The best friends of most Lithuanian rulers were hunting dogs who lived next to their masters in palaces, not in kennels. Perhaps the best-known companions of Žygimantas Augustus are his hunting dogs Grifas and Sibilė. They accompanied the ruler not only on hunting trips, but also in the palace of the rulers of Vilnius Lower Castle. Judging from 1545 accounts, there were 7 dogs in the private space of Žygimantas Augustus.
Among Stephen Bator's (1533-1586) favorite dogs were also hunting dogs - Šmiga, Obručica, Horvatas and Šukaj, who often spent time in the lord's rooms. As is clear from the story of military engineer Dominyks Ridolfin, Stepon Bator's hunting dogs ran freely in the grounds of the Vilnius Lower Castle.
1580 in June, during the audience at the palace, D. Ridolfino accidentally stepped on the ruler's greyhound and the dog went limp. When the engineer then stepped forward to kiss the master's hand as was customary, the greyhound sprang up after him and bit him on the leg. Seeing this, the master stood up and kicked the dog so hard that he fell full length into the middle of the art (not a lot of love for a best friend).
Zygmantas Vaza, who was not fond of hunting, loved spaniels in his mature age. A mounted ruler with a two-color, brown and white, probably German spaniel, is captured in this XNUMXth century. Ave. In a portrait painted by Peter Paul Rubens.
The rulers of the LDK demonstrated a hard-to-understand relationship with animals in a particularly favorite spectacle - hunting wild bears with dogs. When not hunting, dog handlers taught large dogs to hunt bears in the arena - a popular event held in the Lower Castle of Vilnius.
During the time of Vladislaus Vaza, bloody performances took place every few months in the closed courtyard of the Vilnius Lower Castle.
"We observed a spectacle arranged for the king, during which three bears in the castle, from three in the afternoon until six o'clock, let out to bite the dogs, gave us laughter and fell victims to the instinct of tearing," 1636. March 28 nobleman Albrecht Stanislaus Radvila wrote in his diary.
The same nobleman mentioned about 1636. in August, during such a spectacle, a bear was killed by dogs and a sword, and in 1643 December 12 the hunted bear that was released bit the Danish king Charles on the leg with his teeth. One of the larger hunting dogs saved the king from more serious troubles that time.
A serious accident happened in 1644. When the ruler Vladislaus Vaza was in Vilnius, his first wife, Queen Cecilija Renata, who came with him, observed the slaughter of bears with dogs. One teddy bear cowered in a corner, the queen took pity on him, came to look and was attacked. She fell ill from fright and nine days later, after giving birth to a stillborn baby prematurely, the queen died in the Lower Castle.
Žygimantas Senasis (1467–1548) was no different from being a king with a poodle or a spitz-type puppy named Bieliku. This is also one of the first known puppy names preserved in history.
Queen Bona Sforca (1494–1557) was a passionate hunter, lover of horses and dogs. From Fridrik Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, a huge fan of dogs, Bonn to Vilnius in 1534. a "great female dog" arrived as a gift and Bona "expected more similar dogs". It is believed that the ruler of Mantua may have given the queen a Maltese bitch.
The roommate of the first representative of the Vasi dynasty was a small papillon dog. A two-year-old portrait of Zygmantas Vaza (1566–1632), the future ruler of the Republic of the Two Peoples, with this puppy is kept in the Wawel Castle in Krakow.
Perhaps the dog contributed to the fact that the ruler, like his sister Ana Vazaitė, loved nature, planted and cared for rare types of flowers and fruit trees themselves.
Illustration: Jan Baptista Uther. Young Zygmantas Vaza (1566–1632) with a dog, 1568.
Following the example of the rulers, Lithuanian noblewomen also kept house dogs in their estates.
They cost as much as horses and great hunting dogs because they were rare. Various Bichons, papillon-type puppies. They were bred not only because they could appear affectionate. These dogs also had one practical purpose typical of those times.
Hand dogs were loved for a very simple reason - both of them have a higher body temperature than a human and all the blood-sucking parasites from humans traveled to that warmer body.
Since there was no hygiene in the Middle Ages, there were lice and fleas. Sometimes they used lice traps hung around their necks, but a small ferret or dog in their hands also did the job.
In the illustration, the 1561th century. help portrait of Anna (1610–XNUMX), daughter of Gotthard Ketler, the last master of the Livonian Order, wife of LDK marshal Albert Stanislaus Radvila, created by an unknown artist. A miniature "playable" puppy is painted next to it and is lying on the table, which the owner is touching with her hand.
(According to: Raimonda RAGAUSKIENĖ. "Cave canem": man and dog in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the XNUMXth century)
