The crusade to Lithuania was established in the chivalric calendar throughout the Catholic world by 1350. First founded as an offshoot of campaigning during the Second Crusade, from 1147 the conquest and Christian colonisation of territory in the Baltic regions of Prussia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Russia won approval and canonical recognition from the Latin church. Sandwiched between the Ordensstaat of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia and Livonia, the heathen regions of Lithuania and (further east) western Rus' came under increasing pressure at the end of the thirteenth century, absorbing significant Catholic colonisation and a heavy pounding from the Order's commanderies of Königsberg in the south-east and Riga in the north. On the other side of the frontier, expansion to the west provided the Lithuanian monarchy with a degree of insulation, allowing the ruling Jagiellonian clan to consolidate power in Lithuania, and eventually steer a course towards political union with Poland in 1386. The baptism of Jogaila I in 1386 (as Wladyslaw II) accelerated the slow process of Christianisation, but this did not precipitate an immediate halt to the fighting. The war was defined by a frontier-wilderness of wasted land and forest, criss-crossed by narrow passes and river tributaries, and studded with forts and marginal settlements. For civilian contact there was an established trade network in furs, timber, amber and slaves. Ransom of wealthy captives happened at the end of campaign season.