Brochure of the Coin

Lithuanian
Collectors
Coins
Muscovite army was much larger and this in part was the reason for the subsequent glory
of this victory. Konstanty Ostrogski after this battle was lauded as a great military leader,
because it was his decisions (as well those of Jerzy Radziwiłł) that led to success in the battlefield. Historians agree that the victory was achieved in large part due to the tactics of the
Lithuanians — with one deceptive manoeuvre they were able to break up the enemy formation. Another reason for this success was ingenious use of the artillery (the artillerymen
were mostly German) — this was practically the first time in the history of the GDL that the
artillery played such a key role in a battle. But even more important was the fact that
the ruler was able to bring together the Polish and Lithuanian forces. Together with
the Lithuanians and Ruthenians, Polish mercenary infantry and volunteer troops
took part in the battle and contributed significantly to the victory. Also, many
of the Polish rotmistrz squires (e.g. Janusz Świerczowski) were known at the
ruler’s court and in the army from the end of the 15th c. and had close ties with
representatives of Lithuania’s political elite.
According to the customs of the time, the victor was always the ruler, even
if he did not personally take part in the battle. On 27 September, Sigismund’s
triumphal procession took place in Vilnius, the capital city (Ostrogski only came
back as victor when all military actions were over, at the end of December). Vilnius
Cathedral, as was customary, displayed the captured Muscovite flags. Already from the
military camp the ruler sent out the first letter to his brother Ladislaus Jagiellon, king of
Hungary and Bohemia, to the Roman Pope, the Doge of Venice and other addressees at
home and abroad. This was a European tradition, declaring the victory on the battlefield.
These letters were the first in an international information campaign, later known as the
“Orsha propaganda”. The letter to Pope Leo X was published in Rome and Krakow that
same year.
The Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasili III, refused to pay ransom for the captives, which included all of Moscow’s military commanders (including their leader — Ivan Chelyadnin).
He announced that they are all considered as dead. The captives took part in the triumphal
procession in Vilnius and later were sent out to fortresses throughout the GDL, thus bring-
ing news of the victory to all corners of the country. Some of the captives were sent even
further, to the European capitals, not only to proclaim the victory, but to forcibly demonstrate to Catholic Europe the new danger of Moscow.
This is the first propaganda campaign of this scale from Lithuania and Poland; it helped
establish Lithuania and Poland’s position in Catholic Europe as the “Christian shield (wall)”.
The hope was that these measures, referring to the symbolic victory, would assemble an
international coalition in the war with the Muscovites, as was done in fighting the Turks.
These efforts bore fruit very quickly. The treaty between Moscow and the Holy Roman Empire collapsed, and in 1515 the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I met
with the Jagiellons in Vienna. Therefore, the most important result of the battle
of Orsha was undoubtedly its diplomatic victory.
In speaking about Lithuania, it should be said that this victory gave it a
much-needed respite from the difficult war with Moscow. Although Smolensk
wasn’t retaken, a certain balance of power was achieved and there were no
more major losses. Magnate Ostrogski, having returned to Vilnius, fulfilled the
vows he made before the battle: despite the ban on the construction of new Orthodox places of worship, under his care and the consent of the ruler, the Orthodox
churches of St. Nicholas and of the Holy Trinity were built in Vilnius. A few years later, for
his merits in the wars with Moscow, the ruler made him Voivod of Trakai, one of the highest
positions in the country and previously unavailable to Orthodox believers.
The Battle of Orsha was a military and diplomatic victory of the Jagiellon dynasty. It is
mentioned in European news publications of the time, as well as in more detailed descriptions. In the GDL’s public memory, Orsha remained as a symbol of victory; it was remembered in all of the recurring wars with Russia. In the mid-17th c., Wojciech Wijuk Kojałowicz
wrote that even now on the battlefield there still remain “many great mounds where the
fallen soldiers of Moscow are buried”.
Prof. Dr. Rimvydas Petrauskas
50 LITAS COIN DEDICATED
TO THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE BATTLE OF ORSHA
Silver Ag 925
Quality proof
Diameter 38.61 mm.
