Talk:1270s

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This is the old text of the article, it seems country specific, but I didn't know what to do with it. fabiform | talk 10:57, 6 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Traidenis (1270-1282)

After the death of Mindaugas in 1263 there was a period of civil unrest, in which there were three Grand Dukes until Traidenis took power in 1270. These three were:

-Trenoita (1263-1265) -Vaisvilkas (1265-1268) -Svarnas (1268-1269) Traidenis was one of the most prominent rulers between the time of Mindaugas and the accession of Grand Duke Gediminas in 1316. Though unclear as to how Traidenis came to power, his accession ended the seven year period of unrest.

Traidenis followed Mindaugas' two main policies -internal consolidation of the State, and expansion into Eastern Slavic lands. Unlike Mindaugas', who converted to Christianity in hopes of deflecting the Teutons, Traidenis remained Pagan.

Traidenis devoted much of his reign to unifying the various Lithuanian tribes against the incursion of the Teutonic Knights. As well, he actively encouraged other Baltic Peoples, such as the Semigallians, Jotvingians and Prussians to resist the Order..

Traidenis acquired the lands known as Black Rus' (part of present day Belarus) for the Grand Duchy. This fulfilled the second part of Mindaugas' policies. This policy would continue for several generations.

In his goal of resisting the Teutons, Traidenis sought Polish and Rus'ian allies to counter the threat posed by the Order, which was looking closer and closer to Lithuania as the other Balts fell to the sword.