Part 21: Lady of Steel (1568-1570)
Upon landing in the port of Klaipėda in April of 1568, Sofija, daughter of Valdislavas II, released an official proclamation to the nearby regions of Samogitia, East Prussia and Courland, rallying any and all soldiers loyal to her, the legitimate claimant. The Princess marched through Kretinga, then Telšiai, and Varniai, Raseiniai, finally Kaunas, getting closer and closer to the capital, Vilnius. She faced a lot of opposition - who would think of putting a woman on the throne? - but her army grew larger and larger every day. Jonas Astikas, who was still in Vilnius with his estate troops, hoped to get the Lithuanian Regiment on his side, but negotiations with the officers of this elite guard kept failing.
Sofija Valdislavaitė, the Princess of the Kingdom of Lithuania, wife of Friedrich von Hohenzollern, Prince of Brandenburg, did not resemble a normal woman or housewife in any way. Despite being only about 18 years old at this point, she was oddly much more capable and ambitious than the old grown up dukes and boyars she'd have to fight. Though, whether this was a part of her own personality or just amplified by the presence of her husband is still disputed... Despite being technically ineligible to inherit the throne, she still acted like she was the heir apparent, even arrogantly so. The Lithuanian Chronicle writes about a particular incident that proved so - when Sofija reached Punia, a wooden castle next to the Nemunas river, she leaped off her horse, without wearing armor or anything, then simply walked forward with her hands spread, asking them to surrender. Punia was loyal to Mikalojus Radvila, a pretender to the throne, though, and opened fire. The princess had to flee and order an attack of her own, and despite the castle falling mere three days later, the blow on her pride was still present.
A blow large enough that she ordered the castle to be burned to cinders.
Princess Sofija of the Kingdom of Lithuania
Despite some minor setbacks, the army of Sofija and Friedrich closed in on Vilnius, which was only protected by a light guard force rallied from Astikas's demesne. The possibility of a "noble republic", as the magnate called it, was dropping and dropping every day. One after another, the Vaivada of numerous regions declared their allegiance to the Princess, the Lithuanian Regiment was still based in Lida and negotiations on their support failed... Meanwhile, Sofija conducted secret talks with none other than the Karaite Guard, the only remaining "neutral" force in Vilnius.
However, what really "killed" Astikas's reign were two events that suddenly unfolded one after another, though not related to each other, in 1569.
First of all, the Union of Visegrad, seeing the weakness of the massive Eastern kingdom, began undeclared incursions into Lithuanian Podolia and Volhynia. Numerous border forts and towns were besieged and captured, and Visegradian forces began encroaching on Lutsk, one of Lithuania's most important cities in Galicia. The three-country union itself wasn't particularly stable at this point, either, especially since the Ottoman Empire was knocking on their door as well, but the king, Matthias I, hoped that a few quick military victories against Lithuania would bolster morale as well as push back the Eastern border a bit further to give some breathing space. Visegrad has always appeared fragile, yet managed to pull itself together ever since it's inception. Compared to the increasingly despotic Lithuania, the Ottoman autocracy and the ever so slightly more absolutist England-France, the Union of Three Countries was a breath of fresh air, a nation where the King genuinely had to share his power with the nobility.
The second, though, was much more sinister. At least to the Lithuanians.
The differences between Russians and the rest of the population of the Kingdom of Lithuania have been etched in since the nation's early days. Unlike, say, the Belarusians or Ukrainians, who joined the former Grand Duchy under the rule of Gediminas, Algirdas and Kęstutis somewhat peacefully, the conquest of Russia was marked by war, bloodshed and oppression. The Lithuanian-Muscovite War was only the beginning. The Russians have not forgotten Jogaila's sudden and unlawful annexation of Moscow, or the devastating Tverian-Lithuanian War, or the enforcement of the Concordate of Brest onto the Russian Orthodox Church... Generations have passed, never witnessing the birth of "Russia", as they would call the nation to unite all East Slavs, but carrying a sliver of hope that someday, somehow, it will be created. And the more time passed, the more it felt to the Russians that they were disenfranchised and slowly turned into second-grade citizens of the Kingdom. Russian nobility had few rights compared even to Ruthenian nobility, which was much more loyal to the King. Russians had lower admission rates to the University of Vilnius, and any and all promises of a university in Tver kept getting forgotten. And the establishment of a university in Kiev in 1550 only increased tensions.
