Lithuania proper

Who holds it

Name

not pinned (historians place here the elder dukes of 1219: Živinbudas, Daujotas and Viligaila, and the father of Dausprungas and Mindaugas)

Title

dukes of the Land of Lithuania

Since

not pinned

Confidence

low

No duke of the land is named for 1200. Łowmiański placed the land between the Neman, the Neris and the Merkys; Baranauskas argues it lay further east round Ašmena. The map takes both.

How things stand that morning

Self-governing under its dukes; no overlord, no tribute paid.

Wealth

Rye and barley farming in the river valleys, cattle and horses, forest goods; the spoils of raids; the Neman and Neris routes.

Military

The dukes' mounted retinues; the hillforts of Kernavė, the Vilnius hill and the Neman bluffs.

Customs and assemblies

The land's dukes (kunigaikščiai), the heads of its kindreds and the free farmers decide war and peace among themselves; the dukes lead in war, judge disputes and keep the hillforts with the labour of the land. No written law and no town assembly is recorded; the pagan priesthood and sacred groves bind the community. Several lands' dukes join for great raids.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: No 1200 source; the land's name and centres are known from the 13th century and from archaeology.

On the map: Baltic lands were clusters of settlement round hillforts divided by forest and bog; the outline is a convention traced along rivers and later boundaries.

Primary sources for Lithuanians

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Chronicle of Novgorod (kept year by year; the Synodal manuscript written in the 13th and 14th centuries). Novgorod's own record, kept at St Sophia. Read online
• The Livonian Chronicle of Henry, Henry of Livonia (1225 to 1227). The chief source for the Baltic mission. Read online