![\"2011-09-15-LHERITAGE](\"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/2011-09-15-LHERITAGE-2-300x40.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBY J\u016aRAT\u0116 MI\u010cIULIEN\u0116<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Historian Jolanta Karpavi\u010dien\u0117 states that women surrounding Lithuania\u2019s rulers, from the time of Mindaugas, lived a more active public life than Slavic princesses shut up in their ivory towers.—<\/p>\n
JOLANTA KARPAVI\u010cIEN\u0116, <\/strong>Assistant director of the National Museum Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius, said that historical sources, as well as archaeological finds, tell of Lithuania\u2019s rulers\u2019 traditions and way of life and testify to our long-time inclusion in Western civilization.<\/p>\n \u201cThe active life of the women of the court was very different from Eastern customs. Following the requirements of Western etiquette, Lithuanian women participated in public receptions and feasts honoring foreign guests, accepted gifts from foreign emissaries, and themselves made gifts to foreign diplomats.\u201d<\/p>\n Historians, studying family structure (since the small family structure dominated in Lithuania, not the communal structure of the Eastern Slavs), and its social, cultural and economic matters, observe in the Lithuanian woman\u2019s situation the same European context as in other Western lands. \u201cI can confidently say that the Lithuanian woman has from olden times been a European,\u201d said Karpavi\u010dien\u0117. \u201cHowever, we cannot altogether dismiss the Byzantine cultural influence, especially since one active woman (Jogaila\u2019s mother, princess Julijona of Tver), attempted to convert Lithuania to Orthodoxy during the fourteenth century. Just the same, Western culture took hold in Lithuania, especially from the end of the fourteenth century, when Baptism into the Roman Catholic faith was accepted. Many phenomena during that time acquired their specific characteristics. Foreign researchers note that our women\u2019s situation, in some aspects, could be considered better than that of Western Europe\u2019s women.\u201d<\/p>\n Western Standards<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThere is very little concrete information about Queen Morta and King Mindaugas, but historical sources mention that Morta participated in a reception for the Grand Master of the Livonian Order. This initial act by the Queen later became a standard rule,\u201d said Karpavi\u010dien\u0117.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring communications with the Grand Master of the Livonian Order in an effort to obtain a crown for himself and his wife, Mindaugas was the first to establish certain standards of Western etiquette. Lithuania, in this aspect, was very different from Slavic lands\u2014Moscow and other Russian principalities and dukedoms. Our women did not sit closed up in their towers, as did the princesses in the Eastern lands,\u201d explained Karpavi\u010dien\u0117.<\/p>\n Mykolas Lietuvis wrote of the differences between Lithuanian and Slavic women. \u201cScholars have determined the identity and origin of this individual (who should more correctly be called Michalonas Lietuvis), a petty noble from Vilnius named Vaclovas Mikalojaitis. During the middle of the sixteenth century, he wrote an interesting work about the customs of the Lithuanians, Tartars and Muscovites (De Moribus Tartarorum, Lituanorum et Moschorum). Unfortunately, only fragments of this work remain. In comparing their women, he stated that our women lived differently: they actively participated in public life, having all the same rights as men\u2014ruling estates, towns and villages, attending men\u2019s gatherings, riding on horseback. But Russian princesses were barred from any kind of association with foreign guests. Such was the established order in Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n With this in mind, we might recall that, even during Soviet times in the twentieth century, Moscow\u2019s Kremlin leaders never allowed their wives to be seen in public, the exception being Mikhail Gorbachev.<\/p>\n Karpavi\u010dien\u0117 talked about the life of Vytautas\u2019s daughter Sofija\u2014the only one of Grand Duke Vytautas\u2019s children whose life is comparatively well-known. \u201cSofija lived about thirty-five years in Moscow, married to Grand Duke Vasily I. According to the customs prevalent at that time and place, we could say that she was practically unseen. But when she became a widow, she began a very active participation in public life. With her son Vasily, the heir apparent, then a young child, she visited Lithuania and acknowledged the protection of her father. Thus she fulfilled her late husband\u2019s last will (Grand Duke Vasily I\u2019s will and testament named his father-in-law, Vytautas, as his son\u2019s protector, demonstrating Lithuania\u2019s political supremacy over the still weak and splintered Grand Duchy of Muscovy.) Sofija actively took part in a reform of laws in Muscovy, and saw to their implementation. She took care of her own funds, and in her eighties, led Moscow\u2019s defense against the Tartars. It is interesting to note that even Russian historians consider this the work of a Western woman in a Russian environment. For them, this is something unaccustomed.