From pamphlet to origin theory: the establishment of Lithuanian dynastic tradition
ENIn 1390 the future grand duke of Lithuania, Vytautas, fled to Prussia asking the Teutonic Knights for a refuge. On that occasion the Knights recorded Vytautas's speech, which described the grand ducal succession and grounds for Vytautas's claims to authority in Lithuania. In 1392 Vytautas was appointed governor of his motherland. Soon after that a story, nearly identical to the speech, entered the Lithuanian annals and later also appeared in a Latin translation. Although focusing upon the Lithuanian dynastic tradition, these stories, like the speech, consider only three generations of the grand dukes. As a result they received various precursory extensions, most elaborately penned down by Lithuanian political opponents. In sum, Vytautas's speech was a propaganda effort, but entered the annals in the form of recorded tradition. However, the propaganda function of the text was much stronger, while its function as recorded tradition had obvious drawbacks. Hence even in the seventeenth century the story of the origins of the Lithuanian grand dukes functioned more like a propaganda tool than as a record of dynastic tradition.
