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124-680: The school traces its roots to 1840 when a four-year school was moved from Sejny to Marijampolė which was then part of the Suwałki Governorate , Congress Poland . The school was geared towards children of Polish nobles and was known far its anti-Lithuanian bias. After the Uprising of 1863 , Tsarist authorities decided to implement various Russification policies, including the Lithuanian press ban and de- Polonization of schools. That meant that children of Lithuanian farmers were encouraged to attend

248-535: A blessed sword and hat , given by Pope Gregory XIII through the envoy Paweł Uchański. This was a recognition by the Pope of the ruler's successes in the struggle against the infidels. In Lithuania, this ceremony was treated as the celebration of the elevation of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, during which Lithuania's sovereignty was manifested. Báthory's reign was marked with successful Livonian campaign against tsar Ivan

372-453: A cease fire agreement was signed, leaving Sejny on the Polish side of the border, so Sejny and the vicinity became part of reborn Polish state. In the interbellum , the town was still desired by Lithuania. In 1925 the bishopric and the powiat status were removed, but the town remained a notable centre of not only trade and commerce but also wood and furniture production, gaining profits from

496-404: A Lithuanian schooling complex (kindergarten, elementary school, gymnasium ). Owing to a lost dispute about payment for the town's sewage treatment works, the town is financially crippled by debt. Mayor Arkadiusz Nowalski is fighting to rescue the town, which lacks sufficient collateral for necessary investment or to seek European development funding. Although mayor, with his 2014 shock win against

620-546: A base for further military campaigns. Around 1307, Polotsk, an important trading centre, was annexed by military force. Vytenis also began constructing a defensive castle network along Nemunas . Gradually this network developed into the main defensive line against the Teutonic Order. The expansion of the state reached its height under Grand Duke Gediminas , also titled by some contemporaneous German sources as Rex de Owsteiten (English: King of Aukštaitija ), who created

744-584: A convention in Grodno (on 8-20 April 1576), protested this choice, threatening to break the union and giving themselves the right to choose a separate ruler. However, the king managed to rally the Lithuanian delegation by promising to preserve their rights and freedoms. On May 29, 1580, in Vilnius Cathedral , King and Grand Duke Stephen Báthory received from the hand of the bishop of Samogitia Merkelis Giedraitis

868-575: A decade of relative peace. Mindaugas later renounced Christianity and converted back to paganism. Mindaugas tried to expand his influence in Polatsk , a major centre of commerce in the Daugava River basin, and Pinsk . The Teutonic Knights used this period to strengthen their position in parts of Samogitia and Livonia, but they lost the Battle of Skuodas in 1259 and the Battle of Durbe in 1260. This encouraged

992-510: A few official documents until the second half of the 18th century. After the baptism, the use of Latin, still the main language of learning and writing in Western Europe, also spread in Lithuania as a language of document. Latin was the second language of the grand ducal chancellery in the 14th–16th centuries, although it was used less frequently than Ruthenian in internal administration. This

1116-575: A manifestation of the sovereignty of Lithuania occurred when Casimir was elected as the Grand Duke of Lithuania upon his arrival to Vilnius on 29 June 1440 and subsequently titled himself as a "free lord" ( pan – dominus ), this way breaching the agreements of the Union of Grodno (1432) and terminating the Polish–Lithuanian union ; Casimir also became the King of Poland in 1447. Following Casimir's death in 1492,

1240-527: A massacre of 10 Poles at the local cemetery in 1939. The Germans closed down both Polish and Lithuanian schools and then looted and destroyed school libraries. Poles managed to organize secret teaching, but soon the Germans carried out mass arrests of Polish teachers, who were then imprisoned in a Gestapo jail in Suwałki. Nevertheless, secret Polish education continued until the end of the occupation. In April 1940

1364-509: A privilege that equalized the rights of Orthodox and Catholics in Lithuania and abolished all previous restrictions on Orthodox. There was an effort to polarise Orthodox Christians after the Union of Brest in 1596, by which some Orthodox Christians acknowledged papal authority and Catholic catechism, but preserved their liturgy. The country also became one of the major centres of the Reformation. In

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1488-686: A strong central government and established an empire that later spread from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea . In 1320, most of the principalities of western Rus' were either vassalized or annexed by Lithuania. In 1321, Gediminas captured Kiev , sending Stanislav , the last Rurikid to rule Kiev , into exile. Gediminas also re-established the permanent capital of the Grand Duchy in Vilnius , presumably moving it from Old Trakai in 1323, which previously served as

1612-496: A strong seasonal increase during the tourist season. According to a legend, the town of Sejny was started by three of the old knights of King of Poland Władysław II Jagiełło , who after the Battle of Grunwald granted them a land parcel in what is now Sejny. The three were very old and named the settlement Seni , which is a Lithuanian word for Old Men . The name was purportedly given to the city of Sejny. However, no archaeological findings or documents support this legend. The name

1736-1172: Is Yotvingian in origin. The linguist Jerzy Nalepa has proposed that the nearby river name Sejna (now Marycha ) and the city name are Yotvingian. This conclusion is based on two features: Cognates include Pol. siano and Lith. šienas , both meaning " hay ". [REDACTED] Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1520s–1569 [REDACTED] GDL , part of PLC 1569–1795 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Prussia 1795–1807 [REDACTED] Duchy of Warsaw 1807–1815 [REDACTED] Congress Poland 1815–1867 [REDACTED] Vistula Land 1867–1915 [REDACTED] Ober Ost 1915–1919 [REDACTED] Republic of Lithuania 1919 May 8 – 1919 Aug. 22 [REDACTED] Second Polish Republic 1919 Aug. – 1920 July [REDACTED] Lithuania 1920 July 19 – Aug. 31 [REDACTED] Poland Aug. 31 – Sept. 1 [REDACTED] Lithuania Sept. 2 – Sept. 9 [REDACTED] Poland 1920 Sept. 10 – 1939 Sept. 24 [REDACTED]   Soviet Union 1939 Sept. 24 – Oct. 13 [REDACTED]   Nazi Germany 1939 Oct. – 1944 Aug. 31 [REDACTED] Polish People's Republic 1944–1989 [REDACTED]   Poland 1989– In