\u201d<\/p>\n Gloves for the Grand Duchess<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWomen\u2019s participation in public life became especially intense during the time of Vytautas,\u201d continued Karpavi\u010dien\u0117. As a ruler, Vytautas implemented precise reforms\u2014implanting a Western estate structure in Lithuania. At first, this was a pragmatic interest to bring order to the estates\u2019 administration system as well as to the entire country\u2019s administration. Thus arose the estate\u2019s marshal, treasurer and other officials and, later,\u2014the country\u2019s officials. Still other duties and functions arose, answering the need for work upon manors and estates. Beginning in the fifteenth century, we find information about cupbearers, waiters, cooks, breadslicers, and hunters. Eventually these functions, parceled out amongst Lithuania\u2019s noblemen, became only titles of honor, but they were the source of Lithuania\u2019s table culture. The work required for the system was fulfilled by palace servants: wine-makers, tailors, chambermaids. A much narrower version of this of system later made its way into the manors of the Grand Dukes. A representative and integral part of this culture was the exchange of gifts, which were often received by the women. For example, we have some interesting information about the attentive regard shown by foreigners to Grand Duchess Ona. The Grand Master of the Teutonic Order sent her a clavichord (the earliest mention in Europe of this fortepiano prototype) and a small portable organ. Ona received ornaments, Rhine wine, grapes, spices, rich fabrics encrusted with pearls, and silk gloves (then considered a royal attribute; these accessories could cost as much as a fine horse). Ona in turn sent costly gifts to the Grand Master and to the rulers of other lands and their wives. It is interesting to note that, when Jogaila and Jadvyga\u2019s first child Bonifacija was born, Vytautas and Ona sent the gift of a silver cradle.\u201d According to Karpavi\u010dien\u0117, some rules and requirements of diplomatic etiquette, which began in Vytautas\u2019s times, are still alive today. \u201cIn early times, the leaders\u2019 strength was often demonstrated through their travels. In 1400, a group of more than four hundred horsemen escorted Vytautas\u2019s wife to visit the Teutonic Order\u2019s lands,\u201d added the historian.<\/p>\n Her Own Estate<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cFrom Vytautas\u2019s time at the end of the fourteenth century, plentiful information indicates that women\u2019s participation in public and community affairs was not a local, but a general, phenomenon. An important sign of Grand Duchess Ona\u2019s political independence is her personal seal on documents.<\/p>\n In later times, Lithuanian female rulers\u2019 expression in the political sphere became a necessary tradition. This became especially apparent at the end of the fifteenth century, when Alekandras Jogailaitis was elected Grand Duke of Lithuania (and later, King of Poland), and married the Orthodox daughter of Muscovy\u2019s Grand Duke Ivan III, Elena.\u201d Karpavi\u010dien\u0117 further notes, \u201cIt was during her time that a separate court was formed in the manor of the Grand Duchess, serving her needs through a group of about one hundred individuals, each with a different function. Grand Duke Aleksandras was served by about a thousand individuals. The household of Barbora Radvilait\u0117, wife of Grand Duke \u017dygimantas Augustas, comprised some two hundred persons.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Karpavi\u010dien\u0117, the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius had a separate wing, which historians call the women\u2019s area. \u201cThe Grand Duchess lived here with her courtiers. When an envoy arrived to visit the ruler, he would often ask for an audience with his wife. This evolved into a tradition. According to historical protocol, persons wanting to visit the ruler\u2019s wife would be required to pass through several anterooms, where the envoy and his escort were checked for security, the same as they would have been before seeing the ruler,\u201d commented Karpavi\u010dien\u0117, disclosing lesser-known facts about the Palace. \u201cWe have written sources telling us whether it was possible to visit the valdov\u0117 (ruler\u2019s wife), or not. This confirms that our women took an active part in palace life.\u201d The historian said that when the new museum opens to visitors, people will be able to see the valdov\u0117\u2019s audience chamber, office and personal apartments.<\/p>\n Wife\u2019s Dowry\u2014 Not for Husband\u2019s Debts<\/strong><\/p>\n Karpavi\u010dien\u0117 says that Lithuanian women\u2019s historical importance determined that they were subjects of inheritance rights and wealth relationships, and this became the groundwork for their expression in public life.