List of Lithuanian monarchs

This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crowned king in 1253. Other Lithuanian rulers, such as Vytautas the Great, also attempted to secure a royal coronation, but these efforts were unsuccessful.

Until 1569, the Lithuanian monarchy was hereditary. In 1386, Grand Duke Jogaila was elected King of Poland. From that point onward, with some interruptions, the two states were united in a personal union, sharing a common ruler until 1569, when they were formally merged by the Union of Lublin to form the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The monarch of this new state was elected in a free election by the entire nobility.

From the Christianization of Lithuania until 1569, the inauguration of the Grand Duke took place in Vilnius Cathedral, where the Bishop of Vilnius placed Gediminas' Cap on the ruler’s head. After the Union of Lublin, the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania was assumed during the coronation in Kraków.

In 1918, there was an attempt to establish the Kingdom of Lithuania under German auspices, but the plan ultimately failed.

The first Lithuanian rulers did not leave behind any written documents, so we do not know their native titles, but only those given to them by their neighbors. In Kievan Rus', they were called knyaz (kniaz’) or grand knyas (velikii kniaz’), while in the German sphere they were referred to as elder (senior), leader (dux), and sometimes prince (princeps).

After the coronation Mindaugas adopted royal title: "By the Grace of God, King of the Lithuania" (Latin: Dei Gratia Rex Lettowiae). The first mention of a Lithuanian king predates the establishment of the Christian kingdom itself: according to the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, Mindaugas' father was a great king who "had no equal in his time."

As the territory of Lithuania expanded eastwards, other king-titled grand dukes who ruled the country adopted similar titles for introducing themselves abroad. For instance, Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytenis was sometimes regarded as Rex Lethowinorum ('King of Lithuanians') while his successor Gediminas was known by the title, in Latin: Rex Lithuanorum et Multorum Ruthenorum ('King of Lithuanians and many Ruthenians'). Some German sources also titled Gediminas as Rex de Owsteiten ('King of Aukštaitija'). Gediminas' right to use the Latin rex, which the papacy had been claiming the right to grant from the 13th century onwards, was not universally recognized in Catholic sources. Thus, he was called rex sive dux ("King or Duke") in one source; Pope John XXII, in a letter to the King of France, referred to Gediminas as "the one who calls himself rex". However, the Pope did call Gediminas rex when addressing him (regem sive ducem, "king or duke").

Teutonic knights referred to Algirdas and his wife Uliana (Julijona) as "Grand King of Lithuania" and "Grand Queen of Lithuania". In early 2000s a plaque with a mysterious script, dating to the 13th–14th centuries, which was nailed to a wooden base, was found during an archeological research in the Courtyard of the Old Arsenal of the Vilnius Castle Complex, part of which is translatable from the Ancient Greek as Algirdos Basileus (a Greek term Basileus means a 'king' or an 'emperor'). In 1370, Algirdas has wrote a letter to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople where he titled himself as Basileus, showcasing his status as an equal sovereign ruler to the Byzantine Emperor.