Journal:Archivum Lithuanicum
Volume 20 (2018): Archivum Lithuanicum, pp. 177–208
Abstract
Simonas Daukantas (1793–1864) introduced the letter <î> for his Lowland Lithuanian dialectal vowel [ẹ] first in gen. sg. m. flexion—from page 44 of his manuscript Historya Justina (HJ; 1834 and / or later); cf. brolî ‘(of) brother’. Approximately from page 142, the grapheme <‑î> in that particular flexion began dominating (as a morphological signifier). Then, approximately on page 242, Daukantas started to denote <‑î> more intensely in other endings as well: in instr. sg. f., iness., nom., and acc. sg. This way he began altering the morphological signifier into a phonetic one (wilontî; kapusî; essantî; diedî). Such phonetic marking of <‑î> flexions became preponderant (in gen. sg. m., iness., and instr. sg. f.) in the latest written part of HJ (in prefaces on pages 1–12) and the layer of later corrections. Further Daukantas started introducing the phonetic <î> [ẹ] more frequently into the stems of the words as well (cf. gîr; kîmiù). Daukantas decided to place the circumflex <ˆ> on the letter <‑i> in the open flexion most probably due to the influence of the Lithuanian texts in East Prussia that contained this diacritic in closed gen. sg. f. flexions on other letters (cf. Daukantas’s HJ <‑ês, ‑ôs>: isz baimês ‘because of fear’; Grecijôs ‘[of] Greece’; weczôs ukês ‘[of] old state [country]’). Sermons (Postilla) by Mikalojus Daukša (1599) could have also had some secondary influence on Daukantas’s decision to select <î>, but Daukša was mostly using <î> in the stem position, while Daukantas began introducing <î> in the endings. The initial usage of the grapheme <î> by Daukantas presupposes such approximate sequence of three manuscripts: (1) HJ pp. 13–400; (2) HJ corrections and writing of HJ prefaces on pp. 1–12; (3) Jstoriję Justinaus (JJ); and (4) Pasakas Pdraus (PaP). Most probably Daukantas chose the letter <î> at the beginning of his stay in St. Petersburg (the end of 1834 and somewhat later). The grapheme is absent from his manuscripts of the Rīga period (before the summer of 1834).
The aim of the article is to present the hitherto unknown facts relating to the appeals of Kaunas citizens filed with the assessors’ court and the court in relationibus of the GDL in the first half of the 16th-mid-17th century. The assessors’ court was the main instance of appeal in the GDL which on the sovereign’s behalf, alongside other cases, dealt with the complaints of the citizens of state or royal cities that were granted Magdeburg rights with regard to the rulings of the courts of the first instance, namely the courts of the council, voigt (vaitas), and benchers (suolininkai), in the said cities. The court in relationibus was a higher level of the assessors’ court. These courts would mostly hear cases forwarded from the assessor’s and other courts. The Lithuanian Metrica is a block of the GDL chancellery books. The Voivodeship of Podlachia is a territory comprising mostly the lands of Drohiczin, Bielsk, and Mielnik which from 1513 was administered by the Voivode of Podlachia, was part of the GDL until 1569 but, following the Union of Lublin of 1569, was handed over to Poland. Out of 12 Voivodeship of Podlachia books at the moment 8 are available for the use of researchers. Out of the documents that are of importance to the city of Kaunas, the following are worth mentioning: firstly a group of files related to the arguments of the former voigt Stanislovas Stanas with the authorities of the city and individual citizens (No. 25, 46–49, 57). They offer important information on the relations between the city’s officials and certain data on the books of the voigt office. Two orders of Žygimantas Augustas (Sigismund II Augustus) with regard of the order of filing appeals with the sovereign’s (assessors’) court and court fees (No. 79 and 95) are of particular importance. Several documents (No. 33, 40, 66) refer to Jonas Kojala, the ancestor of the renowned Lithuanian historian of the 17th century Albertas Vijūkas-Kojalavičius (Albert Wijuk Kojałowicz) (1609–1677) born in Kaunas; there is also unexpected information about the relatives of another famous historian – Pole Marcin Kromer (1512–1589) living in Kaunas (No. 68, 76, 81, 85). Uršulė Liubnerienė-Špilienė’s argument with the Council of Kaunas with regard to the role of the latter in the unlawful sell-out of the timber owned by the woman’s husband Jonas Špilis in Königsberg (No. 88) and the argument of Margarita Šulcienė, the widow of the former voigt Jokūbas Šulcas with regard to the retrieval of the possessions of the late voigt (No. 90) are also worth mentioning.
