Lituanistica

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Lietuvos mokslų akademija — 2026-08-19

The Image of Mindaugas’s Son Vaišelga in the Illustrated Chronicle Code

Vytas Jankauskas — 2026-08-19

Vaišelga was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and a son of Mindaugas, the only king of Lithuania. He was an extraordinary historical figure whose life followed a complex and unconventional path. According to the sources, Vaišelga converted to Orthodox Christianity while residing in Novogrudok, and this conversion is described as a miraculous event. It fundamentally transformed his character: after baptism, he became as meek as a lamb. Vaišelga later embraced monastic life and undertook a pilgrimage. At the same time, he remained connected to the political affairs of his father Mindaugas. His most significant political engagement, however, took place only after Mindaugas’s death. Seeking to avenge his murdered father and restore justice, Vaišelga temporarily left the monastery for three years and assumed the role of a political leader.
This article examines how Vaišelga was portrayed in the Illustrated Chronicle Code (Litsevoi letopisnyi svod), produced in the circle of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The account of Vaišelga’s life in this work is based primarily on one of the earliest biographical narratives about him, which is preserved in the First Novgorod Chronicle. This account enjoyed considerable popularity within the chronicle tradition of Eastern Rus’. However, the Nikon Chronicle, compiled in Moscow, supplemented this narrative with additional biographical information about Vaišelga. It is possible that its compilers drew upon a tradition of Western Rus’, since the expanded account of Vaišelga’s life preserves details that are absent from the eastern chronicle tradition. It was precisely the text of the Nikon Chronicle that served as the basis for the version incorporated into the Illustrated Chronicle Code.
The depiction of Vaišelga’s life in the Illustrated Chronicle Code represents one of the earliest extensively developed narratives devoted to the history of Lithuania. Earlier episodes concerning Lithuania had never received such a detailed treatment. The narrative begins with the account of Mindaugas’s assassination and concludes with the story of Vaišelga’s own death.
It must be emphasised that the portrayal of Vaišelga was closely connected with the political ambitions of Muscovy in the sixteenth century. Both Lithuania and Vaišelga himself are presented in a distinctly biased manner, with information derived from the First Novgorod Chronicle adapted to serve the interests of the Muscovite elite. Furthermore, Vaišelga is depicted as a prince who fought against the pagans in Lithuania, baptised the country into Orthodox Christianity, and ultimately entrusted Lithuania to the Orthodox prince Andrei Danylovich. This constitutes a deliberate distortion of the historical narrative. Although it draws upon thirteenth-century sources, it selectively reshapes and reinterprets them to support a particular ideological message.
In conclusion, Vaišelga’s life was consciously reinterpreted and brought into renewed prominence in sixteenth-century Muscovy. His role as an Orthodox prince was highly valued, but even more important was his portrayal as a figure who laid the foundations for the spread of Orthodoxy in Lithuania. This interpretation clearly aligned with Muscovy’s political objectives regarding Lithuania. Since Muscovy regarded itself as the Third Rome and the protector of Orthodox Christianity, Vaišelga’s image proved particularly useful in constructing a narrative about the origins of Lithuania. Rather than representing an objective historical account, this narrative should be understood as a work of political propaganda reflecting the ambitions of Ivan the Terrible and the Muscovite ruling elite toward Lithuania.

The Retinue of Yurii Troydenovich, a Prince and a Heir to the Kingdom of Rus’: Some Remarks for ConsiderationSome Consideration

