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Romuald Hube was one of the most prominent Polish legal historians of the 19th century. He was also a very active jurist who was a member of several governing authorities in the Kingdom of Poland. As a very distinguished lawyer, characterized by a loyalistic attitude towards the government of the Kingdom of Poland, he was appointed to a Commission whose goal was to codify Russian law and unify with it the law in force in the Kingdom of Poland. The most significant of these codifications the result of Romuald Hube’s work was the Code of Principal and Corrective Penalties issued for Russia in 1845, and in 1847 for Poland. The introduction of this Code, which was very critically received by the Polish society, brought down a wave of criticism on Romuald Hube, related not only to the legal solutions adopted in this Code itself, but above all to the role he played in the repressive policies of the Russian authorities against the Polish population. Romuald Hube’s participation in the creation of the Code still raises many controversies in Polish academic circles.

This article aims to highlight aspects of female emancipation in the Kingdom of Poland in the second half of the nineteenth century that gave this movement a specific, national character. The political and economic consequences of the January Uprising (1863–1864) hit the landed gentry particularly hard. As a result, many gentry women faced the necessity of earning a living and this forced a change in their way of life and aspirations. The traditional model for elite women did not match the economic challenges, and with this in mind, the Polish press, especially magazines for female readers, aimed to create a new model of gentry womanhood. Most periodicals agreed that women's emancipation was on a certain level necessary. But to what extent? This question has been a subject of dispute. Some columnists postulated to limit women's professional aspirations to manual occupations in order to preserve the domain of prestigious intellectual labor exclusively for men. This conservative movement succeeded only partially, with some upper-class women devoting themselves to handicrafts while others, against conservatives' wishes, graduated from universities abroad and obtained qualifications for performing previously male professions. The majority of these educated women combined paid labor with social work. They were strongly influenced by the promoted ideal of a "new Polish woman" who was to be hard working, constantly improving her mental faculties, and engaging in activities that benefitted Polish society and the nation. This model contributed significantly to the formation of a new generation of distinguished female activists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to present a journalistic image of children and youth who came into conflict with the law created in the periodicals of the Kingdom of Poland at the beginning of the 20th century. The article attempts to answer the question: How was the young generation who broke social norms portrayed in the press? How did publicists evaluate the embedded in re-socialization institutions and their activities? The article uses historical research methods; a lexical (philological) method was used to read and analyse the language of press material. Elements of content analysis were used in the study of newspaper articles. The term "wounded identity", as described by Erving Goff man, was used to analyse the problem studied. In the press discussion, publicists created a negative image of the young generation that conflicted with the law. The indicated character traits and behaviour of adolescents may have influenced the creation of anxiety among graders and projected the perception of young people with "wounded identities" as threatening individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Res Historica is the property of Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Res Historica is the property of Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article is the first scholarly research focusing exclusively on the history of Jews with disabilities in the Kingdom of Poland from the 1860s to 1914. It analyses sources drawn from the Jewish press in Yiddish, Polish, and Hebrew. Areas of investigation include the hierarchy of attitudes towards different categories of individuals with disabilities, spiritual perspectives on disability, and the portrayal of disabilities within Jewish literature. The study places particular emphasis on the Jewish deaf community, given the proliferation of available source material. Drawing on the broad conceptual framework of disability studies, the authors examine the phenomenon of medicalisation, tracing its influence on Jewish public discourse over the latter half of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article delves into a analysis of the treatment of prisoners of war during the late 14th and 15th centuries. The study not only examines the challenges encountered by the prisoners themselves, as documented in their letters, but also sheds light on the difficulties faced by the officials of the Teutonic Knights and lords involved in their release and care. The work highlights the most salient aspects of captivity, including the deprivation experienced by the prisoners, the means by which they were able to obtain basic necessities such as food and clothing, and the types of places in which they were typically detained. Moreover, the article explores the various factors that influenced the behavior of both captors and captives, and distinguishes between the appropriate and inappropriate treatment of prisoners based on the established norms of medieval times.

