Mažojo magdeburginio miesto istorinis eskizas: Liudvinavas XVIII amžiuje (lokacija, valdžia, bendruomenė)

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Collection:
Mokslo publikacijos / Scientific publications
Document Type:
Straipsnis / Article
Language:
Lietuvių kalba / Lithuanian
Title:
Mažojo magdeburginio miesto istorinis eskizas: Liudvinavas XVIII amžiuje (lokacija, valdžia, bendruomenė)
Alternative Title:
Historical sketch of a small Magdeburgian town: Liudvinavas in the eighteenth century (location, authorities, community)
Authors:
Drungilas, Jonas
In the Journal:
Lietuvos istorijos metraštis [Yearbook of Lithuanian History]. 2022, 2022/2, p. 47-69
Subject Category:
LT
Bajorai. Didikai. Valdovai / Gentry. Nobles. Kings; Etninės grupės / Ethnic groups; Lokalioji istorija / Local history; Liudvikas Konstantinas Pociejus; 1569-1795. Lietuva ATR laikotarpiu; Lietuva (Lithuania); Liudvinavas; Socialinė istorija / Social history.
Summary / Abstract:

LTStraipsnyje tiriama Liudvinavo, Pietryčių Lietuvoje Liudviko Konstantino Pociejaus įkurto bei 1719 m. Magdeburgo teises gavusio, miesto raida XVIII amžiuje. Miesto istorija analizuojama aptariant lokaciją (įkūrimo procesą) bei erdvinę struktūrą, miesto valdžią (miesto pareigūnus, vaitus, Punios seniūnus) ir miestiečių bendruomenę (etninę, konfesinę sudėtį). Raktiniai žodžiai: Liudvinavas, Liudvikas Konstantinas Pociejus, miestas, miestiečiai, Šv. Rožinio arkibrolija, žydai. [Iš leidinio]

ENThe article discusses the development of Liudvinavas, a small Magdeburgian town established on 14 January 1719, in the eighteenth century. The town was established by Ludwik Konstanty Pociej, a field hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His contribution as the locator is reflected not only in the name of the town: along with the cult of St Ludwig, it moved to the sacral sphere (the name of the church, the painting of the saint in the chapel) and to the spiritual life of the parish (St Ludwig’s feast). The new town was established in an unusual territory surrounded by rivers and water bodies. First the market square was measured and the streets leading from it were laid. Vilniaus Street connected the central part of the town with the other bank of the Šešupė River, thus dividing and extending the town, and that part looked like a suburb. Later, in 1727, a church was built close to the centre, in the northern part of the town. In this way, an organic self-evolved town plan took shape between 1718/19 and 1727, and it has not changed much up until now. Administratively, the town was part of the Punia ward, the elders of which were descendants of wellknown families (Brzostowski, Pociej, Sapiega) and interfered, in one way or another, in the governance of the town. One of such instances was the conflict, in 1757, between Boufal and Radoszewski regarding town administration, which at the same time revealed the feud between political factions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the time. From the compiled list of officials one can see that officials of noble decent from Trakai used to become voigts of Liudvinavas, while those from the voivodeships of Smolensk used to be landvoigts.The first town officials are traced shortly after the establishment of the town, and in the second half of the eighteenth century, up to eight people could presumably be involved in its governance (the voigt, the landvoigt, the burgomaster, two ... benchers?, two counsellors, and a clerk). It is known that there was a rotation of town officials in Liudvinavas, while the cases of Gutrich, who served as a burgomaster for four years, and of Luszczikowski, who spent over twenty years in the position of the clerk, show that professionals were valued in this town. All the above points to the fact that the town had an organised self-governance of a Magdeburgian city (this is also confirmed by the newly-discovered town seals of 1741 and 1744). The local community of the townspeople evolved from various regions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (for example, Samogitians and Ruthenians), Jews, and people arriving from Poland and Prussia. The community was gradually growing: there were around 350 residents in 1738, 690 in 1751, and 858 in 1799/1800. Almost a half of the town’s residents were Jews, who formed a separate kahal of Liudvinavas: they built a synagogue, had a rabbi, a cemetery, a funeral society, a mikvah (a bathhouse for ritual immersion), and a school. Most of the members of the Jewish community lived in the houses surrounding the market square (all plots of land here belonged to them) and in Kaunas Street, the longest in the town; this shows that it was part of the trade route Kaunas-Königsberg. The function of Liudvinavas as a transit town is reflected in the abundance of craftspeople specialising in food provision and haberdashery; they were ready to help and host individuals travelling through the town. In addition, the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary was founded in the town in 1739, very likely thanks to the Dominicans of Virbalis.The confraternity cooperated the townspeople through piety and activated their cultural level, which was an important indicator of urban life. The eighteenth-century history of Liudvinavas complements the overall picture of the towns of the Paprūsė region (the area at the border with Prussia) at the time. When Liudvinavas came to prosperity in the late eighteenth-early nineteenth century, this period left a deep impression in the memory of the local people, which is confirmed by the cases of Kazys Boruta and Algirdas Julius Greimas, who came from the environs of this town in the early twentieth century and recall this ‘majestic’ city. Keywords: Liudvinavas, Ludwik Konstanty Pociej, town, townspeople, Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, Jews. [From the publication]

DOI:
10.33918/25386549-202202003
ISSN:
0202-3342; 2538-6549
Subject:
Istorija / History
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https://www.lituanistika.lt/content/99560
Updated:
2023-03-05 16:19:03
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