Surviving Russianization: Lithuanian and the Book Smugglers

In Lithuania, March 16 is celebrated as Knygnešio diena, or the Day of the Book Smugglers. It commemorates the birthday of Jurgis Bielinis, a newspaperman who created a secret distribution network smuggling banned Lithuanian books into the country. Why are book smugglers so important to Lithuanians? Well, Lithuania was under Russian rule in the late 1800s. In 1866, after years of taking increasingly powerful measures to implement Russian-only education, Tsar Alexander II banned printing in Lithuanian or importing anything printed in Lithuanian. The language would die. Only Russian would be spoken or read in the former country. The people would become thoroughly Russian and loyal subjects of the empire. That was the plan anyway. But there sprang up an unlikely army, armed with ingenuity and bravery, to defend the Lithuanian language and culture: book smugglers.

One of many examples is Motiejus Valančius, the Bishop of Žemaitija, organized and financed an effort to print Lithuanian-language books abroad and distribute them within the country. When his system was exposed, five priests and two book smugglers were exiled to Siberia. Their arrest was but a small victory in a larger war, and Russia was definitely losing the war. The policy was lifted in 1904 and completely abolished following the disastrous defeat of the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War, under the official pretext that the Russian Empire needed to pacify its national minorities. During the ban’s final years, it is estimated that more than 30,000 books were being smuggled into the country annually through a number of secret organizations and legal institutions.

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(Source: Daily Mail)

The Pope Innocent IV bull regarding Lithuania’s placement under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, Mindaugas’ baptism and coronation, 1251

The Union of Lublin replaced the personal union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a real union and an elective monarchy, since Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the Jagiellons, remained childless after three marriages. In addition, the autonomy of Royal Prussia was largely abandoned. The Duchy of Livonia, tied to Lithuania in real union since the Union of Grodno (1566), became a Polish–Lithuanian condominium.

It was signed July 1, 1569, in Lublin, Poland, and created a single State, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth was ruled by a single elected monarch who carried out the duties of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and governed with a common Senate and parliament (the Sejm). The Union was an evolutionary stage in the Polish–Lithuanian alliance and personal union, necessitated also by Lithuania’s dangerous position in wars with Russia.

Constituting a crucial event in the history of several nations, the Union of Lublin has been viewed quite differently by many historians. Some identify it as the moment at which the Szlachta rose to the height of their power, establishing an oligarchy as opposed to absolute monarchy: a possible cause of political instability that led to the Partitions of Poland over 200 years later. Polish historians concentrate on its positive aspects, emphasizing its peaceful, voluntary creation and its role in the spreading of Polish culture. Lithuanian historians are more critical of the Union, pointing out that it was dominated by Poland.

Henri III en roi de Pologne (source et auteur inconnu)

@credits

In 1573, following the death of the Polish ruler Sigismund II Augustus, Jean de Monluc was sent as the French envoy in Poland to negotiate the election of Henry of Valois, future Henry III of France, on the Polish throne, in exchange for military support against Russia, diplomatic assistance in dealing with the Ottoman Empire, and financial help.

In May 1573 Polish nobles elected Henry, as the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.