Early Lithuanian Literature (Senoji Lietuvos literatūra) is a biannual peer-reviewed scholarly journal published by the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore. This academic periodical has been edited by the Department of Early Literature of the Institute since 1992.
The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore / Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas
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Axel E. Walter, Orpheus Prutenus. Selbstkonzept und Rezeption des Dichters Simon Dach, Klaipėda: Klaipėdos universiteto leidykla, 2020, 415 p. ISBN 978-609-481-083-1 Deutsche Gelehrte und die baltischen Sprachen, hrsg. von Harald Bichlmeier, Christiane Schiller und Silke Brohm, (Schriftenreihe der Gesellschaft für Baltische Studien 5), Hamburg: baar, 2024, 194 p. ISBN 978-3-935536-50-9 Kęstutis Daugirdas, Andrius Volanas ir reformacija Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystėje, monografija, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2024, 445 p. ISBN 978-609-425-385-0 Alkiškių, Šiaulių, Žeimelio evangelikų liuteronų parapijos ir jų archyvai, sudarė Ernestas Vasiliauskas, Klaipėdos universiteto Baltijos regiono istorijos ir archeologijos institutas, Klaipėda: Klaipėdos universiteto leidykla, 2024, 239 p. ISBN 978-609-481-187-6
Miks Stolperjons, a Satirical Poem from the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century
Miks Stolperjons, a Satire in Verse (the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century): The Manuscript and Two Publications in the Lithuanian Press
Miks Stolperjons is a 192-line satirical poem written in Lithuanian in the second half of the nineteenth century (before 1879). The plot of the poem consists of a series of comic situations in which the protagonist, Mikas, keeps falling into due to his clumsiness and lack of good manners. The semi-German personal name Stolperjons (Ger. stolpern ‘to stumble’) in the title indicates that this is probably a translation. Two original quatrains are inserted into the text of the satire that mock the uncultured behaviour typical of Prussian Lithuanians. In its language and artistic expression, Miks Stolperjons is consistent with the general level of Prussian Lithuanian poetry of the time. Today, three versions of the text are known: the manuscript and two publications in the press. The manuscript copy of Miks Stolperjons is part of a notebook of poems in the Manuscript Department of the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences (shelf mark: F163–1086, fol. 13r–17v). The manuscript contains later corrections and additions in darker black ink in a different hand, which are not reflected in the publications. The first publication of the satirical poem appeared in Gothic type in the Prussian Lithuanian newspaper Lietuviška ceitunga of 23 September 1879. The text published here is almost identical to the manuscript text. The publication in Latin characters in the American Lithuanian newspaper Vienybė lietuvninkų of 8 July 1896 was slightly edited: the spelling and language were modernised. In the manuscript, the authorship of the Lithuanian text of the poem, with a question mark, is attributed to Mikelis Šapalas (1827–1887), a Prussian Lithuanian public figure, teacher, poet, translator, and an active contributor to the Lietuviška ceitunga. In the Lietuviška ceitunga, the poem is signed with X., a very popular pseudonym used by many authors at the time. In Vienybė lietuvninkų, the pen-name Lietuvaitė M. S. appears under the poem. It was used by Joana Tamošauskaitė-Baltrušaitienė-Želvienė, a physician and active public figure (1873–1950). Presumably she only edited the text of the poem.
I Wrote to the Quandt Family and Their Descendants in 1756. Genealogy of the Family Published in the Obituary for Quandt (1772)
Genealogy of the Prussian Line of the Quandt Family Written by Johann Jacob Quandt, the Last Bearer of the Surname
Johann Jacob Quandt (1686–1772), the general superintendent of Prussia, is well-known in the history of Lithuanian literature and culture as a promoter of Lithuanian writing in eighteenth-century Prussian Lithuania. About a dozen Lithuanian books were produced under his care. He involved students and graduates of the University of Königsberg in the writing process. It is not known what prompted Quandt to write the genealogy of his family and when he started this work, but it is known that he finished it in 1756 and left the manuscript to his nephew, Johann Christoph Bohlius (1703–1785). After his death, Quandt’s personal archive was reviewed and some of the documents were included in the obituary ‘To the Man While He Lived […] Magnificent [...] Johann Jacob Quandt’ (Viro, dum viveret, magnifico [...] Johanni Jacobo Quandt [...], Königsberg, 1772). This obituary was the first publication of the genealogy of eight generations of the Quandt family. The Quandts established themselves in Königsberg in the sixteenth century; the Teutonic Knights or their descendants may have been the founders of this branch of the family. The obituary with the genealogy of the Quandts is kept at the National Library of Poland in Warsaw (Biblioteka Narodowa w Warszawie, sign. SD XVIII.4.1170 adl.). Quandt’s manuscript has not survived or has not been found. Many of the men of the Quandt family had been educated at the University of Königsberg, served in government posts, were priests, and one was a merchant engaged in commerce. The men of the family usually chose the daughters of priests as their wives, making it an elite family. Of the Quandt family, three of its representatives are better known today: Jacobus, the great-grandfather of Johann Jacob Quandt, his father Johann, and our Johann Jacob Quandt, the general superintendent of Prussia, the preacher of the royal court, and first professor of theology. The appended source was translated from the Latin by Dr Mindaugas Strockis.
