See summary of dissertation in English - Baltijos regiono istorijos ir ...

Research Novelty and Significance
The novelty of the topic chosen for research is grounded on the following
arguments:
1. Despite rather old traditions of the research of manor related topics
in Europe, the social-economic research of manorial system in
Lithuanian territories of the GDL, including Samogitia, is still
rather scarce. The situation became even more complicated due to
the 20 th century political circumstances, which made the issues of
manorial history remain in the margins of historiography;
2. Considering that a rather one-sided aspect of manorial research
was established in historiography due to the afore-given reasons,
the analysis of the problems of manorial system was framed inside
the context of classical contradictions. Due to such a situation,
the most innovative research of foreign historiography, including
certain structures of the manor itself, remained outside
the scope of research field;
3. The treatment of the 16 th century Samogitia – as the region where
neither folwarks nor serf system established its firm positions –
continues to increase the gap between the historical and historiographical
context of the GDL region and Central Europe, as
well as the remaining part of Europe to an even greater extent;
4. Social and economic structures developed in Samogitian manors
have not been revealed in historiography; their peculiar features
have not been analysed and their situation in the context of the
neighbouring countries has not been comprehended;
5. The dissertation proposes and applies the theoretical and practical
levels of manorial research for the first time in Lithuanian
historiography;
6. The research system enabling the systemisation of source material
and helping to specify the peculiar features of the mentioned
structures was developed by means of the analysis of
structural manifestations of private manors.
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