The Philomaths, or Philomath Society ( or ''Towarzystwo Filomatów'', or ''Filomatų draugija''; from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

φιλομαθεῖς "lovers of knowledge"), was a secret student organization that existed from 1817 to 1823 at the

Imperial University of Vilnius Vilnius University (Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a Public university, public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher e ...

History

The society was created on 1 October 1817 in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Vilna Governorate The Vilna Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. In 1897, the governorate covered an area of and had a population of 1,591,207 inhabitants. The governorate was defined by the Minsk Governo ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, which had acquired those territories in the

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

in 1794. The society was composed of students and alumni of the

. Notable members included Józef Jeżowski (co-founder and president),

Jan Czeczot Jan Czeczot of Ostoja (, ''Jan Čačot,'' , 1796–1847) was a Polish romantic poet and Belarusian folklorist and ethnographer. Fascinated by the folklore and the traditional folk songs of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a confederal par ...

(co-founder),

Józef Kowalewski Józef Kowalewski (; 9 January 1801 – 7 November 1878) was a Polish orientalist. He was the founder of the Philomatic Association. In 1824, he was convicted by the Russian authorities for pro-independence Polish activity and exiled into Russi ...

(co-founder), Onufry Pietraszkiewicz (co-founder),

Tomasz Zan Tomasz Zan (; 21 December 1796 – 19 July 1855) was a Polish poet and activist. Zan played a significant role in the cultural and literary movements of his time, advocating for the preservation and promotion of Polish culture. Zan's poetry touch ...

(co-founder),

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

(co-founder),

Antoni Edward Odyniec Antoni Edward Odyniec (25 January 1804 – 15 January 1885) was a Polish Romantic-era poet who penned the celebrated "Song of the Filaretes". Said to be an imitator of his friend Adam Mickiewicz, Odyniec made his mark as a translator of works by ...

Ignacy Domejko Ignacy Domeyko or Domejko, pseudonym: ''Żegota'' (, ; 31 July 1802 – 23 January 1889) was a Polish people, Polish geologist, mineralogist, educator, and founder of the University of Santiago, Chile, University of Santiago, in Chile. Domeyko sp ...

, Teodor Łoziński,

Franciszek Malewski Franciszek Hieronim Malewski of Jastrzębiec coat of arms (1800-1870) was a Polish people, PolishAleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin translated by Vladimir Nabokov, ''Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse'', Princeton University Press, 1991, p.522. Quote: "Fra ...

, , Aleksander Chodźko, Michał Kulesza. Most of them were students, but some members and supporters included faculty and former alumni. Its structure was a cross between

freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

organization and a

learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...

. 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

for their pro-independence currents; history of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

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 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, ...

,WIEM Encyklopedia and it established ties with similar clandestine pro-Polish organizations in

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

and the rest of partitioned lands, such as the Patriotic Society (''Towarzystwo Patriotyczne'') of

Walerian Łukasiński Walerian Łukasiński (15 April 1786 in Warsaw – 27 January 1868 in Shlisselburg) was a Polish officer and political activist. He was sentenced by Russian Empire, Russian Imperial authorities to 14 years' imprisonment. He died after 46 years of ...

, and even Russian organizations such as the

Decembrists The Decembrist revolt () was a failed coup d'état led by liberal military and political dissidents against the Russian Empire. It took place in Saint Petersburg on , following the death of Emperor Alexander I. Alexander's brother and heir ...

. Two closely related groups were formed: * The Radiant Association (''Towarzystwo Promienistych'', from "'',''" the "Radiant Ones"), (1820) a legal organization created by Tomasz Zan, and disbanded under pressure from University authorities, in May 1820; * The

Filaret Association The Filaret Association (also translated as ''filaret(e)s'', ''philaret(e)s''; , , ''Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Pożytecznej Zabawy'', ''filareci''; from the Greek ''philáretos'', "lovers of virtue") was a secret student organization created in 18 ...

(''Zgromadzenie Filaretów'', ''Filaretai'', ''Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Pożytecznej Zabawy'', ''filareci'', from the Greek "''philáretos''," "Lovers of Virtue), (1834) 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.

Ignacy Domeyko Ignacy Domeyko or Domejko, pseudonym: ''Żegota'' (, ; 31 July 1802 – 23 January 1889) was a Polish geologist, mineralogist, educator, and founder of the University of Santiago, in Chile. Domeyko spent most of his life, and died, in his adopt ...

described the spirit prevailing in the Philomaths and the Filaret Association as: "purely national, patriotic, Polish – but free from plots and conspiracies, free of demagogic rants". According to Theodore R. Weeks, both organizations advocated a love for Polish culture and patriotism, but shied away from developing any concrete political program and their members generally declared loyalty to the Russian ruler. In 1822 the organizations went through some name changes. In 1823 the organization was discovered by Russian authorities led by

Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev Count Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev (Novoselcev) (, ) (1761–1838) was a Russian statesman and a close aide to Alexander I of Russia. Life He was a natural son of a wealthy nobleman, married to the aunt of Count Pavel Stroganov. This rel ...

. 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 (, ; from medieval and modern ; and Ottoman Turkish: , ) was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoners were sent to remote penal colonies in vast uninhabited a ...

'' and exiled to Siberia; over a dozen faculty members were dismissed (including historian

Joachim Lelewel Joachim Lelewel (22 March 1786 – 29 May 1861) was a Polish historian, geographer, bibliographer, polyglot and politician. Life Born in Warsaw to a Polonized Prussian family, Lelewel was educated at the Imperial University of Vilna, where in ...

, one of the Three Polish Bards, 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 ( "grandfathers, eldfathers", sometimes translated as Forefathers' Eve) is a term in Slavic folklore for the spirits of the ancestors and a collection of pre-Christian rites, rituals and customs that were dedicated to them. The essence o ...

'' (Forefathers' Eve).

Notes

References

Jerzy Jan Lerski Jerzy Jan Lerski (''nom de guerre'': Jur; also known as George Jan Lerski; 1917-1992); was a Polish lawyer, soldier, historian, political scientist and politician. After World War II he emigrated to the United States, where he became a full prof ...

, ''Historical Dictionary of Poland'', Greenwood Press, 1996,
Google Print, p.141-142
* Zbigniew Wójcik

Zwoje 4/2004 (41) *

WIEM Encyklopedia WIEM Encyklopedia (full name in - "Great Interactive Multimedia Encyclopedia"; in Polish, ''wiem'' also means 'I know') is a Polish Internet encyclopedia. The encyclopedia was based on the first printed edition was released in mid-1990s (with Vo ...

Filomaci
* Encyklopedia Internautica
FILOMACIPhilomates Association

History

Notes

References

Further reading