page_title: Gediminas
section_title: Incorporation of Ruthenian lands
hierarchical_section_title: Gediminas / Biography / Incorporation of Ruthenian lands
caption_attribution_description: Le château de Gediminas est devenu le symbole de la ville de Vilnius. Il a été construit au début du 14ème siècle, pour défendre la cité (voir la maquette). Détruit lors de la guerre avec les russes en 1655, il n'a pas été reconstruit. Seule persiste la base de cette tour qui a été transformée en musée et en plateforme d'observation ouverte au public. Article de Wikipedia sur Vilnius fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius Site sur Vilnius www.vilnius-tourism.lt/fr/tourisme/lieux-a-visiter/musees...
context_page_description: Gediminas was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death. He is credited with founding this political entity and expanding its territory which later spanned the area ranging from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Also seen as one of the most significant individuals in early Lithuanian history, he was responsible for both building Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and establishing a dynasty that later came to rule other European countries such as Poland, Hungary and Bohemia.
  As part of his legacy, he gained a reputation for being a champion of paganism, who successfully diverted attempts to Christianize his country by skillful negotiations with the Pope and other Christian rulers.
context_section_description: While on his guard against his northern foes, Gediminas from 1316 to 1340 was aggrandizing himself at the expense of the numerous Ruthenian principalities in the south and east, whose incessant conflicts with each other wrought the ruin of them all. Here Gediminas triumphal progress was irresistible; but the various stages of it are impossible to follow, the sources of its history being few and conflicting, and the date of every salient event exceedingly doubtful. One of his most important territorial accretions, the principality of Halych-Volynia, was obtained by the marriage of his son Lubart with the daughter of the Galician prince.
  From about 23 km (14 mi) south west of Kiev, Gediminas resoundingly defeated Stanislav of Kiev and his allies in the Battle on the Irpin River. He then besieged and conquered Kiev sending Stanislav, the last descendant of the Rurik Dynasty to ever rule Kiev, into exile first in Bryansk and then in Ryazan. Theodor, brother of Gediminas, and Algimantas, son of Mindaugas from the Olshanski family, were installed in Kiev. After these conquests, Lithuania stretched as far as to the Black Sea.
  While exploiting Ruthenian weakness in the wake of the Mongol invasion, Gediminas wisely avoided war with the Golden Horde, a great regional power at the time, while expanding Lithuania's border towards the Black Sea. He also secured an alliance with the nascent Grand Duchy of Moscow by marrying his daughter, Anastasia, to the grand duke Simeon. But he was strong enough to counterpoise the influence of Muscovy in northern Russia, and assisted the republic of Pskov, which acknowledged his overlordship, to break away from Great Novgorod.
caption: Gediminas Tower named after the founder of Vilnius, although it was built considerably later.
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