Recommendation of Heinrich Tilesius, the Rector of the Tilsit Provincial School, to His Pupil Johann Schultz
The article discusses and presents, along with its translation into Lithuanian and commentaries, a document kept at the Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (Ger. Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz) in Berlin (shelf mark: GStA PK: I. HA GR, Rep. 7 Preußen, No. 191 [1685–1703]). It is a copy of the recommendation written on 30 April 1695 by Heinrich Tilesius (1666–1732), the rector of the Tilsit provincial school, to the pupil Johann Schultz (Jonas Šulcas, ~1678–1709), a future theology student at the University of Königsberg, a priest in Prussian Lithuania, and the translator of the first Lithuanian book of literary fiction, Die Fabeln Aesopi (Aesop’s Fables, Königsberg, 1706). Tilesius’s recommendation is important for several reasons. This archival source provides information about the Tilsit provincial school: the name of Johann Schultz extends the list of the school’s well-known pupils, evidences the most important subjects included in the curriculum of the time, and reveals some of the competences of the schoolmaster. Tilesius’s Latin text is an example of a recommendation written in a high or almost Ciceronian style of eloquence; it is a distinctive rhetorical piece demonstrating the excellent classical education of the rector of the provincial school of Tilsit. The recommendation also adds new details to the biographical information on Johann Schultz, the pupil of this school, a future creator of Lithuanian literature, or, more precisely, provides some facts about his education prior to his studies at the University of Königsberg: not only did he go to the provincial school in Tilsit, but he also attended the Latin school in Insterburg, where, besides learning Latin, he also studied Greek and acquired knowledge of poetry, philosophy, and, in particular, rhetoric. Schultz’s teachers included not only Heinrich Tilesius, but also Johann Picker (~1640–1693), a well-known pedagogue of the time, a follower of Philipp Jacob Spener (1635–1705) and a promoter of his ideas in Prussia.
Publications of Fiction Texts in Prussian Lithuanian Periodicals in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries: Statistics and Insights
In 1823, the first Lithuanian periodical appeared in Tilžė (Ger. Tilsit). It was a magazine-type publication called Nusidavimai Dievo karalystėje. It was followed by more Lithuanian newspapers and their supplements in Prussian Lithuania. Print shops produced the newspapers in German and Lithuanian, in Gothic typeface. Most of them appeared in the print shops of Tilžė and Klaipėda (Ger. Memel). The newspapers published a wide range of material: articles on various subjects (philosophy, religion, the natural sciences, art, geography, etc.), reviews, and also texts of fiction, in the dissemination of which the periodicals of Prussian Lithuania played an important role. The article examines the amount of fiction texts (original and anonymous prose and poetry) published in Prussian Lithuanian periodicals, identifies the periodicals that published the most of them and their changes over the decades. It also reveals the cultural context of the printing of fiction in the periodical press: the network of people involved in the creation, publication, and distribution of texts. The names of fiction authors and periodical editors are identified, and their relationship to the world of culture is discussed. It was established that during the period under study (1849–1913), more than 3250 publications of works of fiction appeared in 27 periodicals and their supplements intended for Prussian Lithuania (Kaimynas, Lietuviška ceitunga, Tilžės keleivis, and others). The texts of fiction published in these periodicals came in a variety of genres: poetry, prose, drama, satire, and humour. The choice of the authors and types of texts depended on the editors of the publications. The editors of the periodicals that published the largest numbers of the texts of fiction were individuals active in the field of Prussian Lithuanian writing in the late nineteenth-early twentieth centuries. The fiction published in the periodical press also spread in the form of albums of copies. The manuscript collections of fiction by Prussian Lithuanian literary figures kept at the Manuscripts Department of the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences point to the popularity of fiction in the nineteenth century.
Martin Ludwig Rhesa’s Prutena: Between Vaterland (Fatherland) and Heimat (Homeland)
Martin Ludwig Rhesa’s (Lith. Martynas Liudvikas Rėza, 1776–1840) original work, the two-volume collection of his German poetry Prutena (1809, 1825), became available to Lithuanian readers approximately two hundred years later, when Antanas A. Jonynas translated it into Lithuanian (2023). This fact opens up the possibility not only to get to know Rhesa’s literary abilities, but also to delve into the world of East Prussian intellectual life, to which the poet undoubtedly belonged. Rhesa’s duality, his belonging to two cultures – German and (Prussian) Lithuanian – is clearly visible in his understanding of the concept of ‘homeland’. The dual concept of ‘homeland’ in German, Heimat and Vaterland, is already evident in the titles of the collections and in the distribution of emphasis in the texts themselves. The poetic works described by the adjective vaterländisch imply an attachment to German cultural values: the Prussian government, the king, the official Evangelical Lutheran Church, while prutenisch would refer to the way of life and the culture of the ancestors of the Balts – the Prussians and the Lithuanians of that time – in their own homeland, Prussian Lithuania. The concept of a small homeland or fatherland is evident in some poems and ‘folk songs’. In Prutena, Rhesa adopted a Herderian strategy, since Herder published folk songs of various nations alongside poems by specific authors (Volkslieder, 1778/1779). In Rhesa’s work, the majority of the poems are his own, while ‘(folk) song texts’ account for only a quarter of the genre. Rhesa gives different genre descriptions to his German texts with the addition of ‘song’. He refers to poems such as ‘Der versunkene Brautring’ (The Sunken Ring), ‘Mila’ (Mila), ‘Elwa und Selmis’ (Elwe and Selmis), ‘Des fernen Schiffers Lied’ (The Sailor’s Song), and many others simply as eine littauische Daina (A Lithuanian Song). In the second volume, several texts have Volkslied in their title, such as ‘Der Lindentanz. Samländisches Volkslied’ (Lindententen Dance. A Sambian Folk Song), ‘Winter-Mai und Sommer-Schnee. Lith. Volkslied’ (Winter May and Summer Snow. A Lithuanian folk song) and ‘Der Hirtenknabe. Litth. Volkslied’ [The Shepherd. A Lithuanian folk song]. It seems that such a distinction by Rhesa is not accidental. His Prutena ‘songs’ are simply his own compositions, since here we find characters already familiar from other poems, such as Elma or Elwa and Selmis. At the same time, the poems with the prefix Volkslied can be seen as a free translation of folk songs. The ‘Lithuanian’, ‘Sambian’, or ‘Warmian’ songs may simply be the Prussian place names from which Rhesa drew his motifs. Rhesa’s double concept of homeland is well illustrated by his 1812 ode ‘An das Vaterland’ (To the Fatherland) (PRUTENA, II), which reveals all the components of Rhesa’s patriotism. The author recounts the history of the Prussian land and the peaceful and tranquil life of its inhabitants before the conquest. The ‘sons of Toiskon’, the Germanic Crusaders, turned the wheel of history in another direction. New denominations, the consolidation of Luther’s teaching in the Duchy of Prussia, the merits of the University of Albertina, the bright personalities of the land, the kings, the battlefields, and the sound of the longed-for victory over Napoleon – this is the history of the land and the homeland, the story of an enlightened priest, scribe and poet of Lithuanian origin.
