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Radivilias
''Radivilias'' ( lt, Radviliada, pl, Radziwiliada) is a Latin epic poem by Jonas Radvanas published in 1592. It is one of the major works of the 16th-century Lithuanian literature and one of the best examples of Renaissance literature in Lithuania. It uses hexameter and has 3,302 lines divided into four parts. It is dedicated to Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł (1512–1584) and his major military victories in the Livonian War. Content The poem is dedicated to Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł (1512–1584) and his major military victories in the Livonian War – capture of the Tarvastu Castle in 1561, Battle of Wenden in 1578, Siege of Polotsk in 1579, Siege of Velikiye Luki in 1580, and his largest victory in the Battle of Ula in 1564. Similarly to the legendary Aeneas, Radziwiłł fulfills his destiny by protecting and defending Lithuania from the Tsardom of Russia and receives a prophetic instruction from Musaeus of Athens. At Ula, Radziwiłł is guided by a vision of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radivilias
''Radivilias'' ( lt, Radviliada, pl, Radziwiliada) is a Latin epic poem by Jonas Radvanas published in 1592. It is one of the major works of the 16th-century Lithuanian literature and one of the best examples of Renaissance literature in Lithuania. It uses hexameter and has 3,302 lines divided into four parts. It is dedicated to Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł (1512–1584) and his major military victories in the Livonian War. Content The poem is dedicated to Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł (1512–1584) and his major military victories in the Livonian War – capture of the Tarvastu Castle in 1561, Battle of Wenden in 1578, Siege of Polotsk in 1579, Siege of Velikiye Luki in 1580, and his largest victory in the Battle of Ula in 1564. Similarly to the legendary Aeneas, Radziwiłł fulfills his destiny by protecting and defending Lithuania from the Tsardom of Russia and receives a prophetic instruction from Musaeus of Athens. At Ula, Radziwiłł is guided by a vision of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonas Radvanas
Jonas Radvanas (; pl, Jan Radwan, died after 1592) was a Renaissance poet and protestant reformer from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Very little is known about his life and he is best remembered as the author of an epic poem ''Radivilias'' dedicated to the military achievements of Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł. However, the poem goes beyond a simple panegyric and paints a broader patriotic image of the Grand Duchy. In total, he wrote 18 poems that were published in various publications by the Calvinists in the Grand Duchy. All of his works were written in Latin. Biography There is very little known about Radvanas and researchers make educated guesses based on his works. Some biographical data was provided by Franciszek Siarczyński (1758–1829) but it is unclear where Siarczyński obtained that information as it cannot be verified by researchers. Siarczyński wrote that Radvanas was born and educated in Vilnius, traveled in Western Europe with the support of Lithuanian Grand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuanian Literature
Lithuanian literature ( lt, lietuvių literatūra) concerns the art of written works created by Lithuanians throughout their history. History Latin language A wealth of Lithuanian literature was written in Latin, the main scholarly language in the Middle Ages. The edicts of the Lithuanian King Mindaugas are the prime example of literature of this kind. The Letters of Gediminas are another crucial heritage of the Lithuanian Latin writings. One of the first Lithuanian authors who wrote in Latin was Nicolaus Hussovianus (about 1480 – after 1533). His poem ''Carmen de statura, feritate ac venatione bisontis'' (''A Song about the Appearance, Savagery and Hunting of the Bison''), published in 1523, describes the Lithuanian landscape, way of life and customs, touches on existing political problems and reflects the clash of paganism and Christianity. Joannes Vislicensis (1485–1520) wrote a poem - monument ''Bellum Prutenum'' (''Prussian war'') dedicated to a Battle of Grunwald ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł
Mikołaj Radziwiłł, nicknamed ''The Red'' (Polish ''Rudy'', Lithuanian: ''Radvila Rudasis''), also known as ''Mikołaj Radziwiłł the Sixth'' (1512 – 27 April 1584), was a Polish–Lithuanian nobleman, Count Palatine of Vilnius, Grand Chancellor of Lithuania, and Grand Lithuanian Hetman (from 1576) in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Together with his cousin Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł and the Radziwiłł family were granted title and position as Reichsfürst Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Mikołaj Radziwiłł spent many years as a military commander. While not the most famous of Commonwealth hetmans, under king Stefan Batory he was fairly successful in defending the eastern borders of the Commonwealth against the Muscovy. One of his most notable victories was achieved during the Battle of Ula of 1564 when his commanded forces defeated much larger Ivan the Terrible's forces. His political career was marked by his allian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iron Wolf (character)
The Iron Wolf ( lt, Geležinis Vilkas) is a mythical character from a medieval legend of the founding of Vilnius, the capital city of the old Grand Duchy of Lithuania and modern Republic of Lithuania. First found in the Lithuanian Chronicles, the legend shares certain similarities with the Capitoline Wolf and possibly reflected Lithuanian desire to showcase their legendary origins from the Roman Empire (see the Palemonids). The legend became popular during the era of Romantic nationalism. Today Iron Wolf is one of the symbols of Vilnius and is used by sports teams, Lithuanian military, scouting organizations, and others. Legend According to the legend, Grand Duke Gediminas (ca. 1275 – 1341) was hunting in the sacred forest near the Valley of Šventaragis, near where Vilnia River flows into the Neris River. Tired after the successful hunt of an aurochs, the Grand Duke settled in for the night. He fell soundly asleep and dreamed of a huge Iron Wolf standing on top a hill and how ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panegyric
