Vilnius (
['vil?us] (help·info)) is the largest
city and the
capital of
Lithuania, with a population of 555,613 (847,954 together with Vilnius County) as of 2008.
[1] It is the seat of the
Vilnius city municipality and of the
Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of
Vilnius County. Currently Vilnius is the
European Capital of Culture of 2009 together with
Linz, Austria.
The name of the city is thought to have originated from the Vilnia River.[2] The city has also been known by many derivate spellings in various languages throughout its history. The most notable non-Lithuanian names for the city include Polish Wilno, Belarusian ?i???? (Vilnia), German Wilna, Latin Vilna, Latvian Vilna, Russian ???????, Yiddish ?????? (Vilne). An older Russian name is ?????? / ?????? (Vilna/Vilno)[citation needed], although ??????? (Vil'njus) is now used. The names Wilno and Vilna have also been used in older English and French language publications. The name Vilna is still used in Finnish, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Hebrew.
Historian Romas Batura identifies the city with Voruta, one of the castles of Mindaugas, crowned in 1253 as King of Lithuania. The city was first mentioned in written sources in 1323, when the Letters of Grand Duke Gediminas were sent to German cities inviting Germans and members of the Jewish community to settle in the capital city, as well as to Pope John XXII. These letters contain the first unambiguous reference to Vilnius as the capital; Trakai Castle had been the earlier base for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. According to legend, Gediminas dreamt of an iron wolf howling on a hilltop and consulted a pagan priest for its interpretation. He was told "What is destined for the ruler and the State of Lithuania, is thus the Iron Wolf represents a castle and a city which will be established by you on this site. This city will be the capital of the Lithuanian lands and the dwelling of their rulers, and the glory of their deeds shall echo throughout the world".[3] The location offered practical advantages it lay within the Lithuanian heartland at the confluence of two navigable rivers, surrounded by forests and wetlands that were difficult to penetrate. The duchy had been subject to intrusions by the Teutonic Knights.[4]
Gediminas expanded the Grand Duchy through warfare along with strategic alliances and marriages. At its height it covered the territory of modern-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Transnistria, and portions of modern-day Poland and Russia. His grandchildren Vytautas the Great and Jogaila, however, fought civil wars. During the Lithuanian Civil War of 1389–1392, Vytautas besieged the city in an attempt to wrest control from Jogaila. The two later settled their differences; after a series of treaties culminating in the 1569 Union of Lublin, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed. The rulers of this federation held either or both of two titles Grand Duke of Lithuania or King of Poland. In 1387, Jogaila granted Magdeburg rights to the city.
