Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštijos politinė tauta. Lietuviškoji perspektyva

LTŠiuolaikinėje istoriografijoje aktyviai vyksta LDK paveldo „dalybos“, iš įvairių perspektyvų svarstomas moderniųjų tautų ir jų sukurtų tautinių valstybių santykis su praeitimi. Tokių diskusijų kontekste plėtojant Alfredo Bumblausko pasiūlytąjį „LDK erdvės“ informacinės sistemos (kaip veiksnio, kuris formuoja šiuolaikinės visuomenės istorinę savimonę, tvirtina istorijos žiniomis pagrįstas moderniąsias pilietiškumo ir patriotizmo nuostatas) kūrimo diskursą, gali pasitarnauti sociopolitinio fenomeno „LDK politinė tauta“ pažinimas. LDK istoriografijoje „politinės tautos“ problema, jos tyrimo strategija, sąvokų ir terminų vartosena nėra išaiškinta ir suderinta. Šiam sociopolitiniam reiškiniui apibūdinti istorikai vienu metu vartoja keletą netapataus turinio ir nelygiaverčių sąvokų. Klausimas, ar sąvokos „bajorija“, „bajorų luomas“ ir sąvoka „politinė tauta“ yra tapačios, ar jas reikia vartoti kaip sinonimus, tebėra atviras. Šie neišspręsti diskusiniai klausimai bei pastarojo dešimtmečio bajorijos istorijos tyrimai paskatino naujomis įžvalgomis papildyti LDK politinės tautos sampratą, pateikti lietuviškosios perspektyvos suformuotą šio fenomeno interpretaciją. Straipsnyje stengiamasi: teoriškai sumodeliuoti sąvoką „LDK politinė tauta“; atskleisti jos istorines ištakas, susiklostymą, struktūrą bei kaitą, raiškos visuomenės viešajame gyvenime turinį ir formas; parodyti ypatumus, nustatyti juos nulėmusius veiksnius ir sąsajas su procesais, vykusiais Vidurio Rytų Europoje; pagrįsti sąvokos „politinė tauta“ taikymo ankstyvųjų Naujųjų laikų visuomenės tyrimuose prasmingumą.

ENThe article attempts to provide a theoretical model for the term of the political nntioji of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; to disclose its historical sources, development, structure and dynamics, the content and forms of its expression in the public life; to indicate its peculiarities, identify factors which determined its character and its associations with processes in the Central Eastern Europe; to provide arguments for reasonable application of the term political nation in social studies of Early Modern period. The political nation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is understood as a unique socio-political community, members of which participated in the public life by various means, and its composition and size changed. However, the political nation had never covered the entire nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and had never been an equivalent of the nobility. A nobleman's status would only open a window to the political nation, but the true membership was individual and determined by the person's will and choice of active participation in the public life of the state, willingness to take responsibility for its fate. The membership of the political nation in question was continually changing and varied since it was joined by representatives of the Ruthenian lands which belonged to the state. Therefore, the preferred term for the description used in the Lithuanian historiography (the Lithuanian political nation) is the political nation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It enables us to avoid identification of the socio-political community (diverse in terms of ethnicity, religion and culture) with only one Lithuanian nation as well as to attribute an aspect of modern nationalism which does not suit for the historical term of the Early Modern period.Furthermore, it provides an opportunity to understand the nature of the community which participated in governing of the state and to reveal the specific ties which united and consolidated its complicated structure.The modern historiography is witnessing an active process of “division” of the heritage of the GDL, and the relation of the modern nations and the national states created by them with the past. In this context, while developing the discourse of creation of the information system of “The GDL Domain” offered by Alfredas Bumblauskas (as a factor shaping the historical self-consciousness of the modern society and establishing modern civil and patriotic attitudes based on the knowledge of history), the perception of the socio-political phenomenon “the political nation of the GDL” can be of great help. The problem of “political nation” in the historiography of the GDL, the strategy of its research, the use of concepts and terms has not been clarified and agreed upon. To define this socio-political phenomenon, historians use several concepts of non-identical content. The question as to whether the “nobility”, “the noble layer” and the concept “political nation” are identical and should be used as synonyms remains open. These unresolved questions and studies of nobility history of the last decade have encouraged new insights supplementing the concept of the political nation of the GDL and the new interpretation of this phenomenon formed from the Lithuanian prospect. The article attempts to theoretically shape the concept “the political nation of the GDL”, to reveal its theoretical sources, order, structure and shifts, the forms and content of its expression in social life, to demonstrate its peculiarities, to establish the factors determining these peculiarities and their links with processes observed in the Central and Eastern Europe and to justify the significance of the application of the concept “political nation” in the research of the early modern age society.

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