The House of Alšėniškiai ( be, Гальшанскі, pl, Holszański) was a Lithuanian princely family of Hipocentaur coat of arms. Their patrimony was the

Principality of Alšėnai The Principality of Alšėnai () was a feudal patrimony of the Alšėniškiai in the late 13th and mid-16th centuries. History It was first mentioned in the Bychowiec Chronicle, where , son of (slavicized as ''Holsza'', son of ''Romunt''), ...

, which included the castles of Rokantiškės and Alšėnai.

History

Origin

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 Rutheni ...

relates the origins of this family to Alšis Ramuntavičius () (), coming from the line of

Dausprungas Dausprungas (also ''Dovsprunk'' in Russian sources, died before 1238) was the older brother of Mindaugas, the first King of Lithuania. Dausprungas is mentioned in the peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia in 1219 among the 21 early dukes of Lithuan ...

. According to the ancient genealogy of Lithuanian princes written by

Teodor Narbutt Teodor Narbutt ( lt, Teodoras Narbutas; 8 November 1784 – 27 November 1864) was a Polish–Lithuanian romantic historian and military engineer in service of the Russian Empire. He is best remembered as the author of a nine-volume Polish-langu ...

, Alšis was to be the eleventh generation of the

Palemonids 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 Ancient Rome, Roman origins. Already Jan Długosz (1415� ...

, and was to give rise to the Alšėniškiai, who ended in the late 16th century. What Stryjkowski or Narbutt wrote is very dubious as the distance of time is too large to prove it documentally. The history of this house, already based on some writings, only begins with Jonas Alšėniškis (), whose father Algimantas (''Ougemundes'') presents the first historically proven generation of the Alšėniškiai. For the first time Alšėniškiai family is mentioned in written sources at the end of the 14th century when Ivan, son of Algimantas, assisted

Vytautas Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great ( Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', O ...

in the

Lithuanian Civil War (1381–1384) The Lithuanian Civil War of 1381–1384 was the first struggle for power between the cousins Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania and later King of Poland, and Vytautas the Great. It began after Jogaila signed the Treaty of Dovydiškės with the Teut ...

against Jogaila. Such a late mention of strong family is attributed to the geographic location of their domain: Alšėnai was neither in the way of the Teutonic or Livonian Orders. In contemporary sources, Algimantas is mentioned only in Ivan's

patronymic name A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

. However, late and unreliable

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 ne ...

created a fanciful genealogy of Algimantas that connected him to the legendary

that allegedly hailed from the

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 Mediterr ...

. Modern historians have discarded the genealogy as a work of fiction not based on historical facts.

14th to 16th centuries

The family was founded by Ivan Olshansky ( fl. 1382–1402), a close ally of

Grand Duke of Lithuania The monarchy of Lithuania concerned the monarchical head of state of Lithuania, which was established as an absolute and hereditary monarchy. Throughout Lithuania's history there were three ducal dynasties that managed to stay in power—House ...

. Ivan's daughter

Uliana Uliana and Ulyana are feminine given names. People so named include: * Uliana of Tver (c. 1325–1391), daughter of Prince Alexander of Tver and second wife of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania * Uliana Olshanska, Grand Duchess of Lithuania from ...

married Vytautas while granddaughter

Sophia of Halshany Sophia (Sonka) of Halshany or Sophia Holshanska ( be, Соф'я Гальшанская, translit=Sofja Halšanskaja; lt, Sofija Alšėniškė; pl, Zofia Holszańska; – September 21, 1461 in Kraków) was a princess of Halshany and was Queen o ...

married Vytautas' cousin Jogaila,

King of Poland Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe (16t ...

. Sophia gave birth to Jogaila's sons and became the mother of the

Jagiellonian dynasty The Jagiellonian dynasty (, pl, dynastia jagiellońska), otherwise the Jagiellon dynasty ( pl, dynastia Jagiellonów), the House of Jagiellon ( pl, Dom Jagiellonów), or simply the Jagiellons ( pl, Jagiellonowie), was the name assumed by a cad ...

which ruled Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and Bohemia. The male line of the Alšėniškiai family ended in 1556 with the death of Prince Semen (

Paweł Holszański Paweł Holszański ( lt, Povilas Alšėniškis; – 4 September 1555, Vilnius) was a notable Catholic church official Dmitry Tolstoy: ''Le catholicisme romain en Russie''pp.464-465/ref> and one of the last male scions of the once-mighty Lithuanian ...

, last-but-one male representative of the family, died just one year before). Princess Maria Olshanskaya, the wife of

Andrey Kurbsky Knyaz (Prince) Andrey Mikhailovich Kurbsky (russian: Андрей Михайлович Курбский, pl, Andriej Michajłowicz Kurbski; 1528–1583) was a Russian political figure, military leader, and political philosopher, known as an intima ...

, died in 1586.A. N. Narbut (1995). ''Genealogy of Belarus'', vol. 1. Moscow. Their estates were inherited by the

Sapieha family The House of Sapieha (; be, Сапега, ''Sapieha''; lt, Sapiega) is a Polish-Lithuanian noble and magnate family of Lithuanian and Ruthenian origin,Энцыклапедыя ВКЛ. Т.2, арт. "Сапегі" descending from the medi ...

, which hailed from

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest c ...

. During the 14–16th centuries most of the family was

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

by faith and Ruthenian by language, although there were exceptions, in particular

was a

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

official.

Family tree

, - , style="text-align: left;", References Main source: , - , style="text-align: left;", Notes *The family tree is incomplete.

References

;In-line ;General # # # {{Royal houses of Ukraine