Gediminaičiai (House of Gediminas)¶

Family tree¶

Record dates. The 1345 Pact and its 1382 breach are the saga’s overlay.

Gediminaičiai (House of Gediminas)


Type	house
Status	Historical record
Note	Dynasty of Grand Duke Gediminas (c.1275–1341/42). The name is a 19th-century label; the Vytis and the Columns are its arms.

House card¶


Seat	Vilnius (Upper Castle, Lower Castle, the wooden Crooked Castle, burnt 1390); older seats Kernavė and Trakai. [Historical record]
Arms / sigil	The Vytis, an armed rider, on princely seals from the later 14th century; which duke used it first is debated. The Columns (Gediminaičių stulpai) are a 19th-century name for a sign first attested on Vytautas’s coins and seals in the late 14th century (c. 1397 is often cited), plausibly a family tamga of the Kęstutaičiai. [Historical record] Saga sigil: the Iron Wolf howling on the hill. [The saga’s invention]
Words	Kol staugia vilkas, stovi miestas. “While the wolf howls, the city stands.” [The saga’s invention]
Patron / burden	The Silent Pact, sworn by the house, not by one branch; every kin-killing costs something. The omen-spirit Geležinis Vilkas. [The saga’s invention]

Lineage¶

Gediminas (c. 1275 – winter 1341/42) became Grand Duke c. 1316 and wrote to the Pope and the Hanse in 1323, the first time Vilnius is named as capital. His sons: Manvydas and Narimantas (d. 1348), Algirdas, Kęstutis, Karijotas, Liubartas and Jaunutis; his daughters married Casimir III of Poland (Aldona-Ona, 1325) and Simeon of Moscow (Aigusta, 1333). [Historical record; his wife or wives are disputed]

Branches: Algirdaičiai, Kęstutaičiai, Jogailaičiai and Čartoriskiai. Lesser lines: the Karijotaičiai (Podolia), Liubartaičiai (Volhynia), Jaunutaičiai (Zasławski) and Olelkaičiai (Kyiv). The house’s genius was the appanage: every son got a city, and every city got a son who might rebel.

Feuds & alliances¶

1345: Algirdas and Kęstutis depose their brother Jaunutis, the first Gediminid wronged by Gediminids. [Historical record]
Algirdaičiai against Kęstutaičiai: 1380–1392 (Jogaila and Skirgaila against Kęstutis and Vytautas) and again 1432–1440 (Švitrigaila against Žygimantas).
Maria’s sons against Uliana’s sons: the elder, Orthodox Algirdaičiai were passed over in 1377.
The Order and Poland court one branch against another; Masovia and Moscow marry into both.

Fate across the books¶

VI: the Pact is sworn (1345); Algirdas’s pyre (1377) weakens it.
I: Krėva, 15 Aug 1382: clause 2 broken by Jogaila and Skirgaila. II: Karigaila and Tautvilas die on opposite sides of the Vilnius walls (1390); the Vorskla (1399) takes Andrius and Dmitrijus.
III–IV: a reconciled house wins Grunwald; Vytautas dies without a male heir (1430); his blood survives in Moscow through Sofija.
V: Žygimantas is murdered at Trakai (1440). The Iron Wolf’s last howl follows. [Historical record] The Jagiellonian male line ended with Sigismund II Augustus in 1572.

Relations

Bound by: Tylioji Sutartis (Silent Pact) (1345–1387)

Members: Algirdaičiai (Algirdas’s line) — Branch: Algirdas and his sons. · Gediminas · Kęstutaičiai (Kęstutis’s line) — Branch: Kęstutis and his sons.

Rules: Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Servants: Geležinis Vilkas (the Iron Wolf omen) — The collared spirit of the house; howls at the turning points of Gediminid fate.

Connections¶

graph LR
  algirdaiciai["Algirdaičiai (Algirdas's line)"]
  gdl["Grand Duchy of Lithuania"]
  gediminaiciai["Gediminaičiai (House of Gediminas)"]
  gediminas["Gediminas"]
  gelezinis_vilkas["Geležinis Vilkas (the Iron Wolf omen)"]
  kestutaiciai["Kęstutaičiai (Kęstutis's line)"]
  silent_pact["Tylioji Sutartis (Silent Pact)"]
  gediminaiciai -->|Rules| gdl
  gediminas -->|Member of| gediminaiciai
  algirdaiciai -->|Member of| gediminaiciai
  kestutaiciai -->|Member of| gediminaiciai
  silent_pact -->|Binds| gediminaiciai
  gelezinis_vilkas -->|Servant of| gediminaiciai
  style gediminaiciai stroke-width:3px