Edvardas Gudavičius (6 September 1929 – 27 January 2020) was a

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 ...

n historian. He was known as one of the best historians in

specializing in the early history of

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

and is an author of many publications.

Biography

In 1953, he graduated from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute with a degree in

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

. Gudavičius started his career as a mechanic at one of the factories in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, but in 1958 moved to

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. In 1962, he enrolled at Vilnius State University of Vincas Kapsukas, seeking a degree in

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

. In 1991, he earned the title of

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

. He was a full member of

Lithuanian Academy of Sciences The Lithuanian Academy of Sciences or LMA (, ) is a state-funded independent organization in Lithuania dedicated for science and research. Its mission is to mobilize prominent scientists and initiate activities that would strengthen the welfare ...

. To the wider public, he was mostly known for his work together with Alfredas Bumblauskas on the long-running

TV show A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...

''Būtovės slėpiniai'', a

talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...

dedicated to topics of the

history of Lithuania History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

. Gudavičius was a frequent contributor to various reference works, including the 25-volume ''

Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija The ''Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija'' or VLE () is a 25-volume universal Lithuanian-language encyclopedia published by the Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute from 2001 to 2014. VLE is the first published universal encyclopedia i ...

''. He also published works on the

Statutes of Lithuania The Statutes of Lithuania, originally known as the Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, were a 16th-century codification of all the legislation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and its successor, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The S ...

Dissertations

* 1971 Lithuanian serfage process and its reflection in The first Statute * 1989 Lithuania in the Balts' war against German aggression in 13th century

Publications

* ''Žymenys ir ženklai Lietuvoje XII-XX a.'', Vilnius, 1981, 131 p. * ''Pirmasis Lietuvos Statutas'' (together with Stanislovas Lazutka), Vilnius, 1983, t. 1, d. 1: Paleografinė ir tekstologinė nuorašų analizė; Vilnius, 1985, t. 1, d. 2: Dzialinskio, Lauryno ir Ališavos nuorašų faksimilės; Vilnius, 1991, t. 2, d. 1: Tekstai senąja baltarusių, lotynų ir senąja lenkų kalbomis. . * ''Kryžiaus karai Pabaltijyje ir Lietuva XIII amžiuje'', Vilnius, 1989, 192 p. . * ''Miestų atsiradimas Lietuvoje'', Vilnius, 1991, 95 p. . * ''Mindaugas'', Vilnius, 1998, 360 p. . * ''Lietuvos istorija. Nuo seniausių laikų iki 1569 metų'', Vilnius, 1999, 664 p. . * ''----'', Vilnius, 2002, 116 p. . * ''Lietuvos europėjimo keliais: istorinės studijos'', Vilnius, 2002, 384 p. . * ''Lietuvos akto promulgacijos kelias: nuo Vytauto kanceliarijos iki Lietuvos Metrikos'', Vilnius, 2006, 80 p. .

Awards

Gudavičius received these awards: * Lithuanian National Prize, 1995 * The Commander's Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, Lithuania, 1999 * The Commander's Grand Cross of the

Order of Vytautas the Great The Order of Vytautas the Great () is the Lithuanian Presidential Award.''Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija. 84 straipsnis''. Priimta 1992 It may be conferred on the heads of Lithuania and foreign states, as well as their citizens, for distinguish ...

, Lithuania, 2003.

References

* 1929 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Lithuanian historians 21st-century Lithuanian historians Commander's Crosses of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Kaunas University of Technology alumni Academic staff of Vilnius University Writers from Kaunas Vilnius University alumni Engineers from Kaunas {{Lithuania-historian-stub