Goštautai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Goštautai was a Lithuanian noble family, one of the most influential families in the 14-16th centuries. Their only serious rivals were the Kęsgailos, and from the end of the 15th century new power aspiring Radvila family. Most power family gained during the reign of Casimir Jagiellon. The companion of Vytautas, Jonas Goštautas, was the precursor of the family. The majority of the family's possessions (lands) were in the eastern ethnic Lithuania.
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[edit] Name
The Goštautai family name may be found in numerous renderings: Gasztold, Gasztołd, Gasztołt, Gashtold, Gastoldus, Gastold, Gastołd, Gosztold, Gosztowd, Gosztowt, Gosztowtt, Gochtovtt, Gasztowt, Gaszdtowt, Gasztowtt, Gasthawdus, Gostautas and Goštautas; they are all different renderings of the same pagan given name of Goštautai's ancestor, mentioned in written sources as Johann Gastawd[1]. Upon the baptism he retained his pagan Lithuanian name (which may be reconstructed as *Gāstaŭtas) and passed it on to his descendants; that was a common practice of the rising Lithuanian nobility subsequent to the Christianization of Lithuania. Hence at first such names were used much like patronymics rather than surnames in a modern sense[2].
In Lithuanian the name of the clan is rendered Goštautai or Gostautai (singular, Goštautas or Gostautas); in Polish language the form Gasztołd is used. Contemporary written sources use different forms of the name; latest English sources prefer the form Gostautas.[3]
[edit] Notable family members
- Jonas Goštautas (1393 - 1458), voivod of Vilnius - was head of Council of Lords, that elected 13 year old Casimir Jagiellon as Grand Duke of Lithuania, and thus for three years abolished personal union with Poland.
- Martynas Goštautas (1428 - 1483), Voivod of Kijev and Voivod of Trakai.
- Albrecht Goštautas (1462 - 1539), best known member of the family. He was voivod of Vilnius and chancellor of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was one of the initiators and financiers of Lithuanian Statutes.
- Stanislovas Goštautas (1507(?) - 1542) was the last representative of family main branch.
- Carmen Bernos de Gasztold (1919- ) - French poet.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Regesten und Texte zur Geschichte Preußens und des Deutschen Ordens
- ^ (English) William R. Schmalstieg (1982). "Lithuanian Names". Lituanus: Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences 28 (3). ISSN 0024-5089.
- ^ Lithuania Ascending– A Pagan Empire Within East-central Europe, 1295-1345 S. C. Rowell
[edit] External links
- (Polish) Genealogia rodziny Gastold
- (French) Site de la famille Gochtovtt
- (French) Armoires des Gosctovtt
