Полоцкая летопись - history of the Principality of Polotsk

Milana may sound Italian, but since it contains the same Mil- part as Miłosław or Milan, I guess it's still a Slavic name Besides, it's even listed in the Wikipedia

As of Trakai's name in this AAR - I first searched for the original name's origins, then used my (average, I admit) knowledge of Russian to create a correct form. I tried to follow the pattern established from names I know - like Minsk being derived from the river Mien, Dvinsk from river Dvina or Polotsk from river Polota. And as of calling home villages "swamps" - we do this in Poland as well

8.1: The Dark Days​

Many historians tend to draw parallels between Alexei and his great-grandfather Andrei. Both have taken the throne as infants, after their fathers' untimely demise. Both have reigned during a period of uncertinity and constant threat. And both have left the Litvian state much stronger than it was before their times.

Since Alexei was just 10 at the time of his ascencion, a regency council was established, with tsarina Sofia and Dmitriy of Rezhitsa playing key roles. Alexei and his brothers - Andrei (born in 1222) and Rogvolod (1225) have been evacuated to Vladimir-na-Nemane, where they have been put under supervision of Mstislav Alexandrovich - a close companion to tsar Volodar and, according to the chronicle, "the strongest man in all Russia, Poland and Greece". Most researchers contribute Alexei's numerous later military victories to Mstislav's mentorship.

In the meantime, the regency council utilised all means neccessary to strenghten the border castles and strongholds. Although the Mongols left Litva, the fear of their return was strong enough for the regency council to consider abandoning Polotsk completely in favour of either Vladimir or Kraków. The legend says that during one such meeting in Vladimir, Alexei stormed the council's chambers and threatened to escape to fight the Mongols alone, should the council abandon Rogvolod's capital. Tsarina Sofia is said to have been so much impressed that she swore to her son that Polotsk shall not be abandoned, even if the whole horde laid siege.

Regardless of the story's creadibility, it is doubtless that the council's effort was concentrated on strentening the border, instead of abandoning it. The fortresses of Polotsk, Vsleslav and Dvinsk have all been reinforced and two new castles have been erected just a few verstas¹ from the border with the Horde - Rogvolod in Livoniya and Georgiev east of Polotsk. Although neglected later on and now mostly in ruins, the once invincible strongholds are nowadays still famous landmarks of eastern Litva.

In 1231, Alexei's minority has ended. His coronation has been a great celebration, perhaps the first trully happy event since the death of tsar Volodar. First crowned as tsar of Litva in Polotsk, Alexei then travelled with his court through Vladimir, Płock, Kraków (where he was crowned the tsar of Poland), Peremyshl (where he married the Hungarian duchess Ilona of Ungvar) and Lublin, ending with the third coronation in Kiev, where the patriarch has finally put the Triple Crown on his head.

Marriage with Ilona, although trans-religious (the tsarina has never converted to orthodoxy, despite best efforts of the official Church), has soon proven to be profitable to the state - the couple's first child, Volodar, was born in May 1235. Other children were Sofia (born 1236) Dobroslava (born 1240), Anastasia (born 1241) and Evpraxia (born 1246).

Not all nobles supported Alexei's ascencion, however; in 1234-1236 prince Pełka of Silesia attempted to force himself as the Polish tsar, claming himself to be a descendant of Jacek II. Although he managed to obtain support from a large group of Polish nobility, their forces hae been defeated and Pełka himself imprisoned.

In 1237, Alexei campaigned against Pinsk. After princess Irina Iziaslavna's death the principality has been willed to her grandson - Croatian king Igor III. Having secured his rule in Litva, Alexei decided to regain the lost territory. His swift defeat of Croatian levies and siege of the stronghold resulted in another incorporation of Pinsk into Litva - despite king Igor formaly relinquishing control over the province to the Teutonic Knights a few days before it fell.


