The Silver Knight, a Lithuania Timeline

[Augenis]

Part 27: Reconstruction (1575-1585)
​

The Great Russian Revolt was unsuccessful, but it marks a significant event in the development of the national identities of all three major nations that composed the Lithuanian kingdom of the time. For the Russians, it is the turning point when the regional identities of the nation's people began to break down in favor of a single, Russian identity. The All-Russian Council was the beginning of republicanism in the region - the first such development in Eastern Europe, actually. Despite his defeat, Ivan Kratkov is regarded as a Russian national hero. The Ruthenian peoples placed the first barrier between themselves and Russians, the old Kievan Rus' idea of a united East Slavic culture began to break down. While to the Lithuanians, the victory in Sychyovka resonated across their identity and culture for years to pass, almost as much as the Battle of Ilawa. As modern historians put it, "the peoples of Lithuania arrived to Sychyovka as inhabitants of dozens of former principalities and tribes and returned as three nations".

Of course, history is never so simple. It would take centuries before the concept of national identity would even arise as a serious idea, but this was a start.

After the restoration of order in Russia, there was a lot of free, unused land left, as it's original owners had fled the nation to settlements in the eastern steppes. Queen Sofija ordered the seizure of a large portion of this land, mostly the lands formerly held by nobles and dukes, to be converted into royal estates. The demand for grain, agricultural produces and timber in the West was steadily increasing, and the nations of Eastern Europe, being the closest suppliers, benefited from this - thus such an increase in royal estates was beneficial to the Queen, seeing as all the income from them would go directly to the Treasury. The rest of the land was divided between remaining serfs, loyal nobles, or in some cases just left abandoned. The situation in Russia was too critical for a few forgotten Voloks to be cared about - there was risk of famine, lots of work needed for restoration of order, as well as lone Russian rebel units who continued fighting even after the final defeat of the Rebellion and the dismissal of the All-Russian Council.

The Chronicles of Lithuania write of a few such engagements: a detachment of 600 Russian peasants near Belo Ozero, defeated in April of 1577; Russian forest fighters around the Ryazan area, fully eradicated by 1579; a holdout of 500 veterans in Kostroma, which pushed back superior Lithuanian units until finally destroyed in 1580. The Russian countryside eventually recovered from the devastation inflicted by looting and raiding during the Revolt, too, though sporadic outbreaks of hunger and disease continued well into the 1580s. It is not known how heavily Russia was affected by the Rebellion in terms of population loss, but many surviving written sources of the time mention that large portions were depopulated or at least heavily affected, suffering large population drops in just a few years.

This loss was so big, in fact, that Queen Sofija even ordered an official kingdom census in 1582 to help the Court determine just how many people were left and his many could he taxed. However, this wasn't an actual, head-counting census as the name would let one to believe. Borrowing the idea from the Union of Visegrad, the Lithuanians collected taxes based on dūmas. "Dūmas" is an ancient term for any house with a fireplace - since it was so central for any peasant home in Lithuania, it was the fireplaces that were counted and taxed, rather than people. Since each dūmas roughly corresponds to a home, which corresponds to a family living there (both peasantry and nobility were counted), dūmas censuses can be used to make a rough estimate for the population of the country.

The 1582 dūmai census was completed by local Voivodes and must be taken with a grain of salt when regarding accuracy, but it's results were these:

Lithuania Propria (Didžioji Lietuva - Eldership of Samogitia, Voivodeships of Vilnius and Trakai) - 168 391 dūmai

Lithuania Minor (Mažoji Lietuva - Voivodeship of Karaliaučius, East Prussian free cities) - 83 714 dūmai

Courland (Kuršas - autonomous Duchy of Courland) - 31 410 dūmai

Black Ruthenia and Podlachia (Juodoji Rusia, Palenkė - Voivodeships of Brest, Navahrudak and Podlasie) - 121 956 dūmai

White Ruthenia (Baltoji Rusia - Voivodeships of Polotsk, Vitebsk, Smolensk, Minsk and Mstislav) - 211 156 dūmai

Ruthenia Propria (Didžioji Rusia - Voivodeships of Kiev, Zhitomir, Lutsk and Chernigov) - 431 857 dūmai

Northern Ruthenia (Russia) (Voivodeships of Pskov, Novgorod, Tver, Yaroslavl, Ryazan, Kostroma, Vladimir and Nizhny-Novgorod) - 831 078 dūmai

Total: 1 879 562 dūmai, or ~13.1 million inhabitants (assuming an equivalent of 7 people per dūmas)

In addition to the nationwide dūmai census, there were inventories made for smaller regions of Lithuania, usually paviets, writing down the inhabitants of all villages and estates in the area. However, these were only made sporadically and often on the whim of the nobility, and their reliability was also questionable.