Intertextual Links of Johann Ferdinand Kelch’s poem Lietuvininkai: Christian Gottlieb Mielcke’s Poem Pilkainis
Johann Ferdinand Kelch’s (Lith. Johanas Ferdinandas Kelkis, 1801–1877) poem Lietuvininkai (Prussian Lithuanians), composed in the second half of the nineteenth century, was first published in the monthly magazine Saulėteka (Sunrise, Nos 8–9, 1900), edited by Martynas Jankus (1858–1946) and printed in his print shop. It is a 472-line historical poem written in a four-line cross-rhymed iamb. The first historical poem in Lithuanian – Pilkainis by Christian Gottlieb Mielcke (Lith. Kristijonas Gottlybas Milkus, 1733–1807), printed in the early nineteenth century – inspired Johann Ferdinand Kelch to write his own historical poem Lietuvininkai. Kelch’s decision to build on and interpret his predecessor in his own way was a natural one: this was due to the issues of national and religious identity, which had become highly relevant in the socio-cultural context of mid-nineteenth-century Prussian Lithuania. The intertextuality of Lietuvininkai should not be seen as a literary method consciously chosen by the author but as a kind of unfolding of the collective subconscious. Mielcke based his poem on the rationalist model of historical development that had gained a foothold in the Age of Enlightenment. Kelch built the story of the Prussian Lithuanians on a religious narrative of history. By tracing the ancestry of the Prussian Lithuanians back to the descendants of the biblical Noah, he seemed to try to inculcate Christianity into the ancestors of the old Balts and at the same time to suppress the memories of historical injustice, which had been reawakened by the Germanisation that had intensified in the mid-nineteenth century. Mielcke’s poem became a suitable model, which, when followed, supplemented, and adjusted, made it possible to rethink the most dramatic period of the nation’s history, to strongly suggest that Christianisation of the Prussian Lithuanians was God’s intended plan, and that having won eternal salvation, one should not really regret the loss of national greatness. The Germans, who brought Christianity to Prussian Lithuania, replaced the descendants of the Lithuanians who had once come to the region. A natural civilisational change took place: some newcomers had replaced others. In his poem, Kelch abandons Mielcke’s optimistic idea of an equal partnership between the two nations. Kelch borrowed the theme, the plot, and the rhyme scheme from Mielcke and incorporated textual interpolations into his poem. The fact that he took note of, adopted, and developed the most artistic episodes of Mielcke’s otherwise artistically less strong poem shows that he had a good philological ear. Kelch’s act of re-reading and reinterpreting Mielcke’s poem is unparalleled in nineteenth-century Lithuanian literature. It is a unique artistic experiment that not only imparted additional depth (the perceptual vertical) to Kelch’s poem, but also actualised the source that inspired the creative act in the cultural memory of the nation – Christian Gottlieb Mielcke’s poem Pilkainis.
Reception of Danielius Kleinas’s Ideas in Povilas Frydrichas Ruigys’s Grammar Anfangsgründe einer Littauischen Grammatick (1747)
The article analyses the reception of Danielius Kleinas’s ideas in Povilas Frydrichas Ruigys’s grammar Anfangsgründe einer Littauischen Grammatick (1747, hereinafter RG). Two aims were pursued: (1) to single out Kleinas’s ideas that Ruigys found relevant and suitable for describing the language of the mid-eighteenth century and (2) to identify the intentions of Ruigys in adopting them. Using an analytical interpretive approach based on philological analysis, it is shown that Kleinas’s Grammatica Litvanica (1653, hereinafter KG) was a particularly important source. The need of the Age of Enlightenment to learn about the world and to educate society is highlighted in discussing the motives for adopting and adapting ideas. The study of the reception of Kleinas’s ideas leads to the following conclusions: 1. Frequent references to KG, both explicit and implicit, point to a similar school of linguistic thought and the acceptability of its ideas. 2. KG was a particularly important source in two respects: (1) selecting a dialect for grammar and distinguishing it from others and (2) developing an extensive section on syntax. 3. By adopting Kleinas’s key idea of choosing one dialect as the basis for the description of the Lithuanian language, Ruigys expanded its area to two counties: Įsrutis (Ger. Insterburg) and Ragainė (Ger. Ragnit). He considered the other dialects in Prussia and Lithuania Major as secondary. Ruigys was the first to classify Lithuanian dialects by the opposition main : secondary or centre : periphery. 4. By placing emphasis on the stability, universality, and prestige of the main dialect in relation to other dialects, Ruigys continued the tradition of forming standard language on the basis of one dialect, which was initiated by Kleinas. In the eighteenth century, this was relevant for the written form of the language. 5. By introducing secondary dialects, he aimed to facilitate the integration of individuals appointed to priesthood in a new linguistic environment. This was important for the spoken form of the language. 6. In preparing a grammar for learning Lithuanian by non-Lithuanians, Ruigys paid considerable attention to syntax. By adopting Kleinas’s ideas and expanding them, he sought to develop the ability to produce a coherent text. The ability to generate well-formed sentences is important for both written and spoken language. 7. One of the characteristics of the language teaching methodology developed by Ruigys was the development of linguistic communicative competence. In the Age of Enlightenment, this was particularly necessary for the organisation of public education through churches and schools. Taking up earlier ideas and adapting them to the needs of the eighteenth century, Ruigys developed a tool for non-Lithuanians to learn Lithuanian, to develop linguistic competence appropriate to their duties, and to adapt to a new environment. 8. RG is focused not only on setting out the basics of the language but also on reducing the distance between written and spoken language. 9. Since the description of the grammatical structure of the Lithuanian language in the mid-seventeenth century was suitable as a basis for a grammar of the mid-eighteenth century, it evidences the slight change in the language itself.
