius and the
other in Novgorodok; to which for us during this year let you appoint four brothers who
know the Polish, Zemgallian, and Russian languages, such as are there and have been;
and also from the Dominicans, to whom we will give a church at a future time”28

Letter to the Danish envoys

The letters that Gediminas sent were not only focused to the Church Institutions
like the Papacy or Bishops, or to German Free Cities but also tried to contact other
Kingdoms and powers of the Baltic, more precisely the Kingdom of Denmark that for the

27
Letter of Gediminas to the citizens of Luebeck, Sund, Bremen, Magdeburg, Cologne, and other cities,
January 25, 1323 Riga. K. E.. Napiersky ed., Russisch - Livlaendische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868,
no. 54.
28
Letter of Gediminas to the citizens of Luebeck, Rostov, Sund, Greifswald, Stettin, and Gotland, May
26, 1323 Goettingen. LUB, vol. II, no. 690
past two centuries had established a series of settlements throughout the Baltic, more
specifically in the most Northern sections of the Baltic, in what it was called at the time
Terra Maraiana although nowadays is known as Estonia. The Danes had also engaged
during the last centuries in a series of crusades against the pagan tribes of the Baltic.

The Danes had a complicated relationship with the German forces present in the
Baltic. The growth of the Henseatic League and of the Teutonic Knights in the region
compromised their own interest, that is why they tended to intervene to guarantee the
stability of the region and making sure that no-one would become powerful enough to
contest their power. This happened when the war between Riga and the Teutonic Order
happened in 1298 and the Knights threatened to take the city, King Eric of Denmark
threatened to intervene himself if the order did not withdraw which lead to a peace being
done. After this is very likely that the Lithuanians saw the Danes as potential guarantors
of peace in face of the knights. 29

In his letter to the Danish viceroy in the Baltic, who at the time of the writing ,
Johannes Kanna and the bishops of Dorpat and Oesel, the Duke of Lithuania addresses
the many violations of the Teutonic Knights over the peace they had signed just one year,
precisely under the supervision of the Danish viceroy. In 1324, Gediminas wrote to the
Danish agents in the Baltic informing them of a series of raids performed by the Teutonic
Knights over Lithuanian territory, these raids, as described by Gediminas were not based
on any military objective, but rather were acts of pillage and murder of peasants living in
the borderlands.

“Likewise, they killed one hunter from Upytė, while two they led away captive”30

“And first in this, that they captured six inhabitants of the border regions, whom they
forced to redeem themselves from them, while two they cruelly killed” 31

29
Rowell S. C. Lithuania ascending: a pagan empire within east-central Europe, 1295-1345. (1995).
Choice Reviews Online, 32(05), [Link]
30
Letter of Gediminas to the bishops of Dorpat and Oesel, the Danish viceroy in the lands of Revel, and
the council of the city of Riga, |1324, after September 22| Riga. Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed., Russisch
-Livländische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868 no. 69
31
Letter of Gediminas to the bishops of Dorpat and Oesel, the Danish viceroy in the lands of Revel, and
the council of the city of Riga, |1324, after September 22| Riga. Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed., Russisch
-Livländische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868 no. 69
 “Also, shortly after lent, [they attacked] the same land and again like ravenous wolves
cruelly slew with the sword eighty persons, some others they drove away with themselves,
fifty fine horses, clothing, and other goods, whose number cannot be known”32

The way Gediminas writes these words do not seem to be accidental. It seems that
the Duke purposely intends to make the Order look like a bunch of bandits who say that
they are Christians but instead dedicate their time to rob, pillage, steal horses and kill
peasants.

In the letter there is a constant mention of the peace treaty that both actor signed
and how the Order has not fulfilled by for example not giving back some of the Castles
that it had been agreed they should be returned to Lithuania.

“Also in the treaty of peace [was the condition] that they must return two castles, namely,
Daugavpils and Mežuotne, this they have not done”33

Once again, the idea with this would be to make the Order seem as the ones
responsible for the conflict and therefore not worthy of the support of the Christian
Church and other Catholic Kings. However, as Rowell points out in his writings
Gediminas was also performing a series of raids into different territories. He hoped that
the aggressive attitude of the Order would make them seem better allies and that that
would strengthen their diplomatic position.

