Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

The practice of translating government decrees into Lithuanian and publishing them for Lithuanian speakers living in Prussia has been known since the late 16th century. It stemmed from the policy of multi-lingualism which emerged under Duke Albert, and the establishment of the Reformation in Prussia. Most Lithuanian translations of Prussian government decrees known today date from the 18th century. At that time, the best experts in the Lithuanian language were engaged in their translation and publication. After the potential of Königsberg in Lithuanian studies declined in the second half of the 18th century, efforts to concentrate these activities in the area of Prussia that was still densely inhabited by Lithuanian speakers and called Lithuania at that time, became more active. The article analyses how this change was exploited by the Mielcke family, who were active in Prussian Lithuania. Christian Gottlieb Mielcke, who held a humble cantor’s position in the remote parish of Pillkallen, initiated a discussion on the principles of the edition of Lithuanian hymnals in 1781. His brother Daniel Friedrich, the priest at Ragnit, wrote a complaint about the quality of translations of government decrees into Lithuanian in 1788. This was the beginning of a dispute that eventually involved the Mielcke family in the translation of government decrees.

The article explores the changes in the gathering, processing and use of amber on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea at the end of the Viking Age and in the 12th to 16th century. In the pagan sacral space, works in amber reflected mythological elements, and later they were transformed and adapted to Christian practice, at the same time as maintaining the commercial value of amber as a material. Archaeological material from the above-mentioned period illustrates the gradual diffusion of Christian elements in the pagan territories. Their expression is visible in new forms of amber works.

In 2014 and 2015, new underwater archaeological sites were discovered in Lake Sāviena in the east of Latvia. The first site, according to c14 dating, goes back 4510 +/-55 years. In the other site, artefacts and ceramics from the Late Iron Age were discovered. Here, on the shore of the lake, adjacent cultural occupation of the settlement was discovered. It is possible to make preliminary conclusions that the shores of Lake Sāviena had been inhabited for a long time, which was certainly associated with the lake’s waters.

This study uses letters, tax records and other sources to study the maintenance of Lutheran clergy in Prussia between 1540 and 1570, concentrating on the example of the material life of the Ragnit pastor Martynas Mažvydas, namely his clothes, landholding, his parish and personal property, the sources of his income, his expenditure, his economic life, and his close and more distant personal connections. The example of this father of Lithuanian-language literature reveals the domestic aspect of the everyday life of Prussian Lutheran clergy.

Authors present problems connected with horse sacrifices in Early Middle Ages in Prussia. Discoveries nearby Poganowo site IV hill-fort, create new possibilities to discuss about Prussian religion in Early Middle Ages. Stone statue, cairns, hearths and remains of sacrificed horses have similarities to numerous cult places in Europe and in Asia.