Lyduvėnai

History

Lyduvėnai area was inhabited at the first millennium's beginning. The known as Danutė hill, known as Barsukalnis, and called Kaukuris, in addition to the , are from those times. Lyduvėnai was first mentioned in 1499. From the 15th century's end, Lyduvėnai were owned by the Chodkevičiai, and later by the Rudzinskai, Šemetos and Stanevičiai. The Lyduvėnai manor used to be called Padubysiai. In 1558, Sigismund II Augustus gave Lyduvėnai the privilege to create a town near the manor, to organize markets, and to keep taverns. The Church in Lyduvėnai was always Catholic, dating from the late 16th century, although first mentioned in 1593. In 1594, the Lyduvėnai valsčius and town are mentioned. The town expanded from the 17th to 18th centuries. Lyduvėnai are marked on a Dutch map about Lithuania from 1613. In 1668, there were just eight Jews in the town. The Church of the St. Apostles Peter and Paul was built in Lyduvėnai in 1761 or 1764. At the time of the November Uprising in 1830–31, Ezechielis Stanevičius, the Raseiniai county's nobility's Maršalka, lived in Lyduvėnai manor. Due to his involvement in the unsuccessful rebellion, the estate was confiscated and a Jewish colony was formed near it. During the rule of the Russian Empire, from the 19th century to the 20th century's beginning, Lyduvėnai was the center of the valsčius. During Motiejus Valančius' life, there was a parochial school, which was attended by 17 pupils in 1853. The school was closed by the Russian government after the 1863 rebellion and later Russified. In 1863, the local rebels supporting the January Uprising destroyed the Lyduvėnai valsčius office's documents, in addition to appropriating its chest, which contained 150 rubles. The local Catholic priest, Antanas Opulskis, who supported the…