Parish clergy in vilnius and samogitia dioceses in the 15th - third quarter of the 16th c

The subject of master thesis “The parish clergy of Vilnius and Samogitia dioceses in 15 – 16 c. 3 quarter“ is the parish clergy of Vilnius and Samogitian Diocese from Christianization of country (Vilnius Diocese – 1387, Samogitian Diocese – 1417) to 1577, when in Gniezno archdiocese, to what belonged dioceses of Vilnius and Samogitia, was promulgated the canons and decrees of the Council of the Catholic Church of Trent (1545-1563). Parish priesthood there are treated as the small, but very important for Christianization of country social group, because in big part on them depended success of an adopting Christian culture and values in peripheral regions. The aim of research is to find characteristics of parish priesthood, which related them to local society and these, which separated. Thesis deals with such questions as: parish clergy’s institutional ties with laity, based on right of patronage (ius patronatus); a place of parish priesthood in Church Organizational Structure, their institutional and personal relations with other priests; the problems of a socialization of parish clergy in the local community. The investigation makes clear what parish priesthood was small but quit heterogeneous social group. On an institutional criterion was based the distinction to benefice clergy (parsons, altarists) and not benefice clergy (vicars, clergyman). The benefice clergy was better integrated to Church Structure because of direct subordination to a bishop. To them can be attributed a major social activity, because parsons and altarists are appearing in scripted sources much more often, when their colleges who have no benefices. In the group of the benefice clergy can be separated priests who had just one benefice and that for whom parish benefices were just additional source of incomes but not a main occupation – bishops, chapter and officers of the lord’s palace, who had one or few parish benefices. This last group was better educated, but in difference to the first one did not used to live near their parish benefices. There were very few cases when priests served in a parish from which were descended. Moreover, at least half of them were of Polish origin. What could produce same problems of an adaptation in local community, where were no family and friends, who formed base of social safety in middle ages. All clergy of country in pre Trident period prepared do not separate themselves from nobleman’s society by a lifestyle or even by a closes. But there are reasons to think, what clergy had mentality of a special society and not avoid make serve Church law for their own interests. This work open a new page of social history of Lithuanian Grand Dutch and introduced to it the small but quite important social group, members of who were in the center of religious and in some sense social life of local community