Protestant and Catholic ^

Book Culture in ^/РЩА Grand Duchy of Lithuania^ New Trends in Reseatclh^,,'''^A>;l:'

Arvydas Paccvičiii's"jr~r:ii! r^~-- J

Introduction SA'T'} П'О'^-

Protestant and Catholic culture in historical Lithuania produced distinct models4.? .-c * i į of ideas and the expression of their way of life, which are still perceived in the present^ V./"" day. The flavour of this distinctiveness would hardly be possible, if the book (not only v *\V the Bible) had not broken from the narrow circle of aristocrats and Church dignitaries into the middle classes and if it had not spoken in the nation's language following the r v Reformation and the later Counter-Reformation, becoming an object of constant study ^ * and a means of self-knowledge. Modern historiography has already turned its attention to these moments. First of all, these books were produced and spread in the multi-confessional, multi-linguistic and multi-ethnic society of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL). Secondly, the Protestant and Catholic communities lived between the Orthodox, Uniate, Jewish and even Muslim communities. Thirdly, this heterogeneous environment had an influence on Protestant, as well as Catholic, book culture. On the other hand, this historiography sometimes fails to speak clearly of the Reformation's innovations. 'The press and books had been adapted at the mobile cultural level and handed over to other strata of society'.1 Even more - the historiography tells us about a growing isolation of Protestantism in the history of Lithuania.2 I think that, in recent years, a large amount of work has been done by book science (bibliology) and disciplines related to it, such as the history of book and library history, to reconstruct the segments of both Protestant and Catholic book cultures. In this article I want to project a course for further re­ search. Not content with theoretical problems of book culture research, I would like to present as many concrete examples as possible to illustrate my ideas. In my opinion, specific features of the book culture of both confessions can be best disclosed by comparing the book signs of institutions and persons, by estimating the views of its representatives on the book and so on. Not without reason, the comparative method is

Ingė Lukšaitė. Reformacija Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystėje ir Mažojoje Lietuvoje. XVI a. trečias dcšimtmctis-XVII a. pirmas dešimtmetis. Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 1999, p. 572. 2 Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštijos kultūra. Tyrinėjimai ir vaizdai. Sudarė: Vytautas Ališauskas, Liudas Jovaiša, Mindaugas Paknys, Rimvydas Petrauskas, Eligijus Raila. Vilnius: Aidai, 2001, p. 556.

145 Arvydas Pacevičius

especially appreciated in modern book science, cultural studies, and library and infor­ mation studies. I understand the term 'book culture' as the most important element of written culture. It is determined by the system of values of a given epoch and is used in contrast to the terms 'verbal (oral) culture', as well as 'Internet culture'. As the term 'book culture' is a very broad concept, I shall confine myself to a discussion of the aspect of the functioning of this phenomenon in the society of the GDL, leaving aside the printing (or typographic) aspect of this issue. Speaking of new research trends, or innovations, the following issues always arise: 1) the problem of new viewpoints, which are determined by the actuality of the research and by the choice of relevant methods; 2) the question of penetrating into new spheres of research; 3) the problem of putting new sources into scientific circulation or the 'rereading' of them; 4) the issue of using new methods in this research; and 5) the problem of overcoming the stereotypes which distort and impede further scientific cognition. It is obvious that the discussion of these questions is inevitably connected with an estimation of the achievements of historiography in book culture research. This scheme will be the basis for my attempt to examine the situation in the research of the Protestant and Catholic book culture in Lithuania. First I want to present some histori­ cal facts, which will be helpful in understanding the subject under consideration.

Lithuanian Protestant Ecclesiastical Life

Circa 1647 approximately 140 Calvinist churches, ten Lutheran churches and a few anti-Trinitarian communities were active in Lithuania. When the anti-Trinitarians were driven out, the number of Lutherans remained about the same (in Vilnius, Kaunas, Biržai, Skuodas, Kėdainiai, and Tauragė) and the number of Calvinist churches fell considerably because of actions by the Catholic Church and natural losses in the com­ munities themselves. Even so, the six-district structure was maintained. After the end of the seventeenth century the number of churches stabilised, varying between 38 and 48 (although there was more inconsistency in their status - as parish churches, chapels of ease or closed churches). In 1740,48 churches had 40 clergy and eight schools. Coope­ ration between Lutherans and Calvinists in Lithuania was quite weak and only during joint synods of the early eighteenth century did the two communities share the use of buildings for prayers. It is necessary to emphasise restrictions on the rights of dissidents. From 1685, when the anti-Trinitarians and Mennonites were forced to leave the Commonwealth or change their religion, the rights of other non-Catholic groups were gradually subjected to increasing restrictions. Sejm instructions increased these restrictions until the mid- eighteenth century: new churches could not be built, public processions were banned, the right to sit in the senate was revoked and later dissidents were not allowed to be elected to the Sejm.3

Christianity in Lithuania. Vilnius: Aidai, 2002, p. 64.

