Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

Curonian Spit played a key role in medieval transport for Teutonic Order in 13th – 16th C. It ought to be presented again, since last essays about this subject originate from before the Second World War. The given term ‘infrastructure’ should be explained as castles or hostels (German: nachtleger) and other important points of military activity and thus all problems that refer to their functionality. Those subjects cannot be properly described without referring to written administration sources. Also organization of the Church on Curonian Spit will be presented, as it will contribute greatly to final conclusions. This work does not cover Lithuanian achievements in this field of interest, with exclusion of Nijole Strakauskaites’ recent work about the Spit (2004), which however isn’t about this subject. It is not a widespread subject of scholarship nowadays and it is also hardly known in Poland. This article is also a leap to create a monograph about Curonian Lagoon and it’s similarities to Vistula Lagoon as well as Hel Peninsula in the future.

The article is devoted to the problem of jurisdiction of ‘starosta’ (a medieval official) during the second half of the 15th – the first third of the 16th century. ‘Starosta’ was one from the most important officials in the Volhyn land. He was designated by the Great Lithuanian Duke. During this period the judicial duties of ‘starosta’ were regulated by the norms of legislative acts named ‘ustavna zems’ka gramota’ issued by great Lithuanian duke in their home policy. An author shows in his materials, that according to these documents ‘starosta’ was the main person at the time of legal proceedings.

The article is devoted to the new historical investigations on Napoleon and formation of Lithuania’s authority during the campaign in 1812. Preparing for the confrontation with Russia in 1812, Napoleon hoped for a quick result of his campaign through fighting a decisive battle with the army of Alexander I on the territory of Lithuania. However, he also took into consideration another variant of the war progress and assumed the necessity of the wealth mobilization of the former Republic of Poland’s land which belonged to Russia. It is obvious that Napoleon did not have any final or the only plan for political course of action concerning the area of western gubernyas conquered by the French.

The article is devoted to the historical studies of a princely landownership concentration in Volhyn lands in the 16th century. This landownership was the highest in all the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to historical materials, in first third of the 16th century Volhynian princes owned 44% of all landed fund of Volhyn (in correlation with ‘pans’ and ‘zemiane’ landownership; the royal and church was insignificant), in the last third it slightly grew up to 45 %. In the end of century these indexes remained unchanging. In Lutsk district of the Volhynian province a level of concentration of princely landownership was a few other. In last third of the 16th century princes owned 40 % lands, and on the end of century it percent correlation diminished to 38 %. Such calculations are conducted by author on materials of Lutsk deed books, and it allowed to trace and to analyze the specificity of the landed circulation of Volhynian princes in details.

The article is devoted to the new historical investigations on the Klaipėda Rebellion 1923 in the light of documents of the Department II of the General Headquarters of the Polish Army. By the decision of the victorious Entente the Klaipėda region was separated from Germany and placed under French administration. In autumn 1922 the Lithuanian political and military leaders decided to organize a rebellion in Klaipėda. Poland had no intention as well to intervene military, nevertheless observed the course of events in Klaipėda very carefully. From 1921 there was a Polish mission established in Klaipėda, possessing the rank of a consular agency. The situation in the Klaipėda region was evaluated also by Polish diplomats. From the beginning of January 1923 they provided the Polish Ministry of International Affairs with information (cryptograms, reports) relating to the course of events in the Klaipėda region. This information is still preserved in Warsaw.

The article presents historical and economic study of Volhynia–Gdańsk regional trade end economic zones during the period from the beginning of the 16th to the middle of the 17th centuries. Change of a dominating role of the Mediterranean economic region, decline of the territories concerned with it, and also processes of economic growth of the countries concerned with Baltic, considerably has affected commodity structure of Volhynia at that time. By these tendencies increases value of Volhynia in geography of the European trade. It was one of barter centres among the East and the West of the Europe. However, already from the middle of the 16th century occurred an active inclusion of the representatives of narrow-mindedness, clergy and gentry to the trade. During this period significantly increases the export to the international market through the Baltic trade and economic region.

The article is devoted to enlighten the relative and politic contacts on Radzivills towards the heritage of the Sobieskis. All events concerning this theme began with the marriage of Katarzyna Sobieska. She got married with Władysław Dominik Zasławski-Ostrogski in 1650. They had two children Aleksander Janusz who died young and with no children and Teofila Ludwika. We have no information about a dowry which Katarzyna should have got. Soon she was widowed by her twenty years older husband and in 1658 she got married to Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł. His brother-in-law Jan Sobieski became the voivode of Vilnius and high-standing person of the Great Duchy of Lithuania.

The article is devoted to the military history research of Vilnius and Lithuanian rudiments of the Polish 13th Lancers Regiment. At the end of 1918 the situation with the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania was complicated as the German Army had left this area and the Red Army wanted to take it over. It is worth noticing that Polish society was willing to organize military self-defence to protect themselves from Bolshevik attacks. The most important moment of forming the Polish units was at the end of December 1918 at Pośpieszka estate where the 1st Lancers Regiment of Vilnius was formed. Then it fought the Bolsheviks at the end of 1918 and in January 1919. This way the new page of Polish military history was opened.

The article presents a research study on fashion, social rivalry and identity of nobility in Polish-Lithuanian Republic in the 18th Century. Research is based on the data obtained from widely drawn up inventories of movables allows us to give a social depth to the view constructed upon iconography and literature. The number of inventories, their social representation, connection to specified social group and period enable us to look at the history of fashion and other aspects of material culture considering different social, economic and cultural realities. Registers from the 18th century draw our greatest interest because of their number, reliability and quite equal spread over time.