The House of Alšėniškiai (Belarusian: Гальшанскі, Polish: Holszański) was a Lithuanian by origin[1] Ruthenianized and predominantly Eastern Orthodox princely family of Hipocentaur coat of arms.[2] Their patrimony was the Principality of Alšėnai, which included the castles of Rokantiškės and Alšėnai.

History

Origin

Maciej Stryjkowski relates the origins of this family to Alšis Ramuntavičius (Polish: Holsza Romuntowicz) (c.1250), coming from the line of Dausprungas.[2] According to the ancient genealogy of Lithuanian princes written by Teodor Narbutt, Alšis was to be the eleventh generation of the Palemonids, and was to give rise to the Alšėniškiai, who ended in the late 16th century.[2] What Stryjkowski or Narbutt wrote is very dubious as the distance of time is too large to prove it documentally.[2] The history of this house, already based on some writings, only begins with Jonas Alšėniškis (c.1379-1402), whose father Algimantas (Ougemundes) presents the first historically proven generation of the Alšėniškiai.[2]

For the first time Alšėniškiai family is mentioned in written sources at the end of the 14th century when Ivan, son of Algimantas, assisted Vytautas in the Lithuanian Civil War (1381–1384) against Jogaila. Such a late mention of strong family is attributed to the geographic location of their domain: Alšėnai was neither in the way of the Teutonic or Livonian Orders.[3] In contemporary sources, Algimantas is mentioned only in Ivan's patronymic name. However, late and unreliable Lithuanian Chronicles created a fanciful genealogy of Algimantas that connected him to the legendary Palemonids that allegedly hailed from the Roman Empire. Modern historians have discarded the genealogy as a work of fiction not based on historical facts.[3]

14th to 16th centuries

The family was founded by Ivan Olshansky (fl. 1382–1402), a close ally of Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania. Ivan's daughter Uliana married Vytautas while granddaughter Sophia of Halshany married Vytautas' cousin Jogaila, King of Poland. Sophia gave birth to Jogaila's sons and became the mother of the Jagiellonian dynasty which ruled Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and Bohemia. The male line of the Alšėniškiai family ended in 1556 with the death of Prince Semen (Paweł Holszański, last-but-one male representative of the family, died just one year before). Princess Maria Olshanskaya, the wife of Andrey Kurbsky, died in 1586.[4] Their estates were inherited by the Sapieha family, which hailed from Smolensk. During the 14–16th centuries most of the family was Orthodox by faith and Ruthenian by language, although there were exceptions, in particular Paweł Holszański was a Catholic Church official.

Family tree

Family of Alšėniškiai
Algimantas
Ivan Olshanski
Died in or after 1402
Alexander
Served Vasili I of Russia
Ruled Pereyaslavl until 1408
Andrew
Regent of Kiev?
Uliana
Wife of Vytautas
Grand Duke of Lithuania
Michael
Regent of Kiev
Died in 1433?
Semeon the Fierce
Executed in 1433
Sophia
Wife of Jogaila
King of Poland
Maria
Wife of Iliaș
Voivode of Moldavia
Vasilisa
Wife of Ivan Belsky
Yuri
Died after 1456
Several other?
Jagiellonian dynastyRoman II and AlexăndrelBelsky familyAlexander
Castellan of Vilnius
Died in 1511
Uliana
Eastern Orthodox Saint
Died at age 16
Ivan
Prince of Dubrovytsia
Executed in 1481
Anna
Wife of Martynas Goštautas
Semeon
Great Hetman
Died in 1505
Anna[5]
Wife of Petras Jonaitis Mantigirdaitis
Janusz
Starost of Slonim
Died after 1505
Jerzy
Voivode of Kiev
Died in 1510
Paweł
Bishop of Lutsk and Vilnius
Died in 1555
Yuri
Died in 1536
VasilisaTetiana
Wife of Konstanty Ostrogski
Died in 1522
Several daughters and sonsMaria[4]
Wife of Andrey Kurbsky
Died in 1586
Ivan
Voivode of Kiev and Trakai
Died in 1549
Semeon
Last male heir
Died in 1556
References

Main source:[3]

Notes
  • The family tree is incomplete.

References

In-line
  1. Bumblauskas, Alfredas (2005). Senosios Lietuvos istorija 1009-1795 (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: R. Paknys Press. p. 207. ISBN 9986-830-89-3.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Pułaski 1887, p. 259.
  3. 1 2 3 Jonynas, Ignas (1933). "Alšėniškiai". In Vaclovas Biržiška (ed.). Lietuviškoji enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Vol. I. Kaunas: Spaudos Fondas. pp. 347–359.
  4. 1 2 A. N. Narbut (1995). Genealogy of Belarus, vol. 1. Moscow.
  5. Petrauskas, Rimvydas (2003). Lietuvos diduomenė XIV a. pabaigoje – XV a. (in Lithuanian). Aidai. p. 261. ISBN 9955-445-67-X.
General
  1. Jonas Zinkus; et al., eds. (1985). "Alšėnų kunigaikščiai". Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Vol. I. Vilnius, Lithuania: Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija. p. 52.
  2. Pułaski, Kazimierz (1887). "VII. Książęta Holszańscy. Monografia historyczno-genealogiczna." [VII. Dukes Alšėniškiai. Historical and genealogical monograph.]. Szkice i poszukiwania historyczne [Sketches and historical research] (in Polish). Kraków. pp. 259–305.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. Wolff, Józef (1895). Kniaziowie litewsko-ruscy od końca czternastego wieku [Lithuanian-Ruthenian princes from the end of the fourteenth century] (in Polish). Warszawa. pp. 94–115.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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