Orthodoxy Triumphant- The Rise of Moskva-Litva

Important Information to Know-

  • First and Foremost, This will be edited. I have a tendency to only notice errors or grammatical mistakes after posting. Additionally, I may change the TL itself if something comes to attention that is incorrect.
  • This is a TL is centered on failed negotiations with the Polish Nobles for Jogaila to take the throne of Poland, leading to Jogaila accepting the offer brought to him by his mother, marriage to Sophia, daughter of Dmitry Donskoy, as well as conversion to Orthodoxy.
  • Comments are Always Welcome! Also, I will try to make maps myself, but if anyone wants to do some feel free.
  • Alright, that's all. Lets get started!
Chapter I: The Treaty of Smolensk
Part I- It was 1384, and Jogaila had to make a choice. He could follow the conditions of the Treaty of Dubsya1 (1382), however, this risked falling under the influence of the Teutonic Order, and perhaps eventually owing allegiance to the hated enemy of his entire country. With the treaty never having been ratified, despite various attempts by the Order, Jogaila still had some options. However, the Teutonic Order had resumed there war against Lithuania the previous year, putting Jogaila was in a bad position to refuse. However, a proposal was brought to Jogaila by his mother, Uliana of Tver. Propose by her was Jogaila marrying Sophia, daughter of Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Moscow. Despite being a appealing offer, it had one major pitfall. Conversion to Orthodoxy was no better in the eyes of the Catholic Teutonic Order, and would do seemingly nothing to stop the war with the Teutonic Order.
Over in the Kingdom of Poland, there was a succession crisis. With a brief civil war, Jadwiga was crowned King2 of Poland. However, being a women, it was expected that she would be married and her husband would rule. She was betrothed to William of Austria, however, the Polish Nobles, looking out for there own interests, did not want William on the throne. Looking for other options, the some of the Polish Nobles went to Jogaila of Lithuania. In mid 1385, Jogaila sent a official delegation to Poland. Negotiations went extremely poorly, to say the least. While modern accounts of it differ, it is clear that Jogaila's delegation committed a major Faux Pas while in Poland, and negotiations fell apart with neither side being particularly friendly with the other to begin with.
Faced with no other option, Jogaila sent his delegation to Moscow in order to begin negotiations. One thing Jogaila made sure was clear to Moscow, he would need assistance against the Teutonic Order if any agreement was to be reached. Meanwhile, the Succession Crisis in Poland still loomed...
1- The Treaty of Dubsya, an agreement between Lithuania and Teutonic Order during wartime, was an agreement for the conversion of Lithuania to Catholicism within a period of four years, as well as peace.
2- Despite being a women, Jadwiga was crowned King of Poland in order to help solidify her claim to the throne.
Thanks for Reading, Comments Always Welcome! :D
- And So the Rise of Moskva-Litva begins...
 
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Important Information to Know-

