The Jewish community in Kėdainiai in the 16th-19th c

ENKėdainiai is a distinctive city in central Lithuania, built on either side of the Nevėžis River, which in the 14th-18th century separated the two main areas of the country - Aukštaitija (the Highlands), and Žemaitija / Samogitia (the Lowlands). Kėdainiai appears in written sources for the first time in 1372 - in the "Chronicles of Livonia" by H. Vartbergė. In ca. 1445, Kėdainiai came under the ownership of the founder of the Radvila family, the nobleman Radvila Astikaitis; Polish historian Jan Dlugosz writes that in 1480 it was already being called a city - "oppidum". The city became the residence of Jonas Radvilas, owner of Kėdainiai, and the administrative center of the Samogitian Duchy, when he was appointed palatine of Samogitia. By 1544 it was being called a large city of the estate. At that time, Kėdainiai had 145 buildings, approximately 1,160 inhabitants, a market with market taxes, and resident artisans. Kėdainiai took on the role of a regional and transit trade center, water and land transport junction, and church and estate administrative center. In 1549, it became one of the first centers of Protestantism in the GDL. A small Jewish community established itself in Kėdainiai in the midto second half of the 16th century. The existence and growth of this community was closely tied to the general development of the city itself. Conditions were favourable for the Kėdainiai Jewish community in the beginning of the 17th century, when the city came under the ownership of Christopher Radvilas, representative of the Protestant Biržai-Dubingiai branch of this ducal family.In 1627, he allowed foreigners, including the "honest, well behaved Jews" to freely establish themselves in the city of Kėdainiai. The Jews were assigned to the estate, not the city jurisdiction, and therefore were allowed to live only in a certain part of the city: the Old Market, Paeismilgio, and Žydų streets, and on one side of Kreivosios St. And so, together with Lithuanians, Poles, Germans, Scots, and Russians, the Jews became an integral part of Kėdainiai - a city of various nationalities and confessions [p. 361-362].