History of Lithuania: Primary Documents
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EuroDocs > History of Lithuania: Primary Documents
Antiquity to 14th Century
- Overview of various "Germanic" tribes by the Roman historian Tacitus. Includes Aesti living in what is now the Baltic states.
- (English translation; 97 AD)
- Collection of images of historical documents.
- Provided by The Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.
- (facsimiles from 11th century to 20th century)
- Important early history from a German convent, probably written by a nun. First written mention of Lithuania by name, as seen HERE
- (Complete German translation)
- Multiple records of the Middle Ages in Lithuania and Belarus.
- (Middle Ages; transcription in Polish and Russian)
- Multiple documents of an economic, juridical, and political nature.
- Agreements between princes, as well as with other foreign countries.
- (13th to 15th centuries; commentaries, transcriptions in Old Slavic)
- Chronological commentary with links to primary documents from Belarus's past.
- Includes relations and wars with Lithuania and other countries.
- (13th century to present; Belarusian transcriptions, English translations, images, maps, and commentary)
- Imperial Bull granting Teutonic Knights power over their conquests in the Baltics.
- (1226; Latin)
- Translated rhyming chronicle of account of Battle of Saule (also spelled Battle of Caule).
- Pagan "Samogitians led by the Duke Vykintas defeated the Knights of the Sword" in this battle.
- (22 September 1236; Russian translation)
- Information about the battle written in the Simeonovskiy record.
- (5 April 1242; transcription in the Old Slavic language and translation in Russian)
- Document relating to the conversion of the Lithuanian king, Mindaugas, to Christianity.
- (Latin facsimile; 1251)
- Collection of Letters to and from the Lithuanian Grand Duke, Gediminas.
- (English translation; 1322-1324)
- Peace treaty which stopped Teutonic aggression in Lithuania.
- (1323; Latin facsimile)
- Latin facsimile with Polish excerpts
- Conditions of union between Poland and Lithuania.
- (14 July 1385; Latin facsimile and English, Belarusian, Latin, and Polish transcriptions)
- Vladislav Jagiello, the Great Duke of Lithuania and Polish king, gives rights to nobles who accept Catholicism.
- (20 February 1387; Belarusian transcription)
15th Century - 19th Century
- Document about confirmation of the rights and privileges to the Lithuanian and Russian dukes and boyars of Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
- Includes rights of dukes to manage their properties as they choose, equal judicial rights for dukes and boyars, and obligations to renovate roads and castles.
- Document recognizes the Russian dukes and boyars and confirms all Polish privileges on them.
- (6 May 1434; Russian translation)
- Important historical parchments digitized by the Martynas Mazvydas Lithuanian National Library
- (1465-1818; facsimiles)
- Provided by the Latvian National Library.
- (16th to 18th centuries; map facsimiles and descriptions)
- Diplomatics of Poland, in which are contained the privileges of the kings of Poland and the great captains of Lithuania
- (1506; Latin facsimile)
- Document contains information about economic and social changes in the country.
- (1529; transcription in Russian)
- (19 October 1558-24 February 1560; Russian transcription)
- Information about economic, political, and social changes in the country.
- (1566; transcription in Old Russian)
- Document about decision of Lublen Sejm to unite Poland and Lithuania in one country, the Rzeczpospolita.
- Document determines laws about king, Sejm, money, and trade taxes.
- (1569; Ukrainian translation)
- Chronicle by important German chronicler.
- (Low German facsimile; 1584)
- Document contains articles about conditions of coexistence of Catholic and Orthodox churches.
- (1596; English translation)
- (March 1607; transcription in Russian)
- Site contains numerous documents about relations between Poland and Russia.
- (1772-1795; commentaries, transcription in Russian)
- (1789-1792; translation in English)
- (1791; translation in Russian)
- Image of original document.
- Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations.
- Obligations and rights of each side.
- (20 October 1791; image, Polish transcription)
- (19 December 1795; transcription in Russian)
- Rebels who were sentenced to death in "Vilna, Kovno, Grodno, Minsk, Vitebsk, [and] Mogilev."
- Supplemental Material.
