17-10-03 17:53, Egijus wrote:
> Trakai was capital of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Name GRAND DUCHY
> in Baltic political system ment UNION OF DUCHIES. Duchy of Suduva
> belonged to that union of duchies. So, Trakai is related to Suduva too.
Jeez, you're writing alternative history. The political organism that
was to become the Grand Duchy was created by Mindaugas in the early 13th
century. The Western Balts were organised into small tribal territories
without a central power. Mindaugas and his successors claimed Sudovia as
part of their domain, but the Sudovians were actually an independent
people inhabiting what (unluckily, from their point of view) became in
the 13th c. a borderland disputed by all the neighbouring political
powers (the Teutonic Order, Poland, Lithuania and Rus'). Sudovia had no
chance of maintaining its independence was eventually conquered by the
Teutonic Knights; some of the remaining Sudovians were resettled in
Sambia (where their dialect survived till the 16th c.). Trakai was never
part of Sudovia. To say that it is "related" to Sudovia is exactly like
claiming that London is a Scottish city.
> What image do You suggest to be in Pashkas's web site? Suduvians
> lived on territory of modern Belarus (in 1200 their southern town
> was Lietuvos Brasta, now - Brest). All Suduvian castles were been
> destroyed by now.
If there were any. They had wooden forts rather than castles. The
redbrick Castle of the Island on Lake Galve (reconstructed in the 2Oth
c.) was erected by Vytautas in the latter half of the 14th c. As its
style is all Gothic, it has zilch to do with Sudovian timber
architecture. Pashka could have illustrated his site with photos of one
or the Sudovian fort sites (the earthworks are still visible), but that
wouldn't be grand enough for his imaginary "Sudovian Empire", I suppose.
Piotr