The Character of the Ancient Lithuanians, Highlanders, and Samogitians
Movement
Lithuanian National Revival
Simonas Daukantas (Polish: Szymon Dowkont; 28 October 1793 – 6 December 1864) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian historian, writer, and ethnographer. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian National Revival, he is credited as the author of the first book on the history of Lithuania written in the Lithuanian language. Only a few of his works were published during his lifetime and he died in obscurity. However, his works were rediscovered during the later stages of the National Revival. His views reflected the three major trends of the 19th century: romanticism, nationalism, and liberalism.[1]
Daukantas was born in Samogitia to a Lithuanian family. Likely a son of free peasants, he later produced proof of his noble birth to get university degree and a promotion in his government job. He attended schools in Kretinga and Žemaičių Kalvarija and was noted as an excellent student. Daukantas studied law at the University of Vilnius, though his interest lay in philology and history. After the graduation, he worked as a civil servant of the Russian Empire from 1825 to 1850. He first worked at the office of the Governor-General of Livonia, Estonia and Courland in Riga then moved to Saint Petersburg to work at the Governing Senate. At the Senate, he had the opportunity to study the Lithuanian Metrica, the state archive of the 14–18th century legal documents of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1850, Daukantas retired from his job due to poor health and moved back to Samogitia where he lived in Varniai under the care of bishop Motiejus Valančius for a few years. He hoped to publish some of his works with bishop's help, but the bishop prioritized religious work and they began to quarrel. In 1855, Daukantas moved to Jaunsvirlauka [lv] in present-day Latvia and later to Papilė where he died in obscurity in 1864.
While Daukantas knew seven languages, he published exclusively in Lithuanian. He was a prolific writer and worked on a wide range of books – studies on the history of Lithuania, publications of primary historical sources, collections of Lithuanian folklore, Polish–Lithuanian dictionaries, Latin textbook for schoolchildren, primer of the Lithuanian language, Catholic prayer book, agricultural manuals for peasants, translations of classical Roman texts, novel for youth inspired by Robinson Crusoe. However, only a few of these works were published during his lifetime. Of the four studies on history, he managed to publish only one, The Character of the Ancient Lithuanians, Highlanders, and Samogitians, in 1845. While he was a well read erudite who spent considerable time and effort in obtaining primary sources, his historical works are highly influenced by romantic nationalism and didactically idealize the past. He used poetic descriptions, rhetorical elements, and emotional language that brought his history works closer to a literary work. His histories are valued not for their scientific content, but for their contribution to the development of the Lithuanian national identity.[2] After the closing of Vilnius University in 1832, Lithuanians did not have a professionally trained historian until 1904 and used Daukantas' histories extensively. Daukantas identified language as the determining factor of nationality and articulated the nationalist anti-Polish sentiment that became the fundamental ideas of the Lithuanian National Revival and that survive in Lithuanian historiography into the 21st century.[3]
SimonasDaukantas (Polish: Szymon Dowkont; 28 October 1793 – 6 December 1864) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian historian, writer, and ethnographer. One of...
Daukantas is a Lithuanian surname. Notable people with the surname include: SimonasDaukantas (1793–1864), Lithuanian writer ethnographer and historian...
Simonas (shortened as Simas) is a Lithuanian masculine given name, a cognate of Simon, and may refer to: SimonasDaukantas (1793–1864), Lithuanian writer...
commemorates a progenitor of the 19th-century Lithuanian national revival, SimonasDaukantas. In the late 19th century it had a monument of Mikhail Nikolayevich...
century is represented by Maironis, Antanas Baranauskas, SimonasDaukantas, Oscar Milosz, and Simonas Stanevičius. During the Tsarist annexation of Lithuania...
copper idol (a twisted žaltys) to Potrimpo in the temple of Romuva. SimonasDaukantas described Potrimpo as the god of spring, happiness, abundance, cattle...
"Samogitian revival" led by students of Vilnius University, including SimonasDaukantas and Simonas Stanevičius. The most recent Lithuanian national revival may...
19th century. Simonas Stanevičius (Sėmuons Stanevėčios) with his famous book “Šešės pasakas” (Six fables) printed in 1829. SimonasDaukantas (Sėmuons Daukonts...
are also unclear. At the dawn of the Lithuanian National Revival, SimonasDaukantas employed the term vytis, referring not to the Lithuanian coat of arms...
modern physics organisator in Lithuania Kazimieras Būga – linguist SimonasDaukantas – Lithuanian historian, who wrote first book on history of Lithuania...
Gudelienė, Birutė (2016). "The Endings of Proper Names in SimonasDaukantas' and Simonas Stanevičius' Translations of Epitome Historiae Sacrae". Lituanistica...
Independence in Joniškis. The Three Giants (Trys Milžinai) symbol in Kaunas. SimonasDaukantas Bridge in Kaunas with the Columns of the Gediminas on top. Grand Duke...
wrote about 250 original sermons and a diary Ryžtai (Determinations). SimonasDaukantas (1793–1864) promoted a return to Lithuania's pre-Commonwealth traditions...
index cards. The first words were written down from the works of SimonasDaukantas and collections of Kazimieras Jaunius as well as words collected by...
interest for Lithuanian mythology. Later researchers Teodor Narbutt, SimonasDaukantas and Jonas Basanavičius relied on his work. Matthäus Prätorius in his...
Władysław Syrokomla, Józef Mackiewicz, Romain Gary, Juliusz Słowacki, SimonasDaukantas, Mykolas Biržiška, Petras Cvirka, Kazys Bradūnas, Nobel prize-winner...
Kretinga Jurgis Pabrėža gymnasium was founded in 1980.[citation needed] SimonasDaukantas (1793–1864), author of the first history of Lithuania written in Lithuanian...
ideological foundations of the emerging Lithuanian national movement. SimonasDaukantas, who studied with Mickiewicz at Vilnius University, promoted a return...
Smuglewicz. There he found SimonasDaukantas who wrote the first Lithuanian-language history of Lithuania. Akelaitis treated Daukantas as a fatherly figure...
during World War II. In letters to professor Michał Wiszniewski and SimonasDaukantas, Nezabitauskis claimed authorship of an unfinished manuscript of a...
and educator Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881), French Revolution, Germany SimonasDaukantas (1793–1864), Lithuanian Charles Dezobry (1798–1871), French historian...
Gudelienė, Birutė (2016). "The Endings of Proper Names in SimonasDaukantas' and Simonas Stanevičius' Translations of Epitome Historiae Sacrae". Lituanistica...
Lithuanian activists of his day and corresponded extensively with SimonasDaukantas, who in the same romantic spirit wrote the first Lithuanian-language...
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