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183-600: Vilnius University ( Lithuanian : Vilniaus universitetas ) is a public research university , which is the first and largest university in Lithuania , as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, it is Lithuania's leading research institution. The university was founded in 1579 as the Jesuit Academy (College) of Vilnius by Stephen Báthory . It

366-507: A Jesuit institution, it was one of 23 such universities in Europe during the 16th to 18th centuries. However, in terms of its geographic and cultural reach, Vilnius University was unique. For two centuries, it stood as the easternmost university in Europe. In 1569, Jesuit Baltasarus Hostovinus, after visiting Lithuania, remarked, "No city in the North rivals Vilnius in reputation and livability. It

549-553: A Latin formula gente Lithuanus, natione Polonus ( Lithuanian by birth, Polish by nationality ) was common in Lithuania Proper and the former Samogitian Eldership . With Polish culture developing into one of the primary centers of resistance to the Russian Empire, Polonization in some regions actually strengthened in response to official policies of Russification . An even larger percentage of Lithuanian nobility

732-493: A Lithuanian peasant. — Antoine Meillet Among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian is conservative in its grammar and phonology, retaining archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit (particularly its early form, Vedic Sanskrit ) or Ancient Greek . Thus, it is an important source for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation (with

915-652: A Proto-Balto-Slavic stage, from which the Baltic languages retain exclusive and non-exclusive lexical, morphological, phonological and accentual isoglosses in common with the Slavic languages , which represent their closest living Indo-European relatives. Moreover, with Lithuanian being so archaic in phonology, Slavic words can often be deduced from Lithuanian by regular sound laws ; for example, Lith. vilkas and Polish wilk ← PBSl. *wilkás (cf. PSl. *vьlkъ ) ← PIE *wĺ̥kʷos , all meaning " wolf ". Initially, Lithuanian

1098-711: A key figure in the Lithuanian movement, was the first to write Lithuania's history in the Lithuanian language. After the Partitions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Vilnius was annexed by the Russian Empire . However, the Commission of National Education retained control over the academy until 1803, when Tsar Alexander I of Russia accepted the new statute and renamed it The Imperial University of Vilna (Императорскій Виленскій Университетъ). The institution

1281-484: A member by virtue of holding the relevant office. Possession of the princely title gave the right to participate in wider councils, called Sejm ( сеймь , сoймь ) a term borrowed from Polish. Their position grew especially during the period when the Grand Duke was also King of Poland and was away from the country for long periods. Crucial to this was the privilege of 1492, which gave the council enormous influence over

1464-551: A member of a network of prestigious universities–the Coimbra Group –and since 2019, it has belonged to the European University Alliance (ARQUS).The alliance aims to create joint, long-term, sustainable structures and mechanisms for close inter-institutional cooperation in the fields of studies, science and social partnerships. The Vilnius University Foundation was established on 6 April 2016, becoming

1647-591: A new university, named Vilniaus universitetas, was created. Its faculty came from the Kaunas University . The new charter specified that Vilnius University was to be governed according to the statute of the Vytautas Magnus University of Kaunas , and that Lithuanian language programs and faculties would be established. Lithuanian was named as the official language of the university. A new academic term started on 22 January; only 13 of

1830-612: A printing house for the academy, one of the first in the region. The printing house issued books in Latin and Polish and the first surviving book in Lithuanian printed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in 1595. It was Kathechismas, arba Mokslas kiekvienam krikščioniui privalus authored by Mikalojus Daukša . From its inception, Vilnius University held the authority to award Bachelor's , Master's , and Doctoral degrees. As

2013-516: A result of a decrease in the usage of spoken Lithuanian in the eastern part of Lithuania proper, in the 19th century, it was suggested to create a standardized Lithuanian based on the Samogitian dialect. Nevertheless, it was not accomplished because everyone offered their Samogitian subdialects and the Eastern and Western Aukštaitians offered their Aukštaitian subdialects. In the second half of

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2196-500: A second language. Lithuanian is closely related to neighbouring Latvian , though the two languages are not mutually intelligible. It is written in a Latin script . In some respects, some linguists consider it to be the most conservative of the existing Indo-European languages , retaining features of the Proto-Indo-European language that had disappeared through development from other descendant languages . Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to

2379-627: A single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century and perhaps as late as the 17th century. The German Livonian Brothers of the Sword occupied the western part of the Daugava basin, which resulted in colonization of the territory of modern Latvia (at the time it was called Terra Mariana ) by Germans and had a significant influence on the language's independent development due to Germanisation (see also: Baltic Germans and Baltic German nobility ). There

2562-592: A single sound, the velar fricative [ x ] , while dz and dž are pronounced like straightforward combinations of their component letters (sounds): Dz dz [ dz ] (dzė), Dž dž [ dʒ ] (džė), Ch ch [ x ] (cha). The distinctive Lithuanian letter Ė was used for the first time in the Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica and firmly established itself in Lithuanian since then. However, linguist August Schleicher used Ë (with two points above it) instead of Ė for expressing

2745-556: A unique Vilnius Baroque style. In the late 18th century, Vilnius University underwent significant reorganization. This led to the foundation of the first observatory in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (the fourth such professional facility in Europe), in 1753, by Tomasz Żebrowski . The Commission of National Education ( Polish : Komisja Edukacji Narodowej ), the world's first ministry of education, took control of

2928-404: Is a co-founder of two biotech and biomedical companies. The first one, Platelet BioGenesis, is an allogeneic cell therapy company focused on platelet biology, discovering a new category in therapeutics. He has also co-founded a start-up: the biotechnology company Droplet Genomics. The company’ is based on droplet microfluidic technology, enabling the study of single cells and molecules. One year ago,

3111-878: Is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lord's Prayer , the Hail Mary , and the Nicene Creed written in the Southern Aukštaitian dialect. On 8 January 1547 the first Lithuanian book was printed – the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas . At the royal courts in Vilnius of Sigismund II Augustus , the last Grand Duke of Lithuania prior to the Union of Lublin , both Polish and Lithuanian were spoken equally widely. In 1552 Sigismund II Augustus ordered that orders of

3294-442: Is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody. The alleged (or certain, as certain as historical linguistics can be) similarities due to contact are seen in such phenomena as the existence of definite adjectives formed by the addition of an inflected pronoun (descended from the same Proto-Indo-European pronoun), which exist in both Baltic and Slavic yet nowhere else in

3477-607: Is composed of fifteen academic faculties that offer more than 200 study programmes in a wide range of academic disciplines for over 24 000 students. Vilnius University is known for its strong community ties, interaction and participation in additional activities offered by the non-academic departments of the University, such as the Cultural Centre, Health and Sports Centre, Library , Museum, Botanical Gardens , and other institutions. Since 2016, Vilnius University has been

3660-498: Is divided into West, North and South; Aukštaitian into West (Suvalkiečiai), South ( Dzūkian ) and East. Lithuanian uses the Latin script supplemented with diacritics . It has 32 letters . In the collation order, y follows immediately after į (called i nosinė ), because both y and į represent the same long vowel [ iː ] : In addition, the following digraphs are used, but are treated as sequences of two letters for collation purposes. The digraph ch represents

3843-547: Is firmly located in the East. In the Second Polish Republic , Lithuanians lived mainly in the counties on the border with Lithuania: Święciany , Vilnius - Trakai and Suwałki , and almost all of them were rural people engaged in agriculture . At the beginning of the 20th century, descendants of former noble Lithuanians were most likely to call themselves Poles. Only a part of the nobility, openly referring to

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4026-637: Is known that Jogaila , being ethnic Lithuanian by the male-line , himself knew and spoke Lithuanian with Vytautas the Great , his cousin from the Gediminids dynasty. During the Christianization of Samogitia none of the clergy, who arrived to Samogitia with Jogaila, were able to communicate with the natives, therefore Jogaila himself taught the Samogitians about Catholicism ; thus he

4209-498: Is largely phonemic, i.e., one letter usually corresponds to a single phoneme (sound). There are a few exceptions: for example, the letter i represents either the vowel [ ɪ ] , as in English sit , or is silent and merely indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized . The latter is largely the case when i occurs after a consonant and is followed by a back or a central vowel , except in some borrowed words (e.g.,

4392-764: Is recognized for his contributions to the development of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, often referred to as 'gene scissors'. He currently serves as the Head of the Department of Protein–DNA Interactions at the Institute of Biotechnology, Vilnius University. Prof. Andrej Spiridonov is famous for the discovery of drivers of evolutionary changes at mega-scale. His latest research suggests that life rather than climate influences diversity at scales greater than 40 million years. Dr. Mangirdas Malinauskas has been working in laser and optical technologies for more than ten years. At