inguistics of seventeenth-eighteenth-century Prussian Lithuania
Gedimino laiškai, sudarė ir iš lotynų kalbos vertė Sigitas Narbutas, įvadą ir komentarus parašė Darius Kuolys, iliustracijas piešė Marius Jonutis, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2023, 64 p. ISBN 987-609-425-344-7 Lietuvos ir Žemaičių Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės metraštis. Monografinis tyrimas ir kritinis leidimas, parengė Kęstutis Gudmantas = Chronicle of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Samogitia. A Study and a Critical Edition, edited by Kęstutis Gudmantas, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2024, 459 p., faks. ISBN 978-609-425-127-6 Žvaigždės pakeičia skeptrus: 1695 m. Kražių kolegijos rankraščio poezija, sudarė ir parengė Ona Dilytė-Čiurinskienė, iš lotynų ir lenkų kalbos vertė Ona Dilytė-Čiurinskienė, Regina Koženiauskienė, Sigitas Narbutas, komentarus rašė Ona-Dilytė-Čiurinskienė, Regina Koženiauskienė, 2024, 423 p.: iliustr., santr. angl. k. ISBN 978-609-425-293-8 Pirmasis Juozapato Kuncevičiaus gyvenimo aprašymas Relatio (1624). Palaimintojo Juozapato kankinystės poezija XVII a. knygelėje Rhythmus: studija, Relatio komentuotas leidimas, vertimas iš lotynų kalbos; straipsnis, Rhythmus kopija ir perrašas, poetinis vertimas iš lotynų kalbos, parengė Mintautas Čiurinskas ir Ona Dilytė-Čiurinskienė, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2023, 224 p., iliustr, faks. ISBN 978-609-425-373-7 Mintautas Čiurinskas, Europinė Oršos pergalės (1514) propaganda ir Lietuvos kultūra, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2024, 207 p., iliustr. ISBN 978-609-425-387-4 Oršos pergalės (1514) šaltiniai: poezija, proginiai ir naujienų spaudiniai = Fontes victoriae apud Orsham A. D. 1514: carmina, editiones occasionales et libelli nuntiorum, sudarė ir parengė, [įvadą ir komentarus parašė] Mintautas Čiurinskas, iš lotynų kalbos vertė Mintautas Čiurinskas, Ona Dilytė-Čiurinskienė, Eugenija Ulčinaitė, iš vokiečių kalbos vertė Vilija Gerulaitienė, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2024, 343 p., iliustr. ISBN 978-609-425-386-7 Mokymo metodas Lietuvos provincijos pijorų mokykloms. Apšvietos edukacijos naujovės, sudarė, iš lotynų kalbos vertė, komentarus parengė ir įžanginį straipsnį parašė Asta Vaškelienė, Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2024, 270 p., faks. ISBN 978-609-425-256-3
Works Printed in Vilnius in the Eighteenth-Century Manuscript Catalogue of the Vilnius Jesuit Academy Library
Based on the eighteenth-century manuscript catalogue of the Vilnius Jesuit Academy library, the purpose of the article was to investigate what part of the library consisted of the output of the printing houses of Vilnius, to identify the printers of Vilnius whose output the library had and the number of those works, and the themes of books that the Jesuits read. From approximately 4500 entries in the catalogue, 155 entries were selected in which Vilnius was indicated as the place of publication or identified as such. All the information, including transcribed catalogue entries, identified publications, books belonging to the Vilnius Jesuit Academy library with their provenance marks and the current known location of their storage, is provided separately in the appendix. During the research, 143 titles were identified, and 259 copies were counted. After identifying almost all the printed works selected from the catalogue, it turned out that the library had eight titles (nine copies) printed in the sixteenth century, 68 titles (122 copies) from the seventeenth century, and 67 titles (128 copies) printed in the eighteenth century. Most of them were the output of the Vilnius Academy printing house. Religious texts, comprising polemical, hagiographic, and theological writings, constituted 56 per cent of all printed works, while works on logics, mathematics, geography, and physics made up only 7.7 per cent. Various calendars started to be printed in the second half of the eighteenth century and became very popular. The largest number of works printed in Vilnius were in Latin (48.6 per cent) and Polish (47.2 per cent); works in French, German, Lithuanian, Latvian, and other languages accounted for 4.2 per cent. The inscriptions in the books reveal that the Jesuits not only bought books but also received them as gifts. Not only famous patrons but also the authors such as Maciej Miłuński, Jan Zrzelski, Antonius Aloysius Misztołt donated books to the library. The Vilnius Academy printing house also donated several books. Thus, the manuscript catalogue of the Vilnius Jesuit Academy library is a particularly valuable source for researching the history of the Vilnius University library in the eighteenth century. The printed works recorded in it point to the Jesuits’ areas of interest, and the surviving books reveal the history of books entering the library and their wanderings through the libraries of various European countries.
