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Kuršėnai
Kuršėnai (; Samogitian dialect, Samogitian: ''Koršienā'') is a city in northwestern Lithuania, Šiauliai County, Šiauliai district municipality. It is the twenty-fifth largest city in Lithuania. According to the 2023 estimate, it had 10,651 residents. Etymology The city's name was first documented in the 16th century. According to historian , its name is derived from the word ''kuršis'' (Curonians, Curonian). However, according to folk etymology, folk legend, the city didn't have a name for a long time. But, one summer day the river Venta (river), Venta flooded and washed all hay bales which were standing at the river banks. People started questioning each other: where is the hay? where is the hay? („Kur šienai? Kur šienai?“). Since then, the city name stayed as Kuršėnai. In other languages the town is referred to as: ''Kurshon''; ; ; . History Early history The town and its surroundings fall within the boundaries of the territory inhabited by the ancient Samogi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kuršėnai Manor
Kuršėnai (; Samogitian: ''Koršienā'') is a city in northwestern Lithuania, Šiauliai County, Šiauliai district municipality. It is the twenty-fifth largest city in Lithuania. According to the 2023 estimate, it had 10,651 residents. Etymology The city's name was first documented in the 16th century. According to historian , its name is derived from the word ''kuršis'' ( Curonian). However, according to folk legend, the city didn't have a name for a long time. But, one summer day the river Venta flooded and washed all hay bales which were standing at the river banks. People started questioning each other: where is the hay? where is the hay? („Kur šienai? Kur šienai?“). Since then, the city name stayed as Kuršėnai. In other languages the town is referred to as: ''Kurshon''; ; ; . History Early history The town and its surroundings fall within the boundaries of the territory inhabited by the ancient Samogitian tribe. According to historian S. Zajančiovskis, Kur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venta (river)
The Venta (Latvian pronunciation , Lithuanian , , , Livonian ''Vǟnta joug'') is a river in north-western Lithuania and western Latvia. Its source is near Kuršėnai in the Lithuanian Šiauliai County. It flows into the Baltic Sea at Ventspils in Latvia. On the territory of Lithuania along the Venta are cities Užventis, Kuršėnai, Venta, Viekšniai and Mažeikiai. In Latvia, the cities of Skrunda, Kuldīga, Piltene and Ventspils are located on the Venta river. Venta Rapid, the widest waterfall in Europe, is on Venta river in Kuldīga, Latvia. Basin system The river has only one tributary longer than 100 km, the Abava. Other major tributaries include the Virvyčia (99.7 km) and the Varduva (96 km), which flows into the Venta at the Latvia–Lithuania border. Smaller tributaries include the Avižlys, which runs for 20 kilometers and flows into the Venta River and the 30 kilometre Uogys which joins the Venta less than 1 km upstream of the Avi� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elderships Of Lithuania
A ''seniūnija'' (in English: eldership, elderate, ward, parish, or subdistrict) is the smallest Subdivisions of Lithuania, administrative division of Lithuania. An eldership may comprise a very small region consisting of few villages, one single town, or a part of a big city. Elderships vary in size and population depending on their location and nature. A few elderships make up a municipality. Šilainiai, Dainava (Kaunas), Dainava, Verkiai, Žirmūnai and Pašilaičiai are the most populous elderates, with population counts over , around twice the population of some entire municipalities. Elderships manage small-scale local matters, such as repairing pavements and dirt roads, and keep records on all families living in the eldership. The premise of the concept is that — unlike in higher administrative divisions — an Elder (administrative title), elder (the leader of the eldership) could have time to talk to every person in the eldership who wants to. Modern Lit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Šiauliai County
Šiauliai County () is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It is in the north of the country, and its capital is Šiauliai. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished, and since that date, Šiauliai County remains as a territorial and statistical unit. It borders Latvia. History Formation of administrative regions in Lithuania started in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Middle Ages, with the bulk of the territory of the current Šiauliai County forming part of the Duchy of Samogitia, itself divided into tracts. In October 1795, Catherine II of Russia granted Šiauliai the city rights and the privilege to become the capital town of the region. Administrative division of Russian Empire remained unchanged up to the end of World War I. When the war came to its end, in 1918 Lithuania was restored as an independent state. On December 17, 1918, a circular No.1 was issued "On Municipalities in Lithuania" that declared that the entire area of Lithuania would be divid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curonians
:''The Kursenieki are also sometimes known as Curonians.'' The Curonians or Kurs (; ) were a medieval Balts, Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic Sea in the 5th–16th centuries, in what are now western parts of Latvia and Lithuania. They eventually merged with other Baltic tribes contributing to the ethnogenesis of present-day Latvians and Lithuanians. Curonians gave their name to the region of Courland (''Kurzeme''), Kuršėnai town, Curonian spit and many other localities. They spoke the Curonian language. Origin The ethnic origin of the Curonians has been disputed in the past. Some researchers place the Curonians in the eastern Baltic group.Östen Dahl (ed.) 2001, ''The Circum-Baltic Languages: Typology and Contact,'' vol. 1 Others hold that the Curonians were related to Old Prussians who belonged in the western Baltic group. History The historical Curonians were described in contemporary sources as warriors, sailors and pirates. They are on the record havin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonas Basanavičius
