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King of Lithuania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
King of Lithuania, the title of some rulers of Lithuania. First of them was King Mindaugas who founded the Christian Kingdom of Lithuania; his successors, however, were known as Grand Dukes, as until the end of XIV century Lithuania was a pagan state, while in the medieval Europe the title of "king" was reserved for Christians. Despite this, some people considers all the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as kings, since in some sources they are referred to in Latin as "rex" (king), and because it is common now to consider various non-Christian (e.g. Asian) rulers to be kings.
In 1430, the title of King of Lithuania was granted to Grand Duke Vytautas, but his attempts to be crowned did not succeeded as the Polish noblemen seized his royal crown as it was being brought to him. At this time, Lithuania had already adopted Christianity.
The third and the last king of Lithuania was proclaimed in 1918, when Lithuania was occupied by Germany and tried to achieve independence. Lithuanians decided to elect German nobleman Wilhelm of Urach as king Mindaugas II and hoped this would encourage Germany more quickly let have real independence for Lithuania. However, Germany lost the war, and Lithuania became independent as a republic.
