List of Lithuanian monarchs

The monarchy of Lithuania concerned the monarchical head of state of Lithuania, which was established as an absolute and hereditary monarchy. Throughout Lithuania's history there were three ducal dynasties—the House of Mindaugas, the House of Gediminas, and the House of Jagiellon. Despite this, the one and only crowned king of Lithuania was King Mindaugas I. In two more instances, royal nobles were not crowned due to political circumstances, but held de jure recognition abroad —Vytautas the Great by Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, and Mindaugas II by Pope Benedict XV.

Others were seen as kings of Lithuania even though they had only considered it and never took further action to claim the throne, as in the case of Gediminas who was recognised as king of Lithuania by Pope John XXII. The hereditary monarchy in Lithuania was first established in the 13th century during the reign of Mindaugas I and officially re-established as a constitutional monarchy on 11 July 1918, only to be abandoned soon afterwards on 2 November 1918.

During the inaugurations of Lithuanian monarchs until 1569, Gediminas' Cap was placed on the monarch's head by the Bishop of Vilnius in Vilnius Cathedral.

Lithuania in the present day is a representative democracy in a semi-presidential system based on popular sovereignty, as defined in the current Constitution of Lithuania, and has no monarchy.

Titles

King

The full title held by king of Lithuania from 1253 to 1263 was:

In Lithuanian: Iš Dievo malonės, Lietuvos karalius

In Latin: Dei Gratia Rex Lettowiae

In English: By the Grace of God, King of the Lithuania

The first mention of a Lithuanian king predates the establishment of the Christian kingdom itself: according to the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, Mindaugas' father was a great king who "had no equal in his time." As the territory of Lithuania expanded eastwards, other king-titled grand dukes who ruled the country adopted similar titles for introducing themselves abroad. For instance, Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytenis was sometimes regarded as Rex Lethowinorum (King of Lithuanians) while his successor Gediminas took the Latin title of Rex Lithuanorum et Multorum Ruthenorum (King of Lithuanians and many Ruthenians). Teutonic Knights referred to Algirdas and his wife Uliana (Julijona) as "Grand King of Lithuania" and "Grand Queen of Lithuania". Even though it is traditionally accepted that Mindaugas was the only true king, all historical records, with the exception of Slavic annals, mention Lithuanian rulers as kings until 1386.

Grand Duke

Officially, the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania was introduced after the Pact of Horodło in 1413. Until then, previous monarchs were called by different titles, including kings. This was because in Lithuania, unlike in the majority of other European monarchies, the Grand Duke was a sovereign monarch who was accountable to no one, thus de facto king. The full title of Grand Duke of Lithuania was:

In Lithuanian: Lietuvos didysis kunigaikštis

In Latin: Magnus Dux Lithuaniae

In English: Grand Duke of the Lithuania

Following the Act of Krėva with Poland in 1385, the full Latin title was changed to Dei Gratia Rex Poloniae Magnus Dux Lithuaniae (By the Grace of God, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania).

Supreme Duke

The title of the Grand Duke of Lithuania mostly came into force during the reign of Grand Duke Vytautas the Great, who concluded the Ostrów Agreement with his cousin Jogaila in 1392 and the agreement was confirmed in the Pact of Vilnius and Radom in 1401. Since then Jogaila was titled the Supreme Duke of Lithuania (supremus dux Lithuaniae). Vytautas the Great gained the factual rule of Lithuania, which was recognized by the treaties. In 1398, the Lithuanian nobility declared Vytautas the Great as the King of Lithuania and, following the Congress of Lutsk in 1430, the crowning was sanctioned by Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor. However, Vytautas died before the crown arrived.

Jogaila's son Władysław III also titled himself as the Supreme Duke of Lithuania. John I Albert unilaterally declared himself as the Supreme Duke of Lithuania in 1492, but this title was rejected by the Lithuanian Council of Lords.

In 1544–1548, Sigismund I the Old expressed his supreme monarchical authority in Lithuania by again using the Supreme Duke of Lithuania title when his son Sigismund II Augustus was his vicegerent in Lithuania.

Inaugurations of Lithuanian monarchs

The inaugurations of the Lithuanian monarchs were held in Vilnius Cathedral and consisted of the placement of Gediminas' Cap on the Lithuanian monarch's head and the presentation of a sword. The cap was placed on the head by the Bishop of Vilnius and the sword was presented by the Grand Marshal of Lithuania. The regalia of Vytautas the Great consisted of Gediminas' Cap, sword, ring, flag, and seal.

