Darsūniškis (, , , ''Darshonishok'') is a settlement on the Nemunas River in

Kaišiadorys District Municipality Kaišiadorys District Municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the ...

, western

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. The village is one of the oldest settlements in Lithuania and dates back to the 14th century. Three wooden entrance gates to the town with chapels and the Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary (1848) are the most interesting monuments still preserved.

History

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

of Darsūniškis was part of the defense system against the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

. It was located on the crusaders' path from Įsrutis in Prussia (today

Chernyakhovsk Chernyakhovsk (; German: Insterburg) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, and the administrative center of Chernyakhovsky District. Located at the confluence of the Instruch and Angrapa rivers, which unite to become the Pregolya river bel ...

) to

Trakai Trakai (; see Trakai#Names and etymology, names section for alternative and historic names) is a city and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania or just from the administrative limits of the Lithuanian capi ...

. Mentioned in German sources as ''Dirsunen'', the hill fort was burned by the Teutonic Knights in 1372 and in the following years.

15th-17th centuries

The rebuilt castle was a favored hunting location of Grand Duke

Vytautas Vytautas the Great (; 27 October 1430) was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the prince of Grodno (1370–1382), prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites. In modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revere ...

, to whom the founding of the first church at the beginning of the 15th century is attributed. In the 15th century, Darsūniškis was already a town with a parochial church endowed by the

Grand Duke of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand duke, Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crown ...

in 1473 and 1492. The town with near estates (Polish: ''starostwo dorsuńskie'') was granted to

Barbara Radziwiłł Barbara Radziwiłł (, ; 6 December 1520/23 – 8 May 1551) was List of Polish royal consorts, Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania as consort of Sigismund II Augustus, the last male monarch of the Jagiellon dynasty. Barbara, a great b ...

Queen 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 Royal elections in Poland, free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electab ...

and

Grand Duchess of Lithuania The Queen consort, consort (or spouse) of the Monarchy, royal rulers of Lithuania and of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was in all cases a woman and nearly all took the title of Grand Duchess. Queen consort of Kingdom of Lithuania, Lithua ...

. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the town was a center of trade and crafts, especially wood trade. It had a pier for the trade of boats on the Nemunas River."Darsūniškis." Mūsų Lietuva, T. 1. – Bostonas: Lietuvių enciklopedijos leidykla, 1964. p.487,

18th century

On the beginning of the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

, Swedish regiments were defeated in the Battle of Darsūniškis on March 24, 1702, by the Lithuanian Army. Soon

Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

came with main forces and ordered to burn the town in revenge on 12 April 1702 - only the church was spared. On 7 December 1791, Darsūniškis received the privilege approving its

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (, , ; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages gr ...

(i.e. status of a city). The coat of arms was also confirmed.

19th century

From the beginning of the 16th century to the 19th century, Darsūniškis was in the possession of the

Ogiński family The House of Ogiński, feminine form: Ogińska, plural: Ogińscy (, ) was a noble family of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland (later, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), member of the Princely houses of Poland and Lithuania. They were most ...

. The property was confiscated by the Russian government after the

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

of 1831. Local census of 1890 counted 737 inhabitants of Darsūniškis (540 Lithuanians, 102 Jews, 90 Poles, 5 Russians).Materyały antropologiczno-archeologiczne i etnograficzne, Kraków 1896, T.1-3 p.3

/ref>

20th century

The Jewish citizens (about 15% of the general population in 1923) were killed during

the Holocaust in Lithuania The Holocaust resulted in the near total eradication of Lithuanian Jews, Lithuanian (Litvaks) and History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jews in ''Generalbezirk Litauen'' of the ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'' in the Occupation of Lithuania by Na ...

in August and September 1941 by the Lithuanians collaborating with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darsuniskis Villages in Kaunas County Holocaust locations in Lithuania