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. The exact location of Voruta is unknown and there are many contradictory theories about it.

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. Mindaugas' castle is mentioned in two more written sources, but neither its name nor location is specified. It is also unclear if they refer to the same one castle. [lt icon cite book | title=Mindaugas |first=Edvardas |last=Gudavičius |url=http://www.spauda.lt/voruta/about/mindaugas.htm |year=1998 | location=Vilnius | publisher=Žara |isbn=9986-34-020-9]

Nevertheless, some historians in 19th and 20th centuries called it "the first capital of Lithuania" and attempted to identify its location. Most argued that Voruta is the current capital of Lithuania Vilnius or the medieval capital at Kernavė. Modern Lithuanian historian Tomas Baranauskas believes that it is Šeimyniškėliai (literally, a diminutive plural form of a word, meaning war prisoners turned into family servants) Hillfort near Anykščiai, the biggest in the Eastern Lithuania. In total there were about fourteen suggested locations of Voruta. Others argue that Voruta was not an actual city, but just a misinterpretation of a word that means "capital". In opinion of Kazimieras Būga, one of the prominent Lithuanian philologists, the word "voruta" simply means "castle".

Despite all the uncertainties, the concept of Voruta is well-known and popular in the Lithuanian imagination.

List of suggested locations

These sites were suggested by various historians in various times: [lt icon cite book |title=Lietuvos medinės pilys |first=Gintautas |last=Zabiela |year=1995 |publisher=Diemedis |location=Vilnius |isbn=9986-23-018-7 |pages=175]
# Berzgainiai in Ukmergė district by Petras Tarasenka
# Buteikiai in Anykščiai district by Kazimieras Žebrys
# Gorodishche near Navahrudak by Teodor Narbutt
# Kernavė by F. Papė
# Karelich near Navahrudak by Mikola Jermalovič
# Liškiava by Jonas Totoraitis
# Medininkai by Evaldas Gečiauskas
# Ročiškė in Raseiniai district by Ludwik Krzywicki
# Šeimyniškėliai in Anykščiai district by Eduardas Volteris
# Ūturiai in Raseiniai district by Wojciech Kętrzyński
# Varnėnai in Hrodna Voblast, Belarus by Juliusz Latkowski
# Vilnius by Romas Batūra
# Area of Daugai-Varėna by Henryk Łowmiański
# Area of Medvėgalis-Varniai by A. Steponaitis

Since publication, some of the theories have been largely discredited.

References

External links

* [http://viduramziu.lietuvos.net/pilys/mindaugas-en.htm Tomas Baranauskas version of Voruta's location]