Jaunutis
gigatos | June 2, 2022
Summary
Jaunutis (baptized: Ioann, Jawnuta, John or Ivan; c. 1300-after 1366) was grand duke of Lithuania, serving from the death of his father Gediminas in 1341 until his deposition by his older brothers Algirdas and Kęstutis in 1345.
According to Jan Tęgowski, a Polish historian, he was probably born between 1306 and 1309.
Jaunutis is not mentioned in any written source before Gediminas” death. There are many theories as to why the previous ruler chose Jaunutis, a middle son, as his successor. Some have suggested that it was an acceptable compromise between his own pagan sons (Algirdas and Kęstutis) and orthodox sons (Narimantas, Karijotas, Liubartas). Others have claimed that Jaunutis was the eldest son of Gediminas” second wife. In fact, according to tradition, Gediminas married twice, first to a pagan woman and then to an Orthodox duchess. A third hypothesis is that he was living with Gediminas at the time of his death, and thus was considered the natural successor to rule Vilnius and the Grand Duchy.
Very little is known about the years when Jaunutis ruled. They were rather peaceful years both due to the ruler”s temperament and because the Teutonic knights and their Grandmaster Ludolf König were busy elsewhere. His brothers, on the other hand, were much more warlike: Algirdas attacked Možajsk, the Livonian order defended Pskov. Kęstutis provided support to Liubartas in succession disputes in Galicia-Volinia. The Bychowiec chronicle reports that Jaunutis was supported by Jewna, Gediminas” alleged wife and mother of his children. When the latter died in about 1344, Jaunutis soon after lost his throne: if this was indeed a case where the queen mother had such a decisive influence, it would be an interesting episode in the history of pagan Lithuania, since it is quite unprecedented. Perhaps, more realistically, a concrete stimulus was provided by the policy put in place by the Teutonic people in 1345, who began to rage in the border lands. Jaunutis, although removed, enjoyed the support of his brother Narimantas, who went in person to Jani Beg, khan of the Golden Horde, to discuss a hypothetical alliance against Algirdas and Kęstutis. Jaunutis was meanwhile imprisoned in Vilnius, but he managed to escape and went to his brother-in-law Simeon of Russia in Moscow. There Jaunutis decided to baptize himself as Ioann, but he failed to apply for aid, perhaps because his sister Aigusta, Simeon”s wife, died the same year (1345). Both Jaunutis and Narimantas had to reconcile with Algirdas and for this reason, following the renunciation of dynastic claims, the former was given the office of duke of Zasłaŭje.
He is presumed to have died in about 1366, as he was last mentioned in a treaty signed with Poland in 1366 and not in an agreement with the Confederation of Livonia in 1367. He had three sons, Symeon Zaslawski, Grzegorz Słucki, and Michal Zaslawski. The latter ruled Zasłaŭje until his death on August 12, 1399 in the Battle of the Vorskla River.
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