* 1955 – Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

* 1642 – Cosimo III de ' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany ( d. 1723 )

Because Albert was a member of the Brandenburg-Ansbach branch of the House of Hohenzollern, it had been hoped that his election as Grand Master would reverse the decline of the Teutonic Knights since 1410 ; Duke Frederick of Saxony of the House of Wettin had been elected for the same reason.

His mother was Sophia, daughter of Casimir IV Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, and his wife Elisabeth of Austria.

Duke Frederick of Saxony, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, died in December 1510.

Albert was chosen as his successor early in 1511 in the hope that his relationship to his maternal uncle, Sigismund I the Old, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, would facilitate a settlement of the disputes over eastern Prussia, which had been held by the Order under Polish suzerainty since the Second Peace of Thorn ( 1466 ).

Alexander (; ) ( 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506 ) of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland.

He was elected Grand Duke of Lithuania on the death of his father ( 1492 ), and King of Poland on the death of his brother John I Albert ( 1501 ).

For want of funds, Alexander was unable to resist the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights or prevent Grand Duke of Muscovy Ivan III from ravaging Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Tatars.

The most the Grand Duke of Lithuania could do was to garrison Smolensk and other strongholds and employ his wife Helena, the Tsar's daughter, to mediate a truce between his father-in-law and himself after the disastrous Battle of Vedrosha ( 1500 ).

Great solicitude was devoted to the education of Nicolas as tsarevich, whereas Alexander received only the training of an ordinary Grand Duke of that period.

* Alexander Jagiellon ( 1461 – 1506 ), Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland

In the summer of 1214, Andrew had a meeting with Grand Duke Leszek I of Poland and they agreed that they would divide the Principality of Halych between Hungary and Poland.

* 1789 – Stéphanie de Beauharnais, French wife of Charles, Grand Duke of Baden ( d. 1860 )

* 1917 – Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia ( d. 1992 )

* 1574 – Cosimo I de ' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany ( b. 1519 )

* Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig of Oldenburg-1905

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

Charles was born in Florence, Tuscany, where his father was then Grand Duke.

In Florence on 8 September 1787 ( by proxy ) and again in Dresden on 18 October 1787 ( in person ), Anton married a second time with the Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria ( Maria Theresia Josephe Charlotte Johanna ), daughter of the Grand Duke Leopold I of Tuscany, later Emperor Leopold II.

Its roots lay in the arts and crafts school founded by the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1906 and directed by Belgian Art Nouveau architect Henry van de Velde.

Realising the danger, the Duke of Marlborough resolved to alleviate the peril to Vienna by marching his forces south from Bedburg and help maintain Emperor Leopold within the Grand Alliance.

The year 1705 proved almost entirely barren for the Duke whose military disappointments were only partly compensated by efforts on the diplomatic front where, at the courts of Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Vienna, Berlin and Hanover, Marlborough sought to bolster support for the Grand Alliance and extract promises of prompt assistance for the following year ’ s campaign.

Pope Martin V appointed Polish King Jogaila and Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas as vicar generals in Pskov and Veliky Novgorod in recognition of their Catholicism.

Kęstutis was eventually captured, imprisoned and put to death, but Kęstutis's son Vytautas, the future Grand Duke, escaped.

After two civil wars Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392.

After the deaths of Jogaila and Vytautas, the Lithuanian nobility at times attempted to break the union between Poland and Lithuania, independently selecting Grand Dukes from the Jagiellon dynasty.

* 1398 – The Treaty of Salynas is signed between Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great and the Teutonic Knights, who received Samogitia.

* Grand Duke Vytautas ends his alliance with Muscovy and captures Vyazma and Smolensk.

** Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke of Lithuania ( d. 1430 )

* August 12 – Battle of the Vorskla River: Mongol Golden Horde forces led by Khan Temur Qutlugh and emir Edigu annihilate a crusading army led by former Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh and Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania.

* Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania is granted increased autonomy by King Jogaila of the Poland – Lithuania union.

* Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great ( Lithuania, 1997 )

Category: Grand Crosses of the Order of Vytautas the Great

* October 27 – Vytautas the Great, Grand Prince of Lithuania ( b. 1352 )

Vytautas started a civil war in Lithuania, aiming to become the Grand Duke.

On 4 September 1390, the joint forces of Vytautas and the Teutonic Grand Master, Konrad von Wallenrode, laid siege to Vilnius, which was held by Władysław's regent Skirgaila with combined Polish, Lithuanian and Ruthenian troops.

This bloody conflict was eventually brought to a temporary halt in 1392 with the Treaty of Ostrów, by which Władysław handed over the government of Lithuania to his cousin in exchange for peace: Vytautas was to rule Lithuania as the Grand Duke ( magnus dux ) until his death, under the overlordship of the Supreme Duke ( dux supremus ) in the person of the Polish monarch.

On 31 January 1402, he presented himself in Marienburg, where he won the backing of the Knights with concessions similar to those made by Jogaila and Vytautas during earlier leadership contests in the Grand Duchy.

Towards the end of the 14th century, another wave of Tatars-this time, Muslims, were invited into the Grand Duchy by Vytautas the Great.

*: Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great ( 21 / 11 / 1995 )

Category: Grand Crosses of the Order of Vytautas the Great

Tokhtamysh escaped to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and asked Vytautas for assistance in retaking the Horde in exchange for surrendering his suzerainity over Rus ' lands.

To prevent Russia from being attacked by the Golden Horde, Basil I entered into alliance with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1392 and married Sophia of Lithuania, the only daughter of Vytautas the Great.

The famous Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas was the prince of Grodno from 1376 to 1392, and he stayed there during his preparations for the Battle of Grunwald ( 1410 ).

The town was planned to be dominated by the Old Grodno Castle, first built in stone by Grand Duke Vytautas and thoroughly rebuilt in the Renaissance style by Scotto from Parma at the behest of Stefan Batory, who made the castle his principal residence.

*: Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great ( 01 / 1996 )