Sigismund Kęstutaitis

Who was Sigismund Kęstutaitis?

Sigismund Kęstutaitis was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1432 to 1440. Sigismund was his baptismal name; Sigismund's pagan Lithuanian birth name is unknown. He was the son of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Kęstutis and his wife Birutė.

After the death of Kęstutis, he was a prisoner of Jogaila from 1382–1384. Sigismund was baptized in Catholic rite in 1383. In 1384, he escaped captivity and joined his brother Vytautas the Great, who allied himself with the Teutonic Knights. When Vytautas allied with the Teutonic Knights for the second time to fight Skirgaila, Sigismund was a hostage of the Teutonic Knights, together with his family, from 1389–1398. He became Duke of Navahradak, and Starodub from 1406. He participated in the Battles of Vorskla and the Grunwald. After the death of Vytautas, he supported his cousin Švitrigaila in his fight against Poland, but later was convinced by nobles to join a conspiracy against him.

On 1 September 1432, Sigismund became the Grand Duke of Lithuania. He signed the Union of Grodno with Jogaila and ceded some territories in Volhynia and Podolia to Poland. However, Švitrigaila was still active and had the support of many Eastern Orthodox nobles. In 1434, in an attempt to attract support from these nobles, he issued a privilege to nobles of Eastern Orthodox faith, making their rights equal to those of noble Roman Catholics. He guaranteed that no noble, regardless of religion, of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania could be imprisoned and punished without a court. The privilege was an important development and accelerated formation of a feudal system.