The monarch and the vassal: Witold and the Union of Horodlo
The goal of the present article is to present the scope and character of the authority of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Witold at the time of the Union of Horodlo on the basis of the entirety of written and iconographic sources dating back to the beginning of the 15th century. The documents of Horodło did not exert a direct impact on the legal status of Witold himself, yet in 1413 his real authority was much more extensive than 10 years earlier. The author focuses on an analysis of Witold’s policy in the first decade of the 15th century since the period between the year 1401 when he was officially entrusted with the grand ducal authority, and the year 1413, was by far the most important one in the task of building an independent political organization in Lithuania. Witold’s activities (diplomatic, territorial and propagandist ones) had led to an establishment of the sovereignty of power which was legalized by the Pact of Vilnius and Radom of 1401. The new monarchic conception and the image of Witold had been worked out in the ruler’s immediate entourage, whose core consisted of foreign scholars, secretaries and local Lithuanian magnates. The role of advisors from the grand ducal office in the process of development of monarchic ideology is unquestionable; it is particularly visible during the ideological struggle with the German Order in the Grunwald era.
The development of monarchic power in Lithuania exerted a negative impact on Witold’s relations with his senior brother, the king of Poland and the supreme Lithuanian duke Jagiello. Shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Vilnius in 1401, Witold who concentrated power in his own hands began to treat his tributary obligations and oaths as his own exclusive rights. Ever since that moment Witold, who was a sovereign ruler in Lithuania, did not allow anyone to interfere in the relations between him and his subordinates. Jagiello could have only one vassal in Lithuania – namely Witold.
