Noble people on Belarusian lands (Belarusian: шляхта, szlachta) were usually of Slavic (Ruthenian) origin in the east or of Baltic (Lithuanian in historical context, Litvin) origin in the west of the lands of what is now Belarus. The percentage of nobility among inhabitants of the lands of modern Belarus was very high compared to other countries: 10%-12% at the end of 18th century compared to 1% in Russia, Prussia or Austria of that time. According to the historian Anatol Hrytskievich, this was because of the necessity to have a large amount of military szlachta was the base for.
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Ruthenian duchies of Polatsk, Turau and Pinsk, Drutsk and others have been incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Ruthenian gentry became the largest part of the common Lithuanian nobility.
At the same time, the Baltic nobility of Lithuania Propria actively adopted Ruthenian culture, language and traditions. The Lithuanian higher nobility largely embraced Slavic customs and Orthodox Christianity.Much of the upper class of the Grand Duchy called themselves Lithuanians (Litviny), yet spoke the Ruthenian language (also referred to as Old Belarusian language)[1][2][3] In the effect of the processes, Lithuanian higher nobility became largely Ruthenian,[4] while the lesser nobility in the ethnic Baltic lands of what is now Republic of Lithuania continued to use native spoken Lithuanian language. The adapted Old Church Slavonic and later the Ruthenian language, acquired a status of a main chancery language in the local matters and relations with other Orthodox principalities as lingua franca, and Latin was used in relations with the Western Europe.[5]
In the 16th century 80% of feudals on Belarusian lands were of Ruthenian ethnicity and 19% of Baltic.[6] No major conflicts between Ruthenian and Baltic szlachta of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania are known. Equality of their rights was also guaranteed by the Lithuanian Statutes of 1529, 1566 and 1588. As time passed, the differences between Lithuanian and Ruthenian fractions of the nobility of the inside the Grand Duchy of Lithuania practically disappeared.
Until the 16th century Old Belarusian language was used by most of the szlachta of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, including the Grand Dukes and including the region of Samogitia, both in formal affairs and in private[7]. From the 16th century Polish language became more actively used, especially by Magnates while minor szlachta remained Old Belarusian-speaking.
Since that time the Belarusian szlachta actively adopted Polish noble customs and traditions, such as Sarmatism. However, despite that the nobility stayed politically loyal to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and defended it autonomy in disputes with the Polish crown within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth[4].
Russification of the lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 19th century and early 20th century.[8]
In the late 18th and 19th centuries Belarusian szlachta were active participants of anti-Russian uprisings on the territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Tadeusz Kościuszko (Tadevush Kastsyushka), a nobleman from what is now Belarus, was leader of the Kościuszko Uprising in 1793. Kastus Kalinouski was the leader of January Uprising on the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
By the 19th century polonization of the szlachta on one hand and russification and violent introduction of Russian Orthodoxy to the peasantry on the other hand led to a situation where the social barrier between aristocracy and peasantry on Belarusian lands became in many aspects an ethnic barrier[9]. In the 19th century, the era of nationalism, local intellectuals of peasant origin and some szlachta people like Francišak Bahuševič and Vintsent Dunin-Martsinkyevich contributed to the forming of modern-day Belarusians as a new nation of Slavonic-speaking inhabitants of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania and basing on the historical and legacy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and previous Ruthenian kingdoms of Polatsk and Turau. At the same time Baltic-speakers of the lands of modern Republic of Lithuania formed into modern-day Lithuanians and the historical unity of Ruthenians and Lithuanians fell apart.
At the beginning of the 20th century the Belarusian nobility has been primarily politically active in the Krajowcy political movement. Still, some of them, like Raman Skirmunt, have been sympathetic with the Belarusian national movement and have supported the creation of an independent Belarusian Democratic Republic in 1918.
After the October Revolution the Belarusian nobility was severely hit by Bolshevist terror. East Belarus faced Soviet terror already since early 1920s, while most noble people living in West Belarus were repressed only upon the territory's annexation by the USSR in 1939. Belarusian historians speak of a genocide of the Belarusian gentry carried out by the Bolsheviks[6]
However, by the beginning of the 20th century many minor nobles in Belarus were hardly distinguishable from usual peasants, only top aristocracy faced repressions because of their noble origin.
Upon Belarus regaining independence in 1991, remaining descendants of noble families in Belarus have formed certain organizations, particularly the Union of Belarusian Noble People (Згуртаванне беларускай шляхты). There is, however, a split between the noble people identifying themselves rather with the Polish-Lithuanian szlachta and the Russian dvoryanstvo.
In 2009 descendants of the Radziwill family have visited their former family castles in Mir and Niasvizh.
Initially, the Belarusian noble people were called bajary (Belarusian: баяры) (on the territory of what is now Republic of Lithuania the word bajorai was used).
After passing of the Horodło privileges along with the word bajary the term bajary-szlachta (баяры-шляхта) or simply szlachta (шляхта) was used in documentation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that was predominantly written in Old Belarusian language. In 15th-16th centuries nobility in Polesia or Podlacha was also often called ziamianie (зямяне). Since the second quarter of 16th century the word szlachta (шляхта) became the dominant Belarusian term for noble people.
By the 14th century the majority of the Belarusian nobility, both Baltic and Ruthenian, were Eastern Orthodox. After the Christianization of pagan Baltic tribes of what is now Republic of Lithuania in 1387 more and more noble people started converting to Roman Catholicism which became the dominant religion among aristocracy.
In the 16th century a large part of Belarusian nobility, both Catholic and Orthodox, converted to Calvinism and other Protestant churches following the example of the Radziwills. However, under the influence of counter-reformation in late 16th century and early 17th century most of them converted to Roman Catholicism. By the annexation of modern Belarusian lands by the Russian Empire in the end of the 18th century the Belarusian gentry was predominantly Roman Catholic while the rest of the population was mainly Eastern Catholic with a small Eastern Orthodox minority living in the east of modern Belarus. Still, there was also Eastern Orthodox szlachta in the surroundings of Pinsk, Davyd-Haradok, Slutsk and Mahiliou as well as calvinist szlachta.
See Polish heraldry
Belarusian aristocrats had their family symbols already in the 14th century. One of the privileges introduced to the gentry by the Union of Horodlo was the usage of Polish (sometimes modified) coats of arms.
There are about 5 thousands coats of arms of Polish, Belarusian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian szlachta.