Silver Lithuania 50 litas 2013 – 600th anniversary of the Baptism of Samogitia

Baptism in Lithuania took place when the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Jagiello (Polish: Jagiello) came to power in Poland and promised to baptize both himself and Lithuania. He was baptized with his brothers in 1386. A year later, Jagiello came to Vilnius with a group of Polish nobility and priests to baptize Lithuania. On February 17, 1387, Jagiello founded the diocese of Vilnius, as well as seven new parishes in Kreva, Maišiagale, Nemenčina, Medininkai, Ukmerge, Oboltsy and Haine. In the words of Robert Frost, “Despite initial difficulties, the conversion was successful, although eradicating pagan beliefs proved more difficult than imagined. Jagiello encountered only a little noble resistance, while a similar one led 120 years earlier to the assassination of Mindaugas, at least in Aukštaitija; in Samogitia, where paganism was firmly rooted, everything turned out differently: in 1382, the Samogitians warned that if Jagiello forced them to accept baptism, they would resist. Until 1413, only the Samogitians were pagans.

Diameter – 38.61mm

Weight – 28.28g

Circulation – 3000 pieces

Release date – 2013