Responses and Reactions

By sending these letters Duke Gediminas caused a series of reaction throughout

the Christian Chancelleries throughout Northern Europe. The letters of Gediminas were
followed by a series of diplomatic actions by the different actors in the Baltic. These
included a letter from the Pope to the Teutonic Knights, a letter from the City of Riga to
the City of Lübeck and most importantly a series of letters and reports written by papal
delegates that visited the court of Gediminas. These latter ones are particularly important
since they show the effect of the Lithuanian letters over the foreign policies of the many

32
Letter of Gediminas to the bishops of Dorpat and Oesel, the Danish viceroy in the lands of Revel, and
the council of the city of Riga, |1324, after September 22| Riga. Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed., Russisch
-Livländische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868 no. 69
33
Letter of Gediminas to the bishops of Dorpat and Oesel, the Danish viceroy in the lands of Revel, and
the council of the city of Riga, |1324, after September 22| Riga. Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed., Russisch
-Livländische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868 no. 69
actors in the Baltic. They also show the dynamics between them and how the situation
has much more nuance than religious conflict.

One of the biggest diplomatic victories for Gediminas was the letter that Pope
John ended up sending to the Teutonic Knights. It could be seen as a victory since it meant
that the Pope was convinced of his honesty about conversion and that the actions of the
Teutonic Knights were actually causing more problems than solving them. The 1st of June
1324, Pope John sent a letter to the Teutonic Order in which he asked to halt and stop
their campaigns against Lithuania.

“ Since that king has set forth that because of certain complaints, suits, and questions
which he has against you, he does not refuse to become obedient to our judgment and that
of the church, and even asks with confidence for our assistance in these matters, we,
desiring that he and all unbelievers be converted to the Catholic faith, and wishing, as
much as with the help of God we can, to favor this with favor and encourage with good
deeds, very much ask, urge, and demand of all of you, tightly bound by the virtue of holy
obedience, that, as soon as that king, with the help of God, will have accepted the Catholic
faith, y you will entirely cease to molest, damage, and injure him and the people of his
kingdom; also we desire that you live in brotherhood and peace, without which the creator
of peace cannot be properly worshiped, with that king and other people of that land who
will be converted to the Catholic faith”34

However, as it can be seen it is not the result that Gediminas hoped in its entirety.
This is because the Pope clarifies that the Order must stop all attacks and raids once the
king adopts the Catholic faith. But what Gediminas explains in his first letter is that he
cannot convert unless the raids stop since its people will not accept Christianity as long
is associated with the Teutonic Knights.

This however was indeed an advancement for Gediminas since he was able to put
the Order in a more complicated position since it was slowly showing that their actions
against other Christians would not be tolerated in future by the Holy See. If they would
act accordingly, is another question.

The origins of the alliance between Riga and Lithuania is probably one of the
most notable victories of Lithuanian diplomacy. The details of this alliance will be

34
Letter of Pope John XXII to the German order, June 1, 1324 , present whereabouts unknown. Taken
from LUB, vol. II, no. 705
analysed later in the essay but first it would be of relevance to see the letter that the city
of Riga sent to the city of Lübeck after the one sent by the duke.

Similar to what Gediminas did with the Pope, the Council of Riga mentions that
the Teutonic Knights have repeatedly repudiated the peace offered by Lithuania. They
also mentions that the actions of the Order have repeatedly caused great danger to the
Christians living in the region.

“Thus the brothers of the Teutonic house have repudiated that peace, although their above
mentioned legates, as has been said, made a firm peace, and gave oaths in the name of the
said order and marked it with their seals, for evidence, against God, justice, and to the
harm of all Christians in Livonia and Estonia and those participants in the treaty not
consenting with the same brothers in the repudiation of the peace, namely, the lord bishop
of Oesel and his diocese, the city of Dorpat, and ourselves”35

There is however some differences regarding the letter of Gediminas and the one
of the Council of Riga towards Lübeck. That is that in the letter of Gediminas the intention
is to attract settlers and commercial interests to Lithuania and this letter has the objective
of making sure that the citizens of Lübeck do not align themselves with the Teutonic
Knights. There might be some reasons for this, although most of it falls into speculation.
The fact that Riga is also a German city who has faced the pressure of the Order could
make them seem more trustworthy than the word of a pagan Lithuanian over the actions
of fellow Germans.

