Prosopography and the Study of Legendary Narrative (The Case of the Lithuanian Chronicles)
Prosopographical methodology is used only to a very limited extent in Lithuanian historiography. It represents a relatively new methodological approach to the study of Lithuanian history. This approach can be fruitfully applied to the study of legendary history. The Lithuanian chronicles preserve a legendary historical narrative ranging from the settlement of the Lithuanian elite in Lithuania to the times of the authors who compiled the chronicles. A significant part of this narrative is clearly legendary. The problem arises from the fact that some accounts refer to real historical individuals who are nevertheless embedded within the legendary or semi-legendary sections of the narrative. This situation calls for the development of a new methodological framework. A prosopographical approach to these issues may prove highly productive.
Prosopographical analysis would allow for a clear structuring and reconstruction of the collective image of the legendary hero. The application of this method to questions of legendary history could, at least in part, rehabilitate legendary history as a valid object of historical inquiry. It is generally under-researched, with only isolated fragments typically being analysed. Within legendary history, it is possible to distinguish not only mythical or legendary plots but also, through them, to reconstruct certain historical processes. This requires, however, different analytical approaches.
The content of the chronicles is not random. It is based on Lithuanian historical folklore and incorporates historical war songs, which allows us to develop a model for interpreting legendary heroes. The application of prosopographical methods in this context would be particularly productive. It would make it possible to construct a collective representation of the legendary hero, through which the characteristics of legendary narratives could be systematically analysed. The identification of semi-legendary narrative layers and the comparison of prosopographies would be particularly useful for testing such a model.
This paper is devoted to addressing the problem of interpreting the least clearly defined intersections between legendary and historical narrative traditions.
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Vytas Jankauskas, PhD in History (since 2011), conducts research on the social structures, historiography, and Christianization of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He is the author of two monographs dedicated to the study of the Lithuanian elite, has published approximately sixty scholarly articles, and has presented papers at conferences in nearly all European countries.
E-mail: vytas.jankauskas@gmail.com
