Žemaitijos konversijos pabaiga: keli XVII a. pradžios faktai
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: "pagonybės anklavai"; 17 amžius; Christianizacija; Konversija; Krikštas; Parapijų tinklas; Žemaitija (Samogitia); "enclaves of paganism"; Baptism; Beginning of 17 cent; Christianization; Conversion; Lithuania; Network of parishes; Samogitia; Žemaitija.
ENTaking into consideration the models of christianization found in contemporary Western historiography, this paper states that it is necessary to discern the stage of conversion in the process of christianization distinguishing between the narrow ("the outer", "formal" or "official") and broad ("the inner", "real" or "true") conceptions of conversion. The aim of conversion in a broad sense is to overcome the pagan relics still surviving after the introduction of Christianity, and christianization, at least from the point of view of social control, which had to encompass wide circles of society right down to the peasantry. Hence, to complete that stage, the annihilation of "the enclaves of paganism" was necessary, the existence of which were still testified by such phenomena as frequent cases of baptism of adults, lists of pagan gods, and founding of parishes with the aim of destroying paganism. The necessary condition for wiping out "the enclaves of paganism" was the formation of a network of parishes the average radius of which did not exceed 10 km. The coincidence in time of such different historical facts in Samogitia's christianization as the last founding of a parish with the aim of overcoming paganism (1618), the last list of gods (1619), the last frequent cases of baptism of adults (1622), the first known regulations on driving peasants to church (1622), the network of parishes that does not exceed the average radius of 10 km (around 1625) cannot be accidental. This correlation of facts empirically substantiates a theoretical model of conversion and enables one to regard the end of the first quarter of the 17th century as the end of Samogitia's conversion. [From the publication]
