Vladimir Olgerdovich

Vladimir Olgerdovich^[a] (died after 1398) was the son of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his first wife Maria of Vitebsk. He was Prince of Kiev from 1362 to 1394. His sons Ivan and Alexander started the Belsky and Olelkovich families.

Vladimiras Algirdas. 1362-1394. Kiev mint. Military standard, swallowtail banner decorated with cross and pellets set on curved arm surmounted by cross, Cyrillic legend

Coin of the Principality of Kiev, around the time of Vladimir Olgerdovich (1362-1394), imitating a Gulistan mint dang of Golden Horde ruler Jani Beg (Jambek). Uncertain Kiev region mint. Pseudo-Arabic legend.^[1][2][3]

Prince of Kiev

After the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, the Principality of Kiev was attached to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.^[4] It is believed that Vladimir was installed in Kiev right after the battle and replaced Fiodor of Kiev.^[5] Vladimir conducted independent politics and minted his own coins.^[6] Initially the coins were heavily influenced by the numismatic traditions of the Golden Horde and copied symbolism from coins minted by Khans Jani Beg and Muhammad Bolak.^[7] However, later the coins replaced the Tatar symbols (i.e. tamga) with letter K (for Kiev) and a cross (for Eastern Orthodox faith).^[8] This could indicate that for a while the Principality still had to pay tribute to the Horde.^[8] These were the first coins minted in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.^[7]

In late 1384, Vladimir's troops detained Dionysius, the a metropolitan bishop, who died in captivity a year later.^[9] This was part of the power struggle between Dionysius, Pimen, and Cyprian for the title of Metropolitan of Moscow.

Removal from Kiev

When Jogaila became King of Poland in 1386, Vladimir swore loyalty to him. After the 1392 Ostrów Agreement, Vytautas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania and began to eliminate regional dukes replacing them with appointed regents.^[6] This campaign could have been launched to discipline disloyal dukes, but turned into a systematic effort to centralize the state. In 1393, Vytautas confiscated Volodymyr-Volynskyi from Feodor, son of Liubartas, Novhorod-Siverskyi from Kaributas, Vitebsk from Švitrigaila.^[6] In 1394, Vytautas and Skirgaila marched against Vladimir, who surrendered without a battle. Skirgaila was installed in Kiev while Vladimir received the Principality of Slutsk.

Vladimir, last mentioned in written sources in October 1398, was the 4th great-grandfather of Elizabeth Báthory.

Notes

1. Belarusian: Уладзімір Альгердавіч; Lithuanian: Vladimiras Algirdaitis; Polish: Włodzimierz Olgierdowic; Ukrainian: Володимир Ольгердович

References

1. For reference: Gulistan coinage of Jani Beg:  
2. Khromov, Kostiantyn; Khromova, Iryna (2019). "COINAGE GENESIS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE POLITICAL AUTONOMY ON THE LITHUANIAN-HORDE BORDER LANDS the second half of the 14th – the first half of the 15th century" (PDF). Ukraina Lithuanica: студії з історії Великого князівства Литовського: 13–14.
3. Suchodolski, Stanisław; Bogucki, Mateusz (2007). Money Circulation in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Modern Times: Time, Range, Intensity : International Symposium of the 50th Anniversary of Wiadomości Numizmatyczne : Warsaw, 13-14 October 2006. Avalon. p. 199. ISBN 978-83-89499-43-1. The first coins, anonymous (Type I), roughly imitate Tatar coins of Jani beg struck in Gulistán in the years 1351-1353 (Kozubovs'kyi 1994). Kozubovs'kyi regarded them as the oldest coins of Volodymyr from the sixties to the early eighties but Khromov, while facing some recent finds ( or a find ) from the Sumy province, is of the opinion that they were struck earlier, between 1354-63 under the rule of the Ruirikid Prince Theodore of Kyiv, and that they were struck somewhere to the east of the capital town, in the Sumy region ( Khromov 2004 , 2006 ).
4. Rowell, S. C. (6 March 2014). Lithuania Ascending. Cambridge University Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-107-65876-9.
5. Rowell, S. C. (1994). Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire Within East-Central Europe, 1295-1345. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series. Cambridge University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-521-45011-9.
6. Petrauskas, Rimvydas; Jūratė Kiaupienė (2009). Lietuvos istorija. Nauji horizontai: dinastija, visoumenė, valstybė (in Lithuanian). Vol. IV. Baltos lankos. pp. 373–374. ISBN 978-9955-23-239-1.
7. Sajauskas, Stanislovas (2004). "Pirmųjų Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės monetų ypatybės". Pinigų studijos (in Lithuanian): 83–84. ISSN 1392-2637.
8. Karys, Jonas K. (September 1964). "Išskiriamieji ženklai Lietuviškoje numizmatikoje". Aidai (in Lithuanian) (7). ISSN 0002-208X. from the original on 2011-10-03. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
9. Shubin, Daniel H. (2004). A history of Russian Christianity. Vol. 1. Algora Publishing. p. 111. ISBN 0-87586-289-6.