This contribution aims to show that specific societies are often incorrectly regarded as particularly individualistic, and may be held to be characterised by a specific ‘political subjectivity’, displaying informal coalitions, consisting of informal networks that infiltrate public institutions and undermine the efficiency of the state. For the social sciences, informality has a questionable reputation, because it is at the root of social phenomena such as nepotism, cronyism, patronage, corruption and mafias. Further, the article shows that the State has the monopoly on legality, but lacks legitimacy. This contribution is based on long-term fieldwork in southern and southeast Europe.
This is the publication of the grant issued in 1519 by the Voivode of Vilnius and the Chancellor of the State Mikalojus Radvila (Mikołaj Radziwiłł) in favour of landowner Jan Sławski. It is a document written on a parchment in a manner akin to the humanist minuscule. The parchment has a red wax seal of Mikalojus Radvila attached to it. The published document is accompanied by the text aimed at disclosing and relating the history of the issuance and existence of this document. The main reasons for drawing up such document was the model of Mikalojus Radvila’s rule in Podlachia. When in 1509 the sovereign Žygimantas Senasis (Sigismund I the Old) conceded the domains in Goniądz and Rajgród to the said nobleman and in 1517 also granted the immunity, Radvila employed several interrelated methods to establish his power in the territory. Alongside the castle another important manifestation of such power was subordinate noblemen who eventually would become local officers and form a part of the organization of the lord’s court. The recipient of the published document – landowner JJan Sławski – also found himself in a similar network of the lord’s power. The drawn up document was aimed at establishing and recording the relations between the lord and the representative of the petty nobility. The medium of Mikalojus Radvila’s court (and, we can guess, also the chancellery) was favourable for such task. The Latin text of the grant was written on the parchment by Mikalojus Husovianas (Mikołaj Hussowczyk) who served as M. Radila’s clerk (lat. notarius). The newly discovered data make it necessary to adjust the knowledge of the latter humanist’s biography and activities in the period in question. The document defined the subordination based relations between M. Radvila and the nobleman. The said relations were confirmed by means of granting (verifying) the Mikitin domain and newly allocating a neighbouring domain. Such grant and the domains in Jan Sławski disposition ensured his service to M. Radvila which first and foremost meant military service. The established relations can be interpreted in the context of feudal relations (relationship between lord and vassal, fief, etc.). In this case the published document becomes a rare source shedding light on such relationship “from within”. Situations established (or recorded) by the document, the fate of the Radvila family’s rule in Podlachia and that of certain social processes in the state are closely interrelated and mutually supplementary. The death of the Voivode of Vilnius and the Chancellor of the State Mikalojus Radvila in 1522 was followed by unrests in his domains – the discontent was mostly expressed by subordinate noblemen. Jan Sławski was among them. Several court litigations resulted in the landowner being issued with a new privilege for Mikitin domain in 1528. In 1529 together with a group of other noblemen he was freed from the Radvila “yoke”. These events occurred in the same year when Žygimantas Senasis issued the land privilege which provided for the restrictions regarding the formation of tiered subordination. In 1522, based on the Sovereign’s order, Slavskis was expected to return the document to the Radvila family. Actually, we cannot tell for sure if he did what he was ordered to do. Later, it was owned by Bona Sforza and after 1569 became a part of the archives of the Crown Treasury in Wawel. In 1765 the archives were relocated to Warsaw and following the occupation of the city, were moved to Russia. In 1799, after the Prussian authorities explicitly declared their wish to obtain archival materials pertaining to the territories under their control, the document most probably was stored in Białystok. In 1854 via Grodno the grant together with other documents reached the Archives of the Ancient Acts established in Vilnius, which later in its own turn handed the parchment over to Vilnius Public Library.