Witenez was the father of Gedymin, who was the progenitor of the Jagellons; his sons were Kiejstut and Olgierd, from the latter of whom sprang Wladyslaw Jagellon, afterwards King of Poland. Mindowe, or Mendog, flourishing in the middle of the thirteenth century, was the first prince who freed Lithuania from foreign dominion. He rose to great power, and became terrible to his enemies, accepted Christianity, and by permission of the Pope crowned himself King of Lithuania in 1252. Near Nowogrodek is hill, called that of Mendog, which is said to be the grave of this hero. ↩
The river on which Wilna stands. ↩
According to tradition, the Grand Duke Gedymin had a dream about an iron wolf, and, by the counsel of the bard Lizdejko, built the town of Wilna.
The bard, or Wajdelote, Lizdejko, occupies a prominent place in Lithuanian legend. He is said to have been discovered as a child in an eagle’s nest. ↩
The Jagellons. ↩
A sort of pointed cap. ↩
Sigismond Augustus [d. 1572] was the last king crowned, according to ancient custom, in the capital of Lithuania, girding on the sword, and crowning himself with the kolpak of Witold. He greatly loved hunting. ↩
Tree, as well as serpent worship, formed a large part of the religion of ancient Lithuania. Those oaks which gave forth oracles were called Baublis, an onomatopoeic word, derived from a sound they gave forth, resembling a bull’s roar. They were remarkable for being evergreen, both in summer and winter, and were probably examples of a peculiar variety. The remains of the one specially mentioned in the text still existed in 1845 in the district of Rosien, on the estates of a certain Paskiewicz. Inside it were constructed two small chambers, one above the other, as a museum of Lithuanian antiquities. When cut down the rings on its trunk amounted to 1417. ↩
Not far from the parish church of Nowogrodek grew several ancient linden trees, called Mendog’s Grove, many of which were cut down about the year 1812. ↩
John Kochanowski [1530–1584], though not actually the first of Polish authors to write in his own tongue, was the first poet of merit therein, and was chief in the Augustan age of Polish literature. He translated the Psalms, and also wrote satires, and other poems, both in Polish and in Latin. He declined all court dignities and honours, and lived in retirement at the village of Czarnolas (black wood) composing most of his verses under the shadow of a celebrated linden tree. ↩
Severyn Goszczynski, a writer of the present century, and a poet of the so-called Ukraine school in Polish literature. ↩
Very probably indeed. ↩
Those used for the candles regularly lit by the Jews on Friday at sunset, to avoid the “work” of kindling light or fire on the Sabbath. ↩
The kolomyjki of Galicia, and mazurkas of Warsaw, are popular airs sung and danced at the same time. [The word kolomyjki is derived from the town of Kolomyja in Galicia. —E. S. N.] Mazurka is sufficiently familiar to English readers, and is merely the feminine form of Mazur or Masovian, as Polka is of Polak. ↩
In 1806. ↩
The Jews in Poland have always occupied an anomalous position. Though not exposed, as they were in other countries, to persecution for their religion, yet having nearly all the trade of the country in their hands, and being the most conservative of their race in regard to manners and customs, there is the widest separation between them and the rest of the nation. Most of the Jews, in fact, speak a dialect of their own, and understand scarcely more of Polish than is needed for purposes of buying and selling with the people. In 1831 the attitude of the Jews in regard to national insurrection was one of the most embarrassing questions Polish patriots had to deal with. It may as well be mentioned that travellers in the East say that the majority of the Hebrew immigrants now settling in Syria and Palestine are Polish and Russian Jews. ↩
The place of honour, where in former times were placed the images of the domestic gods, and where the Russians still hang up their images of saints. The Lithuanian villagers there place those guests whom they wish to honour. ↩
The best kind of mead is made from honey, called lipcowy, either because made by the bees from the flowers of the linden tree, or from the month of July, Lipiec in Polish. But this is because the linden flowers are then in bloom. The Polish names of months are nearly all of national origin, and derived from some natural phenomenon characteristic of each. ↩
Bright mountain. ↩
The Greek, or Russian Church. ↩
In the original cham. For the meaning of this word, and the opinion thereby implied, see Book XII. ↩
“Might with a Wojewode stand.”
“Szlachcic na zagrodzie równy Wojewodzie,” a rhyming proverb, in substance as above translated. It was used to express the perfect equality between all Polish noblemen, of whom the poorest, only possessing a small
