scholarly journals BURNING ALT-WARTENBURG. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE TEUTONIC ORDER AND THE GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA FROM A DESERTED MEDIEVAL TOWN NEAR BARCZEWKO (WARMIA, POLAND)

2019 ◽  
Vol Lietuvos archeologija, T. 45 ◽  
pp. 265-293
Author(s):  
Felix Biermann ◽  
Christofer Herrmann ◽  
Arkadiusz Koperkiewicz ◽  
Edvinas Ubis
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
Conflict Archaeology ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
Grand Duchy

In the 14th century, the Teutonic Order and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania engaged in severe armed conflicts whose central element was raids on enemy territory. Since nearly all written evidence was authored by one side in the conflict, the chroniclers of the Order, the reliability of the reports in respect to violence and cruelties is not clear. Therefore, archaeological discoveries are of great importance for understanding these wars and their reality. An instructive example is the deserted town of Alt-Wartenburg in Warmia (Barczewko near Olsztyn, Northeast Poland), which was captured and destroyed in 1354 by a Lithuanian army and afterwards abandoned. Recent research has revealed considerable traces of the town’s violent end: burnt houses, weapons, skeletons of the victims, and other traces of ravages and violence. The site and the finds are discussed against the background of the written record, the warfare of its time and region, and other archaeological witnesses of this period. Keywords: Wars of Teutonic Order and Grand Duchy of Lithuania; conflict archaeology; Middle Ages; deserted town; Warmia.

scholarly journals Knighthood in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the Late Fourteenth to the Early Sixteenth Centuries

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-66
Author(s):  
Rimvydas Petrauskas
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Early Development ◽  
High Ranking ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Times ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
Grand Duchy

The main aim of this article is to collect and assess all accessible data about the early development of chivalric culture in the GDL and to identify possible trends. This phenomenon is perceived as part of the history of the European knighthood in the late Middle Ages. The article also seeks to investigate the meaning of the conception of the knight in the GDL documents of the fifteenth century in order to determine the spread of knighthood in the nobility of the Grand Duchy. In the research of these aspects the flourishing of the knighthood culture at the court of Grand Duke Vytautas in the early-fifteenth century is distinguished as a period when high-ranking representatives of the country’s nobility were awarded titles; and a new enhancement is noticeable in the times of Alexander Jogailaitis when an initiative, a unique phenomenon in Poland-Lithuania, was undertaken to establish a brotherhood of knights. In the analysis of the use of the concept of knighthood, emphasis is placed on the difference between the singular use of the knightly title and the pluralistic estate conception.

scholarly journals Institutions of the Judiciary in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (XIV-XVI centuries): structure, classification, competence

2019 ◽  
pp. 151-163
Author(s):  
P. Zakharchenko
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
State Courts ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
History Of ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
The Right ◽  
Grand Duchy

The article deals with the classification of the judiciary in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as the GDL), which included most Ukrainian lands during that period. The purpose of the work is to identify institutes of justice that were active during the Middle Ages in the GDL, to study their structure, to classify and competence each of them. Following the majority of researchers in the history of national law, the author shares the view that the three stages of the evolution of the organization of justice in the specified period. The periodicisation is based on the well-known principle of court ownership, distinguishing state and non-state courts. Characterization of each of the judicial institutions is carried out. It noted that state courts were under the direct jurisdiction of the Grand Duke and his government officials, while non-state courts were not subordinate to government officials, but their decisions were found to be legitimate. Such courts have arranged both the Grand Duke of Lithuania (the master) and the general population, since the former sought to relieve the courts, and the latter sought opportunities to resolve the dispute on the spot, without long journeys and the pecuniary expense of keeping the letter and spirit of the law. The author pays the most attention to land courts created on the basis of customary Ukrainian law. They originated in the fourteenth century. from the tradition of the Russian faithful courts. It is considered by public courts operating throughout Ukraine's ethnic territory, mostly in rural areas. Cities and towns that were not in Magdeburg law were also included in the land area. Representatives of various sections and strata of Ukrainian society participated in his work, starting with the peasantry and ending with the nobles-government. Attention is drawn to the jurisdiction of land courts in criminal proceedings. It has been proven that property crimes - theft, robbery, robbery, arson - were distinguished from criminal cases considered by land courts. Qualified death penalty was practiced, first of all hanging, burning, quartering. Initially, all the inhabitants of the land district (suburbs) came under the jurisdiction of the land courts, but subsequently the nobility was granted the right to sue the commercial court. The findings of the paper stated that despite the variety of judicial institutions, the competence of each court was sufficiently clearly defined.

scholarly journals The «Plaiting» on the Lithuanian and Lithuanian-Rus Coins of the XIV Century