A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of grc, παν- 'all' (the form taken by the word πᾶν, neuter of πᾶς 'all', when that is used as a prefix) and the word grc, ἄγυρις, ágyris 'assembly' (an Aeolic dialect form, corresponding to the Attic or Ionic form grc, ἀγορά, agorá). Compounded, these gave grc, πανήγυρις, panḗgyris 'general or national assembly, especially a festival in honour of a god' and the derived adjective grc, πανηγυρικός, panēgyrikós 'of or for a public assembly or festival'. In Hellenistic Greek the noun came also to mean 'a festal oration, laudatory speech', and the adjective 'of or relating to a eulogy, flattering'. The noun grc, πανήγυρις, panḗgyris had been borrowed into Classical Latin by around the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palemonid Dynasty
The Palemonids were a legendary dynasty of Grand Dukes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The legend was born in the 15th or 16th century as proof that Lithuanians and the Grand Duchy are of Roman origins. Already Jan Długosz (1415–1480) wrote that the Lithuanians were of Roman origin, but did not provide any proof. The legend is first recorded in the second edition of the Lithuanian Chronicle produced in the 1530s. At the time the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was quarrelling with the Kingdom of Poland, rejecting the claims that Poland had civilized the pagan and barbaric Lithuania. The Lithuanian nobility felt a need for the ruling dynasty to show upstanding origins, as the only available chronicles at the time were written by the Teutonic Knights, a long-standing enemy, and depicted Gediminas, ancestor of the Gediminids dynasty, as a hostler of Vytenis. In this new Lithuanian chronicle, Palemon (could be Polemon II of Pontus), a relative of Roman Emperor Nero, escaped Rome tog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, and was ruled by emperors. From the accession of Caesar Augustus as the first Roman emperor to the military anarchy of the 3rd century, it was a Principate with Italia as the metropole of its provinces and the city of Rome as its sole capital. The Empire was later ruled by multiple emperors who shared control over the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. The city of Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts until AD 476 when the imperial insignia were sent to Constantinople following the capture of the Western capital of Ravenna by the Germanic barbarians. The adoption of Christianity as the state church of the Roman Empire in AD 380 and the fall of the Western ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gediminas
Gediminas ( la, Gedeminne, ; – December 1341) was the king or Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death. He is credited with founding this political entity and expanding its territory which later spanned the area ranging from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Also seen as one of the most significant individuals in early Lithuanian history, he was responsible for both building Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and establishing a dynasty that later came to rule other European countries such as Poland, Hungary and Bohemia. As part of his legacy, he gained a reputation for being a champion of paganism, who successfully diverted attempts to Christianize his country by skillful negotiations with the Pope and other Christian rulers. Biography Origin Gediminas was born in about 1275. Because written sources of the era are scarce, Gediminas' ancestry, early life, and assumption of the title of Grand Duke in ca. 1316 are obscure and continue to be the subject of sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dnieper
} The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and Belarus and the fourth-longest river in Europe, after the Volga, Danube, and Ural rivers. It is approximately long, with a drainage basin of . In antiquity, the river was part of the Amber Road trade routes. During the Ruin in the later 17th century, the area was contested between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia, dividing Ukraine into areas described by its right and left banks. During the Soviet period, the river became noted for its major hydroelectric dams and large reservoirs. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster occurred on the Pripyat, immediately above that tributary's confluence with the Dnieper. The Dnieper is an important navigable waterway for the economy of Ukraine and is connected by the Dnieper–Bug Canal to other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuanian Chronicles
The Lithuanian Chronicles ( lt, Lietuvos metraščiai, also called Belarusian-Lithuanian Chronicles) are three redactions of chronicles compiled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All redactions were written in the Ruthenian language and served the needs of Lithuanian patriotism. The first edition, compiled in the 1420s, glorified Vytautas the Great and supported his side in power struggles. The second redaction, prepared in the first half of the 16th century, started the myth of Lithuanian Roman origin: it gave a fanciful genealogy of Palemon, a noble from the Roman Empire who founded the Grand Duchy. This noble origin of Lithuanians was important in cultural rivalry with the Kingdom of Poland. The third redaction, known as the Bychowiec Chronicle, elaborated even further on the legend, but also provided some useful information about the second half of the 15th century. The three redactions, the first known historical accounts produced within the Grand Duchy, gave rise to the historiog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maciej Stryjkowski
Maciej Stryjkowski (also referred to as Strykowski and Strycovius;Nowa encyklopedia powszechna PWN. t. 6, 1997 – ) was a Polish historian, writer and a poet, known as the author of ''Chronicle of Poland, Lithuania, Samogitia and all of Ruthenia'' (1582). The work is generally considered to be the first printed book on the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Biography Maciej Stryjkowski was born around 1547 in Stryków, a town in the Rawa Voivodeship in the Kingdom of Poland. He graduated from a local school in the town of Brzeziny, after which he joined the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army. He served in a garrison in Vitebsk under Alexander Guagnini. He was a Pole, but spent most of his life in the Grand Duchy, initially as a soldier. Around 1573, at the age of roughly 25, he retired from active service and became a protégé of Merkelis Giedraitis, the bishop of Samogitia. Eventually, Stryjkowski became a Catholic priest and ended as a provost at the parish of Jurbarkas ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