In the wider world, meanwhile, the Lithuanians caught up to a massive development that they missed while still busy with the Russian Revolt - the victory of Jean de Foix and the Flammantians in the Flammantian Wars, and the restoration of the nation of France after over 100 years of English rule. The point of the war which proved decisive to both sides was, interestingly enough, the declaration of the independence of the Netherlands Free State from the English yoke and their entry on the side of the French. English dominance over this burgher and merchant state had already proven to be a hindrance for them and their far-reaching ambitions, and the surprising defeat and almost complete destruction of the English fleet in the Battle of the Mont Saint-Michel Bay - catching the Englishmen off-guard while they were escorting a few transport ships with reinforcements. The following blockade of the Channel led to the defeat of the English army in the mainland in the Battle of the Loire in 1573, the capture of Henry IX of England-France, who obviously didn't kill enough Frenchmen to make God change his mind, it seems. In exchange for being released back to England, he agreed to relinquish his claims on all of France, ending the Flammantian Wars.

France was now free, and organized under the Estates-General as the governing body, the "Senate" of it's time. From the very start, the new France had to endure many problems both from inside and within - an attempt at a coup by a few military men, border clashes with Austria, crisises in the Estates-General and reconstruction after the disastrous war of independence, but France endured. Through this time, it looked at the Dutch as an example - since the creation of the Free State decades ago, it has been governed similarly, without a King and instead an assembly of representatives, a "parliament" if you will.

France became the vanguard state of a new, "king-less" type of government, while England went to a whole different direction - united by the bitter defeat, the peoples of the island nation saw the Parliament as more and more of a liability, especially when the King can do all the things it does more effectively, right?

Much like the French, the Lithuanians recovered from a long, cruel attrition war, but the situation was different - they were the "loyalists". Unlike England, they saved their empire and crushed the opposition. And yet the situation was so similar... A bitter, conquered nation with a larger population than the ruling class, led by an ambitious military man, with help from a foreign power that used to be the loyalist crown's rival...

Perhaps it's because the Russians were alone. They didn't have a "Netherlands" equivalent. But all of this is alternate history talk.

What we know is that Russia lost and France won. And Lithuania, meanwhile, was rebuilding with a goal in mind...

 

[Iron Chariot]

Yay! Early republics. Let's hope de Foix isn't just a Cromwell though, and manages to create something lasting.

So what's going on with the Livonian Order? I may have forgotten something, but lately, it just seems to exist without doing much - how are its relations with Lithuania, and how does the monastic state fare in general? I did notice a line about how Sweden has influence over Livonia, but how much rivalry are the Swedes and Lithuanians going to engage in, really? Unlike Russia historically, this Lithuania probably won't be that interested in expanding much further north, or will it?

 

[Augenis]

Yay! Early republics. Let's hope de Foix isn't just a Cromwell though, and manages to create something lasting.

So what's going on with the Livonian Order? I may have forgotten something, but lately, it just seems to exist without doing much - how are its relations with Lithuania, and how does the monastic state fare in general? I did notice a line about how Sweden has influence over Livonia, but how much rivalry are the Swedes and Lithuanians going to engage in, really? Unlike Russia historically, this Lithuania probably won't be that interested in expanding much further north, or will it?

Riga is an important Baltic Sea port and very critical to Lithuanian grain export to the West (and it's in many ways the only route, as all other Lithuanian ports are too small for the level of export we're talking, while all land routes have to go through Visegrad, which has strained relations with Lith), so the Livonian Order has been able to play this strategic position off to maintain their independence at the price of Courland. Much like what happened the Teutonic Order, there are conflicts with the burghers and city population, but unlike the Teutons, they managed to avoid civil strife so far.

But now that Sweden is infringing on Lithuania's sphere of influence and Livonia is slowly leaning towards the Swedes, it's existence might become a big question mark in the future.

 

[Salvador79]

Love the republics, too! How is Germany doing?

 

[Augenis]

Love the republics, too! How is Germany doing?

Classic 16th century Germany. The south is entrenched with Reformism, the north remains Catholic. Austria is still in charge of the HRE.

 

[King of the Uzbeks]

I would love to nominate this TL for the Turtledove, but I've already used my nomination. If some else were to nominate this I would gladly second it so that Lithuania could expand across the multiverse.