Tymur Horbach — 2026-08-19

Prince Yurii Troydenovich, great-grandson of Traidenis and a son in law of Gediminas, is one of the few last rulers of the kingdom of Rus’ about whose entourage at least some news has been preserved.
His reign in Rus’ was unusual. A Catholic from birth, he converted to Orthodoxy in order to take the Ruthenian throne and had close relations with Lithuania. However, local customs were alien to him, and he gravitated from them towards the Latin faith and culture. This internal struggle was also reflected in the prince’s inner circle, which was quite diverse in its ethnic origin. This article presents brief news, as well as opinions of scholars about fifteen princely advisers, officials, and witnesses, who are mentioned in the charters of the Mazovian Piast.
In 1334–1335, he sent two messages to the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, in the drafting and certification of which princely officials took part: the judge of the princely court and the voivods (palatini), who were the governors of the main cities. In addition, the bishop of Galich was present when the documents were being written. The names of the officials and the bishop are indicated in the text of the documents, and their seals are attached to the parchments on which they are written. The cognomen of some officials may indicate their foreign origin: Alexander Moldaovich and Borisko Krakula could have been Vlachs, and Khodor Otek and Khotko, son of Jeromir, could have been Czechs. However, the majority of the prince’s officials were Ruthenians. In 1339, the prince issued another document granting Magdeburg rights to the city of Sanok. The witnesses to that document were almost all Poles, and one may have been a Czech. The presence of foreigners among Yurii Troydenovich’s entourage is also confirmed by narrative sources. This was mainly due to the fact that the prince himself came from Polish lands and, although he converted to Orthodoxy, he remained an adherent of the Latin faith and culture. However, one should be cautious in one’s assessments so as not to exaggerate the influence of foreigners on the Ruthenian prince, since their presence at his court in 1339 could have been situational and related to the preparation of a document granting Magdeburg rights to the city specified.

A Plan of a Siege: Jelgava Castle in 1622 or Biržai Castle in Lithuania in 1625? An Analysis of Iconography from the Russian National Library in St Petersburg

Mariusz Balcerek — 2026-08-19

This article aims to answer which fortress and in which year is depicted in a sketch from the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg. Do we see the Lithuanian siege of Jelgava (Ger. Mitau, Pol. Mitawa) Castle in 1622 or the Swedish siege of Biržai (Pol. Birże) Castle in 1625? This text is inspired by my article of 2023, ‘Nowe materiały dotyczące walk o Mitawę w 1622 r.’ (New Materials Regarding the Battle of Jelgava in 1622). In analysing this issue, I examined other iconographic and epistolographic sources, as well as archaeological research and the literature on both events. My analysis concludes that the fortress depicted in the plan is Biržai during the Swedish siege of 1625.

The Relocation of Antanas Baranauskas’s Parents’ Grave and the Hypothetical Manufacturer of the Monumentthe Monument

Asta Miltenytė — 2026-08-19

The article identifies the hypothetical manufacturer of the cast iron monument (the pedestal, the cross, and the fence) at the grave of the parents of Antanas Baranauskas, a classic of Lithuanian literature, priest, and bishop, in the Anykščiai cemetery. The unmarked monument is likely to have been made by the Kaunas-based Minerva Foundry, which operated in the 1860s, although similar examples of sepulchral monuments can also be found in the catalogue of the Riga-based Wöhrmann & Sohn Foundry, which was established in the 1830s. The choice of the manufacturer is explained by logistical circumstances, the acquaintance between the bishop and the owners of the Minerva Foundry, as well as the late nineteenth-century practice of ordering ecclesiastical and sepulchral items by Catholic Church hierarchy. The article discusses the circumstances under which the remains of Baranauskas’s parents and other relatives were transferred from the Anykščiai cemetery that was being closed down to the new cemetery while preserving the old cast iron monument.

How Are the kerdžius and the Cattle Herd Related to Time? The Mystery of the Prussian Word kerdan

