The Birth of the Cadeniai Union: What is the sign of Sweden's multi-party ties with Lithuania?

Preface

The Cadeniai League was an alliance between the Lithuanian giants, represented by Janusz Lachwil, with Sweden during the Second Northern War in order to save themselves.

In the middle of the 17th century, with the Cossack uprising, the formation of the Ukrainian-Russian alliance, and the invasion of Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth suffered a severe political crisis, and the whole country seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

In order to preserve Lithuania, the Lithuanian nobility began to seek assistance from Sweden, eventually signing the Cadeniai League with Sweden.

However, the establishment of the Lithuanian-Swedish alliance was not just a simple capitulation, but the result of the long-term contacts between the Lithuanian separatists and Sweden The war was only a contributing factor to the integration of Sweden and Lithuania, behind which there were deep political, economic and religious reasons

Lithuania's economic ties with Sweden

Lithuania's economic ties with Sweden are attributed to the growing Baltic trade. Riga occupies an important position in Liri's foreign trade, and Lithuania ships most of its goods to Riga in Sweden for export. Riga was to the Grand Duchy what Danzig was to Poland as a trade outlet to Europe for the transport of grain, flax and timber. Since 1201, Riga has been trading with the Polatsk and Vitebsk regions.

In 1229, the two Belarusian cities signed commercial agreements with Riga and Gotland on the freedom of trade in the Western Dvina. In the mid-13th century, the Polatsk and Vitebsk regions joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and retained considerable autonomy. In the 13th and 16th centuries, Polacsk also held the position of a Hanseatic League.

After 1562, a considerable number of merchants moved to Riga. The official trade records between Polatsk and Riga reveal the importance of trade between Polatsk and Riga to the Lithuanian economy. In 1562, Riga accepted the protection of Lithuania. By 1582, Riga was incorporated into the Confederation.

By the first half of the 17th century, the Grand Duchy had about 600 cities, a third of which traded with Riga. "Riga is the center of the export of goods from the eastern and northern regions of Lithuania. Timber, hemp, and grain from the West Dvina River basin, including the Vitebsk region of Polatsk, Braslau, Zissna and Druyao, were also transported to Western Europe via Riga.

Riga's commercial trade also gradually expanded to northern Lithuania and Samogitia. It is therefore not surprising that Ruthenian merchants owned a large amount of Swedish currency: Jakob Kadika had 347 kroner of Swedish currency in his widow in 1626.

From the 13th century onwards, Sweden, under the influence of the Hanseatic League, also became involved in the Baltic trade. The island of Gotland, located in the middle of the Baltic Sea, was by this time a thriving centre of commercial activity, and its main city, Visby, was an important commercial centre for the Hanseatic League's trans-Baltic trade.

In the late 14th century, Sweden exported iron ore, copper, furs and dairy products from the ports of Tallinn, Riga and Danzig. In the 15th century, with the secularization of the Teutonic Order, Sweden also began to pursue Baltic supremacy. During the Vasa dynasty, the establishment of a centralized state provided a strong foundation for Sweden's struggle for hegemony in the Baltic Sea.

Fundamentally, Gustav's reign was fought for a common purpose: to seize the commercial cities of the southern Baltic Sea and to ensure that the tariffs it levied on upstream trade would replenish the Swedish treasury. John III (r. 1569-1592) developed the "Great Eastern Plan" to capture a share of the trade between the heart and the periphery of Europe.

In the 1620s, Sweden achieved its control over the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Riga was incorporated into Sweden during this period and became Sweden's largest port.

Riga, Sweden, played an important role in the Lithuanian economy, and this East Baltic trading center was a vital export port for the Grand Duchy. With the expansion of Sweden's interest in trade in the West Dvina River Basin, the economic ties between Sweden and Lithuania have been further deepened.

Not only that, but trade with Riga also attracted many Lithuanians to serve in the Swedish army in order to gain more privileges and benefits. The effects of the First Northern War, which halted trade with Riga, deepened Lithuania's political, economic, and even military confusion, leading it to sign an armistice with Sweden alone, despite the annexation treaty, which had an important impact on the relations between Poland and Lithuania.

Lithuania's religious ties with Sweden

The Reformation, which was booming in Europe in the 16th century, also began to spread in Eastern Europe, and Protestantism provided new connections between Sweden and Lithuania. In the thirties of the 16th century, discontent with Catholicism had become a powerful force in Sweden. With the growing support for the Reformation, the Swedish king sought to capitalize on this popular enthusiasm to strengthen his royal power, and began the top-down Reformation.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Lutheranism in Sweden won a decisive victory, and Sweden became one of the Protestant countries in northeastern Europe. In 1540, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also began Protestantism. By the end of the 16th century, Calvinism had become the dominant religion in Lithuania.

Protestantism not only provided a strong bond between Lithuania and Sweden, strengthened the ties and exchanges between Lithuania and Sweden, but also promoted the unity of Lithuanian ideology and the unity of the nobility. In the 17th century, the Polish king's discriminatory religious policies against Protestants destabilized the situation in Lithuania, and non-Catholics felt oppressed and religious tolerance was restricted.

Therefore, they were not loyal to the Polish king. Thus, in the crisis of the mid-seventeenth century, the Confederation was unable to provide the protection it deserved, and the Protestants sought to abolish the alliance with Poland and replace it with the Swedish-Lithuanian Union, eager to establish a new non-Catholic state with a view to regaining religious tolerance and political rights.

