Francysk Skaryna

Francysk Skaryna (alternative transcriptions of his name: Francišak Skaryna or Francisk Skaryna; Latin: Franciscus Scorina, Belarusian: Францыск (Францішак)[1] Скарына [franˈt͡sɨsk skaˈrɨna]; Polish: Franciszek Skaryna, Czech: František Skorina; 1470[2] – before 29 January 1552) was a Ruthenian humanist, physician, and translator. He is known to be one of the first book printers in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in all of Eastern Europe, laying the groundwork for the development of the Belarusian izvod of the Church Slavonic language.

Franciscus Scorina, 1517
Title page of Skaryna's Bible
Bible printed by Franciscus Skaryna with Skaryna's portrait, Book Museum, National Library, Minsk
Pages of 1517 bible published by Scaryna, Book Museum, National Library, Minsk

Early life and education

Skaryna was born into a wealthy family from Polotsk, which was then a major trade and manufacturing center of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His father, Luka Skaryna, was a merchant, who dealt with someone known as Doronya Ivanov, from Velikiye Luki. Skaryna's older brother, Ivan, was also a merchant. The brothers owned property, possibly ancestral, in Polotsk.[3]

Research indicates that Skaryna was born in 1470.[2] The year 1490 is often proposed based on the assumption that he was 14 when he came to study in Kraków in 1504. The date is an upper boundary; while new students younger than 14 were rare, older ones were not unusual, and Skaryna could have started his studies at the age of 18 or even older. N. Shchakachikhin suggested that the overlapping sun and moon on Skaryna's personal emblem indicates that he was born around the time of the 1486 solar eclipse, which was observed in Polotsk.[4]:154–156

It is believed that he received his primary education in Polotsk and possibly in Vilnius.[5] In 1504, Skaryna is recorded as a student at Jagiellonian University. In 1506, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[5] In 1512, after passing all required tests, he received a doctorate in medicine at the University of Padua in Italy.[6] Records suggest that he requested to take his examination in Padua but had not studied in the city. Earlier, he obtained an "artium doctor" degree, but the exact date and place are unknown.

Later life

Skaryna arrived in Prague by 1517. According to one hypothesis, he had been a student at Charles University in Prague, but there is no documentary evidence of this. In the same year, he rented a printing house from a merchant named Severin[7][8] in Prague and started publishing a new translation of the Bible with his own prefaces.

On 6 August 1517, his first edition, "The Psalter", was released in the Old Belarusian izvod of Church Slavonic. "The Psalter" comprises nearly all of the biblical books of Holy Scripture. "It contains everything people needed for the welfare of human life on earth." He released new books periodically over the next few months (10 September, 6 October, 5 December, 2 January 1518, 9 January, and 19 January). Then, on 10 August 1518, he published four books at the same time. The culmination of his life's work was printing a translation of the Bible in twenty-three books from 1517 to 1519.[9]

In 1520, Skaryna became involved in combating an epidemic of a deadly disease in Prague. The epidemic subsided later that year, but civil unrest broke out in the autumn in Bohemia. Skaryna left the country and moved to Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In 1522, Skaryna opened the first printing house in Vilnius. He published "The Little Travel Book", followed by "Apostol" in 1525. "Apostol" was released in the same order as it is used in Orthodox worship now.[9]

In the late 1520s or early 1530s, he visited Moscow. He wished to distribute his books in Moscow but was unsuccessful.[10]

Skaryna married Margarita, the widow of a Vilnius city councilor. In 1529, following his brother's death, he went to Poznań and obtained a share of Ivan's property. In 1530, he moved with his wife to Königsberg, but they soon returned to Vilnius. The 1530 fire in Vilnius destroyed three-quarters of the city, probably including Skaryna's publishing house.

In 1532, he worked as a doctor and secretary to John, Bishop in Vilnius. After two years, creditors of his late brother Ivan considered Skaryna as the brother's primary heir, and put him into Poznań jail. He was there for several months. Roman Skaryna, Ivan's son and Francysk's nephew, actively helped his uncle, meeting with King Sigismund I.[11] When Skaryna was released, he sent a complaint letter with a counterclaim against the creditors to the King. In response to the complaint letter, he was awarded two royal privilege certificates (dated 21 November and 25 November 1532). Those certificates exempted him from the jurisdiction of all authorities except the King.[12][13]

The last information about Skaryna is mentioned in the archives of 1534. He moved from Vilnius to Prague. Probably he served in the royal garden in Prague until his death.[3]:163 According to some theories, Skaryna taught as a professor at Charles University in Prague. He is presumed to have died in 1551 or early 1552.

