The Marriage of Poland and Lithuania

In 1385, Lithuania was a very large territory on Poland's eastern border. Poland's throne was held by the pre-teen Jadwiga, who was supposed to marry William of Austria, then Siemovit of Poland, and finally the 30-year-old Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania. An arrangement like this takes a lot of planning and legal wrangling. In the case of Jadwiga and Jogaila, that legal wrangling was embodied in the Union of Krewo, whose document is seen here.

The prenuptial arrangements in the Union of Krewo (called so because it was signed at Krevo Castle) included a certain sine qua non: Jogaila had to convert to Christianity. Poland was a Christian country; Lithuania was exposed to Eastern Orthodoxy on its eastern border with Russian people, but still embraced polytheism. Jogaila was defending Lithuania from Teutonic Knights, who kept attacking under the pretense of a Crusade. He understood that becoming Christian would create an alliance with other countries and pull the rug out from under the Teutonic Order.

The other promises of the document:

• Conversion of Jogaila, Lithuanian nobles and all pagan Lithuanians to Roman Catholicism
• Paying 200,000 florins to William of Austria for terminating his engagement with Jadwiga
• Returning all lands lost in previous Lithuanian-Polish wars
• Release of all war prisoners of Poland (c.45,000) held by the Lithuanians
• Attaching Lithuanian lands to the Crown of Poland

In light of these promises, Poland agreed that Jogaila could be their king. In February 1386 Jogaila was baptized by Archbishop Bodzanta. As his baptismal name, he chose Wladislaus in honor of Jadwiga's great-grandfather king Władysław I the Elbow-high.

There was a problem with William of Austria, to whom Jadwiga had been promised nearly since birth. William claimed she was officially married to him, and the marriage to Jogaila made her a bigamist. His protests carried weight with Pope Urban VI, who would not confirm the marriage of Jadwiga and Jogaila. It took a few years until Pope Boniface IX (1389-1404) confirmed their marriage. (Boniface had also similarly supported a certain English arrangement that had raised eyebrows.)

Although this union was the start of four centuries of Lithuania-Poland shared history, Lithuania did not appreciate increasing Polish influence, and Jogaila's brother Skirgaila, who had been left behind to rule Lithuania, was unpopular. This gave Jogaila's cousin Vytautas the opportunity to try to gain more power, leading to a Lithuanian Civil War (1389-92), but that was resolved by making Vytautas Grand Duke while leaving Jogaila as his overlord.

Another complication came from an unexpected source: Jadwiga's sister, Mary, whose husband had become King of Hungary and had his own ideas of what should happen to Poland. I'll go into that next time.

Catherine in the World

Catherine of Siena (25 March 1347 - 29 April 1380) wanted to join the Dominicans and retire from the world. This was not only discouraged by her mother, but a vision Catherine had of being married to Christ included the injunction to go out into the world to do good works.

During a 1374 visit to Florence, she made the acquaintance of Raymond of Capua, chaplain of a second order monastery of Dominican nuns. While nursing plague victims, he became ill; Catherine sat by his side during his recovery, which he attributed to her prayers.

They began a close relationship, and he became her confessor and spiritual advisor, traveling with and advising her. Catherine traveled around northern and central Italy, urging reform of the clergy. She convinced the cities of Pisa and Lucca to avoid an alliance with an anti-papal movement. She wrote to John Hawkwood, trying to persuade him to turn his energy to supporting God.

She had a long correspondence with Pope Gregory XI, which included urging him to return the papal headquarters from Avignon back to Rome, which he eventually did. Not all cardinals approved of the return, and when Gregory died a few years later, two competing groups of cardinals—in in Rome, one still in Avignon—each elected a pope, resulting in what is called the Western Schism. Such was her perceived influence that Catherine went to Rome at the request of Pope Urban VI to support his legitimacy. Unfortunately for Urban, her support was not sufficient.

Catherine's habit of extreme fasting was very unhealthy, and Raymond admonished her to eat more, but she refused. In 1380 she lost the ability to swallow easily. She suffered a stroke and lost the use of the lower half of her body. She died on 29 April 1380.

Although she was buried in Rome, her head was placed in a bronze bust and taken to Siena. It was carried through the city in a procession to the Basilica of San Domenico, accompanied by her then 89-year-old mother. Her mother and Raymond of Capua collaborated on her biography. She was named a Doctor of the Church in 1970 by Pope Paul VI in recognition of her pious example and her treatise The Dialogue of Divine Providence.

About this Western Schism, during which she was unsuccessful in convincing everyone to accept Urban as the legitimate pope: his opponent didn't succeed either. I should say opponents, because Avignon and Rome weren't the only cities to name a pope. That story is for next time.

The Avignon Papacy

I like to link items in each post to previous posts that offer more info on those items. I have frequently referred to the time when the popes were not in Rome, but in Avignon; I have, however, not yet produced a post that explains the geographical shift.

The Avignon Papal Palace (It's no Vatican, but it'll do)

I suppose it might have started with conflict between King Philip IV of France, who was taxing the clergy to finance his ongoing wars, and Pope Boniface VIII, whose bull Clericis laicos forbade taxation of clergy with papal approval. After the death of Boniface and the death of his successor, Benedict XI, after only eight months, a Frenchman was elected, Clement V.

Clement V decided he did not want to live in Rome, and moved the papal court to Avignon, which is now in France but was then in the Kingdom of Arles. The French Clement was very friendly to the King of France, pretty much revoking Clerics laicos and beginning a string of seven popes, all French, who more and more came under the influence of the French crown.

The Avignon Papacy lasted from 1309 until January 1377. Pope Urban V wanted to move to Rome, but it was hindered by the War of the Eight Saints. His successor, Gregory XI, finally returned to Rome after (supposedly) being inspired to do so by Catherine of Siena.

The Avignon Papacy was sometimes referred to as the Babylonian Captivity, but worse was to follow.

After Gregory's death in 1378, conflict between his successor, Urban VI, and the cardinals created the Western Schism (1378 - 1417), when a series of rival popes were elected by renegade cardinals and took up residence in Avignon. The Avignon popes during this time are considered antipopes.