The first inauguration ceremony of a Lithuanian Grand Duke about which there is reliable information is that of Casimir IV Jagiellon, as reported by Jan Długosz. Casimir IV was sent by his older brother King of Poland and Hungary, Supreme Duke of Lithuania Władysław III, to Lithuania to rule in his name. But instead he was elected as Grand Duke upon his arrival to Vilnius on 29 June 1440, with the ringing of church bells and the singing of the Te Deum laudamus. This was breaching the agreements of the Union of Grodno (1432) and terminating the Polish–Lithuanian union. It manifested Lithuania as a sovereign state and its ruler Casimir IV Jagiellon stressed himself as a "free lord" (pan – dominus). According to historian Edvardas Gudavičius, Bishop of Vilnius put a Gediminas' Cap in the Vilnius Cathedral on his head, despite the Polish nobility's opposition.

Another documented inauguration is the enthronement of Alexander Jagiellon in 1492. Alexander was appointed Grand Duke by his father, nevertheless, a formal election of the ruler was held as part of a general assembly, which was attended for the first time by representatives from all the lands of the Grand Duchy. The course of the ceremony was documented by Maciej Stryjkowski, who reported that after the election lords elevated Alexander in the cathedral. The newly elected ruler was dressed "in a ducal cap with pearls and precious stones set in it, also the usual robe that today the princes of the Reich wear at the imperial coronation." Then Bishop of Vilnius Wojciech Tabor blessed him and held a pastoral exhortation over him. Then the Grand Marshal of Lithuania Petras Jonaitis Mantigirdaitis handed Alexander a bare sword and a sceptre. Subsequently, the Poles considered electing Alexander Jagiellon as the King of Poland, however instead of him John I Albert was elected as the King of Poland in August 1492 and this led to another termination of the Polish–Lithuanian union.

Stryjkowski also relayed the election and inauguration of Sigismund I as Grand Duke of Lithuania on 20 October 1509. The ceremony was again attended by Bishop Wojciech Tabor, who this time not only blessed but also placed a cap on the ruler's head. In turn, Grand Marshal Michael Glinski presented him with a sword. Sigismund received the oath of the Lithuanian lords while sitting on the throne. According to Stryjkowski, the cap was: "of red velvet with gold spheres set with precious stones".

The last ceremony to elevate a grand duke took place on 18 October 1529, when Sigismund Augustus was elevated to this dignity during his father's lifetime. The ceremony occurred in the great hall of the newly built lower castle, as the cathedral burned down that same year. The young Sigismund Augustus sat on the throne between his parents, surrounded by members of the council of lords. The cap was placed on the ruler's head by the Bishop of Vilnius, while the Grand Marshal presented him with a sword.

Following the Union of Lublin, which formed the federative Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, and the death of the last Gediminid ruler Sigismund II Augustus in 1572, separate inaugurations in Vilnius Cathedral were abolished, therefore Gediminas' Cap lost its ceremonial significance. The insignias of the Lithuanian rulers were not preserved and following the Union of Lublin only the seal (kept by the Grand Chancellor of Lithuania) and the flag (carried near the ruler by the Grand Flag Bearer of Lithuania) remained.

The demand of a separate inauguration ceremony of the Grand Duke of Lithuania was raised by the nobles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (e.g. Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł, Eustachy Wołłowicz, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Konstanty Ostrogski) during the negotiations of the Union of Lublin, however it was not officially included into it. On 20 April 1576 a congress of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's nobles was held in Grodno which adopted an Universal, signed by the participating Lithuanian nobles, which announced that if the delegates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania will feel pressure from the Poles in the Election sejm, the Lithuanians will not be obliged by an oath of the Union of Lublin and will have the right to select a separate monarch. On 29 May 1580, bishop Merkelis Giedraitis in the Vilnius Cathedral presented Grand Duke Stephen Báthory (King of Poland since 1 May 1576) a luxuriously decorated sword and a hat adorned with pearls (both were sanctified by Pope Gregory XIII himself), while this ceremony manifested the sovereignty of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and had the meaning of elevation of the new Grand Duke of Lithuania, this way ignoring the stipulations of the Union of Lublin. Nevertheless, per Union of Lublin the rulers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were elected in joint Polish–Lithuanian election sejms until the Third Partition in 1795 and received separate titles of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. During the coronations of joint Polish–Lithuanian monarchs, the Polish crown was also announced as a property of both the Polish and Lithuanian nobles.