The article is devoted to judicial control over notarial activity during the Polish-Lithuanian rule on Ukrainian lands (mid-XIV - mid-XVII centuries). The importance of conducting historical and legal studies of the institution of challenging notarial acts or refusal to perform them before the court is noted. The prerequisites for the formation of the notary institution in the specified time period are studied. In particular, it is indicated that the intensification of commodity-money relations led to the growth and development of various contractual forms of economic transactions. The practice of concluding contracts and other transactions in writing is gradually spreading, especially when the state begins to demand it. But private acts in Poland during the 14th and 15th centuries, and in Lithuania until the middle XVI century were treated as secondary evidence in contrast to witness statements. However, the situation is gradually changing with the emergence of the so-called "right of eternity", which was expressed in the fact that a certain private document entered in the court record book received not just legal force, but became indisputable evidence in the event of a dispute in the future. It was not required to confirm or deny it with the testimony of witnesses. The legal status of officials who, along with their main powers, were called to exercise powers of a notarial nature are being investigated. It is concluded that in this case it is not possible to talk about the introduction of the notary as an independent institution, since the official was primarily entrusted with the duties of performing the powers that were determined by his position (the voivode managed the voivodship, the headman managed the county, judges judged, the court clerk recorded procedural actions, etc.). The specified officials were at different levels of management and had different legal status. The resulting situation determined the peculiarity of judicial control over the activities of officials who recorded private acts in court books or made extracts from them. In particular, criminal or civil liability was assumed for improper maintenance of court books. On the basis of this, it is concluded that within the framework of criminal and civil legal means it was possible to control the behavior of officials who entered private acts in court books or made an extract from them. But this does not confirm the presence in the legislation of an independently developed procedure, not related to the imposition of criminal or property liability, the purpose of which would be exclusively to check the legality of the notarial action taken or its refusal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the policies of state authorities and social organisations in the Kingdom of Poland (1815–1914) towards people with disabilities. Gathering together the scattered secondary sources and supplementing them with new primary source research, the author demonstrates the phenomenon of the marginalisation of people with disabilities by state authorities. In general, there was no active policy in this regard, but three groups were exceptions: military invalids, factory workers and the deaf/Deaf. Instead, most activities for people with disabilities were carried out by local associations, which focused on providing minimal subsistence support, generally neglecting the social or cultural needs of these people. In addition, the article discusses the idealisation of large care institutions, typical of the century, and the tendency to confine people with disabilities within them. The author also raises the question of the possible implications of the issues discussed for contemporary policy towards the group in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Focuses on the spatial empowerment of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. • New method of research which makes it possible to reconstruct changes in spatial awareness. • Shows the reasons for enlarging and reducing the territories on the Renaissance maps of Europe. • Emphasizes syncretism blending the old and new views on Central and Eastern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Res Historica is the property of Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Res Historica is the property of Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Lituanistica is the property of Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the demographic consequences of crop failures in the northeastern districts of Augustów Governorate in late 1845 and early 1846. It also raises the question of assessing the reliability of the sources that recorded vital statistics in the Russian partition, which revealed many inconsistencies in the registration of deaths, and notes the need for a critical approach when using them. Also highlighted was a wave of famine-induced emigration of peasants and the need for further and in-depth research into demographic crises in mid-19th century Polish lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the activity of individuals serving as heads of counties (poviats) in the Kingdom of Poland between 1867 and the late 1870s. It features assessments of the work of all officials holding the position in 1873 and some from 1874 carried out by officers of the Warsaw Police District on the basis of overt and undercover observations in those years. The assessment reports deal not only with the officials' professional activities, but also their family life and political attitudes, and point to various factors and phenomena contributing to the shortcomings in their work. In addition, the reports feature a lot of information provided by police officers and concerning unlawful decisions and actions of the county heads. They also mention the scale of the phenomenon and the response of the central and provincial authorities of the Kingdom to various abuses of the heads of this administrative structure. Also featured in the article is information from employees working in the police department about irregularities in the implementation of the Russian policy in the Kingdom of Poland by several of them in their professional activities, as well as about cases of inappropriate