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Lithuania’s Millennium
Prof. Dr. Alfredas Bumblauskas
The Millennium of the name only?
Lithuania has finally approached the Millennium of its virst mention. The Quedlinburg Annals (a German written source of the 11th C) have the following passage dated 1009: “St. Bruno, an archbishop and monk, who was called Boniface, was struck in the head by Pagans during the 11th year of this conversion at the Rus and Lithuanian border, and Alon with 18 of his followers, entered heaven on March 9th.” The passage contains the first mention of the name of Lithuania.
The Quedlinburg Annals most likely made it to the history of Lithuania through Scriptores rerum Prusicarum sourcebook of the 19th C; Volume I of the said sourcebook featured only fragments of the Quedlinburg Annals, including the pasage on the said event of 1009. The brevity of the pasage determined that this fact has not been more thoroughly discussed in relation to the Lithuanian history; the more especially as all other sources (including historiography) discussing St. Bruno’s mission allocated it to Prussia.
