Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės didikų Pacų giminė savo galios viršūnę pasiekė XVII amžiaus antroje pusėje. Geri santykiai su Abiejų Tautų Respublikos karaliais ir jų dvarais, vedybos, sumani politika leido Kristupui Zigmantui Pacui (1621–1684 m.) tapti viena galingiausių to meto asmenybių valstybėje. Be LDK kanclerio, svarbų vaidmenį valstybės gyvenime atliko ir kiti šeimos nariai: LDK didysis etmonas ir Vilniaus vaivada Mykolas Kazimieras Pacas (1624–1682 m.), Vilniaus vyskupas Mikalojus Steponas Pacas (1623–1684 m.), Žemaičių vyskupas Kazimieras Pacas (mirė 1695 m.). Didikų ekonominės galios augimas buvo neatsiejamas nuo seniūnijų įgijimo. Tarp daugelio tokių seniūnijų, kurias Pacų šeima turėjo XVII a. antroje pusėje ir dalyje XVIII a., buvo ir Kauno seniūnija. Vykstant 1564–1566 m. teismų ir administracinei reformai, buvo naujai suformuoti LDK administraciniai vienetai – vaivadijos ir pavietai. Tarp tokių naujai suformuotų administracinių vienetų buvo ir Trakų vaivadija, apimanti Gardino, Kauno, Trakų ir Upytės pavietus. Kauno pavietas buvo mažiausias tarp kitų Trakų vaivadijos pavietų ir, preliminariais skaičiavimais, užėmė apie 6045 km2 plotą. Tokios pavieto ribos egzistavo iki 1791 m. Kiekviename paviete buvo valstybiniai dvarai, kuriuos administravo valdovo paskirtas seniūnas. Pagrindinė Kauno seniūnų pareiga ir pajamų šaltinis buvo pilies teismas ir seniūnijos ūkis. Iš Pacų giminės Kauno seniūnais buvo Kristupas Zigmantas Pacas (Kauno seniūniją valdė 1666–1676 m.), Mikalojus Andriejus Pacas (1676–1710 m.), Kristupas Konstantinas Pacas (1710–1724 m.) ir Mykolas Pacas (1778/1779–1800 m.).

Vykstant 1564–1566 m. teismų ir administracinei reformai, buvo naujai suformuoti Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės (LDK) administraciniai vienetai – vaivadijos ir pavietai. Tarp tokių naujai suformuotų administracinių vienetų buvo ir Trakų vaivadija, apimanti Gardino, Kauno, Trakų ir Upytės pavietus. Kauno pavietas buvo mažiausias tarp kitų Trakų vaivadijos pavietų ir, preliminariais skaičiavimais, užėmė apie 6045 km2 plotą. Tokios pavieto ribos egzistavo iki 1791 m. Decentralizuota Respublikos sistema lėmė, kad svarbus valstybės elementas buvo administraciniai vienetai – pavietai. Jie tapo svarbia bajorijos savivaldos vieta. XVI a. II pusėje – XVII a. I pusėje 9 giminių atstovai dažniau nei kitų giminių nariai užimdavo renkamas ar skiriamas pareigas Kauno paviete ir buvo renkami atstovais į Respublikos Seimus ar LDK Vyriausiąjį Tribunolą. Straipsnyje dėmesys sutelkiamas į Kulviečių, Skorulskių, Sumorokų, Zavišų, Šiukštų, Beinartų, Deltuviškių (Dzievaltovskių), Mlečkų, Valadkevičių (Valatkų) gimines. Kauno pavieto bajorų Jono Jonaičio Vydros, Zybulto Hans kopovičiaus ir Jono Karolio Rostovskio atvejai parodo, kad kartais padaryti išskirtinę kar jerą bei ilgai išlikti pavieto politiniame-administraciniame elite galėdavo ir vienas giminės atstovas

The article discusses the events of 1792-1793 in Kaunas pavietas (an administrative district). The author strives to clarify the attitude of the nobility of Kaunas pavietas towards the confederation that was adversarial to the reforms of the Four-year Seimas (parliament) and the Constitution of May 3, 1791, as well as the changes in that attitude. The pavietas confederation is viewed through the following prism of the union of nobility: which way (forced or by the initiative of local nobility) the confederation was created in Kaunas pavietas, what people formed the authorities of the confederation, and what was the manifestation of the activity of these authorities. The confederation of Kaunas pavietas is also compared to other confederations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The formation and the activity of Kaunas confederation is analyzed on the basis of the information provided in the documents registered in the book deeds of Kaunas land court, the excerpts from Kaunas confederation book of deeds kept in the Superior Archive of old document in Warsaw, the diary of the commander of the Russian army Michail Nikitich Krechetnikov, the correspondence of the organizers of Lithuanian confederation brothers Jozef Kazimierz Kossakowski (the bishop of Livonia) and Szyman Marcin Kossakowski (general lieutenant of the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia, later - field hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), the documents of the general confederation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (universals, protocols of daily activity), the books of the Supreme Confederation Court, and other sources. [...]

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 uprising of 1794 demonstrated certain features of general confederation which was typical in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Specifically, when a group of persons or representatives of a certain district established an act which proclaimed certain goals (for example, the rights of nobility, the defence of the beliefs of a certain confession, etc.), the representatives of other districts would also announce an act supporting the aims of the initiators and join them as equal members. The first official document of the rebels became the act of uprising of the citizens of Kraków district (vaivadija) issued in Kraków on the 24th of March. The administrative districts of Poland and Lithuania were officially joining the uprising in the approval of the act. However, due to particular reasons, after the liberation of Vilnius, the rebels of Lithuania declared a separate act of uprising of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the 24th of April, 1794. Although the districts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania bordering with Poland joined the Kraków act, the majority of districts (pavietai) expressed approval to the Vilnius act. Kaunas was one of the first districts (pavietas) which officially joined the uprising. The Kaunas district act of joining the uprising declared on the 30th of April, 1794, unconditionally acknowledged the Vilnius act. Apart from the official part, the Kaunas act listed the actions implemented in support of uprising and presented a program of further moves. Within several days or weeks, the majority of Kaunas district decisions were repeated in the universals of the Supreme National Council of Lithuania and became obligatory for everyone (i.e. the organization of district defence; the election of generalmajor responsible for district defence and the armed forces; the organization of military mail; the establishment of storehouses for the army, etc.). Although it cannot be claimed that the orders of the Supreme National Council of Lithuania were influenced by the example of Kaunas district, the citizens of Kaunas district were active enough to take independent decisions at the beginning of the uprising as evidenced in the Kaunas district act of joining the uprising.