The House of Alšėniškiai (, ) was a Lithuanian by origin Ruthenianized and predominantly Eastern Orthodox princely family of Hipocentaur coat of arms. Their patrimony was the

Duchy of Alšėnai The Duchy of Alšėnai () was a feudal patrimony of the Alšėniškiai in the late 13th and mid-16th centuries. History It was first mentioned in the Bychowiec Chronicle, where , son of (slavicized as ''Holsza'', son of ''Romunt''), accordi ...

, which included the castles of Rokantiškės and Alšėnai.

History

Origin

Maciej Stryjkowski Maciej Stryjkowski (also referred to as Strykowski and Strycovius;Nowa encyklopedia powszechna PWN. t. 6, 1997 – ) was a Polish historian, writer and a poet, known as the author of ''Chronicle of Poland, Lithuania, Samogitia and all of Rutheni ...

relates the origins of this family to Alšis Ramuntavičius () (), coming from the line of

Dausprungas Dausprungas (also ''Dovsprunk'' in Ruthenian sources, died before 1238) was the older brother of Mindaugas, the first King of Lithuania. Dausprungas is mentioned in the peace treaty with Galicia–Volhynia in 1219 among the 21 early dukes of Lith ...

. According to the ancient genealogy of Lithuanian princes written by

Teodor Narbutt Teodor Narbutt (; 8 November 1784 – 27 November 1864) was a Polish–Lithuanian romantic historian and military engineer in service of the Russian Empire. He is best remembered as the author of a nine-volume Polish-language history of Lithuani ...

, Alšis was to be the eleventh generation of the

Palemonids The Palemonids () were a legendary dynasty of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The legend was born in the 15th or 16th century as proof that Lithuanians and the Grand Duchy were of Roman origins. History Jan Długosz (1415–1480) wrote that th ...

, and was to give rise to the Alšėniškiai, who ended in the late 16th century. What Stryjkowski or Narbutt wrote is very dubious as the distance of time is too large to prove it documentally. The history of this house, already based on some writings, only begins with

Jonas Alšėniškis Ivan Olshanski or Olshansky (died in or after 1402) was a member of the Lithuanian princely Alšėniškiai (Holshansky) family. Historians only know his father's name, Algimantas. Ivan was a faithful companion of Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke o ...

(), whose father Algimantas (''Ougemundes'') presents the first historically proven generation of the Alšėniškiai. For the first time Alšėniškiai family is mentioned in written sources at the end of the 14th century when Ivan, son of Algimantas, assisted

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 ...

in the

Lithuanian Civil War (1381–1384) The Lithuanian Civil War of 1381–1384 was the first struggle for power between the cousins Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania and later King of Poland, and Vytautas the Great. It began after Jogaila signed the Treaty of Dovydiškės with the Teut ...

against Jogaila. Such a late mention of strong family is attributed to the geographic location of their domain: Alšėnai was neither in the way of the Teutonic or

Livonian Order The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, formed in 1237. From 1435 to 1561 it was a member of the Livonian Confederation. History The order was formed from the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword after thei ...

s. In contemporary sources, Algimantas is mentioned only in Ivan's

patronymic name A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, ...

. However, late and unreliable

Lithuanian Chronicles The Lithuanian Chronicles (; also called the Belarusian-Lithuanian Chronicles) are three redactions of chronicles compiled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All redactions were written in the Ruthenian language and served the needs of Lithuanian pat ...

created a fanciful genealogy of Algimantas that connected him to the legendary

that allegedly hailed from the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. Modern historians have discarded the genealogy as a work of fiction not based on historical facts.

14th–16th centuries

The family was founded by

Ivan Olshansky Ivan Olshanski or Olshansky (died in or after 1402) was a member of the Lithuanian princely Alšėniškiai (Holshansky) family. Historians only know his father's name, Algimantas. Ivan was a faithful companion of Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke o ...

(

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1382–1402), a close ally of

Grand Duke of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand duke, Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crown ...

. Ivan's daughter

Uliana Uliana and Ulyana are feminine given names. People so named include: * Uliana of Tver (c. 1325–1391), daughter of Prince Alexander of Tver and second wife of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania * Uliana Olshanska, Grand Duchess of Lithuania from ...

married Vytautas while granddaughter

Sophia of Halshany Sophia of Halshany (; ; ; – 21 September 1461 in Kraków), known simply as Sonka, was a princess of Lithuanian Alšėniškiai princely family who was Queen of Poland as the fourth and last wife of Jogaila, King of Poland and Supreme Duke ...

married Vytautas' cousin Jogaila,

King of Poland Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of Royal elections in Poland, free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electab ...

. Sophia gave birth to Jogaila's sons and became the mother of the

Jagiellonian dynasty The Jagiellonian ( ) or Jagellonian dynasty ( ; ; ), otherwise the Jagiellon dynasty (), the House of Jagiellon (), or simply the Jagiellons (; ; ), was the name assumed by a cadet branch of the Lithuanian ducal dynasty of Gediminids upon recep ...

which ruled Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and Bohemia. The male line of the Alšėniškiai family ended in 1556 with the death of Prince Semen (

Paweł Holszański Paweł Holszański (; – 4 September 1555, Vilnius) was a notable Catholic church official Dmitry Tolstoy: ''Le catholicisme romain en Russie''pp.464-465/ref> and one of the last male scions of the once-mighty Lithuanian Alšėniškiai princely ...

, last-but-one male representative of the family, died just one year before). Princess Maria Olshanskaya, the wife of

Andrey Kurbsky Prince Andrey Mikhailovich Kurbsky (1528?–1583) was a Russian political figure, military leader, and political philosopher, known as an intimate friend and then a leading political opponent of the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible (). He defected ...

, died in 1586.A. N. Narbut (1995). ''Genealogy of Belarus'', vol. 1. Moscow. Their estates were inherited by the

Sapieha family The House of Sapieha (; ; ; ) is a Polish-Lithuanian noble and magnate family of Ruthenian origin,Энцыклапедыя ВКЛ. Т.2, арт. "Сапегі" descending from the medieval boyars of Smolensk and Polotsk. Vernadsky, George. ...

, which hailed from

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

. During the 14–16th centuries most of the family was

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

by faith and Ruthenian by language, although there were exceptions, in particular

was a

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

official.

Family tree

, - , style="text-align: left;", References Main source: , - , style="text-align: left;", Notes *The family tree is incomplete.

References

;In-line ;General # # # {{Royal houses of Ukraine