[Lithuanian Metrica. History and research]

ENThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a state in Eastern Europe, appeared in the middle of the thirteenth century. The territories that were part of it varied from time to time, but, in general, the state’s boundaries extended to the territories of today’s Belarus, entirely, and Lithuania, excepting for the Klaipėda region. Until 1569, the year of the Lublin Union, most of Ukraine was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as well as Transnistria (the territories currently belonging to the Republic of Moldova on the eastern bank of the Dniester River) and some territories in Russia, Poland, and Estonia between 1561 and 1629, as well as Latvia. Territorial expansion “exploded” in the full sense of the word when the vast territories inhabited by the Slavs became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after the victory at Sinie Vody in 1363. At the same time the proximity to Moldavia produced an important collaboration between the two states— collaboration whose true dimensions are unfortunately not yet understood. The dynastic union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland initally established the prospects of a collaboration under the representatives of the Jagiełło Dynasty, and later also through the Lublin Union of 1569. This gave birth to a unified republic consisting of the Polish and Lithuanian nations known as Rzeczpospolita, which existed until 1795 when Prussia, the Russian Empire, and the Austrian Empire divided this state among themselves.