The shaping of the ruling elite in the Grand Lithuanian Duchy (the problem of qualifying criteria)

Strona wydawcy: https://www.wuj.pl

Strona wydawcy: https://www.wuj.pl

The problem of decision making groups and circles in the Grand Lithuanian Duchy in the Middle Ages has not often been the subject of analysis, so a research plan relating to this issue has not even been worked out. However in recent years, the interest in the structure of the political and social forces of the Grand Duchy, their links as well as impact on the plight of the state, has increased among scholars, particularly in Lithuania. The fundamental problem here is to define the various circles of people who formed decisionmaking groups and to establish the criteria by means of which one can classify them as belonging to a particular group. Probably with the exception of Jerzy Suchocki and more recently Rimvydas Petrauskas’ studies, the very concept of the ruling elites has not been defined in relation to the medieval Lithuanian state and in fact it not even used in relation to medieval Lithuania. In reality, the subject of research were the social groups and elitist circles, such as e.g. the court of the grand princes, their chancellery, and members of the council. Thus, the analysis of the ruling elites requires, above all, a definition of the very concept of elites, for it is this definition that will ultimately determine who is and who is not a member of this group. The names of members of the ruling elites can be found in historiographic sources as well as in documents. In both cases one ought to apply suitable qualifying criteria which should allow one either to include or exclude a particular person from what is referred to as the ruling elites. The author is in favor of applying combined criteria which, according to her, create a bigger chance for establishing precisely who belongs to the elites. She is also in favor of using the fiduciary criterion which in her opinion may be useful in verifying facts and in strengthening the effect of establishing the names of members of the ruling elites by means of traditional criteria.