There was an incident that could show us what were the real honest thoughts of
Gediminas when dealing with the issue of conversion. After a much time of waiting, the
papal delegates finally were able to meet with the Duke. For days there had been receiving
reports by Franciscan monks living in Lithuania that the Duke had no real intentions of
converting to Christianity. Later when the delegates finally had the chance of meeting
Gediminas he was very vocal in his opposition to Christianity, calling its hypocrisy and
how many people who claim to profess Christian values have exactly been those who
have attack other Christians instead of the believers in the Old Gods. He also mentions
how many times in which he has tried to offer peace his envoys have been killed or their
towns looted by Christians.

35
Letter of the council of the city of Riga to Luebeck Riga. Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed., Russisch -
Livlaendische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868, no. 62.
 “What do you say to me about Christians? Where will we find greater injuries, greater
iniquity, violence, lying, and greed than among Christian people, and especially those
who seem upright religious like, for example, the crossbearers, who however do all kinds
of evil: they captured bishops, imprisoned them, and held them there in great misery, until
they acquiesced in their wishes, some they exiled, killed off clerics and religious, did the
greatest harm to the city of Riga and did not keep anything of what they had promised
with oaths since the first appearance of Christianity; this took place most evidently in the
previous year when the envoys of the rulers of the earth were here, and with the consent
of them all, without any coercion, made peace in the name of all Christians and affirmed
it with oaths and, besides, kissed the cross, and immediately thereafter did not observe
anything of what they had affirmed with oaths, for they slew my envoys whom, as we
had agreed, I sent to confirm the peace; but not only them but many others and many
times they killed, looted, tied in bonds, mistreated them seriously; thus because of such I
no longer believe their oaths."36

However later in the latter the envoys explain how they later had a conversation
with the Prince’s interpreter, a man called Hennekin. They went to him because they felt
confused how Gediminas had wrote the Pope promising a conversion but then later in
the throne room he just dismissed their faith all together.

He replied to this asking that those things which he said we keep under the seal of
confession, because if anybody found out, he would loose his life: "You, lords, have so
deeply moved me, that I have to tell you the truth. I know that the king had strongly
resolved to become converted, for he had the letter written with great desire; but why he
has turned away from this, I do not know, of course, the devil has sown his seed; again,
as before, I ask you to keep this in secret."37

In the final section of the letter, the envoys explain how according to a
Franciscan monk present in the court, a woman told him that once the pope delates left
Gediminas cried non-stop during the night.

“because of this that woman could conclude that he did this because he had been forced
to repudiate the enterprise he had begun”38

36
Report of the envoys of the papal legates, [1324] Riga. Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed., Russisch-
Livlaendische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1888 No. 67.
37
Report of the envoys of the papal legates, [1324] Riga. Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed., Russisch-
Livlaendische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1888 No. 67.
38
Report of the envoys of the papal legates, [1324] Riga. Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed., Russisch-
Livlaendische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1888 No. 67.
 What we can see about this is that the Duke must have been in a very complicated
situation. On the one hand he knows that conversion is the only thing that would guarantee
the complete support of the Pope or Poland and therefore guarantee the maintenance of
the Kingdom which was at the end of the day the final objective of Gediminas.

ANALYSIS: What topics do these letters cover?

Settlements

Gediminas wrote many letters to German cities like Lübeck or Cologne and at the
same time he wrote tot the two main religious orders in the Latin Church, these being the
Franciscan and the Dominican Orders. The purpose of these letters were varied, the Prince
wanted to guarantee the trade that these cities could bring, they also could support them
diplomatically against the Teutonic Knights (similar to what Riga did) but at the same
time he wanted and asked for settlers into Lithuania.