1860-664: Is a town in north-eastern Poland and the capital of Sejny County , in Podlaskie Voivodeship , close to the northern border with Lithuania and Belarus . It is located in the eastern part of the Suwałki Lake Area ( Polish : Pojezierze Suwalskie ), on the Marycha river ( Seina in Lithuanian for which the town was named), being a tributary of the Czarna Hańcza . As of 1999 it had almost 6,500 permanent inhabitants, with

1984-772: The Constitution of 3 May and Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations were passed in 1791. Following the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , most of the lands of the former Grand Duchy were directly annexed by the Russian Empire , the rest by Prussia . In 1812, just prior to the French invasion of Russia , the former Grand Duchy revolted against the Russians. Soon after his arrival in Vilnius, Napoleon proclaimed

2108-648: The Deluge in the mid-17th century most of the territory of Lithuania was annexed by the Tsardom of Russia and even the Lithuania's capital Vilnius was captured for the first time by a foreign army and ravaged . In 1655, Lithuania unilaterally seceded from Poland, declared the Swedish King Charles X Gustav as the Grand Duke of Lithuania and fell under the protection of the Swedish Empire . However, by 1657 Lithuania

2232-610: The Golden Horde , maintaining vassal relationships with a fair degree of independence. Lithuania annexed some of these areas as vassals through diplomacy, as they exchanged rule by the Mongols or the Grand Prince of Moscow with rule by the Grand Duchy. An example is Novgorod , which was often in the Lithuanian sphere of influence and became an occasional dependency of the Grand Duchy. Lithuanian control resulted from internal frictions within

2356-1013: The Lithuanian SSR , the gymnasium was reorganized into an ordinary twelve-year secondary school. The gymnasium regained its historical name in 1996. A school museum was established in 1967, on the 100th anniversary of the gymnasium. In 2011, it had about 7,000 exhibits. In 2002, Memorial Museum of Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas was moved to the gymnasium. The gymnasium was known by various names under different regimes: Marijampolė Men Gymnasium, Marijampolė State Rygiškių Jonas Gymnasium, Marijampolė 1st Gymnasium, Kapsukas 1st secondary school, Kapsukas Jono Jablonskis secondary school, Marijampolė Rygiškių Jonas secondary school. Many prominent figures in Lithuanian politics, culture, and education graduated from Marijampolė Gymnasium. Among them were: 54°33′36″N 23°20′57″E  /  54.56000°N 23.34917°E  / 54.56000; 23.34917 Sejny Sejny ( [ˈsɛi̯nɨ] ; Lithuanian : Seinai )

2480-677: The Lithuanian nobility . After Vytautas's death, Lithuania's relationship with the Kingdom of Poland greatly deteriorated. Lithuanian noblemen, including the Radvila family , attempted to break the personal union with Poland. However, unsuccessful wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow forced the union to remain intact. Eventually, the Union of Lublin of 1569 created a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . In this federation ,

2604-787: The Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights , crusading military orders , were established in Riga and in Prussia in 1202 and 1226 respectively. The Christian orders posed a significant threat to pagan Baltic tribes, and further galvanized the formation of the Lithuanian state. The peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia of 1219 provides evidence of cooperation between Lithuanians and Samogitians . This treaty lists 21 Lithuanian dukes , including five senior Lithuanian dukes from Aukštaitija ( Živinbudas , Daujotas , Vilikaila , Dausprungas and Mindaugas ) and several dukes from Žemaitija . Although they had battled in

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2728-421: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . New roads were paved, with one of them, the road leading from Berżniki ( Beržininkai ) through Sejny to Merkinė, becoming a notable trade route . In 1510 Michał Pac became the governor of the area, founding the settlement of Beržininkai ( Polish : Berżniki ). This started a period of the rapid development of the former Yotvingian lands. On December 22, 1522, Sigismund I

2852-589: The Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations . However, the newly reformed Commonwealth was invaded by Russia in 1792 and partitioned between neighbouring states. A truncated state (whose principal cities were Kraków , Warsaw and Vilnius ) remained that was nominally independent. After the Kościuszko Uprising , the territory was completely partitioned among the Russian Empire , the Kingdom of Prussia and Austria in 1795. The name of Lithuania ( Litua )

2976-560: The Third Statute of Lithuania which stated that the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is a federation of two countries – Poland and Lithuania where both countries have equal rights within it and separated the powers of the ruler, the Seimas , the executive and the courts (this for the first time in European history ensured the rule of law in the state, but Lithuania's citizens, who were subjects to

3100-531: The Union of Krewo in 1386, bringing two major changes in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the conversion to Christianity of Europe's last pagan state, and the establishment of a dynastic union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland . This marked the beginning of the rule of other countries by the patrilineal members of the Lithuanian ruling Gediminid dynasty, who since

3224-577: The United States , where he received medical treatment in the following years, and the other returned to Poland after surviving Nazi human experimentation in Dachau. Poles were expelled from church properties, which were then handed over to Germans as part of the Lebensraum policy. Works of art and vital records were robbed by the Germans from the local church and taken to Königsberg . On 31 July 1944

3348-617: The early Middle Ages the area comprising modern Sejny was inhabited by the Yotvingians , one of the Baltic tribes closely related to Lithuanians that had arrived in the area in the first millennium. There was ongoing strife for the area since the 13th century between the Teutonic Order and Lithuania. This resulted in the area being almost completely depopulated, with only a few of the indigenous Yotvingians surviving. The first written record of

3472-415: The 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania , to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 partitions of Poland–Lithuania . The state was founded by Lithuanians , who were at the time a polytheistic nation of several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija . By 1440 the grand duchy had become the largest European state, controlling an area from the Baltic Sea in

