…Chernihiv.

In 1076, the same year Sviatoslav I died in Kiev and was succeeded there by his brother Vsevolod, Sviatoslav’s son Oleg, failing to get along with his uncle, had fled Kiev to a distant Chernihivian domain on the Black Sea shore, called Tmutarakan.

Here, in 1078, he makes an alliance with the Kipchaks, and with their support returns to his father's patrimony, Chernihiv.

It marks the first time that a Slavic prince brings a pagan horde to the walls of a Russian city in order to achieve his ends.

Algirdas is one of the seven sons of Grand Prince Gediminas.

Before his death in 1341, Gediminas divided his domain, leaving his youngest son Jaunutis in possession of the capital, Vilnius.

With the aid of his brother, Kęstutis, Algirdas drove out the incompetent Jaunutis and declared himself Grand Prince in 1345.

He is devoted to the development and expansion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Two factors are thought to have contributed to this result: the political sagacity of Algirdas and the devotion of Kęstutis.

The division of their dominions is illustrated by the fact that Algirdas appears almost exclusively in East Slavic sources, while Western chronicles primarily describe Kęstutis.

Lithuania is surrounded by enemies.

The Teutonic Order in the northwest and the Golden Horde in the southwest seek Lithuanian territory, while Poland to the west and Muscovy to the east are generally hostile competitors.

Chernihiv was first mentioned in the Rus'-Byzantine Treaty of 907 but the time of establishment is not known.

According to the items uncovered by archaeological excavations of a settlement which included artifacts from the Khazar Khaganate, it seems to have existed at least in the ninth century.

Towards the end of the tenth century, the city probably had its own rulers.

It is here that the Black Grave, one of the largest and earliest royal mounds in Eastern Europe, will be excavated in the nineteenth century.

In the southern portion of the Kievan Rus' polity, the city was the second by importance and wealth.

From the early eleventh century, it was the seat of powerful Grand Principality of Chernigov, whose rulers at times vied for power with Kievan Grand Princes, and often overthrew them and took the primary seat in Kiev for themselves.

The grand principality was the largest in Kievan Rus and included not only the Severian towns but even such remote regions as Murom, Ryazan and Tmutarakan.

The golden age of Chernihiv, when the city population peaked at twenty-five thousand, lasted until 1239 when the city was sacked by the hordes of Batu Khan, which started a long period of relative obscurity.

The area falls under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1353.

Alexander, happy to purchase peace, asks Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary to act as the mediator and a six-year truce is concluded on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1503.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania loses approximately two hundred and ten thousand square kilometers (eighty-one thousand square miles) or a third of its territory: Chernihiv, …

...Chernihiv swear an oath to the tsar as well.