4575-455: Is strategically located near Moscow, the Tatars, and Sweden, and is unmatched in its educational offerings, lacking any nearby universities or prominent schools with qualified Doctors or Masters to instruct." The academy's growth continued until the 17th century. The Deluge era that followed led to a dramatic drop in the number of students who matriculated and in the quality of its programs. In

4758-708: Is the world's largest survey of the state of entrepreneurship, conducted since 1999. Vilnius University participates in different national and international research projects such as the EU Seventh Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, COST, EUREKA, CERN, etc. To enhance the interrelation between science and business, Vilnius University has established four open access centres aimed at providing access to available research and laboratory equipment not only to students and researchers but also to representatives of business or to personnel of other institutions of science and research. Professor Virginijus Šikšnys

4941-932: The Astronomical Observatory , established the Botanical Garden , collected various plant and mineral samples, and organized the first expedition to search for natural resources in Lithuania. Even after the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was abolished in 1795, Vilnius University continued its vibrant intellectual life and promoted new ideas in the Natural Sciences. The university also produced renowned poets like Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki , who became leading figures in Polish culture. Simonas Daukantas ,

5124-600: The Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family . It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of the official languages of the European Union . There are approximately 2.8 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 1 million speakers elsewhere. Around half a million inhabitants of Lithuania of non-Lithuanian background speak Lithuanian daily as

5307-708: The Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae singled out that the Lithuanians of the Vilnius Region ( Latin : in tractu Vilnensi ) tend to speak harshly, almost like Austrians , Bavarians and others speak German in Germany . Due to the historical circumstances of Lithuania , Lithuanian-speaking territory was divided into Lithuania proper and Lithuania Minor , therefore, in the 16th–17th centuries, three regional variants of

5490-764: The Galindai ( Γαλίνδαι ) and Sudinoi ( Σουδινοί ), in the 2nd century AD. Lithuanian originated from the Eastern Baltic subgroup and remained nearly unchanged until c.   1 AD, however in c.   500 AD the language of the northern part of Eastern Balts was influenced by the Finnic languages , which fueled the development of changes from the language of the Southern Balts (see: Latgalian , which developed into Latvian , and extinct Curonian , Semigallian , and Selonian ). The language of Southern Balts

5673-523: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1/3 residents in Lithuania proper and up to 1/2 residents in Samogitia ) and 53% of residents in Lithuania Minor (more than 90% of the deceased were Prussian Lithuanians ). Since the 19th century to 1925 the amount of Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania Minor (excluding Klaipėda Region ) decreased from 139,000 to 8,000 due to Germanisation and colonization . As

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5856-811: The January Uprising , Mikhail Muravyov , the Russian Governor General of Lithuania , banned the language in education and publishing and barred use of the Latin alphabet altogether, although books continued to be printed in Lithuanian across the border in East Prussia and in the United States . Brought into the country by book smugglers (Lithuanian: knygnešiai ) despite the threat of long prison sentences, they helped fuel growing nationalist sentiment that finally led to

6039-469: The January Uprising , imperial officials announced that "Lithuanians are Russians seduced by Poles and Catholicism" and banned press in the Lithuanian language and started the Program of Restoration of Russian Beginnings . Over the course of time, the Lithuanian nobility increasingly developed a sense of belonging to the Polish nation. During the 19th century, a self-designation, often represented using

6222-434: The Lithuanian language was just a morphed Latin language. By that time, the upper nobility and the ducal court already used Polish as their first language. The last Grand Duke known to have spoken Lithuanian was Casimir IV Jagiellon (1440-1492). In 1595 Mikalojus Daukša addressed Lithuanian nobility calling for the Lithuanian language to play a more important role in state life. The usage of Lithuanian declined, and

6405-529: The Lithuanian nobility to participate in the social-political life of the state. In 1599, Mikalojus Daukša published his Postil and in its prefaces he expressed that the Lithuanian language situation had improved and thanked bishop Merkelis Giedraitis for his works. In 1776–1790 about 1,000 copies of the first Catholic primer in Lithuanian – Mokslas skaitymo rašto lietuviško – were issued annually, and it continued to be published until 1864. Over 15,000 copies appeared in total. In 1864, following

6588-588: The Magistrate of Vilnius be announced in Lithuanian, Polish, and Ruthenian. The same requirement was valid for the Magistrate of Kaunas . In the 16th century, following the decline of Ruthenian usage in favor of Polish in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian language strengthened its positions in Lithuania due to reforms in religious matters and judicial reforms which allowed lower levels of

6771-633: The Russian and Ukrainian territory. Hydronyms and archaeology analysis show that the Slavs started migrating to the Baltic areas east and north-east directions in the 6–7th centuries, before then, the Baltic and Slavic boundary was south of the Pripyat River . In the 1960s, Vladimir Toporov and Vyacheslav Ivanov made the following conclusions about the relationship between the Baltic and Slavic languages: These scholars' theses do not contradict

6954-627: The Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939, the university was briefly administered by the Lithuanian authorities (from October 1939), and then after Soviet annexation of Lithuania (June 1940), punctuated by a period of German occupation after Operation Barbarossa , from 1941 to 1944, when it was administrated as the Vilnius State University. In 1945, the Polish community of students and scholars of Stefan Batory University

7137-768: The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR restored Lithuanian as the official language of Lithuania, under from the popular pro-independence movement Sąjūdis . On 11 March 1990, the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania was passed. Lithuanian was recognized as sole official language of Lithuania in the Provisional Basic Law (Lithuanian: Laikinasis Pagrindinis Įstatymas ) and

7320-612: The Union of Horodło (1413) forty-five Polish families adopted forty-seven Lithuanian Catholic families, lending them their coats of arms. It is assumed that the representatives of Lithuanian nobility gathered in Horodło constituted the elite of that time on which Vytautas based his authority. The adoption of Polish coats of arms, an important marker of nobility with a well-established tradition in Western Europe, elevated this narrow group above other privileged population groups. Despite

7503-413: The United States , Uruguay , and Spain . 2,955,200 people in Lithuania (including 3,460 Tatars ), or about 86% of the 2015 population, are native Lithuanian speakers; most Lithuanian inhabitants of other nationalities also speak Lithuanian to some extent. The total worldwide Lithuanian-speaking population is about 3,200,000. Lithuanian is the state language of Lithuania and an official language of

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7686-597: The comparative method . Lithuanian is spoken mainly in Lithuania . It is also spoken by ethnic Lithuanians living in today's Belarus , Latvia , Poland , and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, as well as by sizable emigrant communities in Argentina , Australia , Brazil , Canada , Denmark , Estonia , France , Germany , Iceland , Ireland , Norway , Russia , Sweden , the United Kingdom ,

7869-692: The industrialization in the Soviet Union ). Russian consequently came into use in state institutions: the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania (there were 80% Russians among the 22,000 Communist Party members in the Lithuanian SSR in 1948), radio and television (61–74% of broadcasts were in Russian in 1970). Lithuanians passively resisted Russification and continued to use their own language. On 18 November 1988,

8052-449: The magnates and later, within the Russian Empire, of princes. Over time, the vast majority of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania voluntarily became Polonized and recognized Polish national thought as a natural continuation of Greater Lithuanian national thought . Despite the term, Lithuanian nobility doesn’t mean the same as the nobility of todays Lithuania , as the terms "Lithuanians" and "Lithuanian" have changed over

8235-467: The 13th–16th centuries under the influence of Curonian . Lithuanian dialects are closely connected with ethnographical regions of Lithuania . Even nowadays Aukštaitians and Samogitians can have considerable difficulties understanding each other if they speak with their dialects and not standard Lithuanian, which is mandatory to learn in the Lithuanian education system. Dialects are divided into subdialects. Both dialects have three subdialects. Samogitian

8418-581: The 18th century, was successful due to many publications and research. In contrast, the development of Lithuanian in Lithuania proper was obstructed due to the Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility , especially in the 18th century, and it was being influenced by the Samogitian dialect. The Lithuanian-speaking population was also dramatically decreased by the Great Northern War plague outbreak in 1700–1721 which killed 49% of residents in

8601-432: The 19th century, when the Lithuanian National Revival intensified, and the preparations to publish a Lithuanian periodical press were taking place, the mostly south-western Aukštaitian revival writers did not use the 19th-century Lithuanian of Lithuania Minor as it was largely Germanized . Instead, they used a more pure Lithuanian language which has been described by August Schleicher and Friedrich Kurschat and this way