3596-430: The 14th century onward. Naming convention of both title of ruler ( hospodar ) and the state changed as it expanded its territory. Following the decline of the Kingdom of Ruthenia and incorporation of its lands into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Gediminas started to title himself as "King of Lithuanians and many Ruthenians", while the name of the state became the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Ruthenia. Similarly

3720-564: The 14th–15th centuries ruled not only Lithuania, but also Poland , Hungary , Croatia , Bohemia , and Moldavia . The reign of Vytautas the Great , son of Kęstutis, marked both the greatest territorial expansion of the grand duchy (it became one of the largest countries territorially in Europe) and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. It also marked the rise of

3844-635: The 16th century. Ruthenians, ancestors of modern Belarusians and Ukrainians, living in the eastern and southern lands of the Grand Duchy spoke Ruthenian language . The Ruthenian language had an old writing tradition. The language of the Orthodox Church was Old Church Slavonic , while official documents used the so-called Chancery Ruthenian , close to but not identical to the spoken language, which over time absorbed many Lithuanian and Polish words. Some Poles (mainly burghers , clergy, merchants, and szlachta ) moved to Lithuania, although this migration

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3968-569: The 17th century, there were relics of old faith reported by counter-reformation active Jesuit priests, like feeding žaltys with milk or bringing food to graves of ancestors. The lands of modern-day Belarus and Ukraine , as well as local dukes (princes) in these regions, were firmly Orthodox Christian (Greek Catholic after the Union of Brest ), though. While pagan beliefs in Lithuania were strong enough to survive centuries of pressure from military orders and missionaries, they did eventually succumb. A separate Eastern Orthodox metropolitan eparchy

4092-476: The 80,000 Muscovite soldiers, capturing their camp and commander. The Muscovites lost about 30,000 men, while the losses of the Poland–Lithuania army totalled only 500. While the battle is remembered as one of the greatest Lithuanian victories, Muscovy ultimately prevailed in the war. Under the 1522 peace treaty, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania made large territorial concessions. The wars with the Teutonic Order,

4216-576: The Germans carried out mass arrests of 150 Poles, 10 of whom were publicly executed at the market square on April 24, 1940, and the wójt of Gmina Sejny was murdered in Prudziszki on April 26, 1940. Several Polish priests were arrested and deported to the Sachsenhausen , Soldau and Dachau concentration camps, where most of them died. Two priests survived the concentration camps and the war: one, who also held American citizenship , eventually settled in

4340-476: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania maintained its political distinctiveness and had separate ministries, laws, army, and treasury. The federation was terminated by the passing of the Constitution of 3 May 1791 , when it was supposed to become a single country, the Commonwealth, under one monarch, one parliament and with no Lithuanian autonomy. Shortly afterward, the unitary character of the state was confirmed by adopting

4464-519: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania slowly became more centralized, as the governours loyal to Vytautas replaced local princes with dynastic ties to the throne. The governours were rich landowners who formed the basis for the nobility of the Grand Duchy. During Vytautas' rule, the Radziwiłł and Goštautas families started to gain influence. In 1440, Casimir IV Jagiellon was sent by his older brother Władysław III to Lithuania to rule in his name, however instead

4588-455: The Grand Duchy to an end. Most of the lands of the former Grand Duchy were re-annexed by Russia. The Augustów Voivodeship (later Augustów Governorate ), including the counties of Marijampolė and Kalvarija , was attached to the Kingdom of Poland , a rump state in personal union with Russia. Administrative structure of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1413–1564). After the baptism in 1252 and coronation of King Mindaugas in 1253, Lithuania

4712-571: The Great , who reigned from 1392 to 1430. Vytautas was one of the most famous rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, serving as the Grand Duke from 1401 to 1430, and as the Prince of Hrodna (1370–1382) and the Prince of Lutsk (1387–1389). Vytautas was the son of Kęstutis , uncle of Jogaila, who became King of Poland in 1386, and he was the grandfather of Vasili II of Moscow . In 1410, Vytautas commanded

4836-601: The Horde but was defeated in the Battle of the Vorskla River , losing the steppe region. Lithuania was Christianized in 1387, led by Jogaila , who personally translated Christian prayers into the Lithuanian language and his cousin Vytautas the Great who founded many Catholic churches and allocated lands for parishes in Lithuania. The state reached a peak (becoming one of the largest countries territorially in Europe) under Vytautas

4960-470: The Lithuanian forces were forced to withdraw from the town and on 31 August 1920 the town once again passed to Polish hands. However, the Lithuanian authorities still claimed the area and Lithuanian successfully counterattacked on September 2. However, the Polish Army recaptured the town on September 9. The following day the last of the Lithuanian units retreated to the other side of the border and on October 7

5084-579: The Lithuanian lands began in the late 13th century. Mindaugas , the first ruler of the grand duchy, was crowned as the Catholic King of Lithuania in 1253. The pagan state was targeted in a religious crusade by the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order , but survived. Its rapid territorial expansion started late in the reign of Gediminas , and continued under the co-leadership of his sons, Algirdas and Kęstutis . Algirdas's son Jogaila signed

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5208-458: The Lithuanian language. The Lithuanian language was still strongly present at the Vilnius court of Casimir Jagiellon , who had to learn it when he assumed power in the Grand Duchy in 1444. Casimir's assumption of power in Poland in 1447 marked the end of the existence of a separate court in Vilnius (it later existed only in years 1492–1496 and 1544–1548 ). Many Lithuanians and Ruthenian nobles joined

5332-528: The Lithuanian sphere of influence. By about 1355, the State of Moldavia had formed, and the Golden Horde did little to re-vassalize the area. In 1362, regiments of the Grand Duchy army defeated the Golden Horde at the Battle at Blue Waters . In 1380, a Lithuanian army allied with Russian forces to defeat the Golden Horde in the Battle of Kulikovo , and though the rule of the Mongols did not end, their influence in

5456-507: The Livonian Order, winning the Battle of Karuse in 1270 and the Battle of Aizkraukle in 1279, and assisted the Yotvingians /Sudovians to defend from the Teutonic Order . For his military assistance, Nameisis recognized Traidenis as his suzerain . There is considerable uncertainty about the identities of the grand dukes of Lithuania between Traidenis' death in 1282 and the assumption of power by Vytenis in 1295. The country's capital

