The aim of this article is to identify the families of nobility elite of Kaunas district the members of which were elected or appointed to offices in Kaunas district self-government, judicial, and administrative institutions or were elected to the Diet of the Commonwealth or the Supreme Tribunal of GDL during mid-16th to mid-17th centuries. The research has revealed that the members of 56 noble families were elected to the Supreme Tribunal of GDL, the members of 58 noble families were elected or appointed as district-level officials, while 44 families had both members at the Supreme Tribunal of GDL and were elected or appointed as officials. Using the vast data on university students in most Western European universities, the research attempted to determine the number nobility elite, studying at universities. Noble families the members of which consistently sent their sons to universities have been identified; the majority of them were the sons of the officials in Kaunas district. The main tendencies of choosing university education have been established: the highest number of noble people from Kaunas district was studying at universities from 1580 to 1610, and the decline of the number of students started in the 1630s.

The goal of this article is to describe the court of the princely bishop of Lutsk (1507–1536) and Vilnius (1536–1555) as an institution with courtiers and service noblemen. In 1507 Duke Paul of Holszany, the member of a well-established aristocratic family, was appointed as bishop of Lutsk. In the 1510s, after returning from his travels to Italy, the young duke established his own personal court. This court was constituted as a copy of the Grand Duke’s court and imitated the latter’s official titles and duties. The main function of the court was the public representation of the duke and bishop; supporting him as a statesman and patron of the arts; and the efficient administration of his domains. The majority of the courtiers of the bishop of Lutsk and Vilnius were members of families who had served the dukes of Holszany for generations. Most of the courtiers and service nobles were from the most important domains in Holszany and Volpa; and significant numbers of families of this service nobility had intermarried at some point. Service to the prince-bishop provided possibilities for social mobility and a career at the Grand Duke’s court, and some instances of Paul of Holszany’s successful patronage can be observed: in the Catholic Church of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the future bishop of Kiev, later of Lutsk, Jonas Andruševičius) and in the Grand Duke’s court (the future cup-bearer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Albert Jasinsky).