Kingdom of Lithuania

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kingdom of Lithuania was the Lithuanian Monarchy, which existed in the 13th century, and was temporarily re-established in the 20th century.

The Medieval Kingdom of Lithuania existed from 1251, to approximately 1263. The status of Kingdom was granted by Pope Innocent IV, when the state was placed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, on July 17, 1251. Two years later, the Lithuanian ruler Mindaugas was crowned as the King of Lithuania, in 1253. After the assassination of Mindaugas and his sons in 1263, the country reverted to Paganism, and the status of Kingdom was revoked by the Holy See.

There was also an attempt by Vytautas the Great to receive a royal crown. He was proclaimed King, and Lithuania a Kingdom, by Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor in 1430, but the royal crown, which was sent by Sigismund to Vytautas, was intercepted by Polish noblemen. Soon afterwards Vytautas died, without being crowned as King.

An attempt to re-establish the Kingdom of Lithuania occurred in spring of 1918, near the end of World War One. The German occupying military government attempted to have Duke Wilhelm of Urach made King of Lithuania, and he was proclaimed as Mindaugas II. This short-lived Monarchy was abolished with the defeat of the Germans in the fall of the same year, and Lithuania became a Republic.