5580-408: The Livonian Order. He promised to convert to Christianity and exchange some lands in western Lithuania in return for military assistance against his nephews and the royal crown. In 1251, Mindaugas was baptized and Pope Innocent IV issued a papal bull proclaiming the creation of the Kingdom of Lithuania . After the civil war ended, Mindaugas was crowned as King of Lithuania on 6 July 1253, starting

5704-460: The Old ordered the voivode of Podlaskie Janusz Kostewicz to grant 1.5 km ( 1 ⁄ 2  sq mi) of land at the shores of the river Sejna (now called Marycha) to hetman Iwan Wiśniowiecki . On May 21 of the following year, Kostewicz described the parcel in a letter to the king and soon afterwards Wiśniowiecki became the owner of the area. A new wooden manor was built in the place where

5828-600: The Order, the Kingdom of Poland, and Ruthenia. Vytenis was involved in succession disputes in Poland, supporting Boleslaus II of Masovia , who was married to a Lithuanian duchess, Gaudemunda . In Ruthenia, Vytenis managed to recapture lands lost after the assassination of Mindaugas and to capture the principalities of Pinsk  [ lt ] and Turov . In the struggle against the Order, Vytenis allied with Riga 's citizens; securing positions in Riga strengthened trade routes and provided

5952-596: The Polish language flowed into Lithuania. The first codification of Lithuanian laws, the Statute of Lithuania, was issued in Chancery Ruthenian (1529), but was quickly translated into Latin (1530) and Polish (1532). Court Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Lew Sapieha noted in the preface of the Third Statute of Lithuania (1588) that all state documents to be written exclusively in Ruthenian. Despite this, after

6076-469: The Polish translation of the statute was published in 1614, it was not reissued in Ruthenian ever again. Polish was increasingly used in official documents, especially after the Union of Lublin. Finally, in 1697, the Sejm, as part of the equalization of law between Lithuania and Poland, confirmed that only the Polish language was to be used in administration in Lithuania, although Ruthenian continued to be used on

6200-616: The Russians in Warsaw in 1861, Polish processions and clashes with Russian soldiers took place in Sejny. The Sejny County was one of the counties in which the insurgent unit of Józef Konstanty Ramotowski  [ pl ] operated during the January Uprising in 1863. Sejny was one of the sites of Russian executions of Polish insurgents during the January Uprising. There is a memorial at

6324-464: The Ruthenian lands stayed Orthodox , however, on 22 February 1387, Supreme Duke Jogaila banned Catholics marriages with Orthodox, and demanded those Orthodox who previously married with the Catholics to convert to Catholicism. At one point, though, Pope Alexander VI reprimanded the Grand Duke for keeping non-Catholics as advisers. Consequently, only in 1563 did Grand Duke Sigismund II Augustus issue

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6448-471: The Sejna river reached Sejny lake and soon settlement started. Wiśniowiecki, a mighty magnate from Volhynia , never came there personally and instead appointed his governor to rule the hamlet. In 1593 the town was sold by his great-granddaughter Anna, wife of voivode of Witebsk Mikołaj Sapieha , to a local noble Jerzy Grodziński for sixty times the amount of 10.000 grosz in silver . Until 1602 he transferred

6572-712: The Sejny Basilica. The priests wrote a letter of protest to the Pope John Paul II that the Polish Lithuanians could not pray in Lithuanian. From 16 October 1983, the services in the Sejny St. Basilica of the Virgin Mary began to be held in Lithuanian. Currently, Sejny is a notable centre of trade, production and tourism, with thousands of tourists visiting the town every year. A dairy and a cheese factory are located in

6696-432: The Statute, were only nobles). During the Polish–Swedish War (1600–1611) Polish and Lithuanian forces achieved victory and restored status quo ante bellum , notably winning the decisive Battle of Kircholm in 1605, while during the Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618) Polish and Lithuanian armies achieved territorial gains (e.g. restored the control of Smolensk , the capital of the Smolensk Voivodeship , in 1611) and for

6820-428: The Terrible 's military forces, which resulted in the reintegration of Polotsk to Lithuania and the restoration of control of the Duchy of Livonia . The rule of Lithuania by the Gediminid–Jagiellonian family representatives resumed through matrilineal line following the death of Báthory (1586) when Sigismund III Vasa (son of Catherine Jagiellon ) was elected in 1587 . On 28 January 1588, Sigismund III confirmed

6944-401: The area to Lithuania. On July 19 the Lithuanians recaptured the town. Then the Lithuanians closed Polish schools and offices, and began harassing Poles. After the Battle of Warsaw the Bolshevik forces were defeated and the Polish Army attacked the Lithuanian forces. As the Paris Peace Conference established the Polish-Lithuanian border roughly correspondent to the status quo ante bellum ,

7068-428: The area where the town now lies dates to 1385, noting an armed raid of the German knights from Castrum Leicze (Giżycko) to Merkinė . After the Treaty of Melno in 1422, Teutonic-Lithuanian border was determined, people began to return to the forests in the area. The territory formed part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish–Lithuanian union under the Jagiellonian dynasty , since 1569 transformed into

7192-468: The army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, under Konyushy Ivan Chelyadnin and Kniaz Mikhail Golitsin. The battle was part of a long series of Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars conducted by Russian rulers striving to gather all the former lands of Kievan Rus' under their rule. According to Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii by Sigismund von Herberstein, the primary source for the information on the battle, the much smaller army of Poland–Lithuania (under 30,000 men) defeated

7316-457: The city, which attempted to escape submission to Moscow . Such relationships could be tenuous, however, as changes in a city's internal politics could disrupt Lithuanian control, as happened on a number of occasions with Novgorod and other East-Slavic cities. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania managed to hold off Mongol incursions and eventually secured gains. In 1333 and 1339, Lithuanians defeated large Mongol forces attempting to regain Smolensk from