 

[Augenis]

I would love to nominate this TL for the Turtledove, but I've already used my nomination. If some else were to nominate this I would gladly second it so that Lithuania could expand across the multiverse.

Oh, the nominations are up already?

I can't nominate my own TL, but if anyone wants to nominate it then more power to you.

 

[Salvador79]

Good idea, I've been wanting to nominate this TL and I'll do so as soon as i'm at my PC. Now i see you've been quicker to nominate mine, but know that i had intended it already anyway.

 

[Augenis]

Good idea, I've been wanting to nominate this TL and I'll do so as soon as i'm at my PC. Now i see you've been quicker to nominate mine, but know that i had intended it already anyway.

I nominated yours because even though it may not be very popular, it deserves much more attention than what it currently does.

 

[Salvador79]

I nominated yours because even though it may not be very popular, it deserves much more attention than what it currently does.

Thank you! Your TL, while popular, deserves greater attention yet, too - isn't that the best thing about writing a TL when your readers get really involved, too..?!
My resolution is to give more feedback this year.

 

[Augenis]

Part 28: No War, No Peace (1585-1600)
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One of the most notable achievements obtained during the Steel Lady's, Queen Sofija's reign was in the legal matters of the Lithuanian kingdom. The Statute of Lithuania was over half a century old by now, and that half a century was marked by major social and political developments that changed the face of the nation as we know it. The Volok Reform finalized the slow, century-old dip into serfdom, while the Great Russian Revolt set numerous social and sometimes even physical barriers between the reigning Lithuanians and subservient Russians. Both of these developments had to be codified and placed into law, though, and in 1586, Queen Sofija ordered the creation of the Second Statute of Lithuania, finished two years later and signed by the monarch and the Council of Lords. Opinions on this large document vary. On one hand, it proved to be very progressive in some accounts, even holding an example of the first case of women's rights in Lithuanian history (noble widows were allowed to take their dowry upon their husbands' deaths and return back to the home of their parents, instead of losing it to the heir of her husband), and the fact that Lithuania had a codified set of laws when countries like Visegrad and Sweden only relied on basic royal documents was quite impressive. However, much like the rest of Europe at the time, it suffered from reactionary views that originate from fear of a French-type revolution. Serfdom was fully institutionalized, legal discrimination against the Slavs continued (Lithuanian nobles without ancestry in Lithuania Propria were not allowed to acquire or purchase land in it), and Lithuania continued the slow descent towards absolutism.

1588 was an important year for the royal family, too, as after a few daughters, Queen Sofija and her husband Friedrich were finally able to make a male heir. Honoring both the Hohenzollern and Gediminaitis ancestry of the newborn boy, he was named Albertas Jogaila (Albrecht Jagiello), after both his paternal grandfather and his famous ancestor from his mother's side. While double names were still an uncommon trend among Lithuanian nobility, they were not unknown - notable people like Kęstutis Mykolas Radvila, the commander of the Lithuanian forces in the Great Russian Revolt, had double names as well, and the heir apparent now joined their ranks. Prince Albertas Jogaila of the House of Gediminaitis-Hohenzollern will have his time to shine later, though...

After the deadly Great Russian Revolt, the Lithuanian nation was slowly able to recover. The debt acquired during the Revolt was getting paid off, even the devastated provinces in Russia itself started growing. Historians note that this period in time was the greatest age for the Lithuanian economy. The Little Ice Age had still not kicked in fully, and the lands were giving record grain harvests. The demand for grain was great in the West, which was starting to enter a much different phase of human development. A capitalist era. Manufactories, capable of producing much more than normal guilds and responding to the forces of supply and demand, and intercontinental trade to fulfill the need for lucrative markets were becoming more and more common, especially in the Italian principalities, the Netherlands Free State and France. And Eastern Europe with it's rich grain fields and forests was just a part of this grand scheme of things, and despite being just a producer of raw materials, Lithuania was able to profit from it.

That's not to say that it didn't have cities of it's own. Vilnius, Kaunas, Karaliaučius, Gardinas, Kiev, Polotsk and Tver were among the largest - however, compared to Western Europe or even the Visegrad, they were tiny. Even Vilnius, calling itself "the Third Rome" and "the Diamond of the East", paled in comparison to Paris, Florence, Venice, Prague or even London. Serfdom was a big limit to population nobility, and this led to much lower city growth. Not that the Royal Family minded - cities and their way of life are a haven for all those dangerous thoughts, aren't they? Just watch how Tver or Polotsk will think up of an another revolution...

