Kritinis diskursas ar literatūrinė vaizduotė? XVII a. Žemaičių vyskupijos istorija Motiejaus Valančiaus "Žemaičių vyskupystėje"

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Bažnyčia; Istorijos šaltinis; Istorikas; Lietuvos valstybės istoriniai archyvai; Literatūrinė vaizduotė; Motiejus Valančius; Rašytojas; Valančius, Motiejus; Žamaitijos vyskupas; Žemaitija (Samogitia); Žemaičių vyskupystė; Bishop of Samogitia; Church; Diocese of Samogitia; Historian; Historical source; Literary imagination; Lithuanian State Historical Archives; Motiejus Valančius; Samogitia; Valančius, Motiejus; Writer.

EN"Žemaičių vyskupystė" (The diocese of Samogitia) published in 1848 by Bp Motiejus Valančius (Wołonczewski), then a learned priest, and written in the spirit of Enlightenment, previously enjoyed the reputation of a solid critical scholarly work. Many of Valančius‘ interpretations nowadays, however, are dismissed by scholars as outdated, but "Žemaičių vyskupystė" still is regarded as a treasury of historical facts which are now impossible to find in historical sources. The aim of current research is to evaluate the factographical value of "Žemaičių vyskupystė", comparing the archival source undoubtedly used by its author (the book of circular letters of the Krakės parish church, 1624–1670) and now preserved in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives (f. 669, ap. 3, b. 4464), with the text of Valančius. As a result of comparison, it appears that Valančius was a very inaccurate historian, carelessly dealing with historical information, i. e. making numerous mistakes (especially in dates and proper names) and using the information of the source in an incidental manner. More significantly, quite often he was supplementing the information of the historical source with the details created by his own imagination. Thus "Žemaičių vyskupystė" ought to be regarded, at least partially, as a piece of literary fiction, produced by a famous Lithuanian writer. [From the publication]