Sources of Simonas Daukantas's "Budą Senowęs-Lëtuwiû Kalnienû ĩr Ƶámajtiû" (1845)

The article investigates Simonas Daukantas’s (1793–1864) BUDĄ Senowęs-Lëtuwiû Kalnienû ĩr Ƶámajtiû (The Character of the Lithuanian Highlanders and Samogitians of the Old Times, 1845; hereafter Bd) with regards to genre, origin of the title, and the dominant German sources of the work. It claims that Daukantas conceived Bd because he understood that the future of Lithuania is closely related to its past. A single, united version of Lithuanian history, accepted by the whole nation, was necessary for the development of Lithuanian national identity and collective feeling. The history, which up until then had not been published in Lithuanian, could have helped to create the contours of a new society by presenting the paradigmatic events of the past. The collective awareness of the difference between the present and the past (and future) should have given the Lithuanian community an incentive to move forward. Daukantas wrote Bd quickly, between 1842 and May 28, 1844, because he drew on his previous work ISTORYJE ƵEMAYTYSZKA (History of the Lithuanian Lowlands, ~1831–1834; IƵ). Based on the findings of previous researchers of Daukantas’s works, after studying the dominant sources of Bd and examining their nature, this article comes to the conclusion that the work has features of both cultural history and regional historiography. The graphically highlighted form of the word “BUDĄ” used in the work’s title should be considered the author’s code. Daukantas, influenced by the newest culturological research and comparative linguistics of the 18th–19th centuries, propagated that Lithuanians originate from India and, like many others, found evidence of this in the Lithuanian language and culture. He considered the Budini (Greek Βουδίνοι), who are associated with the followers of Buddha, to be Lithuanian ancestors. He found proof of this claim in the language and chose the word “būdas” (character), which evokes aforementioned associations, to express the idea of the work. The synthesis of Buddha and Odin (who came to Europe from the East) by Alexander Humboldt and others may have determined the choice of the title’s form as a code for readers: Lithuanians belong among “the list of nations with a rich cultural context.” Bd is closely connected with the personal history of Daukantas, as he, the son of Kotryna Odinaitė, associated himself with the history of the high-status ancestors—Odinai. The legendary history of the ancestral Odinai determined the self-confidence and the perception of Daukantas’s uniqueness, which was necessary for cultural activities. This is confirmed by the text of Bd, where, unlike in previous works, there are many examples of the subjectivity inherent in the aesthetics of Romanticism, reliance on personal experience, and individual style. Bd draws on 85 sources total: 11 are from ancient and late Antiquity (Herodotus, Pytheas of Massalia, Strabon, Diodorus Siculus, Claudius Ptolemy, Titus Pomponius Mela, Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Publius Ovidius Naso, Gaius Plinius Secundus Maior, Marcus Junianus Justinus, Procopius of Caesarea), 21 have local origins (Wincenty Kadłubek, Jan Długosz, Maciej Stryjkowski, Mykolas Daukša, Michalo Lituanus, Jan Łasicki, Albertas Kojalavičius-Vijūkas, Franciszek Ksawery Michał Bohusz, Teodor Narbutt, Tadeusz Czacki), 13 are from other countries (Danish, Dutch, French, Russian, Swedish), and 35 sources (but 40 titles) are from authors of Prussian or German descent, most of whom lived in East Prussia, other parts of the Baltics, or St. Petersburg. The tradition of German historiography is prevalent in Bd and individual authors are cited more than 30 times. Therefore, it can be concluded that the attention of this region’s scholars to the Prussian and Lithuanian language, history, culture, as well as the high appreciation of the conquered pagans adopted from the Medieval chronicles was one of the reasons why German sources were chosen. Daukantas quotes the work of Theodor Lepner (1633–1691)—Der Preusche Littauer (published in 1744) with 31 references and many more indirect quotations. Therefore this work can be regarded as the main source of creative inspiration for Bd. Lepner was influenced by the humanistic historiography tradition, thus his attitude towards Lithuanians was ambivalent, but the rich ethnographic material made a great impression on Daukantas. Another German source that is cited directly 21 times and amply paraphrased by Bd is Johannes Voigt (1786–1863) Geschichte Preußens (1827–1839)