Istorijos šaltinių tyrimai / Studies in Historical Sources

This is a research of the notaries public as a corporate group. The research deals with the issues pertaining to the existence of a certain network of notaries public in the dioceses of Vilnius, Samogitia, and Lutsk in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and their correlation in the space of notaries public of the province of the archdiocese of Gniezno in the 16th century. The period under investigation is chronologically enframed by two dates. The first conditional date is 1501 which marks a stage in the maturity of the notarial system when the clergymen of the GDL started being awarded the honorary title – Count of the Sacred Palace of Lateran (comes apostolicus) accompanied by the right granted by the Pope to delegate notaries public (the Emperor could also award the title of the count of the palace). The said right was usually exercised by bishops, church officials, and notaries general. 1515 is considered an interim important date in the research as this was the year when the statutes of local dioceses of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were drawn up and the first wording of Vilnius cathedral chapter statutes, for the first time mentioning the participation of the notary public in the life of the chapter and his functions, was carried out. The second date is 1566 – the year when the Second Statute of Lithuania legitimized the activities of notaries public on the national level throughout the GDL. The said dates mark the dynamics and spread of the notarial system – introduced through the institution of the Church, the function of the notary public gradually entered the sovereign’s chancellery, noblemen, following the example of the sovereign, started using the services and notaries public gradually found their way to municipal institutions of towns and cities. The codification dates of the two separate structures of government – the church and secular authorities – can be equally applied to mark the development stages of the notarial system as they indicate the process of notary public participation in both – the church and state government institutions. The utility register of notaries public (see the Annex) containing the list of all notaries public that were in operation in the territory of the GDL from the early 16th century to 1566 was employed as a means of visualization of the research object, namely the activities of notaries public. Based on the provisional data, there were 174 notaries public. The register offers references to notarial documents drawn up by the said persons as well as written sources pertaining to notarial activities which represent the directions and sphere of such activities; the inserted records witness functional dynamics of notaries public. Place-names pertaining to document issuance serve as indicators of the locations where the notaries public of the dioceses operated and reveal their mobility within a particular diocese. The topic-related sub-chapters of the article include Reception of the Notarial System in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Public Service and Private Relations, Was it Easy to Become a Notary Public, Service of Notaries Public in the Dioceses: Notaries Public of Cathedral Chapters, Consistories, and Curiae. Sporadic local and institutional activities could be named as the peculiarities of the institutional activities of notaries public. The activities of notaries public and their career steps offer a vivid picture of both vertical and horizontal dynamics of the notarial service. It can be stated without hesitation that notaries public were active players in the dissemination of written culture that contributed to the development of legal consciousness in the GDL society. The 1st half of the 16th century is the period of prosperity of the notarial system marked by the spread, dissemination, and establishment of notaries public in both church and secular institutions.