146 Arvydas Pacevičius

As the balance between religious forces changed, Catholic clergy began to re­ mind Protestants of once practically unenforceable spiritual jurisdictions. Synod de­ bates issued documents imposing sanctions against various Protestant rights: they could not repair old churches or build new ones without obtaining the Catholic bishop's per­ mission, arrange public funerals, or ring church bells during Holy Week. On the other hand it is difficult to say whether these restrictions were actually put in place. When the influential Protestant patrons, the Radvila dukes of Biržai and Dubingiai, died out, Lithuanian Calvinists lost their powerful supporters and defenders, but Lithua­ nian Protestants survived this blackest period in their history. Their true strength was revealed during this time of tribulation. Calvinist communities in the Grand Duchy fell into two basic categories: well- supplied, semi-private churches attended in small numbers mainly by the gentry (mostly in Lithuanian Ruthenia) and numerically larger churches attended by various classes (most often Lithuanian peasants) from the locality concentrated in the estates of former Biržai and Dubingiai Radvilas. Lithuanian Calvinism flourished in the latter areas and it was there that future prospects lay, but in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was the gentry who safeguarded the survival of the church, for they were a privileged social elite who ran the Calvinist church in the Grand Duchy. The fact that Lithuanian boyars controlled their Calvinist church more than their colleagues in Poland did theirs meant that the community fared better in the Grand Duchy than in the Kingdom during times of tribulation. In addition many clerics were also of gentry stock and so there was less tension between lay patrons and clerical leaders. Another reason for the resilience of the Grand Duchy's Calvinists lies in the legal status of their parishes, which allowed churches to survive even when they were not in use. A greater number of Calvinist churches in Lithuania than in Poland were influenced by the fact that more churches were founded from scratch and so the Catholic Church could not claim ownership rights over them. There were attempts to deal with the constant shortage of Calvinist clerics by setting up scholarships for students to study at universities in the German states, Hol­ land and Scotland. Grammar schools continued to operate in Kėdainiai and Slutsk. When the Slutsk press moved to Königsberg, it published a second edition of the 'Book of Christian Devotion' in 1684 and in 1701 the first printed translation of the New Testament in Lithuania (Lithuania Minor, later Prussia) was issued. It is worth mentio­ ning here Samuel Chilinski's unsuccessful mission to publish Scripture in London in the mid-seventeenth century. Chilinski's initiative was crushed by Synod opposition and the printing work already in process was interrupted.4 In contrast, the Catholics trans­ lated the entire Scripture only in the early 19"1 century, with the help of the Bible Society, founded in St. Petersburg. But I do not think that this fact should be inter­ preted one-sidedly, along stereotypical patterns pronouncing a retrograde stance of the Catholic Church hierarchy and priests. The reasons should be looked for in the book culture of the Grand Duchy.