Weight 28.28 g
The edge of the coin — symbols
Designed by Rolandas Rimkūnas and Giedrius Paulauskis
Mintage 3,000 pcs.
Issued 2014
Information is available at the Bank of Lithuania
Tel. (85) 268 0316
E-mail gpt@lb.lt
www.lb.lt
The coin was minted at the
UAB Lithuanian Mint
www.lithuanian-mint.lt
Lithuanian Collectors Coins
© Bank of Lithuania, 2014
The coins were photographed by Arūnas Baltėnas
Designed by Liudas Parulskis
The publication uses photographs from the archives of the National Museum in Warsaw,
Bila Tserkva Ethnographic Museum and Wikimedia.org
Published by the Bank of Lithuania, Gedimino pr. 6, LT-01103 Vilnius
Printed by UAB Lodvila, www.lodvila.lt
50 LITAS COIN DEDICATED TO THE 500TH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF ORSHA
Battle of Orsha
On 8 September 1514, the armies of two great duchies — Lithuania and
Moscow — faced each other at the battle of Orsha. This was undoubtedly the
most significant event in the wars between Lithuania and Moscow at the end
of the 15th c.–early 16th c. These wars began in 1492, when the army of Moscow, after a long period of peace, took advantage of the ambiguous interregnum situation after the death of the Polish-Lithuanian ruler Casimir IV Jagiellon, invaded the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL). The ruler of
Moscow, Ivan III, for some time had fostered plans to occupy the Orthodox
lands of the GDL in accordance to the ideological doctrine that considered
Moscow as the “Third Rome” — defender of allegedly persecuted Orthodox
believers.
The wars that began in 1492 were unsuccessful for Lithuania. One after another the lands of Gomel, Starodub and Chernigov were lost, until the truce
in 1503 saw almost a quarter of the territory of the GDL lost. Although these
were distant and poorly populated areas, the war zone was approaching the
nucleus of the Lithuanian State. Attempts were made to stop the attacks from
Moscow by employing marital diplomacy, common in those times. In 1495,
the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Alexander Jagiellon, married Helena, daughter
of Ivan III. But these hopes for peace were not destined to come to pass.
At that time, the nature of war was very different from modern wars — there
was no long-term war front, but rather periodic invasions of armies into enemy territory, followed by temporary truces. In 1514, Moscow’s army once
again attacked the lands of the GDL. After a long siege they were able to capture Smolensk, and this was the most severe loss over this whole war period.
The army of the GDL, led by Sigismund the Old, king of Poland and Grand
Duke of Lithuania, set out to prevent any further onslaught. Both armies met
Portrait of Duke Konstanty
Ostrogski; oil, canvas; 18th c.,
unknown painter; Bila Tserkva
Ethnographic Museum
(Ukraine)
not far from the GDL castle of Orsha, near the Krapivna River. The battle
took place on 8 September — the date of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin
Mary. In those times, battles were not only a test of the soldiers, but were
also seen as God’s judgement; therefore, ending the battle on this date of
an important church holiday was supposed to be a sign — the righteous
would win. At this decisive stage, the army of the GDL was under the command of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski, because the ruler and his escort
stayed behind at the military camp near Borisov. Sources testify that the
Ruthenian-born Orthodox Magnate Ostrogski prayed before the battle. He
was already familiar with the bitter taste of defeat — 14 years ago, in 1500,
near Vedrosha, not only the Lithuanian army that he commanded lost the
battle, but he himself, along with a group of high-born Lithuanians, was
captured by the Muscovites. Now the duke hoped for the intercession of
God and the Blessed Virgin Mary and in return for a victory promised to
build new Orthodox churches.
As it often is, the exact number of those who took part in the battle is
unknown. In a letter written not long after the battle, Sigismund mentions
80 thousand enemy soldiers, and this is the number that lived in on in literature. Still, this figure should be viewed with caution. It was characteristic
of the period to exaggerate the number of the enemy and their losses; in
general, liberties were taken with all numbers. There is no doubt that the
Battle of Orsha; circa 1524–1530; oil, tempera; wood panel;
165 x 260; Unknown painter, follower of Cranach, Lucas the
Elder (1472–1553); Photo: Ligier Piotr; National Museum in
Warsaw MP 2475