Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas - the beginning of Lithuanian print culture

Literature of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from its beginnings until the middle of the XVI century was not created in Lithuanian, but in other languages: Latin, Slavonic Offi ce, German and Polish. When they began to form a powerful state, Lithuanians did not have their own written language. In its associations with neighboring countries, Lithuania received their written languages and patterns of scribal culture. A substantial turnabout in the evolution of Lithuanian writing occurred in relation to the factors, which spread throughout Europe and redefi ned its cultural and social shape: humanism, Reformation and printing. One of the forerunners of the changes was Martynas Mažvydas, student of Königsberg University, Protestant clergyman and a man of the Renaissance. He prepared the fi rst Lithuanian book, titled The Simple Words of the Catechism (in original: Catechismusa prasty Szadei) and published in Königsberg in 1547. The Catechism, surpassing the framework of religious literary genre, proved and predicted essential processes in the history of Lithuanian culture. It marked the start of struggle for primacy between the Catholicism and Protestantism. It also linked the Lithuania Proper with Lithuania Minor (later Prussia's Lithuania), the region of great signifi cance for development of Lithuanian literature. However, most of all, the work of Mažvydas contributed to rising the status of Lithuanian language