4 Op. cit., pp. 93-94.

147 Arvydas Pacevičius

Points of View, Principle Schemes, Paradigms

Points of view in regard to the book culture of the GDL are determined by general methodological principles of the humanities and social sciences and also partly by communication and information sciences. In the research on the genesis of the Catholic and Protestant book culture, the idea of the history professor Edvardas Gudavičius regarding the spread of Lithuanian writing (prayers, formulas of catechism), before the Reformation, on wax boards, margins of manuscripts or printed books has great importance. E. Gudavičius even introduced the special term glossa period for this phenomenon.5 From the point of view of communication and social sciences, the use of this non-traditional means of passing information marks the transition from oral to written culture.6 This is a very important insight, introducing the research of book culture even onto the level of the comparative analysis of civilization. Prof. Zigmas Zinkevičius, who studies the history of the Lithuanian language, summarised his re­ search in the monograph 'The Lithuanian Prayers'.7 In this book he substantiated the idea that the Lithuanian words of apostolic profession of faith 'God the Father' (Dievas Tėvas) are of German, and not of Polish, origin. This standpoint is very important in understanding the sources of the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas and of all the Protestant, as well as Catholic, writings. The theory of Z. Zinkevičius has, in effect, pushed back in time Lithuanian literacy, moving it into the time of Mindaugas and the environment of the Franciscans, who were active in Lithuania in the 13th and 14th centuries. Admittedly, this conception of Z. Zinkevičius has been much criticised. The works of the historian Ingė Lukšaitė and the literary scholar Dainora Pociūtė- Abukevičienė are directly connected to the functioning of the Protestant book culture. Their ideas could be described briefly in this way: Protestant literacy created the foun­ dations of the modern society of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Its essential mark is the emergence of literature for a wider public, writing and publishing of books, and, in a broader sense, the rise of literary culture. These points of view were generalised in the book 'Culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Images and Research'.8 It is a kind of dictionary of culture of the GDL. In fact it is a collective work of 30 authors, but it presents for the first time a description of such phenomena as 'Libraries, Lithuanian literacy, Latin literacy, Protestantism, Speaking and writing, Reading' and so on. On a theoretical level many articles of this rather thick book will provide an impulse for further research into the book culture in the GDL. It must be emphasised that the events and scientific production, dedicated to the 450th anniversary of the first Lithua­ nian book, the Catechism of M. Mažvydas, made them especially urgent. The result of the research was that when the Catechism was evaluated in a broad social and cultural

5 Edvardas Gudavičius. Dėl lietuviškų tekstų iki Mažvydo. - Praeities baruose. Skiriama akademikui Vytautui Merkiui 70-ties metų jubiliejaus proga. Vilnius: Žara, 1999, pp. 89-90. 6 Vytautas Ališauskas. Fides ex auditu. Pastabos dėl sakytinės ir rašytinės kultūros Lietuvos krikščionėjime. - Tarp istorijos ir būtovės. Studijos prof. Edvardo Gudavičiaus 70-mcčiui. Sudarė Alfredas Bumblauskas ir Rimvydas Petrauskas. Vilnius: Aidai, 1999, pp. 307-318. 7 Zigmas Zinkevičius . Lietuvių poteriai. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, 2000. 8 Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštijos Kultūra (sec note 2).

148 Arvydas Pacevičius context, a break from a closed circle of Lithuanian problems took place.9 This anniver­ sary gave an impulse to all the theoretical standpoints mentioned above and to new spheres of research.

New Spheres and Directions of Research

The research of libraries, especially private ones, took a step forward. The work on the 'Dictionary of Book Workers of Lithuania' gave an impulse to the research. This project is directed by Prof. Dornas Kaunas.* The work of Zigmantas Kiaupa, who studies the libraries of the inhabitants of Kaunas10 was supplemented by the work of Aivaras Ragauskas on the patricians of Vilnius in the 17th century, because forgotten names of private library owners were brought to light.11 According to his data, many city-dwellers - clerks and representatives of the ruling elite - had personal collections of books. There were prominent personalities among them, for example, the doctor and secretary of King August II, the Italian Joannes Melchiorini (died after 1715). Some books with his signature have survived. Such research makes possible a new apprecia­ tion of the culture of the inhabitants of Vilnius and other towns in Lithuania. This culture was sometimes treated as backward, because the privileges of the third estate were granted only by the Constitution of 1791. But it's difficult to establish the con­ fession of the owners of these libraries. Not long ago, Juozas Tumelis discovered a convolutus which testifies that the worker of the radical Reformation (anti-Trinitarian), Laurynas Kriškovskis (Criscovius, ca. 1522 to 1602) had a personal library.12 I shall not dwell at length on the research of the libraries of nobles or Church dignitaries. They are proceeding in a traditional way. Importantly, the composition of the libraries of the middle clergy is becoming apparent: many of them were specialised (the juridical book collection of Mikalojus Povetrijus (Povetrius); and the humanistic book collections of Petras Tarvainis (Tarwoyn), Kristupas Dirvoniškis (Dirwanski), Juozapas Gardiškis (Gardiscius) at the beginning of the first half of the 17th century). The research on the development of the institutional libraries is in a worse situation. Even with the lists of books, the rich libraries of the Dominicans and canons of the Lateran in Vilnius were not reconstructed. The network of churches and the spread of books on the parish level have not been studied at all. The situation with the libraries of the Protestant churches

