Klaipėdos universitetas

The period from the 16th to the 17th century is known for changes in material culture, especially in dining traditions, as different tableware appeared, replacing the dominant pottery of the medieval period. New types of technologically and functionally advanced vessels and dishes including Dutch and Italian tin-glazed earthenware, German stoneware, and a variety of slipwares were changing dining traditions across Europe. All this can be observed from the archaeological material uncovered in what is today Vilnius old town. Tableware from both western European and Ottoman manufacturers was found during archaeological excavations in Vilnius. Compared to the Middle Ages, the total number of imported wares increased significantly. Medieval tableware was very rare in Vilnius and available exclusively to individuals of high social classes but during the early modern period the situation changed. Imported pottery of the 16th and 17th centuries showed that inhabitants of the town were influenced by western dining traditions and usage of imported tableware in their everyday rituals had grown significantly. Focusing on this change traced from Vilnius old town archaeological material, the paper will examine whether imports

Straipsnyje sprendžiama etnografinio regiono sampratos problema. Nors Etninės kultūros valstybinės globos pagrindų įstatyme apibrėžiama, kad etnografinis regionas – istoriškai susiformavusi teritorijos dalis, kurioje išlaikyta savita tarmė, tradicijos ir papročiai, integruotas baltų genčių palikimas, sunku suderinti kalbininkų, istorikų ir etnologų duomenis ir požiūrius, o analizuojant Vilniaus ir jo apylinkių priklausomybę etnografiniam regionui, straipsnyje parodoma, kad skiriasi tradicinėmis kultūros reikšmėmis paremti etnografiniai žemėlapiai, daugeliu atvejų priskiriantys Vilnių Dzūkijai, ir šiose vietovėse gyvenančių žmonių suvokimas, kad ši teritorija yra Aukštaitija.

Late Medieval and Early Modern Period stoneware production is often found in archaeological excavations around the world. The identification and analysis of these objects provides information about technical innovations, long-distance trade, and social and economic changes in societies. Stoneware vessels were used for pouring and storing liquids, and thus indicate changing drinking habits. Vessels are dated and classified by their surface treatment, the colour of the stoneware, and their decorative motifs, and are then associated with specific manufacturing centres by using a comparative method. The stoneware in Vilnius was produced at production sites in Siegburg, Cologne, Frechen, Raeren, Westerwald and Waldenburg. The earliest stoneware vessels could be associated with newcomers to the town; while in later periods their distribution indicates higher demand and usage in town dwellers’ households.

A mansionary (from the Latin mansio, ‘a dwelling’) was a member of a community of four to ten secular priests governed by a provost and required to reside by and serve a chantry chapel, similar to a cathedral canon or beneficed chantry priest. Every day they would sing the Hours of Our Lady and offer two Masses, one in honour of Our Lady or the Holy Trinity, and the other for the dead kin of the chantry founder. The chapels they served were attached to a cathedral or a parish church. Those established by the monarch often had pastoral duties, sometimes involving a school or hospice. In Lithuania, they appear from the late 15th century at the cathedrals of Vilnius, Varniai and Lutsk (in Janów Podlaski), and represented a considerable financial investment to establish and maintain. After the Council of Trent, they become even rarer, and concentrate more on pastoral and other educational duties. The paper discusses what a mansionary priest was, and how many of them served in the Diocese of Vilnius and other sees within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Why was it deemed meet and fit to establish a mansionariate in Lithuania at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, and how were such foundations affected by local Reform movements?

The paper discusses the territorial-geopolitical aspect of the Lithuanian policy during the First World War, which is still not sufficiently studied or properly understood. It concerns the strategic line proposed by members of Lithuania’s conservative elite. The visible side of the line was a game of orientations: first pro-Russian, then pro-German. However, these orientations were based on an ethnographic principle, which created preconditions for the practical development of the Lithuanian nation. On the other hand, the ethnographic principle was related to the idea of national self-determination, raised by the democratic thought, which paved the way for Lithuanian national statehood. Therefore, the strategic line offered by some of the Lithuanian elite went beyond party ideology and became national.

Mobility and journeys were an integral part of the life of intellectual elites, including the clergy, in the Early Modern Period. Taking to the road was often the outcome of the functions they performed: arrival at the destination was the main aim. In the case of pilgrimages, both the destination and the route were important. Itinerant clergy in search of sustenance became a disciplinary problem for their superiors. This article is based on records of journeys undertaken by canons and prelates of Vilnius Cathedral.

Bishop Martin III (Johannis) of Medininkai is the first Žemaitijan ordinary of whose activities we know more than merely a few facts. Unfortunately most of what is written about him is false: he did not have a surname (Lintfari is a scribal error for Lituani); he did not hold canonries in Liège, Louvain or Poznań, let alone ‘work’ in Flanders or Poland. This article reviews diverse known sources for Martin’s life and career and provides new information from the Gniezno Consistory Court record and other manuscripts which reveals how his career formed in the Roman Curia before he returned to Lithuania as bishop of Medininkai and reflects his concerns for the affairs of Church and State. An appendix provides five new sources from manuscripts in Cracow and Gniezno along with a new edition of Martin’s will from the earliest surviving copy.

Research into individual archaeological shoe finds allows us to make assumptions concerning the differentiation of shoes according to social strata during the Renaissance period. A more complex and higher-quality shoe construction is a characteristic feature of shoes worn by people of a higher social standing.

The aim of our article is to discuss a rather well-known artefact from the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius. Although the bracelet has been somewhat widely published and exhibited, the information that usually accompanies it is little more than modest. Although it is generally pointed out that the bracelet is adorned with an Arabic inscription, there is still a question mark present. In this article, we will offer a transcription and a translation of the inscription on the bracelet, along with some parallels, which will allow us to determine the origin of this unique find in Lithuanian archaeological material.

On the basis of the research papers in the present collection, the author focuses on the issue of how specific the symbolic appropriation of the former East Prussian territories (and primarily cities, such as Kaliningrad, Olsztyn, and Klaipėda) was as compared to the expression of the process in other Lithuanian cities, such as Vilnius, Kaunas, and Šiauliai. The article discusses the role of capital cities as standards for building the cultures of remembrance in regions, the role of national (or communist) symbols as instruments of symbolic appropriation, and the impact of the communication milieus that formed and maintained the cultures of remembrance in cities. The author identifies the similarities and differences in the processes of symbolic appropriation of Klaipėda, Kaliningrad, Olsztyn, and Vilnius.