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an example, if a maiden never hurt her father, never raised her hand against him or against her mother (it is written this way in the sixteenth century Lithuanian Statute), her parents could not withhold her dowry. The dowry was considered a compulsory obligation of the parents, in which the rights of inheritance were implemented,\u201d said the historian. \u201cThe formal dowry system formed during the fifteenth century and was well-established by the sixteenth. When a woman was given a dowry, the details of the agreement had to be documented in writing, very similar to a modern prenuptial agreement. The wife\u2019s dowry had to be guaranteed by her husband\u2019s wealth, making the wife a legal party to the agreement. As such, although she was the dowry\u2019s formal owner, she did not have the independent right to dispose of it. But her husband\u2019s rights in the dowry were also restricted: he was not able to use any of it to pay his own debts, unless he had his wife\u2019s consent. The wife was necessarily obliged to pay attention to the use and administration of wealth. For example, extant letters of sixteenth century Lithuanian nobles show that their women understood economic issues very well, and managed them independently. The ledgers of court cases recorded in the Lithuanian Metrica include much information about some superactive bajor\u0117s (female petty nobility), who suspecting the peasants of neighboring estates of stealing their crops, organized attacks on these estates, even personally taking part in them.\u201d<\/p>\n Living Separately<\/strong><\/p>\n Karpavi\u010dien\u0117 noted that the ruler and his wife had separate private chambers, where they passed the time. \u201cTheir lives flowed in different channels. Each had their own duties and occupations. But if they loved each other, they met more frequently. It is well known, that \u017dygimantas Augustas liked to have breakfast with Barbora, and to spend time in her company.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt may sometimes seem that the Grand Duchesses never did anything but spend their time embroidering in their drawing rooms, but in fact, they had many concerns. At least several hours a day were taken up by correspondence\u2014reading, writing or dictating various types of letters or documents to secretaries. They also looked after courtiers\u2019 careers, estate matters, or wealth administration. Grand Duke Aleksandras\u2019s widow, Elena, had twenty-two domains\u2014Bir\u0161tonas, Roki\u0161kis, Anyk\u0161\u010diai, and other towns, villages and estates, left to her by her husband. We can refer to Elena as the first literate woman in Lithuania\u2019s history. Of extant records, we have seven of her letters and a few score other documents carrying her seal. And just a bit later, the correspondence and clerical work of Lithuania\u2019s Grand Duchess and Poland\u2019s Queen, Bona Sforza, can be counted in the hundreds.\u201d<\/p>\n Requirements of national representation, concerns of the estate, and the consideration of economic matters, all combined to draw the ruling women and nobility into the public sphere. According to Karpavi\u010dien\u0117, these women paid close attention to their prot\u00e9g\u00e9s, taking care to advance their careers, striving to place a favored employee in her husband\u2019s household, which would be a step higher on the career ladder. Such informal ties are known by scholars as patron-client relationships, and they emphasize that women were no exception. It is known, for example, that the vaivadien\u0117 (governor\u2019s wife) of Vilnius, El\u017ebieta \u0160idlovecka Radvila, who had been cared for by a physician named Rupertas Finkas, was so impressed by him that, through her intervention, he was promoted to care for the governor and, later, for the ruler. Several employees of Duchess Kotryna Ten\u010dinska Radvila\u2019s estates, on her recommendation, were employed by her husband or her son.<\/p>\n Styles Spread From the Palace<\/strong><\/p>\n The rulers\u2019 domination of public life could not fail to influence various other layers of society. \u201cThe estate model moved from the ruler\u2019s court to the nobility\u201d\u2014said Karpavi\u010dien\u0117. \u201cBy the sixteenth century, the women of the Radvila, Chodkevi\u010dius, Ostrogi\u0161kis, Sapiega, and other noble families behaved as did the valdov\u0117s. It is known that Lithuania\u2019s noblewomen owned personal estates, employing some sixty or more persons and officers\u2014the mar\u0161alka (marshal), attending to etiquette matters, a chancellor and secretaries. These individuals attended to clerical matters. Additional employees took care of security, medicine, music, spiritual matters, and service personnel such as chambermaids, cooks and laundry workers. Some important representative roles were even played by ladies-in-waiting.<\/p>\n While employed at the estates of the Grand Duke, girls were able to gain an education, just as in the rest of Europe. \u201cWe know of instances when noblewomen tried to install their daughters in Grand Duchess Elena\u2019s household. That was an honored position, and from the court spread fashions in clothing, etiquette, table manners and so forth,\u201d explained Karpavi- \u010dien\u0117. \u201cWe have concrete information about efforts made by Barbora Radvilait\u0117 and other female rulers to find fitting and appropriate marriage prospects for their prot\u00e9g\u00e9s. While today this may sound like a movie script, it was true. This was just another example of the active Lithuanian palace women.