Dovmont

Saint Dovmont (baptized Timothy), Prince of Pskov, was a Lithuanian prince who came to Pskov, received Orthodox baptism and for thirty years was the defender of the city against the Teutonic knights. He is venerated in the Russian Church as a right-⁠believing prince, and his memory is kept on 20 May by the old calendar.

A note on the sources

The materials at hand for this entry speak of another Dovmont (the Lithuanian Daumantas), mentioned in the chronicles in 1285 as grand duke of Lithuania, who attacked the land of Tver and was killed or taken prisoner. Later Belarusian-⁠Lithuanian chronicles confuse him with the prince of Pskov, but the latter died around 1299, so he is a different person. The life below concerns the saint of Pskov, following Russian tradition and what is known of him from the chronicles. There is no certainty about his origins: according to the Lithuanian legend he was a son of Vit, and in another view a son of Traiden or of Mindaugas.

Life

According to tradition, Dovmont left Lithuania in 1266, after the feuds among the princes, with the people of his household, and stopped at Pskov. There he received baptism with the name Timothy, and the people of Pskov elected him prince. He married Maria, daughter of Dmitry Alexandrovich and granddaughter of Alexander Nevsky, as the Kholmogory Chronicle also shows, which calls him the son-⁠in-⁠law of Dmitry Alexandrovich.

As defender of Pskov he fought against the Livonian Order and the Lithuanians. In 1268, together with the Novgorodians, he took part in the great battle of Rakovor. In 1269 he repelled the siege of Pskov by the Teutonic knights. He built the stone wall that gave its name to Dovmont's Town and, according to tradition, fought two hundred battles without being defeated. He ruled until his death on 20 May 1299 and was buried in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Pskov. His sword was long kept at the cathedral as a relic. His relics were venerated in Pskov, and the Church has counted him a right-⁠believing saint.