Lithuanian nobility

Columns of Gediminas, symbol of the Gediminids.

Medieval Coat of Arms of Lithuania was adopted by influential families

Coat of arms with crossed arrows come from ancient times, like Kościesza coat of arms

The Lithuanian nobility was historically a legally privileged class in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania consisting of Lithuanian (from historical regions of Lithuania Proper and Samogitia) and in some cases Ruthenian noble families. Families were mostly granted privileges for military service in the Grand Duchy. After the Union of Lublin in 1569 it had merged to a significant extent with Polish szlachta.

Early stages

Prior to the creation of the Lithuanian state by Mindaugas, lesser members of the nobility were called bajorai (singular - bajoras) and greater nobles, kunigai (singular - kunigas), from the Old Template:Lang-de, meaning "king", or Template:Lang-lt, usually translated as duke, Template:Lang-la. They evolved from tribal leaders, and had chiefly been responsible for waging war and carrying out raiding operations. After the establishment of a unified state they gradually became subordinates to greater Dukes, and later to the King of Lithuania. Ethnic Lithuanian nobility had different names than usual people, as their names were made of two stems.

In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Lithuanian rulers held the title Grand Duke (Template:Lang-lt), or king (rex which was used in Gediminas' title). At the time multilevel understanding of nationality was in existence and some Ruthenian sought to call themselves Lithuanians. Lithuanian nobility was slowly transferring its cultural values to Ruthenian families. A good example is the Chodkiewicz family, that claimed its ancestry from the House of Gediminas.

In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania together with the Kingdom of Poland the number of nobles was the greatest in Europe reaching up to 7 % of population, in some parts like Samogitia reaching up to 10%.

Evolution

In the late 14th century, Vytautas the Great reformed the Army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: instead of calling all men to war, he formed forces consisting of professional warriors - bajorai (nobles). As there were not enough nobles, Vytautas following the tradition further raised suitable men relieving them from labour on the land and other duties; for their military service for the Grand Duke they were given land, that was worked by hired men - veldams. The newly formed noble families generally took up the Lithuanian pagan given names of their nobilitated precursors as their family names; this was the case with Goštautai, Radvilos, Astikai, Kęsgailos and others. Their ennobled representatives are respectively Jonas Goštautas, Radvila Astikas, Kristinas Astikas and Mykolas Kęsgaila. Those families were granted their Coats of Arms under the Union of Horodlo in 1413.

At first the land was given to the serving men until death (benefice), but during the 14th and 15th centuries most of it became patrimony. Whilst during the 14th century the Grand Duke owned 2/3 of the Duchy's land, by 1569 he was the direct owner of only 1/3.

In the 15th century, the noble social class as such was already formed in Lithuania; for quite a long time it remained open and anyone could be ennobled for services to the Grand Duke. In time, the influence of lesser nobles decreased and higher nobles acquired increasingly more power, especially during the interregnum fights following Vytautas' death. In the 15th century, the biggest landowners began to call themselves "lords" (ponai or didikai), hence the Lithuanian Council of Lords was established to represent their interests.

In the 16th century, Lithuanian nobility stopped calling themselves Bajorai; they adopted a term Šlėkta in Lithuanian and Szlachta in Polish instead. Landlords called themselves Ziemionys or Ziemiane.

Magnates were distinct from other nobles because they had latifundies in different lands including Lithuanian, Ruthenian and even Polish. Most of them had Holy Roman Empire titles - dukes, earls and others. They were holding Grand Duchy offices.

According to the 1528 military servicemen census ,ethnic Lithuanian lands had 5730 horsemen, and Ruthenian lands of Grand Duchy - 5372.

