What would Bumblauskas talk about at the table with King Mindaugas: he would have a request and a question

Many Lithuanians who have taken a day off on Monday or are “sick” and have started the long weekend will celebrate July 6. However, it is State Day, so perhaps a tricolor will even be raised, sing a national anthem, although, as A. Bumblauskas assures, these symbols have nothing to do with the coronation of Mindaugas, then Lithuania in 1253 .

But in a country that still disagrees with what can even be called the head of a modern state that actually ruled Lithuania in the critical days of January 1991, such an attitude is not surprising, according to the historian, paradoxical.

“It seems that in 1992 Vytautas Landsbergis said that America had not yet been discovered and that Lithuania was already there. Here is the meaning, – A. Bumblauskas spoke on the program “Delfi Tema” and admitted that it is a “problem” for Lithuanians both with the valuation of the monarchy and with the perception of ancient history – the construction of a tricolor in the bridge of Palanga on July 6 such abracadabra, because the tricolor has nothing to do with the old Lithuanian state.

So we want people to dedicate that old statehood to Lithuania with the old flag, Vytis. The new Lithuania has deviated from the old, the latter is like a fairy tale of the kings of Čiurlionis for us ”.

Mindaugas and Vytautas, who is really cool?

One of the prevailing attitudes towards King Mindaugas so far is related not so much to him as to other Lithuanian rulers. After all, Algirdas and Gediminas, and even more so Vytautas the Great, were kings; they called themselves that, and the chroniclers called them that, not as grand dukes. The fact that Christian Western Europe regards the baptized and crowned ruler of the Pope as a legitimate king means nothing: there is no papal note and there will be no crown.

“I have tried to say that if we want to be rude, let us consider all kings, not just Mindaugas. Courtesy in this case is waiting for recognition, and if not, we begin to misinterpret the role of Vytautas, what he was looking for.

During his reign, Magnus Ducatus Lithuaniae (Latin: Grand Duchy of Lithuania) appeared, then he clearly realized that he would become the king of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which is the meaning of his reign.

For this reason, it should not be said with joy that Algirdas and Gediminas were kings, yes, they were called like that when they had to present themselves to the rulers of other countries ”, the historian emphasized.

According to A. Bumblauskas, the phrase attributed to his teacher Edvardas Gudavičius that “Vytautas was a cub, but his own cub” would also apply to Mindaugas, whom some historians, especially Samogitians, call twisted, although Mindaugas is called “wise”. in the Livonia chronicles.

“Mindaugas should be called two-faced, because he has to play with them and with them. I would not consider him a poor ruler, through the Christian monk from Riga, he could understand what the West is, what is the Pope, what is the emperor, what Mechanisms of action must be activated. And he himself unexpectedly received more than what could be expected, basically a dynasty opportunity. He realized that the great waves were coming from the west, which, by the way, Vytautas was missing “, recalled A. Bumblauskas .

Although all students can highlight the date of the Battle of Grunwald and proudly say that Vytautas won it against the Crusaders, it is often forgotten that the main objective of the military campaign of 1410, the capture of the strategically important Crusader capital, Marienburg , it was not achieved. . Furthermore, Vytautas himself moved away from the Baltic Sea towards Constantinople.

At the time, Mindaugas could be called a forward-thinking ruler, who “was an example of more transparent Western thinking, returning to the West on July 6,” of which Lithuania is a part today.

Would modern linguists be at stake?

“We have to think about his role,” said Konstantinas Jablonskis: “I hate Mindaugas.” But all these first builders of the state are, generally speaking, insignificant: they have to turn their heads towards someone, because if they don’t turn, they won’t, both Vytautas and Mindaugas did, “recalled A. Bumblauskas. medieval game in the struggle for power He also reminded that Mindaugas and Vytautas must separate themselves from the valuation of these times, which is not allowed by our historical self-awareness.

According to A. Bumblauskas, a symbolic example of such a misunderstanding can be considered not only the tricolor celebrating the coronation of Mindaugas, but also the monument to Vytautas the Great at Vištytis – Vytautas on top, and the bronze bas-reliefs of Antanas Smetona. and Jonas Basanavičius. According to the historian, Vytautas the Great should also have something to say about the derivation of contemporary linguists on the subject of some letters. Or he would say nothing to the “defenders of the language” who wage the relentless war against the letter W.

“We don’t understand Vytautas very much. If he were resurrected, he could see many Lithuanians at the stake, because in his name only the letter W is mentioned twice (in Old German, Vytautas writes Wythaws or Tired, Ruthenian – Witowt) ”, Said A. Bumblauskas, recalling that the rulers of the country who had expanded the territory in the former Lithuania had to rely on subordinates who used the official Russian language (or Latin, then Polish), and there is no sentence in Lithuanian, so “the derivations of linguists are nothing.”

A backward and illiterate environment

On the other hand, A. Bumblauskas also pointed out that in the times of Mindaugas Lithuania, the real environment was still too backward, as was the universal one.

“If there is already a baptism of a king, then his environment must be baptized with him, a diocese must be formed. And if so, then there are churches. Another problem here is our state jacket – Treniotas was enough to incite Daumanta, and he dropped Mindaugas.

We were late! Note that even compared to Poland, Kiev, Denmark, Polotsk, we are baptized 4 centuries later. And our mythology remains the same: we begin to sing that we are the last Gentiles. Beloved, paganism is illiterate and having no Scripture is a great backwardness, and you will do nothing here.

In that sense, the delay of Mindaugas is with the whole of Lithuania, but he has nothing to blame. In our time, we took at least some clues and that is enough, because the normal history of Lithuania began, ”said the historian. He allowed himself to be provoked and considered in the field of science fiction.

If on December 8, when Travelers’ Day is celebrated with laughter, if a time machine visited Professor Bumblauskas and offered him a serious face to take him back to the time of Mindaugas, directly to the royal mansion, what question or advice would the historian give him then? Lithuanian ruler?

“It’s a terrible question, I really don’t know what to ask. In Lithuanian, there is no possibility. In the days of Vytautas and Jogaila, we hardly had any education, first through Prague College, then through the University of Krakow, even non-Lithuanians , and people who can write, so the pursuit of literacy is respectable and desirable.

I would say, even plead: “Mindaugas, create a Christian parochial school system!”

And I would ask what happened there anyway: why do the Russian chronicles say that Mindaugas’ baptism was alleged? We would sit at the table and try to explain, “A. Bumblauskas tried to convey the beginning of the imaginary conversation.