Vaidotas (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1362) was a son of

Kęstutis Kęstutis ( – 3 or 15 August 1382) was sole Duke of Trakai from 1342 to 1382 and List of Lithuanian monarchs, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1342 to 1382, together with his brother Algirdas (until 1377), and with his nephew Jogaila (from 1377 to ...

Grand Duke of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand duke, Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crown ...

. In reliable historical sources he is mentioned only twice: as defender of

Kaunas Castle Kaunas Castle () is a medieval castle in Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. Archeological evidence suggests that it was built during the mid-14th century in the Gothic style. Its site is strategic—a rise on the banks of the Nemunas ...

in 1362 and as ruler of

Navahrudak Novogrudok or Navahrudak (; ; , ; ) is a town in Grodno Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Novogrudok District. As of 2025, it has a population of 27,624. In the Middle Ages, the city was ruled by King Mindaugas' son ...

. Due to very limited information, his life is subject to wide-ranging theories by historians.

Historical mentions

According to the chronicles of

Wigand of Marburg Wigand of Marburg ()Note that ''von Marburg'' is a purely descriptive title added to his original name of Wigand by later historians, rather than a proper surname. Also the ''von'' should not be confused with a preposition used in later times to d ...

, he was the commander of the

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

of the newly built

during the three-week siege in April 1362. After strong resistance the castle was taken over and then destroyed. Vaidotas with 36 men tried to break through, but was taken prisoner. The defeat was one of the largest and important military victories of the

Teutonic Knights The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...

in the 14th century against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. In a 1401 document his brother Grand Duke

Vytautas Vytautas the Great (; 27 October 1430) was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the prince of Grodno (1370–1382), prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites. In modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revere ...

wrote that some years before Vaidotas and his brother

Tautvilas Kęstutaitis Tautvilas or Towtwil (c.1352–1355 – September 1390) was one of the sons of Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and a strong supporter of his brother Vytautas the Great in his struggles against their cousin Jogaila. In 1380, Jogaila signe ...

were given to rule

equally, but it is unclear when that occurred. Historians proposed 1365 as the most likely date.

Interpretations

Because of very limited historical sources, Vaidotas is sometimes confused with Vaidutis (Waydutte), son of Butautas and grandson of Kęstutis. Further confusion is introduced by the

Bychowiec Chronicle The ''Bychowiec Chronicle'' (; ; also spelled ''Bykhovets'', ''Bykovets'' or '' Bychovec'') is an anonymous 16th-century chronicle of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Although one of the least reliable sources of the epoch, it is considered the most ...

, an unreliable chronicle from the 16th century, which claims that Vaidotas died in his youth in Lithuania. C. S. Rowell argued that Butautas and Vaidotas were the same person and their names were recorded differently because of different dialects. In his 1999 monograph on the early

Gediminids The House of Gediminas (), or simply the Gediminids, were a dynasty of monarchs in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that reigned from the 14th to the 16th century. A cadet branch of this family, known as the Jagiellonian dynasty, reigned also in th ...

, Polish historian provided the following biography of Vaidotas: he was the eldest son of

and

Birutė Birutė (died 1382) was the Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the second wife of Kęstutis, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and mother of Vytautas the Great. There is very little known about Birutė's life, but after her death a cu ...

; was captured at Kaunas in 1362, but returned before 1365 and received Navahrudak; converted to Eastern Orthodoxy and was baptized as Ivan; had two sons Jerzy and Konrad; in 1384, during the

Lithuanian Civil War (1381–84) Lithuanian Civil War may refer to: * Lithuanian Civil War (1381–1384), a war between Jogaila and his uncle Kęstutis with son Vytautas * Lithuanian Civil War (1389–1392), a war between Jogaila and his cousin Vytautas * Lithuanian Civil War (1432 ...

, accompanied

to the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

; in 1389, visited the Order as Vytautas' envoy; died after 1390. Many of these conclusions are based on many conjectures and the assumptions that Ivan accompanying Vytautas is not

Ivan Olshansky Ivan Olshanski or Olshansky (died in or after 1402) was a member of the Lithuanian princely Alšėniškiai (Holshansky) family. Historians only know his father's name, Algimantas. Ivan was a faithful companion of Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke o ...

, that son Jerzy is not , and that son Konrad is not

References

{{reflist, 2, refs= {{cite encyclopedia , editor-first=Simas , editor-last=Sužiedėlis , encyclopedia=

Encyclopedia Lituanica ''Encyclopedia Lituanica'' (likely named after ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' or ''Encyclopedia Americana'') is a six-volume (about 3600-page) English language encyclopedia about Lithuania and Lithuania-related topics. It was published between 197 ...

, title=Vaidotas , year=1970–1978 , publisher=Juozas Kapočius , volume=VI , location=Boston, Massachusetts , page=21, lccn=74-114275 {{cite book , title=Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire Within East-Central Europe, 1295–1345 , first=S. C. , last=Rowell , year=1994 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , series=Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series, isbn=978-0-521-45011-9 , no-pp=true , page=xxxiii {{cite encyclopedia , editor-first=Vytautas , editor-last=Spečiūnas , encyclopedia=Lietuvos valdovai (XIII-XVIII a.): enciklopedinis žinynas , title=Vaidotas , year=2004 , publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas , location=Vilnius , isbn= 5-420-01535-8 , page=76 , language=lt {{cite journal, first=Vytas , last=Jankauskas , title=Kunigaikštis Vaidotas Kęstutaitis , url=http://vddb.library.lt/fedora/get/LT-eLABa-0001:J.04~2013~ISSN_1822-2617.V_13.PG_7-15/DS.002.0.01.ARTIC , journal=Kauno istorijos metraštis , year=2013 , volume=13 , issn= 1822-2617 , language=lt , pages=7–15 14th-century births Gediminids Military personnel from Kaunas History of Kaunas 14th-century Lithuanian nobility

Historical mentions

Interpretations

See also

References