8784-567: The 70 study programmes in English in such fields as medicine, odontology, business and management, economics, mathematics and informatics, philology, law, and communications. More than 2500 international students are studying at Vilnius University, which is around 10% of all students. The University also offers joint study programmes together with foreign higher education institutions, like the Arqus joint Master’s programme “European Studies” and  “Master in International Cybersecurity and Cyberintelligence”. During these collaborative studies, part of

8967-478: The BEBRAS challenge in their teaching activities. The challenge is performed at schools using computers or mobile devices. In 1568, the Lithuanian nobility asked the Jesuits to create an institution of higher learning either in Vilnius or Kaunas . The following year Walerian Protasewicz , the bishop of Vilnius , purchased several buildings in the city center and established the Vilnian Academy (Almae Academia et Universitas Vilnensis Societatis Jesu). Initially,

9150-401: The Baltic and Slavic languages closeness and from a historical perspective, specify the Baltic-Slavic languages' evolution. So, there are at least six points of view on the relationships between the Baltic and Slavic. However, as for the hypotheses related to the "Balto-Slavic problem", it is noted that they are more focused on personal theoretical constructions and deviate to some extent from

9333-403: The Baltic languages form their own distinct branch of the family of Indo-European languages , and Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact. There is also an opinion that suggests the union of Baltic and Slavic languages into a distinct sub-family of Balto-Slavic languages amongst the Indo-European family of languages. Such an opinion

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9516-404: The Business School and the Life Sciences Centre that started operating in 2016 with laboratories. The faculties and research institutes of Vilnius University are scattered all over Vilnius, with one faculty in Kaunas, and one in Šiauliai. In the central part of Vilnius, where the historical buildings of the University are located, there are faculties of Philology, History, and Philosophy. Part of

9699-484: The Catholic Church had a Polish character, it became an element integrating both the conscious classes and the popular masses, who began to identify with Polishness through their religion. The January Uprising of 1863-1864 and the wave of post-uprising repressions were a great shock for the people of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, under the influence of painful experiences, the sense of community between Lithuanianness and Polishness became even stronger, and

9882-457: The Catholic faith were adopted by Polish noble families and received Polish coats of arms . With the Union of Lublin , nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the nobility of the Kingdom of Poland became a common entity of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , which had one of the largest percentages of nobility in Europe, with szlachta constituting close to 10% of the population, but in some constituent regions, like Duchy of Samogitia, it

10065-400: The Coimbra Group, a network of prestigious European universities. Also in 2016, Vilnius University started the Recovering Memory project. The University recognises its responsibility to remember and evaluate the past, especially the tragic events that took place in the pre-war and post-war Lithuania, particularly at Vilnius University. The aim of the project is to commemorate and pay respect to

10248-462: The Constitution of 1992, written during the Lithuanian constitutional referendum . Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages , along with Latvian , and they constitute the eastern branch of Baltic languages family. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian , was extinct by the 18th century; the other Western Baltic languages, Curonian and Sudovian , became extinct earlier. Some theories, such as that of Jānis Endzelīns , considered that

10431-487: The European Union . In the Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae , published in 1673, three dialects of Lithuanian are distinguished: Samogitian dialect ( Latin : Samogitiae ) of Samogitia , Royal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Regalis ) and Ducal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Ducalis ). Ducal Lithuanian is described as pure ( Latin : Pura ), half-Samogitian ( Latin : SemiSamogitizans ) and having elements of Curonian ( Latin : Curonizans ). Authors of

10614-422: The European languages of the participants in the Council of Constance in 1414–1418. From the middle of the 15th century, the legend spread about the Roman origin of the Lithuanian nobility (from the Palemon lineage ), and the closeness of the Lithuanian language and Latin, thus this let some intellectuals in the mid-16th century to advocate for replacement of Ruthenian with Latin, as they considered Latin as

10797-509: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and safeguarded its sovereignty vis-à-vis the Kingdom of Poland. Gradually Polonization spread to a broader population, and for the most part, the Lithuanian nobility became part of both nations’ szlachta . The middle nobility adopted the Polish language in the 17th century, while the minor rural nobles remained bilingual up to the period when the question of language related-nationality appeared. The Lithuanian nobles did preserve their national awareness as members of

10980-453: The Grand Duchy, and in most cases recognition of their Lithuanian family roots; their leaders would continue to represent the interests of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the General sejm and in the royal court . Lithuanian language was used during Kościuszko Uprising in the proclamations calling to rise up For our freedom and yours . And Lithuanian nobles did rise to fight for the independence of their nation. In Lithuania proper ,

11163-420: The Holshansky played a significant role on the side of the grand dukes, starting from Jogaila and Vytautas, being in the strict power elite. Apart from them, these were the families descended from Gediminas family: Olelkovich , Belsky , Kobryński and Zasławski. The princes of ethnically Ruthenian origin were excluded from the strict power elite and found their place in it only at the end of the 15th century. Then

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11346-498: The Indo-European family (languages such as Albanian and the Germanic languages developed definite adjectives independently), and that is not reconstructible for Proto-Balto-Slavic, meaning that they most probably developed through language contact. The Baltic hydronyms area stretches from the Vistula River in the west to the east of Moscow and from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south of Kyiv . Vladimir Toporov and Oleg Trubachyov (1961, 1962) studied Baltic hydronyms in

11529-421: The Laser Research Centre, Dr. M. Malinauskas develops technologies popularly known as ‘4D printing’. Such technologies can produce so-called intelligent objects that can change shape and other properties in response to appropriate conditions: electricity, light, heat, humidity, acidity, solvent composition, etc. Dr. Linas Mažutis is developing microfluidic technologies at Vilnius University Life Sciences Centre. He

11712-653: The Lithuanian University in Kaunas , established on February 16, 1922. A few years later, it was renamed Vytautas Magnus University . The university quickly recovered and gained international prestige, largely because of the presence of notable scientists such as Władysław Tatarkiewicz , Marian Zdziechowski , and Henryk Niewodniczański . Among the students of the university at that time was future Nobel prize winner Czesław Miłosz . The university grew quickly, thanks to government grants and private donations. Its library contained 600,000 volumes, including historic and cartographic items which are still in its possession. Although

11895-755: The Lithuanian language, subsequent to the partitions of the Commonwealth left most of the former Grand Duchy under control of the Russian Empire . The situation worsened during the years of tsar Nicholas I of Russia 's rule. After the November uprising imperial officials wanted to minimize the social base for another potential uprising and thus decided to reduce the noble class. During the period 1833–1860, 25,692 people in Vilna Governorate and 17,032 people in Kovno Governorate lost their noble status. They could not prove their status with monarchs' privileges or land ownership. They did not lose personal freedom, but were assigned as one steaders Russian : однодворцы in rural areas and as citizens in towns. In view of

12078-403: The Lithuanian nobility during the interbellum and after World War II emigrated to Poland, many were deported to Siberia during the years 1945–53 of Soviet occupation, many manors were destroyed. The Association of Lithuanian Nobility was established in 1994. Lithuanian and Samogitian families possessed heraldry predating formal Christianization. The most archaic type of post-1413 heraldry has

12261-613: The Lithuanian nobility gather in their ranks representatives of the minor nobility, most often descending from their families on the distaff side . Prior to the baptism by Mindaugas , lesser members of the nobility were called bajorai (singular - bajoras ) and greater nobles, kunigai (singular - kunigas ), related to the Old German : kunig , meaning "king", or Lithuanian : kunigaikštis , usually translated as duke , Latin : dux . These positions evolved from tribal leaders and were chiefly responsible for waging wars and organizing raids operations into enemy territories. Following

12444-409: The Medical and Surgical Academy ( Akademia Medyko-Chirurgiczna ) and the Roman Catholic Academy ( Rzymsko-Katolicka Akademia Duchowna ). But soon they were closed as well with Medical and Surgical Academy transformed into Medical faculty of University of Kyiv (now Bogomolets National Medical University ), and latter one being transformed into Saint Petersburg Roman Catholic Theological Academy (after

12627-425: The October Revolution of 1917 moved to Poland where it became Catholic University of Lublin ). The repression that followed the failed uprising included banning the Polish and Lithuanian languages ; all education in those languages was halted. The first attempts to reestablish scientific institution in Vilnius were made after the 1905 revolution ; on 22 October 1906 the Society of Friends of Science in Wilno (TPN)