One of the reasons for these desires for settlers was to control the religious balance
that existed in Lithuania at the time, which had a military class and an aristocracy formed
by ethnic Lithuanians who were followers of the Old Faith while the majority of the
peasantry (two thirds according to some accounts) was composed by Ruthenians, who
were ethnic Slavs who were Christian Orthodox. Both of these groups would heavily
resent the rule of a Catholic duke, even it guaranteed the peace with their neighbours.
This was the case of Mindaugas whose conversion probably leaded to his murder by his
own kin. With now a great population of Orthodox Christians, after the expansion that the
Lithuanians did towards the territories of the Kievan Rus, it made the conversion to
Catholicism much more complicated, since it could lead to peasant revolts or attacks from
the East.

That is because the establishment of settlements, populated by Catholic Germans,

Dutch, Flemish or Swedes would change the balance of the country and guarantee a
greater proportion of Catholics which would innocently guarantee the Prince a base of
support in case of an invasion of the Teutonic Knights. This is also because as seen with
the case of Riga, a city that allied itself with Lithuania that was populated by Baltic
Germans and as seen before aided them in their diplomatic endeavours with the Hanseatic
League.
 At the same time the establishment of religious orders could be seen as a
movement to guarantee two objectives. The first is as a way of guaranteeing that the
German settlers would come to Lithuania. By guaranteeing safety Gediminas hoped that
these orders would establish themselves in Lithuania and with-it German settlers from the
Hanseatic League would see that the Duke was being honest when he said that he would
respect the Catholic religious beliefs of the new settlers.

Another reason why the establishment of settlements was definitely a very

lucrative and beneficial endeavour for princes such as Gediminas is the fact that they
rapidly become sources of wealth and development, and therefore potentially subjects of
taxation. As Gediminas explains in the letter, he is ready offer ten years of free taxation
to those German settlers wishing to establish themselves in Lithuania. This is done with
the objective that after those ten years these settlers have been able to establish successful
settlements that by then could be taxed. As it had been seen in Germany but also in non-
Germanic territories such as Silesia, or Bohemia, the establishment of German settlers
had brought enormous quantities of wealth and development to these kingdoms. Their
knowledge on terraforming and engineering also allowed for the repopulation of areas
that until that moment might have been unavailable for usage. 39

According to some sources, such as the Encyclopaedia of Jews in Lithuania

written by Dov Levin, this resulted in the latter years in a great number of Jews from
Germany moving into Lithuania. This should not be surprising since the fact that this was
not a Christian land or that Lithuanian pagans did not have a history of antisemitism could
made the settlement in the country a very attractive idea. 40

Diplomacy & Alliances

One of the biggest elements of the text is the official and the unofficial diplomatic
situation in the Baltic. One of the main issues that want to be analyse in this text is how
diplomatic activities were performed between Christian and non-Christian countries,
more specifically on how alliance would be formed between them against another
Christian force, in this case the Teutonic Knights.

39
Rady, M. (1999). The German Settlement in Central and Eastern Europe during the High Middle Ages.
In Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks (pp. 11–47). [Link]

40
 One of the most interesting aspects of the diplomacy of the Gran Duchy of
Lithuania at the time was its alliance with the City of Riga. This is a great example of the
advances that Gediminas and their predecessors did in contrast with the Teutonic Order.
This can be seen in the letter that the City of Riga sent to the City of Lübeck.

Regarding the diplomatic importance of this letter there is something that should
be mentioned about Gediminas and that is his ability to work within the diplomatic
situation in the Baltic and how to forge diplomatic alliances. This is not something that
was exclusive of him however, already when Gediminas had become the Duke of
Lithuania, he had inherited from his predecessor an alliance with the city of Riga.

