Veisiejų vardo istorijos vingiai karaliaus Mindaugo donacijose

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Veisiejai; Mindaugas; Donacijos; Veisiejai; King Mindaugas; Donations.

ENThe most important thing for every nation is to know its origins and development. For the Lithuanian nation, which has thousands of years of culture and a deep history of its ethnos genesis, this was relevant at all times; however, it is especially important now that we live in an increasingly globalized world and in modern borderless Europe. Veisiejai has a long, measured by several centuries, history. During those centuries, a vast cultural and historical heritage has accumulated. There is a good opinion that the Veisiejai manor gave the beginning to Veisiejai. The one which, as the fairy tales tell, rose at Lake Ančia. Many documents mention the name of the Veisiejai manor, though, to be more precise, the name of the Veisiejai palace-manor, which provides the basis for such images. About four or even more such palacesmansions, which were in different places, with different conceptions of their meaning, can be found in the writings of various authors, and they are all called the Veisiejai manors. However, on closer inspection, we find that only one, and this is very reserved, can be identified with the origins of today’s Veisiejai city. History developed so that in July 1253 a donation letter written by Mindaugas to the Livonian Order distributed and brought fame to the former name of Veisė, the centre of the Sūduva region ethnic land community, near Lake Veisiejis. It is significant that the name of lake Veisiejis is derived from the meaning of wet meadows, swampy fields, marshy, wet shores, because the Sūduvian and Prussian veisa is “marsh, swamp” /V. M. IV, p. 199/ and Weis - “swamp, river” /G. Gerulis. 1922, p. 198, from A. V. 1981, p. 379/; it is still possible to link this with Vytautas Mažiulis /IV, p. 255/ weysigis → veisijas, veisijis “meadow”. A similar environment to the one described in Veisė land could be found near the lake in its southern and south-western parts, and in other places not so far from the lake.The name of Veisė Land is a derivative of Lake Veisiejis. Veisiejai is the direct, spiritual heirs of the names of the Veisė Land, and it would be quite meaningful to start counting the origins of the city from the first mention of Veisė in July 1253, recorded in the act of King Mindaugas. /E. Gudavičius. Mindaugas. Vilnius: Lithuanian Institute of History. 1998, p. 203, p. 240/ This statement is confirmed by the historian Tomas Baranauskas in his book The Origins of the Lithuanian State (2000, pp. 201–202), in which he describes Mindaugas’s travel routes from Gardinas through Paveisininkai [Veisė - K. S.] and Veisiejai (Weyze and aliud Weyse). (PUB - Bd. 1. Halfte 2. - p. 35 (No. 39)) The findings of archaeological research extend and deepen the layers of the history of the town of Veisiejai to the Middle Ages and the Late Neolithic, which is about 4 000/3 500-year-old prehistory layer; thus, it is the cultural layer of the ethnic development of our nation and the cradle of its origin. Veisiejai harmoniously merges with the most beautiful gift of nature that is the winding shoreline of Lake Ančia with the reflections of trees and subtly sheltered buildings adorned with quiet evening air in the lake water mirror, which takes us to the deepest layers of the city’s civilizational culture sunk into the depths of time and oblivion. From them, once in a while, in the fields of our spirit, the sounds of the lullabies, sung by the Sūduviai-Dainaviai grandmothers, and the prophecies of the sorcerers of the soul are knocked at the altar of eternal fire. Its miraculous spirit for centuries moved into the souls of the people who lived here and became their identity, their spiritual code in the prominent land of Veisiejai, which heard the fanfares of Mindaugas›s royal escort traveling through Gardinas, and the sounds of hunting horns of Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas and Dukes Radvilos. [From the publication]