DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15382561
title: The Great Vilnius Controversy: Database of Catholic–Protestant Polemical Literature from Early Modern Vilnius, Lithuania (1574–1647)

description: General Description

This database accompanies the research project The “Great Vilnius Controversy”: Jesuit–Calvinist Polemical Literature of Early Modern Vilnius (1574–1647) Within Its Domestic and European Contexts financed by the Polish National Science Centre (NCN, Preludium, no. 2023/49/N/HS2/00174). The data were identified, cataloged, and analyzed by Michał E. Nowakowski. The structure of the database, including standardization protocol, was developed collaboratively by Michał E. Nowakowski and Cezary Rosiński. The dataset provides the first structured corpus of polemical literature produced in early modern Vilnius, designed to support both historical analysis and digital research in Reformation studies.

The dataset comprises 156 polemical works, including 114 first editions and 22 reprints, 5 extensions, 10 translations, and 11 manuscript copies. The texts were authored predominantly by Catholic (mostly Jesuit) and Reformed writers, with a small number of Unitarian contributions. No Lutheran works were identified. Each record has been assigned a unique identifier (e.g., W1594ACa = W[ork] + [Year of Publication] + [Author’s Initials] + [Letter Distinguisher if Necessary]) and described using 35 standardized metadata fields. These include bibliographic information (author, title, place and date of publication, publisher, format, document type, language), confessional affiliations (authorial and targeted), genre classification, presence of prefaces or dedications, and information on digitized or physical copies.

In addition to these core fields, the dataset incorporates several layers of analytical metadata. Each text is indexed for:(1) Cited authors,(2) Historical figures mentioned,(3) Topics discussed,(4) Mentioned religious tumults or other episodes of violence,(5) Identified polemical targets (works or authors responded to),(6) More than 830 rhetorical tropes and polemical themes, each assigned to one or more of seventeen overarching thematic categories.

All metadata were manually curated and normalized. Personal names have been standardized across the dataset and supplemented with linked Wikidata persistent identifiers where available. Geographical data are annotated with GeoNames URIs for interoperability and future integration into mapping or network analysis tools. For every work, the author(s) name, place and date of publication, and confessional profile of both author and target has been established based on textual evidence and contextual data.

Scope and Inclusion Criteria

The dataset includes works that meet at least one of the following criteria:(1) first published in Vilnius between 1574 and 1647; or(2) authored by individuals active in Vilnius at the time of writing; or(3) responding explicitly to texts that meet condition (1) or (2).

Revised editions issued after an author had relocated elsewhere—such as those of Przydatek (Appendix) to Żywoty świętych (Life of saints) by Piotr Skarga (first published in Vilnius in 1579, cf. W1579PS)—were excluded to preserve the integrity of the local context.

To ensure conceptual coherence, only works in which religious polemic constitutes at least one of central themes were included. This excludes occasional references to doctrinal issues in otherwise non-polemical works (e.g. in broadly devotional texts). Each text has an identifiable authorial or at least adversarial confessional profile, determined through internal content or contextual evidence.

Source Identification Process

The works were identified through a combination of:

(1) Archival research at the Vilnius University Library and the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences;

(2) Five Lithuanian printed bibliographies:



Ivaškevičius, Adolfas, Juozas Marcinkevičius, and Konstancija Čepienė, eds. 1979. Vilniaus akademijos spaustuvės leidiniai, 1576–1805. Vilnius: Lietuvos TSR Mokslų Akademijos Centrinė biblioteka.

Ivanovič, Marija, ed. 1998. XVII a. Lietuvos lenkiškos knygos: Kontrolinis sąrašas. Vilnius: Vilnius: Lietuvos Nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka.

Narbutienė, Daiva, and Sigitas Narbutas, eds. 1998. XVII a. Lietuvos lotyniškų knygų sąrašas = Index librorum Latinorum Lituaniae saeculi septimi decimi. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas.

Narbutienė, Daiva, and Sigitas Narbutas, eds. 2002. XV–XVI a. Lietuvos lotyniškų knygų sąrašas = Index librorum Latinorum Lituaniae saeculi quinti decimi et sexti decimi. Vilnius: Lietuvių literaturos ir tautosakos institutas

Dapkievicz, Jolanta, ed. 2020. XVI a. Lietuvos knygos lenkų kalba. Vilnius: Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteca.


(3) Manual searches for relevant entries (with the keywords Vilnius / Vilnae / Wilno / Wilnie / Vilna) and annual filters in Polish digital catalogs and bibliographies (NUKAT, KaRo, Estreicher);

Analytical Value

The dataset enables qualitative and quantitative analysis of early modern confessional polemics. It has been used to reconstruct the shifting genre profile of polemical production in Vilnius (from academic treatises to vernacular and satirical forms), patterns of citation and authority, rhetorical strategies, and changing confessional dynamics. It reveals, among other trends:(1) Predominance of Catholic over Protestant output (105 Catholic, 45 Reformed, 5 Unitarian texts);(2) Disappearance of Reformed printing in Vilnius after the 1610s;(3) Increasing vernacularization from the 1580s onward;(4) Emergence of satirical polemic targeting broader, non-academic audiences;(5) Distinctive uses of early modern authorities across confessional lines;(6) Divergence in doctrinal focus and rhetorical strategies between Catholic and Reformed writers.

Data Format

The database has been published in two formats: CSV to ensure greater compliance with FAIR Principles and XLSX to address the specificities and needs of the social sciences and humanities research community. The content of both files is identical.

Licensing and Access

The dataset is published under the [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)] license and adheres to the FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Data are freely available for scholarly reuse with attribution.