The City of Riga was a Free City, funded by German settlers and surrounded by
territory of the Livonian Order, a branch of the Teutonic Knights by the end of the 13 th
century. In 1297 the citizens of Riga were facing conflicts with the Knights over a series
of disputes, such the construction of a bridge that lead to many tensions between the two
groups, it was felt at the time that the Teutonic Knights were hoping to increase their grip
over Riga which angered many of their citizens. At the time the new Bishop of Riga,
Johan von Schwerin tried to mediate in the dispute but it was unable to stop the citizens
storming a garrison of the knights and killing around 60 of them together with their
Komtur (Commander). In response the Teutonic Knight under the leadership of the
Landmeister attacked the city, arrested the culprits and incarcerated Bishop von Schwerin
in the caste of Fellin. All of this was narrated and explained by Albert von Bardewik, a
Chronicler who would later be Mayor or Lübeck. 41

In that year the Duke of Lithuania, Vytenis, offered his help to the citizens of Riga
to drive away the Knights. Similar to his successor he also made vague promises of
conversion to make an alliance between them easier. Vytenis launched an attack with his
pagan forces against the presence of the nights in the area. In the Battle of Turaida, the
Lithuanians together with citizen militias of Riga defeated the forces of the Teutonic
Knights and killed the Grand Master of the Livonian Order, Bruno. Afterward the Knights
sent reinforcements and were able to defeat the Lithuanian and Rigan forces, and later
took the city. According to the accounts of Pieter von Duisburg 4000 Lithuanians and
citizens of Riga were killed by the Knights, although these numbers could be inflated.

41
Albert von Bardewik, ‘ Aufzeichnungen’ 1298 , Cltroniken der deutschen Stadte, XXVI (Leipzig,
1899), 285-316
The Order took the city but had accept a truce and withdraw once the King of Denmark
Eric VI threatened to invade Livonia if the Order did not withdraw and Archbishop von
Schwerin was freed. After the interference of Pope Boniface VII, a truce was reached the
Knights went back to Livonia. However, the conflict was not resolved, and Vytenis was
able to establish a garrison of Pagan Lithuanians in Riga in what it was called the
“Lithuanian caste”. The reasons for this are explained by the German historian Hermann
Hildebrand in his book Das Rigische Schuldbuch, in which he argues that after the
conquest of Polotsk by the Lithuanians the trade with them was desired was Riga. 42

As it can be seen the Lithuanians were no strange to diplomacy beyond the

religious lines. In a way that was a necessity since they had saw what had happened to
the Prussian tribes when they had to face the Teutonic Knights all by themselves.

Something else that was going on at the time that is not mentioned in the letters is
that during the same years as this correspondence was being stablished, Duke Gediminas
was also establishing an alliance with the Kingdom of Poland, who is the other great
kingdom present in the Baltic Region. At the same time that these letters were being
written the daughter of Gediminas, Aldona, was being married to the son of the King of
Poland, Wladyslaw I, and future of King of Poland himself Casimir III in 1325. For this
marriage Aldona, was baptised and she adopted the Christian name of Anna. At the same
time he also married another one of his daughters, Aigusta, to the Prince of Simeon
Moscow, similar to her sister, she had to convert although this time to Orthodox
Christianity. By establishing these marriages Gediminas was able to guarantee the
diplomatic presence of Lithuania in these regions and also secure his borders amidst a
potential invasion from the Order 43

All of this might also have to do with the fact that during this same time the
Teutonic Knights had been expanding their activities throughout the Baltic and therefore
becoming more of a threat for the local rulers, such as Poland or some cities like Riga, as
well as potentially members of the Hanseatic League. As seen in the Background sections
the attitude of the Teutonic Order was considered as too radical and extreme by many of
the people that lived in the region, their actions against converted Balts and Slavs, their

42
Das Rigische Schuldbuch (1286-1352) - Hermann Hildebrand
43
Rowell S. C. Lithuania ascending: a pagan empire within east-central Europe, 1295-1345. (1995).
Choice Reviews Online, 32(05), [Link]
intransigence as well as their violent actions against the some monks made them a more
dangerous actor than the Duchy of Lithuania for some, and Gediminas was ready to
exploit that. 44

