198 Chaucer and Henry, Earl of Derby 



the armie of the king of Lettowe, with the captivitie of foure 

 Lithuanian Dukes, and the slaughter of three, besides more than 

 three hundred of the principall common souldiers of the sayd armie 

 which were slaine. The Citie also which is called Wil or Vilna 

 (Wille),^ into the castle whereof the king of Lettow named Skir- 



Christianity, but this had but little influence upon the fortunes of 

 Lithuania. Jagiello succeeded Olgierd on the death of the latter, while 

 Keistut remained in possession of his province. In 1380 Jagiello con- 

 tracted a secret alliance with the Teutonic Order, an alliance which 

 was aimed at his uncle Keistut. Two years after, he got Keistut into his 

 power, and had him treacherously assassinated. No sooner was this done 

 than the Teutonic Order, instead of leaving Jagiello in peaceful posses- 

 sion of his uncle's patrimony, raised up the latter's son Vitovt against 

 him. However, Jagiello made peace with his cousin, and in 1386 became 

 King of Poland by marriage with Jadwiga (Hcdwig), heiress of the 

 Polish crown. The consequence is well stated in the words of a com- 

 petent writer, Robert N. Bain (Encyc. Brit. 21. 904) : 'The transforma- 

 tion of the pagan Lithuanian chieftain Jagiello into the Catholic king 

 of Poland, Wladislaus II, was an event of capital importance in the 

 history of Eastern Europe. Its immediate and inevitable consequence 

 was the formal reception of the Lithuanian nations into the fold of the 

 Church. What the Teutonic Order had vainly endeavored to bring 

 about by fire and sword for two centuries, was peacefully accomplished 

 by Jagiello within a single generation, the Lithuanians, for the most 

 part, willingly yielding to the arguments of a prince of their own blood, 

 who promptly rewarded his converts with peculiar and exclusive privi- 

 leges. The conversion of Lithuania menaced the very existence of the 

 Teutonic Knights. Originally planted on the Baltic shore for the express 

 purpose of Christianizing their savage neighbours, these crusading monks 

 had freely exploited the wealth and the valour of the West, ostensibly 

 in the cause of religion, really for the purpose of founding a dominion 

 of their own, which, as time went on, lost more and more of its reli- 

 gious character, and was now little more than a German military fore- 

 post.' Moved by jealousy of Jagiello's brother, Skirgiello, whom the 

 king had made Grand Duke of Lithuania, while Vitovt was merely 

 governor of the principality of Grodno, the latter allied himself with the 

 Teutonic Order in May, 1390. 



^ Built by Gedymin about 1321, and made his capital from 1323. It still 

 has the ruins, on the summit of Castle Hill, of an octagonal tower of 

 red brick, the remains of the castle built by Gedymin. On Feb. 17, 1387, 

 30,000 Lithuanians received Christian baptism at Vilna {Encyc. Brit., 

 nth ed., 28. 766). In the cathedral of St. Stanislaus is the tomb of 

 Vitovt. Vilna is situated on the river Viliya (or Nerya), which is 

 hardly 200 yards wide, and flows through winding gorges or defiles, 

 densely shadowed by fir and birch. It stands on the slopes of its hills, 

 in a region of lakes, tangled forests, and almost impassable marshes. It 

 is about 120 miles distant from the German frontier, and its population 