12810-436: The Polish Ł for the first sound and regular L (without a following i) for the second: łupa , lutas . During the Lithuanian National Revival in the 19th century the Polish Ł was abolished, while digraphs sz , cz (that are also common in the Polish orthography ) were replaced with š and č from the Czech orthography because formally they were shorter. Nevertheless, another argument to abolish sz and cz

12993-406: The Polish courtiers. Casimir IV Jagiellon's son Saint Casimir , who was subsequently announced as patron saint of Lithuania, was a polyglot and among other languages knew Lithuanian. Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon also could understand and speak Lithuanian as multiple Lithuanian priests served in his royal chapel and he also maintained a Lithuanian court. In 1501, Erazm Ciołek , a priest of

13176-514: The Polish dialect in the Vilnius Region and in the northeastern areas in general are very interesting variant of the Polish language as this dialect developed in a foreign territory which was mostly inhabited by the Lithuanians who were Belarusized (mostly) or Polonized, and to prove this Otrębski provided examples of Lithuanianisms in the Tutejszy language . In 2015, Polish linguist Mirosław Jankowiak  [ pl ] attested that many of

13359-466: The Polish language became the predominant administrative language in the 16th century, eventually replacing Ruthenian as the official language of the Grand Duchy in 1697. Nonetheless, spoken Lithuanian was still common in the Grand Duchy courts during the 17th century. At first, only Lithuanian magnate families were affected by Polonization, although many of them like the Radziwiłłs remained loyal to

13542-519: The Polish language, including the Radziwiłł , Czartoryski , Tyszkiewicz , Sanguszko , Sapieha , Giedroyć , Piłsudski , Puzyna , Woroniecki and Romer families. The president of the Genealogical and Heraldic Society of Lithuania , Czesław Malewski, commented that currently there are no famous families left in Lithuania, and the functioning and competing associations of

13725-419: The Polish nobility . The process accelerated after the Union of Lublin (1569), resulting in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Lithuanian nobility polonised , replacing Lithuanian and Ruthenian languages with Polish although the process took centuries. In the 16th century, a newly established theory amongst Lithuanian nobility was popular, claiming that Lithuanian nobility was of Roman extraction, and

13908-643: The Polish title "książę", which in Ruthenian texts was translated as "knyazhe". As a result, the poorer prince families that still used the title of knyaz fell completely into insignificance, and the Lithuanian magnate elite consisted of "princes and lords" ( Polish : "książąt i panów" ). Following his distribution of state land, the Grand Duke became dependent on powerful landowners, who began demanding greater liberties and privileges. The nobles were granted administrative and judicial power in their domains and increasing rights in state politics. The legal status of

14091-602: The Polonization of the nobility, gentry and townspeople was practically complete by the early 19th century, relegating the Lithuanian language to the status of a peasant's tongue. The processes of Polonization and russification were partially reversed with the Lithuanian National Revival . Despite origins from mostly the non-noble classes, a number of nobles re-embraced their Lithuanian roots. The lesser Lithuanian nobility, still partially preserving

14274-593: The Society of Jesus). The first rector of the academy was Piotr Skarga . He invited many scientists from various parts of Europe and expanded the library, with the sponsorship of many notable persons: Sigismund II Augustus , Bishop Walerian Protasewicz , and Kazimierz Lew Sapieha . Lithuanians at the time comprised about one third of the students (in 1586 there were circa 700 students), others were Germans , Poles , Swedes , and even Hungarians . In 1575, Duke Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł and Elżbieta Ogińska sponsored

14457-564: The Universities of Granada, Graz, Leipzig, Lyon 1, Maynooth, Minho, Padua, Vilnius and Wroclaw. Vilnius University has 15 faculties, with one located in Kaunas and one in Šiauliai. The magnificent historical campus in the old town hosts the faculties of History, Philology and Philosophy, and the library that was founded in 1570. The modern campus on Saulėtekio Avenue houses the faculties of Economics, Physics, Communications and Law, as well as

14640-567: The University community suffered some major upheavals during the Nazi occupation. On the order of the Nazi occupying authorities, all Jewish teachers and later all Polish and Jewish students were expelled from the University. Nearly all the Jewish members of the University community subsequently became victims of the Holocaust. In the summer of 1944, a few dozen former University lecturers retreated to

14823-428: The University community. However, separate cases of political persecution still occurred. One of the best-known cases was that instituted against the Department of Lithuanian Literature that lasted from 1958 to 1961, after which four teachers from the Department were forced to leave the University. The 1960s could be considered as a prominent threshold in the historical development of Vilnius University. During that period,

15006-569: The University of Stefan Batory, of who nine perished: Professors Stanisław Cywinski, Władysław Marian Jakowicki , Jan Kempisty, Józef Marcinkiewicz , Tadeusz Kolaczyński, Piotr Oficjalski, Włodzimierz Godłowski , Konstanty Pietkiewicz, and Konstanty Sokol-Sokolowski, the last five victims of the Katyn massacre . The city was occupied by Germany in 1941, and all institutions of higher education for Poles were closed. From 1940 until September 1944, under Lithuanian professor and activist Mykolas Biržiška ,

15189-626: The University of Vilnius on January 1, 1919, were disrupted when the Red Army of Soviet Russia occupied Vilnius. In April 1919, the Polish Army took control of the city and removed Soviet structures. Józef Piłsudski then authorized the opening of Stephan Bathory University (SBU) on August 28, 1919. Lithuanian scholars retreated to Kaunas from the occupied Vilnius. They organized the Higher Courses of Studies, which later evolved into

15372-689: The University of Vilnius was open for Lithuanian students under the supervision of the German occupation authorities. In 1944, many of Polish students took part in Operation Ostra Brama . The majority of them were later arrested by the NKVD and suffered repressions from their participation in the Armia Krajowa resistance. The sovietisation of Vilnius University, which started in the summer of 1940, continued after World War II. Furthermore,

15555-522: The University was finally converted into a typical higher education institution, where priority was given to a specialised and simultaneously ideologised technocratic education rather than to the development of a full-fledged personality. On 12 June 1990, the Supreme Council of Lithuania-Restoration Seimas approved the Statute of Vilnius University, declaring the autonomy of the University, which

15738-818: The Vilnius Cathedral, explained to the Pope that the Lithuanians preserve their language and ensure respect to it ( Linguam propriam observant ), but they also use the Ruthenian language for simplicity reasons because it is spoken by almost half of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A note written by Sigismund von Herberstein in the first half of the 16th century states that, in an ocean of Ruthenian in this part of Europe, there were two non-Ruthenian regions: Lithuania and Samogitia where its inhabitants spoke their own language, but many Ruthenians were also living among them. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text

15921-511: The Vilnius Region's inhabitants who declare Polish nationality speak a Belarusian dialect which they call mowa prosta (' simple speech '). Currently, Lithuanian is divided into two dialects: Aukštaitian (Highland Lithuanian), and Samogitian (Lowland Lithuanian). There are significant differences between standard Lithuanian and Samogitian and these are often described as separate languages. The modern Samogitian dialect formed in

16104-464: The Vilnius Region, especially when Vilnius Voivode Ludwik Bociański issued a secret memorandum of 11 February 1936 which stated the measures for suppressing the Lithuanians in the region. Some Lithuanian historians, like Antanas Tyla  [ lt ] and Ereminas Gintautas, consider these Polish policies as amounting to an " ethnocide of Lithuanians". Between 1862 and 1944, the Lithuanian schools were completely banned in Lithuania Minor and

16287-653: The West, in fear of possible repression by the Soviet Regime. The arrests of lecturers started at the beginning of 1945 and continued until Stalin’s death. Even more professors were dismissed on political grounds. Educated Poles were transferred to People's Republic of Poland after World War II under the guidance of State Repatriation Office . As the result, many former students and professors of Stefan Batory joined universities in Poland. To keep in contact with each other,

16470-634: The William Herschel Telescope); and the Biobanks and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI-ERIC). The Semiconductor Technology Centre (PTC) and the Innovative Chemistry (INOCHEM) Centre are currently being developed. In addition to these research infrastructures, the University is actively involved in other research networks, associations and continuous research activities. The EMBL Partnership Institute

16653-426: The academy had three divisions: humanities , philosophy , and theology . The curriculum at the college and later at the academy was taught in Latin . The first students were enrolled into the academy in 1570. A library at the college was established in the same year, and Sigismund II Augustus donated 2500 books to the new college. In its first year of existence the college enrolled 160 students. Vilnius University

