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Joined: 13 Mar 2011
Posts: 198
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 Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:39 pm Post subject: Orthodox Church |
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The state united and ruled by Mindaugas constituted the first Lithuanian state. The state effectively protected Lithuanians and Samogitians from assimilation induced by the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order, the destiny of Prussians, Skalvians, Curonians, Selonians and other Baltic tribes. Mindaugas ruled about 100,000 kmē of Lithuanian ethnic territory,[23] an area with an estimated population of 300,000.[24] The Slavic lands under his control and influence occupied another 100,000 kmē.[23] By about 1430, at its peak during the reign of Vytautas the Great, the Grand Duchy controlled some 930,000 kmē and almost 2.5 million people.[24]
The period from 1219 to 1295 also shaped future conflicts: the pagan Lithuanians were surrounded by the aggressive Roman Catholic Orders to its north and southwest, and by adherents of the Orthodox Church in the east. The Catholic Orders' raids intensified after they overcame the "buffer zone" created by Prussians, Nadruvians, Skalvians, Yotvingians, and Semigalians by 1283.[6] The Lithuanian relationships with the Orthodox Church were more peaceful. The people were allowed to practise their religion; Lithuanian dukes did not hesitate to marry daughters of Orthodox dukes; at least some of the dukes' scribes must have been Orthodox as well.[25] Struggles with the Teutonic Knights and expansion to the east were characteristic of the years from 1295 to 1377.[5] It was inevitable that Lithuania could not endure religious, political, and cultural isolation forever and would have to choose either Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy. In 1386, Grand Duke Jogaila elected baptism in the Catholic rite in order to marry Jadwiga of Poland and become King of Poland. The last pagan state in Europe was converted.
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