In 1552, his son Simeon Rus Skaryna received a royal certificate, according to which he, as the sole heir, was given all of the property of his father.[14] The property included manuscripts, letters, and books.

Religion

It is not known for certain whether Skaryna was Catholic or Orthodox. His name is Catholic, but it is often suggested that he changed it before entering the university. A single copy of a document in which he is called Georgius Franciscus instead of just Franciscus gave birth to a theory that Georgius was his original name; today, however, it is mostly accepted to be a scribe's error (the presumed correct reading being egregius Franciscus, "venerable Francysk"). In any case, the once popular theory that he changed his name from Georgius to Franciscus to be able to enter the university is unsupported by evidence: the name Georgius was equally popular among the Catholic and the Orthodox in the region, and in Skaryna's year there were more students named Georgius than Franciscus in Kraków.[4]:157

In 1552, after Skaryna's death (and long after his final departure from the country) King Sigismund August mentioned in a letter that a man from his country printed a translation of the Bible and tried to sell his edition in Moscow, but the books had been burned there because they had been produced "by a subject of the Roman Church". The books mentioned in the letter are most probably Skaryna's.[4]:488

Publishing activities

Skaryna devoted his life to the publication of the biblical texts. He sought to make the Bible more available to the common people and write it in an accessible language. Skaryna also composed prefaces to his editions, in which he emphasized that the purpose of his publishing activities was to help ordinary people "become acquainted with wisdom and science". He contributed to the development of the Belarusian literary language. This Bible became the second printed Bible in the Slavic world, following the publication of a Czech edition.[15]

Book

In 1517, Skaryna started his publishing career in Prague. He printed his Psalter, and then twenty-two books of the Old Testament under the shared name Biblia Ruska. His books were different from the Western European printed Bibles of that time, in that they were all published in the quarto format. Skaryna's editions of the Bible were printed in the Church Slavonic language with many Ruthenian words. Belarusian linguists can also identify the influence of the Polish and Czech languages.[16]

Skaryna's Bible challenged the existing rules of that time. It contains text from the publisher, his comments, forewords, and afterwords. In addition, it contains prints with his image. It is the only such case in the history of the publication of Bibles in Eastern Europe.

All of Skaryna's editions are very rare today, especially those published in Vilnius. Copies are stored in libraries in Minsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Vilnius, Lviv, London, Prague, Copenhagen, and Kraków.

Legacy
The Little Traveller's Book (Ruthenian: Малая подорожная книжка), printed in Vilnius, in 1522

Skaryna was one of the pioneers of publishing in Cyrillic script, but not the first: the Oktoikh was published by Schweipolt Fiol in 1491.[17] While he used an Eastern Slavic language, it is difficult to determine precisely what language he used, since there was no standard Belarusian language at that time. Some researchers maintain that Skaryna's books were in Church Slavonic heavily saturated with Ruthenian. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Skaryna laid the foundations of the Belarusian literary language.

Some Belarusian scholars see Skaryna as a Renaissance man, on par with Copernicus and Erasmus, whose work in the Slavic lands was a part of the European Reformation.[18]

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Minsk, the capital of Belarus, had a Skaryna Avenue (praspiekt Franciška Skaryny). However, in 2005, under the rule of Alexander Lukashenko, it was renamed to Independence Avenue (praspekt Nezalezhnastsi). The Old Barysau Path (Starabarysauski trakt) was renamed to Skaryna Street (vulica Skaryny). Streets are named for Francysk Skaryna in Minsk, Polatsk, Vitebsk, Nesvizh, Orsha, Slutsk, and many other cities of Belarus.

Two awards are given in Belarus in honor of Skaryna: the Medal of Francysk Skaryna, and the Order of Francysk Skaryna. There are monuments to Francysk Skaryna in Polotsk, Minsk, Lida, Vilnius, Chisinau, and Prague.

Several cultural organizations are named for Skaryna, particularly the Frantsishak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society in Belarus, and the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum in London. Homyel State University is named for Skaryna.[19]

Francysk Skaryna statue in Lida

In 1969, Boris Stepanov filmed a movie "Я, Францыск Скарына" (I, Francysk Skaryna ).

