This Lithuanian medalion is a part of my plaques and medals collection
Visit my
page with the offers, please.
You will find many interesting items related to this subject.
If
you are interested in other medals, related to this subject, click
This HUGE MEDALLION (330 mm) has been cast to commemorate the 500th death anniversary of Grand Duke of Lithuania, VYTAUTAS, 1350 - 1430.
This medallion has been designed by the Lithuanian sculptor, medalist, Pertas RIMSA in 1930.
Vytautas (Vytautas Didysis), Belarusian: Вітаўт, Polish: Witold Kiejstutowicz; styled "the Great" from the 15th century onwards; c. 1350 – October 27, 1430) was one of the most famous rulers of medieval Lithuania. Vytautas was the ruler (1392–1430) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which chiefly encompassed the Lithuanians and Ruthenians. He was also the Prince of Hrodna (1370–1382) and the Prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), postulated king of Hussites.
Petras Rimša (October 3, 1881 in Naudžiai, Vilkaviškis district – October 2, 1961 in Kaunas) was one of the first
professional Lithuanian
sculptors and medalists.
diameter
– 330 mm,
weight
– over 1.60 kg,
metal – alloy, covered with the bronze layer, a beautiful mint patina
Vytautas (Vytautas Didysis), Belarusian: Вітаўт, Polish:
Witold Kiejstutowicz; styled "the Great" from the 15th century
onwards; c. 1350 – October 27, 1430) was one of the most famous rulers of
medieval Lithuania. Vytautas was the ruler
(1392–1430) of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania which chiefly encompassed the Lithuanians
and Ruthenians. He was
also the Prince of Hrodna
(1370–1382) and the Prince of Lutsk
(1387–1389), postulated king of Hussites.
In
modern Lithuania, Vytautas
is revered as a national hero and was an important figure in the national rebirth in the 19th century. Vytautas
is a popular male given name in Lithuania. In commemoration of 500 years of
Vytautas' death Vytautas Magnus
University was named after him. Monuments in his honour were built in many
towns in the independent Republic of Lithuania during the interwar period, 1918–1939.
Born in 1350 in the castle
of present-day Senieji Trakai ("Old Trakai"), Vytautas
was the son of Kęstutis with his second wife Birutė, cousin
of Jogaila,
who became King of Poland as Władysław II, and grandfather of Vasili II of Russia.
Vytautas' father, Kęstutis,
and his uncle Algirdas,
were brothers and did not compete for power. Algirdas was the Grand Duke of
Lithuania, and Kęstutis was primarily responsible for defense against the Teutonic
Knights. However, after Algirdas' death in 1377, his son Jogaila, became
Grand Duke. The harmonious relationship of his father and uncle ended, and a
struggle for power between them ensued. In 1380, Jogaila signed the secret Treaty of Dovydiškės with the Teutonic Knights
against Kęstutis. When Kęstutis discovered this in the following year, he
seized Vilnius,
imprisoned Jogaila, and made himself Grand Duke. However, Jogaila managed to
escape and raised an army against Kęstutis, and his son Vytautas. The two
opposing sides confronted each other but never engaged in battle. Kęstutis was
ready to negotiate, but he and Vytautas were arrested and transported to Kreva castle. One
week later, Kęstutis was found dead. Whether he died of natural causes or was
murdered is still a matter of debate amongst historians.
In 1382, Vytautas
was able to escape from Kreva. The story of his escape is well-known. Vytautas'
wife Anna was allowed to visit him in the castle. During one of these visits,
Vytautas dressed in the clothes of one of Anna's female servants. After the
escape, he sought help from the Teutonic
Knights. At the time Jogaila was negotiating with the Teutonic Order. They
formulated the Treaty of Dubysa, by which Jogaila promised to accept
Christianity, become an ally of the Order, and give the Order some
Vytautas
participated in the signing of Union
of Kreva with Poland
in 1385 and he was re-baptized in 1386 in the Catholic rite,
receiving the name Alexander. This treaty provided for the marriage of Jogaila
to Jadwiga of Poland, and for him to become the King
of Poland. He left his brother Skirgaila as a regent of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, he was unpopular
with the people and Vytautas saw an opportunity to become the Grand Duke again.
In 1389 he started a war and attacked Vilnius but
failed. Vytautas was forced to ask the Teutonic Knights for help for the second
time in the beginning of 1390. Vytautas had to promise to keep the original
agreement of 1384, and turn over Samogitia to
the Order. His army now attacked Lithuanian lands.
To further advance
his influence, Vytautas married his only daughter Sophia to Vasili I of Russia in 1391. The Polish nobility
was unhappy that Jogaila, their new king, now Władysław II Jagiełło, spent too
much time on the affairs of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was clear that the
war could continue for years and would not bring any benefit to the country. In
1392, Wladyslaw II Jagiełło's envoy, Henry
of Masovia, offered Vytautas to become his regent instead of Skirgaila.
Vytautas accepted and once again burned three Teutonic castles and returned to
Vytautas continued Algirdas'
vision to control as many Muscovy lands as possible. Many lands were already under the
Grand Duke's rule, but the rest were controlled by the Mongols.
Tokhtamysh,
Khan of the Golden
Horde, sought Vytautas' help when he was removed from the throne in 1395
after his defeat by Timur.
An agreement was reached that Vytautas would help Tokhtamysh to regain power,
and the Horde would cede more lands to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in return.