manuscript catalogue of the Vilnius Jesuit Academy library
output of the Vilnius Academy printing house
sixteenth-eighteenth-century works printed in Vilnius
The Account of the Death of King Wladyslaw IV Vasa in Merkinė on 20 May 1648 (ed. and translated from Latin into Lithuanian by Mintautas Čiurinskas)
The Account of the Illness and Death of Wladyslaw Vasa
The article presents an anonymous account of the last days of life and death of Wladislaw Vasa, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, in Merkinė. The ruler died on 20 May 1648, and the text in question is one of the most detailed sources on this event. The article also includes extracts from Wladislaw Vasa’s will, hitherto unused in the historiography, which reflect his wish regarding the burial place and his bequest to St Casimir’s Chapel after his death. That this ruler’s heart rests in St Casimir’s Chapel of Vilnius Cathedral, which he had finished within his lifetime, was due to the circumstances of his death in Lithuania, the autopsy carried out, and the will of the nobles of Lithuania rather than that of the ruler. On the other hand, the latter was also exercised, by burying his body in the mausoleum of the Polish kings in Wawel Cathedral in Cracow. The introductory article discusses some of the circumstances of the ruler’s stay and illness in Merkinė, as well as the source itself. The publication includes a full Latin-Lithuanian translation of the account of Wladislaw Vasa’s illness and death.
The Orthography and Dating of Simonas Daukantas’s Unfinished Second Collection of Song Bundles
Simonas Daukantas collected Lithuanian folk songs for almost his entire creative life (at least 1827–1861). He published his first collection of songs in 1846 (DAJNES Żiamajtiû pagał Ƶôdiû Dajnĩnikû ĩszraszytas, Petropĩlie: Spaudinie pas C. Kray) and was preparing the second one, but did not complete it. This article mostly deals with the orthography and dating of the three bundles of songs (XXIV, XXX, and XXX) that were intended for this second collection. It also elaborates on the time Daukantas completed his hand copy of Simonas Stanevičius song edition of 1829 (DAYNAS ŻEMAYCZIU SURYNKTAS YR YSŹDUTAS PAR SYMONA STANEWICZE Mokslynyka Lyteraturas yr Grażiuju Prytirymu. WYLNIUJE. SPAUSTUWIEJ’ B. NEUMANA) and edited the orthography of his own handwritten songs. One song, “It Is Hard to our Little Neighbor” (“Mūsų susiedeliui vargas yra”; XXIV bundle f. 33v), may be considered originating in the somewhat earlier period, in the last years of Daukantas residing in St Petersburg (…–1850). Its most palpable orthographic features: <ąn> [an, ọn], <ó> [ọ], possibly <‑tĩ>. During Varniai period (1850–1855) Daukantas must have written down several songs: “For that One Night” (“Dėl tos vienos nakties”) with the names of winds and a proverb (XXIV bundle f. 30r); three songs (XXIV bundle f. 30r); and the song “(He) Sings Alone” (“Vienas dainuoja”; XXIV bundle f. 32r). Graphochronologically significant orthographic features: <‑ti>; <‑jo> praet. 3; <ą> [ą] in word‑initial and word‑medial positions. During the Kálnėnai period (1859–1861), Daukantas possibly wrote down most of the songs he intended for his second collection of folk songs—those were the major texts of the bundles XXIV (f. 2r–29r), XXX (f. 1r–12v), and XXXI (f. 1r–18v). Their most salient orthographic features were: <‑ja> praet. 3; <an> [ą] in word‑initial and word‑medial positions; <Rig‑> (also often older apostrophic forms: <‑j’> in iness. sg. [f.] case; <Lietuw‑>). Somewhat later, but still, in Kálnėnai, Daukantas must have copied a book of Lithuanian songs by Simonas Stanevičius (StDƵn, 1829) in his own hand. The newer orthographic features dominate this copy: non‑apostrophic iness. sg. (f.) <‑ie> (<‑je>) and <Letuw‑> (<Létuw‑>). During Papilė period (1861–1864), Daukantas probably wrote down one song, “The More Seldom I Sowed” (“Juo retai sėjau”; XXIV bundle f. 33r), and both added footnotes and corrected the texts in the XXX bundle. Palpable orthographic features were: <‑ie> iness. sg. (f.); <Letuw‑>; ultimately the newest latest corrections clearly visible there: <‑ja> → <‑jo> praet. 3; <‑a> → <‑o> gen. sg. m. Analogous corrections of <‑a> → <‑o> must have been occasionally made in XXXI f. 4v and StDƵn 18 also during the Papilė period.
Traces of Jan Kochanowski in Eighteenth-Century Literary Theory and Epigrammatic Poetry
The article addresses the relevance of Jan Kochanowski, a Polish-Lithuanian Renaissance poet, in the discourse of literary theory and in practical creative work in the eighteenth century. The first part of the article examines the manner and the extent that Kochanowski is mentioned in the most important printed poetic and rhetorical works of the period under scrutiny. The second part discusses some examples of eighteenth-century epigrammatic works written in Lithuania, looking for their points of contact with Jan Kochanowski’s literary tradition. The study reveals that Jan Kochanowski figures in the discourse of eighteenth-century literary theory as a writer of threni, satires, and dramas, but his example is not used to explain the theory of the genre of the epigram. Only Franciszek Dmochowski, the only one of the authors of poetics, mentions Kochanowski as a poet of witty epigrams (fraszki). Kochanowski’s epigrammatic tradition did not find any followers in eighteenth-century Latin epigrammatic poetry in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but the short jokes (żarty) may indicate its reception in the poetry in Polish of the second half of the eighteenth century.