What all of this shows is that the alliances that were being done throughout the
region did not follow the religious lines that could be expected from these catholic kings.
This does not mean that religion was not of relevance for these people, but it seems that
have played a much smaller role when crafting the alliances. On that sense Gediminas
seems to have understood the complexities and nuances of the political situation in the
Baltic and the fact that the Teutonic Knights were becoming a bigger threat to the different
actors in the region and their actions against other Christians was proving to become a
problem for many kings and Princes in the Baltic. It was seen in in the conflict with Riga,
when the Danes threaten to intervene in the conflict if they didn’t withdraw from Riga,
although they did not care when the Lithuanians established a garrison of pagans next to
the city. 45

Another element that is present in the letters is the contrast between the
information that Gediminas sends on his letters on the one hand and the information that
the Papal Delegates inform on the other. As seen before in his letters Gediminas informs
that it is of his interest to be converted to Catholicism but for that he needs the Teutonic
Knights to cease their attacks and incursions into Lithuanian territory. However, in their
letters the Papal Delegates explain that the situation that the Duke of Lithuania finds
himself in is much more complicated and controversial situation. 46

The internal situation of Lithuania at the time was indeed based on a very complex
religious balance between the different groups that lived in the country. The believes in
the Old Gods by 1323 was still very present in the population, specially among the Baltic
tribes, according to the Chronicles of Peter von Duisburg. Because of that Gediminas
could not simply Convert or force the conversion over his people without facing a

44
45
Albert von Bardewik, ‘ Aufzeichnungen’ 1298 , Cltroniken der deutschen Stadte, XXVI (Leipzig,
1899), 285-316
46
Baronas, D. (2015). Christians in Late Pagan, and Pagans in Early Christian Lithuania: The Fourteenth
and Fifteenth Centuries. Lithuanian Historical Studies, 19(1), 51–81.
[Link]
backlash that could end up with him murdered and throwing away all the diplomatic
efforts done to save the Kingdom. 47

Religious

Maybe one of the most present elements in the letters is the issue of religion. In
many modern accounts, this issue can be dismissed and the actions of the Teutonic
Knights be reduced to a matter of geopolitics. In a way as it can be seen this was the case

In a way it seems that the Pagan Lithuanians understood the geopolitical aspect of
religion much more than some Christian Kings. They saw how despite the fact that they
were pagans and the Church had a explicit objective con convert them the problems that
existed between the Christian kings sometimes made the religious question more
irrelevant. At the same time it seems that they understood religion as a method of political
control and influence, more than a matter of faith.

One example can also be brought by the predecessor of Gediminas, Vytenis, when
he created the Metropolis of Lithuania, part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. This
was meant to compete with the Metropolis of Moscow for the favour of the Ruthenian
Orthodox population and therefore guarantee their loyalty. In fact at the time, those
Lithuanians who had converted to Christianity (including some of Gediminas’s sons,
were Orthodox Christians). But this did not stop the Teutonic Knights or bring support
from the Pope, since Orthodox Christianity was considered heretical. 48

By bringing religious orders Gediminas hoped two things: the first was to give to
his realm an image of respectability among the Christian kingdoms, that is guaranteeing
that by granting presence to both of the main religious orders the image of Lithuania as a
bastion of Paganism could slowly fade, the second is what we have already seen,
guaranteeing the establishment of new settlements by Germans. This is something that
Gediminas himself says in the letters he sent to the German cities.

“We will collect bishops, priests, religious of the Dominican and Franciscan orders,
whose lives are praiseworthy and upright, but we do not want the coming of such who
make a refuge of thieves from monasteries and sell offerings, to the detriment of their

47
48
 souls, and out of which come thieves to the danger and murder of clerics; we council
every ruler to beware of such monastics”.49

Another very interesting element that can be seen being present in most of these
letters is the topic of religious conversion, most specifically the idea that Duke Gediminas
of Lithuania could eventually convert to Catholicism, together with its kingdom and
abandoning the traditional pagan believes of its people.

Conversion to Christianity is not a matter only of faith but also a question of

security. Only through converting to Catholicism could the Teutonic Crusade lose its
purpose but at the same time Princes of Lithuania wanted to avoid the fate of Mindaugas
and end up having to face the enemy within.

