Vytautas struck these small deniers during the years following the Union of Vilnius-Radom in 1401, when he held the title of Grand Duke under the formal suzerainty of his cousin Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland. The arrangement was tense — Vytautas had twice allied with the Teutonic Knights against Jagiełło before the compromise was reached, and the issuance of independent coinage from Vilnius was a pointed assertion of autonomous ducal authority within that uneasy settlement.
The series ends around 1413, the year of the Union of Horodło, which formalized Polish-Lithuanian ties and reshuffled the political order Vytautas had been carefully managing for over a decade.
Vytautas struck these small deniers during the years following the Union of Vilnius-Radom in 1401, when he held the title of Grand Duke under the formal suzerainty of his cousin Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland. The arrangement was tense — Vytautas had twice allied with the Teutonic Knights against Jagiełło before the compromise was reached, and the issuance of independent coinage from Vilnius was a pointed assertion of autonomous ducal authority within that uneasy settlement.
The series ends around 1413, the year of the Union of Horodło, which formalized Polish-Lithuanian ties and reshuffled the political order Vytautas had been carefully managing for over a decade.