cooperation between them and their associates, especially those responsible for police and military matters. In addition, the author of the article demonstrates -- from the point of view of the police -- the reasons why the heads of counties did not cooperate well with the police, and presents their demands and proposals for improving the work of the county heads. The last two topics addressed in the article concern the response of the authorities of the Kingdom to various lapses and irregularities in the work of county heads and the measures taken by the Warsaw governors to improve the county heads' professional activities, strengthen their position within the administrative system and increase their remuneration and concessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowned King of Poland in January 1320, Władysław the Short brought about the consolidation of the royal dignity in Poland. In the article the author seeks to explain the lengthy nature of the formation of royal power in Piast Poland, a process that began in the year 1000 with the symbolic elevation of the dignity of Bolesław Chrobry by Emperor Otto III. The author's analysis of the phenomenon is carried out in comparison with the history of the Kingdom of Bohemia and in critical reference to the older literature on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia z Dziejów Panstwa i Prawa Polskiego is the property of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, AFM Publishing Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Studia z Dziejów Panstwa i Prawa Polskiego is the property of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, AFM Publishing Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Studia z Dziejów Panstwa i Prawa Polskiego is the property of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, AFM Publishing Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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Copyright of Przeglad Sejmowy is the property of Kancelaria Sejmu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article analyzes the official and political biographies of prominent dignitaries and military leaders of Poland, including K.F. Drutsky-Lyubetsky, S.F. Grabovsky, V.I. Krasinsky, S.A. Zamoysky, A.A. Rozhnetsky, and I.L. Turkul, who became members of the Imperial Council of State after the Polish Uprising of 1830–1831, and studies domestic and foreign policy aspects of the problem of incorporation of representatives of the Polish administrative elite into supreme legislative institutions of the Russian Empire. The purpose of the article is to study the transformation of the policy towards the Kingdom of Poland from constitutionalism and autonomy under Alexander I to the system of absolute monarchical government and bureaucratic centralization in the reign of Nicholas I in the context of the participation of Poles in the activities of the Council of State and of its departments and committees. In this regard, special attention is paid to the study of the mechanisms for formalizing the Russification program of autocratic power aimed at establishing a new status of the Kingdom of Poland and a new model of its administration developed by the Committee of Affairs for the Kingdom of Poland and by the Department for Affairs of the Kingdom under the Polish Council of State, determined the role of these Polish statesmen in their activities, primarily in the creation of the Organic Statute on February 14, 1832, and of specific legislative acts that determined the administrative, socio-economic, and financial integration of Polish lands into the empire. The article identifies the socio-political reasons for the failure of Nicholas I to use the "Polish potential" for solving imperial problems. It is demonstrated that the contradictions that existed between the government program aimed at abolishing the state-legal and financial autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland and the ideological setting of the dignitaries who considered it most important to preserve the Polish national identity and independence that underlaid their unwillingness to participate in the legislative activities of the imperial Council of State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article based mainly on memoir texts of Russian and Polish authors shows that the conflict of 1830–1831 (the Warsaw Uprising and the Russian–Polish War) was not predetermined. The creation of conditions for political and economic recovery in the Kingdom of Poland in 1815–1830 and the prospects for a general constitutional political reorganization meant that the illusions of national reconciliation and unification of the two peoples within common political borders after a long military confrontation were harbored by both sides, were very great, and affected public life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the industrialization period of the city of Lodz, one of the most important industrial centres in the Kingdom of Poland (the former Russian Partition), experienced a dynamic population growth caused by migratory movement from rural areas to the city. The population registry cards for inhabitants of Lodz contained information on dates of birth (sometimes on dates of death), place of birth, religious denomination, nationality, and address of residence in the city, as well as the number of children born in a family. The aim of this paper is to present population registry cards of permanent and non-permanent residents of the city of Lodz deposited in the State Archives in Lodz, as a source for research on urban society during the period of industrialization. In this work, the use, quality, and reliability of population registry cards, as well as their research limitations for studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is devoted to the coverage of the foreign policy actions of the Czech rulers Przemysl Ottokar II and Wenceslaus II in the Polish lands. The latter, having analyzed the political miscalculations of his powerful father, Przemysl II Ottokar, decided to focus on the eastern direction of foreign policy, hoping to take advantage of the internecine strife of the Polish princes from the Piast dynasty.