Chronicles from before the beginning of the Northern Crusades show the ferocity
of Prussian and Lithuanian raids into monasteries and Christian settlements, more
precisely the Chronicle of Pieter von Duisburg, contemporary to these letters. These
accounts had create an image of the Baltic pagans of barbarians and essential a threat to
the faith 50. Even though the events that Duisburg narrates happened centuries before they
still gave the image of barbarism to Lithuania.

In many moments of the letters the Duke mentions how is his desire to convert to
Catholicism but how the actions of the Teutonic Knights are the cause for which the
conversion of Lithuania hasn’t happened yet. As previously example, Gediminas
daughter Aldona was married in the same year that these letters were written, in 1323, to
the son of the Polish King, future King Casimir and in order for that to happen she had to
be converted to Catholicism, adopting the name Anna. 51

There are many ways to interpret the words of Gediminas when it comes to his
own conversion. According to some authors like Rowell, he really never intended to
convert since that would alienate the core of the Baltic population who remained pagan,
specially in the regions of Žemaitija and Aukštaitija. Instead, the way he words the letters
signify an intended ambiguity. In his letters he says “Accept the Catholic faith” but this

49
Letter of Gediminas to the monks of the Franciscan order, May 26, 1323 Goettingen. LUB, vol. II, no.
689
50
Peter von Duisburg. Chronicon terrae Prussiae 1326
51
Baronas, D., & Rowell, S. C. (2015). The Conversion of Lithuania: From Pagan Barbarians to Late
Medieval Christians. The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Vilnius, 1–628.
could be both interpreted as conversion or simply allow the entrance of Catholics into his
own kingdom. 52

There is however the issue of conversion of Lithuanians. During the reign of

Gediminas and also the rule of his successors a variety of priests were executed, more
precisely two Franciscan friars called Ulrich and Martin, because they had attacked the
Lithuanian gods and preached against the Old Faith in a market, which had resulted in an
enraged mob attacking them and arresting them. The Duke had offered to pardon them if
they renounce Christianity but since they refused both were tortured and killed.
Interesting enough when these two friars were questioned both of them said that they had
been “Invited by the Duke”. All of this was explained in the Franciscan Chronica XXIV
Getieralium, written in 1369.53

This was in 1340, years after the writing of these letters, but what these shows is
that the inclusion of Catholics in the Duchy of Lithuania had no intention of actually
transforming the country to Catholicism, or at least not in the way these two friars
intended of directly confronting the Old Faith. Once again Gediminas found himself on
the difficult situation of having to balance the internal stability of the country with its
geopolitical position. 54

CONCLUSION

At the end it seems that the main objective of these letters is to further guarantee
the existence of Lithuania. The letters of the Hanseatic Cities and the letters of to the
Religious Orders had the objective of bringing in Catholics that would show that
Lithuania was a realm that protected them, the letters to the Danes and the Pope and the
objective of influencing the opinion of these actors against the Teutonic Knights. As it
can be seen these letters were taken seriously by these recipients as it can be seen in the
response made by the Pope to the Order. However, they might have not been as successful
as the Duke was expecting, since, as seen the Pope told the Order that they should cease

52
Rowell S. C. Lithuania ascending: a pagan empire within east-central Europe, 1295-1345. (1995).
Choice Reviews Online, 32(05), [Link]
53
Franciscan Chronica XXIV Getieralium 1369
54
Baronas, D., & Rowell, S. C. (2015). The Conversion of Lithuania: From Pagan Barbarians to Late
Medieval Christians. The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Vilnius, 1–628.
the attacks once the Prince had been baptised. However, overall it can said that there was
a clear advancement in the way Lithuania was perceived in the Christian world.

On the other hand Rowell made the most descriptive analysis of this period of
history. However, I am of the opinion that his work greatly dismisses the events that there
happening at the time regarding the Ostsiedlung and the expansion of German settlers
into the region. To my view this also has a great importance since the invitation of German
settlers was not something that was being done for the exclusive reason of showing that
Lithuania protected Christians but also to profit from the advantages that their presence
could bring. In the Cambridge Book on Medieval History it is greatly mentioned how the
presence of German settlers brought prosperity and development and the intentions of the
Duke. At the same time the growth of the Hanseatic League and their importance in the
Baltic is also greatly related to the increase of German settlers throughout the Baltic.
(REFERENCE). Because of it the fact that Gediminas wanted to attract settlers and
establish good relationship with Free German Cities also plays must be seen as something
in the context of the German eastern Expansion.

