archeology – History of Šiauliai

The Defensive System of Castles or how Šiauliai Defended Lithuania

Šiaulių TIC — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 10:46:21 +0000

The consequences of internal fights for power of the future king Mindaugas were particularly painful to Šiauliai land. It is believed that having killed local rulers, the local governing elite, Mindaugas transformed Šiauliai land into a territory under his control, later controlled by other great knights who sat on the throne after him. No local nobility was left in Šiauliai land or they died out and due to this, the name of this territory completely disappeared from the pages of history for a hundred years. The coincidence of the names of Šiauliai land and Šiauliai settlement and later, Šiauliai rural district indicates that Šiauliai had to stand in the centre of the territory. We learn about the land of Šiauliai only from the chronicles written by Baltramiejus Hionekė and Hermanas Vartbergė. In these chronicles, Šiauliai land is named as the terra Sauleorum. The first of them, written in 1348, mentions that at that time there stood Kulų (Kulen), Businės or Busėnų (Businne), Ceilos (Zela), Dubysos (Dobbesyne) castles. This is the defensive ring of Šiauliai land. It begins with Jurgaičiai mound, located in the north east of Šiauliai (now called the Hill of Crosses), on which a castle called Kuliai or Kula (Kulen) stood. Next goes Normaičiai mound in Pakapė, south of Šiauliai and Lake Rėkyva, on which the so-called Bauska castle stood (historians also mention the place names Busikė, Busėnai and Buožėnai). The third castle was founded in Bubiai, on Bubiai mound, and was called Dubysa; and the fourth, in the present Šiauliai itself, at that time it was also called Šiauliai castle or Ceila, which stood on Salduvė mound, now called the hill (scientists call it Žuvininkai mound). It is believed that Salduvė mound appeared in the 11-14^th centuries. On the neighbouring hill a rampart reinforced with stones was detected – it is a part of the defensive line, which protected Salduvė mound and Šiauliai castle from the northwest. True, these documents also mention that the inhabitants of Šiauliai land were known for their autonomy and independence in making decisions that were related to the whole region; such as until 1348, they did not participate in Samogitian fights with the German Order, preferring to pay taxes to it. This could also be due to the fact that this region became little noticeable and important to both the local rulers and the Knights of the Cross, forcing their way into the land.

Foto 1

Žuvininkų piliakalnis.

Foto 2

Jurgaičių piliakalnis.

Foto 3

Bubių piliakalnis.

Foto 4

Normančių piliakalnis, Bauskės pilies vieta.

Foto 5

Normančių piliakalnis.

Foto 6

Jurgaičių piliakalnis.

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The Prerequisites for the Place of Settlement Establishment

Šiaulių TIC — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 20:23:45 +0000

It is likely that the origins of the current city of Šiauliai were somewhere between all these castles of the defensive line and the detected early settlements. Most likely, Šiauliai was adjacent to or near the trade routes, where the first church was built, neighboured by the market square and the first buildings; thus, in a similar place where currently Šiauliai St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral and Resurrection Square with the Town Hall stand. Such practice is typical not only to Šiauliai but also to most other European and other cities. The concept ‘axis mundi’ (Latin words meaning ‘the world axis’) describes the centre of the world, in which, in various mythologies or world beliefs and religions, it is possible to find such entities as the world tree, Mount Olympus, the centre of the world, etc. However, according to the world-famous scholar in religious studies Mircea Eliade, people think the same way everywhere, regardless of religion or beliefs. Everyone discovers the centre of his world in which he builds a temple as a place uniting Heaven and Earth, and this is the place where settlements start developing, later turning into cities and states. In the case of Šiauliai, this is the first wooden church, which was later replaced by a brick church, and people continued settling near the temple. It is likely that the development of the city is to be related to the territory that is now considered the city centre.

Thus, in the surroundings of Šiauliai, the retreat of glaciers in the last glacier period and the emergence of better living conditions was followed by the development of settlements, which in the course of history turned into one formation that later became a city.

