^{This unit was developed by Vytautas Volungevičius  Bibliography   Didactic Comments}

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Medieval society had strict social lines, which separated different social stratums from each other. These conditions formed a special institutional structure of society. The city social structure of Vilnius shows this situation in particular. The interests of various social groups (clergy, citizenry, nobility, peasants, marginalia and others) crossed in the city. This divergent city system presupposed the heterogeneous situation within Vilnius.

The social structure of Vilnius was strongly bound to the numerous city dwellers and of course with the already mentioned changes in circumstances. It is very difficult to explain the social structure of Vilnius because the city has a more complicated internal life than a village. First of all, when talking about the city we have to stress the citizenry, which was the largest group of city dwellers within the city. Nobility, who often fulfilled particular public or political functions, often lived in the city or on the outskirts. Clergy, who did not belong to the general city community, constituted the other group of people and like the nobility had other laws. These three main groups of people divided Vilnius into particular territories and thus formed separate juridical districts.

The main feature of the social structure: nobility and clergy did not adhere to the juridical system of the city. In other words, there were different jurisdictions. It is also important to keep in mind that Vilnius was a multi-ethnic city: Christians of different confessions, Jews and Tartars all had communities within the city. These communities could also be referred to as separate social categories because they did not belong to the clergy, citizenry or nobility. They had their own laws, ways of life, etc. One of the biggest and influential communities in Vilnius was the Jewry, which had their own judicial system and lived in a defined part of the city. The Tartar community also lived in Vilnius, but the community was not very numerous and lived outside of the city. These communities belonged to several different economic strata. Thus Vilnius was a very diverse and heterogeneous organism. All these things reduced its chances of development and expansion. Arguably, in the middle of the 17th century, the Vilnius social structure was distorted because many people left the city (such as the German community), were killed or banished to Russia. It took a long time until Vilnius reached the level of prosperity it had had before the Russian and Cossack “Deluge.”

Definitions

Medieval society: This society is described by the pyramid metaphor. Every social layer had a limited position in the big heterogeneous organism of the society. The two strongest medieval institutions strictly controlled this society: the clergy (the church) and noblemen – sovereigns.

Jurisdictions: These institutions crystallized within the city and this phenomenon is closely connected with the variety of the city, which meant there were many different juridical territories as well as a lot of conflicts between the city dwellers that lived in separate areas of the city.