The
Duchy of Samogitia (, , )Grzegorz Błaszczyk,
Żmudź w XVII i XVIII wieku: zaludnienie i struktura społeczna, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, 1985, ISNN 0554-8217, p.1-2 had been the administrative unit of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1422 (and from 1569, a part of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). Between 1422 to 1441 it was known as the
Eldership of Samogitia. The
Grand Duke of Lithuania also held the title of Duke of Samogitia, although the actual ruler of the province, responsible to the Duke was known as the General
Elder (Seniūnas) of Samogitia.
The Duchy was located in the western part of the present
Republic of Lithuania. Historically, its western border had been a Lithuanian border with the
Baltic Sea; in the north, it bordered the
Duchy of Courland and
Ducal Prussia in the south. During the
Middle Ages and until the last
partition in 1795, Samogitia had clearly defined borders as the Duchy of Samogitia. Afterwards the area encompassed the
Samogitian Diocese. Today
Samogitia is one of several
ethnographic regions and is not defined administratively.
Name
Samogitia is a Latinized version of the name
Žemaitija, meaning "the Lowlands" as opposed to
Aukštaitija for "the Highlands". In the
Middle Ages, the names
Samaiten,
Samaitae,
Zamaytae,
Samogitia,
Samattae,
Samethi were used in
German and
Latin sources. They, together with other variants
Schmudien,
Schamaiten (German)...
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