Yotvingians
Encyclopedia : Y : YO : YOT : Yotvingians
The Yotvingians or Yatvingians, (Latvian: Jātvingi, Lithuanian: Jotvingiai, Polish: Jaćwingowie, Belarusian: Яцьвягі) are one of the extinct Baltic tribes. Yotvingian culture and language (called Yotvingian or Sudovian) is closest to Prussian. They lived in the areas of Prussia in Sudovia and Jaćwież (in German: Sudauen; in Lithuanian: Sūduva, Jotva) to the left of the Neman river, between Ruthenian outpost Hrodna and western turn of Neman. Today this area corresponds to the southwest territory of Lithuania with Marijampolė, the northeast one of Poland with Suwalki and Augustow and a part of Hrodna province of Belarus. Ptolemy in the 2nd century A.D. called the people Soudinoi.
From history, they are known for their retaliation raids into areas of Masovia and Lublin, after Conrad of Masovia and Danylo of Halych had tried to invade them. In the 13th century some of them took refuge in Lithuania and were partially assimilated by the Lithuanians and partially conquered and dispersed by the Teutonic Knights. During Reformation and Counter-Reformation times a number of earlier refugee Prussians including Sudauer Yotvingians returned from Lithuania to the dukedom of Prussia.
A number of Prussian historians have written numerous historical accounts in German or Latin over the centuries, but very little has been known in the English language until very recently.
See also
External link
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.