Vilnius, the capital of the Kingdom of Lithuania, at the end of the 16th century.
Aukštutinė (Upper) and Žemutinė (Lower) Castles can be seen at the left, with the elongated Town Square extending towards the Rotušė (Rattusz, Town Hall)
The old town is surrounded by a stone wall, built in 1561-63.
Modern estimates for the size of the city at the time put the population at roughly 25 000 people.​

But, even though the Lithuanians were suspicious, the tensions in their massive kingdom were nothing compared to what was unraveling in Central Europe at the time.

The end of the 16th century saw religious tensions increase sharply, old rivalries reborn, and the balance of power in Europe tipped by the foundation of Republican France. The death of Jean de Foix in 1587 and the transition to a moderately healthy republic, with the Estates-General as the primary legislature, marked the end of the post-independence "time of troubles" in France, and the nation quickly regained strength after the devastation of the Flammantian Wars. France was the first powerful Reformist nation (Netherlands and a bunch of German principalities also followed the faith before them), and this victory strengthened and radicalized this breakaway faith even further. In Southern and Central Germany, numerous peasant revolts plagued the region, and more and more margraves and dukes switched to the Reformist faith, or in some cases even got overthrown by France-inspired revolutions. Northern Germany, however, remained an entrenched Catholic holdout, partially thanks to active Anti-Reformist missionary work to root out heresy and also because of England's and Scandinavia's Catholic fanaticism. Both of these countries were important markets to the North German merchants, so staying loyal to Catholicism was more lucrative. This stance came in conflict with the Netherlands Free State, a Reformist republic, which arose after the Flammantian Wars as an ambitious rising power, even with some colonial ambitions in North Vespucia.

France, meanwhile, was ready to spread the Flammantian Reformist faith beyond it's borders. Outside of some large holdouts in Switzerland, this branch of Reformism was pretty much limited to this newly reborn nation. In addition, they sought the French lands of Lorraine, held by Austria, and overall wanted to curb the power of the Holy Roman Empire. What was Austria, the leading nation in this fractured giant, doing through all of this? Well, they had domestic matters of their own. After most of South Germany - Baden, Wurttemburg, Bavaria, the Palatinate and others - entrenched themselves as the heart of Melanchthonian Reformism, the population of Austria began to followed suit. Dozens of preachers across this eastern archduchy spread Reformist beliefs despite the toughest possible resistance from the Anti-Reformation faction. It got so problematic, in fact, that even some of the members of the ruling Habsburg family converted, and while they were quickly shunned and disgraced by the Catholic Emperor, Maximilian IV, the point still stood. Reformist troubles worked as a sort of "paralysis" to the work of the Holy Roman Emperor against Reformism, and whether Austria will endure as a bastion of Catholicism or become the second powerful convert to the Reformist faith was still a big question.

While France was the undisputed leader of the European Reformists, the Catholic reaction had it's leaders as well. Among the Anti-Reformist forces, Spain and the Union of Visegrad stood as the more important "members". Spain had a strong Catholic tradition and was more or less left unaffected by the Reformation, and with the religious strife and chaos unfolding in Central Europe, it began to take more and more of an active role in fighting the Reformation in the place of the "paralyzed" Austria. In the early 16th century, it annexed Naples, and kept up very cordial relations with the Papacy all the way through. Spanish priests composed a big portion of the Anti-Reformation Movement, and the famous "Spanish Inquisition" reigned supreme in their Iberian homeland. Throughout the late 16th century, Spain continued exerting influence in the rest of Italy, bringing many city states into it's fold as vassals and protectorates, and these moves clashed with both the French and Austrian spheres of influence. The War of the Po River (1589-91) between Milan and a coalition of Italian city states led by Florence and Savoy almost escalated to a full blown war between the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, but diplomatic efforts by Maximilian IV and the Pope eased the tensions. Still, the influence of the HRE over Italy faded even more, while France took it's turn and annexed a few chips of territory from Savoy. With it's aggressive foreign policy, an economy boosted by sugar trade and an ambition to take down both France and Austria, Spain stood in the vanguard of the Catholics in this world of tensions.

Visegrad, however, was a much more pragmatic and opportunistic card. This union of three nations was led by Charles IV von Luxembourg (Karel IV Lucemburkové, IV. Károly Luxemburgi-ház, Karol IV Luksemburski), and has been the defender of Western Europe from the Ottomans and Lithuanians for centuries. This "sentinel" attitude strengthened Visegradian loyalty to the Papacy, enough to make them eventually resist the wave of Reformism and remain as the Catholic Defender of the East. At the same time, they werew naturally wary of the rising Reformist powers in the west. HRE and Visegrad have been neighbours ever since their inception, and while relations between the two countries are littered with friction, border conflicts and sometimes outright wars, they also helped each other out during Ottoman invasions or other conflicts, and it was in Charles IV's interests that the Empire stays intact. While Spain came to Germany to protect the Catholic faith from heresy and kick it's rivals down a notch, Visegrad came to Germany to protect it's western front from potentially hostile Reformists.

