ALGIRDAS (1374)

Grand duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, made Lithuania one of the largest European states of his day.


Prince of Krevo and Vitebsk (1341-45), Algirdas acceded to the grand dukedom. The goals of his foreign policy were to defend Lithuania against the Teutonic Knights, invade Russian and Ukrainian lands subject to the Golden Horde of the Mongols, and establish Lithuanian hegemony over the province of Volhynia. His struggle with Poland over Volhynia finally gained him part of the province. He failed to establish his claims to Pskov and Novgorod, but succeeded in campaigns against the Tatars (1362-63), capturing the principality of Kiev. His campaigns (1368, 1370, and 1372) against Moscow were unsuccessful, and he died during another war against the Tatars.