The Concept of Republic in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Epoch of the First Statute of Lithuania

The Renaissance in Europe is associated with new achievements not just in culture, art and economic life, but also in the field of political thought, where there was a return to examples of political theory and action from the times of Antiquity. The reception of Western ideas can also be noticed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the late 15th and mid-16th centuries, where, in addition to the state’s official title, general concepts such as res publica, dominium and patria were also used. In this paper, the author analyses these concepts in public and private texts in order to answer the following questions: what meaning did the words Rech’ Pospolitaya and res publica have in 16th-century written records (primarily the First Statute and Second Statute of Lithuania)? How were these concepts perceived by the authors of the mentioned documents; is their depiction as venerators of Antique ideals warranted? And finally, to what extent are the ideas mentioned reflected in the actual state order in place in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the turn of the 16th century, independent of the rhetoric being used in public texts and other documents ?