Dovmont

(Daumantas). Date of birth unknown; died May 20, 1299. Prince of Pskov after 1266, before which he was prince of the Nalsenai territory in Lithuania.

Dovmont opposed the unifying policy of the Great Prince of Lithuania Mindaugas. He participated in a plot that resulted in the murder of Mindaugas (1263). Fleeing from revenge at the hands of Mindaugas’ son, Dovmont escaped from Lithuania to Pskov, where he married the granddaughter of Aleksander Nevsky. A skillful military leader, Dovmont organized the defense of Pskov from attack by German knights and Lithuanian feudal lords, leading the combined forces of Novgorod and Pskov (1266-68, 1298). In 1269, 1272, and 1299, the German knights laid siege to Pskov but were defeated each time.