Realities of the Vilnius Philomaths’ life in exile into Russia from 1824 to 1831

Abstract

Two years after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Philomath Society was founded at the Imperial University of Vilnius, which had existed since 1803. In 1823, the Philomaths became the target of an investigation conducted in Vilnius by Russian senator Nikolay Novosiltsev. This investigation resulted in a verdict issued a year later, which sentenced individual members of the Society to exile to remote Russian provinces. This work aims to analyze this phase of the lives of the Vilnius Philomaths from 1824 to 1831. To achieve this goal, the author utilizes their extensive correspondence, as well as Tomasz Zan’s diary, From Exile. The first part of the work discusses the hardships of exile in European Russia (i.e., Moscow, St. Petersburg, and temporarily also Odessa) of Philomaths such as Franciszek Malewski, Onufry Pietraszkiewicz, Cyprian Daszkiewicz, Adam Mickiewicz, and Józef Jeżowski. The second chapter analyzes the sojourn on the border between Europe and Asia of Tomasz Zan, Jan Czeczot, and Adam Suzin, who among the Philomath Society members received the harshest punishments. The author also includes these individuals among the Siberian exiles. The dissertation concludes with a summary of the realities of the Philomaths’ exile in the depths of Russia.