Tomas Baranauskas is a Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 specializing in the history of medieval Lithuania. He is the author of the book "The Formation of the Lithuanian State".

Baranauskas spent his youth in Žeimelis

Žeimelis

Žeimelis is a town in northern Lithuania, 40 km to the north from Pakruojis, near the border with Latvia. It is a centre of an elderate. A school first mentioned in 1596 . Field Marshal Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly was baptized in the Lutheran church on December 27, 1761. High school was...

 and Anykščiai

Anykšciai

Anykščiai is a ski resort town in Lithuania, 20 miles west of Utena. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Matthias in Anykščiai is the tallest church in Lithuania, with spires measuring 79 meters in height.The city has a football club FK Anykščiai.-Name:...

. In 1998, he graduated from the Faculty of History at the Vilnius University

Vilnius University

Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....

. Since September 1996 he works in the Lithuanian Institute of History

Lithuanian Institute of History

The Lithuanian Institute of History is a state-funded research institution in Lithuania. Governed by national law, it is the country's main institution of history research, concentrating mostly on the history of Lithuania and its neighbouring states....

.

At the end of May 2000, he published The Formation of the Lithuanian State ("Lietuvos valstybės ištakos"). In the book Baranauskas argued that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...

 formed earlier than generally accepted; i.e. that the state was founded before King Mindaugas

Mindaugas

Mindaugas was the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or rise to power; he is mentioned in a 1219 treaty as an elder duke, and in 1236 as the leader of all the Lithuanians...

. The book received mixed reviews from the academics.

Since June 22, 2000, Baranauskas maintains the largest site on the medieval history of Lithuania on the Internet – "Medieval Lithuania". Since March 2003 he also administers the official website of the Lithuanian Institute of History.

Books

• Lietuvos valstybės ištakos, Vilnius, 2000, 317 p. ISBN 5-415-01495-0. - Summary: The Formation of the Lithuanian State
• Vorutos pilis, Vilnius, 2001, 16 p. (together with Gintautas Zabiela) ISBN 9986-23-087-X.
• Lietuvos istorijos kalendorius. 2002, Vilnius, 2001. ISBN 9986-34-086-1.
• Lietuvos istorijos bibliografija. 1998, Vilnius, 2005, 333 p. ISSN 1392-981X.
• Anykščių medinė pilis, Anykščiai, 2005, 16 p.

External links

• Information about T: Baranauskas Archeology Departament of Lithuanian History Institute
• Medieval Lithuania Medieval history of Lithuania