scholarly journals Details of the Peasants Everyday Life in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 16th Century and the First Half of the 17th Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Neringa Dambrauskaitė

This article deals with the aspects of everyday life of the peasants who lived in private estates of the nobility in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 16th – the first half of the 17th century. The research was mainly based on published and unpublished acts of court cases, additional information is found in the estate inventories and descriptions provided by the people who travelled through Lithuania. The analysis revealed that the homestead of the peasants were usually modest – it consisted of few wooden buildings, the most important of which being a dwelling house, a granary and a cattle-shed, but richer peasants lived in larger homesteads with more different buildings. Peasants usually lived in wooden farmhouses with a stove, whereas some part of the peasants in Samogitia still lived in the so-called numas with a fireplace. Peasants’ main clothes were sermėgos, sheepskin coats, shirts, woman’s cloaks; some peasants could afford to have more expensive clothes. The main food products included different kinds of grain, first of all, stocks of rye, as well as peas, different vegetables, flitch, dairy products. Probably only richer peasants ate meat more often. There were important various household effects and work tools in the peasant homestead. Although the life of peasants was modest, however there existed differences in the standard of everyday living during the period under discussion.

Author(s):  
Vladyslav Bezpalko ◽  
Ivan Kuzminskyi

The presented article is the first study of this kind, where the musical life of Volhynia of the mid 16th - early 17th century is specially considered. In the study, we almost exclusively focused on the secular segment of musical everyday life. On the basis of the analysis of historical acts, fiscal accounting documents and other sources, three thematic sections were formed. The first section is devoted to the study of musicians in Volhynia. In the fiscal accounting documents, initially the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown), various terms are used to refer to musicians and related professions: "dudari", "skomorokhy", "skrypali", "trubachi", "medwednyky" "muzyky", "hudky". From these and other documents we learn about the number of musicians in different small settlements. Among the nicknames that were given to musicians, the "dudnyk" and "skrypka" prevail, sometimes there is a "hudka". Separately, in the act documents other music specialties are mentioned: "Jews Cantors", "organist", "pyshchyk", "trubach", "bubnist". Also, in the documents of such kind, one could find some episodes from the everyday life of the musicians. Musical instruments are discussed in the second section of the article: "kobza", "turkish kobza", "lute", "quintar lute", "violin", "italian violin", "cithara", "duda", "smyk", "truba", "bubon". The last section deals with two separate phenomena of Volhynia musical culture - music in dance and Volochebnyy ceremonies. The lack of study of Volhynia musical culture in previous years encouraged the emergence of various myths, in particular, about the poverty of the musical culture of the Volhynia autochthonous population. According to the myth, the pipe organs of the Catholic temples were brought to these territories by the Polish colonists after the Union of Lublin. However, as it is shown in the article, the first mention of the Lutsk organist dates back to the time before the Union of Lublin and the name of organist indicates his Ruthenian origin. Thus, the obtained results allow us not only to fill the gaps in Ukrainian historical musicology of the mid 16th - early 17th century, but also to hope for the appearing of similar studies of other Ukrainian lands.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-119
Author(s):  
Tomas Čelkis

The article analyses traveling conditions in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 16th–17th century. It is aimed at establishing the reasons for the mobility of the GDL citizens in the period in question which were affected by social and economic changes as well as those related to the development of the urban network in the country. Several types of journeys have been distinguished which is indicative of the intensity of population mobility. The general road condition was far from excellent which affected their usability, particularly in wet spells. Attempts to ensure road maintenance and repairs were not equally distributed and not always timely. This was one of the factors accountable for the pace and comfort of traveling. The research also dwells on the everyday life on the road that both the citizens of the country and its visitors experienced as well as issues related to attacks on travellers and highway robberies.