* The first digital publication (CD) in book science, "The Workers of the Lithuanian Book. A Biographic Dictionary" (Vilnius, 2004), was published as part of this project. It includes information on 1388 profes­ sionals of old and modern literacy, publishing, typography, book trade, librarianship, book science etc. 9 Martynas Mažvydas and Old Lithuania (collection papers). Board of editors: Domas Kaunas, Darius Kuolys, Regina Koženiauskicnė, Vytautas Landsbergis, Jūratė Trilupaiticnė, Antanas Tyla. Vilnius: Pradai, 1998. 10 Zigmantas Kiaupa. Kauniečių knygų rinkiniai XVI-XVIII a. - Iš Lietuvos bibliotekų istorijos. Teminis mokslo darbų rinkinys. Vilnius: Lietuvos TSR kultūros ministerija, 1985, pp. 5-12. " Aivas Ragauskas. Vilniaus miesto valdantysis elitas XVII a. antrojoje pusėje (1662-1702). Vilnius: Diemedžio leidykla, 2002, pp. 256-263. 12 Juozas Tumelis. "Laurentius Criscovius Scnex Octogenarius..." (1602): (Nauji Lauryno Kriškovskio biografijos duomenys). - Kultūrų sankirtos. Skiriama doc. Dr. Ingės Lukšaitės 60-mcčiui. Vilnius: Diemedžio

149 Arvydas Pacevičius is the same, though Ingė Lukšaitė widely described book culture and libraries in Kėdainiai in the first half of the 17th century.13 Thus, the directions for further research are clear.

Communication

Research directions based on communication standpoints are becoming promi­ nent. As an example, I shall mention the article by Deimantas Karvelis, 'Communica­ tion of the Biržai Principality with the Curonian and Semigallian Principality from the end of the 16* to the middle of the 17* century'14 and the work of the Japanese Sugiko Nishikawa, Across the continent: The Protestant network between the Societyfor pro­ motion of Christian knowledge and Kėdainiai.15 These works are important because of their modern points of view. Research of such kind is helped by the disclosure of new book relations, thanks to book signs, especially dedications. For instance, the book exchange between the dioceses of Livonia and Vilnius has been revealed. Daiva Narbutienė found a dedication of Livonian Bishop Andrius Patricijus Nidecki (Nidecius, 1522-1587) to Cardinal Jurgis Radvila (Radivilius, Radziwiłł).16 The art of dedication (ars dedicatoria) prospered in Vilnius in the middle of the 16lh century: the lawyer and Spanish Catholic Petras Roizijus (Royzius), who came to Vilnius in 1551, sent his works and library books as presents to the Protestants Mikalojus Radvila, Stanislovas Kiška (Kiszka) and others. The famous polemicist Jesuit Petras Skarga presented his works to many enlightened people (among them, Merkelis Giedraitis and Andriejus Volanas). So the Church workers, spreading their ideas, did not distinguish their audi­ ence from the point of view of confession. On the other hand, books were often distributed only in the framework of a confessional community. For example, a book (now in the Vilnius University Library), brought from Riga in the 16* century, fell into the hands of the Orvydai, the famous Protestant family from Samogitia; the book of Samuel Minvydas (Minwid), superintendent of the Calvinist Užneris district, was pre­ sented to the priest Povilas Gnatovskis (Gnatowski) in 1656 (now in the library of Uppsala University, Sweden, found by Prof. D. Kaunas). Such communication with the help of books resembles correspondence with plenty of information about books. In a similar way, literary culture spread in the margins of calendars and popular books. Eimantas Meilus found diaries of the two Catholic noblemen Jonas Leonas Ozienblovskis (Oziębłowski or Oziemblowski) and Kristupas Karolis Butleris (Butler), written on calendars for the years 1694 and 1696. These are important as examples of a specific

leidykla, 2000, pp. 102-108. 3 Ingė Lukšaitė. Knygos nobažnystės (1653) parengimo kultūrinė aplinka. - Knyga nobažnystės krikščioniškos (1653) - XVII a. Lietuvos kultūros paminklas. Kėdainiai: Kėdainių krašto muziejus, 2001,pp. 14-16. 4 Deimantas Karvelis. Biržų kunigaikštystės komunikacija su Kuršo irŽcmgalos kunigaikštyste XVI a. Pabaigojc-XVII a. Viduryje. - Kultūrų sankirtos (see note 12), pp. 218-236. 5 Sugiko Nishikawa. Across the continent: The Protestant network between the Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) and Kėdainiai. - Kultūrų sankirtos (see note 12), pp. 296-308. 6 Daiva Narbutienė. LDK lotyniškoji knyga asmeninėse XVI-XVII a. bibliotekose. Knygotyra, vol. 37 (2001), p. 145. 150 Arvydas Pacevičius