  • First and Foremost, This will be edited. I have a tendency to only notice errors or grammatical mistakes after posting. Additionally, I may change the TL itself if something comes to attention that is incorrect.
  • This is a TL is centered on failed negotiations with the Polish Nobles for Jogaila to take the throne of Poland, leading to Jogaila accepting the offer brought to him by his mother, marriage to Sophia, daughter of Dmitry Donskoy, as well as conversion to Orthodoxy.
  • Comments are Always Welcome! Also, I will try to make maps myself, but if anyone wants to do some feel free.
  • Alright, that's all. Lets get started!
Chapter I: The Treaty of Smolensk
Part I- It was 1384, and Jogaila had to make a choice. He could follow the conditions of the Treaty of Dubsya1 (1382), however, this risked falling under the influence of the Teutonic Order, and perhaps eventually owing allegiance to the hated enemy of his entire country. With the treaty never having been ratified, despite various attempts by the Order, Jogaila still had some options. However, the Teutonic Order had resumed there war against Lithuania the previous year, putting Jogaila was in a bad position to refuse. However, a proposal was brought to Jogaila by his mother, Uliana of Tver. Propose by her was Jogaila marrying Sophia, daughter of Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Moscow. Despite being a appealing offer, it had one major pitfall. Conversion to Orthodoxy was no better in the eyes of the Catholic Teutonic Order, and would do seemingly nothing to stop the war with the Teutonic Order.
Over in the Kingdom of Poland, there was a succession crisis. With a brief civil war, Jadwiga was crowned King2 of Poland. However, being a women, it was expected that she would be married and her husband would rule. She was betrothed to William of Austria, however, the Polish Nobles, looking out for there own interests, did not want William on the throne. Looking for other options, the some of the Polish Nobles went to Jogaila of Lithuania. In mid 1385, Jogaila sent a official delegation to Poland. Negotiations went extremely poorly, to say the least. While modern accounts of it differ, it is clear that Jogaila's delegation committed a major Faux Pas while in Poland, and negotiations fell apart with neither side being particularly friendly with the other to begin with.
Faced with no other option, Jogaila sent his delegation to Moscow in order to begin negotiations. One thing Jogaila made sure was clear to Moscow, he would need assistance against the Teutonic Order if any agreement was to be reached. Meanwhile, the Succession Crisis in Poland still loomed...
1- The Treaty of Dubsya, an agreement between Lithuania and Teutonic Order during wartime, was an agreement for the conversion of Lithuania to Catholicism within a period of four years, as well as peace.
2- Despite being a women, Jadwiga was crowned King of Poland in order to help solidify her claim to the throne.
- And So the Rise of Moskva-Litva begins...

A Poland without a union with Lithuania will go after Silesia and Pomerania, I think a Prince from Silesia, Pomerania or Mazovia will be a good king of Poland as Jadwiga's husband, the Nephews of Wladyslaw Opolczyk or Siemowit of Mazovia are most likely to marry her.
 
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A Poland without a union with Lithuania will go after Silesia and Pomerania, I think a Prince from Silesia, Pomerania or Mazovia will be a good king of Poland as Jadwiga's husband, the Nephews of Wladyslaw Opolczyk or Siemowit of Mazovia are most likely to marry her.
@kasumigenx, The plan is to be more focused on the Muscovite/Lithuanian side of things. However, Poland will play a important role in this. I have yet to decide who will succeed to the Polish throne.

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  • Also, I will give some hints of planned things to come-
    • Union of Moscow and Lithuania.
    • Orthodox Crusade (Would Crusade be right word?) to save the Patriarchy in Constantinople.
 
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No Orthodoxy never had such crusades, and I really can't see for the life of me Muscovy-Lithuania being in a position to take the on Ottomans, unless your still going to have the Battle of Ankara and subsequent Ottoman Interregnum.

I also don't see a union coming about with Muscovy unless Jogalia has to fight for it, I don't think the Rurikids where lacking in heirs, and I think the offspring of Jogalia and Sophia would have to be elected by nobles

A long term question your going to want to ask yourself is how are the Lithuanians going to deal with being a minority, in a largely Russian* populated state. Another is what is going to happen with Tatar raids, your going to possibly piss off the Golden Horde with this. The Princes of Muscovy where also the princes of Vladimir and by extension tax collectors in the Golden Hordes control.

I'm also including what would be Belorussians and Ukrainians, as Russian, unless the actual split between peoples was pronounced enough by this time period.

Still regardless of the questions It looks like an interesting premise
 
A Poland without a union with Lithuania will go after Silesia and Pomerania, I think a Prince from Silesia, Pomerania or Mazovia will be a good king of Poland as Jadwiga's husband, the Nephews of Wladyslaw Opolczyk or Siemowit of Mazovia are most likely to marry her.
In the long term, barring some serious changes Poland proper would go after Silesia and Pomerania in another way and find itself increasingly Germanized.
 
No Orthodoxy never had such crusades, and I really can't see for the life of me Muscovy-Lithuania being in a position to take the on Ottomans, unless your still going to have the Battle of Ankara and subsequent Ottoman Interregnum.