7440-780: The conquered Semigallians and Old Prussians to rebel against the Knights. Encouraged by Treniota , Mindaugas broke the peace with the Order, possibly reverted to pagan beliefs . He hoped to unite all Baltic tribes under the Lithuanian leadership. As military campaigns were not successful, the relationships between Mindaugas and Treniota deteriorated. Treniota, together with Daumantas of Pskov , assassinated Mindaugas and his two sons, Ruklys and Rupeikis, in 1263. The state lapsed into years of internal fighting. From 1263 to 1269, Lithuania had three grand dukes – Treniota , Vaišvilkas , and Švarnas . The state did not disintegrate, however, and Traidenis came to power in 1269. Traidenis strengthened Lithuanian control in Black Ruthenia , fought with

7564-419: The conquests, already initiated by Mindaugas in 13th century, began the process of fusing Ruthenian and Lithuanian culture and, in the absence of its own writing tradition, adopting Ruthenian as the language of administration and written communication. From at least the time of Vytautas , but probably much earlier, the language of internal administration was Chancery Ruthenian , a language similar to, but not

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7688-415: The country's capital since 1316 or 1321. The state continued to expand its territory under the reign of Grand Duke Algirdas and his brother Kęstutis , who both ruled the state harmonically. During the inaugurations of Lithuanian monarchs until 1569, the Gediminas' Cap was placed on the monarch's heads by the Bishop of Vilnius in Vilnius Cathedral . Lithuania was in a good position to conquer

7812-634: The court in Kraków, they learned Polish language over time. Casimir was the last Grand Duke to know the Lithuanian language. From 1500, the elite of the Lithuanian state rapidly adopted the Polish language. The process of moving away from Ruthenian to Polish in administration was soon apparent. The first were the nobles of Podlachia , who adopted Polish laws as early as the 1440s, and repeatedly demanded that official documents be written in Polish, since they no longer knew Ruthenian. The political reforms of 1564–1566 established sejmiks , local land courts, appellate courts modelled on Polish system, through which

7936-403: The creation of a Commissary Provisional Government of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which, in turn, renewed the Polish-Lithuanian Union . The union was never formalized, however, as only half a year later Napoleon's Grande Armée was pushed out of Russia and forced to retreat further westwards. In December 1812, Vilnius was recaptured by Russian forces, bringing all plans for the recreation of

8060-418: The deportation and murder of the Jews by Nazi Germany in the Holocaust during World War II . During World War I , in 1915 the town was captured and then occupied by Germany . Initially their forces made it part of the Ober Ost military administration, but Germany planned this area to be one of the puppet states in Central Europe in accordance with their Mitteleuropa plan. Following Germany's defeat in

8184-412: The ethnically Lithuanian peasants and some middle nobility. Islam in Lithuania , unlike many other northern and western European countries, has a long history starting from 14th century. Small groups of Muslim Lipka Tatars migrated to ethnically Lithuanian lands, mainly under the rule of Grand Duke Vytautas (early 15th century). In Lithuania, unlike many other European societies at the time, there

8308-407: The factual termination of the Polish–Lithuanian union also occurred during the reign of Casimir's sons Alexander Jagiellon and John I Albert who had respectively ruled Lithuania and Poland separately in 1492–1501. The rapid expansion of the influence of Moscow soon put it into a comparable position to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and after the annexation of Novgorod Republic in 1478, Muscovy

8432-443: The first time fully captured Russia's capital Moscow in 1610. Sigismund III's son, Władysław IV Vasa , began ruling Lithuania in 1632 and achieved military success and popularity during the Smolensk War , but he renounced his claims to the Russian throne per the Treaty of Polyanovka in 1634 and failed at reclaiming the Swedish throne. John II Casimir Vasa 's reign was initially marked with disastrous military loses as during

8556-407: The forces of the Grand Duchy in the Battle of Grunwald . The battle ended in a decisive Polish-Lithuanian victory against the Teutonic Order . The war of Lithuania against military Orders , which lasted for more than 200 years, and was one of the longest wars in the history of Europe, was finally ended. Vytautas backed the economic development of the state and introduced many reforms. Under his rule,

8680-424: The fusion of Lithuanian and Ruthenian elements in its culture, became the trigger for a long-running debate among historians from Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine over whether the state was essentially Lithuanian or Ruthenian-Lithuanian, in which the more advanced Ruthenian culture played a central role. Before the Lithuanian expansion into the Ruthenian lands, Lithuanian was the only language of public life. However,

8804-452: The incumbent, he does not have the majority support of the council. 2002 – 6,010 inhabitants, by nationality: 1921 – 2,254 inhabitants, by nationality: 1897 – 3,778 inhabitants, by language: The local football club is Pomorzanka Sejny. It competes in the lower leagues. Sejny is twinned with: Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from

8928-565: The issue, but, on August 22, 1919, on the day German troops withdrew from the area, Polish Military Organization organized a military action against the Lithuanian rule in what became known as the Sejny Uprising (or "Seinai Revolt"). Sejny changed hands several times. During these battles, both sides used repressive measures - the Lithuanians had deported a lot of Polish families, while the Polish had closed all Lithuanian schools. On August 28,

9052-462: The last Baltic ally of Lithuania, in 1291. The Orders could now turn their full attention to Lithuania. The "buffer zone" composed of other Baltic tribes had disappeared, and Grand Duchy of Lithuania was left to battle the Orders on its own. The Gediminid dynasty ruled the grand duchy for over a century, and Vytenis was the first ruler of the dynasty. During his reign Lithuania was in constant war with

9176-477: The loss of land to Moscow, and the continued pressure threatened the survival of the state of Lithuania, so it was forced to ally more closely with Poland, forming a real union with the Kingdom of Poland in the Union of Lublin of 1569. The union was formally called the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , however now commonly known as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . During