16836-511: The academy in 1773, and transformed it into a modern University . The language of instruction (as everywhere in the commonwealth's higher education institutions) changed from Latin to Polish . On 3 May 1791, a new generation educated under this curriculum approved the Constitution of Lithuania and Poland , the second written constitution after that of the USA. University professors improved

17019-435: The acquirement of a foreign speech." Lithuanian was studied by several linguists such as Franz Bopp , August Schleicher , Adalbert Bezzenberger , Louis Hjelmslev , Ferdinand de Saussure , Winfred P. Lehmann and Vladimir Toporov , Jan Safarewicz, and others. By studying place names of Lithuanian origin, linguist Jan Safarewicz  [ pl ] concluded that the eastern boundaries of Lithuanian used to be in

17202-415: The ages". Another opportunity to prove nobility were the military musterings, the first one organised in 1528, where a register of those capable to fight was prepared. A listing in such a register was legal proof of nobility. Initially, a group distinguished by prestige were the princely families, which members bore the title of knyaz . These were mostly, at least according to tradition, the descendants of

17385-562: The belief in the identity of both elements became almost a patriotic axiom. Additionally, in the second half of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, the process of linguistic Polonization of the rural population accelerated rapidly, especially in the Vilnius region . In the consciousness of the general Polish society at that time, the multi-ethnic heritage of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

17568-439: The central administration and rector‘s office is also located here. The Institute of International Relations and Political Science and the Department of Organizational Information and Communication Research of Communications faculty are also located in the city centre. Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( endonym : lietuvių kalba , pronounced [lʲiəˈtʊvʲuː kɐɫˈbɐ] ) is an East Baltic language belonging to

17751-564: The centuries . As cultural homogenization and linguistic Polonization of the nobility progressed, the concept of Lithuanian began to mean simply regional difference within the uniform political nation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . The main Polonizing factors, as in other areas of the First Republic of Poland , were the church , the manor and the city , where the lower social classes adopted and thereby took over

17934-658: The common language emerged. Lithuanians in Lithuania Minor spoke Western Aukštaitian dialect with specifics of Įsrutis and Ragainė environs (e.g. works of Martynas Mažvydas , Jonas Bretkūnas , Jonas Rėza , and Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica ). The other two regional variants of the common language were formed in Lithuania proper: middle, which was based on the specifics of the Duchy of Samogitia (e.g. works of Mikalojus Daukša , Merkelis Petkevičius , Steponas Jaugelis‑Telega , Samuelis Boguslavas Chylinskis , and Mikołaj Rej 's Lithuanian postil ), and eastern, based on

18117-463: The company attracted an investment of €1 million. In 2004, Prof. Valentina Dagienė has established an International Challenge on Informatics and Computational Thinking called BEBRAS (‘Beaver’) which is implemented in over 60 countries. It is an international initiative aiming to promote informatics (Computer Science, or Computing) and computational thinking among school students at all ages. Participants are usually supervised by teachers who may integrate

18300-501: The course of the 15th century, it changed its meaning to refer to the masses of ordinary nobility who could stand up to fight when called upon. There were also social groups that were personally free but had no military commitments. Such a group were, for example, putnie boyars, who served as grand-ducal envoys and were in charge of road maintenance. A significant group of boyars were service boyars who did not own allodial land, but only service estates, which they received and owned only by

18483-655: The course of wars in the 15th and 16th centuries. Some families became extinct, and with the restriction of the circle of inheritance, their estates were incorporated into the grand-ducal domain. In 1499 Alexander regulated the legal system of the few remaining appanages, the magnates ruling them were given the full ius ducale . This was of little political significance since the princes as a political class were of little importance. Regarding Lithuania proper, not counting descendants of Gediminas seven princely families are known: Borowski , Dowgowd, Giedraitis/ Giedrojć , Jamontowicz, Holshansky , Sudemund, Świrski . They also used

18666-488: The cultural patterns of the higher classes. Already in 1576, seven years after the conclusion of the Union of Lublin , Augustyn Rotundus , a historiographer of Greater Lithuania at that time, wrote that the Lithuanian language previously used by some citizens of Grand Duchy of Lithuania was used by peasants , while the nobility widely adopted Polish . However, it should be mentioned that this process took place without orders or prohibitions, without coercion, mainly under

18849-460: The dynasties who accepted the authority of Gediminids. However, only those who owned land in Lithuania proper, who were of Lithuanian origin and who had accepted Catholicism in 1386, had any influence on central state policy. The Ruthenian princes had influence only on the local situation in their lands. They varied considerably in terms of wealth and importance, some of them wielding huge estates, while others possessed their land on service tenure from

19032-509: The earliest texts dating only to c.  1500 AD , whereas Ancient Greek was first written down about three thousand years earlier in c.   1450 BC). According to hydronyms of Baltic origin, the Baltic languages were spoken in a large area east of the Baltic Sea , and in c.   1000 BC it had two linguistic units: western and eastern. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name,

19215-544: The eastern Prussian Lithuanians ' dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor . These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian , while other dialects had experienced different phonetic shifts . Lithuanian became the official language of the country following the restoration of Lithuania's statehood in 1918. The 1922 Constitution of Lithuania (the first permanent Lithuanian constitution ) recognized it as

19398-610: The establishment of a unified state, they gradually became subordinates to greater Dukes, and later to the King of Lithuania . After Mindaugas' death, all Lithuanian rulers held the title Grand Duke ( Lithuanian : Didysis kunigaikštis ), or king , which was the title sometimes used by Gediminas and several others. Ethnic Lithuanian nobility had different names than common people, as their names consisted of two stems . Greater noble families generally used their predecessor's Lithuanian pagan given names as their family names ; this

19581-474: The exclusive right to this term. According to Professor Grzegorz Błaszczyk , the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania belongs primarily to the descendants of old Greater Lithuanian families, most of whom were Polonized and still live in Poland today. The last representative of the great Lithuanian families living in today's Lithuania, Stefania Maria Romer, died in 2012. Meanwhile, in Poland, about 2,000 Polish families with Lithuanian origins live and use

19764-448: The fact that some of them abandoned the Horodło coats of arms and replaced them with others, the political significance of this gesture did not lose its significance. In the system built by Vytautas, central offices were restricted to Catholics only, which excluded nobles of Ruthenian origin. The basis of the Grand Duke's power was the lands of Lithuania proper, basically the provinces of Trakai and Vilnius. Nobles from this region constituted

19947-432: The first consonant in lūpa [ˈ ɫ ûːpɐ] , "lip", is a velarized dental lateral approximant ; on the other hand, the first consonant in liūtas [ˈ lʲ uːt̪ɐs̪] , "lion", is a palatalized alveolar lateral approximant ; both consonants are followed by the same vowel, the long [ uː ] , and no [ ɪ ] can be pronounced in liūtas ). Due to Polish influence , the Lithuanian alphabet included sz , cz and

20130-540: The first university endowment in Lithuania . The Foundation supports scientific research of the highest quality and the creation of study programmes that correspond to global demands, while encouraging other high added-value projects. More than 23,000 students are currently studying in more than 140 Bachelor’s and more than 140 Master’s degree programmes, with PhD studies offered in 29 scientific fields. Students can also choose from more than 60 medicine and dentistry residency programmes. International students may choose from

20313-426: The formation of standard Lithuanian. The conventions of written Lithuanian had been evolving during the 19th century, but Jablonskis, in the introduction to his Lietuviškos kalbos gramatika , was the first to formulate and expound the essential principles that were so indispensable to its later development. His proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitian dialect with some features of

20496-472: The foundation of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and continued their work there. The university's international students included 212 Russians , 94 Belarusians , 85 Lithuanians , 28 Ukrainians and 13 Germans . Anti-Semitism increased during the 1930s and a system of ghetto benches , in which Jewish students were required to sit in separate areas, was instituted at the university. Violence erupted;

20679-604: The globe. The university offers over 450 customizable R&D services in diverse areas such as life sciences, photonics, IT, and psychology By attracting targeted funding or using the University’s funds, the University currently represents the country or participates as a partner in the following international research infrastructures: EMBL; EMBC (European Conference on Molecular Biology); Instruct-ERIC (Structural Biology Infrastructure); ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure); CERN; WAEVE Consortium (Next Generation Spectroscopy Facility for

20862-400: The grace of the Grand Duke. As the role and wealth of the great magnates increased, the service boyars put themselves at the service of the lords and princes in exchange for tenures. The process of the formation of the noble estate in Lithuania accelerated after the union with Poland when there arose a desire to equalize the legal system of both countries. Nobility, or szlachta , in Poland

