The House of Olelkovich was a princely family from the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

in the 15th and 16th centuries. Their main possession was the

Duchy of Slutsk The Principality of Slutsk () was originally a specific Turov Principality of land in the 12th through 14th centuries. It stood out in 1160 and took shape in the 1190s. It became a large feudal principality in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Histo ...

–

Kapyl Kapyl is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Kapyl District. It is located west-northwest of Slutsk and south-southwest of the capital Minsk. As of 2025, it has a population of 9,887. History Kapyl, fir ...

. They are sometimes known as Slutskys. They were descended from the Lithuanian

Gediminids The House of Gediminas (), or simply the Gediminids, were a dynasty of monarchs in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that reigned from the 14th to the 16th century. A cadet branch of this family, known as the Jagiellonian dynasty, reigned also in th ...

(male line) and Ruthenian

Rurikids The Rurik dynasty, also known as the Rurikid or Riurikid dynasty, as well as simply Rurikids or Riurikids, was a noble lineage allegedly founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, who, according to tradition, established himself at Novgorod in the ...

(female line). According to the

1528 military census The census of 1528 was the first census carried out in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was not a true census since it had limited scope: it only sought to count peasant households () for military purposes. The Grand Duchy used a conscript army whe ...

, the family was the fourth wealthiest

magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

family in the Grand Duchy. However, its influence declined after the

Union of Lublin The Union of Lublin (; ) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Kingd ...

(1569). The last member of the family was Zofia Olelkowicz (1585–1612), wife of Janusz Radziwiłł. She was elevated to sainthood in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

in 1983. As part of her marriage negotiations, she insisted on remaining a member of the

, despite her future husband's allegiance to

Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...

. She died in childbirth, as did the child. After her death, her considerable wealth and the

Principality of Slutsk The Principality of Slutsk () was originally a specific Turov Principality of land in the 12th through 14th centuries. It stood out in 1160 and took shape in the 1190s. It became a large feudal principality in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Hist ...

passed to the

Radziwiłł family The House of Radziwiłł (; ; ; ) is a Polish princely family of Lithuanian origin, and one of the most powerful magnate families originating from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later also prominent in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. Pa ...

Family history

Olelko (Alexander) Vladimirovich (died 1455) was the ancestor of the family.Olelko Volodymyrovych
at the

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' (), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was created under the auspices of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Europe (Sarcelles, near Paris). As the ...

He was a son of

Vladimir Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria (). Etymology ...

, the

prince of Kiev The Grand Prince of Kiev (sometimes also Grand Duke) was the title of the monarch of Kievan Rus', residing in Kiev (modern Kyiv) from the 10th to 13th centuries. In the 13th century, Kiev became an appanage principality first of the grand prin ...

, and grandson of

Algirdas Algirdas (; , ; – May 1377) was List of Lithuanian monarchs, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377. With the help of his brother Kęstutis (who defended the western border of the Duchy) he created an empire stretching from the pre ...

, the grand duke of Lithuania. Alexander inherited his father's domains in the

–

, and in 1440, restored the family's dynastic interest in the

Principality of Kiev The inner Principality of Kiev was a medieval principality centered on the city of Kiev. The principality was formed during the process of political fragmentation of the Kievan Rus' in the early 12th century. As a result of that process, the e ...

, which was confiscated from Vladimir in 1395 after a power struggle with Grand Duke

Vytautas Vytautas the Great (; 27 October 1430) was a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was also the prince of Grodno (1370–1382), prince of Lutsk (1387–1389), and the postulated king of the Hussites. In modern Lithuania, Vytautas is revere ...

and given to

Skirgaila Skirgaila, also known as Ivan/Iwan ( or 1354 – 11 January 1397; baptized 1383/1384 as ''Casimir''), was a regent of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for his brother Jogaila from 1386 to 1392. He was the son of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuan ...

