10383 Bunche Hall
In the mid-seventeenth century, Wilno (Vilnius), the second capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was home to Poles, Lithuanians, Germans, Ruthenians, Jews, and Tatars, who worshiped in Catholic, Uniate, Orthodox, Calvinist, and Lutheran churches, one synagogue, and one mosque. Visitors regularly commented on the relatively peaceful coexistence of this bewildering array of peoples, languages, and faiths. In his book, David Frick shows how Wilno's inhabitants navigated and negotiated these differences in their public and private lives. Perhaps the most complete reconstruction ever written of life in an early modern European city,
Kith, Kin, and Neighbors sets a new standard for urban history and for work on the religious and communal life of Eastern Europe.
David Frick is Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of
Polish Sacred Philology in the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation: Chapters in the History of the Controversies (1551–1632) and
Meletij Smotryc'kyj.
Cost : Free and open to the public. No RSVP necessary for admission.
Sponsor(s): Center for European and Russian Studies, Department of Slavic, East European & Eurasian Languages & Cultures, Center for 17th and 18th Century Studies