Nalšia

Who holds it

Name

not pinned (the land and its dukes are first named in the 1250s-1260s; Daumantas of Nalšia killed Mindaugas in 1263)

Title

dukes of Nalšia

Since

not pinned

Confidence

low

Nalšia appears only from the mid-13th century; its 1200 rulers and exact extent are unknown.

How things stand that morning

Self-governing; borders the Polotsk land and the Daugava peoples, the nearest Lithuanian land to the Latgalians.

Wealth

Farming among the lakes, cattle, furs and forest goods; the routes north to the Daugava.

Military

The dukes' retinues and lake hillforts.

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: Named only from the 1250s; extent inferred.

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