Upytės miestietiškųjų gyvenviečių tinklo formavimasis XV a. - XVI a. pirmojoje pusėje

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Miestai; Miesteliai; Pirmasis paminėjimas; Upytės miestiškosios gyvenvietės; Upytės pavietas; Upytės valsčiaus istorija, miestietiškas tinklas, Lietuva; 15 amžius; 16 amžius; History of Upytė region, network of towns, Lithuania; Small towns; The earliest mentioning; Towns; Upytė district; Urban settlements in Upytė; XV - XVI century.

ENThis paper analyses the formation and development of the urban settlements network in the Upytė Land from the XVth century to the first half of the XVIth century (up to 1569). The very first urban settlements in this region were mentioned in the last quarter of the XVth century, when the results of the region's re- inhabitation after the end of the wars with crusaders began to show. Urban settlements could be recognised from their naming as small towns in the sources; also from the mentionings of market places, town-dwellers, merchants or craftsmen's gatherings in specific settlement. Taking into consideration the fact that, because of rather late churches network formation in the Upytė, churches were established in the places of larger constant gatherings of people, or that establishment of a church encouraged the foundation of urban settlements, the first mentionings of churches are also considered to be the mentionings of small towns. During this specific period there were 21 registered mentionings of small towns or urban settlements in the Upytė. This list reflects the present knowledge, and it can change with the appearance of new information, it can also be extended, corrected; some facts may have to be stroke out. Nevertheless, this list is completely representative to form the basis for the research of the Upytė urban settlements network formation and development. Also, it should be remembered that dates presented there are the dates that could still be found in the sources. Most of the small towns could have existed before these dates, though the sources proving their existence have not survived. The earliest mentioning of small town in Upytė was Lygumai/ mentioned in 1476; in the last quarter of the XVth century the total of four urban settlements were mentioned. All of them, including Pasvalys, are linked to the establishment of the church there.Two settlements - Krekenava and Ramygala - were in the Southern part of Upytė, closer to the State's kernel; the other two (Lygumai and Pasvalys) were in the Northern part that had to be re-inhabited after the wars with crusaders. In the first decades of the XVIth century the number of urban settlements in Upytė grew slightly faster than in the end of the XVth century; in the first decade three settlements were registered, and four - in the second decade. Their territorial disposition shows that at that time pavietas (district) northern lands were intensively re-inhabited, as five out of seven settlements appeared specifically in these lands. During the later decades of the XVIth century, up to 1569, the number of new urban settlements was lower - the total number of new settlements in the 2nd - 3rd decades was 10 (there were not a single new settlement found in the 30-ies). They were distributed evenly through all the pavietas. It is hard to tell why did the number of new urban settlements decreased at that time. Maybe it is just the lack in sources. It is also quite possible that the network of such settlements became surfeited; or maybe this was influenced by the economy reorganisation during the Valakai reform or by the mobilisation of the state and economy that should have satisfied the needs of the Livonia war at the very wake of it. But, as before, these are merely possibilities. Judging from the historiography, in the last decades of the XVIth century the foundation of new small towns in the Upytė pavietas moved from the dead point. [From the publication]