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See summary of dissertation in English - Baltijos regiono istorijos ir ...

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from the late 14 th century – the early 15 th century accelerated the processes<br />

to an even greater degree. Due to the social changes <strong>in</strong> the mid-<br />

16 th century the legal situation <strong>of</strong> private manors strengthened and the<br />

c<strong>ir</strong>cumstances for the growth <strong>of</strong> the<strong>ir</strong> number emerged. The manors <strong>of</strong><br />

lords and nobles acqu<strong>ir</strong>ed the adm<strong>in</strong>istrative and legal (and even f<strong>in</strong>ancial<br />

<strong>in</strong> the case <strong>of</strong> lords) immunity.<br />

The private estates <strong>of</strong> Lithuania and Samogitia alike dist<strong>in</strong>guished<br />

by large diversity dur<strong>in</strong>g this period – <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> both <strong>in</strong>ternal organisation<br />

<strong>of</strong> the<strong>ir</strong> size and structure. Historiographical traditions determ<strong>in</strong>ed<br />

that other elements <strong>of</strong> the manor as a peculiar economic formation<br />

<strong>of</strong> that time, which could also be referred to by the terms other<br />

than 'manor' and 'folwark' <strong>in</strong> the sources, rema<strong>in</strong>ed outside the scope<br />

<strong>of</strong> research. Such one-sidedness <strong>of</strong> historiography encourages the<br />

com<strong>in</strong>g back to the research <strong>of</strong> the afore-mentioned structures and the<br />

range <strong>of</strong> problems related to the term<strong>in</strong>ology <strong>of</strong> the manor. The studies<br />

<strong>of</strong> such topics and problems may contribute to reduc<strong>in</strong>g the vast gap<br />

between the research <strong>of</strong> economic historiography <strong>of</strong> Lithuania and<br />

European countries.<br />

3. The exist<strong>in</strong>g diversity <strong>of</strong> land-ownership term<strong>in</strong>ology and the<br />

complexity <strong>of</strong> the<strong>ir</strong> mean<strong>in</strong>gs is one <strong>of</strong> the key problems <strong>in</strong> the field <strong>of</strong><br />

manorial research. The nam<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> land-ownership objects<br />

by the same historiographical – manor – construct does not only fail to<br />

solve this problem but deepens it to an even greater degree. Due to the<br />

afore-mentioned reasons, two research levels were dist<strong>in</strong>guished <strong>in</strong> the<br />

analysis <strong>of</strong> the range <strong>of</strong> manor-related problems for the f<strong>ir</strong>st time:<br />

practical or source <strong>in</strong>terpretation previously applied by historians and<br />

theoretical cover<strong>in</strong>g the construction <strong>of</strong> theoretical def<strong>in</strong>itions <strong>of</strong> the<br />

manor. The latter level has not been discussed <strong>in</strong> the Lithuanian historiography<br />

to this day.<br />

The analysis revealed that due to the practical source analysis alone<br />

applied <strong>in</strong> Lithuanian historiography for a long time, the concept <strong>of</strong><br />

manor and folwark acqu<strong>ir</strong>ed a slightly different mean<strong>in</strong>g than <strong>in</strong> other<br />

countries <strong>of</strong> Central Europe or Western Europe. The hierarchical perception<br />

<strong>of</strong> manor and folwark applied <strong>in</strong> our historiography lacks ac-<br />

40

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