Venclovas Venclovaitis Agripa: galimos religinės konversijos atvejis XVI a. Lietuvoje
Venclovas Venclovaitis Agripa: a Possible Case of Religious Conversion in Lithuania in the 16th Century

Summary/Abstract: The article is dedicated to Venclova Venclovaitis, a little-known personality in the 16th century. He belonged to the Lithuanian gentry. The information about his family, their religious beliefs, and property is not precise. It is only known that he married a daughter of the Stakliškės colourbearer and had a large family: five sons and one daughter. In the district of Stakliškės he ruled the lands in or near Gripiškės, Lelioniai, and Sudvariškės; Balčia in Rečycos pavietas (an administrative district) also belonged to him. Venclovaitis was a literate man, possessed literary talents. Family traditions and the fact that one of his sons was given a protestant name Elijus (popular among protestants) allow historians to come to a conclusion that Venclovaitis confessed protestant truths, though in his will of 1612 he bequeathed to be buried in the Stakliškės Catholic church. This leads to a conclusion that at the end of his life he became a catholic. A survey of the local Stakliškės community, where Venclovaitis lived, shows that the network of protestant churches was not widespread in this district and in the whole Kauno pavietas in the second half of the 16th century.

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