Dovmont of Pskov (Timothy)

Saint Dovmont, the right-⁠believing Prince, in baptism Timothy, was Prince of Pskov from 1266 until his death on 20 May 1299. He was of Lithuanian birth and came to Pskov as a fugitive. He defended the city and northern Russia against the Lithuanians and the Livonian knights and is venerated as the patron of Pskov and of the Russian army. The Russian Orthodox Church numbered him among the saints in the sixteenth century, and his commemoration is on 20 May.

In Lithuania

Until 1265 Dovmont (Daumantas) was duke of Nalšia, in the north of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The sources differ about his origin. According to some he was a son or relative of Mindaugas, according to others the elder brother of Treniota. According to some sources he was married to the sister of Mindaugas' second wife, Queen Morta. When Morta died, in 1262, Mindaugas took Dovmont's wife to raise his young children. Dovmont then took part, in the autumn of 1263, in the killing of King Mindaugas and two of his sons. He remained duke of Nalšia during the short reign of Treniota. When Mindaugas' son Vaišelga returned in 1264 to claim his inheritance and began to wipe out his family's enemies, Dovmont fled to Pskov with his kin and an army of about three hundred men.

Prince of Pskov

The arrival of the Lithuanians caused fear and anger at Novgorod, which even wished to kill them. They were defended and baptized into the Orthodox faith by a prince, the son of Prince Yaroslav of Novgorod, and Dovmont received the name Timothy. He married Maria, daughter of Dmitry of Pereslavl, a son of Alexander Nevsky. After settling in Pskov he led the Pskovians against the Lithuanians and forced them back to the Daugava. He turned his revenge on the new duke of Nalšia, Girdenis, pressed on to Polotsk and took prisoner his wife and sons. His successes led the Pskovians to elect him prince.

The grand prince Yaroslav, displeased by the election, wished to drive him out, but the Novgorodians refused to help him, and even went with the Pskovians into Lithuania under Dovmont's leadership. In 1268 he fought beside Prince Dmitry at Rakovor (now Rakvere, in Estonia) against the Livonian knights. The next year the Livonian master Otto von Lutterberg besieged Pskov, but Dovmont defended the city, received help from the Novgorodians and concluded a truce. In 1270 Yaroslav put another Lithuanian prince in his place, but the Pskovians stood by Dovmont, who returned to the throne the following spring. On 8 June 1272 he defeated the Livonians near Pskov. In 1282 he helped his father-⁠in-⁠law, Dmitry, who had been driven out by his brother Andrey. Late in his life, on 4 March 1299, the Livonian knights invaded unexpectedly, laid waste the settlement and besieged the fortress, but were defeated by Dovmont and the voivode Ivan Dorogomilovich.

Death and veneration

Dovmont died on 20 May 1299, probably of the plague that was then cutting down people in the city. Some sources say that he died of wounds received in battle. For some thirty-⁠three years he defended Pskov and northern Russia, and in time of peace he was devout, merciful to the poor, visited prisoners, welcomed travellers, and kept the fasts and feasts. He was buried in the church of the Holy Trinity at Pskov. On the coins and seals of Pskov his image appears, according to some scholars.