literary genre. Diaries reflect the daily routine of noblemen, not only drinking bouts and work in the seimelis (a regional council), but also the books read by them. But these diaries are much poorer than the ones of Protestants, for example of Stanislovas Nezabitovskis (Niezabitowski).

Maledictions-Enchantments

In searching for the national and confessional identity of boyars and peasants, the book signs, even records of provenance, have great importance. I'll mention only one group - maledictions. They are rare in Protestant books, whereas one can speak at length of Catholic and Orthodox maledictions. In Lithuania in the 16th and 17th centuries, the owners, trying to protect their books from thieves and dishonest readers, used to inscribe warnings or even curses, mostly in Latin. 'Thief, don't you dare touch this book with your greedy hands. This book cannot have two owners'; 'If you nick this book, you will meet your fate among three bars'; 'If you steal this book, you will sing in the gallows' (Si istum libntm furabis, intra ligna cantabis). 'He who steals this book, will not behold Jesus Christ' (Quis furabit istum librum non videbit Jesum Christum).11 Most of these books belonged to parishioners, priests and monks. A book in the library of the Tytuvėnai monastery had this inscription: 'If you want to behold Jesus Christ, do not steal this book' (5/ vis videre Jesum Christum nolifurari librum istum). Short Latin curses gradually developed a definite form, and the details were creatively adjusted to a pattern. Nuns used to rhyme curses in a maxim-like form: 'The one who takes it and does not give back, will die on his back'. Those who dared to take the books beyond the walls of the monastery, were commonly threatened with excom­ munication: 'The one who takes books out of a monastery, will have to face the threat of excommunication'. However, there were not too many curses in the books of monastery libraries, for the regulations and the decisions of the elders had strictly for­ bidden cursing, abuse, or mentioning the devil. 'For those who nickname, curse, show disrespect, name the devil often, reproach because of nationality, talk back, contradict, grumble, etc., great repentance punishments should be delivered', was written in 1635, in the memorial of the Provincial of the Lithuanian Jesus Society, Lawrence Bartilius. On the other hand, this and other provincials gave an entire 'register' of curses, hick- names and disrespectful addresses, wide-spread among the students of the College (not laymen!): oaf, shithead, dunce, numbskull, snotter, fool, madman, lunatic, stinker, pig, and bear (chłopie, gnoyku, laiku, durniu, blaznie, głupi, szaloni, bez mózgu, smrodzie, świnio, niedźwiedziu). One can suppose that there were even more potential workers in the graffiti 'vineyard' among the students of Vilnius Academy. Mostly young people were prone to blaspheme, especially students of schools maintained by churches and monasteries, alumni, and ordinands. The most popular incantation in this subculture was Hie liber mens / Testis est Deus with diverse varia­ tions. 'This book is mine / God is witness / Born as Michaelus / Named as Giebutovvski'

Arvydas Pacevičius. Dingusio knygų pasaulio ženklai. Knygųaidai (2001), No. 1, pp. 9-15.

