Jonas Bretkūnas, Johann(es) Bretke, also known as Bretkus (born 1536 in Bammeln near Friedland – 1602

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

was a Lutheran pastor and was one of the best known developers of the written

Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( ) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the official language of Lithuania and one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.8 mill ...

. He translated the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

into Lithuanian, was the author of twelve Lithuanian books, and a historian as well.

Biography

Jonas Bretkūnas, Johann(es) Bretke was born in

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

of Poland) in 1536. His father was German (according to Gerullis) or Germanized Prussian,Bretkūnas ir jo svarbiausias rankraštis
/ref> and his mother from a native Prussian family. The language spoken in the area was primarily German, while Jonas Bretkūnas' mother tongues were

Old Prussian Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid con ...

and Lithuanian. Lithuanian language was also used in state chancellery as well. Different people, who had come to Lutheran Prussia did at the time, because the

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

had promised to preach in languages people understood rather than Latin. The Duke of Prussia therefore arranged for the education and studies of languages for pastors. In 1544, Duke Albrecht, had founded the

Albertina University The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...

(Karaliaučius) and the area became one of the centers of learning for the neighboring peoples of Lithuania, Latvia and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, none of them had bibles in their language up to that time. As the Duke of

Ducal Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establishe ...

, the first Lutheran state, Albrecht supported the translations of the Bible into these languages. In 1555, when Bretkūnas was nineteen years of age, he began studying

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at the university of

. In 1556, he transferred to

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north o ...

University. During his studies, in 1562, he was appointed a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

pastor at Labiau (Labguva) (now Polessk) by Duke Albert. He was the first pastor at Labiau who could give sermons in Prussian and the Lithuanian language. Before that pastors often employed ''Tolken'', who translated the sermons directly to the congregation. In 1563, Bretke married Frl. von Werthern. It was a rural, poor parish and pastors were expected to make their own living by receiving some farm land. Bretkūnas was not at all inclined to farming and wanted to spend all his time on language studies and translations. In 1579, he started translating the handwritten Bible from German using

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

's analog, and the translation took more than ten years to complete, with tens of thousands of correction notes. Between 1578 and 1579, he wrote the Chronicles of Prussian Lands (''Chronicon des Landes Preussen'') in German. After living twenty-five meager years in Labiau, Bretke (Jonas Bretkūnas) applied for a position as pastor at another Prussian town, but was in 1587 transferred to a Lithuanian language parish in Königsberg as pastor.Jonas Bretkūnas
/ref> He continued with his translation of the Bible and other scholarly works. In 1589, he published several new works, in particular ''"Giesmes duchaunos"'' (Spiritual Hymns), based on

Martynas Mažvydas Martynas Mažvydas (1510 – 21 May 1563) was a Protestant author who edited the first printed book in the Lithuanian language. Variants of his name include Martinus Masvidius, Martinus Maszwidas, M. Mossuids Waytkūnas, Mastwidas, Mažvyda ...

' works, as well as a small collection of hymns called ''"Kancionalas netukriu giesmiu"'', and a prayer book translation from German into Lithuanian ''"Kollectas"'', all printed by Georg Osterberg of Königsberg. On November 29, 1590, Bretke-Bretkūnas finally completed his translation of the Bible (Old and New Testaments). It is the first surviving translation of the Bible into the Lithuanian language. The matter of publishing this Bible was discussed by the Lutheran college, but he failed to receive permission to publish it. Later the manuscripts of the Bretkūnas Bible were purchased by Duke Georg Friedrich. In 1591, he finished the Postilla ( Postilė), one of his best known works, consisting of two parts. In his final years Bretkūnas continued to unsuccessfully lobby for the publication of his Bible, but in 1602 he died.

Notable works of Johannes Bretke/Jonas Bretkūnas

*Chronicon des Landes Preussen, 1578–1579 *Giesmės duchaunas, 1589 *Kollectas, alba Paspalitas Maldas, 1589 *Kancionalas nekurių giesmių, 1589 *Biblia, 1590 *, 1591 Examples of surviving manuscripts or books can be found in Germany, Lithuania and Sweden. His Postilla work is kept at

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 ...

, Lithuania. The only one surviving example of ''"Kancionalas netukriu giesmiu"'' is at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

, Sweden. Bretkūnas' Bible is kept in Prussian Privy State Archive, Berlin, Germany. In 2002, in order to commemorate his translation, the original manuscripts of his Bible was brought to Lithuania from Germany, insured for more than 2,3 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

.Jonas Bretkūnas – lietuviškos Biblijos vertėjas

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bretkunas, Jonas Balticists 1536 births 1602 deaths Lithuanian Lutheran clergy Lithuanian Lutherans Lithuanian writers Linguists from Lithuania Lithuanian translators Translators from Latin Translators to Lithuanian History of the Lithuanian language People from the Duchy of Prussia Translators of the Bible into Lithuanian Lithuanian-language writers