The monograph under review written by German historian Malte Rolf, published in Russian, offers a detailed description of the imperial administrative apparatus that was formed after the defeat of the January Uprising of 1863 and existed until the end of Russian rule in the Polish lands (1915). The collective portrait of Warsaw governors general, which was created by the author of the monograph, deserves special attention, given that the imperial elites of the Vistula Land have not previously been the subject of special research. Of no small importance is the fact that the observation over the complex process of transformation of the Congress Kingdom of Poland into the Vistula Land allows the author to comprehensively consider, as he puts it, the “contact zones and conflict nodes” that stood out most clearly against the background of the existing administrative structures.

The article discusses the demographic consequences of crop failures in the northeastern districts of Augustów Governorate in late 1845 and early 1846. It also raises the question of assessing the reliability of the sources that recorded vital statistics in the Russian partition, which revealed many inconsistencies in the registration of deaths, and notes the need for a critical approach when using them. Also highlighted was a wave of famine-induced emigration of peasants and the need for further and in-depth research into demographic crises in mid-19th century Polish lands.

The subject of the article are Polish debates on urban policy during the First World War. This four-year period of time was, on the one hand, a huge economic and humanitarian crisis in the cities of the Kingdom of Poland. On the other hand, society achieved the possibility of self-organization through the organization of civic committees, but later also by taking part in municipal elections to councils established in the areas occupied by Central Powers and political campaigns in Warsaw or Łódź – two biggest and the most important cities in the Kingdom of Poland. Author analyzes the most representative aspects of an urban discourse from that period (including press and specialist literature published in Warsaw and Łódź), with particular emphasis on the issue of the dispute about the optimal shape of urban policy, scope of the self-government and the proper direction of urban development on the eve of Poland’s regaining independence and other Central and Eastern European countries. although the issue of municipal self-government appeared in almost every newspaper at that time, the new framework for city politics in Poland emerged in discussions between specialists and authors with the biggest knowledge and longtime experience in writing about this subject.

During the industrialization period of the city of Lodz, one of the most important industrial centres in the Kingdom of Poland (the former Russian Partition), experienced a dynamic population growth caused by migratory movement from rural areas to the city. The population registry cards for inhabitants of Lodz contained information on dates of birth (sometimes on dates of death), place of birth, religious denomination, nationality, and address of residence in the city, as well as the number of children born in a family. The aim of this paper is to present population registry cards of permanent and non-permanent residents of the city of Lodz deposited in the State Archives in Lodz, as a source for research on urban society during the period of industrialization. In this work, the use, quality, and reliability of population registry cards, as well as their research limitations for studies are discussed.

The article contains the instruction for charcoalers and state officials supervising them, which was developed in 1826 by the Government Commission of Revenues and Treasury of the Kingdom of Poland. The document is provided with a historical commentary. The edited source contains information on charcoaling technology and the organization of charcoal production for the needs of government iron industry. The said instruction was in force between 1827-1828 and was withdrawn at the beginning of 1829. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of Russian-Polish academic and literary contacts, which began to take on a systematic character after the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and formation of the autonomous Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire, has traditionally drawn the attention of both Russian and Polish historians. In this regard, of great interest is the period from the late 18th to the first half of the 19th centuries, which, in turn, can be divided into two stages: before the uprising of 1830–1831 (November Uprising), when the western provinces of the Russian Empire, as well as the Polish Kingdom, enjoyed an autonomous system of Polish education; and after the uprising, when universities and many academic societies in these territories were closed and the process of integrating Polish education into the all-Russian system began. In addition to St. Petersburg, which occupied a leading place in building contacts between representatives of Russian and Polish science and culture, Moscow, which was the second largest Polish colony after St. Petersburg, also played a significant role in maintaining these contacts. Before the uprising of 1830, these contacts took the form of personal ties between individual scholars and writers, including members of academic societies and editorial offices of periodicals. After 1830, Russian-Polish academic relations were mainly limited to the sphere of activity of the Slavophiles. However, during this period, Moscow received its status as one of the educational centres for Polish youth, and it became one of the places of scientific activity of Polish professors. Among the graduates of Moscow University there were many famous doctors, lawyers, philologists, natural scientists, and other representatives of the Polish intelligentsia. The Polish scientists who taught there contributed to the development of not only Polish, but also Russian science.