2020 ◽  
pp. 9-32
Author(s):  
Mindaugas Šinkūnas

JOHANN CHRISTIAN DICELIUS’S LITHUANIAN DEDICATION OF 1690 This article presents a dedication written in Lithuanian, that until recently was unknown, as well as additional information about its author and the circumstances of its writing. The poem of Johann Christian Dicelius from 1690, published together with Johann Christoph Taubert’s Master’s thesis, is the second known Lithuanian dedication created for the occasion of receiving a scholarly degree. Seven copies of the publication are known, and all of them are held outside of Lithuania. The exact date of Dicelius’s birth is not known, but he was born around 1670 into the family of Ernest Dicelius, a priest in Valtarkiemis (Walterkehmen), known for composing and translating Lithuanian hymns. In 1690 he began studies in Law at the University of Jena. After his studies, from 1695 he worked at the Vėluva (Wehlau) school until 1700 when he left his post as the school’s co-rector to return to Valtarkiemis where he lived with his mother until his death in 1706. From the 16th–17th century at least seven students from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and 25 from Lithuania Minor studied at the University of Jena. One of them—a fellow countryman from Klaipėda, Taubert—is the recipient of Dicelius’s congratulatory note written in Lithuanian. Dicelius’s mastery of the Lithuanian language and writing skills raise no doubts. The expected orthography of Lithuania Minor is used, but it is slightly altered due to the fact that the publishing house did not have the technical possibilities to produce Lithuanian script. Dicelius’s language is characterized by the typical mixing of the phonemes /ė/ and /ie/; for a more fluid rhyme or for the sake of a formal style he used the rare occasional derivative šviesimas ‘enlightening’ and the long athematic forms of the verbs plėšti ‘to rip’ and rėžti ‘to carve’.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-187
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Ziober

AbstractThe activity of representatives of the elites of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which sought equality with the Crowners, but also the defense of their prerogatives was present from the first days after the signing of the Lublin Union. Analyzing this issue, it should be remembered that the Crown and Lithuania were separated state bodies, which union did not merge into one country, but formed a federal state. They were characterized by a separate treasury, army, offices, judiciary, law, local government institutions, i.e. basically everything that determines the administrative independence of the country. Lithuanians wanted to guarantee the same rights as the Crown nobility had, however, remaining separate. Thus, offices were established having the same prerogatives in the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, such as the Grand and Field Hetman, Chancellor and Vice-Chancellors, Treasurer and Grand and Court Marshal, as well as a number of land and town dignities and dignitaries. The first of these were allocated appropriate seats in the senate, behind their crown counterparts, which caused quarrels between Poles and Lithuanians. However, manifestations of activity guaranteeing and “reminding” Poles of Lithuania’s separateness from the Crown were evident throughout the entire existence of the federal Commonwealth.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-107
Author(s):  
Arnaud Parent

AbstractIn the Commonwealth of the Two Nations, significant legal texts were implemented under the rule of King Stanislaw August, the most important being the Constitution of May 3, 1791, adopted during the Four-Year Sejm (1788-1792). Its framers faced numerous challenges, first, because then only nobles were considered as constituting the Republic, one was to define who should be considered as a member of the People, who could be elected deputy to the Sejm, and at which condition. Second, since the 1569 Union of Lublin the Commonwealth is made of two distinct states: Poland (the Crown) and the Grand-Duchy of Lithuania, drafters had to handle Lithuanian statehood in a Constitution, which was primarily seen as a way to enhance unification of the two nations. Third, the Grand-Duchy of Lithuania having its own legislation, enclosed in the Lithuanian statute, (adopted in 1529, followed with a Second Statute in 1566, and a Third Statute in 1588), the question of its maintaining or not too had to be taken into consideration by framers. We hope that considering how these different issues were handled will shed a new light on the permanence of Lithuanian laws and political tradition in the May 3 Constitution.