In 1398, Vytautas' army attacked a part of the Crimea and built a
castle there. Now
Inspired by this
successful campaign, Vytautas and Wladyslaw II Jagiełło won support from Pope Boniface IX
for organizing a crusade
against the Mongols. This political move also demonstrated that Grand Duchy of
Lithuania had fully accepted Christianity and was defending the faith on its
own, and that the Teutonic Knights had no further basis for attacks
against
In 1398 in
preparation for the crusade against the Golden Horde, Vytautas had signed the
Salynas peace treaty with the Teutonic Knights and transferred Samogitia to
them. Samogitia was especially important for the order because it separated
Teutonic Knights, based in Prussia, from the Livonian Order, based in Latvia. The two
orders desired to unite and form a mighty force. However, the knights ruled
Samogitia only for three years, because in 1401 the Samogitians, supported by
Vytautas, rebelled and burned two castles. The knights received support from Švitrigaila,
brother of Jagiełło, who desired to take Vytautas' title. In 1404 another
treaty was signed which, in essence, repeated the Salynas treaty: Samogitia was
transferred to the Teutonic Knights.
In 1408 Vytautas
reached peace in the east and returned to Samogitia matters. In 1409 a second
rebellion, backed by Vytautas, against the Teutonic Knights started. The rebels
burned Skirsnemunė castle. Since both
As a result of the First Treaty of Torun in 1411, Vytautas
received Samogitia for his lifetime. However, the parties could not agree on
the border. Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, agreed
to mediate the dispute. In 1413, it was declared that the whole right bank of
the Neman
River was Samogitia and therefore belonged to
In 1399 Jadwiga
of Poland and her newborn died in childbirth.
Jogaila's
power in
Vytautas was one of
the creators of the Union of Horodło with
In January of 1429
Vytautas already had received the title of King of Lithuania with the backing
of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, but
the envoys who were transporting the crown were stopped by Polish magnates in
autumn of 1430. Another crown was sent, but Vytautas died in the Trakai Island Castle several days before it
reached
According to 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica,
Vytautas "was certainly the most imposing personality of his day in
Vytautas backed the
economic development of his state and introduced many reforms. Under his rule
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania gradually became more centralized, as local
princes with dynastic ties to the throne were replaced by the governors loyal
to Vytautas. The governors were rich landowners who formed the basis for the
Lithuanian nobility. During Vytautas' rule, the influential Radziwiłł
and Goštautai
families began their rise.
(Breviary excerpt
from a document in 1422: Nos Alexander alias Witoldus eadem < Dei >
gracia, magnus dux Lithwanie terrarumque Russie etc.)
Observe:
Technically, Vytautas was most of his reign a nominal vassal of his cousin Jogaila, then
king of
Petras Rimša, the medalist
Petras Rimša (October 3, 1881 in Naudžiai, Vilkaviškis district – October 2, 1961 in Kaunas) was one of the first
professional Lithuanian
sculptors and medalists.
Rimša was born to a
family of farmers in Suvalkija,
which was then part of Congress
Poland. He was educated privately in Warsaw under Pius
Weloński (1900–1903), at the École
nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Antonin Mercié (1903–1904),
and Cracow Academy of Fine Arts under Konstanty Laszczka
(1904–1905). However, he never graduated and never received any degrees. After
return to
Rimša's
early works are highly patriotic and realistic. His early work The Lithuanian
School (Lietuvos mokykla also Vargo mokykla) depicts a mother
teaching her child to read in his native Lithuanian language
in between her yarn spinning. This has become a symbol of the
Lithuanian resistance to the Lithuanian press ban
(1864–1904) and was featured on the 5 litas banknote.[3]
A large bronze copy was made in 1957 and was installed near the Vytautas the
Great War Museum. It was inspired by his personal childhood education and
experiences of his book
smuggler brother. The Ploughman (Artojas) showcases misery
and oppression of the Lithuanian farmers during the times of the Russian Empire. It
depicts a farmer with a starved horse, which uses its last strength to pull the
plough. Several copies exist; one of them is held by the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston. The sculpture received Pavel Stroganov Prize in 1910. It was
later expanded into a sculptural trilogy with Enough of That Yoke (Gana
to jungo, 1909), which showed rearing
horse in an act of resistance, and Final (Finalas, 1910), which
depicted a fallen horse. The two works were not well received and it seems that
Rimša himself was not satisfied with them.
While
in Smolensk, Rimša created In
Torment (Skausmas) in 1916. This work, inspired by the hardships of
World War I, depicts a suffering woman dressed in complex ornamented clothes.
It is a stark departure from his earlier realistic works as it is symbolic,
stylized, and heavily decorated with fine detail. It exhibits features of
decorative design borrowed from graphic arts and ornamentation from traditional
Lithuanian art. The overly complex and decorated style distracts the viewer
from the intended message of pain and grief. This new style was later used for The
Thinker (Satyras or Mąstytojas, 1921), Night and Day (Diena
ir naktis, 1922), Tale of Spring and Autumn (Pavasario ir rudens
pasaka, 1922), The Knight (Riteris or Karžygys, 1931).
These works departed from strictly patriotic themes and became more Romantic.
From
1923, Rimša created various medals. Most of them are patriotic, created to mark
anniversaries. At least five medals were minted in 1920s that supported
Lithuania in its conflict with the Second Polish
Republic over the Vilnius
Region. A particularly grotesque medal Union Desired (Unijos nori)
was struck in 1925. It depicted