- (1863-1864; Belarusian transcriptions)
- Administrative edict banning the use of Latin letters to print Lithuanian. Part of attempted Russification of Lithuania.
- (1864; Russian and Lithuanian with Cyrillic Letters; Facsimile)
- Underground Lithuanian newspaper published during the press ban.
- (1883-1886; Lithuanian facsimiles)
- Underground newspaper published for years in Lithuanian during the press ban.
- (1889-1932; Lithuanian facsimiles)
- National Anthem of Lithuania. Adopted in 1919.
- (Lithuanian with English translation; 1898)
20th Century - present
- Collection of historical documents on recent Lithuanian history, especially in relation to Russia.
- (20th century; Russian)
- Declaration of independence from the Russian Empire addressed to Russia and Germany. Facsimile also available.
- (February 16, 1918; Lithuanian and English)
- Józef Piłsudski's proclamation of intentions, published after the Polish occupation of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
- (April 22, 1919, Polish and Lithuanian)
- In 1940, the United States condemned the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and refused to recognize the annexation of the three Baltic states.
- From the Wilson Center Digital Archive
- (1940-1966; English)
- "Cleansing [of Jews] and securing the area of operation"
- From Yad Vashem
- (1941; English translation)
- Database search for orders and records of the KGB from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
- Enter country and hit search button.
- (English interface with Russian-language documents; 1941-1991)
- Calling for Resistance
- From Yad Vashem
- (1942; English translation)
- Prepared by Algis Rupainis, this Chronicle is a day-by-day account of Lithuanian's resistance against occupying forces. The Chronicle reflects all partisan warfare throughout Lithuania.
- (1944-1949; English and Lithuanian)
- Lithuanian Partisans Declaration
- (1949; Lithuanian facsimile)
- Collected primary documents from the end of the Cold War.
- (1980s; English)
- Declaration of independence from Soviet Union. Facsimile also available.
- (English translation; March 11, 1990)
- Current constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.
- (October 25, 1992; English)
- Treaty and other documents concerning Lithuania's admission to the European Union. Part of EUR-Lex, a service of the European Union.
- (2003; English)
- Act of Lithuanian legislature on standardization of Lithuanian language.
- Official English translation of original 1995 Law of the State Language.
- (2 June 2003; Lithuanian transcription, English translation)
- Lithuanian official data files and documents, including country files, parents' occupation, and sample data.
- Files available for download
- (2008-2016; Lithuanian & Russian; English interface)
Legal & Governmental Documents
- Collection of Lithuanian Laws.
- Statutes, criminal and civil codes, and other legal materials.
- A portal of the BYU Law School.
- Library of Congress guide to constitutional, legal, and government documents.
Maps, Exhibits, & Other Collections
- Collection of images from Lithuanian history.
- Provided by the Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania
- (photos, facsimiles)
- Digitized manuscripts available to be searched by author, subject, or date.
- (Lithuanian; facsimiles)
- Digitized manuscripts by topic
- (Lithuanian and English; facsimiles)
- Lithuanian page of the World Documents Library.
- (photos; facsimiles)
- Digitized collections of historical Lithuanian documents.
- (facsimiles, Lithuanian interface)
- Includes documents of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, popes letter, documents of France, Italy and other manuscripts.
- From the National Library of Lithuania
- (facsimiles; English or Lithuanian)
- Collection of music manuscripts.
- Provided by The Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.
- (facsimiles)
- Collection of historical maps of Europe.
- (facsimiles; Hungarian)
- Collection of historical maps of Lithuania.
- (facsimiles)
- Genealogical Resources
- Database of interviews with Jewish people from Lithuania.
- Includes facsimiles of official documents.
- Explore the database by family name, city.
- Advanced search here.
- (photos, English transcriptions, Lithuanian and Russian facsimiles)
- Also contains a collection of coats of arms for other European countries and principalities.
- (Facsimiles)
Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys
EuroDocs > History of Lithuania: Primary Documents
EuroDocs Creator: Richard Hacken, European Studies Librarian,
Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA.
Feel free to get in touch: eurodocs @ byu.edu
With special thanks to Natalya Georgiyeva for her help with this webpage.