„Gothic cursive in the office of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas (1392-1430)“ 

The monograph analyses the gothic cursive form used in the office of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas in the context of a long-term process. The aim of the monograph is in a palaeographic aspect, to describe gothic cursive used in the office of Vytautas, and to show it as a universal part of gothic cursive used in the late Middle Ages. The book makes a comprehensive palaeographic analysis, discusses the documentations’ decorations of the Grand Duke, and studies the clerks’ writings.

The work appeals to the original transcripts of Vytautas or letters addressed to him, written in his office, with photographs of the originals, and photo-negatives. The book tells only about the documentation of Vytautas of the years 1392 – 1430, written in Latin and German languages, preserved in the archives of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Germany, Austria, and Aragon and in the divisions of manuscripts of libraries.

At the end of the book, the lists of Vytautas’ documentation that was used – Vytautas’ transcripts or letters addressed to him, written in his office, are also included – and comparative sources are given.

The theme analysed in the monograph is relevant in several aspects. It is important to the late Middle Ages’ culture history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, showing how gothic cursive, used in the office of the Grand Duke, is one of the components of the general Latin gothic culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is also important to the palaeographic research problems of Western and Central European gothic cursive, because it widens the research of gothic cursive’s geographical space and the long-lived development of gothic cursive is further enriched with a “new member”.