Svajone i Virgid of Baltai Didzioji Kunigaikstyste

A concept sketch of the Baltic/Lithuanian Woman Warrior of the Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited, which is a recreation of the original HWS series based on the  AD 800 - AD 1400 era of warfare. She represents an anachronistic united sovereignty of the various Baltic people, parallel to that of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania before being absorbed into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The name of the faction however, is linguistically incorrect and is intended to be left as it is

Inspired by the Music: Rotlaust tre fell (Rootless Tree Falls) by Waldruna

Disclaimer: I am by no means expert in History, just a humble man with passion for learning history. Also, English is not my first language so if you do find any errors or would like to make a correction/feedback, please feel free let me know



The Baltic tribes in the late middle ages remained one of the last bastion of the Pagan Worshipers, being surrounded by the Catholic Poland to the West and Orthodox Rus to the East. It was home to numerous Baltic tribes that enjoyed their independence in the early times, but saw an increasing number of invasions led by the Poles and Ruthenians into their territories. When the Teutonic Order arrived in the region, the incursions became a wholesale genocide under the guise of "Crusades", destroying many of the tribes and Germanizing others. Nevertheless, the few remaining tribes, became united  under the leadership of the Lithuanians, forming the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a state which would later be responsible for forming one of the most powerful nation in the History of Europe, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.



My first attempt at drawing the Balts, the people and cultures which I find it rather new and quite interesting to learn in comparison to the others that i have drawn so far. Now, I'm not really that familiar with the Baltic culture, nor their history is one of my greatest strength, but i would imagine they adopted much of the style and armaments of their Eastern Slavic as well as their northern Germanic neighbors (axes, larges shield, mail/scale/lamellar armor). As such, that's what i have depicted of Svajone i Vizgirdas, the heiress to one of the powerful clan within the grand duchy. Her face plate is doubtful or perhaps a product of too many playing Medieval 2: Total War game, but I suppose this give her a much more imposing figure.

All symbols depicted are in no means represents their actual symbolism in real life and Artistic license is freely used here. The castle on the background is based on the picture of 13th century Kaunas Castle in Lithuania, while the banner depicts the tree of life, which was part of the important Lithuanian Mythology before their conversion to Christianity. And oh, since there will a lot error here, any corrections would certainly be much appreciated.







The Baltic region has been home to many and various tribes, who lived and enjoyed substantial independence during its early middle ages. One the region, Lithuania, originally was target to attack by the Rus and paid tribute to them (polosk). However, as the time passes, their strength grew, from a small time raids of their neighbors, they started launching more and more organized military assault which threatened their Slavic neighbor, exerting their authority over the land further in the Highlands of Lithuania.

By this time, they were still holding their pagan belief (Romuva maybe?), while the rest of Europe have adopted Christianity. Although, initially this was nothing of a concern, until the establishment of christian military order along the northern region of Baltic coast in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. The two holy orders began their "crusade" to bring light onto the pagan inhabitants in a genocidal way, and had succeeded in almost completely eradicating many of the Baltic Tribes in the region, with the rest being "Germanized", like the prussian for example. This of course, lead to consolidation of the Lithuanians and various other surviving pagan tribes to counter the threat posed by the crusaders, and formed a union of dukes lead by greater dukes, establishing the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Despite the continued hostility from their christian neighbors and internal instability, the Lithuanians kept on pushing their borders and expanded their realm through clever diplomacy and military subjugation (although, the latter is less common). By then, it was one of the largest European nation that rivaled France and Hungary, and even managed to challenge and defeat the forced of the Golden Horde, while various russian principalities was still under the mongol thumbs.

By the turn of the late 14th century, Lithuania was christenized, and through political marriages wit their neighbor Kingdom of Poland, they established a union between the two nation. However, their union, especially Lithuania, were under threat from the growing forces fo the Russian Muscovites, who were ruled under ambitious rulers witha thirst for territorial expansion in mind. As such, given the precarious position, to ensure the survival of the lithuanian state, the ruling classes decided to ally closely with their polish neighbor, and with the treaty of Lubin in 1569, the two nation became a united Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, who would later embarked on their great legacy of might and majesty in the 17th century.