Alfredas Bumblauskas (born 18 November 1956) is a professor at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

and one of the best known

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n historians, specializing in the research of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

Biography

After graduating from

Žemaitė Žemaitė (, , "Samogitian woman") was the pen name of Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė ( – 7 December 1921). She was a Lithuanian/Samogitian writer, democrat and educator. Born to impoverished gentry, she became one of the major partici ...

school in

Telšiai Telšiai (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis. Telšiai is one of the ol ...

, he enrolled in Vilnius University in 1974. Bumblauskas received his doctoral degree in 1987, and was mentored by

Edvardas Gudavičius Edvardas Gudavičius (6 September 1929 – 27 January 2020) was a Lithuanian historian. He was known as one of the best historians in Lithuania specializing in the early history of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and is an author of many publications. ...

. He was formerly dean of the Faculty of History and now heads the Department of Theory of History and Cultural History at Vilnius University. He has sponsored and participated in several TV shows about history and culture (e.g. ''Būtovės slėpiniai'' with

). Bumblauskas has been a visiting scholar at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

, the

University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

, and the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, and is a member of the editorial board of the ''Przegląd Wschodni''. He is the author of ''Senosios Lietuvos istorija 1009–1795'' (A History of Old Lithuania: 1009–1795) published in Vilnius in 2005. In 2014, Bumblauskas claimed that the relations with the Belarusians should be reconsidered (e.g. by establishing

counterpropaganda Counterpropaganda is a form of communication consisting of methods taken and messages relayed to oppose propaganda which seeks to influence action or perspectives among a targeted audience. It is closely connected to propaganda as the two often emp ...

institutions) because of what he called was Belarusian appropriation of the

history of Lithuania History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

. Bumblauskas also stressed that

Algirdas Algirdas (; , ; – May 1377) was List of Lithuanian monarchs, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377. With the help of his brother Kęstutis (who defended the western border of the Duchy) he created an empire stretching from the pre ...

was the creator of the Lithuanian empire who annexed large parts of modern-day Belarus and Ukraine.

Awards and prizes

* Presented with the

Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts The Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts (), established in 1989, is an award granted for achievements in culture and the arts. It has been awarded annually in six categories since 2006 (between 1989 and 2006 there were nine categories). ...

, 1998 * The Knights's Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland () is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to persons who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident abroad. As such, it is sometimes referred to as ...

, 1998 * The Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, 1999 * The Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, 2009 * Presented with the

Simonas Daukantas Simonas Daukantas (; 28 October 1793 – 6 December 1864) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian historian, writer, and ethnographer. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian National Revival, he is credited as the author of the first book on the history of Li ...

prize, Lithuania, 1999 * The Knight's Cross of the

Order of Vytautas the Great The Order of Vytautas the Great () is the Lithuanian Presidential Award.''Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija. 84 straipsnis''. Priimta 1992 It may be conferred on the heads of Lithuania and foreign states, as well as their citizens, for distinguish ...

, Lithuania, 2003 * The Commander's Cross of the Order of the Crown, Belgium, 2006 *

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

, Netherlands, 2008

References

External links

Alfredas Bumblauskas CV A. Bumblauskas. Glimpses of Lithuanian History. In Lithuanian Philosophy: Persons and Ideas. Lithuanian Philosophical Studies, II. Ed. J. Baranova. CRVP, 2000, p. 21-25A. Bumblauskas and others. Universitas Vilnensis 1579-2004. Vilnius, 2004A. Bumblauskas. Lithuania’s Millennium –Millennium Lithuaniae Or What Lithuania Can Tell the World on this Occasion
''Lietuvos istorijos studijos'', 2009, t. 23, p. 127-158.
A. Bumblauskas. Millennium and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 2009
1956 births Living people People from Telšiai Historians of Lithuania 20th-century Lithuanian historians Vilnius University alumni Academic staff of Vilnius University 21st-century Lithuanian historians {{Lithuania-historian-stub