9300-549: The main target of both orders. The battle provided a break in the wars with the Knights, and Lithuania exploited this situation, arranging attacks on the Ruthenian provinces and annexing Navahrudak and Hrodna . In 1248, a civil war broke out between Mindaugas and his nephews Tautvilas and Edivydas . The powerful coalition against Mindaugas included Vykintas, the Livonian Order, Daniel of Galicia and Vasilko of Volhynia . Taking advantage of internal conflicts, Mindaugas allied with

9424-596: The mid-16th century, already before the Union of Lublin in 1569. The first mention of the name Lithuania is found in the Annals of Quedlinburg , which describes the missionary expedition of Bruno of Querfurt to Yotvingians. In the 12th century, Slavic chronicles refer to Lithuania as one of the areas attacked by the Rus' . Pagan Lithuanians initially paid tribute to Polotsk , but they soon grew in strength and organized their own small-scale raids. At some point between 1180 and 1183

9548-510: The mid-16th century, the other being Ruthenian; later, both languages began to be replaced by Polish. Ruthenian culture dominated the courts of the Gediminid princes since the 14th century, especially those ruling directly over Ruthenian subjects. Grand Duke Jogaila was most likely bilingual, knowing and speaking Lithuanian and Ruthenian, and was able to communicate in the Samogitian dialect of

9672-463: The monks started the construction of a large monastery there. The construction of the monastery was finished in 1619 and by 1632 a new church was built nearby, devoted to Holy Mary , Saint George and Saint Hyacinth . The town developed slowly, mostly due to low traffic on the old trade routes to Grodno. In the 17th century, another church was built, consecrated to the Holy Spirit . A printing press

9796-620: The nearby forests. In 1925, Sejny became part of the Suwałki County (powiat) and it was only in 1956 that the Sejny County (powiat) was restored (during the Polish People's Republic ). The 1930s saw the development of the town and the construction of new residential buildings and workplaces. Sejny was part of Poland "B", that is, it was located in a poorer part of Poland. During the invasion of Poland , which started World War II , in 1939

9920-450: The new settlement received significant income from trading. The founder of the town financed a Catholic St George's church and established a new parochy . Jerzy Grodziński died without heirs. On May 16, 1602, he had bequeathed all of his properties to the Dominican monastery in Vilnius . He died on 12 January 1603 and on 4 June 1603 king Sigismund III Vasa accepted the testament. In 1610

10044-562: The north to the Black Sea in the south. The grand duchy expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus' and other neighbouring states, including what is now Belarus , Lithuania , most of Ukraine as well as parts of Latvia , Moldova , Poland and Russia . At its greatest extent, in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe. It was a multi-ethnic and multiconfessional state, with great diversity in languages, religion, and cultural heritage. The consolidation of

10168-402: The other hand, such a fact is not unprecedented in world history. A credible modern theory of etymology of the name of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuva ) is Artūras Dubonis's hypothesis that Lietuva relates to the word leičiai (plural of leitis , a social group of warriors-knights in the early Grand Duchy of Lithuania). The title of the Grand Duchy was consistently applied to Lithuania from

10292-423: The past, the Lithuanians and the Žemaičiai now faced a common enemy. Likely Živinbudas had the most authority and at least several dukes were from the same families. The formal acknowledgement of common interests and the establishment of a hierarchy among the signatories of the treaty foreshadowed the emergence of the state. Mindaugas, the duke of southern Lithuania, was among the five senior dukes mentioned in

10416-409: The peasants. Since the 16th century, Polish was used much more often than other languages for writing. Polish finally became the Commonwealth's official chancellery language in 1697. Other important ethnic groups throughout the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were Jews and Tatars . Jews spoke mainly in the eastern dialect of Yiddish. The Lithuanian Tatars used a language of Kipchak origin that

10540-461: The period of the Union, many of the territories formerly controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were transferred to the Crown of the Polish Kingdom , while the gradual process of Polonization slowly drew Lithuania itself under Polish domination. Following the death of Grand Duke Sigismund II Augustus in 1572, a joint Polish–Lithuanian monarch was to be elected as in the Union of Lublin it

10664-535: The place of the executions. After the uprisings the town was deprived of its privileges and neglected by Russia. The lack of railway development by the Russian Empire prevented the town from developing industry. Sejny continued as a small provincial town and a local centre of trade and commerce. Nonetheless, the Neo-baroque Sejny Synagogue was built in the 1860s, now used as a cultural center after

10788-511: The region waned thereafter. In 1387, Moldavia became a vassal of Poland and, in a broader sense, of Lithuania. By this time, Lithuania had conquered the territory of the Golden Horde all the way to the Dnieper River. In a crusade against the Golden Horde in 1398 (in an alliance with Tokhtamysh ), Lithuania invaded northern Crimea and won a decisive victory. In an attempt to place Tokhtamish on the Golden Horde throne in 1399, Lithuania moved against

10912-530: The same as, the spoken language used by Ruthenians living in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. As for the correspondences with foreign courts the grand ducal chancellery prepared it in the language appropriate to the recipient: Latin for the correspondence with the West, German with the Teutonic Order and Chancery Ruthenian with the East Slavic and Tatar rulers. The language used at court continued to be Lithuanian until

11036-464: The school in Marijampolė, which in 1867 was converted into a seven-year gymnasium. The Tsarist authorities also established ten annual scholarships of 360 rubles for children of Lithuanian farmers who graduated from Marijampolė and Suwałki Gymnasiums to study at Moscow and Saint Petersburg Universities . In 1870, a dedicated two-storey brick building was erected. During World War I , the gymnasium

11160-502: The second half of the 16th century, Calvinism spread in Lithuania, supported by the families of Radziwiłł , Chodkiewicz , Sapieha , Dorohostajski and others. By the 1580s the majority of the senators from Lithuania were Calvinist or Socinian Unitarians ( Jan Kiszka ). In 1579, Stephen Báthory , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, founded Vilnius University , one of the oldest universities in Northern Europe . Due to