Strengthened political ties between Lithuania and Sweden

In Lithuania, because of the huge wealth and political resources of Lachville, many small and medium-sized nobles surrounded him through Protestantism, which led to the formation of the Lachvilian faction. The Ratchvilles thought for a long time and thoughtfully about how to solve the problem of Polish dominance of Lithuanian politics.

There were two possibilities: either give the throne to a peripheral king, preferably a Calvinist, or marry a Protestant princess to the Polish king. During the First Northern War, Ratchwell devised a deliberate plan for Tieste Gaston to replace King Zygmunt and secretly sent two ambassadors to France. The mission ended in a catastrophe.

In 1635-1636, Lachwell's attempt to marry Elizabeth, a Calvinist princess, to the young Wladyslaw also failed. The princess was the daughter of Frederick V, the last Protestant ruler of Bohemia.

After Władysław's death, the Lachwil faction and the Ukrainian Cossacks wanted the Calvinist prince Rakotzy of Transylvania or his son Zygmunt to become the king of Poland-Lithuania. However, none of these plans were successful.

In 1632, after Zygmunt's death, Krzysztof II Radziwiu contacted King Gustav II of Sweden. Lachvill hoped that with the help of the Protestants and Cossacks, the Swedish king would be chosen as the heir to the Polish-Lithuanian throne.

However, this plan also failed, and in 1632-1648 the Polish prince Władysławwasa became the ruler of the Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The August Declaration and the beginning of the Caederino Alliance

The August Declaration was the first response of the Lithuanian nobility to the Swedish proposal. It was agreed in principle to recognize Charles Gustav as the new Grand Duke of Lithuania, but the Lithuanians nevertheless imposed some new clauses and made certain amendments to the original ones:

1. The Lithuanian magnates and army emphasized that it was Russian aggression and the lack of Polish assistance that forced Lithuania to form an alliance with Sweden;
2. promised that the Lithuanian army would not start a war against Poland;
3. demanded that Sweden supply the Swedish army after supplying the Lithuanian army, guarantee freedom of religion and belief, and Sweden will liberate the Lithuanian territories occupied by the Ukrainian-Russian coalition forces and recover the Livonia region;
4. retaining the status of 4 Catholic senators;
5. The alliance between Litao and Sweden is an alliance of equal partners, not the submission of Lithuania to Sweden;
6. Sweden should inform Russia that Lithuania is already under the authority of Karl X Gustav, that the Swedish government is going to issue an ultimatum to the Ukrainian-Russian forces to withdraw, and if they refuse to do so, the Swedish-Lithuanian army will wage war against them;
7. Lithuania should participate as an equal partner in the future negotiations between Poland and Sweden;

8. Lithuanians who do not support an alliance with Sweden have time to make a decision and the right to leave Sweden-Lithuania after the signing of the Swedish-Polish peace treaty.

The October Declaration and the formation of the Caederino Alliance

Sweden's dissatisfaction with the August Declaration, the change in the political situation and the change in Moscow's policy forced further consultations.

The revised August Declaration did not serve the interests of Sweden and caused discontent on the part of Sweden. Sweden wants to avoid a conflict with Moscow as much as possible, let alone start a war with Moscow, but the Lithuanian nobles demanded that "the Swedish government will issue an ultimatum to the Ukrainian-Russian forces to withdraw, and if they refuse to do so, the Swedish-Lithuanian army will wage war against them."

Some of Lithuania's demands on Sweden caused further dissatisfaction with Sweden: the return of Livonia and the lands occupied by Sweden was not in Stockholm's interests; Lithuania's desire to be an alliance state on an equal footing with Sweden also did not receive the consent of the Swedish leadership: Sweden also did not want Lithuania to participate as an equal partner in the future Swedish-Polish negotiations; The aim of securing four Catholic senators further shocked Sweden. Lithuania's refusal to start a war against Poland also caused discontent in Sweden.

In addition, the Caudegnai Declaration failed to win a broad pro-Swedish coalition.

The military progress of Sweden and the weakening of the pro-Lachvilian faction led to the decline of Lithuania's position in the subsequent negotiations with Sweden. By October, Swedish troops reached Cadeniere. On October 14, after negotiations and stubborn confrontation, the first public merger document was completed. The next day, 500 copies of the manifesto were distributed to the nobility.

On October 20, the Lithuanian nobility signed two documents: one was the alliance of Lithuania with Sweden; The other is a public statement to European countries about the reasons for the break between Lithuania and Poland and the alliance with Sweden. On 23 October, the Lithuanian aristocracy signed a third document establishing the Swedish side of the Advisory Council of the Swedish-Lithuanian Government headed by Sküt, signed by Squit and de la Galdi on behalf of Sweden; Lithuania was signed by Lithuanian magnates and nobles on behalf of the entire Principality of Lithuania.

At this point, Lithuania and Sweden formed an "eternal alliance". The territory of Lithuania under Swedish control consists of five regions: Samogitia, Blaslau, Ampt, Ukmergay and northern Kaunas. The towns of Slutsk and Kapi, as well as the Principality of Slutsk, are also under Swedish protection.

The October Declaration was the final document of the formation of the Cadeniai Alliance.