151 Arvydas Pacevičius

(Hic liber metis / Testis est Deus / Michaelus Natus / Giebutowski Vocatus), as we can read in a textbook of the 18lh century. 'This book is mine / God is witness / He who will desire it / Will doubt God's name / Born as Jozef / Named as Wiszniewski', in­ scribed an ordinand in a book by Cicero; 'Micha! Dobryanowicz / Let him live / Until a gnat and a fly / drink off the whole sea' (Niechay on poty żyie /Poki komar z mucho /Morze wypiie). The second part of this incantation sounds like a magic invocation, expressing a wish to live a long life, for a gnat and a fly will never drink off the whole sea. Similar incantations were popular for a long period, as the students of Vilnius Gymnasium were still inscribing such words in the mid 19th century: 'This book is mine / God is witness /1 beg not to steal / As it cost dearly' (Hie liber mens/Testis est Deus /Non furare rogo /bo kosztuje drogo). It is interesting that Latin incantations Hie liber mens /Testis est Deus can be seen in books using the Cyrillic alphabet. For instance, an anonymous owner left such an inscription in a 16* century book by Franciscus Skorina. In the last quarter of the 19* century warnings of that kind turned into mere jests, bearing little resemblance to the old incantations. For instance, Adam Walentinowicz in a book bought in Oszmiany in 1882 reminded a potential thief that his 'hand will wilt', and also promised to give tobacco from a coloured box to whoever found and gave back the book. Incantations in Central and Western Europe were little different from those in Lithuania, so we can speak of their reception. Scribes in the area of present-day Austria used to guard their creations with the inscription: 'Let the scribe of the book meet the fate of the highest / Let the robber of the book meet the death of the arrogant' (Sorte superorum scriptor libripotiatur/'Morte superborum raptor libri moriatur).18 Among schoolchildren and students in Germany, France, and Poland till the late 19* century, not only 'serial' Hie liber mens incantations discussed above were popular, but also richer macaronic expressions and threats resembling nursery rhymes. 'This book is mine / Therefore my name is here inscribed / If you want to steal this book / You will be hanged / Then ravens will fly here / And want to dig out your eyes / You will scream Wow! Wow! Wow! / And you will have a jolly good time' (Hie liber est mein /Ideo nomen meiim scripsi drein / Si vis hunc librum stehlen / Pendebis an der kehlen / Tunc veniunt die Raben / Et volunt tibi oculos ausgraben / Tunc clamabis Ach ? A ch ? Ach?/ Ubisque tibi recte geschach). The gallows image, seen in Lithuanian incanta­ tions too, ('you will groan among three bars', 'you will howl between two trees') is here strengthened with the motif of a raven pecking the eyes of a hanged thief. Similar versions of the incantation can be seen in Poland: 'He who steals these books / Will reign on three logs' (Quis istos librosfuraverit/In tribus Ugnis regnabit); 'If you steal this book / You will sing Mass on three logs / With a raven attending' (Si quis illos furabit / In tribus Ugnis missain cantabit / Et corvus ei ministrabit).19 It has to be noted that books themselves sometimes used to be blamed for devilry, and employed for telling fortunes and explaining dreams. There is a legend of

More about scribes-monks in the GDL cloisters sec: Arvydas Pacevičius. Skriptorius ir raštinių kultūra Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystėje. - Tipas ir individas Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės kultūroje. Vilnius: Dailės akademija, 2002, pp. 25-50. See note 17.

152 Arvydas Pacevičius the mysterious disappearance of 'The Book of Magic' by Twardowski from the Vilnius University Library. According to Jesuit librarian Daniel Butvilas (Butwiłl), it 'was invited by devils to hell'. It was said that later, when the book mysteriously emerged in Cracow, people were shown the traces of the hooves of Satan in it.

Reading

The above aspects of book culture research are related to the history of reading, which is becoming a separate branch of science. According to Robert Darnton, it should be possible to learn more about the ideals and assumptions underlying reading in the past. I shall mention only the most promising directions: first of all, a comparative analysis of readers' records - warnings, Lithuanian 'sighs' and so on. I gave the name 'sighs' (atsidūsėjimai) to these Lithuanian inscriptions. Kazimieras Dominikas Tumas, a peasant from Aukštaitija, inscribed in a Catholic devotional book, 'The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ', published in .1787: 'It will give respite to my heart in all my troub­ les'. Petras Savickis, apparently a monastery ordinand from Tytuvėnai, under the spell of the divine poetry by Sarbievijus (Sarbievius, Sarbiewski), noted in his book Poemata Varia (Vilnius, 1757): 'What can I do, miserable flesh' (Kur aš, biednas kūnas).20 I want to stress the importance of this provenance, for we can sense existential anxiety and suffering in the inscription; it was expressed in Lithuanian, and not in Polish or Latin. On the whole these inscriptions are very important to Lithuanian science, for they appeared somewhat earlier than used to be indicated in the historiography (not in the first half of the 19th century, but in the second half of the 18ch century). It has to be taken into account that in this case we deal with intentional inscriptions, unrelated to the professional activities of the clergy - we have quite a lot of the latter already from the 16th century (Lithuanian prayers of the early 16th century, an inscription in the post- incunabula* Dievo žudynė ('The Murder of God')). These Lithuanian inscriptions appeared in the 'marginal' social groups, which, in the view of social communication, could be considered as 'mute' (illiterate and so on). Thus the reigning opinion of the ignorance of the simple folk and its massive polarization in the 18* century should be altered. Lithuanian inscriptions of a book's ownership had appeared, as well as the curses, the Latin forms of which we have already discussed. Lithuanian incantations are of a later period, but they are poetic, emerging in a Protestant environment, mostly in the so-called Little Lithuania: 'Oh he who steals this book, will have his eyes pop up in his forehead' (O jei tą knygą pavogti^ tam akis iš kaktos iššoktiį); 'He who steals this book, will growl in hell for three years' (Kas tą knygą pavogs, tas trejus metus pekloj krioks). The similarity of these incantations to the Latin ones discussed above indicates that Lithuanian people consciously participated in the public life no later than in the 18lh century, and at the same time they revealed their own place in culture and in