In 1239 news about the fall of Norway reached Polotsk, causing yet another wave of anxiety and panic. The Mongols have attempted the seemingly impossible - invasion of the frozen forests and mountains of Scandinavia - and succeeded. They even managed to plunder Iceland, using a mixture of captured Norse warships and exotic, oriental craft. It seemed only a matter of time before the horde fell upon Litva once again. Ironically, it was nordic winter that perhaps saved the tsardom; during his return from the Arctic, khagan Chiledu died of pneumonia. Thus, in 1240, the Horde plunged into a succession crisis that has effectively crippled it for almost two decades. The Litvian state was secure - for the time being.


¹ -> rus. верста = 1077 m

8.2: Turning the tide​

Chiledu's death caused great turmoil within the Horde; without a clear succession mechanism, individual warlords began competing for power, each hoping to establish himself as the sole sovereign of the vast empire. For Alexei, this posed a chance to finish the consolidation of his state - and, one day, to retake what has been lost.

In 1241, Alexei sealed the so called Troinaya Pravda (rus. Тройная Правда, pol. Potrójna Prawda) - the grand codification of law in Litva, Poland and Ruthenia. Crown laws and taxes in all three realms have been unified, as well as nobles' privileges and duties. Paradoxally, such unification was supported mostly by the Polish, hoping to dismantle the remnants of Jacek II's extensive royal bureaucracy.

In years 1241-1243, using a period of unstability in the Holy Roman Empire, Alexei campaigned against the German possessions in Prussia. In the decisive battle of Elbling (nowadays Ilfing) the Litvian forces have captured Badenian herzog Renhard I, forcing emperor Phillip von Veldenz to accept harsh peace terms; Galindia and Sambia were incorporated into Litva, later to be resettled by refugees from Mongol-conquered lands. Ten years later, in 1253, the second Litvian expedition into Prussia ended with incorporation of the rest of Imperial possesions in the province.

Those victories had a profound influence on the future of the region; the unification of Prussians and Balto-Litvians in a single realm allowed gradual unification of the two peoples, strenghtening the tsardom's manpower potential in the following decades. The Baltic influence on Litvian culture has also been reinforced, as visible in the language. Apart from the already established kunigas, the Litvian language has been enriched with words like lyaivas (ляйвас, meaning "ship"), vokyet (вокет, "person from Germany") or ritier (ритер, "knight").


Having secured his western front, Alexei moved against the enemy his father failed to defeat; the Byzantines. In 1249, in a grand battle of Iasi, the Litvians have defeated a bulwark of Greek forces north of Danube, forcing the aging emperor Bartholomaios Doukas to give up the long disputed land of Korsun. This victory, although almost a phyrric one, is often considered a turning point in Byzantine-Litvian relations. With the conflict over Korsun settled and a treaty confirming the borders between two dominant orthodox powers, a foundation for later alliance has been laid, greatly strenghtening the orthodoxy in its stand against the Roman Catholics in the west and the Tengri pagans in the east.


All this allowed Alexei to finally turn against the Horde. The time was high; after over a decade of civil war, Chiledu's son Ogodei has managed to defeat the usurpers, commencing a period of reconsolidation. There was little doubt that within a few years the rebuilt Horde might once again pose a threat to the tsardom.

In 1251, Alexei launched a campaign into Horde's lands. on the 18th of November the Litvian forces managed to abmush and destroy the whole Mongol tumen at Minsk. According to the sources, heavy rainfall turned the battlefield into a muddy puddle, effectively depriving the Mongol horse archers of their mobility. Having heard of their khagan's defeat, the Mongol garrisons of Vitebsk, Minsk and Orsha surrendered to the Litvians. A huge celebration has been held in retaken cities, with Alexei's brother Andrei being elected as the new prince of Vitebsk.


The importance of this victory can hardly be overestimated; destruction of Ogodei's tumen at Minsk not only crippled the rebuilt Mongol army, it also undermined the khagan's authority for the years to come. Next Litvian expeditions in 1255, 1262-1263 and 1263-1265 brought a reincorporation of Chernigov and Smolensk into Litva, thus restoring the lands lost to the oriental onslaught in 1225. Litva once again stood strong against its nemesis, ready not only to defend itself from attacks, but also deal blows whenever needed.