The Lithuanian Language and the Political Identity of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Experiences of the Sixteenth-Seventeenth Centuries
The article examines Lithuanian texts published in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries from the point of view of political awareness. It elucidates the kind of relationship between the Lithuanian-speaking and reading community and the Lithuanian state of that time. In order to do so, the political vocabulary of works in Lithuanian and the political ideas expressed in them are also examined. At the same time, it considers the political role given to the Lithuanian language by Lithuanian intellectuals writing in other languages and the image of the Lithuanian language and the Lithuanian-speaking community created by political journalism and historiography written in Latin, Russian and Polish. Written by Lithuanian intellectuals and published in Königsberg in 1547, the first Lithuanian book is symbolically dedicated to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and its addressee is the Lithuanian and Samogitian people and all the estates of this nation. Mikalojus Daukša, the translator of Postil, published in 1599 at the Vilnius University press, and his patron, Bishop of Samogitia Duke Merkelis Giedraitis urged the citizens of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to build their Republic on the Lithuanian language. In their view, it was the Lithuanian language that had to unite the different estates in the Grand Duchy and ensure the solidarity of the political nation. In the seventeenth century, the professors of Vilnius University working on Lithuanian books stressed the connection between the Lithuanian language and the Lithuanian state. Konstantinas Sirvydas created not only a cultural, philosophical, theological, but also a political Lithuanian vocabulary: his trilingual dictionary of Polish, Latin, and Lithuanian, first published by the Vilnius University press around 1620, was reprinted four more times during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was the foundation for the Lithuanian texts of the time. Sirvydas personally wrote and published a collection of sermons for intellectuals in Lithuanian in which he deliberated not only over religious but also political issues. The seventeenth-century Lithuanian hymnbooks and prayer books, which were regularly reprinted in large numbers throughout the eighteenth century and into the first half of the nineteenth century, pleaded Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and St Casimir, the patron saint of Lithuania, to help ‘our State’, ‘our Kingdom’, ‘the land of Lithuania’, and ‘the Duchy of Samogitia’. There was thus a positive relationship between the community worshipping God in Lithuanian and the state: the society that spoke and sang hymns in Lithuanian felt responsible for their country before God. The Lithuanian texts under scrutiny support the assumption of Professor Jurgis Lebedys that the link between the political programme of Daukša and Giedraitis of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the Lithuanian national movement (Simonas Daukantas, Simonas Stanevičius, and others) of the early nineteenth century was not interrupted and that the tradition of nurturing the Lithuanian language and the connection between the Lithuanian language and the state remained alive all throughout these years. Latin, Russian, and Polish journalistic and historical literature also played a significant symbolic role for the Lithuanian language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The sixteenth-century chronicles, the texts by Venclovas Mikalojaitis, or Michalo Lituanus, Augustinus Rotundus, Maciej Stryjkowski, and Albertas Kojalavičius (Wojciech Kojałowicz) depicted the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ‘Republic of Lithuania’ as a state created by the Romans, the ancestors of the Lithuanians, and their descendants, the Lithuanian nobility who then expanded it into the lands of Russia. In these texts, the grand dukes and nobles of Lithuania appear as Lithuanian-speaking people who follow Lithuanian customs. Hence, the historical narrative of Lithuania and the myth of Lithuanian descent from the Romans, which was embedded in the culture of the region, placed emphasis on the Lithuanian character of the Grand Duchy. In the historical narrative, we find not only a political but also a linguistic and cultural notion of the nation. Thus, even after Polish prevailed in the life of the state, the Lithuanian language remained an important factor in Lithuania’s historical and political awareness and the political identity of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
From a ‘Ruthenian’ to a ‘Noble Lithuanian’: Shifts in the Sixteenth-Century Historical Narrative of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The article discusses the shifts in the attitude towards the Orthodox believers and Ruthenians in the sixteenth-century historical and polemical writings and epistolary works of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It starts with an analysis of the conversion of pagan Lithuanian dukes to Orthodoxy as described in the chronicles of Lithuania, which is followed by a review of the letters of Chancellor Albertas Goštautas (Olbracht Gasztołd, †1539) and the struggle against the group of Hetman Konstantinas Ostrogiškis (Konstanty Ostrogski) that is reflected in those letters. The study concludes with an analysis of texts by Augustinus Rotundus, Maciej Stryjkowski, and other authors from the second half of the sixteenth century. In these texts, the representatives of the Ruthenian elite of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – the Chodkevičius (Chodkiewicz), the Valavičius (Wołłowicz) – are already considered to be ‘noble Lithuanians’.
