Mindaugas
Mindaugas (, , , , ; c. 1203 – 12 September 1263) was the first known grand duke of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or rise to power; he is mentioned in a ...
. The family came from the Upytė region of Lithuania (around the modern-day
Nevėžis
The Nevėžis (; ) is the List of rivers of Lithuania, sixth longest river in Lithuania and one of the main tributaries of the Neman (river), Nemunas. The long Nevėžis flows entirely within Lithuania.1219 Lithuania-Volhynia Peace Treaty of the
Hypatian Codex
The ''Hypatian Codex'', also known as Hypatian Letopis or Ipatiev Letopis, is a compendium of three Rus' chronicle, Rus' chronicles: the ''Primary Chronicle'', ''Kievan Chronicle'' and ''Galician-Volhynian Chronicle''. It is the most important sou ...
, in the third place chronologically, showing that the Ruškaičiai played a fairly important role within the hierarchy. The dukes named in the peace treaty were Kintibutas, Vembutas, Butautas, Vyžeitis and his son Velžys, Kitenis, and Plikienė, the latter being the first woman mentioned in Lithuanian history as well as the wife of a deceased duke named Plikis. The Ruškaičiai family supported Mindaugas during the 1248-1282 civil war; Vaišna Ruškaitis and Sirvydas Ruškaitis were loyal war leaders during Lithuania's war with
Daniel of Galicia
Daniel Romanovich (1201–1264) was Prince of Galicia (1205–1207; 1211–1212; 1230–1232; 1233–1234; 1238–1264), Prince of Volhynia, Volhynia (1205–1208; 1215–1238), Grand Prince of Kiev (1240), and King of Ruthenia (1253–1264).
B ...
over Black Ruthenia. Vembutas Ruškaitis was probably Mindaugas's
vicegerent
Vicegerent is the official administrative deputy of a ruler or head of state: ''vice'' (Latin for "in place of") and ''gerere'' (Latin for "to carry on, conduct").
In Oxford colleges, a vicegerent is often someone appointed by the Master of a ...
in
Samogitia
Samogitia, often known by its Lithuanian language, Lithuanian name ''Žemaitija'' (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see Samogitia#Etymology and alternative names, below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five ...
.
See also
*
History of Lithuania
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...