Ką mums gali pasakyti Mindaugo dovanojimas vyskupui Kristijonui? Apmąstymai galimos polemikos fone

LTLietuvos christianizacijos pradžia paprastai siejama su XIV a. pab. – XV a. pr., tačiau pirmasis bandymas paversti Lietuvą krikščioniška karalyste sietinas su Mindaugu. 1251 m. Livonijos magistras Andrius Štirlandas jį pakrikštijo, o 1253 m., paremtas popiežiaus Inocento IV, Mindaugas buvo karūnuotas Lietuvos karaliumi. Pirmuoju Lietuvos vyskupu Mindaugo prašymu tapo valdovą krikščionybės tiesų mokęs Livonijos kunigas, Vokiečių ordino brolis Kristijonas. Žinoma, kad Kristijonui aprūpinti Mindaugas 1254 m. užrašė keletą žemių. Straipsnis skirtas šio Lietuvos vyskupijos aprūpinimo akto kontekstui išanalizuoti. Autorius teigia, kad valdų užrašymas Kristijonui yra pagrindinis šaltinis, kuris gali padėti identifikuoti paties Mindaugo domeną. Jis kelia hipotezę, kad Mindaugo valdos galėjusios būti į pietus nuo vyskupui Kristijonui užrašytų žemių – teritorijoje, kuri istoriografijoje žinoma kaip Nemuno žemupio gynybinis arealas. Analizuodamas šią hipotezę, autorius dėsto argumentus, kurie kviečia iš naujo svarstyti istoriografijoje įsitvirtinusį teiginį, kad vyresniųjų kunigaikščių domenai galėję būti dabartinėje Rytų Lietuvoje. Pagrindiniai žodžiai: Lietuvos krikštas, Mindaugo domenas, bažnyčios aprūpinimas, Nemuno žemupio gynybinis arealas. [Iš leidinio]

ENThis article reassesses the donation by King Mindaugas to Christian, the Bishop of Lithuania, and raises the question of how this document can be used to analyse the earliest territorial structures of Lithuania in the mid-13th century. When Mindaugas was baptised and began to build the institutions of the Catholic Church in his kingdom, he was obliged to provide for the bishop and build a cathedral. As a neophyte king, he acted in accordance with the norms of his time. In this context, an undoubtedly authentic but brief document by Mindaugas dated 12 March 1254 is known, in which the king bequeathed half the lands of Betygala, half of Raseiniai, and half of Laukuva in present-day west Lithuania, for the provision of a diocese. It is unlikely that a ruler could establish a diocese and make lands available to the bishop that were far removed from his own main property. The planned centre of the diocese was to overlap with the centre of Mindaugas’ domains. The article therefore hypothesises that King Mindaugas made lands available to Bishop Christian that were close to his domain. In making this argument, the author draws on a number of arguments relating to the situation in Lithuania in the mid-13th century. The domain of King Mindaugas could not lie to the north of the lands bequeathed to Bishop Christian because that was where Žemaitija (Samogitia) lay, an area over which Mindaugas had no control. To the south of these lands was the defence line of the lower River Nemunas, the section between the confluence of the rivers Mituva and Neris with the Nemunas, which from the end of the 13th century was considered one of the main centres in the struggle against the Teutonic Order. It was under the control of the ruler, who was in charge of building castles, sent replacement contingents of assembled men, and appointed elders. In the 13th century, it was not yet considered part of Žemaitija.The incorporation did not take place until the beginning of the 15th century. What the area looked like in the middle of the 13th century is not known, as there is a lack of historical sources, and the archaeological material does not yet provide clear answers. Could it be that, contrary to the historiographical tradition that begins with Henryk Łowmiański, this was the area in which Mindaugas’ domain was located? In order to argue this hypothesis, a whole series of questions relating to the formation of Medieval Lithuania are considered. Firstly, the author draws attention to the arguments of archaeologists. By grouping archaeological material, Vytautas Ušinskas was the first to identify three areas from which Lithuania could have originated, one of which was the area that is now central Lithuania. Later, the archaeologist Mindaugas Bertašius developed this idea further by arguing that the archaeological material from central Lithuania shows a pronounced focus on warfare and provides evidence for a structured organisation of its rule. He urged us to focus on this area in our search for the centre of Lithuania at the time of the foundation of the state. Although late, the Lithuanian chronicle tradition, when describing the foundation of Lithuania, also links it to the same defence line on the lower River Nemunas. According to the narrative of the Lithuanian chronicle, it was the spread of power from this area that enabled Lithuania to establish itself as a state.An equally important question concerns the social class of the leičiai, people in the service of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and their role in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th and 14th centuries. Until now, research has regarded the leičiai as a specific group of the ruler’s people who submitted to his authority and performed various functions entrusted to them. These functions included military assistance and the fulfilment of administrative and economic tasks on behalf of the ruler, which helped to spread the ruler’s power on the periphery. Colonies of leičiai are recorded in Žemaitija, east Lithuania, and in Rus’ under the rule of the Grand Duke of Lithuania; all were established in the 13th and 14th centuries. The author notes that the centre of Lithuania was an area from which the relocation of the leičiai to the periphery seems to have taken place. This again points to the area of the defence line of the lower Nemunas. So far, historians have also attempted to hypothetically locate the area where the earliest territorial structure of Lithuania emerged on the basis of toponyms. However, after re-examining their arguments, the author concludes that this approach is not enough to determine the location of the domains of the senior dukes in the 13th century. Keywords: baptism of Lithuania, the domain of Mindaugas, Church provisioning, defence line of the lower River Nemunas. [From the publication]

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