Editing Lithuania Minor (section)

====German-Lithuanian rivalry====
{{Main|Northern crusades}}
The territory of western Lithuania [[Baltic crusades|began to be threatened]] by the [[Livonian order]] from the north and [[Teutonic Knights]] from the south in the 13th century. The Orders were seizing the lands of [[Baltic peoples|Baltic]] tribes, one of which – Lithuanians – had its [[History of Lithuania (1219–1295)|state]] and was also expanding its power among neighbouring Baltic and [[Ruthenians|Ruthenian]] people. The Order was granted the right over the pagan lands by popes and emperors of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. It was conqueror's right – awarded them as much lands as they would conquer. After the [[Battle of Saule]] the [[Livonian order]] was crushed and incorporated to the Teutonic Order as part of it. [[Mindaugas]], in critical political circumstances for his rule, undertook to grant [[Samogitia]] to the Order in exchange for baptism and the crown from the pope. After Mindaugas became a king, a direct subject of the Pope, in 1253, the acts of grants of the lands for Livonian Order were written:
*1253 July, the act granting [[Nadruvia]] and [[Karšuva]] to the Order, written in Lithuanian curia by Mindaugas.
*1259 the act granting [[Dzūkija|Dainava]] and [[Scalovia]] to the Order, written by Mindaugas. In the historiography this act is considered to be falsified by the Order.

[[File:Ragnit Castle 10.jpg|thumb|Medieval castle ruins in [[Neman, Russia|Neman]]]]
All Baltic tribes rose against the Order after the [[Battle of Durbe]] (1260). Mindaugas officially canceled his relations with the Livonian Order in 1261 and the acts of grants became invalid. Mindaugas's royal dynasty discontinued when he and two sons were assassinated in 1263. Lithuanian dukes did not join the [[Old Prussians|Prussians]] in their uprising due to inside instability of the Lithuanian throne. Nadruvia and Scalovia (which comprised much of later Lithuania Minor) had been taken by the Teutonic Knights in 1275–1276 after the [[Prussian uprising]] and they reached [[Neman (town)|Neman]] from the south in 1282. Lithuania also did not manage to retain [[Semigallia]]n castles lying north from Lithuania and the [[Semigallians]] fell under the Order finally during [[Gediminas]]'s rule. [[Samogitia]]ns, whose land lay between the [[Livonian Order]] and the Teutonic Order, had been many times granted to the Order juridically by Lithuanian dukes, popes, emperors of Holy Roman Empire, but either the Order did not managed to take it, or the Lithuanian dukes departed from their treaty and grant. Klaipėda was passed to Teutonic Order from its Livonian branch in 1328.

The patrimony for Nadruvia and Scalovia was remembered by post-Mindaugas grand dukes of Lithuania: [[Algirdas]], during the negotiation on Lithuania's Christianization, postulated (1358) for the emperor of Holy Roman Empire, [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]], that he would accept Christianity when the Order was transferred to Russia's border to fight [[Tatars]] and Lithuania would be given back the lands to [[Łyna River|Łyna]], Pregolya rivers and Baltic sea. Lithuanian grand dukes probably considered the Order to be illegitimate state, propagandizing the mission of Christianization as the fundamental aim and factually seeking political authority at one time. Additionally, after the Order had become Protestant state, the conquered Baltic lands were not acknowledged as its possession by the popes.

After the [[Battle of Grunwald]] the dispute between Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Order on [[Samogitia]] started.<ref name="BaturaVytautas">{{cite book |last1=Batūra |first1=Romas |title=Places of Fighting for Lithuania's Freedom: in the expanse of Nemunas, Vistula and Dauguva Rivers |date=2010 |publisher=[[General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania]] |location=[[Vilnius]] |page=7 |url=http://www.tb.lt/Leidiniai/sisteminis_katalogas/Humanitariniai%20mokslai/Istorija/2010-places%20of%20fighting.pdf |access-date=23 August 2021}}</ref> Vytautas wanted the border to be the [[Neman River]], while the Order wanted to have [[Veliuona]] and Klaipėda in the right side of the river.<ref name="BaturaVytautas"/> Both sides agreed to accept the prospective solution of [[Emperor Sigismund]]'s representative [[Benedict Makrai]]. He decided that the right side of Nemunas ([[Veliuona]], [[Klaipėda]]) had to be left for Lithuania (1413). Makrai is known to have stated:<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[:de:Altpreußische Monatsschrift|Altpreußische Monatsschrift]]|year=1907|volume=44|title=Preußische Urkunden in Rußland|author=[[:de:August Robert Seraphim|August Seraphim]]|page=80|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lH0VAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22nec%20magister%20et%20ordo%22&pg=PA80|lang=de, la}}</ref>

{{blockquote|''We find that the Memel castle is built in the land of [[Samogitians]]. Neither [[Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights|Master]], nor the Order was able to prove anything opposing.''}}
[[File:Map of the Lithuania Minor (Mažoji Lietuva), 1753.jpg|thumb|Map of the Lithuania Minor in 1753]]

The Order did not accept the solution. Later Vytautas agreed the solution to be made by [[Emperor Sigismund]]. He acknowledged Samogitians for the Order (1420). Vytautas did not accept the solution. Polish and Lithuanian military, not capturing the castles, devastated Prussia then and the [[Treaty of Melno]] was made. Klaipėda was left for the Order. Since the Melno treaty the land later become Lithuania Minor had been officially separated from Lithuania. It became part of the [[Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights|state of the Teutonic Order]]. In 1454, King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]] incorporated the region to the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]] upon the request of the anti-Teutonic [[Prussian Confederation]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Górski|first=Karol|title=Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych|year=1949|publisher=Instytut Zachodni|location=Poznań|language=pl|page=54}}</ref> After the subsequent [[Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466)]], the longest of all Polish-Teutonic wars, the region was a part of Poland (and thus the [[Polish–Lithuanian union]]) as a [[fief]] held by the Teutonic Knights.<ref>Górski, pp. 96–97, 214–215</ref>