Upytė
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Upytė (in the Lithuanian language the name is a diminutive form of the word upė meaning river, Polish: Upita) is a small village in Panevėžys district municipality in northern Lithuania. It is situated some 12 km southwest of Panevėžys on the banks of Vešeta Creek. It is now a capital of an elderate. In 1987 it had 580 residents.
[edit] History
The name Upytė was first mentioned in 1254 in a Livonian chronicle dealing with division of Upmala region. Upytė had a wooden defensive castle which remains survived into the 18th century. The castle stood on an island of Lake Vešeta. The lake was drained and the island became a hillfort. The castle was an important northern defence post against the numerous Livonian Order attacks. Between 1353 and 1379 alone it survived 10 such attacks. The castle was further extended and fortified in 15th century, when it served the Upytė Starost. It is believed that the abandoned castle collapsed in 17th century, when the seat of the starost was moved to Panevėžys.
Upytė was a capital of a historic Upytė Land (Lithuanian: Upytės žemė) in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The land later was transformed into an eldership, part of Principality of Trakai. A document from 1556 tells that Panevėžys along with 57 other towns and 359 villages was part of the eldership. In the 1500's Upytė started losing its prominence as the defensive castle lost its function. In 1548 Krekenava became the capital of Upytė Eldership. At that time Panevėžys grew to become an economic center and Upytė lost to this rival. Nevertheless, Upytė is one of the longest surviving ancient land capitals.
The elders of Upytė included Konstanty Ostrogski, Stanislovas Goštautas, Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł and Janusz Radziwiłł. One of its elders, a delegate to Warsaw Sejm, Władysław Siciński (Polish name, known in Lithuanian as Čičinskas), bribed by Janusz Radziwiłł, was the first person to execute his Liberum veto rights in order to disrupt Sejm convention (in 1652). The Liberum veto was believed to be one of the factors leading to collapse of Polish-Lithuanian democracy, and eventually to the partition of the commonwealth by foreign powers. The incident was prominently mentioned in "The Deluge", one of the best known Polish historical novels by Henryk Sienkiewicz.
According to a local legend the evil master Čičinskas was struck by thunder god Perkūnas for all his sins, and his estate sank in a sinkhole located near the Upytė hillfort, called now the "Hill of Čičinskas". The legend has it that his dead body appeared since and haunted the Russians in the neighbourhood. Eventually, Mikhail Muravyov the Hanger ordered it to be exhumed and buried under the floor of the church in 1865. According to the legend this led to Muravyov's death soon after. Poets Adam Mickiewicz in his ballad The Stay in Upita and Maironis in his poem Čičinskas used this legend.
In 2004 Upytė celebrated its 750th anniversary by holding a conference Upytė Land: History and Culture.
In 1938 archeologists near Upytė excavated a graveyard dating from the 3-5th centuries. It contained 51 graves of women, men, and children. The graves provided a number of findings: men's graves had iron tools and guns (bridles, axes, knives, etc.) and women's had bronze jewellery (bracelets, pins, pedants, beads, etc.)
[edit] References
- "Upytė". Encyclopedia Lituanica VI: 599-600. (1970-1978). Ed. Simas Sužiedėlis. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. LCC 74-114275.
- (Lithuanian) "Upytė seniūnija," Panevėžys district municipality. Accessed 7 October 2006.
- (Lithuanian) "Upytė". Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedija IV: 382-383. (1988). Ed. Jonas Zinkus, et. al. Vilnius, Lithuania: Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija.
- (Lithuanian) Tomas Baranauskas, "Seniausios žinios apie Upytę," Voruta, No. 20 (566), 2 October 2004. Accessed 7 October 2006.
- (Lithuanian) Dalia Greviškienė, "Upytės žemės 750 metų jubiliejus," Voruta, No. 13 (559), 9 July 2004. Accessed 7 October 2006.
