Academic Vilnius (Part I)

In 2023, Vilnius University Library has completed the research on the theses and dissertations of the old Vilnius University. The research focused on the graduation papers that are kept at Vilnius University Library and were prepared in the Jesuit period (1579–1773), printed at the University Printing House, defended in public disputes and were awarded scientific degrees by the University for the successful defence. The terms ‘thesis’ and ‘dissertation’ in this text are used synonymously. Such research works that are accumulated in the Library comprise a collection of several dozens of printings.

During its history, Vilnius University has experienced periods of growth and decline. This text is focusing on one of the best periods of the University – the first half of the seventeenth century. Research papers prepared in this epoch at Vilnius University help to understand one of the key aspects of this period.

The graduation papers prepared by students might be attributed to the field of the early modern academic culture. They reveal the – then – dominating research topics along with the novelties of the time. The wider context of the academic community should also be taken into consideration as it was intertwined with the society of the time. Members of religious orders, lecturers, students, printers, aristocrats and kings are part of this story. 

When following this story, you are invited to transfer yourself in your imagination to the early seventeenth century, and, while looking through the University research papers, encounter the citizens of Vilnius and traces of their activities.  

On 30 June 1647, Master of Philosophy and Liberal Arts Józef Butkiewicz Popuciewicz, a student of the eminent professor Aaron Alexander Olizarowski, defended his thesis Ecclesiastical Jurisprudence Thesis dedicated to the Vice-Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Kazimierz Leon Sapieha in a public dispute.

Church of Saint Johns was a centre of spiritual public, and academic life in Vilnius. The rulers of the country were solemnly received in the church, and the plays of the student theatre were being performed in there; members of the public could also participate not only in the disputes, but also in the defence of academic theses.

Graduation ceremonies have been taking place in the Church of Saint Johns to the present day.

In 1579, the structure of the newly established Vilnius Academy and University of the Society of Jesus (further, we shall refer to it as Academy or University) consisted of a college and two faculties – those of philosophy and theology. Shortly after the establishment, the University was awarded the right to confer scientific degrees – Bachelor’s, Master’s, Licentiate and Doctor’s – to the graduates of the two faculties.

Jesuits ensured the full course of academic teaching which the members of the religious order delivered in the Latin language. It took seven years of studies to graduate from the college.

The establishment of higher education in Lithuania was the contribution of the Jesuits to the well-being of the society as their students often would become not only clergymen but also state officials and public servants because the quality of education was important for the State. The King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław Vasa (1595–1648) was a generous patron of arts, culture and science.

Young people would look for patrons who could support their studies and might help them after the graduation. As an acknowledgement, students would print in their theses a panegyric praising their patron’s lineage, wisdom and courage.

Each illustration is a combination of some text and imagery. The reflected themes of philosophy, namely ethics, economics, politics, logic, physics and metaphysics, are connected to the image with an allegorical portrait of the ruler.

The Jesuit Academy carried out humanistic studies which were common in European Catholic and Protestant universities. Commentaries on Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas laid down the foundation of theology studies, while philosophy focused on the analysis of Aristotle’s treatises.

One of the earliest philosophy courses in Lithuanian schools was the lectures on logic delivered by the theologian and philosopher Laurentius Bartilius (1569–1635) at Vilnius University in 1605–1606.

When later he obtained a position of a Professor or even the Rector and provincial, Laurentius Bartilius still led the life of a humble monk – he would wear a worn out and patched robe and would gladly wash dishes in the kitchen. His contemporaries predicted that, in a short while, Bartilius would be declared a saint.

Laurentius Bartilius followed the rule of the Jesuit studies and would explain Aristotle’s philosophy based on Christian commentators. Theses of Bartilius’s students Johanne Kraykowski and Petrus Romulevicius (published in 1606) were written by employing the method of scholastics.

In 1604–1606, Tomasz Lewicki, who came to work from Krakow, had in his set fleurons – small flowers cast out of metal. This Cracowian liked making frames out of fleurons, with the help of which he would decorate title pages of books. Lewicki’s Baroque style ornamentation is notable in the theses of Bartilius’s students.

Academic Vilnius is a two-part story. The second part >>