Virginijus Savukynas — 2026-08-19

This article offers an interdisciplinary analysis combining Indo-European comparative linguistics, Baltic mythology and folklore, cognitive archaeology, and semiotics with the aim of explaining the semantic connection between the Proto-Indo-European root *kerdh-/*kerdho- and the concept of time. In the Baltic languages (especially Prussian kerdan – ‘time’), this root is associated with a herd of cattle (kerda), a herdsman/kerdžius, and sequence/order. The article raises the question of why livestock-related vocabulary became so closely linked to the measurement of time.
Based on the research of Sergejus Temčinas, Vladimir Toporov, Vytautas Mažiulis, and others, the article reconstructs the ancient Baltic concept of time as subjective and limited – that is, ‘what remains’ (cf. Lithuanian laikas from likti, palaikai as remnants or the body of the deceased on the one hand, or descendants on the other). The Prussian kerdan is contrasted with kisman (the present moment), and the semantic field of the root kerdh- encompasses: (a) a herd of cattle, (b) a herdsman, (c) sequence/order, and (d) time. The Slavic čerda (herd → row → order) and its Germanic and Celtic equivalents confirm this connection. Linguists have explained this temporal connection as the transfer of spatial categories (‘row’) into temporal categories, a phenomenon well-known in both linguistics and anthropology. However, livestock and herds are not associated with orderliness and sequence; on the contrary, herds are difficult to control and chaotic. What then could be the solution to this riddle?
The main explanation is based on the observation of the moon’s phases as the oldest method of measuring time (Alexander Marshack, Boris Frolov, et al.). The lunar cycle (waxing–full moon–waning–new moon) is metaphorically equated with the cycles of animals. In the riddles and proverbs of the Lithuanians, Slavs, Latvians, and other Indo-European peoples, the moon and stars are constantly depicted as animals: a field horse/ox/foal, sheep, a deer, a bear. The sky is a meadow where a herd grazes, and the moon is a horned herdsman (cf. Lithuanian: ‘The field is unmeasured, the sheep uncounted, the herdsman horned’ = the sky, the stars, the moon).
This imagery has deep Indo-European parallels (Sanskrit ṛ́kṣāḥ – bear/star, the moon as ruler of the stars; Roman septentriōnēs – seven oxen; Avestan and other sources). It is linked to the ideas of totemism and structural anthropology (Claude Lévi-Strauss): the classification of animals allows one to ‘think clearly’ about abstract concepts, including time.
On a practical level, the cycle of the cattle herd (reproduction in spring–summer, slaughter in autumn, preservation of the remains for winter, and renewal) corresponds to the seasonal cycle of the year and the phases of the moon. Time here is the ‘remaining herd’ (palaikai), which must be managed, counted, and utilised for survival. Kerdan thus becomes not only an abstract concept of time but also a concrete cycle of survival.
In the article, the hypothesis is extended to the Late Palaeolithic. Based on the Lebombo bone (~42,000–43,000 BC), finds from Abri Blanchard, and other artifacts, it is argued that the lunar calendar was already known tens of thousands of years ago. Vogelherd and other sites of the Aurignacian culture indicate that hunter-gatherers planned their seasonal migrations using lunar calculations.
Of particular importance is the 2023 hypothesis by Bennett Bacon and colleagues regarding proto-writing in the Swabian caves (dots, lines, and ‘Y’ marks near animal drawings), interpreted as a phenological calendar recording animal mating, migration, and calving. Although this interpretation has been criticised (April Nowell et al.), it reinforces the semantic connection: time – moon – animals/herd. The author emphasises that the semantics of the Proto-Indo-European language may have inherited elements from earlier hunter-gatherer cultures through a symbolic revolution (Jacques Cauvin) and cultural practices (Steven Mithen).
The article argues that the semantic connection of the kerdan type is not accidental but stems from mythical-magical thinking in which celestial bodies are identified with animals, and the practical cycle of animal husbandry (or hunting) became a model for measuring time. This allows for a better understanding of the archaic concept of time as subjective, cyclical, and tied to survival.
Such an approach demonstrates the benefits of interdisciplinary semiotic analysis: linguistics, folklore, and archaeology complement one another, enabling the reconstruction of our ancestors’ mental world. The hypothesis raises new questions about the continuity of semantic structures from the Palaeolithic to the Indo-European era and calls for further research – etymological, archaeological, and cognitive psychological.

Metonymy and Metonymic Transpositions in the Officially Functioning Potamonyms of Vilnius County: Cognitive Models and Cultural Reflections

Pavel Skorupa — 2026-08-19

The article examines cognitive and cultural foundations of metonymic naming and metonymic transposition in Lithuanian potamonymy by analysing a corpus of 404 officially functioning potamonyms of Vilnius County, 212 of which are metonymically motivated. Based on cognitive linguistics and onomastic theory, the study establishes three principal metonymic models underlying potamonym formation: PLACE FOR RIVER, SALIENT FEATURE FOR RIVER, and PERSON FOR RIVER. The analysis shows how perceptual salience, functional relevance, and culturally significant features of the landscape determine naming practices, with particular attention to analogy-based transfers between semantically related toponyms. Such processes often result in the extension and parallel functioning of toponymic meanings rather than semantic change in the traditional sense. The findings reveal that Lithuanian potamonyms are not merely geographical labels but rather cognitive and cultural constructs that reflect spatial organisation, ecological awareness, and collective memory encoded in the landscape.