. Alexander married Anastasia, daughter of

Sophia of Lithuania Sophia Vitovtovna of Lithuania (, ; 1371 – 1453) was the grand princess of Moscow as the wife of Vasily I from 1391 to 1425. She was regent for her son Vasily II from 1425 to 1432. Her father was Vytautas, the grand duke of Lithuania. Life ...

and

Vasily I of Moscow Vasily I Dmitriyevich (; 30 December 137127 February 1425) was Grand Prince of Vladimir and Moscow from 1389. He was the heir of Dmitry Donskoy, who reigned from 1359 to 1389. He entered an alliance with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1392 a ...

, and had two sons:

Simeon Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical Hebrew, Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated in English as Shimon. In Greek, it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Sy ...

(died 1470) and Mikhailo (died 1481). Simeon married Maria, a daughter of

Jonas Goštautas Jonas Gostautas or Goštautas (; c. 1393 in Geranainys or Vilnius – before 1 September 1458 in Vilnius) was a Lithuanian nobleman from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of the Gasztołd (Goštautai) noble family, a politician and skillful lan ...

. In the mid-1450s, Goštautas planned to depose Grand Duke

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

and to install his son-in-law Simeon Olelkovich. Simeon inherited the Principality of Kiev, but after his death it was converted into the

Kiev Voivodeship The Kiev Voivodeship (; ; ) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1471 until 1569 and of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1793, as part of Lesser Poland Province of ...

. His descendants continued to claim the rights to the region, but the voivodeship was ruled by appointed officials (voivodes) from other noble families. The loss of Kiev could be attributed to Olelkovich's faith (Eastern Orthodoxy rather than Catholicism) and their close kinship with the

grand princes of Moscow The Grand Prince of Moscow (), known as the Prince of Moscow until 1389, was the ruler of the Grand Principality of Moscow. The Moscow principality was initially established in the 13th century as an appanage within the Vladimir-Suzdal grand prin ...

, who threatened Lithuania's eastern borders. However, the Principality of Slutsk–Kapyl was not converted into a ''

powiat A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

'' and remained in the family's hands. Disappointed by prevailing politics, Mikhailo Olelkovich organized opposition to Casimir IV and even attempted a coup in 1481. The plot was uncovered, possibly by the voivode of Kiev,

Ivan Chodkiewicz Ivan Chodkiewicz (; 1420 – 1484) was a Ruthenian nobility, Ruthenian noble from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He was a son of Chodko Jurewicz and ancestor of the Chodkiewicz family. Ivan married Jawnuta (Agnieszka) Belska, first cousin of Casim ...

, and Mikhailo was executed. In 1471, Mikhailo had also been involved in a brief alliance when

Novgorod Republic The Novgorod Republic () was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries in northern Russia, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east. Its capital was the city of Novgorod. The ...

invited him to become its ruler in a bid to break away from Moscow's influence. However, the attempt ended in a decisive defeat at the

Battle of Shelon The Battle of Shelon () was a decisive battle between the forces of the Grand Principality of Moscow under Ivan III (r. 1462–1505) and the army of the Novgorod Republic, which took place on the Shelon River on 14 July 1471. Novgorod suffered a ...

. After Mikhailo's death, the Olelkovichs did not occupy any state offices. They submitted bids for the throne of the Grand Duke in 1492 and 1572, but gained little support.

moved his court from Kapyl to Slutsk, thus establishing the so-called Slutsk line. His descendants are often known as Slutsky. During the

Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars The Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars (also known as the Russo-Lithuanian Wars or simply Muscovite Wars or Lithuanian Wars)The conflicts are referred to as 'Muscovite wars' () in Polish historiography and as 'Lithuanian wars' in Russian one; English his ...

, Simeon also won a battle near

Babruysk Babruysk (, ) or Bobruysk (, ; , ) is a city in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Babruysk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is situated on the Berezina, Berezina River. Bab ...

in September 1502 against the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...

Yuri Yuri may refer to: People Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), feminine Japanese given names, including a list o ...

also had possessions in Veisiejai, where he funded the building of a Catholic church, and

Liškiava Liškiava is a historic village in the Varėna district municipality, Lithuania. It is situated on the bank of Nemunas River, near the Lake Liškiavis. In 2005 its population was 37. A leisure boat route connects Liškiava with the resort of D ...

Family history

Family tree

References

Notes

External links