History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 280. Episode 284, the Baltic, the Baltic Crusades, the Samagitzian Crusade Part 16, the Supreme Prince of Lithuania.

Hello again.

Last week we saw the rise of a new player in the Baltic Crusades,

our Gertis' son, Yogila. in the after his father's death. The young intelligent quietly focused

Yugyla commenced his rule by negotiating a number of treaties with the Teutonic Order, treaties which on the face of them were designed to keep

his six brothers from challenging his position, but were secretly more about undermining his uncle and co-ruler, Kastutis.

Now, some major power plays are about to take place in Lithuanian politics, driven, of course, by

Yagaila. To set ourselves up in a good position to understand what is about to happen, let's take a quick look at the major players and

their current states of minds.

Firstly, of course, we have Yoguyla, who we met last week.

Joining Yogila around this time is a man called Hans of Riga.

Hans was the Governor of Vilnius until he joined Team

Yogiler as Yogiler's chief advisor. The very handy thing about Hans is, as you can probably guess from his name, he was raised as a German and was fluent in the German language and in the culture of the Teutonic Order.

He had rejected his German heritage and had moved to Vilnius as a merchant, but his talent

for politics saw him move progressively into leadership positions in Vilnius

until he found himself the governor of the city. Hans will be incredibly useful to

Yugila and will quickly become his indispensable right-hand man. With his extensive knowledge of trade in the Baltic region, his fluency in German,

and his acquaintance with many facts regarding the Teutonicorda both in Prussia and Livonia, Hans initially

acted as a Geyla's interpreter in dealing with the Germans, but quickly made himself useful as an advisor and confidant

to the extent that occasionally, Yagaila would send Hans to represent him at diplomatic meetings. Still in Lithuania, but on the opposing

side to Yogila, even though he doesn't know it yet, is Kestutus.

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