Arvydas Pacevičius. Knygos kultūra ir vienuolynai XVIII a. Pabaigos-XIX a. pirmosios pusės Lietuvoje. - Kultūros istorijos tyrinėjimai. Straipsnių rinkinys. T. 4. Vilnius: Gervelė, 1998, pp. 102-128. * The catalogue, 'Post-Incunabula of Vilnius University Library' (Vilnius, 2003) discloses not only the social impact of the books published between 1 January 1501 and 1 January 1551, but the spread of Latin writing also.

153 Arvydas Pacevičius

Christian civilisation. Lists and catalogues often don't reflect individual reading. Research based on the analysis of testaments is important not only for understanding identity. There is a lot of information about the functioning of book culture in testaments, especially in the Protes-tant ones. Calvinist Kristupas Despotas Zenavičius (Zenowicz), in his dying letter to his son, even indicates the tasks of reading: to develop conscience and mind, to pass knowledge through the Holy Spirit to descendants, and to serve his motherland, the Commonwealth.21 Catholic priests, in contrast, often enumerate books and their inheritors - persons or institutions. Kristupas Rachmanovičius (Rachmanowicz), dean of Bžostovica, points out precisely to whom certain books must be returned or given to or taken from; he mentions even bibliophile Martynas Penkovskis from Vilnius - Hortus Pastorum must be retuned to him. On the other hand, as the study of Polish researcher Mariola Jarczykowa's 'Book and Literature in the Environment of Radvilas of Biržai in the first Half of the 17lh Century'22 shows, one can get good results when compared to other sources. A com­ parison of the constant book repertoire of different confessions is also fruitful. The Protestants, for example Jonušas Radvila, read the Catholic authors Sarbievijus and Skarga. Monks of the Canons of the Lateran in Vilnius had the Systerna logicae (1605) of Bartholomeo Keckermann, a professor of Gdansk (Danzig) Gymnasium. But in order to develop research in this direction, one needs a bank of data of the constant repertoire. I only want to stress that Catholics did not avoid Protestant books, but only sometimes 'expurgated' them. Reading as a spiritual exercise predominated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But how was it performed? One could look for guidance in the manuals of Jesuits and the hermeneutical treatises of Protestants. Family Bible readings took place on both sides of the great religious divide. The Bible was approached with awe, even among some Catholic peasants. Of course, Boccaccio, Castiglione, Cervantes, Erasmus, and Rabelais had developed other uses of literacy for the elite. But for most people, reading remained a sacred activity. In the book of the popular author of the Counter- Reformation, the Jesuit Petrus Skarga, 'Sermons' (Krakow, 1597), one can see not only interesting enchantment, but also the sacred image of the author.23 It's interesting to compare the tasks of reading. Catholics emphasized 'piety', and the Protestants 'serving God'. The phrase of a Protestant nobleman about his son's education: T want to make him not a learned doctor, but a good politician and a good son of the Fatherland'24 is eloquent and typical. Education in Protestant families was strict; Kristupas II Radvila (1612-1655) made his son Jonušas read a chapter from the Bible every day and write down its meaning in a notebook. The results of such edu­ cation were reflected in the list of his books.

Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštijos kultūra (sec note 2), pp. 667-668. Mariola Jarczykowa. Książka i literatura w kręgu Radziwiłłów birżańskich w pierwszej polowie XVII wieku. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 1995. Library of the Academy of Science of Lithuania, Department of Rare Book, 3/XVI72-34. Henryk Wisner. Jonušas Radvila (1612-1655). Vilnius: Vaga, 2000, p. 23.

