The Palemonids (Lithuanian : Palemono dinastija) were a legendary dynasty of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The legend was born in the 15th or 16th century as proof that Lithuanians and the Grand Duchy were of Roman origins.
The Palemonids (Lithuanian : Palemono dinastija) were a legendary dynasty of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The legend was born in the 15th or 16th century as proof that Lithuanians and the Grand Duchy were of Roman origins.
Jan Długosz (1415–1480) wrote that the Lithuanians were of Roman origin, but did not provide any proof. The legend is first recorded in the second edition of the Lithuanian Chronicles produced in the 1530s. [1] At the time the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was quarrelling with the Kingdom of Poland, rejecting the claims that Poland had civilized the pagan and barbaric Lithuania. The Lithuanian nobility felt a need for the ruling dynasty to show upstanding origins, as the only available chronicles at the time were written by the Teutonic Knights, a long-standing enemy, and depicted Gediminas, ancestor of the Gediminids dynasty, as a hostler of Vytenis. [2]
In this new Lithuanian chronicle, Palemon (sometimes identified as Polemon II of Pontus), a relative of Roman emperor Nero, escaped Rome together with 500 noble families. The company traveled north, through the Baltic Sea, and reached the Nemunas Delta. After that they decided to sail upstream until they reached the mouth of Dubysa. There, the Palemonids settled on a large hill (now known as the Palemon Hill ) and ruled the country for generations until the Gediminids emerged. [1] The chronicle skipped Mindaugas and Traidenis, attested Grand Dukes of Lithuania, entirely. [2] It incorporated the account of the Gediminid line from the first edition. To make the story more believable, the chronicler presented a very detailed account of the journey. Because there were not enough generations to cover the gap between the 1st century when Palemon arrived and the 14th century when Gediminas died, the third edition of the chronicle, also known as the Bychowiec Chronicle , placed Palemon in the 5th century instead of the 1st, when Rome was devastated by Attila the Hun, [1] and included Mindaugas and other attested dukes. But it was not enough and historians like Maciej Stryjkowski and Kazimierz Kojałowicz-Wijuk moved the account further, into the 10th century. [3] Multiple contradictory versions of the legend survive to this day as historians tried to patch up some obvious mistakes and make it more historically sound.
The first to critically evaluate and reject the legend was historian Joachim Lelewel in 1839. [4] At the end of the 19th century there were some attempts, for example in a history written by Maironis, to tie the legend with the expansion of the Vikings. [1] While many historians up until the dawn of the 20th century believed the legend to be true, it is now largely discarded as a fictional story that only serves to illustrate political ideology in the 16th-century Lithuania. [5]
A neighborhood in Kaunas is named after Palemonids – Palemonas .
| Palemon Polemon II of Pontus, or in alternative versions hailing from the Colonna family or from Republic of Venice | ||||||||||||||||||
| Borkus Duke of Samogitia Founder of Jurbarkas | Kunos Duke of Aukštaitija Founder of Kaunas | Spera Duke of Eastern Lithuania Name: Lake Spėra | ||||||||||||||||
| Daumantas Duke of Deltuva From Centaurus family | Kernius Duke of Lithuania Founder of Kernavė | Gimbutas Duke of Samogitia | ||||||||||||||||
| Montvilas Duke of Samogitia | ||||||||||||||||||
| Kiras Duke of Deltuva | Pajauta ♀ Name: valley in Kernavė | Nemunas Name: Nemunas | Erdvilas Duke of Naugardukas | Skirmantas | Vykintas Duke of Samogitia | |||||||||||||
| Mingaila Duke of Naugardukas and Polockas | Živinbudas Duke of Samogitia | |||||||||||||||||
| Kukovaitis Duke of Lithuania | Skirmantas Duke of Naugardukas, Pinsk, Turov, etc. | Ginvilas Duke of Polockas | Kukovaitis Duke of Samogitia | |||||||||||||||
| Traidenis Grand Duke of Naugardukas | Liubartas Grand Duke of Karachev | Pisimantas Duke of Turov | Rogvolodas Duke of Polockas | |||||||||||||||
| Algimantas Duke of Naugardukas | Gleb Duke of Polockas | Paraskeva ♀ | ||||||||||||||||
| Utenis Duke of Lithuania and Samogitia Founder of Utena | Ryngold Duke of Naugardukas | |||||||||||||||||
| Vaišvilkas Duke of Naugardukas | ||||||||||||||||||
| Šventaragis Grand Duke of Lithuania Name: valley in Vilnius | ||||||||||||||||||
| Skirmantas Grand Duke of Lithuania | ||||||||||||||||||
| Trabus Duke of Samogitia | Koliginas Duke of Lithuania and Rus' | |||||||||||||||||
| Romanas Grand Duke of Lithuania | ||||||||||||||||||
| Narimantas Grand Duke of Lithuania | Daumantas | Olshan Ancestor of Alšėniškiai | Giedrius Ancestor of Giedraitis family | Traidenis Grand Duke of Lithuania | ||||||||||||||
| Rimantas Grand Duke of Lithuania | ||||||||||||||||||
| Source: Jučas, Mečislovas (2003). Lietuvos metraščiai ir kronikos (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Aidai. p. 53. ISBN 9955-445-40-8. The table was prepared according to the second edition of the Lithuanian Chronicles, the so-called transcription of the Archaeological Society. Other editions, transcriptions, chronicles, and later historians presented significantly different genealogical trees. Note: Darker shaded cells represent dukes who share their names with real historical figures. Dukes with the title Grand Duke of Lithuania ruled the unified country: i.e. they ruled Lithuania, Samogitia, and Rus'. | ||||||||||||||||||
Traidenis was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1269 or 1270 until 1282. He is the second most prominent grand duke of Lithuania in the 13th century after Mindaugas. His reign ended a seven-year unrest period after Mindaugas was assassinated in 1263 and firmly established the Grand Duchy as a pagan state for another hundred years.