21045-419: The grand duke or another prince (so-called 'service princes' - князя слчжбовiе ). The most powerful princes retained almost total power in their lands, recognising the supremacy of the grand dukes. Vytautas began a policy of limiting the power of the princes and incorporating their appanages into the domain. Many princes died in civil wars after his death. Many appanages, lying in the east, were lost to Moscow in

21228-419: The highest population literacy rates: Vilna Governorate (in 1897 ~23.6–50% Lithuanian of whom 37% were literate), Kovno Governorate (in 1897 66% Lithuanian of whom 55.3% were literate), Suwałki Governorate (in 1897 in counties of the governorate where Lithuanian population was dominant, 76,6% of males and 50,2% of females were literate). Jonas Jablonskis (1860–1930) made significant contributions to

21411-528: The history of the "peoples" inhabiting the eastern lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth constituted an integral part of the history of Poles. The local "peoples" (especially Lithuanians and Belarusians ) were perceived at best as "younger brothers", naturally subordinated to the Polish national interest. It was therefore necessary to educate them and guide them in the right direction, because they were not yet mature enough to make independent decisions. "Our Polish paternalism - writes Roman Wapiński -

21594-616: The independent Republic of Lithuania to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union . Soviet authorities introduced Lithuanian– Russian bilingualism, and Russian, as the de facto official language of the USSR, took precedence and the use of Lithuanian was reduced in a process of Russification. Many Russian-speaking workers and teachers migrated to the Lithuanian SSR (fueled by

21777-401: The influence of civilizational domination and administrative influence (there is also no evidence of administrative coercion). Polonization processes led to the fact that already in the 17th century, Lithuanian landowners called themselves gente Lithuani, natione Poloni ( Latin : Lithuanians by birth, Poles by nationality ). In 1697, in the entire Grand Duchy of Lithuania, at the request of

21960-794: The language was almost completely eliminated there. The Baltic-origin place names retained their basis for centuries in Prussia but were Germanized (e.g. Tilžė – Tilsit , Labguva – Labiau , Vėluva – Wehliau , etc.); however, after the annexation of the Königsberg region into the Russian SFSR , they were changed completely, regardless of previous tradition (e.g. Tilsit – Sovetsk , Labiau – Polesk , Wehliau – Znamensk , etc.). The Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 , German occupation in 1941 , and eventually Soviet re-occupation in 1944 , reduced

22143-889: The lifting of the ban in 1904. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897 (at the height of the Lithuanian press ban), 53.5% of Lithuanians (10 years and older) were literate, while the average of the Russian Empire was only 24–27.7% (in the European part of Russia the average was 30%, in Poland – 40.7%). In the Russian Empire Lithuanian children were mostly educated by their parents or in secret schools by "daractors" in native Lithuanian language, while only 6.9% attended Russian state schools due to resistance to Russification . Russian governorates with significant Lithuanian populations had one of

22326-556: The list of the victims of Stalinist terror, including Antanas Žvironas, Tadas Petkevičius, Levas Karsavinas and Vosylius Sezemanas, among others. During the post-Stalin period, when the classical Vilnius University had been converted into a Soviet university and in 1955 was awarded the name of the Vilnius Order of the Red Banner of Labour State University of Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas, there were no more mass repressions against

22509-446: The local Lithuanian nobility, Polish was introduced as the official language instead of the previously existing Ruthenian language . In the 18th century, the Polonization of the lands within the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a completed process, and the Polonization of Vilnius was a state of affairs. Despite the lack of their own state, the conviction of the permanent nature of Lithuania's relationship with Poles and

22692-531: The members of the Vilnius University community, both staff and students, who were expelled from the university, losing the ability to continue their academic careers or studies, because of the actions of the totalitarian regimes and their local collaborators. The symbolic Memory Diploma of Vilnius University has been established in commemoration of these people. Vilnius University is a member of The Arqus European University Alliance that brings together

22875-576: The middle of the 18th century, education authorities tried to restore the academy. Thanks to the rector of the academy, Marcin Poczobutt-Odlanicki , the academy was granted the status of "Principal School" ( Polish : Szkoła Główna ) in 1783. The commission, the secular authority governing the academy after the dissolution of the Jesuit order, drew up a new statute. The school was named Academia et Universitas Vilnensis. Vilnius University

23058-524: The modern national movements of Lithuania and Belarus and fought for Poland in 1918-1920. The landowning nobles in the new Lithuanian state saw themselves predominately as Poles of Lithuanian background. During the interbellum years the government of Lithuania issued land reform limiting manors with 150 hectares of land while confiscating land from those nobles who were fighting alongside the Polish in Polish-Lithuanian War . Many members of

23241-500: The native language of Lithuanians. Initially, Latin and Church Slavonic were the main written ( chancellery ) languages of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but in the late 17th century – 18th century Church Slavonic was replaced with Polish. Nevertheless, Lithuanian was a spoken language of the medieval Lithuanian rulers from the Gediminids dynasty and its cadet branches: Kęstutaičiai and Jagiellonian dynasties . It

23424-469: The new students had former Polish citizenship. Polish Law and Social Sciences, Humanities, Medical, Theological, Mathematical-Life sciences faculties continued to work underground with lectures and exams held in private flats until 1944. Polish professors who took part in the underground courses included Iwo Jaworski, Kazimierz Petrusewicz and Bronisław Wróblewski. The diplomas of the underground universities were accepted by many Polish universities after

23607-549: The nobility and landed gentry and among the intelligentsia. The fall of the First Polish Republic and unsuccessful armed uprisings led to the strengthening of the Polonization processes of the small nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, identifying spiritually and culturally with Polish traditions. Post-uprising repression resulted in the Catholic Church becoming the mainstay of Polishness. Because

23790-445: The nobility grew and the burdens and freedoms of the peasantry were reduced, these linguistic differences began to gain importance. Around the beginning of the 16th century, groups of boyars spared no effort to prove their noble status. The grand ducal council resolved that nobility had to be attested by the testimony of two neighbours, of undoubtedly noble lineage, saying that the applicant's family had been "boyars and shliakhta through

23973-559: The nobility was almost all Lithuanian or Samogitian, with territorial expansion more Ruthenian families joined the nobility. As early as the 16th century, several Ruthenian noble families began to call themselves gente Ruthenus, natione Lithuanus . A good example is the Chodkiewicz family, which attributed its ancestry to the House of Gediminas . The term boyar , boiarstvo ( bajorai ) originally denoted all those who fought. Over

24156-613: The nobility was based on several privileges, granted by the Grand Dukes: Most of the nobility rights were retained even after the third partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. The nobility was particularly numerous in the ethnically Lithuanian lands and is estimated to have constituted about 10-11%, while in the Ruthenian lands of the Grand Duchy only about 3-4%. The nobility in Samogitia

24339-425: The political elite of the country. New terms emerged for all those of noble birth: shliakhta (from Polish : szlachta ; Lithuanian : šlėkta ) in Ruthenian and nobiles in Latin. The term zemianin  [ pl ] ( Lithuanian : ziemionys ) began to denote the nobles who possessed land. Szlachta itself was stratified into several categories . As the privileges and political importance of

24522-476: The politics of the Grand Duchy. Practically giving it full control over the actions of the ruler. While in Poland at that time the limitation of royal power was associated with an increase in the role of the ordinary nobility, in the Grand Duchy, where nobility assemblies ( sejmiks ) did not exist, full power passed into the hands of the great lords. Grand Duchy of Lithuania offices were held almost exclusively by magnates. Potent Radziwiłł family (Radvila) received

24705-452: The population lived in the lands directly under the Grand Duke's rule, by 1528 this figure had fallen to 30%. It is estimated that 5% of the land was owned by the Church, while as much as 65% of the land was then in the hands of 13 thousand of noble families (6 thousand of them were of Lithuanian origin). Most of it was owned by a small group of several dozen families of lords, which constituted

24888-536: The previous eighteen years as an occupation by Poland of its capital. The university was closed on 15 December 1939 by the authorities of the Republic of Lithuania. All the faculty, staff, and its approximately 3,000 students dismissed. Students were ordered to leave the dormitories; 600 ended in a refugee camp. Professors had to leave their university flats. Following the Lithuanization policies, in its place,

25071-679: The privileged social group of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was called boyars . Boyars became part of the szlachta (nobility) during the Union of Horodło on October 2, 1413, initiating nobility in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania following the Western European model (with a hereditary system of heraldic identification), as well as an increase in the position of the Greater Lithuanian nobility. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania adopted Polish institutions of castellans and voivodes , and 47 selected boyars of Grand Duchy of Lithuania of