2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-118
Author(s):  
Gintautas Sliesoriūnas

In the 17th century, as contacts between citizens of England, which was gaining increasing importance in Europe, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) intensified, the phenomenon of the image of Lithuania in English and Scottish societies, as well as the level of their knowledge about the GDL, became more important. The issue of mentioning Lithuania in West European historical sources and the related issue of the image of Lithuania in the region in the 16th–17th centuries has already been analysed in Lithuania, albeit not thoroughly enough. However, the question of the image of Lithuania in English publications in the 17th–18th centuries still requires more detailed analysis. This article discusses Lithuania-related facts that could have been familiar not only to the narrow circle of people that were in close contact with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but also to wider well-read English and Scottish society. The few educated members of English society who had an interest in learning more about Lithuania had access to publications in various languages published in different countries. However, this article dwells almost exclusively on publications in the English language dating from the 17th century that facilitated the rendering of knowledge and opinions about Lithuania to a much wider circle of people who read in the English language.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-125
Author(s):  
Gitana Zujienė

The article presents an analysis of court procedures against witches in Lithuania. The author explains which courts handled such cases and which legal acts regulated the course of these procedures. The witchcraft court procedure in Lithuania is compared to a procedure discussed in a book by Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Institor (Kramer) from 1487 called ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ (Hammer of the Witches). The similarities and differences between these court procedures are revealed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 109-125
Author(s):  
Lilia Citko

Dictionaries in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – a Contribution to the History of (Western)Ruthenian Lexicography and Word-Inventory In the article an attempt to describe the oldest Western Ruthenian dictionary has been made. The analysis is based on the following texts: 1) Leksis s tolkovanīem slovenskikh mov prosto  of the first part of the 16th century, 2) Leksis siriech rechenïia v"krat"tsie s"bran(")ny. I īz slove(n)skago iazyka naprosty(ĭ) ruskīĭ diale(k)t istol(")kovany L,Z  by L. Zizaniy (Vilno 1596), 3) Leksīkon slavenorosskīĭ ī imen tl"kovanīe  by P. Berynda (Kiev 1627), 4) Sinonima slavenorosskaia (the end of the 17th century). The focus of attention is directed to lexicographic specificity of the antique texts, the elements of their macro- and microstructures, sources and techniques of material documentation, which made it possible to observe the evolution of lexicographers` methodological procedure in the range of the structure of an entry, e.g.: efforts to introduce grammatical information, qualifiers (mostly etymological and stylistic), and material exemplification.Dictionaries, which were essentially used to learn the language of liturgical celebration, contained religious vocabulary. It should be noted, however, that their authors introduced Ruthenian words of various thematic groups and stylistic registers to the translated parts of lexicons. In Berynda`s dictionary Polish loan words appeared as entries. Słowniki w Wielkim Księstwie Litewskim – przyczynek do historii (zachodnio)ruskiej leksykografii i leksykiW artykule podjęto próbę charakterystyki najstarszych słowników zachodnioru­skich na podstawie kilku źródeł: 1) Leksis s tolkovanīem slovenskikh mov prosto z pierwszej połowy XVI w.; 2) Leksis siriech rechenïia v"krat"tsie s"bran(")ny. I īz slove(n)skago iazyka naprosty(ĭ) ruskīĭ diale(k)t istol(")kovany L,Z  W. Zizaniego (Wilno 1596); 3) Leksīkon slavenorosskīĭ ī imen tl"kovanīe  P. Beryndy (Kijów 1627); 4) Sinonima slavenorosskaia  (koniec XVII w.). Głównie uwagę skupiono na specyfice leksykograficznej zabytków, elementach ich makro-i mikrostruktury, źródłach oraz sposobach dokumentacji materiału. Pozwoliło to zaobserwować pewną ewolucję warsztatu metodologicznego leksykografów w zakresie budowy artykułu hasłowego, jak np. próby wprowadzania informacji gramatycznej, kwalifikatorów (głównie etymologicznych, stylistycznych) oraz egzemplifikacji materiałowej.Słowniki, przeznaczone zasadniczo do nauki języka liturgicznego i lektury ksiąg cerkiewnych, gromadziły przede wszystkim leksykę religijną. Należy jednak zauważyć, że do przekładowej części leksykonów ich autorzy wprowadzali słownictwo ruskie należące do różnych grup tematycznych i rejestrów stylistycznych. W charakterze wyrazów hasłowych słownika Beryndy mogły występować również pożyczki polskie.


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