German aggression caused
two defensive unions of states:
Poland and Lithuania in the South and
Denmark, Sweden and Norway
in the North
German aggression on the Baltic coast caused the formation of two unions
of states. In the south, Poland and Lithuania united at Krewo in 1385. In the north
all of Scandinavia united twelve years later at Kalmar in 1397.
In the Union Act of Krewo, Jogaiła or Jagiełło, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, committed himself to convert Lithuania to Latin Christianity and to unite with
Poland all Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands as well as to recover Polish territories
lost to the Germans, in exchange for marriage to Polish Queen Jadwiga of Anjou
and his coronation as a Catholic King of Poland. Before his coronation in 1386,
Władys³aw Jagiełło, Ladislas Jogaiła (c.1350-1434), confirmed the Act of Koszyce
(of 1374). During the reign of King Władysław Jagiełło (1386-1434), Polish missionaries converted Lithuania to Roman Catholicism. In 1387 the Act of Wilno
followed. In it the King Władysław Jagiełło bestowed hereditary ownership of
land and freedom from taxation by the local princes of the newly converted Catholic Lithuanian nobles, the boyars. Moldavia became a fief of Poland. In 1388 in
the Act of Piotrków, King Władysław Jagiełło increased the civil rights of nobility
and clergy, further limiting the royal power in Poland.
The tyrannical rule of the German monastic orders resulted in the founding
of the “Salamander Society” or “Reptile Association” in 1397. It was a forerunner
of the Prussian Union, which was organized for the overthrow of the rule of the
Teutonic Order and for the unification in freedom of Prussia with Poland.
In 1401 in the Union Act of Wilno and Radom the Lithuanian knighthood
received the same civil rights as were enjoyed by Polish knights. Poland
guaranteed the safety of Lithuania against the aggression by the Armed Brethren of
the Teutonic Order in 1409.
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