25254-566: The professors decided to transfer whole faculties. After 1945, most of the mathematicians, humanists and biologists joined the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń , while a number of the medical faculty formed the core of the newly founded Medical University of Gdańsk . The Toruń university is often considered to be the successor to the Polish traditions of Stefan Batory University. Many famous scientists ended up on

25437-621: The programme takes place at the University, with the other part taking place at a foreign higher education institution. After the completion of these joint studies, a joint qualification degree can be awarded, if the requirements are met. The research areas of Vilnius University are: More than 1/3 of the PhD theses created in Lithuania are defended at Vilnius University, where over 3,000 research publications are published, and more than 400 research projects are implemented annually. Vilnius University has over 160 research teams, which are acknowledged across

25620-473: The re-established Stephan Bathory University was tasked with promoting Polish state ideology, it also contributed positively through numerous research projects and the training of highly-qualified scientists. Despite being the smallest and most poorly financed Polish university, SBU played a significant role in promoting both Polish and Lithuanian culture and science. In 1945, most of the professors, staff, and students of SBU relocated to Poland, where they initiated

25803-480: The relatively few hereditary noble titles in the Kingdom of Poland were bestowed by foreign monarchs. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had one of the largest percentages of nobility in Europe, with szlachta (nobility) constituting close to 10% of the population, but in some constituent regions, like Duchy of Samogitia , it was closer to 12%. However, the high nobility was extremely limited in number, consisting of

25986-518: The representatives of powerful Volhynian families: Sanguszko , Czartoryski , Ostrogski and Zasławski found their place in the power elite. Since the reign of Vytautas, documents began to distinguish a group of great lords, calling them in Latin baro (pl. barones ), dominus (pl. domini ) or, in Ruthenian texts, "great boyars" ( боярe великie ). Soon, the borrowed from Polish term "pan" (plural "pany", пан ; ponai or didikai ), literally meaning "lord" gained popularity. This new elite

26169-443: The rights of landowners to pass on their estates. Although allodial land ownership was previously known in the Grand Duchy, its prevalence increased significantly in the following period. Similarly, the new law of inheritance led to a decline in the importance, outside Kaunas district and Samogitia, of clan kinships, in favour of more nuclear families. This led to a rapid change in the structure of land ownership. While in 1386 80% of

26352-439: The ruling elite. The situation began to change in the 1430s when nobility privileges began to be extended to the Ruthenian nobility. The cementing of the new elite was strengthened by the emergence of the institution of the council. Initially, it had no institutionalized form but gathered the ruler's closest associates. However, from 1430 onwards, it began to take shape as a permanent institution, to which one automatically became

26535-547: The same. In the Grammatica Litvanica Klein also established the letter W for marking the sound [v], the use of which was later abolished in Lithuanian (it was replaced with V , notably by authors of the Varpas newspaper). The usage of V instead of W especially increased since the early 20th century, likely considerably influenced by Lithuanian press and schools. The Lithuanian writing system

26718-801: The shape of zigzags through Grodno , Shchuchyn , Lida , Valozhyn , Svir , and Braslaw . Such eastern boundaries partly coincide with the spread of Catholic and Orthodox faith, and should have existed at the time of the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387 and later. Safarewicz's eastern boundaries were moved even further to the south and east by other scholars (e.g. Mikalay Biryla  [ be ] , Petras Gaučas  [ lt ] , Jerzy Ochmański  [ pl ] , Aleksandras Vanagas , Zigmas Zinkevičius , and others). Proto-Balto-Slavic branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then sub-branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic. The Baltic languages passed through

26901-499: The sole official language of the state and mandated its use throughout the state. The improvement of education system during the interwar period resulted in 92% of literacy rate of the population in Lithuania in 1939 (those still illiterate were mostly elderly). Following the Żeligowski's Mutiny in 1920, Vilnius Region was detached from Lithuania and was eventually annexed by Poland in 1922. This resulted in repressions of Lithuanians and mass-closure of Lithuanian language schools in

27084-641: The specifics of Eastern Aukštaitians, living in Vilnius and its region (e.g. works of Konstantinas Sirvydas , Jonas Jaknavičius , and Robert Bellarmine 's catechism ). In Vilnius University , there are preserved texts written in the Lithuanian language of the Vilnius area, a dialect of Eastern Aukštaitian, which was spoken in a territory located south-eastwards from Vilnius: the sources are preserved in works of graduates from Stanislovas Rapolionis -based Lithuanian language schools, graduate Martynas Mažvydas and Rapalionis relative Abraomas Kulvietis . The development of Lithuanian in Lithuania Minor, especially in

27267-487: The state or ethnic sense. The Lithuanian nobility felt united with the Polish nobility as part of one political nation of the Commonwealth, enjoying privileges, freedom and equality. In this sense, they often referred to themselves as "Polish nobility" or outright "Poles". At the same time, separatism and the defense of Lithuanian national separateness within the federation state were very strong. The Lithuanian nobility

27450-429: The territorial integrity of their common, although enslaved, homeland was strengthening in the minds of all Poles. In the lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the cultural unity of inhabitants was strengthening, and many traditionally understood Lithuanians discovered a modern national identity - they became Poles . It should be noted, however, that the described processes took place almost exclusively within

27633-473: The title knyaz, which is probably a rendering of the Lithuanian kunigas , which in pagan times probably belonged to every person of noble status. It is not clear whether they owed their princely dignity to their former status as sovereigns or to their connection and affinity with the ruling family established in the 14th century (this is confirmed at least for the Gedraitis and Holshanskys). Among them, only

27816-738: The title of the prince ( German : Reichsfürst ; Polish : książę ) from the Holy Roman Emperor in 1518, similarly some other families received titles of counts ( Goštautai /Gasztołd in 1529/30; Ilinicz in 1553; Chodkiewicz in 1568; possibly Kęsgailos /Kieżgajło in 1547) from the Emperor. The elevation of the Radziwiłł family resulted in the abandonment of the title of "knyaz" by those Ruthenian families that still retained significant power, wealth and often appanages (for example Wiśniowiecki , Ostrogski , Zbaraski ). They adopted instead

27999-525: The traditions of historical Lithuania, trying to reconcile Lithuanianness with Polishness, called themselves " old Lithuanians ", " historical Lithuanians " or " The Mickiewicz's " (i.e. - such as in Adam Mickiewicz , from the first words of the invocation from the poem Pan Tadeusz: "O Lithuania, my country ... " ). In turn, the representatives of the former " Semigalian people ", now "nationalized", called themselves Lithuanians , additionally reserving

28182-530: The university was closed for two weeks during January 1937. In February Jewish students were denied entrance to its grounds. The faculty was then authorized to decide on an individual basis whether the segregation should be observed in their classrooms and expel those students who would not comply. 54 Jewish students were expelled but were allowed to return the next day under a compromise in which in addition to Jewish students, Lithuanian, Belarusian, and "Polish democratic" students were to be seated separately. Rector of

28365-432: The university, Władysław Marian Jakowicki , resigned his position in protest over the introduction of the ghetto benches. Following the invasion of Poland the university continued its operations. The city was soon occupied by the Soviet Union . Most of the professors returned after the hostilities ended, and the faculties reopened on October 1, 1939. On October 28, Vilnius was transferred to Lithuania which considered

28548-513: The war. Soon after the annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, while some Polish professors were allowed to resume teaching, many others (along with some Lithuanian professors) who were deemed " reactionary " were arrested and sent to prisons and gulags in Russia and Kazakhstan . Between September 1939 and July 1941, the Soviets arrested and deported nineteen Polish faculty and ex-faculty of

28731-411: The writings has survived. The first recorded Lithuanian word, reported to have been said on 24 December 1207 from the chronicle of Henry of Latvia , was Ba , an interjection of a Lithuanian raider after he found no loot to pillage in a Livonian church. Although no writings in Lithuanian have survived from the 15th century or earlier, Lithuanian ( Latin : Lingwa Lietowia ) was mentioned as one of

28914-462: The written language of Lithuania Minor was transferred to resurgent Lithuania. The most famous standardizer of the Lithuanian, Jonas Jablonskis , established the south-western Aukštaitian dialect, including the Eastern dialect of Lithuania Minor, as the basis of standardized Lithuanian in the 20th century, which led to him being nicknamed the father of standardized Lithuanian. According to Polish professor Jan Otrębski 's article published in 1931,