@ An Elder Thing -> This really creeped me out. During their first invasion my armies got pretty much steamrolled, and seeing the Mongols just strive into Norway without any interference was almost too surreal to be real. Luckily, the khagan died in perhaps the most appropriate moment - I had 1/3 chance to be their next target. And I really doubt they'd choose Byzantines instead of me.

And to the rest of you chaps - is this AAR really so dull no one finds the strenght to comment? C'mon people, I really want to know your opinions!

8.3: Between Two Emperors​

Having secured his realm militarly, Alexei moved on to diplomatical offensive. It was obvious that victories against the Byzantines and Germans had to be used - otherwise, military triumphs would soon become but phantoms of the past, with no significant consequence to Litvian position in Europe.

Emperor Bartholomaios' death in 1252 opened up a possibility of reconciliation with the Byzantines. The new basileus, Megistos Doukas, had to fight of the renewed muslim expansion, led by shia caliph Khail II - and realised that forging an alliance with the Litvians would greatly serve the Empire's security. In 1254, the two rulers met in Kiev to renegotiate the treaty of 1249. Megistos recognized the Litvian conquest of Korsun, in exchange for Alexei's obligation to aid the Byzantines in their war against the muslims. To soldify this new agreement, two marriages have been announced: tsarievich Volodar married Megistos' daughter Eufemia, while his sister Dobroslava became a Byzantine basilissa.


Still, the promised expedition against Khail II took over five years to organise. In September 1257 a Litvian army of fifteen thousand men assembled along the lower Dnieper and marched into Byzantine territory. A long and exhausting march (at least two thousand Litvians are believed to have died due to various diseases) ended in March at the walls of Faustinopolis in Armenia Minor. The Litvian army relieved the besieged city and destroyed the muslim forces. This victory turned out to be the only one in the Asian campaign, however; Khail II's forces went into dispersal, forcing Alexei to withdraw once the harsh climate took its toll on the intervening army. Still, the battle of Faustinopolis is commonly considered to be the turning point of the war against the muslims; using the retaken initiative, the Byzantines pushed Khail II out of Anatolia, forcing him to sign the humiliating treaty of Edessa in 1263.


On the other side of Europe, Philip von Veldenz's defeat in 1253 and the lose of Prussia to the Litvians caused much turmoil in the Empire; Azzone Premyslid, an Italian-speaking scion of the Bohemian dynasty, staged a palace coup and proclaimed himself Emperor. This caused a widespread fraction within the Empire, with most nobles supporting Philip's son, Meinhard's claim to the throne. Curiously enough, the civil war splintered the Premyslid house as well - with the Czech-speaking branch openly opposing Azzone's claim.

It is unknown why exactly Alexei decided to intervene in this conflict. Some researchers believe that Litvian economy required plunder to fuel post-Mongolian reconstruction. Others point out to the "imperial mentality" - claiming that the only way an empire can survive is by constant expansion, until a natural border is reached. Finally, some researchers believe Alexei became drifting towards mysticism in his late years and wanted to recreate the "Slavic Empire" of Great Moravia. Regardless of the motive, the fact is undeniable - in 1260, Alexei's armies entered Moravia, laying siege on the border fortress of Olomouc.

The so-called Bohemian Wars are usually divided into two distinct periods; Moravian (1260-1266) and Bohemian (1274-1278). The first phase began with the Litvian invasion of Moravia, and ended with kunigas Demid Meshchersky being created prince of Moravia in 1266. The Moravian period is characterised by rather easy Litvian victories and lack of major religious strife; the nobility in Olomunec and Brno accepted Demid and Alexei's sovereignity in exchange for religious toleration.

The second period, however, was far more religious in character; in 1272, emperor Azzone introduced the so-called Edict of Steel (ger. Stahl Edikt), openly hostile towards orthodox influence in the Reich and stripping all "heretics" (including the Meshcherskys) of all rights and titles within the Empire. This caused various, hitherto neutral, heretic sects to join the anti-imperial opposition, renewing hostilities between Azzone and Meinhard von Valdenz.

