Metadata: Grand Duchy of Lithuania Military Commission
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Lithuanian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas
- Postal address:
- Mindaugo 8, 03107 Vilnius
- Phone number:
- +370 5 219 5320
- Email:
- istorijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
- Reference number:
- 25
- Title:
- Grand Duchy of Lithuania Military Commission
- Title (official language):
- Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės karo komisija
- Creator/accumulator:
- Grand Duchy of Lithuania Military Commission
- Date(s):
- 1654/1796
- Language:
- Russian
- Polish
- Latin
- Extent:
- 112 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection contains records of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Military Commission. During its period of activity, the Military Commission took care of military discipline, tax distribution, return of debts to officers, and payment of military widow's allowances. The Commission also assigned military personnel to the protection of customs and money, provided military assistance in the execution of court judgments and the search for criminals; and was responsible for the protection and strengthening of state borders. The Military Commission sought to improve the tax collection system and to strengthen the discipline of war. The materials of the collection include: securities on the allocation of money to the troops, receipts, census of troops, etc. For example, one file in 1791 contains documents of the ordinal civil military commission of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: statements about the number of parishes and the number of inhabitants with an indication of their religion and class (including Jews); statements of income, expenditure and arrears of taxes, etc. (inventory 1, file 37, file 32). A valuable part of the collection are the investigative documents on the impending rebellion of the Dyzunici (Orthodox Christians in Poland who rejected the 1596 Council of Brest) against Catholics and Jews in the town of Lutsk, the Slutsk Principality and other localities in 1765-1789 (inventory 1, file 20). This file shows the specifics of interfaith relations and inter-religious conflict which may shed light on the situation of the Jewish population in this region and their economic activities, for example the Appeal Treasury Commission of the Great State of Lithuania about non-liquidation of Jewish debts. In inventory 1, file 20, there are documents belonging to Khaim Markovich from Wilka, signed in the presence of a bailiff received from the office of financial affairs, regarding the file of the Jewish merchant Khaim Ėlashovich who purchased private forests from Prussian merchants in Grodno, 12 February 1771. The collection also includes a contract between Tonoriï Movshevich and an unidentified person for the manufacture of military belts in 1793 (inventory 2, file 25).
- Archival history:
- In 1794-1795 the records of The Grand Duchy of Lithuania Military Commission together with the records of the Military Department of the Permanent Council and the records of the Military Commission of both nations were united into one common collection called the Lithuanian Military Commission. The collection was deposited in the Archives of the Lithuanian High Tribunal in Vilnius. In 1852 the Vilnius Central Archive of Early Register Books was founded by the Russian authorities in order to consolidate the court records that had earlier formed part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1852-1859 the collection of the Lithuanian Military Commission was transferred to this new archive. A short time after the second World War the materials of the former Vilnius Central Archive of Early Register Books were included in the Central State Archive of the Lithuanian SSR, and in 1949-1951 the collection of Lithuanian Military Commission was divided into three separate collections. One of these became the collection No. 25 of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Military Commission.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Department of Military of the Two Nations in the period 1764 to 1794 had different official names. In 1764, a decision was made to establish a military commission of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which performed the functions of the command of the Supreme Army. The second elected commission existed for longer, from 1767 until 1775, when civil war took place and there was no possibility of summoning the seimas (parliament). The Third Commission was in place very briefly in 1775-76. In 1776 the Permanent Council of the Two Nations had five departments: Military, Treasury, Foreign Affairs, Police and the Law enforcement agency. The Military Department took over all the functions of the Military Commission.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory which is arranged in thematic-chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available for free online access on the website of the Lithuanian Chief Archivist Service.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://eais-pub.archyvai.lt/eais/faces/pages/forms/search/F3001.jspx
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Anastazja Wachowska, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019
