Krikščionybės įsitvirtinimo Žemaitijoje XV a. pab. - XVI a. vid. klausimas: parapijų tinklo raidos ir asmenvardžių kaitos aspektas

LTKrikščionėjimo gilumo XVI a. pirmojoje pusėje Žemaitijoje klausimas istoriografijoje dažniausiai aptariamas perėjimo iš pagonybės į krikščionybę kontekste. Lietuvos istoriografijoje nuosekliausiai šį klausimą buvo tyręs Zenonas Ivinskis. Svarbiausi jo tyrimai yra publikuoti 1987 m. išleistame 4-ajame Rinktinių raštų tome. Ankstyvuosiuose Z. Ivinskio darbuose požiūris į palyginti spartų žemaičių perėjimais pagonybės į krikščionybę buvo vertinamas skeptiškai, o vėlyvuosiuose, kuriuose reikėjo įvertinti ir Reformacijos proceso raišką, autorius, atsižvelgdamas į Martyno Mažvydo XVI a. viduryje rašytų laiškų Prūsijos kunigaikščiui Albrechtui turinį, vis dėlto susidarė nuomonę, kad krikščionybės sklaida ir įsitvirtinimas Žemaitijoje arba bent jau akivaizdi visuomenės pažanga dar XVI a. viduryje buvo gana sėkmingi. Šis nuomonės pasikeitimas, atsižvelgiant į palyginti vėlyvą Žemaitijos krikštą, verčia atidžiau panagrinėti ir krikščionėjimo gilumo klausimą, ypač XV a. pab. - XVI a. pr. [Iš teksto, p. 138]

ENRecently the establishment of Christianity in Žemaitija during the late-fifteenth century and the first half of the sixteenth century has begun to attract considerable attention. The somewhat ambiguous assertions of Zenonas Ivinskis regarding this matter retain a certain conceptual relevance. In Iiis earlier work Ivinskis was sceptical about the swift conversion of Žemaitijans from paganism to Catholic Christianity, but in later life, when assessing the development of the protestant Reformation, he was drawn by reference to Martynas Mažvydas's letters to Duke Albert of Prussia, written in the mid-sixteenth century, to admit that this source points obviously to the quite successful establishment and spread of the new religion in Žemaitija during the first half of the sixteenth century at least.. Such a difference of opinion not only within the work of Ivinskis but also that of other scholars was summarised by Mangirdas Bumblauskas in his doctoral dissertation defended at the University of Vilnius in 2014. Bumblauskas distinguishes four schools of thought regarding the date of the conversion of Žemaitija from paganism to Christianity, viz. 1) the beginning of the fifteenth century (as represented by E. Svetikas); 2) before the mid-sixteenth century (the view expressed in the later work of Ivinskis); 3) during the first half of the seventeenth century (R. Krasauskas, К. Górski); 4) by the end of the eighteenth century (M. Kosman) or even when Motiejus Valančius was bishop of Žemaitija during the mid-nineteenth century (according to the earliest work of Ivinskis, and G. Beresnevičius). On the basis of the theoretical work of H. Lmvmianski, K. Górski and J. Kloczowski, Bumblauskas asserts that final conversion to Christianity in the region took place at the beginning of the seventeenth century.He chose this chronology on the basis of Loivmiaiiski's claim that the optimal distance between parishes to form a parish network capable of serving a Catholic population is 10 km, and Kloczowski's definition of optimal parochial pastoral service. Moving the final conversion of Žemaitija to the early seventeenth century raises many issues regarding how we assess the development of historical Žemaitija at the beginning of the sixteenth century. This affects the history of Christianity in general and the Lithuanian Reformation in particular. At this point we should remember that as early as 1536 Jonas Tartilavičius Batakietis preached Lutheran sermons in Šilalė. Dating the Christianisation of Žemaitija to the beginning of the seventeenth century raises other problems regarding general social, political and cultural processes affecting die Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a whole and Žemaitija in particular at the beginning of the sixteenth century and especially during the 1520s and 1530s. Do die processes evident in the Grand Duchy at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries shed light on die early establishment of Christianity in Žemaitija} We have not been able to study in detail all the areas, which would be necessary in order answer this question, but at this stage of our research we limited ourselves to studying the formation of the parish network in Žemaitija between the mid-fifteenth, and early sixteenth century, concentrating primarily of the foundation of churches by private individuals. In order to understand the circumstances behind the increase in private church foundations we studied the dynamics of the formation of Christian names in the districts of Telšiai, Kelmė, Kražiai and Karšuva.Our analysis of the formation of private church foundations and the parish network at the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century shows that the largest wave of foundations began in the 1490s and continued during the first three decades of the following century. On the basis of the tax censuses of 1528 and 1567, we can say that in most of the districts (Karšuva, Kelmė, Telšiai) we have studied, Christian names dominated among the gentry by 1528. At that time old-fashioned (scilicet, pagan) forms dominated only among patronymics. The gentry lists of 1567 reveal a predominance of Christian names and patronymics in all districts. Among the districts we have studied in detail, the process of name-Christianisation was swifter in the Kražiai District. Many factors many have influenced this development, especially the fact that Kražiai was the starosta's, residential centre. Our research shows that we should regard the conversion of local residents from paganism to Christian only during the first half of the seventeenth century with considerable caution. As far as we can tell from the formation of Christian names, Jonas Tartilavičius Batakietis must have grown to maturity and led his life in a territory where, compared with the north-western part of Žemaitija, Christian traditions developed slighdy more intensively. This would allow us to speak of the existence of systematic factors affecting individual development. Thus the traditional academic criterion for optimal pastoral activity, which requires a distance of no less than 10 km between parishes, cannot be regarded as a definitive requirement for establishing the early Christianisation of a given area. [From the publication p. 318-320]