Liubartas

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Lutsk Castle, Ukraine, built by Liubartas and improved by Vytautas the Great. During Lithuanian rule the city started to prosper
Lutsk Castle, Ukraine, built by Liubartas and improved by Vytautas the Great. During Lithuanian rule the city started to prosper

Liubartas (also Lubart, Lubko, baptized Dmitry; died ca. 1385) was the ruler of Galicia-Volhynia, in present-day Ukraine. He was the youngest son of Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania. Ca. 1320 or ca. 1323 he married to a daughter of Andrew of Galicia and ruled Lutsk in eastern Volhynia.[1] After Andrew's and his brother's Lev II of Galicia deaths ca. 1322, Halych-Volhynia did not have a male successor. Instead of promoting Liubartas and causing a war with Poland, Gediminas compromised with Władysław I of Poland. Both parties agreed to install Boleslaus George II, a son of Maria, sister of Leo and Andrew, and Trojden I of Masovia from the Piast dynasty, a cousin of Władysław I, and nephew of Gediminas' son-in-law Wacław of Płock.[2] At the time Boleslaus was fourteen years old and was betrothed to Eufemija, daughter of Gediminas. Liubartas continued to rule Lutsk and Volodymyr-Volynskyi.

That way the war for Galicia-Volhynia was postponed until after Boleslaus' poisoning in 1340.[2] He was poisoned by rebellious nobles, who invited Liubartas to become the ruler for both Galicia and Volhynia.[1] Sources are too scarce to reconstruct events between 1341-1349.[3] Despite the support from his brothers Algirdas and Kęstutis, Liubartas lost all territories except for eastern Volhynia with Lutsk to Casimir III of Poland in 1349. In 1351 he was even taken prisoner during a battle, and Kęstutis had to rescue him. In 1366 a treaty was signed: Liubartas retained eastern Volhynia with Lutsk, while Poland got western Volhynia and Galicia. However the matter was settled only in 1370: Liubartas took advantage of Casimir's death and captured all of Volhynia.[1] The territories changed again only in 1569, when Volhynia, including Lutsk, was transferred to Poland by the Union of Lublin.

In 1382, after death of Louis I of Hungary, Liubartas captured Kremenets, Peremyshl, and other cities from Hungary.[4] He supported his brother Kęstutis against nephew Jogaila during the succession fights. He built a castle in Lutsk, that survives to this day. Liubartas died ca. 1385, having ruled Volhynia for roughly sixty years. He married for the second time ca. 1350 to an unnamed daughter of Konstantin of Rostov, a relative of Simeon of Russia.[4] He had three sons, Fëdor, Symeon, and Lazar. Fëdor inherited Volhynia, and died in 1431.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "Liubartas". Encyclopedia Lituanica III. (1970-1978). Ed. Simas Sužiedėlis. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. 411-412. LCC 74-114275. 
  2. ^ a b Rowell, C. S. (1994). Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire Within East-Central Europe, 1295-1345, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series. Cambridge University Press, 224. ISBN 9780521450119. 
  3. ^ Rowell, C. S. Lithuania Ascending, 268-269
  4. ^ a b (Lithuanian) Jasas, Rimantas (2004). "Liubartas". Lietuvos valdovai (XIII-XVIII a.): enciklopedinis žinynas. Ed. Vytautas Spečiūnas. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. 44. ISBN 5-420-01535-8. 

[edit] See also

Liubartas
Born: c. 1300 Died: December 1384
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Boleslaus George II of Halych		 Prince of Galicia-Volhynia
1340–1366		 Succeeded by
Charles I of Austria