Gediminas (ca. 1275 – winter 1341) was the monarch of medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1316–1341, which chiefly meant monarch of Lithuanians and much of Rus'. He was the true founder of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as an empire. He has a reputation of being an inveterate pagan who fiercely resisted all attempts to christianize his country, though the case is actually somewhat more complex.