Social and cultural self-reflection of Vilnius philomaths and philareths (based on students' interrogation reccors of the Imperial University of Vilnius: 1 August 1823–27 April 1824)
| Autor: | Reda Griškaitė |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Lietuvos Istorijos Studijos, Vol 33 (2014) Lietuvos istorijos studijos [LIS]. [Studies of Lithuania's History]. 2014 t. 33, p. 66-130. |
| ISSN: | 1648-9101 1392-0448 |
| Popis: | The process of secret students' societies in the Imperial University of Vilnius (Rus. Vilna, Pol. Wilno), usually referred to as the process of philomaths and philareths (hereinafter, PPP), is one of the most famous political cases of the XIX century. PPP documents, currently kept in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives, take one of the most impressive positions of Lithuanian archival heritage and, in a broad sense, of Lithuanian historical memory, due to their volume and content. These are distinctive texts, autographs, which have features of egodocumentic texts. This unique source evidences the existence of large and, importantly, elite group of society. However, until now this group has not been more thoroughly researched from social and cultural aspects. Until 2003, researches (e.g. the book of Jerzy Borowczyk, which is mostly referred to in this article) were most interested in separate testimonies of most canonical figures involved in PPP. PPP documentation (materials about 126 persons interrogated during the process have been used in this article) basically confirms the conclusions of other researches, firstly of Daniel Beauvois, regarding the noble nature of students from the Imperial University of Vilnius. Secret societies also had a noble nature. Almost all persons interrogated during PPP were noblemen (exact rank has not been specified only in two cases). The analysis of the source has also shown that interrogated students regarded nobility as one of the basic values. Therefore, this is also the research on nobility, which gives important information about the internal processes within this social group, the so-called "intellectualisation" of this estate. Expectations of philomaths and philareths clearly indicate another issue - although they gave preference to countryside life and estates, they were forced to choose city life. Only a few of them regarded their future in countryside. Group of philomaths and philareths is not only a group of youth and nobility, but also a group of litterateurs and, in a broad sense, a cultural group. This group has been unified not only by literature, but also by intellectual work. PPP documentation shows the role of creation and writing in this environment. Also it evidences the thesis that implantation of culture was one of the most important fundamentals of philomatism ideology. Mind expression in writing had to become the commonness of this group. Writing (neither field, nor genre was important) had not only served the needs of society but also become the source of personal happiness. Significant part of secret society's members had creative aspirations. Even investigation records show tendency to creative work. Literacy of certain protocols (not necessarily belonging to the classics of romanticism) could be the object of separate research. History of philomatism may be researched not only from political, cultural, but also from sociological aspects. From this perspective PPP protocols give unique material for reconstruction of the social portrait of one elite generation and of one elite education institution - the Imperial University of Vilnius. It also once again reminds the famous slogan adfontes, which shows that there cannot be any "old" and "fully explored" historical sources |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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