\u201d<\/p>\n Karpavi\u010dien\u0117 said that women could participate in political life informally\u2014through personal contacts and patronage. \u201cThat was inherent in all of Europe. For example, there are written sources showing Queen Morta\u2019s activities and her influence on her husband, King Mindaugas. One of these sources tells us that Mindaugas\u2019s nephew Treniota, the ruler of \u017demaitija (Samogitia), in order to obtain benevolence from the king, tried to hide his treacherous plans from Queen Morta, who he knew had great influence on her husband. Historians refer to this type as a \u2018persuasive woman,\u2019 noting that in Lithuanian history there had been more than a few,\u201d stressed Karpavi\u010dien\u0117. (As we know from history, Treniota conspired with Daumantas, the Duke of Nal\u0161ia, in the assassination of Mindaugas and his two sons in 1263.)<\/p>\n Widows\u2014An Exception<\/strong><\/p>\n In theory, women did not have rights for direct participation in political life, or in ruling the state, or membership in the Seimas (Parliament).<\/p>\n Karpavi\u010dien\u0117 stressed that from this point of view, we were not different from the rest of Europe. \u201cBut in the case of Lithuania, we have a rare exception. Written sources show that in the sixteenth century, regulations governing warfare were prepared by the Pon\u0173 Taryba (Council of Lords). These regulations were ratified by the Seimas in Vilnius, which included dukes, lords, petty nobility and their widows. That should not be surprising, since female nobility ruled their own domains, and depending on the holdings\u2019 size, they had to provide a specific number of mounted troops. For example, the active Ona Radvilait\u0117- Ki\u0161kien\u0117, one of the wealthiest women of the sixteenth century, provided up to 400 riders and 150 infantry. As a practical matter, the owner of so large a domain would necessarily be a subject of political relations,\u201d commented Karpavi- Cien\u0117.<\/p>\n Though women\u2019s activities cannot be denied, in Vilnius or Kaunas there were no women carrying on the work of b\u00fcrgermeisters, assessors, or city council heads (burmistras, tar\u0117jas, vaitas). Such was not allowed, even unimaginable. \u201cBut women married to a city\u2019s officers are always mentioned in sources, in consideration of their spouse\u2019s status, as burmistrien\u0117, ta-r\u0117jien\u0117, vaitien\u0117,\u201d noted Karpavi\u010dien\u0117. \u201cScholars stress that a woman\u2019s status in the society of those times was defined by two things\u2014gender and her father\u2019s or husband\u2019s social status.\u201d<\/p>\n Karpavi\u010dien\u0117 said she has discovered some interesting facts. \u201cIf a woman was assaulted, and the decision of a court had to be grounded on the severity or nature of her hurts, the victim was sent to the vaitien\u0117 or burmistrien\u0117, so that she could inspect the wounds, which might not be appropriate for a man to see. The city officer\u2019s wife\u2019s findings were put into writing and sent to the judges.\u201d<\/p>\n Cloakroom Politics<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIf the ruling couple was joined by ties of love, she could undoubtedly influence her husband\u201d, said Karpavi\u010dien\u0117. \u201cIt is well-known that Barbora Radvilait\u0117 and Ona Vytautien\u0117 had such an effect on their spouses. For example, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order sent a letter to Ona, thanking her for her help in a matter beneficial to the Order.<\/p>\n Barbora Radvilait\u0117\u2019s correspondence with her brother, Mikalojus Radvila \u2018the Red,\u2019 contains hints and guidance on how to approach her husband in order to obtain a favorable decision. Things that, to us, appear to be \u2018cloakroom\u2019 or \u2018lobby\u2019 politics, were also a part of political culture in those days. Through such informal ties, women also became active individuals. It is obvious that they dedicated a good deal of time to it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY J\u016aRAT\u0116 MI\u010cIULIEN\u0116 Historian Jolanta Karpavi\u010dien\u0117 states that women surrounding Lithuania\u2019s rulers, from the time of Mindaugas, lived a more active public life than Slavic princesses shut up in their ivory towers.— JOLANTA KARPAVI\u010cIEN\u0116, Assistant director of the National Museum Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius, said that historical sources, as well …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,64],"tags":[78,191,170],"class_list":["post-3816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-history-before-1900","category-politics","tag-lith-heritage","tag-mieiuliene-j","tag-obrien-g"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Queen](\"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/2011-09-15-LHERITAGE-3-300x224.jpg\")
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