I also don't see a union coming about with Muscovy unless Jogalia has to fight for it, I don't think the Rurikids where lacking in heirs, and I think the offspring of Jogalia and Sophia would have to be elected by nobles

A long term question your going to want to ask yourself is how are the Lithuanians going to deal with being a minority, in a largely Russian* populated state. Another is what is going to happen with Tatar raids, your going to possibly piss off the Golden Horde with this. The Princes of Muscovy where also the princes of Vladimir and by extension tax collectors in the Golden Hordes control.

I'm also including what would be Belorussians and Ukrainians, as Russian, unless the actual split between peoples was pronounced enough by this time period.

Still regardless of the questions It looks like an interesting premise

@BBdadolato First off, the Crusades. With crusades, I agree that Orthodox countries wouldn't have a 'Crusade' like that of Catholicism. However, I was thinking of more like Moskva-Litva (Possibly just a alliance and close royal times during this time.) attempting to save the Patriarch. With the right circumstances something like this could help there relations with other Orthodox country, weaken the Ottomans , and help unify Lithuania and Muscovy, which is very important in the early years of there existence.
Secondly, I was planning on doing a Union of Muscovy over Lithuania. The Rurikids where never lacking in heirs, however, the Lithuanian line was somewhat more thin.
With the Golden Horde, I am probably going to have a war with them probably similar to OTL's Russian battles against the Steppe Hordes.
 
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Part II- The negotiations between Moscow and Lithuania were not particularly friendly. These countries had already fought against one another, with Lithuania sieging Moscow twice as well as pillaging much of their land. Additionally, Moscow claimed descendance from the Kievan Rus, and much of the Rus's former territory was within Lithuania. It has often been said that the only thing keeping the two delegations from killing each other was Uliana of Tver. Present for almost all of the negotiations, she kept them going even though no progress had been made by early 1385. Jogaila had no problem marrying Sophia, daughter of Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Moscow. The heart of the problem lay in the conversion to Orthodoxy. Although Jogaila had no problems with conversion to Orthodoxy, Orthodoxy was no better than Paganism and the eyes of the Teutonic Order. This meant that it would do nothing to stop the war with the Teutonic Order. Because of this, Jogaila reasoned that Moscow would need to help him against his war against the Teutonic Order in exchange for his conversion. Moscow was not opposed to this, but they were only willing to send a portion of there army. While many looking back on the moment say that the amount of soldiers Moscow offered was more than enough to fight into a white peace with the Teutonic Order, what they fail to realize is what Jogaila's goal was. Jogaila realized that as long as Lithuania was not Catholic and the Teutonic Order had the ability to fight Lithuania they would continue fighting them. This left Jogaila with two options. Either he could give in to the Teutonic Order's demands and convert, but this risked falling under the influence of the Teutonic Order, as well as great unrest1. His other option was to defeat the Teutonic Order so utterly that they no longer could pose a threat to Lithuania. As negotiations continued, it became clear Moscow was willing to send the necessary troops to help Lithuania crush the Teutonic Order, but only for significant financial compensation. Unfortunately, Lithuania could not possibly afford the amount asked. The recent civil war2 combined with war with the Teutonic Order had rapidly drained Lithuania's coffers. As winter began, Moscow proposed something new. Moscow would form an alliance with Lithuania and provide the needed troops, in exchange, Lithuania would give Moscow Smolensk and the surrounding area. The reaction in Lithuania was even colder than the winter, and this was the coldest winter in decades. The Lithuanians were outraged that Moscow would even propose such an offer. The anger by the Lithuanians was so great it appeared even Uliana could not hold the negotiations together. Then, the word finally reached the Lithuanian negotiators in Moscow.
The Battle of Neris (1385) was one of the most important moments in history. The Teutonic Order marched across the frozen River Neris, ambushing the Lithuanian army. The surprise was complete, and the Lithuanian army was decimated. As what was left of the Lithuanian army retreated, the path to Vilnius seemed wide open. Then, the same winter that had allowed the Teutonic Order to cross the river forced them to turn back to there lands or face freezing. With the Lithuanian army in shambles, negotiations with Moscow were finalized in four days of the word being received. With the Lithuanians desperate, many questioned why Moscow didn't demand more. Jogaila had even sent word that Lithuania was willing to pay annual tribute to Moscow in exchange for help. Rumors say that it was Uliana3 that cautioned Dmitry. She told him that it would be better to have an allied Lithuania than a subject Lithuania that hated Moscow. Convinced by Uliana's words, the Treaty of Smolensk was finalized, with the key points as such-


