Stekšys (or Steksė) (other spellings include ''Stakys'', ''Stejkint'', ''Stekintas'', ''Stegikintas'', ''Stegutas'') was a duke of

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 ...

, killed in 1214 near

Lielvārde Lielvārde (; ), population 5885, is a town in Ogre Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia, on the right bank of the Daugava river, 52 km southeast of Riga. History The area was a contact zone between the Finnic Livonians and the Balt ...

during an attack against

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

. He is one of the earliest mentioned Lithuanian dukes. He succeeded duke Daugirutis, who killed himself while in Livonian captivity in 1213. After these two deaths, Lithuanian raids to the Livonian lands decreased in frequency and historians assume a period of decline in the unification process of the Baltic tribes. Tomas Baranauskas suggests that

Daujotas Daujotas was one of the 5 elder Lithuanian duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, ...

and

Vilikaila Vilikaila or Viligaila was one of the five elder Lithuanian dukes mentioned in the peace treaty with Halych-Volhynia in 1219. He is mentioned as brother of Daujotas, which leads scholars to believe he was the younger or perhaps less influential b ...

, dukes mentioned in a 1219 treaty with Halych-Volhynia, were Stekšys' sons.

References

* ** 1214 deaths Year of birth unknown 13th-century Lithuanian nobility {{Lithuania-noble-stub

See also

References