List

House of Mindaugas (1236–1267)

House of Monomakh (1267–1269)

House of Mindaugas (1269–1285)

House of Gediminas (1285–1440)

House of Jagiellon (1440–1569)

Grand Dukes of Lithuania within the Commonwealth (1569–1795)

House of Urach (1918)

Timeline

Union of Lublin

In 1564, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund II Augustus renounced his rights to the hereditary Lithuanian throne—the separate inauguration ceremony and insignia for Grand Duke of Lithuania were abolished. On 1 July 1569, Sigismund II Augustus united both of the countries into a single bi-federation, known as the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had existed for the next 226 years. The Union included constitutional changes such as creating a formal elective monarchy, which would simultaneously reign over both parties. Following the death of Sigismund II in 1572, a joint Polish–Lithuanian monarch was to be elected as in the Union of Lublin it was agreed that the title "Grand Duke of Lithuania" will be received by a jointly elected monarch in the Election sejm on his accession to the throne, thus losing its former institutional significance, however the Union of Lublin guaranteed that the institution and the title "Grand Duke of Lithuania" will be preserved. The demand of a separate inauguration ceremony of the Grand Duke of Lithuania was raised by the nobles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (e.g. Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł, Eustachy Wołłowicz, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Konstanty Ostrogski) during the negotiations of the Union of Lublin, however it was not officially included into it. Nevertheless, before the 1576 Polish–Lithuanian royal election a congress of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's nobles was held on 20 April 1576 in Grodno which adopted an Universal, signed by the participating Lithuanian nobles, which announced that if the delegates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania will feel pressure from the Poles in the Election sejm, the Lithuanians will not be obliged by an oath of the Union of Lublin and will have the right to select a separate monarch. On 29 May 1580, a ceremony was held in the Vilnius Cathedral during which bishop Merkelis Giedraitis presented Stephen Báthory (King of Poland since 1 May 1576) a luxuriously decorated sword and a hat adorned with pearls (both were sanctified by Pope Gregory XIII himself), while this ceremony manifested the sovereignty of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and had the meaning of elevation of the new Grand Duke of Lithuania, this way ignoring the stipulations of the Union of Lublin. During the Deluge of the Second Northern War, the Commonwealth temporarily disintegrated in 1655 when the magnates of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania signed the Union of Kėdainiai with the Swedish Empire and became its protectorate with Charles X Gustav serving as Grand Duke of Lithuania. It was short-lived because Sweden lost the war. The Commonwealth permanently ceased to exist in 1795, following its third partition by the neighbouring powers, Prussia, Russia and Austria. Following the partitions, the lands of ethnic Lithuania were divided—Lithuania proper became a part of the Russian Empire while Sudovia became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia.

History

Kingdom of Lithuania under Mindaugas I

As the conquests of Prussia by the Teutonic Order and of Livonia by the Livonian Brothers were coming to an end, both Catholic religious orders began posing an existential threat to then-pagan Lithuania. In response, Duke Mindaugas, who by then had managed to strengthen his grip in various Baltic and Slavic lands, sought to consolidate power and unite Lithuania into one political entity, convert to Christianity, and become king. In 1250 or 1251, he was baptised as a Roman Catholic. In 1253, probably in Vilnius or Novogrudok, he and his wife Morta were crowned King and Queen, thus establishing a short-lived alliance with the Livonian Order. This laid the basis for the international recongnition of the newly created Kingdom of Lithuania as a Western country.

Attempts of coronation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Some historical documents suggest that at the time of signing the Treaty of Salynas in 1398, Lithuanian nobles had acknowledged Vytautas as their King as a symbolic declaration of allegiance. Vytautas himself sought to officially establish his reign by coronation at least three times. All three attempts were unsuccessful because the political situation was much more complicated—by this point the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland were under a joint rule of Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło) with the Crown being in Kraków, Poland. As a consequence, the idea of a fully-fledged Lithuanian monarchy as well as Poland losing its influence over its neighbour was met with fierce resistance from the Polish nobles. The first time coronation was planned on 8 September 1430, but after one of the delegations that transported the crown learned that the first delegation was robbed on its way to Lithuania, they returned to Nuremberg. In the same year of October, Vytautas up until his death had planned his coronation at least two more times but with no success.

