Coronation Day of Vytautas the Great and thanksgiving for defending Lithuania’s independence and freedom
Description:
After the union of Lithuania with Poland in 1385. Vytautas, relying on the Lithuanian and Russian boyars who lived in the Russian regions of Lithuania, fought for the independence of Lithuania from Poland.
On August 4, 1392 in Ostrov (on the border of Lithuania and Poland), Vytautas and the Polish king Jagiello concluded a treaty under which Vytautas was transferred to the Principality of Trakai, and he became the de facto ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In a short time, Vytautas consolidated centralized power and eliminated the consequences of internal strife.
He hindered the unification policy of the Moscow princes; concluded treaties with the Tver princes hostile to Moscow (1427), the Ryazan prince (1430), the Pron prince (1430); captured Smolensk (1404); interfered in the affairs of Novgorod and Pskov and invaded the Moscow principality three times (1406-1408).
Lithuanian possessions under Vytautas reached the upper reaches of Oka and Mozhaisk. He took the Southern Podolia from the Tatars and expanded his possessions to the Black Sea; he fought stubbornly with the German knights. Vytautas and Jagiello were the organizers of the defeat of the German knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. In 1422 Vytautas returned to Lithuania Zemaitia, captured by the order (1398).
Relying on the servicemen who were in his possession, he tried to eliminate the specific princes of Gediminovich in Russia and put his governors in prison. The abolition by Vytautas of local princedoms in Podolia, Kiev, Vitebsk and others led to an increase in the political importance of the Lithuanian boyars.