The Story of the Lithuanian Nation: From Pagans to Kings

The story of the Lithuanian Nation is one of the best kept historical secrets! As the centennial of Lithuanian Independence was commemorated on February 16, 2018, let’s look at the story of this nation and its illustrious history from pagans to kings, for in it are lessons for us all. Don’t mind the tongue-twisting words and names, they are representative of a language as old as Europe itself and a people who have been in the Baltic region millennia before Europe as a construct even meant anything.

Although modern humans (Homo Sapiens) arrived in Europe between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago (Rutherford 2016), it wasn’t until the late Neolithic period (~10,000 – 4,400 BC) that the Baltic region was firmly being settled by bands of agriculturalists. A huge change swept through the Baltic region about 2,900 BC with the diffusion of what is termed ‘Corded Ware Culture’ which is derived from a method of emblazoning cord-like patterns on to pottery. Also called ‘Single Grave Culture,’ it is further estimated that this period is when the Indo-European language was first introduced into “peninsular Europe” (Cunliffe: 169).

With the advent of Celtic Culture (Urnfield), Europe saw an explosion of Iron Age technology which expanded the isolated economies of central and eastern Europe, eventually engrossing most of the western half of the continent all the way into the British Isles as Hallstatt and La Tené iterations. Amber was the commodity that created an abundance of wealth for the ancient Lithuanians, the Celts were its biggest customers.

According to a publication by the American Lithuanian Literary Association, “present Lithuania was inhabited some 9,000 years before our era began by hunting tribes which came from the South” (A.L.L.A. 1965: 18). A next wave of Indo-Europeans came later, around 5,000 BC, and eventually intermixed with these preexisting peoples who ultimately became known as Finno-Ugrians. It is interesting because although we find modern Finno-Ugrians in Estonia, Finland, and Hungary, the language is NOT Indo-European.

It is this band of people who merged with tribes living around the Daugava (see image above) to form the predecessor to the Baltic Tribes and eventually the Lithuanians. So who are the Lithuanians and what is the origin of the Lithuanian nation? All Lithuanians are Baltic people who speak a Baltic language. First thing to remember is that the Baltic people are NOT Slavs.

It is worthy to note that the term “Baltic” is used differently geographically, historically and linguistically. The term Baltic geographically refers to the present countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Historically it included Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Prussia. Linguistically it refers to the Lithuanian, Latvian, and the now extinct Prussian languages.

According to the Baltic Tribes map above, the Lithuanians are a conglomerate of the Žemaičiai (Samogitians), Aukštaitiai, Selonians, Semigalians, Sudovians, Skalvians, and Curonians. The Latgalians to the north became modern Latvians. As you can see many of these tribes have merged into the present nation of Lithuania and are representative of the current ethno-linguistic regions within the country.

According to authors Vardys and Sedaitis, the Sudovians and Prussians were conquered by Teutonic Knights in the 11th and 12th centuries, and the “Couronians [sic], Semigallians, and others were assimilated by either the Lithuanians, the Latvians, or the Slavic peoples of Belarus and Poland” (1997: 5).

While the Lithuanian nation really didn’t take form until 1253 under King Mindaugas, the regions above the Daugava (the river separating Lithuania and Latvia to the north) had been invaded and littered with Swedish Viking settlements between 650-800 AD (Haywood 2016:38). The Vikings were to push routes into Estonia and Latvia in search of treasure in the east and would make it as far as Constantinople by the 11th century according to historian John Haywood (2016: 174). It was actually Arab silver dirham coins found in the Baltics that inspired the Vikings to keep raiding to the east.

In 1218 the Viking Danish king Valdemar was given permission by the Pope to invade Estonia and assist the Livonian Knights, Sword Brothers, and Teutonic Knights in stamping out the pagan Baltic tribes (ibid.: 323). There was a holy war going on in the Baltics from Estonia to Lithuania in an attempt to expand Papal power and bring more nations and armies into the fold to fight in the crusades. It was a war to make more war.