  • Jogaila would marry Sophia, daughter of Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Moscow.
  • Jogaila and the nobles directly under him would convert to Orthodoxy, and Orthodoxy would become the official religion of Lithuania.
  • Moscow would provide Lithuania with the necessary force to make sure the Teutonic Order would cease to be a threat4 to Lithuania. In exchange Lithuania would cede Smolensk and the territory around Smolensk to Moscow.
  • Moscow and Lithuania would form and alliance.
  • Should the ruler of Lithuania ever die without a direct heir, a member of the ruling family of Moscow would succeed to the throne.
Many speculate why the Lithuanians agreed to the last point. Despite the Treaty of Smolensk, there was still little love between Moscow and Lithuania at this point. However, Lithuania was desperate, and it was said that Jogaila was confident in his fertility, as well as that of his descendants. On January 3rd, 1386, the Treaty of Smolensk was sent to Vilnius to be ratified. On the 9th, the armies of Moscow began to march.
1- The Lithuanians hated the Teutonic Order, and coming to any sort of agreement with them would lead to anger and unrest in Lithuania.

2- The Lithuanian Civil War (1381-84) was fought between Jogaila and his uncle Kestutis and his cousin Vytautas over the Lithuanian throne. Kestutis died, but Vyatautas escaped. (IOTL Jogaila became King of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and reconciled with Vyatautas making him Viceroy of Lithuania)
3- Many disclaim this rumor, saying Uliana has no influence over Dmitry. However, her later role in politics make many say it was in fact her who convinced Dmitry.
4- The terminology 'Cease to be a Threat' will be very important in the coming parts.

Thanks for Reading, Comments Always Welcome! :D
-Just so you guys know, I wrote like 9/10 of this then PC crashed, and I had to rewrite it. Hope my struggles were worth it!
 
With crusades, I agree that Orthodox countries wouldn't have a 'Crusade' like that of Catholicism. However, I was thinking of more like Moskva-Litva (Possibly just a alliance and close royal times during this time.) attempting to save the Patriarch.

I think it is just about time to introduce the Tartars (Mongols) into your equation. Nothing important could happen in this part of Rus without them being heavily involved in the end.
The Steppe was important for Moskva, not Constantinople' patriarch who was too far away. If you want any analogue to an Orthodox 'Crusade' (or Holly War at that) - make it against Tartar/Mongol Horde(s).
 
I think it is just about time to introduce the Tartars (Mongols) into your equation. Nothing important could happen in this part of Rus without them being heavily involved in the end.
The Steppe was important for Moskva, not Constantinople' patriarch who was too far away. If you want any analogue to an Orthodox 'Crusade' (or Holly War at that) - make it against Tartar/Mongol Horde(s).

@Russian The Tartars shall appear very soon. But first, the Teutonic Order must be dealt with. As for Constantinople, it is not going to be something immediate. There is still a long time until OTL's Fall of Byzantium, and events won't be the same in TTL.

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  • Working on updates.
  • Map put on hold, I don't have the ability to complete a accurate map...
 
