Maciej Stryjkowski
Encyclopedia
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
historian, writer and a poet, notable as the author of Chronicle of Poland, Lithuania, Samogitia and all of Ruthenia (1582), amongst other aspects of this work considered the first printed book on the history of Lithuania
History of Lithuania
The history of Lithuania dates back to at least 1009, the first recorded written use of the term. Lithuanians, a branch of the Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring lands, establishing the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in the 13th century the short-lived Kingdom of Lithuania. The Grand Duchy...
.
Biography
Maciej Stryjkowski was born around 1547 in StrykówStryków
Stryków is a town in central Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, in Zgierz County. It has 3,602 inhabitants .-Early history:The first mention of Strykow was in 1387. Strykow was a village situated on the route from Zgierz to Lowicz. Strykow received city rights in 1394 from King Wladyslaw Jagiello, at...
, a town in the Rawa Voivodeship
Rawa Voivodeship
Rawa Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Kingdom of Poland since 15th century till the partitions of Poland in 1795. It was part of the Greater Polish prowincja...
in the region of Masovia thus he was a Mazur (Old Polish name for an inhabitant of Masovia). He graduated from a local school in another Masovian town of Brzeziny
Brzeziny
Brzeziny is a town in Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about 20 km east of Łódź. It is the capital of Brzeziny County. Population is 12,417 .- History :...
, after which he joined the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
and served in the forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
, though it is not certain whether he actually took part in any war. Despite being a Masovian, he spent most of his life in the Grand Duchy, initially as a soldier. Around 1573, at the age of roughly 25, he retired from active service and became a protégé of Melchioras Giedraitis, the bishop of Samogitia
Samogitia
Samogitia is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai/Šiaulē. The region has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect...
. Eventually Stryjkowski became a Catholic priest and ended as a provost
Provost (religion)
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...
at the parish of Georgenburg
Jurbarkas
Jurbarkas is a city in Tauragė County, Lithuania. It is on the right-hand shore of the Neman River at its confluence with the tributaries Mituva and Imsre...
, a small village in the Lithuanian-Prussian borderland. There he devoted his life to writing a monumental chronicle of the lands of Poland-Lithuania, eventually published in Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
in 1582. The book, published under the title of Chronicle of Poland, Lithuania, Samogitia, and all of Ruthenia of Kiev, Moscow, Novgorod... is a classic piece of literature written in the Polish language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
and detailed much of the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
and its parts from their legendary roots up to 1581. Some fragments of his work are written in Lithuanian language
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
.. He also encouraged Lithuanian nobility to use the Lithuanian language.
Maciej Miechowita
Maciej Miechowita was a Polish renaissance scholar, professor of Jagiellonian University, historian, chronicler, geographer, medical doctor , alchemist, astrologist and canon in Cracow.He studied at the...
, but did also include Ruthenian letopises, folk tales and legends. It instantly gained much fame among the szlachta
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
and it is often argued that Stryjkowski was among the Polish-Lithuanian writers to shape the Lithuanian national identity, as his works were later copied by scores of writers and chroniclers in all parts of the region. Until 19th century the works of Stryjkowski were considered to be the basic sources of information on early period of history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
. It was not until the advent of modern historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
that his chronicle started to be criticised and disputed, mainly due to his favour of the magnate
Magnate
Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...
s, lack of distinction between legends and historic accounts and his theory on the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
origin of the Lithuanian ruling families.
In 1577 Stryjkowski also authored a large epic poem On the beginnings of the famed nation of Lithuania (...), which however was not published until after Stryjkowski's death. He died around the year 1593, though the exact date and place remain unknown.
External links
- Front page of Strykowski's chronicle and his contemporary portrait