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Sources

All scientific research is based on sources which have to be found and put into scientific circulation. But this process is lagging behind. Historians began publishing the documents of the visitations of the dean's office of the Vilnius diocese (1782 visitation of the Kaunas dean's office).25 The visitation of 1579 in Samogitia diocese was read again and published.26 However, there is a lack of sources of the history of the Refor­ mation, which would provide data about the functioning of the book culture. Among the sources, one can mention bibliographic catalogues, especially those of historical libraries. For example, the Annotated Catalogue Compiled by Sirkka Havu and Irina Lebedeva of the Collection donated by the Academy of Science of St. Petersburg to Alexander University of Finland in 1829 (Helsinki, 1997). In Poland the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage is preparing an important project on publishing library catalogues and on inventors from the eastern lands of the Commonwealth. On the other hand, the research of the Protestant and Catholic cultural heritages is hampered by stereotypes which have deep historical roots. Constant reminders of censorship, book burning, and episodes of religious persecution do not stimulate objective research. This is especially true, considering that many of these negative occurrences are only pro­ ducts of the imagination of historians from later epochs. However, that is an issue for another discussion.

Deductions and Conclusions

New scientific viewpoints expressed on a theoretical and even meta-theoretical level influence the development of new spheres of book culture research. Along with the traditional history of books and libraries, the activity of book institutions is re­ searched from the angle of communication, studies of daily routine of separate seg­ ments of society and the mentality of the gentry according to diaries. In research of identity and the disclosure of new book collections, the analysis of testaments and correspondence has good perspectives. All this helps to develop the sphere of the his­ tory of reading, which in the West became a branch of book science long ago. The incantations, curses and threats discussed above have to be evaluated in several ways. For one thing, they made up just a single link in the system of ramified Christian rituals rooted in heathenism. Catholics and Protestants viewed these rituals a little differently. For instance, in England, after the Reformation, the use of sacred water, the invocation of specific saints etc., was considered a form of Christian 'magic'. On the other hand, incantations functioned as an antidote against fears which had beset the medieval man. All those exorcisms, incantations, conjurations, fortune-tellings, etc., contributed to a psychological release and relaxation, which was later replaced by other

25 Vyskupo Ignoto Jokūbo Masalskio Kauno dekanato vizitacija 1782. Vilnius: Lietuvių katalikų mokslo akademija, 2001. 26 Žemaičiųvyskupijosvizitacija(1579). Vilnius: Aidai, 1998.

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lucky days, numbers, etc. Astrology, magic and fortune-telling salons have been reborn, but there are no more incantations inscribed in books: they are simply too expensive. Incantations have been replaced by obliging protection services, secret police signs in expensive, and therefore often stolen, things, and electronic 'ampoules' sewn into bodies of books guarded in the shelves of bookshops and libraries. The researchers of book culture are sometimes unable or unwilling to under­ stand modern points of view or to use new methods, but simply keep on widening the basis of factography, so attention must be paid to comparative analysis in a broad sense. One must look for new sources or read them again and study book relations between regions or countries from the angle of intercultural communication. After all, book culture is studied in the broad literary context of an epoch. It's obvious that the modes of research of the book culture discussed above are inter­ disciplinary and specialists of different spheres take part in it. Generalising the features of Protestant and Catholic book culture and the level of research, the 'defeat' of Protestants is clear. Of course, the reason is not the 'isolation of the history of Protestantism', as mentioned at the beginning of this lecture, but the lack of sources and the domination of the Catholic culture. In the late 18th century, only 10% of the population of Samogitia were Protestants, and there was an even smaller percentage in the rest of the GDL. But it is worthwhile to remember the somewhat paradoxical conclusion of the Polish book scientist Tadeusz Przypkowski, who before the Second World War wrote a work on book culture in Radvilas's surroundings: 'In the process of my work, it was getting ever more obvious that the activities [of this family] in the book sphere was disproportionately meagre in view of its financial and political capabilities, and thus the nationalization of the remnants of Radvilas's collec­ tions, which until recently remained in the hands of the heirs, is largely justified.'27 So the question of the relationship between Protestant and Catholic book cul­ tures, of engagement in its spreading and funding, of the attitude to books, is still open.

Mariola Jarczykowa (sec note 22), p. 41.

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