Memory of Social Elites. What Should Not Be Forgotten: The Case of the Lithuanian Princes in the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract

Commemorating an honourable vision of the past was an important commitment for pre-industrial elites in Europe as their position was largely based on knowledge about their family origins, alliances and achievements. It strictly concerned the Lithuanian princes, who originated from younger members of the ruling house of Gediminids and belonged to the social elites of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. They generated cultural memory by composing genealogies or chronicles, as well as introducing expressive family symbols (names, titles, emblems, etc.). As the analysis shows, their image of the past consisted of the following components: an ‘ancient’ progenitor and main residences, dynastic origins, royal kinship with the Jagiellonians, family alliances, as well as ancestors' deeds and offices held. This image was so honourable and expressive that it was respected by the Crown (under the reign of the Jagiellonians) and noble public opinion (during the Commonwealth period). Consequently, the princes were provided with special honour privileges and exemptions, holding a unique position in the society of Poland and Lithuania throughout the period.