Henri de Valois and the Occasional Poetry at the Time of the Royal Election of 1573: Jean de La Gessée’s Henrias
The subject of this article is a collection of occasional poems in Latin entitled Henriade (Henrias), attributed to Jean de La Gessée, a French poet of the second half of the sixteenth century. The collection is dedicated to Henri de Valois, Duke of Anjou, the elected ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This article is part of a series of publications dealing with different aspects of the text. It examines the circumstances and context of the creation of this little-studied collection, as well as its structure and dedicatees, including the members of the Polish and Lithuanian delegation sent to France. After comparing most of the known French and Latin publications from the period of the royal election of 1573 and analysing them from a thematic, problematic, and literary points of view, we can affirm that Henrias is undoubtedly one of the most important collections of poems dedicated to this election. It has a rigorous compositional structure, is distinguished by its poetic artistry, and can be considered a representative example of the Latin poetry produced at the Valois court during this period. The main difficulty of this study lies not in the texts of the collection but in the identification of their author. The association of the court poet who wrote under the name ‘Jean de La Gessée’ with Jean Gesse, a Protestant bourgeois and ‘secrétaire de la chambre’ of François de Valois, is more than questionable. The author’s poems contain numerous factual, chronological, and logical inconsistencies with La Gessée’s ‘official’ semi-hypothetical biography, which is in fact almost completely undocumented. The content of these Latin works as also the autobiographical details they contain make this identification even more unlikely. We believe that this modified name is a pseudonym (i. e., an allonym) used by Louis de Clermont d’Amboise de Bussy, a courtier of the Duke of Anjou, Henri de Valois (later first gentleman of François de Valois), who is mentioned in historical sources as a poet and interested in history. By studying certain poems in Henrias, in which he gives details of his personal life, we attempted to reconstruct certain episodes in his biography, such as his participation in the siege of La Rochelle. It also seems likely that this author used several pseudonyms in 1573 and that he is linked to a much larger body of literature on the theme of the royal election of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As the introduction and the poems indicate, Henrias was written at the request of Henri de Valois, who acted as the poet’s patron. The composition of the collection and the order in which the dedicatees are presented show that it was carefully and purposefully arranged following the diplomatic protocol. In addition to Henri de Valois, the dedicatees include the main protagonists of the events surrounding the election of the sovereign, both in France and in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: members of the delegation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the primate of Poland, French diplomats, and the officials and cultural figures who accompanied Henri de Valois to Cracow. A small collection of poems in French entitled Souspirs de la France complements the Latin Henrias and gives it a thematic balance. There is no doubt that the author took part in all the official ceremonies not as a mere spectator but as a committed actor with certain responsibilities and that he was in direct and frequent contact with the members of the Polish and Lithuanian delegation. He was also close to the historian François Baudouin. An analysis of Henrias shows that the collection aims to explore various political themes and court events while offering the reader many different poetic forms. The author demonstrates both his creativity and his mastery of ancient metre. The central section of the collection is an epic panegyric based on the classical structure of the enkomion, beginning with a solemn introduction, followed by a detailed description of the Duc d’Anjou’s lineage and exploits, a portrait of the character, an account of his achievements, and a reflection on ‘virtues’ presented in the form of ‘advice to the young sovereign’. The conclusion is marked by idealised descriptions of the country under his rule and of his future wife, Anne of Jagiellon. This section is written in imitation of Claudian’s panegyrics, both in terms of the genre and structure of the work and in terms of the style and the vocabulary used. Throughout the collection, various literary techniques are used to create an epic and heroic image of the new ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in line with historical circumstances and political discourse. We plan to examine these literary features in detail in a later article. Henri de Valois et la poésie de circonstance de l’époque de l’élection royale de 1573: l’Henrias de J. de La Gessée L’objet de cet article est un recueil de poésie de circonstance en latin intitulé Henriade (Henrias), attribué à Jean de La Gessée, un poète français de la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle. Ce recueil est dédié à Henri de Valois, duc d’Anjou, qui fut élu souverain de Pologne et de Lituanie. L’article s’inscrit dans une série de publications examinant divers aspects du ce texte. Il explore les circonstances et le contexte de la création de ce recueil, encore peu étudié, ainsi que sa structure et ses dédicataires, parmi lesquels figurent les membres de la délégation de la République des Deux Nations envoyée en France. Après avoir comparé la plupart des publications françaises et latines connues de l’époque de l’élection royale de 1573, et les avoir analysées sous les angles thématique, problématique et littéraire, nous pouvons affirmer que Henrias est incontestablement l’un des recueils de poésie les plus significatifs dédiés à cette élection. Il possède une structure compositionnelle stricte, se distingue par son art poétique et il peut être considéré comme un exemple représentatif des œuvres de poésie latine produites à la cour des Valois à cette époque. La difficulté principale de cette étude ne réside pas dans les textes du recueil, mais dans l’identification de leur auteur. L’association du poète de cour, écrivant sous le nom de «Jean de La Gessée», avec Jean Gesse, secrétaire de la chambre du roi François de Valois et protestant bourgeois, est plus que contestable. La poésie de l’auteur contient de nombreuses incohérences factuelles, chronologiques et logiques avec la biographie semi-hypothétique «officielle» de La Gessée, qui n’est en fait presque pas étayée par des documents. Le contenu de ces œuvres latines, ainsi que les détails autobiographiques qu’elles fournissent, rendent cette identification encore plus improbable. Nous considérons que ce nom modifié est un pseudonyme-alonyme utilisé par Louis de Clermont d’Amboise de Bussy, courtisan du duc d’Anjou, Henri de Valois (plus tard premier gentilhomme de François de Valois), mentionné dans les sources historiques comme