Archaeology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 61-80
Author(s):  
Heorhii Kozubovskyi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
14Th Century ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
Special Meaning ◽  
Grand Duchy ◽  
Money Circulation

The article is devoted to the problem of the «plaiting» presence on the Lithuanian, Lithuanian-Rus and the Golden Horde coins of the 14th century. The coins with portrait and the beast lion (or the leopard) with a «plaiting» over its head and the coins with the beast lion (or the leopard) with a «plaiting» and Arabic (or Cyrillic legend (?)) are analyzed. The Kyivan Rus coins of Vladimir Olgerdovich (1362—1394) with princely sign and «plaiting» (around which is the inscription with the name of the prince) and the Golden Horde coins with «plaiting» are also examined. Many researches associate the «plaiting» with the Tatar «tamga», and the coins with such a symbol might have indicated the Golden Horde dependence. However, this ornament («ornamentum monetale» by Ch. M. Fraehn) may have a special meaning related to the Juchid monetary coinage. The Golden Horde coins with «plaiting» were the most important instrument of payment and taxation realization on the greater part of the Lithuanian and Lithuanian-Rus principalities. After the Syni Vody River battle of 1362 many the Golden Horde centers and trade routes in the basins of the Dnipro, Dnister and Southern Buh rivers were significant sources of the monetary silver arrival. Many qualitative (also with «ornamentum monetale» — «plaiting») silver coins of Abdallah Khan (1363—1370) and Muhammad Bulaq Khan (1370—1380), were minted in the western mints of the Mamai Horde (Azak, Ordu, Shehr al-Jedid). The silver coins of the Golden Horde were the source for the oldest Lithuanian and Lithuanian-Rus coins and bars of Olherd (1345—1377) and his sons. The oldest Lithuanian and Lithuanian-Rus coins made of approximately 900-standart silver corresponded to silver coins of the Golden Horde. The Golden Horde silver coins (also with «ornamentum monetale» — «plaiting») are one of the most constant parts of money circulation in Ukrainian territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 1360-ies till the first quarter of the 15th century.

scholarly journals Readings from the Moscow Version of the Versed Synaxarion in Hand-Written Synaxaria of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-41
Author(s):  
Marina Chistiakova
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Affirmative Answer ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
Grand Duchy

The interaction between the Ordinary and the Versed synaxarion began almost immediately after the latter was translated in the first quarter of the 14th century. The present article focuses on samples of readings from the Versed synaxarion that found their way into versions of the Ordinary synaxarion. The author raises the question of whether the readings from Moscovite Rus versions of the Synaxarion were integrated into the versions characteristic to the Kyiv Metropolitanate. An indepth study into the composition of the versions of the Synaxarion deriving from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, subsequently, the Commonwealth of the Two Nations, has made it possible to give an affirmative answer to this question. The specific version of the extended edition of the Synaxarion copy written by the local scribe Symeon in 1621 in Rychagov Village, Lviv Region, Ukraine, later transferred to the Krekhov Monastery and currently stored in the Lviv National Scientific Library, MV 1267, has been found to contain a number of didactic articles and individual hagiographic texts derivedfrom the Moscow version of the Versed synaxarion. The Rychagov synaxarion was also checked with some other synaxaria and hagiographic collections from the Commonwealth of the Two Nations. During their work on these sources, the book scribes were chiefly interested in the new sermons they used for creating the unique and rich didactic section of the synaxarion No. 1267.

Polish Cartography in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

1976 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 380-384
Author(s):  
Jan Wereszczyński
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Great Work ◽  
Astronomical Observations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Grand Duchy

Dr. Jan Wereszczynski, a member of this Institute, describes the little known Polish contribution to the mapping of eastern Europe at a time when interest in maps of the known world had been stimulated by the rediscovery and publication of Ptolemy's great work on Geography, written in the second century AD and forgotten during the Middle Ages.The history of the cartographical development of the Baltic and Black Sea coasts reveals a significant contribution from Polish cartographers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The ‘father of Polish cartography’, and one of the most famous scientists of his day, was Bernard Wapowski (1450–1535) who published two maps of Sarmatia. One covers the northern part of the Balkan peninsula, a large part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Crimean Khanate and part of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The other covers the country north of a line from Toruri to Novgorod. It should be emphasized that Wapowski's geographical coordinates are of outstanding accuracy, most of them, especially the latitudes, being based on his own astronomical observations.

scholarly journals The evolution of the laws regulating access to forests and aquatic resources of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until the mid-16th century

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Anna Pytasz-Kołodziejczyk
Keyword(s):  
Financial Burden ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Illegal Logging ◽  
Aquatic Resources ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Protected Forests ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
Grand Duchy