The House of Gediminas, or simply the Gediminids, were a dynasty of monarchs in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that reigned from the 14th to the 16th century. A cadet branch of this family, known as the Jagiellonian dynasty, reigned also in the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Hungary and Kingdom of Bohemia. Several other branches ranked among the leading aristocratic dynasties of Poland and Russia into recent times.
Erdvilas was one of the 21 early dukes of Lithuania who signed a treaty with Galicia–Volhynia in 1219. He and Vykintas are the two dukes of Samogitia mentioned in the treaty. This is supported by the fact that the eastern part of Samogitia supported King of Lithuania Mindaugas, while the western part, ruled by Vykintas, was more hostile. That is the only mention of him in written sources. Few historians consider that Treniota, Mindaugas' nephew, was son of Erdvilas. However more prefer Vykintas as Treniota's father.
Dausprungas was the older brother of Mindaugas, the first King of Lithuania. Dausprungas is mentioned in the peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia in 1219 among the 21 early dukes of Lithuania as one of the five elder dukes, the other four being Živinbudas, Daujotas, Mindaugas and Viligaila. Since Dausprungas is the only known brother of Mindaugas, Mindaugas' nephews Edivydas and Tautvilas are presumed to be his sons. If that is true, then Dausprungas is father-in-law of Daniel of Halych and he was also married to Vykintas' sister. Because it is known that Mindaugas used to kill his relatives to gain power and because Dausprungas is not mentioned in any other sources, some imply that he was killed by Mindaugas, but others rebut since his sons still ruled their lands in 1248.
Ringaudas or Ryngold was a mythological Grand Duke of Lithuania from the Palemonids legends and supposed father of Mindaugas, the first King of Lithuania (1251–1263). In fact, there is nothing known about Mindaugas' father from reliable sources. The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, a contemporary source, just mentions that he was a powerful duke, but does not provide his name.
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The House of Mindaugas was the first royal family of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, centered on Mindaugas, the first known and undoubted sovereign of Lithuania. He was crowned as King of Lithuania in 1253 and assassinated ten years later. His known family relations end with children; there is no data on his great-grandchildren or any relations with the Gediminids, a dynasty of sovereigns of Lithuania and Poland that started with Butigeidis ca. 1285 and ended with Sigismund II Augustus in 1572.
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Friedeburgh or Friedeburg was a short-lived castle of the Teutonic Order in Samogitia. It was built after the Treaty of Salynas was signed in 1398 and Samogitia was granted to the Knights by Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania. The castle was to become administrative center of Samogitia.
The Battle of Rudau was a medieval pitched battle fought between the Teutonic Knights and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on 17 or 18 February 1370 near Rudau village, north of Königsberg. According to the Teutonic chronicler Wigand of Marburg and the Livonian chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, the Lithuanians suffered a great defeat.
Mindaugas was the first known grand duke of Lithuania and the only crowned king of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or rise to power; he is mentioned in a 1219 treaty as an elder duke, and in 1236 as the leader of all the Lithuanians. The contemporary and modern sources discussing his ascent mention strategic marriages along with banishment or murder of his rivals. He extended his domain into regions southeast of Lithuania proper during the 1230s and 1240s. In 1250 or 1251, during the course of internal power struggles, he was baptised as a Roman Catholic; this action enabled him to establish an alliance with the Livonian Order, a long-standing antagonist of the Lithuanians. By 1245, Mindaugas was already being referred to as "the highest king" in certain documents. During the summer of 1253, he was crowned king, ruling between 300,000 and 400,000 subjects, and got nicknamed as Mindaugas the Sapient by the Livonians.
Gediminas was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death in 1341.
Gediminas' Cap was the most important regalia of the Lithuanian monarchs who ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until the Union of Lublin in 1569. During the inaugurations of Lithuanian monarchs, Gediminas' Cap was placed on the monarch's heads by the Bishop of Vilnius in Vilnius Cathedral.