11284-679: The situation began to change, and the Lithuanians started to organize sustainable military raids on the Slavic provinces, raiding the Principality of Polotsk as well as Pskov , and even threatening Novgorod . The sudden spark of military raids marked consolidation of the Lithuanian lands in Aukštaitija . The Lithuanians are the only branch within the Baltic group that managed to create a state entity in premodern times. The Lithuanian Crusade began after

11408-540: The title changed to "King of Lithuanians and Ruthenians, ruler and duke of Semigallia" when Semigallia became part of the state. The 1529 edition of the Statute of Lithuania described the titles of Sigismund I the Old as "King of Poland, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Samogitia, Mazovia, and other [lands]". The country was also called the Republic of Lithuania ( Latin : Respublica Lituana ) since at least

11532-556: The town became part of the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw and a major administrative centre within the Łomża Department . After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815, the town became part of newly formed Congress Poland in the Russian Partition of Poland, retaining its status as a seat of a powiat within the Augustów Voivodeship . In 1818 the bishopric was moved to Sejny from Wigry and Sejny Priest Seminary

11656-559: The town was captured a first time by the Red Army , then a second time on 18 August 944. Soon afterwards, it was delivered to the new Soviet -controlled communist authorities of Poland. After the war, the local population, largely depleted during the war, started to recuperate. A notable influx of Poles resettled from the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union allowed for fast reconstruction of

11780-459: The town was first captured by the Soviet Union on September 24, 1939. Sejny was severely pillaged and then on 13 October 1939 transferred to Nazi Germany . It remained occupied by the Germans until August 1944. Poles were subjected to mass arrests, executions and deportations to Nazi concentration camps , and the local Jewish community was almost completely destroyed. The Germans carried out

11904-532: The town, as well as numerous hotels. Sejny is also a notable centre of the cultural life of the Lithuanian minority in Poland . It is the main seat of the Lithuanian Society of Poland and the Aušra bi-weekly. Lithuanians constituted 7.9% (474) of the city's inhabitants in 2002 and 20.2% (4,271) of the population in the Sejny County (powiat) in 2011. Due to that, there is a Lithuanian consulate there, as well as

12028-590: The town, the Dominicans started the reconstruction of Sejny, leading to the construction of notable examples of baroque architecture. The church received a new façade, in 1770 a new town hall was built, and in 1778 a new marketplace and a new Wooden synagogue were opened. During the Third Partition of Poland , Sejny was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1795 and was made part of the newly established province of New East Prussia . Initially neglected, in 1807

12152-479: The town. In 1956, after the administrative reform of that year, Sejny once again became a seat of a powiat . Although it was cancelled in 1975, the new administrative division of Poland passed in 1999 reinstituted it. Depopulation may ultimately again threaten the present local and regional administrative organisation. In 1980, Lithuanian priests, including priest Pranas Gavėnas  [ lt ] , visited Sejny and were forbidden to celebrate Mass in Lithuanian in

12276-515: The treaty with Galicia–Volhynia. The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle , reports that by the mid-1230s, Mindaugas had acquired supreme power in the whole of Lithuania. In 1236, the Samogitians, led by Vykintas , defeated the Livonian Order in the Battle of Saule . The Order was forced to become a branch of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, making Samogitia, a strip of land that separated Livonia from Prussia,

12400-476: The two are from the same suffix branch. The river flows in the lowlands and easily spills over its banks, therefore the traditional Lithuanian form liet - could be directly translated as lietis (to spill), of the root derived from the Proto-Indo-European leyǝ- . However, the river is very small and some find it improbable that such a small and local object could have lent its name to an entire nation. On

12524-403: The unnamed village (sometimes referred to as Sejna ) into a town called Juriewo , after its founder. However, the name did not stick and instead it was named Sejny. The town's market was located on a small hill overlooking the right bank of the river, near the original wooden manor. It was located right on the earlier trade route. South of the town, a new road leading to Grodno was created and

12648-643: The uprising and its aftermath in order to elicit internal and external support. Sejny town at the time had approximately 2500 inhabitants. Only a year later, the town was captured by the Soviet Russia in the course of the Polish–Soviet War . To ensure the right of passage through Lithuanian territory, on 12 July 1920 the Soviet authorities signed the Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty of 1920 , in which it ceded

12772-489: The uprising ended with a Polish success, and the town became a part of Poland. After Poles acquired the town and its surroundings, the Lithuanian population of the region was subject to various repressions, which included evictions; banning the use of Lithuanian language in public; closures of Lithuanian organizations, schools and press; and confiscation of property. The Polish historian Piotr Łossowski has suggested that both sides exaggerated repressions they suffered during

12896-459: The war ended, the monks returned to the town and started its reconstruction. On November 8, 1670, the king Michael I granted the town the privilege of organizing a market and fair once a week. This helped the monks to repopulate the town with new Polish settlers, mostly from over-populated Masovia . In the early 18th century the Great Northern War put an end to the prosperity, as the town

13020-590: The war, the German garrisons started to withdraw from the area. On May 8, 1919 Germany handed over the administration to Lithuania which recently declared its independence . This led to tensions between Lithuania and Poland (which also declared independence around the same time ), as both claimed the area. Under pressure from the Conference of Ambassadors (later to become the League of Nations ), Poland initially backed down on

13144-449: The western and the southern parts of the former Kievan Rus' . While almost every other state around it had been plundered or defeated by the Mongols , the hordes stopped at the modern borders of Belarus, and the core territory of the Grand Duchy was left mostly untouched. The weak control of the Mongols over the areas they had conquered allowed the expansion of Lithuania to accelerate. Rus' principalities were never incorporated directly into

13268-558: The work of the Jesuits during the Counter-Reformation the university soon developed into one of the most important scientific and cultural centres of the region and the most notable scientific centre of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The work of the Jesuits as well as conversions from among the Lithuanian senatorial families turned the tide and by the 1670s Calvinism lost its former importance though it still retained some influence among

13392-478: Was agreed that the title "Grand Duke of Lithuania" will be received by a jointly elected monarch in the Election sejm on his accession to the throne, thus losing its former institutional significance, however the Union of Lublin guaranteed that the institution and the title "Grand Duke of Lithuania" will be preserved. In 1573, Henry Valua was elected as the first joint Polish–Lithuanian monarch, however his rule