In 1526, the Lithuanian Council of Lords suggested King Sigismund II Augustus to grant the Grand Duchy of Lithuania the status of a kingdom, but such a proposal was rejected by the ruling Jagiellonian dynasty.

Kingdom of Lithuania (1918) de jure under Mindaugas II

During the First World War, the German Empire wanted Lithuania proper to be annexed and become a part of either Prussia or Saxony, which for 123 years remained to be a part of the Russian Empire following the Third Partition of the Polish−Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. In an attempt to avoid becoming a province but remain on good terms with Germany, the Council of Lithuania decided to establish a separate constitutional monarchy with Wilhelm von Urach as King with his residence being in Verkiai Palace. According to the twelve-point document resembling the rudiments of a Constitution, the Kingdom of Lithuania was supposed to have had a bicameral legislature with a representative role of the monarch. Wilhelm von Urach was also presented with conditions such as adopting the title of Mindaugas II, letting his children to a Lithuanian school, only appointing courtiers, ministers and other high-ranking public officials who are Lithuanian citizens and speak the country's official language as well as not leaving the state for more than two months per year without the permission of the government. As the war ended, it became clear that Germany was losing. On 5 October 1918, in the Reichstag, the new Chancellor of Germany Maximilian of Baden announced that his state acknowledged the right of nations to self-determination and supported their efforts of becoming independent countries. Soon afterwards, Germany expressed its official support for the independence of Lithuania. Furthermore, the diplomats of France had also unambiguously proclaimed to the Council of Lithuania and the Parliament that having a monarch of German descent would be seen as unacceptable. On 2 November 1918, as it became apparent that King-elect Mindaugas himself was hesitant to arrive in Lithuania for his coronation due to political unrest, the Council decided to abandon the idea of being a satellite monarchy and establish a fully independent republic instead.

Modernity

Although there are no monarchist parties in modern Lithuania, there is a monarchist movement, which is in favor of re-establishing the short-lived monarchy of 1918. The movement alongside the Lithuanian Royal Union of Nobility believe that the current Lithuanian state did not undergo all of the complicated and necessary procedures to truly abolish the Lithuanian monarchy. According to the senate marshal of the organization "Palace of the Kingdom of Lithuania", Stanislovas Švedarauskas:

Can we present the specific date when the Kingdom of Lithuania of the Middle Ages ceased to exist and when did the Lithuanian 20th-century constitutional monarchy end? In the words of historians, when Mindaugas I died in 1263, the Kingdom had disappeared as well. However, after almost 100 years, in the 14th century, Gediminas would send his letters proclaiming to be "King of Lithuanians and many Ruthenians." In November 1918, the State Council left the question of Mindaugas II to the Constituent Assembly. And while it is true that the latter declared Lithuania to be a democratic republic on 15 May 1920, I have never heard of the Constituent Assembly officially denouncing the State Council's declaration of 11 July 1918, which called to create a constitutional monarchy in Lithuania and invite Mindaugas II to take his throne.

Political commentator Česlovas Iškauskas responded:

In 1918, Germany exerted great influence. But now the idea of re-establishing the constitutional monarchy as well as the activities of the "Palace of the Kingdom of Lithuania" to me seems like a game when you have nothing better to do. At the moment Lithuania has much more important issues—it needs to think how to withstand current threats, not about a new monarchy.

Prince Inigo von Urach, the grandson of Wilhelm von Urach (Mindaugas II), claims that according to Almanach de Gotha he remains to be the rightful claimant to the Lithuanian throne and is willing to become King of Lithuania, if the nation wants him to. To quote him from an interview for LRT, "It's not my thing to decide it [the idea of officially being crowned King], that's the thing of the population here, of the citizens of Lithuania. It's not my thing [to decide]. But I promise—if they want me, I would be ready for this job." He also mentioned that Wilhelm von Urach expressed his will in his Testament of "keeping the claim of the throne" of Lithuania as well as Monaco.

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Frost, Robert (2015). The Oxford History of Poland-Lithuania. The Making of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, 1385—1569. Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-820869-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Kosman, Marceli (1989). ""Podniesienie" książąt litewskich" ["Elevation" of the Lithuanian princes]. Litwa pierwotna. Mity, legendy, fakty. pp. 244–282.