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Ažūrinis kryžiaus formos kabutis XII–XIV a.

Foto 2

Stilizuotas klevo sėklos formos kabutis.

Foto 3

Kryžminis segtukas I tūkst. vid.-XIV a.

The post The Prerequisites for the Place of Settlement Establishment appeared first on History of Šiauliai.

Formation of Šiauliai Land

Šiaulių TIC — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 20:11:32 +0000

In the beginning, forms of settled life began to form in settlements located far from the present centre of Šiauliai. In addition to the old settlement of Lieporiai, where in the 4^th century people already could smelt iron, there was also Sauginiai, which is to be considered the first inhabited place in the land of Šiauliai (the 1^st millennium BC), and later, other residential places near castles appeared (it is believed that they were begun to be built from around the middle of the 1^st millennium or the 11^th century). Scientists here distinguish an entire defensive chain of mounds (a defensive ring), which protected access to strategically important roads of Šiauliai land. Unfortunately, all castles were destroyed during the crusade campaigns to the lands of Lithuania. It is believed that this was because most of the defenders had retreated from these fortresses and were lying in ambush, waiting for the intruders, who believed in the easy victory. As it turned out later, this was correct tactics, because at that time the troops of the Order were not able to invade far to the land of Lithuania. At that time, the entire land of Šiauliai was dotted with defensive fortifications, secret passages, hidden underwater stony roads across swamps, as Šiauliai inhabitants, who found themselves on the crossroad of strategically important roads, were known as the first to meet the enemy from the north and prevent it from forcing its way further into the depth of the country. This originated the names of the surrounding settlements, such as Ginkūnai or Sauginiai, meaning defended and protected places, while Šiauliai sounds like šaulys – an archer who would bravely fight for the country.

Foto 1

Sauginių piliakalnis.

Foto 2

Sauginių piliakalnio radinys.

Foto 3

Sauginių piliakalnio radinys.

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Territory Settlement

Šiaulių TIC — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 18:21:50 +0000

The first inhabitants in the territory of Lithuania, including the land of Šiauliai, appeared after the retreat of glaciers in the last glacial period in Europe and alongside with climate warming, in the second half of the 10^th millennium BC, when the origins of the first civilizations already began to emerge on the Mediterranean coast and in the Middle East regions.

The oldest archaeological find in the territory of Šiauliai city is a flint head of an arrow, found in the ancient settlement of Lieporiai, currently one of Šiauliai residential areas in the southern part of the city. Such heads of arrows were used at the end of the 10^th millennium BC – in the first half of the 9^th millennium BC. It is known that in the vicinity of Šiauliai, like in the whole current territory of Lithuania, at least since the end of the third millennium there were settled people who, in addition to hunting, also engaged in agriculture. Šiauliai itself belongs to a very manifold region of the Baltic tribes area. The region is a merge of Semigallian, Samogitian, Highland Lithuanian and Curonian areas; but mostly, of Samogitian and Semigallian areas (archaeological data show that the latter also lived in the vicinity of Šiauliai). Šiauliai was a part of a culturally and ethnically mixed region.

Foto 1

Stiklinis karolis IV.

Foto 2

Lankinė žieduota segė V-VIII a.

Foto 3

Įmovinis ietigalis IV-VIII a.

Foto 4

Įmovinis ietigalis IV-VIII a.

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Šiauliai before History

Šiaulių TIC — Sat, 30 Dec 2017 09:01:22 +0000

The history of every city begins when first, people move to the location or environment in which settlements appear, which later turn into towns and eventually, into cities. These people must be not nomads travelling past but people who for one reason or another decide to stay in that place which they see as their current and future home. Šiauliai, like the rest of Lithuania, were not so lucky: when in southern European territories people were creating future plans to live in concord, the glaciers of the last glacial period had not yet retreated from Lithuania. When they retreated, it still took a considerable period of time before the first settlers arrived to create first communities and settlements, which required even more efforts to catch up with the states who had better and more favourable geographical conditions.