29097-465: Was transferred to Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń . After Lithuania regained its independence in 1990, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union , it resumed its status as one of the prominent universities in Lithuania. Established in 1579 in Lithuania’s capital city Vilnius, with a faculty in the second-largest city, Kaunas, and another in the fourth-largest city, Šiauliai. The University

29280-487: Was Polonised and adopted Polish identity by the late 19th century. A Russian census in 1897 showed that 27.7% of nobility living within modern Lithuania's borders recognized Lithuanian as the mother language. This number was even higher in Kovno Governorate , where 36.6% of nobility identified the Lithuanian language as their mother language. Most descendants of the Lithuanian nobility remained ill-disposed to

29463-431: Was a spoken language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Duchy of Prussia , while the beginning of Lithuanian writing is possibly associated with the introduction of Christianity in Lithuania when Mindaugas was baptized and crowned King of Lithuania in 1250–1251. It is believed that prayers were translated into the local dialect of Lithuanian by Franciscan monks during the baptism of Mindaugas, however none of

29646-546: Was a prominent institution during the Baroque era in Lithuania. The city's capital, Vilnius, became a key northern and eastern Baroque city. The Jesuits hired architect Joannes Christophorus Glaubicius from Silesia to repair the University's buildings and the Church of St. Johns . Glaubicius, who later became a leading 18th-century architect in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , worked with various religious communities and developed

29829-480: Was able to communicate in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian. Soon afterwards Vytautas the Great wrote in his 11 March 1420 letter to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor , that Lithuanian and Samogitian are the same language. The use of Lithuanian continued at the Lithuanian royal court after the deaths of Vytautas the Great (1430) and Jogaila (1434). For example, since the young Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon

30012-505: Was already a well-established estate, its legal position was consolidated in the 14th century. At this point, it was basically impossible to enter the noble status otherwise than by birth. The development of the idea of corona regni aroused among the nobility a notion of being the main unifying force of the kingdom and responsible for its rule. Lithuanian nobles aspired to this position. Privileges of 1387 and 1413 gave legal security of tenure to holders of allodial land and recognized in law

30195-500: Was caused by independent parallel development, and the Proto-Balto-Slavic language did not exist. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski . He proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities (Baltic and Slavic), they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view

30378-447: Was closer to 12%. However, the high nobility was extremely limited in number, consisting of the magnates and later, within the Russian Empire, of princes. Families of the nobility were responsible for military mobilization and enjoyed Golden Liberty ; some were rewarded with additional privileges for success on the battlefield. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, ducal titles were mostly inherited by descendants of old dynasties while

30561-579: Was created by the Polish intelligentsia. After the outbreak of World War I and the German occupation of the city TPN made an attempt to recreate a university with a creation of so-called Higher Scientific Courses. Unfortunately both TPN and the Courses were soon closed by German officials. During World War I and the subsequent revolutions in Europe, the concept of self-determination led to the emergence of several independent states. Both Lithuania and Poland sought to re-establish their statehood. Plans to reopen

30744-668: Was established in the Vilnius University Life Sciences Centre (LSC), based on an agreement concluded in 2020, the main goal of which is to initiate and develop new directions and technologies in relation to genome editing research and applications in LSC, and to promote the application of genome editing technologies in LSC and Lithuanian research and study institutions and businesses. From 2021, Vilnius University Business School coordinates and implements Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring (GEM) in Lithuania. GEM

30927-663: Was established on April 1, 1579, during the conflict between the Reformation and the Catholic Reformation. Stephan Bathory , the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania , granted a charter to create the Vilnius Academy. Later, on October 30, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull, officially recognizing Vilnius College as a university. The institution was formally named Academia et Universitas Vilnensis Societatis Iesu (Vilnius Academy and University of

31110-419: Was fascination with the Lithuanian people and their language among the late 19th-century researchers, and the philologist Isaac Taylor wrote the following in his The Origin of the Aryans (1892): "Thus it would seem that the Lithuanians have the best claim to represent the primitive Aryan race , as their language exhibits fewer of those phonetic changes, and of those grammatical losses which are consequent on

31293-415: Was first represented by August Schleicher . Some supporters of the Baltic and Slavic languages unity even claim that Proto-Baltic branch did not exist, suggesting that Proto-Balto-Slavic split into three language groups: East Baltic , West Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Antoine Meillet and Jan Baudouin de Courtenay , on the contrary, believed that the similarity between the Slavic and Baltic languages

31476-464: Was granted by the Law on Science and Studies in 1991. In 1991, the University signed the Great Charter of European Universities – the main declaration of the academic freedom, rights and responsibilities of European universities – thus expressing its goal to re-shape Vilnius University. Moreover, the study programmes at the University were reorganised into three cycles at the Bachelor, Master and Doctoral (or PhD) level. In 2016, Vilnius University joined

31659-416: Was granted the rights to the administration of all education facilities in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Among the notable personae were the curator (governor) Adam Jerzy Czartoryski and rector Jan Śniadecki . The university used Polish as the instructional language, although Russian was added to the curriculum. It became known for its studies of Belarusian and Lithuanian culture . By 1823, it

31842-407: Was increasingly identified simply with Polish heritage. Such views were held by the most active and opinion-forming layer of the emerging nation. The intelligentsia grew up in an atmosphere of supremacy of nobility culture, so they easily identified with it. It adopted the nobility's way of perceiving the world, even if it came from other social groups. According to a commonly accepted interpretation,

32025-399: Was less influenced by this process and retained many of its older features, which form Lithuanian. According to glottochronological research, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between c.   400 BC and c.   600 BC. The differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after c.   800 AD; for a long period, they could be considered dialects of

32208-433: Was one of the largest in Europe; the student population exceeded that of the Oxford University . A number of students, among them poet Adam Mickiewicz , were arrested in 1823 for conspiracy against the tsar (membership in Filomaci ). During the 1831 uprising, many University students joined the rebels. In response, Tsar Nicholas I closed the University on 1 May 1832. Two of the faculties were turned into separate schools:

32391-410: Was only partly descended from the old princely families that ruled Lithuania in pagan times. To a large extent, these were new families that appeared during the reigns of Jogaila and Vytautas and whose representatives were among the signatories of the Union of Horodło (1413). They owed their position to the generosity of the grand dukes, who rewarded them with offices and land granted in allodium. In

32574-514: Was particularly numerous, but usually, it was a poor nobility living in gentry villages. In the right-bank part of Kaunas county the nobility accounted for as much as 25% of the hearths in the late 18th century. In 1777 there were 16,534 noble houses registered (5.2% of the total) in the whole Grand Duchy. In 1790 the register showed 100 palaces, 9,331 manors, 494 noblemen's houses in towns, and 13,890 houses of noblemen without subjects. Linguistic Polonization did not always mean full Polonization in

32757-410: Was the case with Goštautai , Radvilos , Astikai , Kęsgailos and others. Those families acquired great wealth, eventually becoming magnates . Their representatives are respectively Jonas Goštautas , Radvila Astikas , Kristinas Astikas and Mykolas Kęsgaila . The aforementioned families were granted corresponding Polish coats of arms under the Union of Horodlo in 1413. While at the beginning

32940-490: Was the third oldest university (after the Cracow Academy and the Albertina ) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Due to the failure of the November Uprising (1830–1831), the university was closed down and suspended its operation until 1919. In the aftermath of World War I , the university saw failed attempts to restart it by the local Poles, Lithuanians, and by invading Soviet forces. It finally resumed operations as Polish Stefan Batory University in August 1919. After

33123-402: Was to distinguish Lithuanian from Polish . The new letters š and č were cautiously used in publications intended for more educated readers (e.g. Varpas , Tėvynės sargas , Ūkininkas ), however sz and cz continued to be in use in publications intended for less educated readers as they caused tension in society and prevailed only after 1906. Lithuanian nobility Initially,

33306-430: Was underage, the supreme control over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in the hands of the Lithuanian Council of Lords , presided by Jonas Goštautas , while Casimir IV Jagiellon was taught Lithuanian and customs of Lithuania by appointed court officials. During the Polish szlachta 's envoys visit to Casimir in 1446, they noticed that in Casimir's royal court the Lithuanian-speaking courtiers were mandatory, alongside

33489-442: Was warmly attached to the laws, traditions and symbols of the Grand Duchy. Moreover, the Lithuanian separateness was also defended by the members of ethnically Polish families settling in Lithuania. Following the Union of Horodło (1413), the Lithuanian nobility's rights were equalized with those of the ruling class of the Kingdom of Poland ( szlachta ). During the following centuries, the Lithuanian nobility began to merge with

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