The final point would be to ask what do these letters say about inter-religious
diplomacy in during the beginning of the 14th century? What it says is that religion has
both importance by itself and as an element of geopolitics. Through our modern lenses,
many cases religion is seen just as an excuse for conquest and pillage, and what
Gediminas tells about the Teutonic Knights certainly shows that many of their actions
were justified by religion but were not guided by it. However, it can also be seen that the
Pope and other actors are ready to go to extreme lengths to guarantee the Christianisation
of the Baltic, a purpose that can only be seen as a religious one and not a determinist one.
At the same time, it is seen how many actors do not necessarily give that much importance
to the issue of religion when dealing in diplomacy. Whether the city of Riga or the
Kingdom of Denmark they saw Lithuania not as a religion mission to fulfil but rather as
another political actor in the Baltic. On that regard the Teutonic Knights ended up
becoming bigger threats other Christians than the Pagan Lithuanians and their dukes were
ready to exploit this fact.

At the end however, Gediminas was also victim of its own internal politics, it was
very difficult to maintain good relations with Catholic hostile neighbours while having to
deal with a population that is essentially anti-Catholic. With his letters he would try to
find a balance that he would not achieve. He who had tried to balance this would
eventually be murdered in a palace coup in 1341, Gediminas would have a pagan funeral,
with a pyre, human sacrifices and their slaves being burned as well. After his death his
sons would battle for the succession ending in the victory four years later, of Algirdas.
REFERENCES
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Letters of Gediminas

Letter of Gediminas to Pope John XXII, |1322| Goettingen. F. G. Bunge ed., Liv- Est- und

Curlaendisches Urkundenbuch (LUB), vol. I, Reval, 1853; vol. II, Reval, 1855;

vol. VI, Riga, 1871; vol. II, no. 687

Letter of Gediminas to the citizens of Luebeck, Sund, Bremen, Magdeburg, Cologne, and

other cities, January 25, 1323 Riga. K. E.. Napiersky ed., Russisch - Livlaendische

Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868, no. 54.

Letter of Gediminas to the citizens of Luebeck, Rostov, Sund, Greifswald, Stettin, and

Gotland, May 26, 1323 Goettingen. LUB, vol. II, no. 690.

Letter of Gediminas to the monks of the Dominican order, May 26, 1323 Goettingen.

LUB, vol. II, no. 688

Letter of Gediminas to the monks of the Franciscan order, May 26, 1323 Goettingen.

LUB, vol. II, no. 689

Letter of the council of the city of Riga to Gediminas, 1323 Riga. M. Hein and E. Maschke

eds., Preussisches Urkundenbuch, Koenigsberg, 1932, vol. II, part I, no. 418.

Letter of Pope John XXII to the German order, June 1, 1324 , present whereabouts

unknown. Taken from LUB, vol. II, no. 705

Report of the envoys of the papal legates, [1324] Riga. Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed.,

Russisch-Livlaendische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1888 No. 67.

Letter of the council of the city of Riga to Luebeck Riga. Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed.,

Russisch - Livlaendische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868, no. 62.

Letter of Gediminas to the bishops of Dorpat and Oesel, the Danish viceroy in the lands

of Revel, and the council of the city of Riga, |1324, after September 22| Riga.

Taken from K. E. Napiersky ed., Russisch -Livländische Urkunden, St. Petersburg, 1868

no. 69

Other Contemporary Chronicles

Albert von Bardewik, ‘ Aufzeichnungen’ 1298 , Cltroniken der deutschen Stadte, XXVI

(Leipzig, 1899), 285-316.

Peter von Duisburg. Chronicon terrae Prussiae 1326

Franciscan Chronica XXIV Getieralium 1369

Bartholomäus Hoeneke. Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. 1343

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