Gediminas ' right to use Latin rex, which the papacy had been claiming the right to grant from the 13th century, was controversial in some Catholic sources.

The systematic raiding of Lithuania by the knights under the pretext of converting it had long since united all the Lithuanian tribes, but Gediminas aimed at establishing a dynasty which should make Lithuania not merely secure but powerful, and for this purpose he entered into direct diplomatic negotiations with the Holy See as well.

Gediminas ordered them to renounce Christianity, and had them killed when they refused.

It is uncertain how many wives Gediminas had.

An argument has been advanced that Gediminas had two wives, one pagan and another Orthodox.

The variegate Lithuanian mythology of this time ( legend about emigration of Palemon from Rome to Lithuania, legend about the founding of the capital of Lithuania Vilnius by Duke Gediminas, and other pieces ) had been presented in a spirit of high lucid and virtuous patriotism.

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.

Gediminas extended the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the east by challenging the Mongols who, at that time, controlled large areas of Rus '.

Gediminas became the Grand Duke in 1316 at the age of 40 and ruled for 25 years.

In October 1323, representatives of the archbishop of Riga, the bishop of Dorpat, the king of Denmark, the Dominican and Franciscan orders, and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order assembled at Vilnius, when Gediminas confirmed his promises and undertook to be baptized as soon as the papal legates arrived.

A compact was then signed at Vilnius, in the name of the whole Christian World, between Gediminas and the delegates, confirming the promised privileges.

The Prussian bishops, who were devoted to the knights, questioned the authority of Gediminas letters and denounced him as an enemy of the faith at a synod in Elbing ; his Orthodox subjects reproached him with leaning towards the Latin heresy, while the pagan Lithuanians accused him of abandoning the ancient gods.

Gediminas disentangled himself from his difficulties by repudiating his former promises ; by refusing to receive the papal legates who arrived at Riga in September 1323, and by dismissing the Franciscans from his territories.

At the same time Gediminas privately informed the papal legates at Riga through his ambassadors that his difficult position compelled him to postpone his steadfast resolve of being baptized, and the legates showed their confidence in him by forbidding the neighboring states to war against Lithuania for the next four years, besides ratifying the treaty made between Gediminas and the archbishop of Riga.

Despite Gediminas ' chief goal to save Lithuania from destruction at the hands of the Germans, he still died as a pagan reigning over semi-pagan lands.

While on his guard against his northern foes, Gediminas from 1316 to 1340 was aggrandizing himself at the expense of the numerous Slavonic principalities in the south and east, whose incessant conflicts with each other wrought the ruin of them all.

While exploiting Slavic weakness in the wake of the Mongol invasion, Gediminas wisely avoided war with the Golden Horde, a great regional power at the time, while expanding Lithuania's border towards the Black Sea.

Another claim is that he was living with Gediminas at the time of his death, and so he was naturally a successor to rule Vilnius and Lithuania.

A monument, composed by the sculptor Gediminas Jokūbonis and consisting of a column of white granite surmounted by a crown of stars, was erected at the location in 2004.

Named after the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas, the street terminates at the Žvėrynas Bridge over the Neris River near Seimas Palace on one end and at the Cathedral Square and Vilnius Castle Complex on the other, passing the Lukiškės Square.

The Kreva Castle, constructed of brick, was built by the Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania at the borderland of Lithuanian ethnic lands.

In early 1320s, a Lithuanian army led by Gediminas defeated a Slavic army led by Stanislav of Kiev at the Battle on the Irpen ' River, and conquered the city.

She was the daughter of Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania.

Born in Kowal, Casimir the Great first married Anna, or Aldona Ona, the daughter of the Prince Gediminas of Lithuania.

She was a daughter of Gediminas of Lithuania and Jewna.

The brothers Vytenis and Gediminas, the founders of the Gediminid dynasty, united various groups into one Lithuania.

Even so, he led the ruling Social Democratic Party of Lithuania for one more year, until May 19, 2007, when he passed the reins to Gediminas Kirkilas.

* Lithuania: In the Letters of Gediminas, Vilnius is named as the capital city.

** Gediminas, Duke of Lithuania

Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas on stamp.

Chronicles — written long after Gediminas ' death by the Teutonic Knights, a long-standing enemy of Lithuania — claimed that Gediminas was a hostler to Vytenis ; according to these chronicles, Gediminas killed his master and assumed the throne.

* Grand Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas ( Lithuania, 24 July 2001 )

** Gediminas, Duke of Lithuania ( d. 1341 )

* Grand Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas ( Lithuania, 4 April 1994 )

* Grand Officer of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas ( Lithuania, 24 November 1995 )

* Grand Duchy of Lithuania: House of Mindaugas, House of Gediminas ( Ruthenian Hedyminovichy, ) later a branch of Gediminids-the Jagiellons

According to a legend after a successful hunting party, Grand Duke Gediminas discovered a beautiful lake-surrounded place not far from Kernavė, then capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and decided to build a castle in the location.

Gediminas ' Tower () is the only remaining part of the Upper Castle in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The details of the agreement are not known ; however, it is known that Gediminas released all Polish prisoners, numbering some 25, 000.

In 1316, Grand Duke Gediminas, the first of the leaders responsible for Lithuania's great expansion that was to follow, with the aid of colonists from Germany, began restoration of the land.

Gediminas was slain and his son Algirdas suppressed the monasteries.

During this period, the prime minister was Gediminas Vagnorius.

The first known written record of Vilnius as the Lithuanian capital is known from Gediminas ' letters in 1323.

The city was first mentioned in written sources in 1323, when the Letters of Grand Duke Gediminas were sent to German cities inviting German members of the Jewish community to settle in the capital city, as well as to Pope John XXII.

According to legend, Gediminas dreamt of an iron wolf howling on a hilltop and consulted a pagan priest for its interpretation.

Gediminas expanded the Grand Duchy through warfare along with strategic alliances and marriages.

Gediminas ( ca.

Gediminas was born in about 1275.

Because written sources of the era are scarce, Gediminas ' ancestry, early life, and assumption of the title of Grand Duke in ca.

Various theories have claimed that Gediminas was either his predecessor Grand Duke Vytenis ' son, his brother, his cousin, or his hostler.

Another version introduced in the Lithuanian Chronicles, which also appeared long after Gediminas ' death, proclaimed that Gediminas was Vytenis ' son.