Reflections of christian self-awareness in the First Statute of Lituania

The subject of this article is Bogurodzica (Mother of God), an old hymn popular in medieval Poland and written down in three official copies of the First Statute of Lithuania (hereafter – FSL): Puławy, Zamojski and Laurentius. Even though this hymn to the Mother of God has been extensively studied, there has been little research on its functioning in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (hereafter – GDL). The hymn is known to have been placed in the FSL following the example of the Codices of Polish law, although it, notably, was not mechanically copied: different versions of the hymn were chosen for the FSL, and in the Zamojski copy the hymn was ruthenianized and supplemented, preserving its poetic tone and theological meaning. In all likelihood, Bogurodzica could not have been put into the FSL without the approval of the then GDL chancellor, Albertas Goštautas, who oversaw the compilation of the statute, whose honoring of saints, in particular his own heavenly patron St. Adalbert (the presumed author of the hymn), could have been a reason for including the Bogurodzica into the statute. The inclusion of this hymn into a legal codex demonstrates the Christian self-awareness of the GDL‘s ruling elite. There are data attesting that the usage of the Bogurodzica in the GDL encompassed various areas of social life, reflecting the meaning and functions the hymn had had in Poland: it was sung during the battles fought jointly with the Poles, printed in some publications, recommended for singing in church and Jesuit colleges, and perceived as a means of catechetics. However, there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions about the extent of its use and popularity in the society of the GDL