In the 13th and the 14th century, grand dukes had exclusive rights to the forests and aquatic resources of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They maintained these rights in the 15th century despite the fact that the rights to royal forests and aquatic had been widely distributed since the reign of Vytautas. Beginning in the second decade of the 16th century, grand dukes became increasingly interested in the productivity of land belonging to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in particular forests and aquatic resources. Their concern was largely motivated by the financial burden placed on the Lithuanian treasury in connection with the Muscovite- Lithuanian wars and the economic reforms implemented by Queen Bona and Sigismundus II Augustus. The monarchs passed laws regulating access to royal land in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. These regulations improved the management of royal land, protected forests against illegal logging and prevented excessive exploitation of water fauna (especially fish)

scholarly journals Unions in Medieval Church Law as the Basis for Description of the Legal Nature of the Polish-Lithuanian Union

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-271
Author(s):  
Wacław Uruszczak
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Code Of Canon Law ◽  
Canonical Models ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
Political Relationships ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
Church Law ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
Grand Duchy

In church law, the union of churches (unio ecclesiarum) concerned the merger of two and more dioceses under the same bishop. In the Middle Ages, canonists were already pointing to three types of union: 1) aeque principalis; 2) unio per subiectionem, when one of the churches was subject to the other and thus the episcopal dignity remained only in that one, and finally, the third kind, called 3) unio per extinctionem, when two particular churches, usually dioceses, were merged into a single new one. The canonical achievements in the field of union of churches and benefices were collected and summarized, among others, in the treatise De unionibus ecclesiarum atque beneficiorum by Nicolaus Thilen, and in the work of Anaclet Reiffenstuel entitled Ius canonicum universum. The three types of union of churches and benefices presented above, distinguished by their mergers, were adopted into the Code of Canon Law of 1917 (canons 1419 and 1420). The 450th anniversary of the union concluded on July 1, 1569 in Lublin was celebrated in 2019. As a result of this union the Kingdom of Poland, called the Crown, merged with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The canonical models of the union of churches and benefices, developed in medieval canon law, are important for a closer description of the essence of this relationship, starting with the first of them, i.e. the union concluded in 1385 in Krevo. The political relationships established between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania largely corresponded to the three canonical models of the church union indicated above, i.e. unio aeque principalis (1385), unio per subiectionem (1413) and unio per extinctionem seu translationem (1569).

scholarly journals ‘Purest Bones, Sweet Remains, and Most Sacred Relics.’ Re-Fashioning St. Kazimierz Jagiellończyk (1458–84) as a Medieval Saint between Counter-Reformation Italy and Poland-Lithuania

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1011
Author(s):  
Ruth Sargent Noyes
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
Grand Duchy ◽  
The Middle Ages

This article explores the Counter-Reformation medievalization of Polish–Lithuanian St. Kazimierz Jagiellończyk (1458–1484)—whose canonization was only finalized in the seventeenth century—as a case study, taking up questions of the reception of cults of medieval saints in post-medieval societies, or in this case, the retroactive refashioning into a venerable medieval saint. The article investigates these questions across a transcultural Italo–Baltic context through the activities of principal agents of the saint’s re-fashioning as a venerable saint during the late seventeenth century: the Pacowie from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Medici from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, during a watershed period of Tuscan–Lithuanian bidirectional interest. During this period, the two dynasties were entangled not only by means of the shared division of Jagiellończyk’s bodily remains through translatio—the ritual relocation of relics of saints and holy persons—but also self-representational strategies that furthered their religio-political agendas and retroactively constructed their houses’ venerable medieval roots back through antiquity. Drawing on distinct genres of textual, visual, and material sources, the article analyzes the Tuscan–Lithuanian refashioning of Kazimierz against a series of precious reliquaries made to translated holy remains between Vilnius to Florence to offer a contribution to the entangled histories of sanctity, art and material culture, and conceptual geography within the transtemporal and transcultural neocolonial context interconnecting the Middle Ages, Age of Reformations, and the Counter-Reformation between Italy and Baltic Europe.

scholarly journals Prices and Value of the Hunted Animals and Hunting Products in the Late Fifteenth and the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century in the Environment of the Ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Lituanistica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toma Zarankaitė-Margienė
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Bone Material ◽  
Historical Phenomenon ◽  
Late Fifteenth ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
Grand Duchy

The essence of hunting as a historical phenomenon cannot be defined in the economic aspect alone. In the Middle Ages and in the Early Modern Period, it was a multi-faceted symbiotic relationship combining both the daily life of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, the economic life of the state, and even foreign policy. It also partially shaped the image of the sovereign and legitimated his power. Hunted animals provided meat, bone material, furs, skins, and other products necessary for the needs of the ruler’s court. This article represents the latest research on the prices and value of the hunted animals and the products made from them in late fifteenth century and the second half of the sixteenth century in the environment of the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The second part of the analysis reveals the variety and prices of different products made from the hunted animals and their use.

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