Martynas Mažvydas

He was of Samogitian origin, born near Žemaičių Naumiestis (now in Šilutė district municipality) in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; his parents were said to be indigent townspeople.

Mažvydas spent his youth in Vilnius, where he worked together with other pioneering Lithuanian authors from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, such as Abraomas Kulvietis, Jurgis Zablockis, and possibly Stanislovas Rapolionis.

In Roman Catholic Lithuania Mažvydas was persecuted for his Protestant leanings, which motivated him to accept an invitation from Duke Albrecht of Prussia to come to Königsberg.

The fact that Mažvydas graduated in one-and-a-half years suggests that he had studied elsewhere before – possibly in Kraków, or at the school established by Kulvietis in Vilnius.

To spread the new Protestant faith in Prussia, Duke Albrecht commissioned the translation and publication of Lutheran texts in Old Prussian and Lithuanian.

[2] It was printed at about the same time as the first books in neighbouring nations' languages: Polish in 1513 or 1514, Belarusian in 1522, Estonian in 1535, and Latvian in 1585.

The prefaces state the aims of the author, namely, to educate people and spread culture, to fight the remains of heathen beliefs, and to consolidate the Protestant religion.