Gimbut

The Palemonids were a legendary dynasty of Grand Dukes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Ruthenia. The legend was born in the 15th or 16th century as proof that Lithuanians and the Grand Duchy are of Roman origins. Already Jan Długosz (1415–1480) wrote that Lithuanians are of Roman origin, but did not provide more details. The legend is first recorded in the second redaction of the Lithuanian Chronicle produced in the 1530s. At the time Grand Duchy or Lithuania was quarrelling with Kingdom of Poland rejecting the claims that Poland "nobilizied" pagan and barbaric Lithuania. Lithuanian nobility needed to show the noble origins of the ruling dynasty, as the only available chronicles at the time were written by the Teutonic Knights, a long-standing enemy, and depicted Gediminas as a hostler of Vytenis.