Union of Vilnius and Radom

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The Union of Vilnius and Radom comprised a series of agreements between Lithuania and Poland , concluded in Vilnius in 1401 and confirmed by the Privy Council in Radom that same year. They supplemented the Krewo Agreement and gave the Grand Duchy of Lithuania extensive internal autonomy.

The agreements strengthened the Polish-Lithuanian Union and, above all, improved the legal position of the Lithuanian Prince Vytautas , who was appointed Grand Duke of Lithuania. They determined that in the event of Vytautas' death, Lithuania would fall to his cousin, Prince Jogaila . If Jogaila died first, Vytautas would have to be consulted in choosing a Polish king. Both Vytautas and Jogaila hoped to father sons who would inherit both the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After all, it was Jogaila who succeeded in this.

The Lithuanian boyars first confirmed the agreement in Vilnius, the Polish nobles afterwards in Radom .

The agreements made it possible for Vytautas to start a campaign against his former allies, the Teutonic Order . This conflict with the order subsequently led to the Battle of Tannenberg (1410) and the decisive defeat of the order against the united Polish-Lithuanian armies. In 1411 the order had to cede the province of Samogitia again to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 1st Peace of Thorner in 1411 .

After the victorious campaign of the Polish-Lithuanian Union against the Teutonic Order in 1410, the Horodło Union was closed in 1413 , which connected the two parts of the country even more closely.

literature

  • Daniez Z. Stone: The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795. University of Washington Press, Seattle 2001, ISBN 0-295-98093-1