Vytautas the Great: A ruler’s image

How does a ruler become “the Great”? Is greatness a part of authority exercised or a part of an image created? These and other questions are addressed to the life and memory of Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania (1392-1430). The study raises a hypothesis that Vytautas was the main engineer of his image as the great ruler while his contemporaries and later generations developed this image adapting it to their needs and understandings. The inquiry reveals the existence of two opposite images of the grand duke: that of a good ruler and that of a tyrant. The paradox is that frequently these opposites were based on the same features of the grand duke’s character or episodes from his biography. However, what Lithuanians understood as a desirable strong hand rule, the westerners regarded as tyranny. Perhaps, these contradictions lie at the source of the longevity of the image and its importance for the history of Lithuania.