Philomaths
Encyclopedia
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
philomathes, "lovers of knowledge"), was a secret student organization that existed from 1817 to 1823 at the Imperial University of Vilnius.
History
The society was created on 1 October 1817 in Vilna, Vilna GovernorateVilna Governorate
The Vilna Governorate or Government of Vilna was a governorate of the Russian Empire created after the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795...
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(which acquired those territories following the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
in 1794. The society was composed of the students and alumni of the Imperial University.
Notable members included Józef Jeżowski
Józef Jezowski
Józef Jeżowski was a Polish philologist and poet. Friend of Adam Mickiewicz and Tomasz Zan. Founder of the Philomatic Association, in 1824 convicted by the Russian Empire activity for pro-Polish activity and exiled into Russia. Allowed to lecture at Kazan State University and later Moscow...
(co-founder and president), Jan Czeczot
Jan Czeczot
Jan Czeczot of Ostoja was a noble of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of Belarusian origin, romantic poet and ethnographer. Fascinated by folk lore and traditional folk songs of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, confederal part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he recollected hundreds of...
(co-founder), Józef Kowalewski
Józef Kowalewski
Józef Kowalewski was a Polish orientalist. Founder of the Philomatic Association, in 1824 convicted by the Russian authorities for pro-independence Polish activity and exiled into Russia. Allowed to study at the Kazan University, he studied Mongolia, particularly Mongolian language and Tibetan...
(co-founder), Onufry Pietraszkiewicz
Onufry Pietraszkiewicz
Onufry Pietraszkiewicz was a Polish poet. One of the founders of the Philomaths, he was arrested by the Russian Empire government and sentenced to exile into Russia, first to Moscow, then after helping some other Polish exile escape, deep into Siberia. We became known as an activist of Polish...
(co-founder), Tomasz Zan
Tomasz Zan
Tomasz Zan , was a Polish poet and activist.In 1817 he was a cofounder of the Philomatic Association , in 1820, Radiant Association , in 1820-1823 president of Filaret Association , all of them student organizations in Vilna dedicated to Polish cultural and political...
(co-founder), Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
(co-founder), Antoni Edward Odyniec
Antoni Edward Odyniec
Antoni Edward Odyniec was a Polish Romantic-era poet who penned the celebrated "Song of the Filaretes".Himself a mediocre imitator of his friend Adam Mickiewicz, Odyniec made his mark as a translator of works by distinguished writers, including Walter Scott, Byron, Friedrich Schiller and Pushkin;...
, Ignacy Domejko, Teodor Łoziński, Franciszek Malewski
Franciszek Malewski
Franciszek Hieronim Malewski of Jastrzębiec coat of arms was a Lithuanian -Polish lawyer, archivist and journalist. In 1815 he graduated from the Vilna-based gimnazjum wileńskie and started legal studies at the local university. Founding member of the Filomatic Society and friend to Adam...
, Jan Sobolewski, Aleksander Chodźko
Aleksander Chodzko
Aleksander Borejko Chodźko was a Polish poet, Slavist, and Iranologist.-Biography:He was born in Krzywicze in Russia , and attended the University of Vilnius...
, Michał Kulesza
Michał Kulesza
The Romantic painter Michał Kulesza was among the first lithographers in the area of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, ruled by Russia for almost all of his life. His frequent theme, sites linked to the Grand Duchy's history, reflected the growing Lithuanian and Polish ethnic activism in the area...
. Most of them were students, but some members and supported included faculty and former alumni.
Its structure was a cross between freemason organization and a learned society
Learned society
A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...
. It was divided into two chapters - scientific-mathematic and literary. The members of the latter discussed literary works, and the organization aims were self-educational and didactic; however around 1819-1820 the members became split on whether the organizations should concentrate on self-education (Jeżowski) or take a more active role in restoring Poland's independence (Mickiewicz), eventually the second faction gained dominance and new social and political goals emerged.
The discussions increasingly turned toward romanticist ideas that were banned by the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
for their pro-independence currents; history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
was studied, pro-independence works written and circulated. The organizations inspired the creation of many similar youth organizations across the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
, and it established ties with similar clandestine pro-Polish organizations in Congress Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
and the rest of partitioned lands
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
, such as the Patriotic Society
Patriotic Society
Patriotic Society can refer to two Polish organizations:* National Patriotic Society formed by Walerian Łukasiński* Patriotic Society or Patriotic Club formed by various activists during the November Uprising...
