Birutė
Sign in to savethumb|A bronze sculpture of Birutė near her presumed grave Birutė (c. 1330 – 1382) was the Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the second wife of Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and mother of Vytautas the Great. There is very little known about Birutė's life, but after her death a cult worshiping her developed among Lithuanians, especially in Samogitia.
Key facts
- Royalty.consort
- yes
- Royalty.name
- Birutė
- Royalty.image
- Image:Biruta.JPG
- Royalty.caption
- Imaginary artistic depiction of Birutė from the 19th century
- Royalty.succession
- Grand Duchess of Lithuania
- Royalty.birth_place
- near Palanga
- Royalty.death_date
- (aged about 52)
- Royalty.burial_place
- Palanga
- Royalty.spouse
- Kęstutis
- Royalty.religion
- Lithuanian polytheism
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Life
- Marriage
- Death
- Worship
- Eponym
- Notes
- References
thumb|A bronze sculpture of Birutė near her presumed grave Birutė (c. 1330 – 1382) was the Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the second wife of Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and mother of Vytautas the Great. There is very little known about Birutė's life, but after her death a cult worshiping her developed among Lithuanians, especially in Samogitia.
==Life== ===Marriage=== She was probably born near Palanga to a Lithuanian, Samogitian or Curonian magnate family. The story of her marriage to Kęstutis became a romantic legend in Lithuania. Chronicles mention that Birutė was a priestess () and served the Pagan gods by guarding the sacred fire. When Kęstutis heard of her beauty, he visited the shire and asked her to marry him. She refused because she had promised the gods to guard her virginity until her death. Kęstutis then abducted her, and took her by force to Trakai where he threw a large wedding. She and Kęstutis had three sons and three daughters. Vytautas, their first son, was born around 1350. This suggests that the marriage took place in 1349 or a bit earlier.