Rikių šešėlis: kelios pastabos apie XIII a. - XIV a. pradžios baltų genčių aristokratiją ir jos likimą

ENThe aim of this article is to describe the situation of the noble part of Baltic (especially Lithuanian) society in the period when it transformed from a tribal aristocracy to one in the service of an overlord. Attention is focused on the congruences and incongruences of the Baltic tribal aristocracy’s situation. The opposition of Lithuania and Žemaitija (Samogitia) as the most dynamic and the most archaic Baltic societies is methodically highlighted. In this way, archaic 15th-16th-century institutions of Samogitian society are viewed as relics of the tribal society that could have been expressed in 13th-century Lithuania. The article suggests reconstructing pre-state Lithuanian social structures not on the eclectic entirety of different origins, but based on the Prussian model of society that is best reflected in sources. This method would suggest that the leaders of war retinue, often viewed as dukes, did not comprise a separate layer in society, but were a composite part of the tribal aristocracy. Their social exclusion from the tribes noble layer could have developed during the course of political, economic and professional (in general - social) stratification. Sources show that tribal institutions stopped the concentration of political and economic power in the hands of a few noble families. Social stratification in 13lh-century Lithuania depended most on the dynamics of the soldier s profession - the growing professionalism of war retinue. This phenomenon is probably the most telling when it comes to the unique fate of Lithuania’s Baltic tribes: the creation of a state and the rise of one ruling family. There is no doubt that Lithuania’s tribal aristocracy’s ties with the Ruthenians played a unique role in this process as well. It was probably due to them that already in the 13th century Lithuanian culture turned away from the typical “Baltic” path of development. [From the publication]

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