13th–14th centuries
Lithuania receives baptism; Jews lose their former privileges
1387·Vilnius
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
Lithuania, the last pagan country in Europe, received baptism, and the Jews of Vilnius, its capital, lost the status they had previously enjoyed.
The grand duchy had welcomed Jews from Germany and Poland, and had allowed them to live without the laws of separation that the Church imposed elsewhere. The country's baptism introduced canon law and its prohibitions, and the condition of the Jews there became henceforth that of Latin Christendom, governed by princely privileges that had to be renewed with each new reign.
- Period :
- 13th–14th centuries
- Type :
- Forced conversion
- Region :
- Central and Eastern Europe
- Country :
- Lituanie
Ouvrages sur le judaïsme du grand-duché de Lituanie ; Recueils de privilèges des Juifs de Pologne-Lituanie.