In 1274, Alexei, his son Volodar and prince Demid led a huge army into Bohemia, capturing the city of Boleslav and giving it to one of the first Bohemian orthodox neophite, Ciro Premyslid. This defeat allowed von Valdenz to dethrone Azzone and proclaim himself emperor in 1275. The new sovereign organised a retaliatory campaign against the Litvians, and the two armies met at the walls of Stolp in Pommerania on the 18th of September 1276. The battle, fought during a violent storm, turned out to be the last for the aging tsar; although the Litvian troops routed the Imperials and besieged Stolp itself, the victor of Ilfing, Iasi and Minsk, died of wounds and exhaustion in the wake of the clash.


It is truly remarkable that despite his death, Alexei managed to strike one last blow against the Empire. With the bulk of his forces annihilated, Meinhard I returned to his palace only to meet yet another palace coup - which restored Azzone to the throne. This allowed the Litvians to take Praha and Hrdec Kralove in 1277-1278, forcing Azzone Premyslid to accept the humiliating peace of Brno; even though he regained control over the Bohemian capital, he had to accept Litvian control over the eastern parts of the realm.

As said at the begining of the chapter, Alexei holds a special place in Litvian history. Not only did his reign see the defeat of both the Mongols and the Byzantines - something his father could not have accomplished - but also a successful expansion in three directions - into Bohemia Hungary and Prussia. It is by no means strange that even the contemporary people used to call him "the Great".

Alexei I's reign saw the finalization of the process that begun with Volodar's ascencion to the Polish throne in 1203. The gradual integration of several peoples resulted in the birth of a uniqie mixture.

Population

Shortly before his death in 1276, Alexei ordered a first population census to be conducted in Litva. Although many researchers question the exact numbers acquired in the process, I believe we can saftely use them to estimate Litvian population as of 1282 (when the census was completed):


Curiously enough, the ethnical borders have proven to be very stable; even the originally pagan Balts have managed to retain their distinctive language and traditions, influencing the initially purely Russian conquerors instead. Historians mostly explain this phenomena with Litvian state's religious policy; as long as an individual converted to orthodoxy, he or she had an open way to polotskian court, titles and honours.

Language

Not surprisingly, such ethnical combination resulted in the cultural diversity of Litvian nobility. Russian, Polish, Lettgalian, Prussian and Czech sounded in the corridors of the royal palace in Polotsk - equal and indiscriminated. However, during Alexei's reign, the linguistical evolution led to the development of a distinctive language - the so-called Litvian langugage.

Litvian - a curious mixture of Russian, Lettgalian, Polish and (to some extent) Czech became the unifying factero for the nobility, although it never spread to lower strats - the peasantry and most brughers continued using their original languages, while the clergy remained true to the Old Slavic and Greek, both used in liturgy and worship. This resulted in the administration becoming increasingly bilingual - with local clerks forced to use Litvian in bureaucracy and regional languages when dealing with commoners.

Thus, the Litvian language slowly drifted away from regular Russian, becoming a largely independent language, although both are roughly understandable to one another's speakers. Baltic influence turned out to be limited to vocabulary alone - leaving most Slavic grammar intact. Later Polish and Czech influence failed to leave a significant influence on the Litvian - being limited to single words like горале (gorale, from Polish górale, highlanders) or пивовар (pivovar, from Czech, brewery).

Religion

Contrary to cultural tolerance, the Litvian administration was most eager to endorse religious unit whenever possible. Combined with the papal crisis in the XII and XIII century, and the rapid expansion of the Byzantine Empire (which in turn strenghtened the Constantinople patriarchy), such policy resulted in the Polish and Czechs quickly abandoning the roman catholicism to orthodoxy. Curiously, the gap in influence between the Pope and the patriarch was so huge, that even the Steel Edict did not prevent the population of Nurnberg converting to orthodoxy en masse in the wake of Alexei I's conquest of Moravia.