Privileges

After the Grand Duke distributed state land, he became dependent on powerful landowners, who demanded greater liberties and privileges. The nobles were granted administrative and judicial power in their domains and increasing rights in state politics. The legal status of the nobility was based on several privileges, granted by the Grand Dukes:

• In 1387 Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila, newly crowned King of Poland, granted a privilege to nobles and soldiers. They were granted personal rights, including the right to inherit and govern land and estates inherited from ancestors or gifted by the Grand Duke. The nobles also had duties to serve in the military, safeguard castles, build and repair castles, bridges, roads, etc.
• In 1413 Vytautas and Jogaila signed Union of Horodło. The act renewed Polish-Lithuanian union and established a common Sejm and guaranteed the right to inherit lands gifted by the Grand Duke. 43 Lithuanian noble families were granted Polish coats of arms. Most of the veldams became serfs.
• Jogaila's privilege in 1432 in essence repeated previous acts. Military service remained the main way to receive land.
• Privilege of May 6, 1434 was granted by Sigismund Kestutaitis to Catholic and Eastern Orthodox nobility. They were guaranteed freedom to dispose their land. The act prohibited persecutions without a fair trial.
• In 1447 Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir I Jagiellon signed a law that prohibited people not from Lithuania from obtaining positions within the Catholic Church or state institutions. Some nobles were released from their duties to the Grand Duke. This privilege also marked the beginning of the serfdom process in Lithuania as peasants were removed from the Grand Duke's jurisdiction.
• 1492 privilege by Alexander Jagiellon renewed the 1447 privilege and and added a few more provisions, the most important of which limited the Grand Duke's rights in regards to foreign policy. The Grand Duke became dependent on the Lithuanian Council of Lords. Without the consent of the Council no high official could be removed from his position. Lower posts had to be appointed in the presence of Vilnius, Trakai, and other voivodes. The privilege also prohibited selling various state and church positions to nobility. This way the Grand Duke was limited from exploiting the conflict between higher and lower nobility and profiting from selling the positions. This privilege also meant that city residents could not become officials.
• In 1506 Sigismund I the Old confirmed the position of the Council of Lords in state politics and limited entry to the noble class.
• On April 1, 1557 Sigismund II Augustus fully established serfdom. Peasants lost their land and personal rights and became completely dependent on the nobles.
• Union of Lublin in 1569 created the new state, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The nobility was granted the right to elect a common ruler for Poland and Lithuania.
• The Third Statute of Lithuania, completed in 1588, further expanded the rights of nobility. Laws could be enacted only by the Sejm of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The nobility was granted triple immunity – legal, administrative, and tax. The statute finalized the division between nobility, peasants, and city residents.

Most of the rights were retained even after the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795.

Ties to the Kingdom of Poland

After the Union of Horodło (1413) Lithuanian nobility acquired equal rights with the Kingdom of Poland nobility (szlachta), and during following centuries began to merge into it. The process was accelerated after the Union of Lublin (1569) which created the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Lithuanian nobility self-polonised, replacing Lithuanian and Ruthenian languages with Polish although the process took centuries. In the 16th century a newly established theory amongst Lithuanian nobility was popular, claiming that Lithuanian nobility was of Roman extraction, and the Lithuanian language was just a morphed Latin language (unlikely, especially because the Romans had very little hold, if any, in the lands so far north) (see also sarmatism). In 1595 Mikalojus Daukša addressed Lithuanian nobility calling for the Lithuanian language to play a more important role in state life. However, the usage of Lithuanian declined, and the Polish language became the rule in the offices of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the late 17th century.

At first only Lithuanian magnate families were affected, although many of them like the Radziwiłłs remained patriots of Lithuania who fought long and hard against the ever-encroaching Polish dominion, even after 1795. Gradually it evolved to the wider population, and for the most part Lithuanian nobility became part of both nations szlachta.

Nonetheless the Lithuanian nobles did preserve their national awareness as members of the Grand Duchy, and in most cases recognition of their Lithuanian family roots; their leaders would continue to represent the interests of Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and in the royal court.

After Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The major effects on the lesser Lithuanian nobility after partitions of the Commonwealthtook place after Russian Empire's sanctions removing Lithuania from names of Gubernya's (see Lithuanian Governorate) and announcing that "every Lithuanian is a Russian seduced by Poles and Christianity" and banning the print in Lithuanian language. Situation worsened during the rule of tsar Nicholas I of Russia. After November uprising emperial officials were quite eager to remove people form noble class, thus minimising a saocial base for another potential uprising. In period 1833-1860 noble status lost 25,692 people in Vilna Governorate and 17,032 people in Kovno Governorate, who could not prove their status with monarchs privileges or owned land.. They did not lost personal freedom, but were assigned as one steaders Template:Lang-ru in rural areas and citizens in towns.

In the 19th century a Latin formula gente Lithuanus, natione Polonus (Lithuanian people, Polish nation) was common in the Lithuania Proper and former Samogitian Eldership. With Polish culture becoming one of the primary centers of resistance to the Russian Empire, polonization in some regions actually strengthened - fighting the Russification, and hence an even larger part of Lithuanian nobility was Polonised and adopted Polish identity by the late 19th century, although the 1897 Russian census shows that 27.7 percent of nobility living within modern Lithuania's borders were speaking Lithuanian as a mother language. This number was even higher in Kovno Governorate, where 36.6 percent of nobility declared the Lithuanian language their mother language.

The processes of Polonization and Russification were however partially reversed with the Lithuanian National Revival which also began around that time. Although originating mostly from the non-noble classes, a number of nobles re-embraced their Lithuanian roots.

During the interbellum years the government of Lithuania issued land reform limiting manors with 150 hectares of land, and confiscating land from those nobles who were fighting in the Polish-Lithuanian War on the Polish side. Many members of the Lithuanian nobility during the interbellum and post WW2 years emigrated to Poland, many were deported to Siberia during the years 1945-53 of Soviet occupation, many manors were destroyed. Currently the Lithuanian nobility association has been restored.

Heraldry

The most ancient heraldry has crossed arrows motive. In 1413 Union of Horodło 47 Lithuanian noble families adopted Polish nobility coat of arms. Later more families adopted more Coat of Arms.

Influential Lithuanian families

Families from ethnic Lithuania

• Alelkaičiai
• Olshanski (Alšėniškiai)
• Astikai
• Czartoryski
• Gediminaičiai
• Gedgaudai
• Giedraičiai
• Goštautai
• Kęsgailos
• Mangirdaičiai
• Mantautaičiai
• Radziwiłł (Radvila)
• Sviriškiai
• Valmantaičiai

Families from Ruthenia

• Chodkiewicz
• Ogiński
• Ostrogski
• Pac
• Sapieha
• Tyszkiewicz
• Wiśniowiecki

Families from Livonia

• Plater
• Tyzenhaus
• Römer

See also

• List of early Lithuanian dukes
• List of Lithuanian rulers
• Germanic monarchy for references to Germanic origins of kuningaz (Modern German: König, English: king).
• Szlachta
• List of szlachta

Further reading

• Template:Lt icon Rimvydas Petrauskas Giminaičiai ir pavaldiniai: Lietuvos bajorų grupės XIV a. pabaigoje-XV a. I pusėje in: Lietuva ir jos kaimynai: nuo normanų iki Napoleono: prof. Broniaus Dundulio atminimui. Vilnius, 2001, p. 107-126.
• Template:Lt icon Rimvydas Petrauskas, Lietuvos diduomenė XIV a.pabaigoje - XV a.:sudėtis-struktūra-valdžia. Aidai, Vilnius; 2003.
• Template:Lt icon Kiaupienė, Jūratė (2003). Mes, Lietuva: Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės bajorija XVIa. Viešasis ir privatus gyvenimas. Vilnius: Lithuanian institute of history. ISBN 9955-595-08-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Aleksandravičius, Egidijus (1999). "The double fate of the Lithuanian gentry". Lituanus. 45 (3). Retrieved 2007-09-06. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) Historiographical notes on the research of Lithuanian nobility.
• Schmalstieg, William R. (1982). "Lithuanian names". Lituanus. 28 (3). Retrieved 2007-09-06.

External links

• Lithuanian Royal Union of Nobility