Vytautas Smilgevičius. ‘Karlo I Prahos Grašiai Lietuvos Muziejų Lobiuose’ [Prague Groats of Charles IV in the Collections of Lithuanian Museums]

LITHUANIAN HISTORICAL STUDIES 6 2001 ISSN 1392-2343 pp. 172–161 Vytautas Smilgevičius. ‘Karlo I Prahos grašiai Lietuvos muziejų lobiuose’ [Prague Groats of Charles IV in the Collections of Lithuanian Museums]. Kultūros paminklai, kn. 6, 2000, pp. 12–23. In Lithuanian museum collections there are 30 Prague groats of Charles IV. Fourteen of these coins are the latest variety, dated at the 1370s, and their way to Lithuania could be attributed to the years 1405–1407. The author of this paper extensively discusses the schemes of coin typology, proposed mostly by the Czech scholars J. Smolik, E. Nohejlová, K. Castelin, L. Nemeškal, V. Pinta and S. Veselý and presents a table, containing the place of the coins, their variety, weight (in grams) and the site where a given coin was found. In conclusion, the author proposes to adhere to the rules of coin description in publishing information about new findings of Prague coins (to indicate their weight after restoration, their diameter and thickness, their variety and present location). Kęstutis Katalynas. ‘Vilnius XIII amžiuje. Mitai ir faktai’. [Vilnius in the Thirteenth Century: Myths and Facts]. Kultūros paminklai , kn. 6, 2000, pp. 207–219. The author analyzes several deeply entrenched assumptions about thirteenth-century Vilnius and seeks to answer a question of what the facts and the myths are. He questions the statements that Vilnius occupied a large territory before Gediminas established his capital here, that it was reliably protected (with stone fortifications having replaced wooden ones, according to some opinions), crafts and trade with other countries flour- ished here and that it was a religious centre (hearths of pagan rites were found, subsequently a Christian cathedral was erected on the site of a pagan temple). Intensively re-reading the accounts of archaeological investigations the author comes to a guarded verdict about the accept- ability of these assumptions. Attention is paid to the interpretation of erroneously selected facts and even their disregard, inaccurate dating of the findings, misleading analogies with other cultures and the research of a particular theme divorced from the entire context. Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:56:27PM via free access ARTICLES 173 Rimvydas Petrauskas. ‘Vytauto laikų didikų kilmė’ [The Origin of the Nobility of Vytautas’ Times]. Lituanistica , no. 1/2 (41/42), 2000, pp. 16–31. The rise of the nobility is associated with the appearance of the estate privileges, which are accounted for by the social policy of the Grand Duke Vytautas. In order to verify this theory, the author of this article investi- gated the origin of the most influential noble families (Mantvidas and Gedgaudas, Minigaila, Andrius Goštautas, Astikas, Valmantas and Valmantaitises, Bratošas, et al.) in Vytautas’ times. The author concludes that in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries the state of the Lithuanian nobility was defined both by the service and by the birth. The geography of the origin of the nobility shows that at that time nearly all their patrimonial lands were located in the territory, partially coinciding with the lands of ‘genuine’ Lithuania. Polish and Russian chronicles and those of the Teutonic Order, as well as the international treaties of Kęstutis were used to research this topic. Algimantas Miškinis. ‘Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės miestų ir miestelių planingas formavimas iki XVII a. vidurio: ypatumai ir sąveika su Vakarų bei Rytų Europos urbanistika’ [The Planned Formation of Cities and Towns in the GDL before the Mid-Seventeenth Century: its Specific Characteristics and Contacts with Urban Planning in Western and Eastern Europe]. Kultūros paminklai , kn. 6, 2000, pp. 101–119. The author holds that a planned development of cities and towns in the GDL could have begun in the middle of the sixteenth century, although at that time only a part of urban centres were built. Planned construction of large and small towns was instigated by the contemporary rise of economic centres, which in turn was conditioned by general economic progress and the need to repopulate empty or war-devastated territories. Besides, the necessity of a planned construction of economic centres coincided with the need for the reform the agriculture of the GDL – the so-called Valakas Reform. Though the process of planned construction did not proceed smoothly everywhere, the majority of cities and towns in the GDL acquired a more or less planned structure according to the Western- and Central-European patterns of urban planning by the middle of the seventeenth century. The overwhelming majority of such centres of trade and crafts are found in the territory of the present-day Lithuania, in Belorussia their number becomes smaller, and the further to the east, the less is that number. Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:56:27PM via free access 174 ANNOTATIONS Nerijus Gudaitis. ‘1621–1622 Kuršo-Livonijos kampanija’ [The Courland– Livonia Campaign of 1621–1622]. Darbai ir Dienos , 21, 2000, pp. 39–60. The author characterizes the general political and economic situation of this area of the Baltic Sea, which led its eastern region to become a permanent theatre of war from the second half of the sixteenth century. An attempt is made to reveal the course of the Courland–Livonia campaign of Kristupas Radvila II in 1621–1622, to review the main stages of the siege of the city of Riga, which prevented the advance of the more numerous Swedish forces towards ethnic Lithuanian lands. The principal attention is paid to particular events of the campaign, taking into account the strategic and economic importance of Livonia and Riga and the nature of the forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, engaged in the campaign. The course of the campaign is reconstructed on the basis of archival, primary and secondary sources. Lina Vidauskytė. ‘Jonušo Radvilos strategija ir taktika (XVII a. vidurio karai su kazokais ir Rusija)’ [The Strategy and Tactics of Janusz Radziwiłł (the Wars with the Cossacks and Russia in the Mid-Seventeenth Cen- tury)]. Darbai ir Dienos , 21, 2000, pp. 61–92. Jonušas Radvila is one of the most illustrious figures in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, frequently attracting the attention of research- ers. Nevertheless, one can still find poorly researched aspects of his biography. The author of this paper seeks to determine whether in his wars against the Cossacks and Russia Radvila had any definite pre- arranged plans to beat the enemy or whether they were merely improvizations, prompted by the situation. The author maintains that Radvila had strategic plans and gives a favourable evaluation of his military activities. The paper also deals with the organization of the Lithua- nian army in the seventeenth century, its composition, attack and defence tactics, forces opposing it, the principal battles (at Lojów, Białocerkiew, Szklów, the capture of Kiev, the defence of Vilnius) and the theatre of war. Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:56:27PM via free access ARTICLES 175 Asta Vaškelienė. ‘XVIII a. Lietuvos lotyniškoji literatūra: kultūrinis ir visuomeninis kontekstas’ [Eighteenth-Century Latin Literature of Lithua- nia: Cultural and Social Aspects]. Lituanistica , no. 3/4, 2000, pp. 75–92. Enlightenment ideas reached Lithuania in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Maintaining that the development of Latin literature in Lithuania at that time was conditioned by stormy social and political changes, the author notes that the ongoing changes were closely related to the state of education in the country, which was chiefly influenced by two orders – the Jesuits and the Piarists, whose rivalry inspired significant changes in society, scholarship and culture. The article discusses the impact of Jesuit schools on learning foreign languages, and the state of school libraries, the publication of reformed calendars, based on the new ‘scholarly spirit’, and of academic literature and belles-lettres. Attention is paid to the activity of the Educational Commission, which took over Jesuit property after the Order was suppressed, found new managers for schools and, most importantly, continued the reform of education. The publication activity of the Piarists is also discussed. Zita Medišauskienė. ‘Konservatyvių idėjų raiška Stanislovo Moravskio palikime. [Conservatism in the Heritage of Stanislovas Moravskis]. Politologija , 4(20), pp. 115–136. The author considers that conservatism has been spreading in Lithuanian society since the 1820s and is evident in the works of Catholic philosophy, history, ethnography, economics, statistics and fiction. This kind of thinking is detected by the author in five works of the physician Stanislovas Moravskis issued between 1848 and 1850, in which European political and ideological topicalities are discussed from the conservative standpoint as a reaction to the European revolutions of 1848 and the resulting social theories. The conservatism of Moravskis’ works is based on the idea that the human being and society in general are God’s creation, and the organization of social life on the basis of theories means an interference in the development of humankind, ordered exclusively by God. In his opinion, in the mid-nineteenth century Lithuanian society needed a moral or religious rather than political or social reform. Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:56:27PM via free access 176 ANNOTATIONS Zita Medišauskienė, ‘Konservatyvi industrinės visuomenės kritika XIX a. vidurio Lietuvoje’ [Conservative Criticisms of Industrial Society in Mid- Nineteenth-Century Lithuania]. Lietuvos Aukštųjų Mokyklų Mokslo Darbai. Istorija , XLVI, 2000, pp. 3–11. The article deals with a critical attitude of Lithuanian conservatives of the mid-nineteenth century towards the impact of the rapidly developing capitalist mode of production of Western countries on the personality of the individual and on social life. The author discusses similar processes taking place in Lithuanian society proper: trips abroad, increasing luxury, prevalence of ‘rationality’ in everyday life (interest in education, literature, the need for intellectual communication), card games, etc., leading to moral degradation, hooliganism and laziness.

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