Lithuanian nobility

The Lithuanian nobility or Lithuanian szlachta (Lithuanian: bajorija, šlėkta, Polish: szlachta litewska) was historically a legally privileged hereditary elite class in Lithuania, both when it was a Kingdom and Grand Duchy (including during period of foreign rule 1795–1918) consisting of Lithuanians from Lithuania Proper; Samogitians from Duchy of Samogitia; following Lithuania's eastward expansion into what is now Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, many ethnically Ruthenian noble families (boyars); and, later on, predominantly Baltic German families from the Duchy of Livonia and Inflanty Voivodeship.^[1]

Families of the nobility were responsible for military mobilization and enjoyed Golden Liberty; some were rewarded with additional privileges for success on the battlefield. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, ducal titles were mostly inherited by descendants of old dynasties while the relatively few hereditary noble titles in the Kingdom of Poland were bestowed by foreign monarchs.

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had one of the largest percentages of nobility in Europe, with szlachta (nobility) constituting close to 10% of the population, but in some constituent regions, like Duchy of Samogitia, it was closer to 12%. However, the high nobility was extremely limited in number, consisting of the magnates and later, within the Russian Empire, of princes.

Although towards the 18th century, a large segment of the Lithuanian nobility was linguistically polonized, it viewed itself as superior to the Polish nobility from the Kingdom of Poland, which it nicknamed "monkeys", criticized for perceived alcoholism, megalomania and more, and whose way of speaking Polish it degraded as "gibberish".^[2]

Lithuanian nobility is not formally recognized by the Republic of Lithuania and does not carry special status, but the Lithuanian Royal Union of Nobility (1928–1940; 1994–now) unites in excess of 4,000 members from 600 families.