At this juncture Edigai had the wit to win something. He announced that for three thousand rubles he would raise the siege, and leave Moscow. No one knew the situation, hence the money was delivered, and Edigai hurried home to save Bulat from dethronement. [[413]]An immense train of captives and much booty followed after him. This raid had caused great loss to Russia. From the Don to Bailozero, and Galitch beyond the Volga, the country had been ravaged.
Edigai now sent a letter to Vassili, in which he recounted that prince’s many sins against his sovereign: the Khan’s envoys had been insulted, as well as his merchants. The prince had not visited the Horde or sent his relatives or boyars. “In other days thou hadst men well inclined to us. Listen not to youths, and thou wilt not be ruined through haughtiness. When attacked by princes of Lithuania, or Russia, thou art quick to ask aid of us, and give no rest till we send it. Thou sayest that thy lands are exhausted, that thou canst get no tribute. This is false. We have learned that from two ploughs thou receivest one ruble; what dost thou do with that money? Live in the old way, uninjured and faithful.”
But even after receiving this message Vassili was unwilling to give tribute to the Mongols; and he was right in view of the turmoil and trouble in Sarai. Only when Edigai had been hunted from the Horde and the son of Tohtamish, Jelal ed din, the ally of Vitold, and the protector of the Suzdal princes then fighting with Vassili, had taken his place, did the Moscow prince decide at last on a visit to the Mongols, taking with him rich gifts, and words of obedience. But during his stay at Sarai Jelal ed din was dethroned, and murdered by Kerim Berda, his own brother, who straightway declared himself an enemy of Vitold, and friendly to Vassili.
Perhaps the new Khan was of those who had found asylum in Moscow, when wandering and powerless. Still the formal relations of the principality to the Horde were those of a tributary. Some time later Kerim Berda was dethroned by a brother, and the dance of disorder continued.
One among many results of Vitold’s defeat at the Vorskla was to strengthen the bonds between Lithuania and Poland. Weakened by that defeat, Vitold had to lower his haughtiness, and seek aid from Yagello against powerful neighbors, that is, Northeastern Russia, the Golden Horde, and the German Order. In January, 1401, the two cousins met at Vilna, and bound themselves to give mutual aid whenever needed. After this meeting the princes and boyars of Lithuania and Western Russia agreed to aid the Polish [[414]]king. If Vitold died while Yagello was living, Yagello was to be chosen as their Grand Prince. If Yagello died before Vitold, the Poles were to choose no king without Vitold’s concurrence.
Thus was accomplished, though not very strictly, the union of Lithuania with Poland, promised by Yagello at his crowning. Vitold acknowledged himself to be only lifelong vicegerent. There was no mention of a tribute, which had been demanded once by the late Queen Yedviga, who affirmed that Lithuania and Russia were hers as a marriage gift from Yagello. Owing to this union, Vitold now recovered completely from that Vorskla disaster.
Those two cousins, Yagello and Vitold, were remarkable men. Yagello gave away what he had for a show and a glitter. Vitold was willing to give that which he must give for help to win, what for him was the one prize, dominion; and when he had this dominion he snatched back that which he had given to those who had helped him. Poland aided Vitold in everything, with the intent of taking from him when the time came all that he might win from others through Polish assistance, while he wished to keep all that he gained, no matter how he acquired it. Vitold renewed his incursive advance upon Eastern and Northern Russia, but the first weighty blow was reserved for that active and dangerous neighbor, that unsparing foe of Lithuania and Poland, the Teutonic Order.
The apparent cause for this collision was Jmud, which Vitold, when preparing to struggle with Yagello so as to bring him to his side, had given to the Knights of the Cross in return for their aid, and which had remained pagan after Lithuania itself had been Catholicized through Yagello by contract. The Germans introduced Christianity with fire and sword into Jmud, entering that region by two sides, Livonia and Russia. The people met their attackers with reprisals and uprisings, with resistance of all kinds, and begged their prince, Vitold, to help them. He meanwhile, through policy, avoided a break with the Order, and sometimes even helped that same Order to crush his own people. But he was waiting to choose the right moment to take back his inheritance.
At this juncture there rose a dispute between the Order and Yagello, touching lands called Neumarch, or New March, which belonged to Sigismund of Hungary. Later on Neumarch was mortgaged to the Order by Sigismund, that Emperor famous for the evil of his friendship, and the virtue of his enmity, renowned [[415]]also for the burning of John Huss after he had given him a safe-conduct, one of the most infamous acts recorded in the history of any country. This land touched on Poland. Its boundaries were disputed, and caused a Polish grievance. The Poles had another and greater grievance: The Order had taken from them Pomerania on the Baltic. There was hatred on both sides.
The Order felt confident of victory, and beyond any doubt would have won it had Poland been alone in the conflict. From 1393 till 1407 Konrad von Jungingen, the Grand Master, a man who was pious and peace-loving, repressed all hostile movements. But the Order grew weary of peace, and when Konrad died his cousin, Ulrich, who was as warlike as Konrad had been peace-loving, was chosen Grand Master and war was inevitable. There were many causes for conflict, but the overshadowing and great one was race ambition. The Order felt confident of victory, and chose its moment for battle.