- Tautvilas
Tautvilas or Tautvila (died in 1263) was Duke of
Polatsk and one of the sons ofDausprungas and nephews ofKing of Lithuania Mindaugas . Tautvilas together with his brotherEdivydas and uncleVykintas waged a civil war against Mindaugas. The war resulted incoronation of Mindaugas.In 1248, Mindaugas sent Tautvilas, Edivydas, and Vykintas to conquer
Smolensk promising that they could keep what they would conquer. On theProtva River they defeated Duke ofMoscow but lost to the Duke ofVladimir-Suzdal . After discovering about the failure, Mindaugas took their land and property for himself. At the beginning of 1249, Tautvilas, Edivydas, and Vykintas fled toDaniel of Halych , who was married to Tautvilas' sister. They formed a powerful coalition with theSamogitia ns, theLivonian Order , and Vasilko ofVolhynia in opposition to Mindaugas. An internal war erupted. While Daniel and the Livonian Order were organizing military campaigns into Mindaugas lands, Tautvilas travelled toRiga , where he was baptized by the Archbishop in 1250.Mindaugas thwarted the coalition by agreeing to baptize and relinquish control over some lands in the western Lithuania, for which he was to receive a crown in return. The Livonian Order became an ally. In 1252, Tautvilas and the remaining allies attacked Mindaugas in
Voruta , sometimes considered to be the first capital of Lithuania. The attack failed and Tautvilas' forces retreated to defend themselves in Vykintas castle in the present-dayRietavas municipality . Neither side seems to have won, but Vykintas died in or about 1253, and Tautvilas was forced to flee to Halych. There he helped Daniel in an unsuccessful campaign againstBohemia . Daniel reconciled with Mindaugas in 1254 and Tautvilas recognized Mindaugas' superiority. In return he receivedPolatsk as afief dom.While governing Polatsk, his main concern was to secure a trading route from Polatsk along the
Daugava to the upperDnieper River . Tautvilas managed to take awayVitebsk from Dukes ofNavahradak . His son Constantine became the ruler of Vitebsk. After Mindaugas was assassinated byTreniota and Daumantas, Tautvilas wished to assume the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania, but was killed by cousin Treniota in 1263.References
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* cite book |others= Vytautas Spečiūnas (compiler)|title= Lietuvos valdovai (XIII-XVIII a.): enciklopedinis žinynas |year=2004 |publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas |location=Vilnius |id=ISBN 5-420-01535-8 |pages=20-21ee also
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House of Mindaugas – family tree of Tautvilas
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