Jonas Basanavičius (, ; 23 November 1851 – 16 February 1927) was an activist and proponent of the Lithuanian National Revival. He participated in every major event leading to the independent Lithuanian state and is often given the informal honorific title of the " Patriarch of the Nation" () for his contributions. Born to a family of farmers, Basanavičius was to become a priest but instead chose to study medicine at the Moscow Medical Academy. He worked as a doctor from 1880 to 1905 in the Principality of Bulgaria. Despite the long distance, he dedicated substantial effort to the Lithuanian cultural work. He founded the first Lithuanian-language newspaper ''Aušra'' (1883), contributed articles on Lithuania to the press, collected samples of Lithuanian folklore (songs, fairy-tales, legends, riddles, etc.) and published them. He was also involved with local Bulgarian politics. He returned to Lithuania in 1905 and immediately joined Lithuanian cultural life. He became chairman o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volok (unit)
Volok (, , , ) was a late medieval unit of land measurement in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Kingdom of Poland and later, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was equal, on average, to in Lithuania or to in Poland. It was subdivided into 30 or 33 morgens. Volok was also a unit that determined taxation and other duties to the state. Previously, taxes and duties were based on the number of households (see, for example, 1528 census of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that recorded households as a measure of military duty) or number of horses/bulls needed to work the land. Such system was not exact: households varied greatly in size and in wealth. Therefore, the introduction of voloks marked an important transition to taxes based on area (width times length). In Lithuania, it was introduced during the Volok Reform that began in 1547. Officially, voloks were abandoned as a unit after the emancipation reform of 1861, but survived in everyday use until the introduction of the metric s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz
Jan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz (, ) ( – 4 August 1579) was a 16th-century Lithuanian noble. He was Grand Pantler of Lithuania from 1559, Elder of Samogitia (1564–1579), Governor of Livonia (1566–1578), Grand Marshal of Lithuania (1566–1579), Count of Shklow 1568, Castellan of Vilnius (1574–1579). He was the elder of Telšiai and Plateliai from 1566, of Rumšiškės from 1568, and of Kaunas from 1569. Early life He was one of the most famous Lithuanian magnates of the 16th century. He was raised a Calvinist. He studied at the Universities of Königsberg (which he entered in 1547), Leipzig (1550), and Wittenberg. He served in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V from 1552 to 1555. He returned to Lithuania in 1555. Military service From 1559, Jan Chodkiewicz defended the Livonian Confederation with the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army against the Muscovites during the Livonian War. He hired 1,200 cavalry at his own expense to defend Livonia. With the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gruževskiai
Gruszecki (; , sometimes anglicized as Grushetsky) is the name of a Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Russian noble family. History The name originates from the knight Maciej, Chorąży of the King of Poland and Lithuanian Grand Duke, Jogaila. The king had granted him the village of Gruszka Duża in eastern Poland in 1411. The Gruszecki family name was derived from the village. Pawel (Povilas) Gruszecki had owned estates in the Łomża area in the mid-16th century. Five of his eight sons - John, Nicholas, Jacob, Andrius and Domijonas - moved to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania around 1560. Except for Jacob, who settled in Navahrudak, brothers settled and acquired estates in Dirvėnai parish, Samogitia. They became Reformed Protestants, and until the beginning of the 20th century they materially supported and defended the Protestants against persecution. Maintained relations with the Radvilas. The most famous were the descendants of John, and their most important possession ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Pac
The House of Pac or Pacowie (, , ) was one of the most influential noble families in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Numerous high-ranking officials of the Commonwealth came from their ranks. Their coat of arms was Gozdawa. The family reached the height of its influence during the second half of the 17th century. Their lands were located mainly in Hrodna (, ) and Lida (). The family's ancestor Kimantas was mentioned in the privilege of 1388 issued by Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great as ''Kymunt''. The estate of the family in proximity of Grodno was mentioned in the road description, charted by the Teutonic Knights, as ''Kymundsdorf''. Kimantas and his son Daukša (Dowkszewicz) were among the signatories of the Union of Vilnius and Radom of 1401. Daukša's son Pacas Daukšaitis is considered the founder of the family; his descendants took his first name as their family name, beginning with his son Jerzy Pac (d. 1505/6). Their lands were concentrated in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
