"Dangerous" friendship with Olgerd.

Olgerd did not spare the soldiers, protecting the Russian lands from the knights of the Livonian Order and the Golden Horde. To the Russian princes, this service cost a lot - in return, the Lithuanian ruler demanded military support during his campaigns. Olgerd started a war with Moscow, and looted him to Lithuania. According to the testimony of the chroniclers, he spoke several languages, never consumed alcohol and expanded the boundaries of his principality by "cunning".

The exact date of birth of Olgerd is unknown; probably he was born around 1296 in the family of Grand Duke Gedimin of Lithuania. Gedimin was in power for 25 years, during which time he annexed part of the West Russian lands, including Polotsk, Grodno, Minsk and Vitebsk. The prince founded modern Vilnius. He was killed in battle with the Knights-Crusaders. Olgerd is one of the 14 children of Gedimin. In 1318, the young man married Maria Yaroslavna, daughter of the Vitebsk prince. The prince did not have any sons, so the lands went to Olgerd. Here is how his contemporary described it: "The prince has a majestic appearance; his face is ruddy, oblong, his nose is prominent, his eyes are blue, very expressive, his brows are thick, light, his hair and beard are light brown with graying, his forehead is high, his hair bald, he is taller than average, neither fat nor lean, clear and pleasant; he rides perfectly on horseback, but walks, limping on his right foot, therefore usually rests on a cane or on a young man; in German understands perfectly and can freely explain. "

The chroniclers noted that Olgerd spent all his time devoted to state affairs and campaigns, he did not like lavish feasts and "did not drink any drunk drink". In 1341, Pskov invited the prince and his brother Keystut to fight the Livonian knights.

The same service was given to the people of Smolensk. Prince Ivan Aleksandrovich accepted the assistance of Olgerd, and his son Svyatoslav, in turn, undertook to render military assistance to the Lithuanian ruler. Svyatoslav participated in the campaign against Moscow in 1368 and 1370-m. For this he received a message from the Patriarch of Constantinople, in which he threatened with excommunication from the church.

The second time Olgerd married the daughter of Tver prince Juliana Alexandrovna. Juliana founded the first female monastery in Vitebsk, on her initiative several churches were built in the city. In the marriage of Olgerd and Juliana supposedly born 16 children, among them Jagiello - the founder of the Jagiellonian dynasty.

Olgerd undertook several campaigns against Moscow. He used for his own purposes enmity between the Moscow prince and Tver prince Mikhail Alexandrovich. According to chroniclers, during the campaigns against Moscow, the Lithuanian commander took a large number of prisoners and cattle. Serious injuries to the surrounding villages. In 1372, the army of Dmitry Drutsky was defeated by the Lithuanian Guard Regiment. A truce was unprofitable for Lithuania, according to which Moscow returned part of the ransacked wealth. In addition, Olgerd pledged not to support the Prince of Tver, Mikhail Alexandrovich, if he undertook a new campaign against Moscow.

Most of Olgerd's life passed outside Lithuania. Thanks to the conquests, he took the new title: "Grand Duke of Lithuania, Russian, Dedic Krevsky, Vitebsk, Polotsk and others." He enjoyed considerable influence in Novgorod and Pskov, seized several Tatar fortresses - "and from Putivl already to Vustya Don from the Tatars, the wave was made and depleted right up to the Volga." The military success of Olgerd was partly due to his tactics. "The custom of Olgerd is such, no one knew him where the military thought to speak, or collects a lot of the army, like the military officials themselves, and all the soldiers did not know where they are going: neither aliens, nor strangers, nor guests aliens: in a secret everything was done cleverly, that the news should not reach the land on which the army wanted to go; and with such cunning took away many lands, took many cities and countries with will; not so much by force, by the wisdom of the war. "

Grand Duke of Lithuania died in 1377, his land he bequeathed to the son of Jagiello.
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