Sarmatism

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Sarmatism was the dominant lifestyle, culture and ideology of szlachta (nobility social class) in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 16th century to 19th century. Together with Golden Liberty it formed the unique aspects of the Commonwealth culture.

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[edit] History

The 15th century Polish historian Jan Długosz was the first to wrote about Sarmatism in Poland, and it was confirmed by other historians and chroniclers such as Marcin Bielski, Marcin Kromer and Maciej Miechowita. Other Europeans quote it up from Miechowita's Tractatus de Duabus Sarmatiis, a work which in western Europe was considered to be a substantial source of information about the territories and peoples of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The name came from alleged ancestors of the szlachta, the Sarmatians, a confederacy of mostly Iranian tribes north of the Black Sea, displaced by the Goths in the 2nd century AD, described by Herodotus in the 5th century BC as descendants of Scythians and Amazons.[1] After many permutations, this produced the legend that Poles were the descendants of the ancient Sarmates, a warlike tribe originating in Asia who later resettled in northeastern Europe. [1] Recently undisputable light on ancestry provide yDNA research. (see R1a1)

In his 1970 publication "The Sarmatians (Ancient peoples and places)" the renowned Tadeusz Sulimirski (1898–1983), a Polish/British historian, archaeologist, and researcher on the ancient tribes of Sarmatians, listed a number of ethnological traits that szlachta (pronounced "shlyakhta") shared with Sarmatians, including traditions, weaponry and military practices, tamgas, and relict burial customs, giving an archaeological credence to their legendary origins, and furthering the evidence that Sarmatian aristocracy was assimilated and remained a ruling class integrated with sedentary indigens.

[edit] Specifics

This belief became an important part of szlachta's culture, penetrated all aspects of life and served to differentiate Polish szlachta from Western nobility (which szlachta called pludracy) and their customs. Sarmatian concept enshrined equality among all szlachta, traditions, horseback riding, provincial village life, peace and pacifism[citation needed], popularised eastern (almost oriental) clothing and looks (żupan, kontusz, sukmana, pas kontuszowy, delia, szabla), served to integrate the multiethnic nobility by creating an almost nationalist sense of unity and pride of the szlachta's political Golden Freedoms.

In its early, ideal form sarmatism looked like a good cultural movement: it supported religious belief, honesty, national pride, courage, equality and freedom. However as any doctrine that put some social class above others it became perverted in time. Late sarmatism transformed belief into intolerance and fanaticism, honesty into political naivity, pride into arrogance, courage into stubbornness, quality and freedom of szlachta into nihilism.

Sarmatism, which evolved during Polish Renaissance and entrenched itself during Polish baroque, found itself opposed to the ideology of the Polish Enlightenment. When in the second half of the 18th century the word 'Sarmatism' made its reappearance, its meaning was decidedly negative. 'Sarmatism' functioned as a synonym of a backward and unenlightened mind, and as a contemptuous label for the political opponents of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the refomer-king's: the provincial and traditionalist petty szlachta. Such meanings were ascribed to it first in journalism and then in literary works. The Enlightenment writers treated the political and cultural implications of Sarmatism as a convenient target for criticism and mockery. Monitor, a militantly reformist periodical sponsored by King Poniatowski, used the term in a derogatory fashion, and so did Franciszek Zabłocki in his comedies, like his play Sarmatism (Sarmatyzm, 1785). [1]

A rehabilitation of the Sarmatism and old Polish szlachta began during Polish Romanticism, a time of military uprisings and memories associated with them, which this helped in the rehabilitation of Sarmatism, with its cult of courage and military prowesse. This became quite prominent especially during and after the November Uprising. The genre of gawęda szlachecka (a nobleman's tale) created by Henryk Rzewuski is closely associated with reverence for the Sarmatian spirit. Visible in Polish messianism and in works of great Polish poets like Adam Mickiewicz (Pan Tadeusz), Juliusz Słowacki and Zygmunt Krasiński, as well as writers (Henryk Sienkiewicz and his Trylogia), by and large, Polish Romanticism is indebted to Polish history in ways not observable in other Eupopean countries, where the contrast between past glory and present misery was not that pronounced, or did not exist at all. [1]

[edit] Sarmatian art and writings

The name and the culture were reflected in contemporary Polish literature.

Sarmatian culture was portrayed by many contemporary writers, especially:

Latin was very popular and often mixed with the Polish language (in writings and in speech), resulting in Macaronic. Knowing at least some Latin was an obligation of any szlachcic.

Many of the szlachta residences were wooden.

In 19th century the Sarmatian culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was portrayed and popularised by Polish writer, Henryk Sienkiewicz in his trilogy (Ogniem i Mieczem, Potop, Pan Wolodyjowski). In the 20th century, Sienkiewicz's trilogy was filmed, and Sarmatian culture became the subject of many modern books (by Jacek Komuda and others), songs (like that of Jacek Kaczmarski) and even role-playing games like Dzikie Pola.

[edit] Sarmatia

Sarmatia (Polish: Sarmacja) was also the unofficial, semi-legendary and poetic name of the Commonwealth, which became fashionable in the 17th century, designating qualities associated with the literate citizenry of the vast Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

[edit] Modern usage

In contemporary Poland, the word Sarmatian (Polish: sarmacki) is a form of ironic self-identification, and is sometimes used as a synonym for the Polish character.

[edit] See also

[edit] Literature

  • Tadeusz Sulimirski, "The Sarmatians (Ancient peoples and places)", Thames and Hudson, 1970, ISBN 0-500-02071-X

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Andrzej Wasko, Sarmatism or the Enlightenment:The Dilemma of Polish Culture, Sarmatian Review XVII.2, online

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/a/r/Sarmatism.html"