What really kickstarted the development, though, was the beginning of the Flammantian Wars in France. The rebels and revolutionaries of Jean de Foix declared the idea of liberation, liberation against an oppressive foreign conqueror, and a nation without kings, like ancient Rome... There were Russians who fought in the Flammantian Wars, mostly from students in French universities, while many others learned about this "liberation war" and immediately imagined of what could be done here, in their nation...
It didn't take long before the perfect situation arose, in the name of the succession crisis after Valdislavas II. Trying to gain the edge it needed against Sofija and Friedrich, the Astikas government increased taxes and pressured more recruits, and even though these efforts were unsuccessful, they angered the Russian people more and more. The poor harvests of the last few years didn't help at all, and finally, in 1569, the tipping point was reached. City militias, much like in France, began to organize in cities like Tver, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny-Novgorod. In many estates, the serfs began overthrowing their magnates and revolting. The end was near, the
Great Russian Revolt has begun.
The strongest levee was from the city of Tver, led by a man named
Ivan Kratkov. A noble orinially hailing from Moscow, even with some ancestry from Vasily Vorskloy, the last Grand Prince of Moscow, Kratkov was formerly a member of the Lithuanian Regiment as well as a military officer, much like his contemporary Jean de Foix, as well as a somewhat influential figure among the Russian nobility even before The Revolt. Lithuanian chronicles and history books would later depict him as terrible as they possibly can, putting pretty much all bad words in the Lithuanian vocaulary to describe him - "the son of the worst off peasant in the land, who killed his own father when he was a child", "he had never taken a bath before", "his troops slaughtered childred, abused women and looted churches daily", "he had hundreds of women comforting him and actively practiced heretical beliefs", "he secretly made deals with Satan to help him in battle". In reality, though, he was a determined, somewhat wroth, but dedicated man with the goal of repeating the success that Jean de Foix seemed to have in France and liberate Russia from the over a hundred years of Lithuanian yoke.
"Ivan Kratkov Rallies the Tverians", 1886 painting
This massive development was the final nail in the coffin of the noble republic experiment that Jonas Astikas tried to push through. The last ounces of support for him were eroded, and Sofija's negotiations with the Karaite Guard succeeded. The 1000 men strong elite force, the guards of the former King of Lithuania, arose from their barracks and challenged the 3500 men large garrison in Vilnius. Despite the numerical superiority of Astikas's forces, the Karaites were much, much better armed and trained, not to mention had the element of surprise, and three days later, when the army of the Princess arrived to the capital of the Kingdom, the banner of Vytis proudly flew on the City Hall, the conspirators were arrested, and the Guard had only lost 15 men.
Sofija Valdislavaitė, already worth of the nickname "The Steel Lady" ("Plieninė moteris") that was floating around her, was now the undisputed Queen of Lithuania, the first one, in fact, but the beginning of her rule was far from calm. The developing Great Russian Revolt and Lithuania's falling reign over the lands of the Rus', as well as the Visegradian invasion of Podolia, the siege of Lutsk, where a small group of Lithuanian defenders were miraculously able to hold out against a ten times bigger believing force, and worse... When an elephant crumbles, hyenas are soon to surround him, each wishing an easy meal to rip off...
But Queen Sofija was far from willing to just put her weapons down and yield. "I am the descendent of Jogaila the Great," she might say, "but if I don't save his legacy, I will have no right to call myself like that..."
