Based on genealogical data, the article investigates the marriage policy of the Gorski family (Nałęcz coat of arms) from its establishment in Samogitia in the second half of the sixteenth century to its rise in the first half of the eighteenth century. First, a general portrait of the
spouses is analysed (the social status, economic capacity, offices held, geographical origin), and then the ‘marriage market’ of this family and the factors that had shaped it are examined in greater detail (kinship ties, land tenure, confession).
The article deals with our research on the Ruthenian documents of Alexander Jagiellon and Sigismund the Old, the grand dukes of Lithuania, which cover the whole period of the reign of these rulers (1492–1544) and are kept in Vilnius. In the course of empirical research, we registered 142 such documents; the main data about them are represented in the annex to the article. Meanwhile, in the main part of the article we try to identify the scribes who were responsible for the preparation of the documents, to identify the documents that were written by the scribes who signed them, and to discuss the palaeographic features of all the documents.