Ad perpetuam rei memoriam: privatūs dokumentai Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystėje XIV a. pabaigoje - XVI a. pradžioje

LTAd perpetuam rei memoriam - amžinam reikalo atminimui. Tokia formuluotė, nusakanti dokumento funkciją, dažnai buvo įrašoma pradedant dokumentą. Ir tokią funkciją dokumentas atliko pakankamai neblogai. Nepaisant medžiagos trapumo, prastų saugojimo sąlygų ir istorinių negandų, šiandieną pasiekė daugiau nei pusantro tūkstančio senųjų privačių dokumentų. Kažin ar XIV a. pabaigoje darbavęsis Jokūbas Roduničius galėjo numatyti, kad jo darbo vaisius sulauks dėmesio XXI a. ir jis bus laikomas ankstyviausio privataus dokumento autoriumi. Monografija skaitytoją supažindins su rašytinės kultūros, svarbiausio civilizacijos rodiklio, sklaida Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystėje ir leis prisiliesti prie paties dokumento - neišsemiamo praeities lobyno. [Anotacija knygoje]

ENThe object of research are private documents issued by the nobility (dukes, magnates, the middle and lesser nobles) and the common folk (burghers and peasants) relating to the field of private law. The chronology of this research begins from the 1380s, i.e., from the earliest known appearance of such documents in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and goes up to the passing of the First Statute of Lithuania in 1529, which marked a certain threshold in the development of legal culture. The monograph analyses the terminology used in documents (“document”, “act”, “private document”), explaining the conditions leading to the emergence of private documents and the factors that determined their spread. An empirical material analysis was also conducted to determine the most prevalent types of private documents, examining the chronology and geography of their spread, describing document issuers and recipients and the material they contained. Court procedures in the 15th - early 16th centuries were used to determine the validity and judicial significance of private documents. Various means of authorising private documents were also studied: sealing, entering witnesses names and use of the signature of the individual who wrote up the document and the issuer (subscriptio). An analysis of the legal formulas used in Ruthenian and Latin private documents was conducted to find the nature of their co-existence. The monograph also contains a rich appendices section with a register of private documents, lists of the signatures appearing on documents and the individuals who wrote them up.The study shows that the written privileges granted to the Lithuanian nobility, Vilnius city and the Vilnius Cathedral by the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila in 1387 acted as an important stimulus towards the creation of a written legal culture, while the written document started being viewed as a guarantee of one's rights. The first private documents date to the 1380s. The following early private document preparation centres were found: Latin documents were drafted at the Vilnius and Lutsk bishops' offices and by the Vilnius Franciscans, Ruthe- nian documents were drafted at the chancery of the Lithuanian grand duke, at Orthodox churches and monasteries and at the estates of Orthodox dukes. The chancery of Grand Duke Vytautas was found to have the greatest influence on Ruthenian documents in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where, under the impact of Latin documents, some Latin formulas were incorporated into Ruthenian documents. This meant that the archaic Ruthenian document that had existed at the end of the 14th century underwent a fundamental change up to the mid-isth century. The same changes were reflected in Ruthenian private documents. From the second half of the 15th century, magnates' estates and clerks of secular government officials and cities with self-government rights began to play an important role in the spread of private documents.The main factor in the spread of private documents would be the greater opportunities available to dispose of landholdings, made possible thanks to the ruler's privilege of 1387 and subsequent privileges. A fundamental turning point came at the end of the 15th century when the so-called “one-third” norm came into effect, giving nobles the right freely dispose of one third of their property. The influence of the Church was also important, encouraging the tradition of patronage and bequeath- ment. The development of larger magnate landholdings also played a major role in the establishment of private documents in society as it involved the formalisation of transactions. Judicial written culture was expanded via the documentation of court procedures, which was regular practice by the end of the 15th century, and the emergence of the Lithuanian Metrica. The involvement of the aristocracy and the formation of their legal awareness was also encouraged by the rare instance of the ruler’s residency in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the second half of the 15th century. The increase in the general cultural potential also influenced the spread of private documents, along with regular contact with states that had an older culture of writing and greater levels of education, the general economic growth in the country, greater demands for cash and the introduction of paper production. [...]. [From the publication]