Description

In the 13th century, Kiev became an appanage principality first of the Grand Prince of Volodymyr and the Golden Horde governors, and later was taken over by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Vladimir Olgerdovich (died after 1398) was the son of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his first wife Maria of Vitebsk. He was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1362 to 1394. His sons Ivan and Alexander started the Belsky and Olelkovich families.

After the battle of Blue Waters in 1362, the Principality of Kiev fell permanently into the hands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is believed that Vladimir was installed in Kiev right after the battle and replaced Fiodor of Kiev. Vladimir conducted independent politics and minted his own coins. Initially the coins were heavily influenced by the numismatic traditions of the Golden Horde and copied symbolism from coins minted by Khans Jani Beg and Muhammad Bolak. However, later the coins replaced the Tatar symbols (i.e. tamga) with letter K (for Kiev) and a cross (for Eastern Orthodox faith). This could indicate that for a while the Principality still had to pay tribute to the Horde. These were the first coins minted in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

When Jogaila became King of Poland in 1386, Vladimir swore loyalty to him. After the 1392 Ostrów Agreement, Vytautas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania and began to eliminate regional dukes replacing them with appointed regents. This campaign could have been launched to discipline disloyal dukes, but turned into a systematic effort to centralize the state. In 1393, Vytautas confiscated Volodymyr-Volynskyi from Feodor, son of Liubartas, Novhorod-Siverskyi from Kaributas, Vitebsk from Švitrigaila. In 1394, Vytautas and Skirgaila marched against Vladimir, who surrendered without a battle. Skirgaila was installed in Kiev while Vladimir received the Principality of Slutsk. Vladimir was last mentioned in written sources in October 1398.