Nevertheless, one should note that the Byzantine and Litvian variations of the orthodox creed have gradually started derivating - which turned out to be the base for the so-called "Litvian schism" in the late XV century.

Politics

The head of the Litvian state was the tsar, crowned each time by the patriarch or - as in Volodar's case - the metropolit of Polotsk. The most important regalia was the Triple Crown - a golden jewelry masterpiece, decorated with sapphires, rubies and emeralds, representing Ruthenia, Poland and Litva respectively. Alexei I's coronation established a practice followed by his successors - with multiple celebrations taking place in various cities across the realm. Polotsk, Kraków and Kiev were always on such list - other cities varied according to tsar's personal sympathies and political interests.

The tsar had the power to create hereditary princes (lit. князь, knyaz'), who represented his power in the field. In theory, each knyaz' had a clearly attributed domain - but petty intrigues and plots often resulted in nobles acquiring lands outside their de jure sphere of influence. One such feud occured during the late part of Alexei's reign, with knyaz' Alexander of Silesia acquiring analogical titles in Livonya and Kurlandya.

The knyaz'es on their own had the power to nominates kunigases - who administered individual provinces. Only few kunigases - like Ciro of Boleslav - were subordinated to the tsar personally. The kunigases were hereditary as well, although they rarely managed to exceed their powers in a way knyaz'es did.

Curiously, such feudal ladder caused little vertical conflicts (i.e. knyaz' rebellions against the tsar), while the lack of control mechanisms caused a lot of horizontal infighting between the knyaz'es. Perhaps the only large-scale rebellion of Alexei I's time was the war of Małgorzata, princess of Wielkopolska. Claiming the throne of Poland as a distant relative to Jacek II, the princess waged war against Alexei in 1271-1273. The conflict ended with her and her young son Andrzej being cast into polotskian dungeon, were they both died in 1275.

Economy

Recovery of the eastern lands, as well as stabilization of the Litvo-Greek border after the Treaty of Kiev, have allowed trade to once again flow safetly along the Dnieper. The Russian cities enjoyed a period of rapid growth and expansion, and new villages have been established. Even though the Litvians never took the "pearl" of the Gardariki (nordic "Land of the cities") - Novgorod - their control over Vsleslav, Dvinsk and Polotsk soon impoverished the Mongol-devastated metropolis, with Polotsk taking its place as the chief centre of trade in the north.

If Dnieper was Litvian "backbone", then western Ruthenia and Poland may saftely be called its "belly". Fertile soils of these lands have been turned into vast farmlands, with crops produced being exported to Germany, France and Scandinavia. Controlled by a royal monopoly, the "green gold" contibuted greatly to Litvian military and territorial expansion.

Military

In organisation, the Litvian army did not differ from other medieval european forces - it was a product of feudal system, composed of mass peasant levies, aided by elite noble forces - the so-called дружина (lit. druzhina, a company). The main force consisted of a heavy infantry core, with small cavalry regiments acting as reconnaisance and pursuit groups. This gave the Litvian army sufficient strike force to decimate infantry-based armies with ease - but made it lack flexibility to adjust to the dynamic pace of steppe warfare. Some scholars believe that the crushing victory at Minsk in 1251 would not have been possible, should rain fail to immobilize the Mongols.

Well guys... I know cpt Obvious would be mighty proud of me, but I just learnt about the DLC finally coming out next week. And I guess this means continuing the AAR beyond this point would be rather dull - playing an orthodox state without the new add-ons? Meh. Plus, I'm not that confident about backwards compatibility after 1.7 gets installed. So, I guess it is high time to consider this AAR a finished one. Darn, once again I failed to complete the whole grand campaign. But at least I managed to bring the game to some reasonable ending

Once again I'd like to thank all those who read this story & lurked the thread. Double thanks and cookies come to those who made and effort and commented - without you I'd have terminated the game before royal coronation, I'm afraid