The mobilization for the Russian army ordered in July 1914 in the Kingdom of Poland and the "Manifesto to the Poles" proclaimed almost simultaneously by the Commander-in-Chief evoked several diverse (opposing) reactions. However, these divisions did not run, as one might expect for historical reasons, between different ethnic groups or social strata. Significant differences in the approach to the Commander-in-Chief's "Manifesto" and the mobilization conducted in the Kingdom of Poland at the turn of 1914/1915 were revealed within each social stratum. Opposing attitudes were observed not only among the Polish political and social elite or military circles, but even among the general public. These divisions among the Poles were comparable to the reactions to the "Manifesto" and mobilization observed among the representatives of Russia's political, military, and social elite. Mobilization in the neighboring partitions (for example, the Prussian partition) did not generate such divisions within each social stratum on the Polish and German sides. What took place at the turn of 1914/1915 within the framework of military activation of the Kingdom of Poland's society was incomparable either in the case of other nations of the Russian Empire or elsewhere in Europe (apart from autonomous Galicia). This situation also came as a great surprise to Russia's Western allies and caused great concern in Berlin and Vienna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research objectives: The aim of the article is to trace the origins of the Old Russian text of Tokhtamish Khan’s 1393-dated yarliq-letter to King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland, as well as the place and time of its emergence. Research materials: The Turkic and the Old Russian texts of Tokhtamish Khan’s 1393 yarlıq-letter to King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland, as well as published and unpublished auxiliary materials. Results and novelty of the research: It is established that the Old Russian text of Tokhtamish Khan’s 1393 yarlıq-letter to Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland was written down in the royal chancery by the king’s Ruthenian scribe, Małochiej. This text was a record of the embassy of the khan’s envoys which explains its additional information when compared to the Turkic original.

Currently, one of the topical issues for Russian historians is the study of the personalities of Russian monarchs including tsars and emperors of the Romanov dynasty. The problem of constructing the image of a representative of power both in Russia and abroad especially in the light of the problems of nation-building also relevant among researchers is revealed. The purpose of our work is to reconstruct the images of emperor Nicholas I to reveal their transformation, similarities and differences within the framework of the Polish question. The article analyzes Russian and Polish sources of personal origin in the 1820s–1830s in the context of the Polish coronation of 1829 and the uprising of 1830–1831. Using historical and anthropological approach they have the opportunity to identify the features of the formation of emperor’s image. The historical-comparative method let us to analyze the characteristics that the emperor was endowed with by his contemporaries and to reconstruct the chronological evolution of the images of Nicholas I. The main result of this evolution can be called the moment of separation of the image of the Russian emperor from the image of the polish king, which was repeatedly emphasized by both Russian and Polish contemporaries, and by the emperor himself. The selfidentification of Nicholas I as the Russian autocratic monarch was one of the results of the Polish uprising of 1830–1831 that followed soon after the coronation

The article analyses achievements of contemporary historiography in the study of the role and significance of the Gorodel Union of 1413 in the formation of the gentry class of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The key subjects of scientific research of Polish, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian historians are identified. It is emphasised that these subjects, as a rule, are not an independent historiographical problem and act as part of a broader research discussion about the causes and results of the Union of 1413 in the system of relations between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. In conclusion, it is noted that despite the differences in the interpretation of a number of specific issues, researchers generally agree in the statement that the acts of the Gorodel Union and the heraldic adoption, both in their content and in their consequences, are one of the key stages in the process of forming the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The war of Poland with the Teutonic Knights Order in the years 1454–1466, ended with the peace of Toruń 1466, had a significant impact on the increase in the importance of Poland’s position in Europe, which was reflected in the subordination of the defeated Teutonic Order state in Prussia and Poland’s obtaining a dominant position in Central and Northern Europe. Above all, however, events that took place during the war, especially the political crisis caused by claims of the nobility gathered for war as part of the levy in mass and the issuing of privileges for the nobility in 1454 initiated the start of changes in the political system of the Kingdom of Poland, which led to transformations in the structures of state assemblies and the creation of the new power system. The result of the transformation processes initiated at that time was the establishment in 1468 of a nationwide bicameral parliament, based on the representation of territorial assemblies, whose convocation was, moreover, due to the need to solve the financial problems arising as a result of the war, which ended in 1466. The war of 1454–1466 had a real impact on the formation of a new political structure of the Kingdom of Poland, whose development was continued in the 16th century.