13516-425: Was among the preeminent states in northeastern Europe . Between 1492 and 1508, Ivan III further consolidated Muscovy, winning the key Battle of Vedrosha and capturing such ancient lands of Kievan Rus' as Chernihiv and Bryansk . On 8 September 1514, the allied forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, under the command of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski, fought the Battle of Orsha against

13640-614: Was created sometime between 1315 and 1317 by the Constantinople Patriarch John XIII . Following the Galicia–Volhynia Wars which divided the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland , in 1355 the Halych metropoly was liquidated and its eparchies transferred to the metropoles of Lithuania and Volhynia. In 1387, Lithuania converted to Catholicism , while most of

13764-464: Was established in 1826. The town continued to prosper, despite a major fire that had struck the city earlier that year. The population also grew rapidly. Prosperity declined in the latter part of the 19th century. During the November Uprising and the January Uprising the town's inhabitants took part in the struggles against Imperial Russia . After the massacres of Polish protesters committed by

13888-407: Was evacuated to Yaroslavl until 1918. The gymnasium was reestablished in independent Lithuania and was known as one of the best schools in the country. In 1920 it was named after one of the pen names of Jonas Jablonskis . Its director Kazys Jokantas became Minister of Education (1925–1926) and teacher Vincas Vilkaitis became rector of Lithuanian Agricultural Academy (1934–1940). During the times of

14012-468: Was first mentioned in 1009 in Annals of Quedlinburg . Some older etymological theories relate the name to a small river not far from Kernavė , the core area of the early Lithuanian state and a possible first capital of the would-be Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is usually credited as the source of the name. This river's original name is Lietava . As time passed, the suffix - ava could have changed into - uva , as

14136-461: Was full of borrowings from Turkish and Arabic . It ceased to be used in the 16th century, and was replaced by Ruthenian and Polish, written in the Arabic alphabet . Brought in 1397 from Crimea, Karaites used a dialect of West Karaite language , while Hebrew was used for religious purposes. In addition, Livonia , which had been politically connected to the Grand Duchy since the mid-16th century,

14260-571: Was inhabited by Latgalians who spoke a dialect of the Latvian language . Inhabiting the towns, mainly in Livonia, the mostly Protestant Germans used a local variety of German called Baltendeutsch . Prussian and Yotvingians refugees, pushed out by the Teutonic Knights, also found their footing in the Grand Duchy. Similarly, Russian Old Believers emigrated to Lithuanian lands in the 17th century. The Grand Duchy's linguistic and ethnic situation, as well as

14384-640: Was located in Kernavė until 1316 or 1321 where Traidenis and Vytenis mainly resided and led to its prosperity. During this time, the Orders finalized their conquests. In 1274, the Great Prussian Rebellion ended, and the Teutonic Knights proceeded to conquer other Baltic tribes: the Nadruvians and Skalvians in 1274–1277, and the Yotvingians in 1283; the Livonian Order completed its conquest of Semigalia,

14508-422: Was mentioned for the first time in 1558. There were 42 Tatar families in the village in 1630. The majority of inhabitants of Lithuania proper , which included the voivodeships of Vilnius , Trakai and Samogitia , spoke Lithuanian. These areas remained almost wholly Lithuanian-speaking, both colloquially and by ruling nobility. Despite its frequent oral use, Lithuanian did not begin to be used in writing until

14632-471: Was once again a part of the Commonwealth following the Lithuanian revolt against the Swedes. The Lithuania's capital Vilnius was liberated in 1661. Throughout this Polish–Lithuanian Union period, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania remained a separate state and retained many rights in the federation (including separate name, territory, coat of arms, ministries, ruling system, laws, army, courts, treasury, and seal) until

14756-506: Was pillaged by several armies in a row. The soldiers also carried two consecutive plagues to the town. At the same time, the area was being populated, and numerous settlements were founded not far from Sejny. In 1715 the Camedulian monks founded a village and a monastery, which developed into what is now the town of Suwałki . Other towns founded in that period were Puńsk , Augustów , Jeleniewo and Krasnopol . With increased prosperity in

14880-473: Was recognized as a Christian state until 1260, when Mindaugas supported an uprising in Courland and (according to the German order) renounced Christianity. Up until 1387, Lithuanian nobles professed their own religion, which was polytheistic . Ethnic Lithuanians were very dedicated to their faith. The pagan beliefs needed to be deeply entrenched to survive strong pressure from missionaries and foreign powers. Until

15004-602: Was religious freedom. Lithuanian Tatars were allowed to settle in certain places, such as Trakai and Kaunas . Keturiasdešimt Totorių is one of the oldest Tatar settlements in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After a successful military campaign of the Crimean Peninsula in 1397, Vytautas brought the first Crimean Tatar prisoners of war to Trakai and various places in the Duchy of Trakai , including localities near Vokė river just south of Vilnius. The first mosque in this village

15128-456: Was short and he never personally visited the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, despite being announced as the Grand Duke of Lithuania. The double election of 1575 was held in the presence of a small number of Lithuanian lords, who additionally supported the Habsburg candidate Emperor Maximilian II, however, the race for the crown was won by Stephen Báthory, crowned on May 1, 1576. The Lithuanian lords, at

15252-406: Was small-scale. After the Union of Lublin , this movement significantly increased. Polish was adopted also gradually by the local inhabitants. Already in early 16th century, Polish became the Lithuanian magnates' first language. The following century it was adopted by the Lithuanian nobility in general. The Polish language also penetrated other social strata: the clergy, the townspeople, and even

15376-461: Was started and most probably a hospital. The monastery was being constantly expanded, becoming one of the most notable examples of a fortified monastery in Central Europe. War with Swedish Empire , known as The Deluge , was disastrous for the town. In 1656, after a major battle took place nearby, the town was captured by the Swedes, looted and burnt to the ground. The monastery survived and after

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