''Gente Ruthenus, natione Polonus'' ( Ruthenian origin, of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

nationality“РУСИНИ ПОЛЬСЬКОЇ НАЦІЇ” (GENTE RUTHENI, NATIONE POLONI) В ГАЛИЧИНІ ХІХ ст. І ПОНЯТТЯ “ВІТЧИЗНИ”
/ref>) — a term describing the political and national self-identification of Polonized

Ruthenians A ''Ruthenian'' and ''Ruthene'' are exonyms of Latin language, Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common Ethnonym, ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term ...

(modern

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

Rusyns Rusyns, also known as Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Ruthenians, or Rusnaks, are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group from the Carpathian Rus', Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn language, Rusyn, an East Slavic lan ...

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

History

The authorship of this phrase has historically been attributed to the Ruthenian-Polish Renaissance thinker

Stanisław Orzechowski Stanisław Orzechowski, also known among others as Stanisław Orżechowski Roxolan, Stanislaus Orichovius Polonus, Stanislaus Orichovius Ruthenus,

, who, in the absence of a Ruthenian state, outlined a new political identity for the

Ruthenian nobility The Ruthenian nobility (; ; ) originated in the territories of Kievan Rus' and Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, Galicia–Volhynia, which were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and later the Russian Emp ...

. This identity emphasized a strong awareness of their Ruthenian origins while simultaneously acknowledging their belonging to the "Polish political nation". Later research, however, has shown that Orzechowski did not use the exact phrase ''gente ruthenus, natione polonus''. The closest formulation he used was ''gente Roxolani, natione vero Polon''i or, as he described himself, ''homo ex Ruthenis ortus, Romano tamen ritu''. The latter was meant to emphasize that Ruthenians could belong to different religious rites. Today, such interpretations of Orzechowski's views are questioned due to his pro-Polish stance. This self-identification became widespread in Galicia in the 19th century among Ruthenians who consciously chose Polishness as their new identity, allowing them to advance socially (e.g., I. Vahylevych, O. Krynytsky, Yu. Lavrivsky). It was also adopted by members of the old Polonized Ruthenian aristocracy who "recalled" and appealed to their Ruthenian origins (e.g., W. Dzieduszycki, J. Kossak, L. Sapieha). Emphasizing their "Ruthenianness" gave them the legitimacy to represent the Ruthenian people while promoting the idea of a "common homeland" and "brotherhood" of nations, aiming to align Ruthenian issues with Polish interests. During the

Spring of Nations The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

, they formed their political committee — the Ruthenian sobor and its publication — the '' Dnevnik Ruskij'', which, however, was less popular than the St. George's faction and the

Supreme Ruthenian Council Supreme Ruthenian Council () was the first legal Ruthenian political organization that existed from May 1848 to June 1851. It was founded on 2 May 1848 in Lemberg (today Lviv), Austrian Empire as the result of the 1848 Spring of Nations and in ...

. Despite this, they managed to secure prominent positions at the

Prague Slavic Congress, 1848 The Prague Slavic Congress of 1848 (, ) took place in Prague, Austrian Empire (now Czech Republic) between 2 June and 12 June 1848. It was the first occasion on which representatives from nearly all Slav populations of Europe met in one place to ...

Modern Usage

Today, this term and its derivatives are used retrospectively to describe members of

Polonized Polonization or Polonisation ()In Polish historiography, particularly pre-WWII (e.g., L. Wasilewski. As noted in Смалянчук А. Ф. (Smalyanchuk 2001) Паміж краёвасцю і нацыянальнай ідэяй. Польскі ...

Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Lithuanian noble families from various historical periods. Derivatives such as ''gente ruthenus, natione lithuanus'' and ''gente polonus, natione lithuanus'' have also been used to describe Ruthenians and Poles who lived in the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

and, despite their origins, primarily identified as its citizens —

Litvins Litvin is a Slavic word for all residents of Lithuania (Slavic: ''Litva''), which was the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th–18th centuries, and began to be used no later than the 16th century mostly by the East Slavs. Currently, Litvin or its ...

.KULTŪROS ISTORIJOS IR ANTROPOLOGIJOS BAKALAURO STUDIJŲ PROGRAMOS MODULIAI IR TEMOS
/ref>

Notes

References

{{Ukraine topics Culture of Poland Ruthenian nobility Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Ruthenians in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth History of Eastern Europe Latin words and phrases National identities Polish words and phrases