Kingdom of Lithuania

Kingdom of Lithuania
Lietuvos Karalystė
1251–1263
Coat of arms (Codex Bergshammar of the 15th century)
Green - Lithuania in 1251; Dark Green - territory annexed by 1263
Capital		Kernavė
Languages		Lithuanian, Ruthenian
Religion		Catholicism (institutional), Baltic paganism (widely practiced), Eastern Orthodox Church (in Slavic lands)
Government		Monarchy
King		Mindaugas I
History
•	Status of kingdom received	July 17, 1251
•	Coronation of Mindaugas	July 6, 1253
•	Mindaugas assassinated	1263
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Lithuania Balts Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Coat of arms
(Codex Bergshammar of the 15th century)

The Kingdom of Lithuania was a Lithuanian monarchy which existed from 1251 to roughly 1263. King Mindaugas was the first and only crowned king of Lithuania. The status of a kingdom was lost after Mindaugas' assassination in 1263. Other monarchs of Lithuania are referred to as Grand Dukes, even though their status was almost identical to that of a king. Two attempts were made to reestablish the Kingdom – by Vytautas the Great in 1430 and by the Council of Lithuania in 1918.

In the early 13th century, Lithuania was inhabited by various pagan Baltic tribes, which began to organize themselves into a state – the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. By the 1230s, Mindaugas emerged as the leader of the Grand Duchy. In 1249, an internal war erupted between Mindaugas and his nephews Tautvilas and Edivydas. As each side searched for foreign allies, Mindaugas succeeded in convincing the Livonian Order not only to provide military assistance, but also to secure for him the royal crown of Lithuania in exchange for his conversion to Catholicism and some lands in western Lithuania. The status of a kingdom was granted on July 17, 1251, when the Bishop of Chełmno was ordered to crown Mindaugas by Pope Innocent IV. Two years later, Mindaugas and his wife Morta were crowned as the King and Queen of Lithuania. In 1255, Mindaugas received permission from Pope Alexander IV to crown his son as King of Lithuania.