Narymunt
Encyclopedia
For an earlier, historically unattested and possibly just a mythical namesake, see Palemonids

Narimantas or Narymunt (baptized Gleb, born just before 1300 (according top Wasilewski 1992) – February 2, 1348) was the second eldest son of Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...

. During various periods of his life, he ruled Pinsk
Pinsk
Pinsk , a town in Belarus, in the Polesia region, traversed by the river Pripyat, at the confluence of the Strumen and Pina rivers. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk. It is a fertile agricultural center. It lies south-west of Minsk. The population is about 130,000...

 and Polatsk
Polatsk
Polotsk , is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Dvina river. It is the center of Polotsk district in Vitsebsk Voblast. Its population is more than 80,000 people...

. In 1333 he was invited by Novgorod's nobles to rule and protect territories in the north, Ladoga
Staraya Ladoga
Staraya Ladoga , or the Aldeigjuborg of Norse sagas, is a village in the Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near Lake Ladoga, 8 km north of the town of Volkhov. The village used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries...

, Oreshek and Korela. He started the tradition of Lithuanian mercenary service north of Novgorod on the Swedish border that lasted until Novgorod's fall to Moscow in 1477.

About 1338, Golden Horde took him as prisoner. The Muscovite ruler, Ivan Kalita, ransomed him from Tatars, keeping him as hostage in Moscow for a few years.

Narimantas supported his brother Jaunutis
Jaunutis
Jaunutis was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from his father Gediminas' death in 1341 until he was deposed by his elder brothers Algirdas and Kęstutis in 1345....

 when he was deposed by Algirdas
Algirdas
Algirdas was a monarch of medieval Lithuania. Algirdas ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, which chiefly meant monarch of Lithuanians and Ruthenians...

 and Kęstutis
Kestutis
Kęstutis was monarch of medieval Lithuania. He was the Duke of Trakai and governed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1342–82, together with his brother Algirdas , and with his nephew Jogaila...

 in 1345. In order to avoid getting killed by his younger brothers, he escaped Vilnius in autumn 1344. Narimantas travelled to Jani Beg
Jani Beg
Jani Beg was a khan of the Golden Horde from 1342 to 1357, succeeding his father Uzbeg Khan.After putting two of his brothers to death, Jani Beg crowned himself in Saray-Jük. He is known to have actively interfered in the affairs of Russian principalities and of Lithuania...

, Khan of the Golden Horde
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...

, asking for support against Algirdas. Though he failed to solicit support, he is rumoured to have married a Tatar princess. (possibly as second wife.) After returning, Narimantas reconciled with Algirdas and was killed leading the Battle of Strėva
Battle of Streva
Battle of Strėva, Strebe, or Strawe was fought on February 2, 1348 between the Teutonic Knights and pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the banks of the Strėva River, a right tributary of the Neman River, near present-day Žiežmariai...

 against the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...

 on February 2, 1348. His descendants include Princes Kurakin
Kurakin
Kurakin was a Gediminid Russian princely family and may refer to:*Alexander Kurakin , a Russian diplomat and senator*Alexander Borisovich Kurakin , a Russian statesman and diplomat...

, Galitzine
Galitzine
For Orthodox clergyman and theologian, see Alexander Golitzin.The Galitzines are one of the largest and noblest princely houses of Russia. Since the extinction of the Korecki family in the 17th century, the Golitsyns have claimed dynastic seniority in the House of Gediminas...

, Khovansky, Korecki.

He took baptism in 1333 in or before Veliki Novgorod. This made him ineligible to succeed his father as ruler of Lithuanians, despite his primogeniture right.

sources: T.Wasilewski, 1992

Sons

It is believed that Narimantas had five sons:
  • Aleksander (died after 1386), Prince of Podolia
    Podolia
    The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...

  • Yury (died in 1392), Prince of Belz
    Belz
    Belz , a small city in the Lviv Oblast of Western Ukraine, near the border with Poland, is located between the Solokiya river and the Rzeczyca stream....

  • Nikolai, Prince of Pinsk
    Pinsk
    Pinsk , a town in Belarus, in the Polesia region, traversed by the river Pripyat, at the confluence of the Strumen and Pina rivers. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk. It is a fertile agricultural center. It lies south-west of Minsk. The population is about 130,000...

  • Patrikas
    Patrikas
    Patrikas Narimantaitis was a grandson of Gediminas who exchanged his lands in and near Starodub in Siveria for the Korela and Oreshek fortresses in the Novgorod Republic. He also founded the town of Yamburg in Ingria...

     (died ca. 1387), Prince of Starodub
    Starodub
    Starodub is a town and the administrative center of Starodubsky District of Bryansk Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Babinets River , southwest of Bryansk. Population: 16,000 .-History:...

  • Simeon (died after 1386)


The Polish genealogist and historian Jozef Puzyna (see Dr. Jozef ks. Puzyna, article series on Narimantas, in: Miesiecznik Heraldyczny, 1930-31) refutes strongly the claim that Narimantas' progeny would gave been born of a Tatar wife. He advances a hypothesis that the names of Narimantas' sons indicate that their mother was an Orthodox Ruthenian lady.

See also

  • family of Gediminas – family tree of Narimantas
  • Gediminids
    Gediminids
    The Gediminids were a dynasty of monarchs of Grand Duchy of Lithuania that reigned from the 14th to the 16th century. One branch of this dynasty, known as the Jagiellons, reigned also in Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Hungary and Kingdom of Bohemia...

  • List of Belarusian rulers
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