Although the Estonians, Latvians, and Prussians eventually succumbed to these forces, the Lithuanians never did. In fact, it had the reverse effect, it only made the pagan tribes living in modern-day Lithuania all the more determined to stand their ground. So they did the next logical thing, they banded together!

How all of the tribes banded together is an interestingly complex one. It was Lithuania’s first king, Mindaugas, who is credited with uniting all of the Lithuanian pagan tribes together to fight the invading forces of the Livonian Order sometime in the 1230s. However, like all political power plays the ultimate goal always comes at a cost. The irony of King Mindaugas’ reign is that in order to accept his coronation as king, he had to convert to Christianity, which he did in 1251. He was subsequently crowned king on July 6, 1253.

This did not sit well with basically everyone else who was not King Mindaugas! Although a ‘means to an end’ for the newly-crowned king who had no real intention of actually unshackling himself from his pagan ways, the fierce tribes of Aukštaitija and Žemaitija, not to mention his own family, decided that enough was enough. It wasn’t Mindaugas’ kingship they disputed, but his conversion to Christianity which was seen as an blatant betrayal of their pagan alliance.

Author S.C. Rowell tells us that even though King Mindaugas accepted a Christian rulership, he accommodated it in order to unite his people for power and prosperity. We know this because his overt politics belied his true nature of a ruler who was given to “subsequent apostasy and his expulsion of Christians from Lithuania” (2014: 51).

Although King Mindaugas’ reign came to an untimely end in 1263, his name and reign is synonymous with the Lithuanian national identity as he was its first king. July 6th is currently celebrated as Lithuanian Statehood Day, not to be confused with Lithuanian Independence Day on February 16th.

Mindaugas is revered as Lithuania’s first king and the progenitor of the Lithuanian Nation; however, it was the tribes that continually fought for their independence against foreign invasion that are also the true heroes of this era. We know that the Livonian Order, Sword Brothers, and Teutonic Knights “could not conquer Samogitia [Žemaitija]. Every time Lithuanian rulers would award the province to the Knights in exchange for peace, the Samogitians would revolt” (Vardys & Sedaitis 1997: 10).

The peace treaty of Galicia–Volhynia in 1219 and the Battle of Saule in 1236 attest to these facts. In the end, the Lithuanians never formally accepted Christianity until the year 1387. King Mindaugas has left an indelible imprint on the Lithuanian national consciousness which was passed down to the next dynasty, founded by the great Gediminas in 1315.

In Lithuania today it’s pagan past has not been forgotten, which is not to say that the country is not Christian, actually it is mostly Catholic. Traditional ways such as singing sutartinės, a form of polyphonic vocal harmonizing, is still very much alive. Festivals commemorating ancient harvest festivals and the summer solstice also abound in strengthening the Lithuanians’ tie to their beloved ancient land.

The traditional Lithuanian religion, called Romuva, is still actively practiced today all around the country. Visit https://romuva.lt/ for more information!

SOURCES CITED (LITHUANIAN NATION):

American Lithuanian Literary Association. 1965. Lithuania Past and Present: Eight Centuries in the Life of a Nation. New York: ALLA.

Rowell, S.C. 2014. Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire Within East-Central Europe, 1295-1345. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Vardys, V. Stanley and Judith B. Sedaitis. 1997. Lithuania: The Rebel Nation. New York: Westview Press.

Haywood, John. 2016. Northmen: The Viking Saga AD 793 – 1241. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Rutherford, Adam. 2016. A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Story in Our Genes. London: W&N.

Cunliffe, Barry. 2011. Europe Between the Oceans. Themes and Variations: 9000 BC-AD 1000. New Haven: Yale University Press.

A List of Lithuanian Books to read! (Family History Foundation link)

#AtkurtaiLietuvai100, #RestoredLithuania100 #Lithuania

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