• Source: Voruta

Voruta may have been the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Lithuania during the reign of king Mindaugas in the 13th century. Voruta is mentioned briefly in a written source only once and its exact location is unknown. Despite all the uncertainties, the concept of Voruta is well-known and popular in Lithuania.




Historiography


Mindaugas, the first and the only crowned Lithuanian king, defended himself in Voruta during an internal war against his nephews Tautvilas and Edivydas and Duke of Samogitia Vykintas in 1251. This information, taken from the Hypatian Chronicle, is the only recorded message about Voruta. A castle of Mindaugas was mentioned on two more occasions, but neither its name nor location was specified. It is unclear whether these brief mentions referred to the same location.
Nevertheless, some historians in 19th and 20th centuries called it "the first capital of Lithuania" and attempted to identify its location. In total there were about fifteen suggested locations of Voruta. Others argue that Voruta was not an actual city, but just a misinterpretation of a word that means capital. In the opinion of Kazimieras Būga, one of the prominent Lithuanian philologists, the word voruta simply means castle.




List of suggested locations



These sites were suggested by various historians in various times:

Berzgainiai in Ukmergė district by Petras Tarasenka
Buteikiai in Anykščiai district by Kazimieras Žebrys
Gorodishche near Navahrudak by Teodor Narbutt
Halshany (Lithuanian: Alšėnai) by Alyaksandr Krawtsevich
Kernavė by Fryderyk Papée
Karelichy (Lithuanian: Koreličiai) by Mikola Yermalovich
Liškiava by Jonas Totoraitis
Medininkai by Evaldas Gečiauskas
Ročiškė in Raseiniai district by Ludwik Krzywicki
Šeimyniškėliai in Anykščiai district by Eduards Volters (supported by Tomas Baranauskas)
Ūturiai in Raseiniai district by Wojciech Kętrzyński
Varniany (Lithuanian: Varnionys) in Hrodna Voblast, Belarus by Juliusz Latkowski
Vilnius by Romas Batūra
Area of Daugai–Varėna by Henryk Łowmiański
Area of Medvėgalis–Varniai by Antanas Steponaitis
Since publication, some of the theories have been largely discredited.




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Kernavė
• Keharyapatihan Lituania
• Genjitsushugi Yūsha no Ōkoku Saikenki
• Voruta
• Voruta (disambiguation)
• Voruta (newspaper)
• Mindaugas
• List of cities in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
• Lithuania
• Lithuanian language
• Novogrudok
• Promontory fort
• Grand Duchy of Lithuania