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Part III- When the armies of Moscow reached Vilnius, along with several prominent members of the Orthodox Church, the full weight of what they had done began to sink in to the Lithuanians. While some were outraged and shocked, most were somewhat relieved. While they didn't love Moscow, their armies could protect Vilnius and defeat the Teutonic Order. On February 27th, 1386, the Treaty of Smolensk was ratified. As winter began to slow the Lithuanian army moved near Vilnius. However, both the Teutonic Order and the forced of Moscow and Lithuania stayed where they were as the thaw led to mud and extremely poor conditions. When May arrived, the joint army of Lithuania and Moscow prepared for war. Three days before they began to march, something unexpected happened. Over the horizon was several thousand people heading straight towards the army camp. At first thinking it was the enemy, the camp became chaotic with preparations for battle. Then a single man on horseback entered the camp. As he explained to them his story, the Lithuanians were taken aback. When word had reached the Orthodox southern parts of Lithuania, many had come up to fight the Teutonic Order and to, at least in their minds, save themselves and their family from conversion or death.
Initially, the Lithuanians refused. These were almost all peasant boys, fifth of sixth sons who would not be missed on the farm. They were not of noble blood, and they were un untrained rabble. Desperate to fight for their families, they offered their services to Moscow. Moscow accepted, as not only would it give them soldiers, but it would take away a asset of Lithuania. A fierce debate ensued, with the Lithuanians claiming the peasants as people of their Kingdom, and Moscow saying they had ties to them through Orthodoxy and culture. Finally, an agreement was reached1. They would be trained and supplied by Moscow, and could fight for Moscow. However, when the war was over they would return to their farms. Since there was no time to train them before the fighting2, some soldiers of Moscow were left in the camp near Vilnius to train them. As the Lithuanians didn't trust Moscow or the 'Ruthenian Peasant Army' as they were soon to be called, they left three times the number of soldiers left by Moscow to 'guard the well being of Vilnius and the people of Lithuania.' In essence, they told Moscow they were not trusted. On May 27th, after the delay of the peasants arrival, the armies marched northwest towards the Teutonic Order.
In Marienburg, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order knew his armies could not withstand the forced of both Lithuania and Moscow for long. He ordered the preparations of defenses as quickly as possible, for soon hell was too be at his doorstep...
In Poland, word had reached the nobles that William of Austria had hired a substantial amount of mercenaries. Unless they could find a suitable ruler too marry their queen too soon, the throne may be taken by force...
At the court of the Khan, the agreement between Moscow and Lithuania reaches the ears of an angry Khan...
1- The delegations of Moscow and Lithuania are become more and more skilled at coming to agreements.
2- Reports said the Teutonic Order was on the move, and they were continuing to pillage the countryside.

Thanks for Reading, Comments Always Welcome! :D
-Next up is Part III, then Chapter II- The Steppe War. Things to look forward to is the Sack of Moscow and the rebellion of the Ruthenian Peasant Army.
 
What about have Jadwiga go Czech on 1386

Why not have Jadwiga marry Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia on 1386 after the death of his wife Sophia of Bavaria, to spite Sigismund of Luxembourg
 
The problem is she is already engaged to William. To break the engagement would mean someone would have to give a substantial financial compensation to him, and not everyone is willing to do that. I am still considering who will end up on the Polish throne. Probably not William, the Polish nobles made it pretty clear they didn't like him.
 
The problem is she is already engaged to William. To break the engagement would mean someone would have to give a substantial financial compensation to him, and not everyone is willing to do that. I am still considering who will end up on the Polish throne. Probably not William, the Polish nobles made it pretty clear they didn't like him.
The Polish nobles of Greater Poland preferred Jadwiga to marry Siemowit of Plock not Jogaila.
 
The problem is she is already engaged to William. To break the engagement would mean someone would have to give a substantial financial compensation to him, and not everyone is willing to do that. I am still considering who will end up on the Polish throne. Probably not William, the Polish nobles made it pretty clear they didn't like him.
Here are the Polish suitors for Jadwiga.

-Boleslaw I of Cieszyn
-Jan Kropidło of Opole
-Bolko IV of Opole
-Bernard of Opole
-Siemowit IV of Mazovia
-Janusz I of Mazovia
 
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