Vytautas

Vytautas the Great was born around 1350 into the Gediminid ruling dynasty of Lithuania, the son of Grand Duke Kęstutis and cousin of Jogaila, later King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland. Their relationship combined civil war, exile, alliance and negotiated power-sharing. After the Agreement of Astrava in 1392 Vytautas became the effective ruler of the Grand Duchy, and the settlement of Vilnius and Radom in 1401 formally recognised him as grand duke under the wider political relationship with Jogaila.

Vytautas expanded Lithuanian influence across much of eastern Europe but suffered a major defeat by the Golden Horde at the Vorskla River in 1399. He later cooperated with Jogaila against the Teutonic Order, commanding the Lithuanian forces in the allied victory at Grunwald in 1410. His reign also involved Christianisation, dynastic diplomacy and attempts to strengthen control over the grand duchy’s diverse territories. A planned coronation as king of Lithuania was not completed before his death at Trakai on 27 October 1430.

Henryk Sienkiewicz’s The Knights of the Cross, Volumes II, III and IV, gradually brings Vytautas from the political background into the open war between the Polish–Lithuanian alliance and the Teutonic Order. Volume IV places him directly alongside Władysław II Jagiełło in the campaign culminating at Grunwald. The novels use his historical command role accurately at the broad level while inventing the personal experiences through which Zbyszko, Maćko and the other fictional characters encounter the conflict. In Henryk Sienkiewicz’s The Knights of the Cross, Volume II, Vytautas—often rendered Vitold in older English translations—belongs to the Lithuanian leadership behind the widening conflict with the Teutonic Order as the personal feud around Danusia develops into a larger political struggle. The Knights of the Cross, Volume III keeps Vytautas within the Polish–Lithuanian side of the approaching war, as failed negotiations with the Teutonic Order move the story from private vengeance towards open conflict. In The Knights of the Cross, Volume IV, Vytautas takes his historical place alongside Władysław II Jagiełło in the allied Polish–Lithuanian command that defeats the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410.