polska: Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 partitions of Poland–Lithuania. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation of several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija. By 1440 the grand duchy had become the largest European state, controlling an area from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south. The grand duchy expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus' and other neighbouring states, including what is now Lithuania, Belarus, most of Ukraine…

Evidence: 45 • authority: 72

The history of Lithuania dates back to settlements founded about 10,000 years ago, but the first written record of the name for the country dates back to 1009 AD. Lithuanians, one of the Baltic peoples, later conquered neighbouring lands and established the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century (and also a short-lived Kingdom of Lithuania). The Grand Duchy was a successful and lasting warrior state. It remained fiercely independent and was one of the last areas of Europe to adopt Christianity (beginning in the 14th century). A formidable power, it became the largest state in Europe in the 15th century spread from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, through the conquest of large groups o…

Evidence: 27 • authority: 72

The Lithuanian nobility (Lithuanian: bajorija) or szlachta of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės šlėkta, Polish: szlachta Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego) was historically a legally privileged hereditary elite class in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth (including during period of foreign rule 1795–1918) consisting of Lithuanians from Lithuania Proper; Samogitians from Duchy of Samogitia; following Lithuania's eastward expansion into what is now Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, many ethnically Ruthenian noble families (boyars); and, later on, predominantly Baltic German families from the Duchy of Livonia and Inflanty Voivode…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Jogaila (Lithuanian: [jɔˈɡâːɪɫɐ] ; c. 1352/1362 – 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło (Polish: [vwaˈdɨswaf jaˈɡʲɛwwɔ] ), was Grand Duke of Lithuania beginning in 1377 and King of Poland from 1386 until his death. As Grand Duke, he ruled Lithuania from 1377 to 1381 and from 1382 to 1401, at which time he became the Supreme Duke of Lithuania in exchange for naming his cousin Vytautas as the new Grand Duke. Władysław II initially served as King of Poland alongside his wife Jadwiga until her death in 1399, and then the sole ruler until his own death in 1434. Raised a Lithuanian polytheist, he converted to Catholicism in 1386 and baptized as Ladislaus (Polish: Władysław) in Kraków, married…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Königsberg (, German: [ˈkøːnɪçsbɛʁk] or [ˈkøːnɪksbɛʁk] ) was a German city established in the 13th century, which after the defeat of Nazi Germany became part of the Soviet Union and was renamed to Kaliningrad in 1946. After the fall of the USSR, Kaliningrad became part of Russia. Founded in 1255 on the site of the Old Prussian settlement Twangste by the Teutonic Knights during the Baltic Crusades, Königsberg (German for "King's Mountain") received its name in honour of King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who led a campaign against the pagan Old Prussians, a Baltic tribe that was native to the area. A Baltic port city, it successively became the capital of the State of the Teutonic Order and the Du…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Jagiellonian dynasty (US: ; US: ; Lithuanian: Jogailaičių dinastija; Polish: dynastia jagiellońska), also known as the House of Jagiellon (Polish: Dom Jagiellonów) or simply the Jagiellons (Lithuanian: Jogailaičiai; Polish: Jagiellonowie; Latin: Iagellonidae), was a Polish cadet branch of the Lithuanian ducal dynasty of Gediminids. The Jagiellons reigned in several European countries between the 14th and 16th centuries. Members of the dynasty were Kings of Poland (1386–1572), Grand Dukes of Lithuania (1377–1392 and 1440–1572), Kings of Hungary (1440–1444 and 1490–1526), and Kings of Bohemia and imperial electors (1471–1526). The dynasty originated with Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuan…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Polish Golden Age (Polish: Złoty Wiek Polski [ˈzwɔ.tɘ ˈvjɛk ˈpɔl.ski] ) was the Renaissance period in the Kingdom of Poland and subsequently in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which started in the late 15th century. Historians argue that the Polish Golden Age ended by the mid-17th century, when Poland was ravaged by the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–57) and by the Swedish and Russian invasion. During its Golden Age, the Commonwealth became one of the largest kingdoms of Europe and at its peak stretched from modern-day Estonia in the north to Moldavia in the south and from Moscow in the east to Brandenburg in the west. In the 16th century the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth grew to 1 mil…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Brest, formerly Brest-Litovsk (1600s–1923) and Brest-on-the-Bug (1923–1939), is a city in south-western Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the Polish town of Terespol, where the Bug and Mukhavets rivers meet, making it a border town. It serves as the administrative center of Brest Region and Brest District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2026, it has a population of 347,138. Brest is one of the oldest cities in Belarus and a historical site for many cultures, as it hosted important historical events, such as the Union of Brest and Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Furthermore, the Brest Fortress was recognized by the Soviet Union as a Hero Fortress in honour…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Lithuanian Civil War of 1432–1438 was a war of succession to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, after Vytautas the Great died in 1430 without leaving an heir. The war was fought on the one side by Švitrigaila, allied with the Teutonic Knights, and on the other by Sigismund Kęstutaitis, backed by the Kingdom of Poland. The war threatened to sever the Union of Krewo, the personal union between Poland and Lithuania. Švitrigaila's alliance with the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Paul von Rusdorf, launched the Polish–Teutonic War (1431–1435) but failed to secure victory for Švitrigaila. When Sigismund seized power in Lithuania by staging a coup in 1432, Lithuania split into two…

Evidence: — • authority: 80

The Effect of Hydrological Conditions on the State of Herring Stocks in the Baltic Sea

Evidence: — • authority: 80

Black carbon aerosol at the background site in the coastal zone of the Baltic Sea

Evidence: — • authority: 80

The aristocracy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – Sarmatism, pollination and “remembering” about its origin