Congress of Lutsk: the crown offered¶

What the chronicles say [Historical record]¶

A gathering of princes at Lutsk castle from about 9 to 29 January 1429 (6 January in some accounts). Jogaila arrived first with the Poles; Sigismund of Luxembourg arrived late, on 20 January, with Queen Barbara. Guests included Eric of Denmark, a papal legate (a Dominican), Byzantine envoys, Moscow (Vasily II, Metropolitan Photius), Tver, Ryazan, the Masovian princes, envoys of the Livonian and Prussian Orders, the Moldavian hospodar Alexander the Good and the men of Tatar khans; Oleśnicki, Jan of Tarnów and Wojciech Jastrzębiec were there on the Polish side. Švitrigaila is mentioned by no source. Sigismund proposed a crown for Vytautas; Jogaila first agreed and then withdrew under pressure from his lords, with Oleśnicki, Oporowski and Tarnów-Szafraniec opposing. Sigismund wanted a Lithuanian kingdom to weaken the union. See Wikipedia, Congress of Lutsk; lt.wikipedia, Lucko suvažiavimas; Litwa za Witolda (1429).

Congress of Lutsk: the crown offered


Type	event
Years	1429
Status	Historical record
Book	IV · The Invisible Crown
Note	Congress of Lutsk (Jan 1429): Sigismund, King of the Romans, proposes crowning Vytautas King of Lithuania.

Where: Lutsk (on the map)

What really happened [The saga’s invention]¶

Henė has left Vytautas’s court with two stones and the golden chain and appears at Sigismund’s table, serving the deal, never the man. The gathering feeds the Gold-Glutton: feasts beyond counting that the Counter numbers, including the gems of a crown not yet made. In the offer Laima’s old sentence comes true in Vytautas’s ear: a crown will travel toward him all his life.

Consequences¶

Leads to the crown embassy being blocked in August 1430. The reversion clause of Vilnius and Radom is the fuse; the offered crown is the price the saga will make Vytautas refuse.

Dramatisation¶

Book IV ch. 17 “Juokdarys Keičia Šeimininką” (Henė, 1428), ch. 18 “Lucko Suvažiavimas” (Julijona; January 1429) and ch. 19 “Zigmanto Pasiūlymas” (Vytautas; January 1429, winter).

Relations

Causes: Crown embassy blocked at the Polish border (Aug 1430); Vytautas refuses Henė

Location: Lutsk

Participants: Jogaila · Sigismund of Luxembourg · Vytautas

Connections¶

graph LR
  ev_crown_intercepted["Crown embassy blocked at the Polish border (Aug 1430); Vytautas refuses Henė"]
  ev_lutsk["Congress of Lutsk: the crown offered"]
  jogaila["Jogaila"]
  lutsk["Lutsk"]
  sigismund["Sigismund of Luxembourg"]
  vytautas["Vytautas"]
  ev_lutsk -->|Location| lutsk
  ev_lutsk -->|Causes| ev_crown_intercepted
  vytautas -->|Took part in| ev_lutsk
  sigismund -->|Took part in| ev_lutsk
  jogaila -->|Took part in| ev_lutsk
  style ev_lutsk stroke-width:3px