Varniai

Varniai is a city in Telsiai County in western Lithuania, in the Samogitian region. In the Middle Ages it was known as Medininkai, a name first mentioned in 1320, and the later town of Varniai was founded north of it on the left bank of the Varnele river, from which its name is taken. Medininkai received Kulm law in 1491 and the renamed Varniai received Magdeburg rights in 1635. The town was long the centre of the Samogitian Catholic church and the residence of the Samogitian bishop, and the Diocese of Samogitia was based there until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the Russian authorities moved it to Kaunas after the January Uprising of 1863. Mikalojus Daukša prepared the first Lithuanian language book printed in the Grand Duchy, the Katechizmas, with support from Bishop Merkelis Giedraitis, and Bishop Motiejus Valancius also lived in the town.