Genealogical Identity Among the Nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Its Expression in the Heraldry of the 16th-18th Centuries

Genealogy is a multifaceted semantic field where the identity of noble families, founded upon history, is crafted and refined using chess strategy. This dissertation deals not with the specific genealogy of GDL nobles, but with their genealogical identity, i.e., the self-identification of nobles in terms of genealogy within the context of their lives and times, knowledge among nobles about their ancestors and how this knowledge served to construct identity. Although the main focus of the dissertation is upon the genealogical identity of GDL nobles, it was important to survey the way in which coats of arms, multifunctional symbols of the nobility, facilitated the explication and manifestation of that identity. This study is the first attempt to investigate in a complex manner the genealogical identity of GDL nobles of various ranks based on family trees, genealogical schemata and illustrations, special events publications, heraldry and other sources. This study is the first to put into academic circulation as sources so many family trees and genealogical schemes of GDL nobles of various ranks. Problems concerning the origin of GDL nobles, genealogical identity and heraldry have been researched only partially in historiography, and then rather superficially. Based on the patterns in the information provided in the sources, the genealogical identity of GDL nobles is studied in terms of nine features, whose broad nature provide a richer and more complete view of identity