Ignas Jonynas (January 24, 1884 – July 14, 1954) was a Lithuanian diplomat, historian, and university professor. As a diplomat he is known for negotiations with the Second Polish Republic and

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

regarding

Vilnius Region Vilnius Region is the territory in present-day Lithuania and Belarus that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time. The territor ...

. As a historian he specialized in the

history of Lithuania The history of Lithuania dates back to settlements founded many thousands of years ago, but the first written record of the name for the country dates back to 1009 AD. Lithuanians, one of the Baltic peoples, later conquered neighboring lands an ...

in the 13–16th centuries and lectured at the

University of Lithuania Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) ( lt, Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas (VDU)) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university. Initially it was k ...

and

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

from 1924 until his death. He published little, but had a formative influence on the subsequent generations of historians.

Biography

From 1904, Jonynas studied history at the

University of Moscow M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

under Matvei Kuzmich Liubavskii, an expert on the Lithuanian Metrica—medieval archives of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lit ...

. Liubavskii's critical approach to historical sources greatly influenced Jonynas. Jonynas participated in the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

and thus had to transfer to the

University of Grenoble The Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA, French: meaning "''Grenoble Alps University''") is a public research university in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 resea ...

to study French language and literature. He also attended lectures on history at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

. Acquitted by Russian courts, he returned to Moscow to finish his studies. After graduation in 1911, he worked as a school teacher in

Noginsk Noginsk (russian: Ноги́нск) is a city and the administrative center of Noginsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of the Moscow Ring Road on the Klyazma River. Population: History Founded in 1389 as Rogozhi, the town was ...

and Moscow until 1919. At the end of World War I, he returned to Lithuania and joined the

People's Commissariat A People's Commissariat (russian: народный комиссариат; Narkomat) was a structure in the Soviet state (in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in other union and autonomous republics, in the Soviet Union) from 1917– ...

of Education of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. After the failure of the Soviet government, he lived in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, worked as a school principal, and opposed Polish ambitions in the city. For a few months in mid-1920, he was the chief Lithuanian commissioner in the

. After the 1920

Żeligowski's Mutiny Żeligowski's Mutiny ( pl, bunt Żeligowskiego, also ''żeligiada'', lt, Želigovskio maištas) was a Polish false flag operation led by General Lucjan Żeligowski in October 1920, which resulted in the creation of the Republic of Central Lithuani ...

, during which Polish forces captured Vilnius, Jonynas moved to Kaunas and joined the control commission of the

to negotiate the dispute over the Vilnius Region. After the diplomatic efforts failed in 1922, Jonynas continued to be employed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania until 1929. From 1924 until his death, he lectured at the

and

, attaining

professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in 1932.

Works

As a historian, Jonynas wrote little convinced that his works were not properly researched or that everything was already written by somebody else. He contributed articles on Lithuanian dukes, nobles, treaties, and other topics to the ''Lithuanian Encyclopedia'', the first universal encyclopedia in the Lithuanian language. He studied and translated from Latin '' De moribus tartarorum, lituanorum et moscorum'' (posthumously published in 1966). His most important work was a study on the family of

Vytautas Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great ( Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', O ...

, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1392 to 1430. However, Jonynas helped to form a new generation of Lithuanian historians and raised their level of professionalism. He always critically analyzed

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...

s and dismissed secondary sources—thus helping to rid Lithuanian historiography of mistakes, medieval legends and myths, foreign biases and stereotypes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonynas, Ignas 1884 births 1954 deaths People from Alytus District Municipality Lithuanian diplomats 20th-century Lithuanian historians Historians of Lithuania Moscow State University alumni Grenoble Alpes University alumni Academic staff of Vytautas Magnus University Academic staff of Vilnius University