Thread by @Arby_K

A pagan ruler, converting to Catholicism and creating the largest Christian kingdom of that time. Though the kingdom would endure long after his short lived dynasty, it would eventually be partitioned by its neighbours and briefly disappear from the map.

Story in the evening ...

https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1326340170472284160

Jogaila was born in 1351 to Algirdas of Lithuania and Iuliana of Tver. One of the many sons of Algirdas, Jogaila was the designated heir for the southern part of Lithuania which Algirdas ruled. The northern part was ruled by Kestutis, younger brother of Algirdas. 1/10

Jogaila had many elder half brothers who were assigned parts Lithuania had acquired from the Rurikid princes. When Algirdas died in 1377, Jogaila would become the Grand Duke of Lithuania, though his elder brothers would challenge it. 2/10

With the support of his younger brothers, Jogaila would be able to defeat them. But he would find his uncle Kestutis and his son, Vytautas, harder to crack. The Livonian Order saw an opportunity in gaining territory as well as adding more followers to Christianity. 3/10

With the support of the Livonian Order, Jogaila would defeat Kestutis and get him killed. But when the Livonian Order came calling, Jogaila allied himself with Vytautus. Another opportunity, though, would rise up for Jogaila, across the border in Poland. 4/10

Lajos, King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland, had died in 1382. As Lajos was the last male of Hungarian branch of Capet-Anjou, his daughter Jadviga would be crowned Queen of Poland, with her elder sister Maria inheriting Hungary and Croatia. The Polish Queen needed a husband. 5/10

Jogaila was selected as the preferred suitor by the Polish nobles. But the pre-nup required Jogaila to become Catholic and pursue the conversion of Lithuania to Catholicism. With the Crusading Livonians and the Orthodox Moscow on his heels, he sided with Poland. 6/10

Vytautus would gain control of complete Lithuania in 1392, as Jogaila focussed his attention on Poland. The death of Jadviga at childbirth without an heir put Jogaila as the sole ruler of Poland. In 1410, the cousins would beat Livonia confirming their unity and strength. 7/10

Jogaila's younger son, Kazimierz, would reunite Poland and Lithuania under single rule in 1447, setting in motion the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which would become the largest and the most populous Catholic nation in Europe in the 16th century. 8/10

The dynasty of Jogaila would end with Kazimierz's grandson, Zygmunt, in 1572. Zygmunt would formally create the Commonwealth in 1569 that would last another 200 years, that too with an elected monarchy, but ultimately disappearing from the map in 1795. 9/10

Kazimierz's eldest son would go on to rule in Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. But his son, Lajos, would fall in the Battle of Mohács in 1526 and his realm divided between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans (and János Zápolya). 10/10