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OLGIERD (d. 1377)
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See also:OLGIERD (d. 1377) , See also:grand-See also:duke of Lithuania, was one of the seven sons of See also:Gedymin, grand-duke of Lithuania, among whom on his See also:death in 1341 he divided his domains, leaving the youngest, Yavnuty, in See also:possession of the See also:capital, Wilna, with a nominal priority. With the aid of his See also:brother Kiejstut, Olgierd in 1345 drove out the incapable Yavnuty and declared himself grand-duke. The two and See also:thirty years of his reign (1345—1377) were devoted to the development and See also:extension of Lithuania, and he lived to make it one of the greatest states in See also:Europe. Two factors contributed to produce this result, the extraordinary See also:political sagacity of Olgierd and the See also:life-See also:long devotion of his brother Kiejstut. The See also:Teutonic knights in the See also:north and the Tatar hordes in the See also:south were equally See also:bent on the subjection of Lithuania, while Olgierd's eastern and western neighbours, Muscovy and See also:Poland, were far more frequently hostile competitors than serviceable See also:allies. Nevertheless, Olgierd not only succeeded in holding his own, but acquired See also:influence and territory at the expense of l=oth Muscovy and the See also:Tatars, and extended the See also:borders of Lithuania to the shores of the See also:Black See also:Sea. The See also:principal efforts of this eminent See also:empire-maker were directed to securing those of the See also:Russian lands which had formed See also:part of the See also:ancient grand-duchy of See also:Kiev. He procured the See also:election of his son See also:Andrew as See also:prince of See also:Pskov, and a powerful minority of the citizens of the See also:republic of See also:Novgorod held the See also:balance in his favour against the See also:Muscovite influence, but his ascendancy in both these commercial centres was at the best See also:precarious. On the other See also:hand he acquired permanently the important principalities of See also:Smolensk and Bryansk in central See also:Russia. His relations with the grand-See also:dukes of Muscovy were friendly on the whole, and twice he married orthodox Russian princesses; but this did not prevent him from besieging See also:Moscow in 1368 and again in 1372, both times unsuccessfully. Olgierd's most memorable feat was his See also:great victory over the Tatars at Siniya Vodui on the See also:Bug in 1362, which practically See also:broke up the great Kipchak See also:horde and compelled the See also:khan to migrate still farther south and establish his headquarters for the future in the See also:Crimea. Indeed, but for the unceasing simultaneous struggle with the Teutonic knights, the See also:burden of which was heroically See also:borne by Kiejstut, Russian historians frankly admit that Lithuania, not Muscovy, must have become the dominant See also:power of eastern Europe. Olgierd died in 1377, accepting both See also:Christianity and the See also:tonsure shortly before his death. His son Jagiello ultimately ascended the See also:Polish See also:throne, and was the founder of the See also:dynasty which ruled Poland for nearly 200 years. See Kazimierz Stadnicki, The Sons of Gedymin (Pol.) (See also:Lemberg, 1849—1853) ; See also:Vladimir Bonifatevich Antonovich, Monograph on the See also:History of Western Russia (Rus.), vol. i. (Kiev, 1885). (R. N. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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