From imagination to political reality? The Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a successor of Rome in the early modern historiography (15th-18th centuries)

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Ankstyvoji istoriografija; Graikų-romėnų senovė ankstyvajame moderniajame laikotarpyje; Kilmės mitas; Kultūrinė atmintis; Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (LDK; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; GDL); Lenkijos ir Lietuvos istoriografija; Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (LDK; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; GDL); Mitinė genealogija; Mito atsiradimas; Palemonas; Roma; Cultural memory; Early historiography; Foundation myth; Greco-Roman antiquity in early modern period; Mythical genealogy; Palemon; Polish-Lithuanian historiography; Roma; The Grand Duchy of Lithuania; The myth of origin.

ENAt the beginning of the Renaissance Lithuanians understood that to join the civilization of Western Europe, it was necessary to have an appropriate (it means: very long) tradition. Like other countries, they had to create their own myth of origin. The most prestigious tradition was Greek-Roman antiquity, so the country’s origin story was invented, claiming its people descended directly from Rome. According to subsequent chronicles, the founder of the new state was Palemon (Publius Libon, initially Vilia). Using the theory of cultural memory of Jan and Aleida Assmann, the article presents how and why the Lithuanian myth of origin was transformed from 15th to the end of the 18th century. Particular attention was paid to the current needs of the state and the powerful noble families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which also found their origins in the state myth. During the early modern period, the changes in the story were made (including the date of Palemon’s arrival in the Lithuanian lands). Nonetheless, the myth was not questioned for a long time. Even once it had already been established that it was no more than a fairy tale, the story was revived again, performing other functions in the 19th century. [From the publication]

• Aleksandro Guagninio ir Motiejaus Strijkovskio kronikos - Simono Daukanto šaltiniai / Roma Bončkutė. Archivum Lithuanicum. 2023, t. 25, p. 181-194.
• Dziejopisarstwo a świadomść historyczna / Rimvydas Petrauskas ; tłumaczenie Beata Kalęba. Kultura Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego : analizy i obrazy / opracowanie Vytautas Ališauskas, Liudas Jovaiša, Mindaugas Paknys, Rimvydas Petrauskas, Eligijus Raila. Kraków: Towarzystwo Autorów i Wydawców Prac Naukowych Universitas, 2006. P. 201-213.
• Europa późnego średniowiecza a rozwój społeczeństwa i kultury Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego / Rimvydas Petrauskas. Zapiski historyczne. 2013, t. 78, z. 3, p. 39-57.
• Liublino unija: idėjos tęstinumas Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės konfederacijose Stanislovo Augusto valdymo laikotarpiu / Ramunė Šmigelskytė-Stukienė. Liublino unija: idėja ir jos tęstinumas / sudarytojai: Liudas Glemža, Ramunė Šmigelskytė-Stukienė. Vilnius: Nacionalinis muziejus Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės valdovų rūmai, 2011. P. 352-378.
• Od Palemona do Giedymina. Latopis Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego i Żmudzkiego a przeszłość Litwy w dziełach Augustyna Rotundusa / Jan Jurkiewicz. Z dziejow kultury prawnej / kom. red. Marek Wąsowicz (przewodn.) ... [et al.]. Warszawa: Liber, 2004. P. 505-538.
• Pacai ar Pazzi? Nauja Palemono legendos versija LDK raštijoje / Aušra Baniulytė. Senoji Lietuvos literatūra. 2005, 18, p. 140-168.
• Polityczne aspekty przedstawienia średniowiecznych dziejów ziem białoruskich w historiografii Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego XV-XVI w / Oleg Łatyszonek. Białoruskie Zeszyty Historyczne 2006, t. 25, p. 5-44.
• Protoplaści książąt Radziwiłłów : dzieje mitu i meandry historiografii / Marceli Antoniewicz. Warszawa : Wydawnictwo DiG, 2011. 423 p.
• Przeszłość Litwy w księgach silva rerum XVIII wieku / Joanna Orzeł. Zapiski historyczne. 2023, t. 88, z. 3, p. 87-113.
• "The Polar winds have driven me to the conquest of the treasure in the form of the much-desired relic." (Re)moving relics and performing gift exchange between Early Modern Tuscany and Lithuania / Ruth Sargent Noyes. Gift-giving and materiality in Europe, 1300-1600: gifts as objects / edited by Lars Kjaer and Gustavs Strenga. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. P. 103-132.
• "To see at least in an image the semblance of a friend ...": representing the family of Pacowie between Baroque Tuscany and Lithuania / Ruth Sargent Noyes. Kauno istorijos metraštis. 2022, 20, p. 161-176.
• Tradition and translation : Maciej Stryjkowski's Polish Chronicle in seventeenth-century Russian manuscripts : disertacija / Christine Watson. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2012. 356 p.
• Un mistico Armellino: saints, furs, and slaves between the Lithuanian and Tuscan Grand Duchies / Ruth Sargent Noyes. Counter-Reformation sanctity in global and material perspective / edited by Ruth Sargent Noyes. New York: Routledge, 2024. P. 40-64.
• Wokół genealogii litwinów. U źródeł mitu i sporu historyczno-kulturowego / Ewa Semenowicz. Studia z dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. 2011, t. 46, p. 13-41.
• Образы ранней Литвы - некоторые проблемы отражения в средневековой славянской письменности (до XVII в.) / А. Ю. Дворниченко, Р.-Е. А. Кудрявцева. Палеоросия. Древняя Русь: во времени, в личностях, в идеях. 2021, 3 (15), p. 189-206.