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1 Five Biographical Profiles The following pages offer a brief account of the key episodes in my historians’ lives and of the milestones in their intellectual output. A pragmatic, rather than analytical, approach is adopted and the information presented here follows the dictates of my comparative perspective, as well as my objective of providing a backdrop to the principal concerns of the book. Thus, whilst these mini-biographies seek to be as informative as possible, they necessarily involve an element of selectivity and are by no means exhaustive. A more comprehensive picture can be constructed through recourse to the secondary literature listed in the Bibliography. LELEWEL Born in 1786 into a family with a heterogeneous ethnic background, Lelewel liked to claim that he did not possess a drop of Polish blood: his father’s ancestors were Huguenots who settled in War- saw in the early eighteenth century, whilst his mother descended from a Polish-Ruthenian land-owning family.¹ Lelewel’s father, an alumnus of Gottingen¨ University, rose to prominence in public life and participated in the reform programme introduced by the court of King Stanisław August. He sent the eldest of his nine children, Joachim, to be educated in the leading Polish educational institution of the age, the Collegium Nobilium Scholarum Piarum. Opened in 1740 by the eminent Piarist reform pedagogue Stanisław Konarski, this was a distinguished boarding ¹ My account of Lelewel’s life draws heavily on Joan Skurnewicz’s monograph, Romantic Nationalism and Liberalism: Joachim Lelewel and the Polish National Idea (New York, 1981). I also relied on Stefan Kieniewicz’s book, Joachim Lelewel (Warsaw, 1990) and on the chapter ‘Joachim Lelewel’ by John D. Stanley in Peter Brock, John D. Stanley and Piotr J. Wrobel (eds.), Nation and History: Polish Historians from the Enlightenment to the Second World War (Toronto, Buffalo and London, 2006), 52–84. 20 Five Biographical Profiles school where pupils were instructed in the spirit of the Enlightenment.² Between 1804 and 1808 Lelewel studied at the University of Vilna. This institution, which evolved out of a Jesuit Academy in 1801 as part of Tsar Alexander I’s efforts to modernize his Empire, will feature extensively in the book. At Vilna Lelewel read sciences, as well as ancient and modern languages, including Sanskrit and Arabic. He attended classes in drawing and engraving, and subsequently several high-quality hand-drawn maps testified to his artistic talent. He was also an active member of secret student societies, whose intention was to cultivate the traditions of the fatherland. Lelewel’s early scholarly attempts revealed a passion for history. His student essay, Rzut oka na dawno´s´c litewskich narod´ow i zwiazki¸ ich z Herulami (An Overview of the Antiquity of the Lithuanian Peoples and Their Relations with the Heruli), addressed the origins of the Lithuanians. Meanwhile, Edda, cyzli ksiega¸ religii dawnych Skandynawii mieszka´¸ nc´ow (Edda, or the Book of Religion of the Ancient Inhabitants of Scandinavia, 1807), a translation of Paul Mallet’s famous book on the Edda, constituted his first (anonymous) publication. After graduation Lelewel taught for two years at a lyceum in Krzemie- niec (near the Ukrainian border) and in 1811 he returned to Warsaw, where he regularly attended the meetings of the foremost learned so- ciety of the age, Towarzystwo Przyjacioł´ Nauk (Society of the Friends of Learning). In 1815 Jan Sniadecki,´ the rector of the University of Vilna, invited him to lecture in general history, an appointment which inaugurated the study of history as an independent discipline. Lelewel’s intellectual preoccupations at this time concerned the theory of history, as well as the history of ancient civilizations and the early Slavs. His interest in theoretical issues yielded a (single-volume) collection of es- says, Historyka, tudziezołatwymipo˙ zytecznym˙ nauczaniu historii (The Theory of History: On the Easy and Useful Teaching of History, 1815). An ability to condense and conceptualize intricate problems rendered his book an unparalleled pioneering work in contemporary East-Central Europe. Publications on the history of ancient India, Greece and Rome followed, drawing primarily on his university lectures. In 1818 Lelewel’s career resumed at the newly established University of Warsaw, where he was appointed Professor of Bibliography and Cura- tor of the University Library. In accordance with his new responsibilities, he developed familiarity with the field of bibliography and produced ² S. Kot, Five Centuries of Polish Learning (Oxford, 1914), 13. Five Biographical Profiles 21 the first major history of libraries and library science in the Polish language, Bibliograficznych ksiag¸ dwoje (Two Books on Bibliography, 