The lines have been drawn. In the HRE itself, the Reformist and Catholic duchies began banding into separate coalitions, "leagues", hoping to protect each other from the other side. Outside of France, Spain and Visegrad, the three great powers surrounding the Empire, many other factions were overlooking the situation with ambitions of their own. Denmark, despite being a Catholic nation, was nevertheless leaning towards aligning with Reformists because of it's opposition to Sweden, which stood as the Catholic vanguard in the north. England was slowly transforming into a fanatical Catholic monarchy, and a Catholic religious movement named the "Puritans", seeking to rid the British isles of the "devillish Reformist ideas", was gaining traction - the bitter revanchism towards France could play a role as well. The German states were divided on the issue as well - Bavaria, for example, even erupted into a civil war between the two faiths, the states of Northern Germany like Brandenburg, Pomerania and the Hansa had their own agendas. And what of the two outsiders, looming at the horizon, uninterested in the religious polemics between Reformism and Catholicism, but more than willing to use the potential chaos in Europe for their own gain - that being Lithuania and the Ottoman Empire?

Europe will never be the same again.

And Queen Sofija knew that. Lithuanian revanchism towards Visegrad, which had almost dissipated by the time of Valdislavas II, was now at an all time high - those dastardly Czechs and Hungarians attacked up while we were down and even carved out some gains in the peace! How dare they! Under the guidance of the Steel Lady, the royal estates of the kingdom were slowly being calibrated for a potential war. The Lithuanian Regiment was expanded, and the Queen began negotiations with the nobility to receive assurances that they would support her in a potential conflict. And, most interestingly, her son, now 12 years of age, was showing incredible talent in using the sword and the commander's baton...

The 16th century draws to a close. It can safely be said that the old Medieval period has been replaced by the thriving speed of the Modern Era. Lithuania in the year 1500, a fresh kingdom with it's big ambitions, was hardly recognizable from what it has become now, in the year 1600. And this speed of advancement will only get faster and faster...

And what does the future hold? Only God knows for certain.

 

[Salvador79]

Catholic Puritans?
Gorgeous.

 

[Augenis]

Catholic Puritans?
Gorgeous.

Yupyup.

 

[Historyman 14]

I find it funny that North Germany is Catholic, and Reformist is in South Germany, as well as Catholic England, and Sweden of all places.


Glory to the Reformist!!

 

[MagicalPhantom345]

Really enjoying where this is heading.

 

[Augenis]

I find it funny that North Germany is Catholic, and Reformist is in South Germany, as well as Catholic England, and Sweden of all places.


Glory to the Reformist!!

It's a nice aversion, in my opinion. Not the most logical one, but it works.

Really enjoying where this is heading.

Thank you!

 

[MagicalPhantom345]

It's a nice aversion, in my opinion. Not the most logical one, but it works.


Thank you!

So with the reconciliation between the eastern and western churches, will that affect the orthodoc followers in the Balkans and rump Russian state?

 

[Augenis]

So with the reconciliation between the eastern and western churches, will that affect the orthodoc followers in the Balkans and rump Russian state?

Lithuania is considered to be a sort of "pariah" among Orthodox churches for it's Concordate of Brest, and most other Orthodox followers, like the Greeks, Balkan Orthodox and, more recently, the Volanites are against it.

The "reconciliation" wasn't between the Ecumenical Patriachate and the Catholics, it was between the Lithuanian Orthodox Church and Catholics.

 

[MagicalPhantom345]

Lithuania is considered to be a sort of "pariah" among Orthodox churches for it's Concordate of Brest, and most other Orthodox followers, like the Greeks, Balkan Orthodox and, more recently, the Volanites are against it.

The "reconciliation" wasn't between the Ecumenical Patriachate and the Catholics, it was between the Lithuanian Orthodox Church and Catholics.

Oh. Although I have wondered if Paganism will have a bigger influence since it was stated that religious tolerance is part of lithuanian culture.

 

[Salvador79]

Looking at where bright critical theologians lived and where there were traditions of protest and emancipation, this inversion makes much more sense than OTL. OTL followed only princely logics.