Senojo Vilniaus universiteto tezės: pagrindiniai bruožai ir sklaidos ypatumai
Authors:   Vilniaus universiteto biblioteka, Kažuro Ina 
Published: April 2023

One of the important elements of the educational process at Vilnius University (established in 1579) was debate and defense. During a debate or defense, a student had to defend theses on a certain scholarly subject. For a long time, theses were treated as a secondary historical source in scholarly research. As the concepts of social science and history of ideas develop, the value of this genre is being reassessed and new methodological tools are being created. This trend inspired a comprehensive study of Vilnius University theses for 1579–1773. This article aims to identify the main features of theses as a specific genre of early modern scholarly literature – their functions, types, scope, and social context. In the Vilnius Academy, it was not mandatory to print theses prior to 1773, some of them were made public in manuscript form. Theses did not have a rigid internal structure, and their scope varied from a small publication to a large treatise. It is believed that while a large number of theses were published, most of them are not extant. Nowadays’ resources made it possible to identify 134 theses from the faculties of philosophy, theology, and law, printed at the Academy’s printing house from 1576 to 1773. Most of these theses (over 80 per cent, or 109 theses) were intended for student debates, mid-term exams and inauguration ceremonies for the new academic year, and only less than 20 per cent (i. e. 25 theses) contain information that they were meant for obtaining a degree (Bachelor, Master, Licenciate, Doctor). At European universities, the latter type of thesis is classified as “pro gradu”. A large number of theses were published without indicating the name of the degree candidates (16 theses were printed without the names of the candidates in 1576–1599, and 20 in the 18th century) – both clergy and laymen could defend their theses. 62 theses printed in 1585–1773 are held today by the Vilnius University Library. As some of them are in several copies, the total number amounts to 96 copies. It was observed that many theses are bound in artificially compiled composite sets. An analysis of ownership marks revealed that most of the thesis collection in the Vilnius University Library is related to the church environment. Usually, old dissertations would end up in the libraries of Catholic monasteries of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A relatively small number of copies belonged to Vilnius University (about 16 per cent). Studying the collection, we managed to find one case of a layman who had two 17th century theses in his personal library – it is the so-called “governor” of Slutsk and the founder of the Slutsk printing house, bibliophile Kazimieras Kristupas Klokockis (about 1625–1685). The presented conclusions show the originality of the Vilnius Alma Mater, although they are not exhaustive. Searching for old theses in the memory institutions of Lithuania and other countries would help to continue the research that would provide material for comparative studies of the history of science in Lithuania and Europe. The collection of theses of Vilnius University is digitized and freely accessible online – this is yet another incentive to delve further into the histories of old theses. Keywords: history of science; history of universities; printed theses; Vilnius University; Academy Printing House; Jesuit Order; Grand Duchy of Lithuania.