In 1991, Skaryna was depicted on the Soviet Union one-ruble coin.[20]

See also

References
  1. Чалавек і грамадства: Энцыклапедычны даведнік. Мн: Беларуская Энцыклапедыя, 1998. Archived 2008-12-04 at the Wayback Machine ISBN 985-11-0108-7
  2. Лемешкин И. 1470 – год рождения Ф. Скóрина // Францыск Скарына: новыя даследаванні. — Мінск: Баларуская навука, 2019. — С. 23–85. — ISBN 978-985-08-2415-8.
  3. Sokolová Františka. Francisko Skoryna v dile českých slavistů. Sbornik k 500-jubileju narozeni významného bĕloruského humanisty, 1490–1990. – Praha: Narodní knihovna, Slovanská knihovna, 1992.
  4. Е. Немировский. Франциск Скорина. Минск, 1990.
  5. Г. Галенчанка. Скарына, Францыск // Энцыклапедыя ВКЛ, т.3, Мінск, 2007, с. 576.
  6. Shutova, Olga. Again About Scorina in Padua: New Possibilities of Reading the Old Documents. In Three Parts: Time and Context; Circumstances; Attendees. In: Belarusian Review. – Winter 2014, vol. 26, No. 4. P. 17-23; Spring 2015, vol. 27, No 1. P. 23 -28; Summer 2015, vol. 27, No. 2. P. 21-28.
  7. Войт Пётр. Новые сведения о деятельности Франциска Скорины в Праге (1517—1519). In Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekos metraštis. 2015. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto biblioteka, 2015, pp. 339—373.
  8. Лемешкин Илья. Библия Пражская (1488) и Библия Руска Франциска Скорины. Место печатания. In Францыск Скарына: асоба, дзейнасць, спадчына / Цэнтр. навук. б-ка імя Якуба Коласа Нац. акад. навук Беларусі ; уклад. Аляксандр Груша; рэдкал.: Л. А. Аўгуль [і інш.]. – Мінск : Беларуская навука, 2017. С.154-194.
  9. Галенчанка Г. Я. Францыск Скарына - беларускі і ўсходнеславянскі першадрукар. Мiнск: Навука і тэхніка, 1993. 280 с. ІSBN 5-343-00891-7
  10. Шутова Ольга. «Уликовая» парадигма в историографии: новые возможности исследования биографии Франциска Скорины. In Францыск Скарына: асоба, дзейнасць, спадчына / Цэнтр. навук. б-ка імя Якуба Коласа Нац. акад. навук Беларусі ; уклад. Аляксандр Груша; рэдкал.: Л. А. Аўгуль [і інш.]. – Мінск : Беларуская навука, 2017. С. 74-102.
  11. "Актовая запись об установлении уполномоченного для кредитора ИВАНА СКОРИНЫ от 12 апреля 1532 г., г. Познань". Strannik.tv. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  12. "привелигированная грамота короля ПОЛЬШИ И Великого князя ЛИТОВСКОГО СИГИЗМУНДА I в защиту Ф. СКОРИНЫ от 21 ноября 1532 г., г. Краков". Strannik.tv. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  13. http://strannik.tv/skorina-dok.htm#ex34 Вторая привелегированная грамота короля КОРОЛЯ ПОЛЬШИ И Великого князя Литовского СИГИЗМУНДА I в защиту Ф. СКОРИНЫ от 25 ноября 1532 г., г. Краков
  14. "Доверительная грамота короля ФЕРДИНАНДА I, выданная сыну Ф. СКОРИНЫ СИМЕОНУ от 29 января 1552 г., г. Прага". Strannik.tv. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  15. История Беларуси : вторая половина XIII — первая половина XVI в. : учеб. пособие для 7-го кл. общеобразоват. учреждений с рус. яз. обучения / Г. В. Штыхов, Ю. Н. Бохан, М. А. Краснова ; под ред. Ю. Н. Бохана. — Минск: Нар. асвета, 2009.ISBN 978-985-03-1189-4
  16. "FRANCISK SKORINA: A JOURNEY TO THE FATHERLAND". Archived from the original on 2017-07-03. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  17. Treasures of the National Library - Moscow, retrieved on November 3, 2007.
  18. 450 год беларускага кнігадрукавання. Рэд. К. Крапіва. Мінск, 1968.
  19. "Gomel Fr. Scaryna State University Official World-Wide Web Site". Gsu.by. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  20. "1 ruble 1991, Soviet Union, Francysk Scorina". Coinsmoscow.ru. 2013-03-14. Retrieved 2013-03-19.

Further reading
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