1823 and 1826). He also delivered lectures on the comparative history of Poland and Spain, which laid the foundation for his essay Historyczna paralela Hiszpanii z Polska,¸ w XVI, XVII, XVIII wieku (A Historical Parallel of Spain and Poland in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eigh- teenth Centuries). The year 1821 saw him return to Vilna, serving as a very popular Professor of General History for three years. The essay entitled O Historii jej rozgałe´zieniu¸ i naukach zwiazek¸ z niamaj¸ ac¸ (On History, Its Branches and Related Disciplines, 1826), completed the young scholar’s major contribution to the theory and methodology of history. In the early 1820s, largely due to publications in German and Russian, Lelewel’s reputation gradually extended beyond the confines of his homeland and a critical evaluation of the prominent Russian historian, Nikolai Karamzin’s Istorija gosudarstva rossijskago (History of the Russian State), later published in Polish as Por´ownanie Karamzina z Naruszewiczem (Comparison of Karamzin with Naruszewicz) won the praise of Russian liberal scholars. This productive era ended abruptly in 1824 when Lelewel, following a false allegation by the tsarist authorities that he had participated in an anti-Russian conspiracy, was expelled from the university and ordered to return to Warsaw. In the absence of secure employment, Lelewel immersed himself in research in Warsaw, focusing increasingly on national history, which also presented an important issue on the agenda of the Towarzystwo Przyjacioł´ Nauk. He completed his first attempt in this field, the rudimentary Historia Polski azdoko´˙ nca panowania Stefana Batorego (The History of Poland to the End of the Reign of Stefan Bathory) in 1813, but it was published only after his death in 1863. Another study, Panowanie Stanisława Augusta (The Reign of Stanisław August, 1818) presented a generally favourable assessment of the legacy of the Polish king (who ruled between 1764 and 1795), although it also contained some criticism. In its original form, this essay was interwoven with autobiographical elements which made it seem more like a personal recollection than a historical account. Initially banned by the censor, a subsequent and significantly improved version was published in 1831, and later in a further eight editions, including those in German and French. In 1828 my protagonist produced a small historical sketch, Historia: Obraz dziej´ow polskich (History: An Image of Polish History), which set out the main tenets of his interpretation of Polish history. This was superseded by the more complete Dzieje Polski potocznym 22 Five Biographical Profiles sposobem opowiedziane (A History of Poland Related in a Colloquial Manner, 1828), a popular history for children, which sought to address aspects of political, as well as of social and cultural, history. Nine editions of this book had appeared by 1859, and it also served as a school textbook, thereby exerting considerable influence on several generations. Its German version, Geschichte Polens, sought to popularize Polish history among the foreign public. By the 1820s Lelewel had acquired a reputation as a proponent of liberal ideas and became actively involved in politics, culminating in his election as representative to the Sejm (Diet). In response to Tsar Nicholas I’s violation of the constitutional guar- antees of the Congress Kingdom, and prompted by the eruption of the July Revolution in France and the Belgian revolt, an insurrection broke out in Warsaw in November 1830. Lelewel’s role in the events assumed great significance; for a short time he acted as a member of the provisional government led by Prince Adam Czartoryski, a position which enabled him to abolish censorship. He later briefly served as Min- ister of Education in another revolutionary government. As president of the revolutionary Towarzystwo Patrioticzne (Patriotic Society), Lelewel authored numerous pamphlets and manifestos promoting the Polish cause abroad. During the uprising he composed a comparative study of the three Polish constitutions of 1791, 1807 and 1815: Trzy konstytucje polskie (Three Polish Constitutions), which sought to offer pragmatic guidance on how to establish an effective government. Translated into French, and later into other languages, it introduced the Polish question onto the agenda of liberals in Western Europe. After the fall of the Congress Kingdom following the military capit- ulation of the Poles, Lelewel shared the fate of several thousand emigr´ es´ who sought asylum in the liberal capitals of Europe and continued their fight for the restoration of the Polish state from abroad. He was later sentenced to be hanged in absentia in his homeland. His first destination was Paris, where he received
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