From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

King Mindaugas, Morta's husband, as depicted in medieval chronicles

Morta (baptized circa 1252 by the bishop of Chełmno, died ca. 1263) was the Grand Duchess of Lithuania (until 1253) and later Queen of Lithuania (1253—1262). There is very little know about her life; even her pagan name is unknown. The only clue into her origin or birth place is a short mention in the comments following the treaty signed in 1219 between Lithuanian dukes and Halych-Volhynia. It says that Mindaugas killed many members of Bulaičiai family, including Vismantas whose wife Mindaugas took for himself. Edvardas Gudavičius, a modern Lithuanian historian, based on toponyms determined that Bulaičiai family most likely came from Šiauliai region. Based on this scarce evidence and hypotheses, residents of Šiauliai call the city home of Morta, the only queen of Lithuania.

It is known that Mindaugas had more than one wife. Probably, Morta was his second wife. After her death he married her sister, wife of Daumantas. It is also known that two of her sons were killed together with Mindaugas in 1263. The written sources are very shy on her family and it is not entirely clear how many children she had.

Main article: House of Mindaugas

It is not clear how many children Morta had. The chronicles mention two sons, Replys and Gerstukas, in 1261. In 1263 two sons, Ruklys and Rupeikis, were assassinated together with Mindaugas. This is the only information available and historians disagree on whether these are the same two sons, whose name got distorted, or they are four sons, two of whom destiny is unknown.

• Birutė
• List of Belarusian rulers
• List of Lithuanian rulers

• (Lithuanian) Tomas Baranauskas, Karalienė Morta ir Šiauliai (Queen Morta and Šiauliai), Vartiklis.lt. Accessed July 9, 2006.