Goštautai

Goštautai was a Lithuanian noble family, one of the most influential families in the 14-16th centuries. Their only serious rivals were the Kęsgailos, and from the end of the 15th century new power aspiring Radvila family. Most power family gained during the reign of Casimir Jagiellon. The companion of Vytautas, Jonas Goštautas, was the precursor of the family. The majority of the family's possessions (lands) were in the eastern ethnic Lithuania.

Name

The Goštautai family name may be found in numerous renderings: "Gasztold", "Gasztołd", " Gasztołt", "Gashtold", "Gastoldus", "Gastold", "Gastołd", "Gosztold", "Gosztowd", "Gosztowt", "Gosztowtt", "Gochtovtt", "Gasztowt", "Gaszdtowt", "Gasztowtt", "Gasthawdus", "Gostautas" and "Goštautas"; they are all different renderings of the same pagan given name of Goštautai's ancestor, mentioned in written sources as "Johann Gastawd" [ [http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/Landesforschung/pub/3frame.html?/Landesforschung/pub/jh-Id/jh-I11294.htm Regesten und Texte zur Geschichte Preußens und des Deutschen Ordens ] ] . Upon the baptism he retained his pagan Lithuanian name (which may be reconstructed as *Gāstaŭtas) and passed it on to his descendants; that was a common practice of the rising Lithuanian nobility subsequent to the Christianization of Lithuania. Hence at first such names were used much like patronymics rather than surnames in a modern senseen icon cite journal | author =William R. Schmalstieg | editor = Antanas Klimas | year =1982 | month = | title =Lithuanian Names | journal =Lituanus: Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences | volume =28 | issue =3 | pages = | issn =0024-5089 | url =http://www.lituanus.org/1982_3/82_3_01.htm | format = | accessdate = ] .

In Lithuanian the name of the clan is rendered "Goštautai" or "Gostautai" (singular, "Goštautas" or "Gostautas"); in Polish language the form "Gasztołd" is used. Contemporary written sources use different forms of the name; latest English sources prefer the form "Gostautas". [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=i4hpVJ51y4oC&pg=PA105&dq=gostautas+lithuania+ascending&hl=lt&sig=vc86bNOjot2zxnGdgF7p-G47yt0 Lithuania Ascending– A Pagan Empire Within East-central Europe, 1295-1345] S. C. Rowell]

Notable family members

*Jonas Goštautas (1393 - 1458), voivod of Vilnius - was head of Council of Lords, that elected 13 year old Casimir Jagiellon as Grand Duke of Lithuania, and thus for three years abolished personal union with Poland.
*Martynas Goštautas (1428 - 1483), Voivod of Kijev and Voivod of Trakai.
*Albrecht Goštautas (1462 - 1539), best known member of the family. He was voivod of Vilnius and chancellor of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was one of the initiators and financiers of Lithuanian Statutes.
*Stanislovas Goštautas (1507(?) - 1542) was the last representative of family main branch.
*Carmen Bernos de Gasztold (1919- ) - French poet.

Notes

External links

*pl icon [http://www.genealogia.okiem.pl/gastold.htm Genealogia rodziny Gastold]
*fr icon [http://www.gochtovtt.com/ Site de la famille Gochtovtt]
*fr icon [http://nicolas.gochtovtt.free.fr/armoiries_pg.htm Armoires des Gosctovtt]