History

The settlement was first mentioned in 1339, after the area was raided by the Livonian Order

Livonian Order

The Livonian Order was an autonomous Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order and a member of the Livonian Confederation from 1435–1561. After being defeated by Samogitians in the 1236 Battle of Schaulen , the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were incorporated into the Teutonic Knights...

. Two hill-forts have been preserved since this time.

After Christianization of Samogitia, the settlement belonged to the Samogitian bishop, and the first church was built here in 1493. Since 1600 it was known as a town. In 1703 the town was granted the privilege to hold a market-place.

Famous people

The anarchist Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....

 lived in the town for a short time as a child, when her father operated an inn here. In Papilė she became close friends with a servant of a family named Petrushka. While in Papilė, she witnessed a "half-naked human body being lashed with a knout

Knout

A knout is a heavy scourge-like multiple whip, usually made of a bunch of rawhide thongs attached to a long handle, sometimes with metal wire or hooks incorporated....

"; this experience terrified her and contributed to her lifelong distaste for violent authority.

Papilė is also the location where Simonas Daukantas

Simonas Daukantas

Simonas Daukantas or Szymon Dowkont was a Lithuanian writer, ethnographer and historian. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian national revival, he is credited as an author of the first book on the history of Lithuania written in the Lithuanian language...

, the writer and historian, is buried.

Ahron Dovid Burack

Ahron Dovid Burack

Rabbi Ahron Dovid Burack was born in Popelan , Lithuania, in 1892 or 1893 to Rabbi Chaim Natan Burack and Basse Gittel Gibberman. He studied at several yeshivot in Europe before immigrating to the U.S. in 1914...

, who became a prominent Orthodox rabbi and yeshiva

Yeshiva

Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

leader in the United States, was born in Papilė in the early 1890s.