Lietuvos didžiojo kunigaikščio leičiai: iš Lietuvos ankstyvųjų valstybinių struktūrų praeities

LTMonografijoje tiriama ypatingų Lietuvos didžiojo kunigaikščio tarnų sluoksnio, leičių, kilmė, raida, transformacijos ir išnykimas XIII-XVI a. pirmojoje pusėje. Įrodinėjama, kad tai buvo iš lietuvių genčių susidaręs Lietuvos etnosocialinis institutas. Jis tapo lietuvių valdovo įrankiu kuriant, plečiant ir integruojant valstybę. Dėl to leičių sluoksnį iki pat išnykimo lydėjo jį apibūdinančių reikšmių dualizmas, etninis ir socialinis. Yra plati reziumė anglų kalba. [Anotacija knygoje]

ENThe Lithuanian historical sources of the first half of the 14th-16th c. contain scanty data about a certain group of servitors of the grand duke of Lithuania the so-called Nom. sg. leitis, Nom. pl. leičiai <*leitjai (leythey, leyty, leytten, aeumu) (leich’ai). […] However, neither historians nor linguists made attempts to find out whether there existed any relation between leičiai as a social stratum in Lithuania and leičiai as an ethnic group. Meanwhile, there existed records - Lithuanian dialects: some inhabitants of south and southwest localities of Samogitia Thus, the historical records and Lithuanian dialects testify that from the beginning of the 14th till the middle of the 16th century the same word leičiai was used to name Lithuanians and a certain social structure of the Lithuanian nation, i.e., leičiai were “Lithuanians among Lithuanians” who served the grand duke. We can maintain that it was not a coincidence that one and the same word was used in the first ages of the Lithuanian state history to name evidently different objects - ethnos and social structure. Most data about the leičiai of Lithuanian sovereign court reached us from the 15th and the first five decades of the 16th century. They were orderly distributed in Vilnius and Trakai manors of the grand duke of Lithuania. The greatest number of leičiai was concentrated in the manors of Trakai Palatinate: Kaunas, Gegužinė-Perelozai, Kanevas-Dubičiai, Lieponys, Rodūnia, Eišiškės, Semeliškės, Trakai, Valkininkai, Žiežmariai, Žaludokas, Alytus-Simnas, Daugai, Stakliškės, Birštonas, Darsūniškis, Merkinė, Vosyliškis. Somewhat less - in the Vilnius Palatinate: Ašmena, Anykščiai- Rokiškis (at the end of the 15th century the Rokiškis District was separated from Anykščiai), Utena, Sudervė, Vilnius (?), Maišiagala, Švenčionys, Ukmergė (Vilkmergė), Markovas manors.In Samogitia they are known only in the Batakiai and Vilkija manors. However, in Samogitia there were families of nobility from manors called Leičiai in the Viduklė District. Leičiai could be found far away from the ethnic nucleus of Lithuanians: in Lososna manor of Slonim District center, a few manors of Kiev Palatinate near the Pripiet’ river. The Lithuanian historical records contain evidence of leičiai as sovereign’s servitors between 1407-1547. Their main inhabited territory was horded in the north, west and south by the Šventoji, Neris and Nemunas rivers (without the Gardinas land) and in the east - by Ašmena, Markovas and, partly, Breslauja Districts. Their conscription to sovereign included leičiai service. For this reason they were free of corvee in sovereign’s manor. However, the latter conscription was introduced for them in 1529 by sovereign’s regulations to governors of Vilnius and Trakai manors. Since the mentioned year the information about leičiai has become scanty. During the “Valakai land reform” in the middle of the 16th century leičiai as a social group ceased to exist and there was no trace of them in the records from the second half of this century. There survived names of villages Leičiai (Laičiai), Leitiškės (Laitiškės) etc., which, presumably, were inhabited by their offsprings, and family names - Leitis, Leita, Leičiūnas, etc. Investigations proved it difficult to answer the question what occupations and duties were included in the leičiai service. Some records plainly describe the occupation of leičiai in, e.g., Rodūnia and Švenčionys manors - they were stablemen (had to feed and breed sovereign’s horses).However, we can judge from the historical records that this was not the only occupation of Lithuanian leičiai: in many cases they were simple farmers. On the other hand it is interesting why there existed special groups of servants, stablemen, who were in charge of sovereign’s horses. Many families of Lithuanian noblemen originated from leičiai, i.e., a part of leičiai entered nobility and not peasantry. From the beginning of the 15th century leičiai without exceptions represented court people (court servitors). They possessed their lands (alodium) which were inherited from generation to generation. Their life had some elements of personal freedom, e.g., leitis could abandon his land and, having returned after some time, resume its cultivation. A deeper investigation into these circumstances revealed that from the 15th century there existed two kinds of leičiai. [...]. [From the publication]