Voruta

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For other uses, see Voruta (disambiguation).

Šeiminyškėliai Hillfort, one of the presumed sites of Voruta

Voruta may have been the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Lithuania during the reign of king Mindaugas in the 13th century. The exact location of Voruta is unknown and there are many contradictory theories about it.

Mindaugas, the first and the only crowned Lithuanian king, defended himself in Voruta during an internal war against his nephews Tautvilas and Edivydas and Duke of Samogitia Vykintas in 1251. This information, taken from the Hypatian Chronicle, is the only recorded message about Voruta. Mindaugas' castle is mentioned in two more written sources, but neither its name nor location is specified. It is also unclear if they refer to the same one castle.^[1]

Nevertheless, some historians in 19th and 20th centuries called it "the first capital of Lithuania" and attempted to identify its location. Most argued that Voruta is the current capital of Lithuania Vilnius or the medieval capital at Kernavė. Modern Lithuanian historian Tomas Baranauskas believes that it is Šeimyniškėliai (literally, a diminutive plural form of a word, meaning war prisoners turned into family servants) Hillfort near Anykščiai, the biggest in the Eastern Lithuania. In total there were about fourteen suggested locations of Voruta. Others argue that Voruta was not an actual city, but just a misinterpretation of a word that means capital. In opinion of Kazimieras Būga, one of the prominent Lithuanian philologists, the word voruta simply means castle.

Despite all the uncertainties, the concept of Voruta is well-known and popular in the Lithuanian imagination.

[edit] List of suggested locations

These sites were suggested by various historians in various times:^[2]

Berzgainiai in Ukmergė district by Petras Tarasenka
Buteikiai in Anykščiai district by Kazimieras Žebrys
Gorodishche near Navahrudak by Teodor Narbutt
Kernavė by F. Papė
Karelich near Navahrudak by Mikola Jermalovič
Liškiava by Jonas Totoraitis
Medininkai by Evaldas Gečiauskas
Ročiškė in Raseiniai district by Ludwik Krzywicki
Šeimyniškėliai in Anykščiai district by Eduardas Volteris
Ūturiai in Raseiniai district by Wojciech Kętrzyński
Varnėnai in Hrodna Voblast, Belarus by Juliusz Latkowski
Vilnius by Romas Batūra
Area of Daugai-Varėna by Henryk Łowmiański
Area of Medvėgalis-Varniai by A. Steponaitis

Since publication, some of the theories have been largely discredited.

[edit] References

^ (Lithuanian) Gudavičius, Edvardas (1998). Mindaugas. Vilnius: Žara. ISBN 9986-34-020-9.
^ (Lithuanian) Zabiela, Gintautas (1995). Lietuvos medinės pilys. Vilnius: Diemedis, 175. ISBN 9986-23-018-7.