Grodno: Žygimantas sworn Grand Duke before Oleśnicki (Jogaila absent)¶

What the chronicles say [Historical record]¶

A Polish delegation under Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki received Žygimantas Kęstutaitis’s oath at Grodno on 15 October 1432 (VLE; the English Wikipedia gives an act of 25 October) and proclaimed him Grand Duke for life. Jogaila was not there: he issued his own act at Lwów on 30 October 1432 and confirmed Grodno on 3 January 1433. Terms: the Union of Vilnius and Radom of 1401 was confirmed; Jogaila’s supremacy was recognised; after Žygimantas’s death Lithuania was to return to Jogaila and his heirs; Trakai was to go to Mykolas; Podolia was ceded to Poland; most of Volhynia was left to Lithuania until Žygimantas’s death; no crown for Žygimantas. See Oleśnicki and Wikipedia, Union of Grodno (1432).

Grodno: Žygimantas sworn Grand Duke before Oleśnicki (Jogaila absent)


Tipas	įvykis
Metai	1432-10-15
Status	Istoriniai duomenys
Knyga	V · Vilko Palikimas
Pastaba	Treaty of Grodno (1432): Žygimantas recognized as Grand Duke under Polish suzerainty.

Where: Grodno (on the map)

What really happened [The saga’s invention]¶

On the empty oak throne lie the king’s seal and a folded parchment. A shaking line in a different hand under the king’s letter reads „Tu turi tėvo akis“, followed by the first two letters of a word struck out: Kr, for Krėva. Žygimantas swears kneeling, with the sense of something invisible sitting on the cushions and watching. Henė stands among the Lithuanian lords with one stone in his fingers, looking at the empty throne like a buyer whose seller has not come. That night the new Grand Duke asks the keeper again to relight the flame, and the keeper says no.

Consequences¶

Its succession clause is the knot that civil war and the Vilnius council later cut.

Dramatisation¶

Book V ch. 10 „Gardino Sutartis“ (Birutė, the Amber Queen, narrating through the pebble; 15 October 1432, autumn, Grodno castle).

Ryšiai

Caused by: Žygimantas’s coup at Ašmena

Location: Grodno

Participants: Zbigniew Oleśnicki — Swore Žygimantas in the king’s name; Jogaila was not present (his act: Lwów, 30 Oct 1432). · Žygimantas Kęstutaitis

Sąsajos¶

graph LR
  ev_coup_1432["Žygimantas's coup at Ašmena"]
  ev_grodno_1432["Grodno: Žygimantas sworn Grand Duke before Oleśnicki (Jogaila absent)"]
  grodno["Grodno"]
  olesnicki["Zbigniew Oleśnicki"]
  zygimantas["Žygimantas Kęstutaitis"]
  ev_grodno_1432 -->|Location| grodno
  zygimantas -->|Took part in| ev_grodno_1432
  olesnicki -->|Took part in| ev_grodno_1432
  ev_coup_1432 -->|Causes| ev_grodno_1432
  style ev_grodno_1432 stroke-width:3px