Švitrigaila’s nomination as the Grand Duke of Lithuania. An attempt at a reconstruction of events up until the end of 1430

This article is an attempt at an analytical reconstruction of the events that took place in Lithuania after the death of Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania. It is assumed in historiography that Władysław II Jagiełło supported Švitrigaila as a candidate to become the Grand Duke and that his younger brother’s subsequent actions were a result of his personality and bad temper. After an in-depth analysis of the source material I would like to suggest a more plausible interpretation of the motives and circumstances surrounding Švitrigaila’s nomination as the Grand Duke. The remaining part of the paper presents the first decisions made by Grand Duke Švitrigaila and the main political problems that he had to deal with until the end of 1430