Vertingo baltų istorijos šaltinio ir jo autoriaus sukaktys
ENDuring the year of Donelaitis I want to return to the history of the book, describing its importance to the development of culture and national identity. This time let’s remember the publication, which is 330 years old. It is Christoph Hartknoch’s “The History of Old and New Prussia”. The book is an impressive work – 668 large-format pages. But most importantly, the book is illustrated with excellent engravings, so it is valuable as an iconographic source of history, old religion and culture. You will also find a portrait of the author in the book. Christoph Hartknoch was born in the eastern part of Prussia, not far from Passenheim, in 1644. Now this place is called Jabłonka and belongs to Poland. He called himself a Prussian and studied philosophy and theology at Königsberg University, however intermittently, most probably due to lack of money. Later he worked as a private teacher in a doctor’s family not far from Kowno (Kaunas), was a rector in the Protestant school in Wilno (Vilnius) and a preacher, later for some time he worked for a Reformed School in Slutsk. In 1667 he returned to Prussia. After five years he defended a thesis and started to teach at the University of Königsberg. Hartknoch encouraged his students to take interest in the past of the region, study the culture of the extinct Prussian nation, and to examine its historical sources. And not only of the Prussians, but also of their neighbors – Curonians, Lithuanians and Polish.