(Towarzystwo Patriotyczne) of Walerian Łukasiński, and even Russian organizations such as the Decembrists.
Three closely related groups were formed from 1820 to 2005:
- The Radiant Association (Towarzystwo Promienistych, from "promieniści," the "Radiant Ones"), a legal organization created by Tomasz Zan, and disbanded under pressure from University authorities, in May 1820;
- The Filaret AssociationFilaret AssociationThe Filaret Association was a secret organization created in 1820 by Tomasz Zan within the Philomates following the dissolution, under pressure from Wilno University authorities, of the Radiant Association...
(Zgromadzenie Filaretów, Filaretai, Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Pożytecznej Zabawy, filareci, from the Greek "philáretos," "Lovers of Virtue), a secret organization created by Zan within the Philomaths after the dissolution of the Radiants. It continued the traditions of the Radiants, but with a much clearer pro-independence goal, and was dedicated to the study of Polish and Lithuania patriotic literature. It was disbanded in 1823 after the arrests of the Philomaths. - The Association Filomati (AF), is a private association non-profit research intellectual, a free international academy formed in Rome December 28, 2005. Founded in a spirit of continuity with the Royal Academy of Filomati of Lucca,Italy,is independent but historically Related to the secret society of students Filomati and Filaret, the Academy of Filomati of Olbia, at the Company Filomatiche Vosgienne and Paris.The AF has a hierarchical approach that you want symmetrical to that of a meritocratic technocracy. It divides its members into three principal stages: warcasters. Technocrat. Tecnarch. Above these are the tetrarch, with central management positions and led by Prime Tetrarch, a position currently covered Mr. Luca Masala.
The Association is organized in the territory by units called Research Commission (currently there are three, called North-Italy, Central-South Italy and South Italy, respectively, with four local branches), supported by a Tecnarca and responsible for carrying out projects and organize activities related to the achievement of goals. In cities where the presence of members is small you are confined Research Groups (Sections), headed by a technocrat.
The Association operates a selection on aspiring members, to examine curricula and considering the consistency to the principles filomatici.
Its stated purpose is the dissemination, through a technocratic conception of society, a greater awareness of the positive progress of science for human well-being. It declares itself non-denominational, apolitical and universalist
In 1822 the organizations went through some name changes. In 1823 the organization was discovered by Russian authorities led by Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev
Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev
Count Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev was a Russian statesman and a close aide to Alexander I of Russia.He was a natural son of a wealthy nobleman, married to the aunt of Count Pavel Stroganov. This relationship secured for him a place in the Privy Committee that outlined the Government reform...
. After a trial that lasted several months, in 1824, 108 people were convicted of membership in this or related organizations; 20 members of the Philomaths or related organizations were sentenced to imprisonment or katorga
Katorga
Katorga was a system of penal servitude of the prison farm type in Tsarist Russia...
and exiled to Siberia; over a dozen faculty members were dismissed (including historian Joachim Lelewel
Joachim Lelewel
Joachim Lelewel was a Polish historian and politician, from a Polonized branch of a Prussian family.His grandparents were Heinrich Löllhöffel von Löwensprung and Constance Jauch , who later polonized her name to Lelewel.-Life:Born in Warsaw, Lelewel was educated at the Imperial University of...
).
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
, one of the Three Polish Bards
Three Bards
The Three Bards are the national poets of Polish Romantic literature. They lived and worked in exile during the partitions of Poland which ended the existence of the Polish sovereign state...
, convicted of being a Philomath member and exiled into Russia, later described his experiences in that period in the third part of a major work, Dziady
Dziady (poem)
Dziady is a poetic drama by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz. It is considered one of the great works of European Romanticism. To George Sand and George Brandes, Dziady was a supreme realization of Romantic drama theory, to be ranked with such works as Goethe's Faust and Byron's Manfred.The...
(Forefathers' Eve).
Further reading
- J F. Gomoszyński, A course of three lectures on the history of Poland, London, 1843, Google Print, p.60-65 (public domain) Pieśń Filaretów (Filaretes' Song)