Lithuanian Time in Some Details of Written and Material Cultures of Ukraine

Abstract

The times after the Mongolic-Tatar hordes of Batu Khan invasion led to many cardinal changes in the life of the Eastern Slavs, and primarily in the south of their oecumene — the territory of modern Ukraine. Simultaneously, with joining the Golden Horde, the inhabitants of many regions began to gradually fall under the influence of the new European state entity — the “Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Rus and Samogitia”. Namely, in the structures of the latter the autochthons felt themselves more comfortable than under the rule of Chingissids. The “Lithuanian stage” itself dates back to the times between 1362 — the time of the combined forces battle led by Prince Algirdas and the Horde “princes” and the time of the Lublin Seim (1569), by which Ukrainian lands became a part of the Polish Crown, which then united with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the “Commonwealth of Poland” (“Union of Lublin”). Although the Lithuanian penetration to the south had already begun in the post-Mongol period. The available information (both archaeological and written sources) allows in a significant degree of new points dealing processes associated with the expansion of Lithuanian dominance in the south of Eastern Europe, as well as with changes in the status of individual settlements — primarily the old capital of Kyiv at the Middle Dnieper. Regarding material culture, it should be noted, first of all, a qualitative breakthrough in military affairs (weapons system, fortifications), the manufacturing of ceramic products, etc. In addition, it became possible to talk in a new way about the essence of the medieval East European city that was associated with the specifics of the agrarian feudal society as a whole and the East Slavic version in particular. This, in turn, allows reconsidering the old wording “the city is the center of craft and trade”, which dominated throughout the Soviet era. In general, it is necessary to state that the post-Mongolian-Cossack archaeological sites, in comparison with the early Slavic-Old Rus, are much less studied. It is necessary to pay attention to this fact in the further planning of medieval research topics.