poète et amateur d’histoire. En examinant certains poèmes de l’Henrias, où il livre des détails sur sa vie personnelle, nous avons tenté de reconstituer certains épisodes de sa biographie, tels que sa participation au siège de La Rochelle. Il semble également probable que cet auteur ait utilisé plusieurs pseudonymes en 1573 et qu’il soit lié à une littérature bien plus vaste sur le thème de l’élection de la République des Deux Nations. L’Henrias a été écrite à la demande d’Henri de Valois, qui a agi en tant que mécène du poète, comme l’indique l’introduction et les poèmes. La composition du recueil et l’ordre de présentation des dédicataires montrent qu’il a été conçu avec soin, en respectant les protocoles diplomatiques. Les dédicataires, outre Henri de Valois, comprennent les principaux acteurs des évènements liés à l’élection du souverain, tant en France qu’au sein de la République des Deux Nations. Ils incluent les membres de la délégation de la République des Deux Nations, le primat de Pologne, les diplomates français, ainsi que les fonctionnaires et personnalités culturelles qui accompagnaient Henri de Valois vers la République des Deux Nations. Un petit recueil de poèmes intitulé Souspirs de la France constitue un complément en français à l’Henrias latine et lui confère un équilibre thématique. Les dédicataires de ce recueil respectent également de manière protocolaire les participants aux cérémonies électorales et aux procédures de signature des documents qui se sont déroulées à Paris. Il ne fait aucun doute que l’auteur a assisté à toutes les cérémonies officielles non pas en tant que simple spectateur, mais en tant qu’acteur engagé, ayant des responsabilités qui lui étaient assignées, et qu’il était en contact direct et fréquent avec les membres de la délégation de la République des Deux Nations. Il était également proche de l’historien François Baudouin. L’analyse de l’Henrias révèle que ce recueil ambitionne d’explorer divers sujets politiques et événements de la cour, tout en offrant au lecteur une richesse de formes poétiques. L’auteur y manifeste son désir de démontrer à la fois sa créativité et sa maîtrise de la métrique antique. La section centrale du recueil constitue un panégyrique épique, élaboré selon la structure classique de l’éloge. Elle débute par une introduction solennelle, suivie d’une description détaillée de la lignée du duc d’Anjou et de ses exploits. Ce panégyrique inclut également un portrait du personnage, une exposition de ses réalisations, ainsi qu’une réflexion sur les «vertus», présentées sous la forme de «conseils au jeune souverain». La conclusion se distingue par des descriptions idéalisées du pays sous son règne et de sa future épouse Anne de Jagiellon. Cette section est rédigée en imitant les panégyriques de Claudien, tant au niveau du genre et de la structure de l’œuvre qu’en ce qui concerne le style et le vocabulaire employés. Dans l’ensemble du recueil, diverses techniques littéraires sont déployées pour forger une image épique et héroïque du nouveau souverain de la République des Deux Nations, en adéquation avec les circonstances historiques et le discours politique. Nous prévoyons d’explorer ces caractéristiques littéraires en détail dans un article ultérieur. MOTS-CLEFS: Pologne-Lituanie au XVIe siècle; Henri de Valois; littérature néo-latine du XVIe siècle; Henrias; Jean de La Gessée; Louis d’Amboise.
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the sixteenth century
Neo-Latin literature in the sixteenth century
The Making of a Culture Hero: Jurgis Eišiškietis of Many Hats and his Milieu in Sources and Historiography
The study focuses on the identity of Jurgis Eišiškietis (Georgius de Eyxyski; Georg Eyschitzki), a Master of Liberal Arts, and on his role in the efforts to open a secular private school for the sons of the nobility in Vilnius. Two sources related to him are extant: (1) an entry in the protocols of the capitular session of the Vilnius Cathedral Chapter of 28 April 1539 and (2) a letter of Duke Albert of Prussia (Albrecht von Preußen) to Philipp Melanchthon of 16 June 1541, recommending Jurgis of Eišiškės, who is going to the University of Wittenberg, to his care. The study states that the main initiator of the school was Albertas Goštautas, the grand chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is quite safe to say that Goštautas’s project of the reform of the state of Lithuania included the necessity to create educational institutions that would nurture the political class. It is quite likely that Goštautas’s secretary Jan Wilamowski was his de facto trustee for education. As a clergyman of the lower orders and a Master of Liberal Arts, Jurgis Eišiškietis fulfilled the qualifications of a rector of a cathedral school. After the death of his patron Albertas Goštautas (late in 1539) and with the support of Duke Albert of Prussia, Jurgis was probably looking for new prospects and was recommended by him for studies at the prestigious University of Wittenberg. It cannot lead to the conclusion that Jurgis had broken with his former denomination and become a Protestant, and all the more reason not to assume that the initiative to establish the school was related to the desire to spread Protestant ideas in Vilnius. A critical review of Lithuanian and Polish historiography aims at refuting and rejecting the errors and hypotheses that have accumulated over time and are no longer relevant. Identification of Jurgis Eišiškietis with Jurgis Zablockis, an early Protestant author and a preceptor of young people, as well as with Gregorius Vilnensis, the pastor of Rusnė, is rejected. There are no direct confirmations that Jurgis of Eišiškės was the same person as Georgius Haustintz Lituanus / Georgius Hauschicz Lituanus / Magister Georgius Heuschitz, Lituanus, a student of Wittenberg and Königsberg universities. No scholar has been able to find out what Haustintz etc. means, so the firm identification of this student with Jurgis of Eišišiškės, which has taken root in German studies and has been adopted from them in Lithuania, cannot be considered justified. The workings of historical imagination itself are equally interesting and worthy of further exploration. Historians of Protestantism in Lithuania have created various stories about Jurgis Eišiškietis’s alleged connections with the figures of early Protestantism, especially Abraham Kulvietis, and about his later life. These stories are not based on any sources. In our study, the figure of Jurgis Eišiškietis and the situations linked to previous research on him are described by the metaphors of ‘the grotesque’ and ‘le théâtre d’ombres chinoises’. They point to the inconstancy and incompleteness of the images and at the same time to their subordination to the historian’s individual imagination and taste.
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Polish Edition of the Epinikia of the Victory at Orsha
Epinikia orszańskie, czyli wiersze o pamiętnej klęsce Moskali, opracowanie tekstu, wstęp i komentarz Zofia Głombiowska, (Polonorum Bibliotheca Latina), Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, 2019, 291 p., iliustr. ISBN 978-81-7863-914-3