Late Middle Ages · Europe · Religion

1387

Lithuania formally converted to Catholic Christianity

1387

Grand Duke Jogaila, now Wladyslaw II of Poland, began systematic baptism of Lithuania's pagan population, destroying sacred groves and extinguishing sacred fires that had burned for centuries. Europe's last great pagan power ceased to exist as an unconverted polity. The Teutonic Knights, whose crusading mission depended on Lithuanian paganism, lost their justification.