Albertas Goštautas
Albertas Goštautas (Latin: Albertus Gastold, Polish: Olbracht (Wojciech) Gasztołd, Belarusian/Ukrainian: Альберт Гаштольд) (c. 1480 – 1539) was a Lithuanian noble of the Goštautai family from ethnic Lithuanian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Voivode of Navahrudak since 1508, Voivode of Polotsk since 1514, Voivode of Trakai since 1519 and Voivode of Vilnius since 1522. In 1522 he became Grand Chancellor of Lithuania. He was the initiator and the editor of the First Statute of Lithuania, as a successor of his staunch opponent Mikolaj Radziwiłł, who rivaled him in the precedence in the Council of Lords. His subsequent rival in influence in the Grand Duchy was Konstanty Ostrogski. In 1529, he received the title of count from Pope Clement VII, and in the following year, thanks to the efforts of Jan Dantyszek, he received the title of Graf of Murowane Gieranojny from Emperor Charles V.
Albertas Goštautas | |
|---|---|
| Grand Chancellor of Lithuania | |
| Coat of arms | Abdank |
| Born | c. 1480 Vilnius, Grand Duchy of Lithuania |
| Died | December 1539 Vilnius, Grand Duchy of Lithuania |
| Noble family | Goštautai |
| Spouse(s) | Sofija Verejskaja |
| Issue | Stanislovas Goštautas |
| Father | Martynas Goštautas |
| Mother | NN Galshansky |
Albertas was a son of Martynas Goštautas and an unknown daughter of Semyon Semyonovich Galshansky (also called Trabski). Albertas' father married later Anna Galshansky, daughter of her first wive's uncle Yury Semyonovich Galshansky. Albertas was orphaned at the age of several years and was brought up by his stepmother and maternal grandmother, Maryna Trabska, daughter of Prince Dmitri Semyonovich Drucki in 1490 bequeathed to him her entire estate.
It is likely that Goštautas studied around 1492 at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. In 1501, he travelled to the imperial court in Vienna.
It is believed Goštautas, as well as the rest of Goštautai family members, had retained their native Lithuanian language. He knew the Polish language perfectly. Influenced by the ideas of the Protestant Reformation, Goštautas was a supporter of the Lithuanian culture and language in state affairs and had a nationalistic attitude: he segregated non-Lithuanian and Polish-speaking Franciscans, took care of the representatives of Lithuanian literature, such as Abraomas Kulvietis, and showed distrust to Ruthenian inhabitants of the Grand Duchy.
He is one of the characters on the famous painting by Jan Matejko, Prussian Homage.