Since their independence, Ukraine and Belarus have pursued relatively consistent but almost polar-opposite policies toward Russia. For the most part, the difference is explicable not as a product of differing material pressures and incentives (which do not, in fact, differ significantly), but as a consequence of differing popular and elite conceptions of Ukrainian and Belarusian national identities, which yield different beliefs about the proper relationship of those nations to Russia. The article argues that the difference is largely traceable to the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s southern lands - modern western and central Ukraine - were transferred to the Kingdom of Poland, and subsequently conquered by Russia in stages, while Belarus remained within Lithuania until also conquered by Russia. This resulted in different Ukrainian and Belarusian territories spending vastly different amounts of time under Polish rule. Considering that Rusian culture originally had a high status in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and that Polonization naturally proceeded more intensely in Poland than in Lithuania, the author hypothesizes that: 1) the longer a territory was under Polish rule, the more subject it was to Polonization; 2) the more it was subject to Polonization, the more it developed a western European identity; 3) the more Ukrainian and Belarusian national identities were westernized, the more alienated they became from non-westernized Rusian nationalities, primarily the (Great) Russian (русский / великорусский / российский); 4) the more alienated a national identity is from Russia, the more its bearers seek to separate themselves from Russia. The research finds out that the longer an area was under Polish rule, the more support it subsequently displayed for separation and distancing from Russia. Ukrainian territories, especially in the west and center of the country, were long under Polish rule and accordingly tend toward an anti-Russian alignment that was visible even a century ago. On the other hand, Belarus, ruled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania but never by Poland directly, expressed little desire to abandon the Russian Empire a century ago, and today continues a policy of friendship and integration with Russia.The article combines various qualitative and quantitative methods to demonstrate how centuries-long historical processes reshaped a national identity, with massive consequences that still endure today.

This article is devoted to the analysis of the rhetoric presented in the Russian press in 1814—1818 regarding the imperial policy in the newly annexed Kingdom of Poland. The aim of the authors is to show that it is necessary to separate the real policy of the Russian autocracy in this territory from the images created first by French publicists, and then repeatedly exaggerated by Russian journalists. It is noted that Alexander I in 1814—1818 appears on the pages of French publications as a tsar-liberator. It is shown that these stories were quickly picked up by Russian newspapers and magazines and, as a result, a paradoxical picture emerged: for several years the mass media convinced the Russian society that the Russian Tsar was the new Polish national sovereign. It is argued that this, of course, caused rejection in conservative circles and among advanced Westerners such as Vyazemsky or Turgenev. It is concluded that it is the dominant discourse that can be considered, on the one hand, one of the factors in the emergence of the Decembrist movement, and on the other, a “trap” for Alexander I, since the liberal rhetoric of the press over time began to diverge more and more from the real policy of the Russian autocracy.

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This work focuses on several aspects of water-related transportation laws as well as drainage law introduced in the Kingdom of Poland before 1860. Thus, while focusing on a) laws concerning the removal of diverse type of obstacles from the rivers used for official navigation; b) establishing of riverside towing routes; c) construction of rivers verst signs on the river banks, this research also deals with the introduction of provisions concerning draining and receiving of waters, which had a huge impact on the road construction and maintenance process in Poland for the first half of the 19th century.

The construction of the gothic cathedral church in Włocławek on the new site by the local bishops, after the former one was burned down by the knights of the Teutonic Order in 1329, coincides with a time of political consolidation of the Kingdom of Poland and a significant reinforcement of the power of Polish kings. For that frontier bishopric, situated in the northern part of the country, it was also a period of stabilization and strengthening of diocesan structures. The earlier history of this diocese, however, was marked by divisions and political rivalry, as well as by an interesting institutional dualism. In my paper, I focus my attention on the period between 1123/1124 – 1330 and on showing how local bishops and chapters built the ecclesiastical structures of this long politically fragmented diocese which initially encompassed some areas that had to be christianised. I also intend to show the ways in which Kuyavian bishops dealt with the problem of loyalty to the rulers, sometimes hostile to each other, while maintaining of interests and well-being of their bishopric.

When the Ottoman Turks began their conquest of further Balkan countries in the second half of the 14th century, they were opposed by Hungary, which came to known as the bastion of Christianity. The article analyses subsequent events of the 15th and 16th centuries when the term was first applied to the Kingdom of Poland. Poland’s greatest involvement in the war against the Muslims was during the reign of Ladislaus III of Hungary, who died in 1444 at the Battle of Varna. Under his successor, Kazimierz Jagiellończyk, Poland managed to avoid military conflict with Turkey, though it waged constant war with their allies, the Tatars. The first Turkish invasions of Poland followed the defeat in Bukovina in the autumn of 1497. In the ensuing decades, Poland was forced to renew truces with Turkey every few years, which drained the state’s coffers yet failed to protect it from the devastating Tartar invasions. After the fall of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Poland found itself on the front line, exposed to direct attack by the armies of the Padishah. The Holy See joined the defense against the Islamic threat, hoping to convince the Grand Duchy of Moscow to go to war with Turkey. Papal diplomacy was also centered on the followers of the Orthodox Church living within the borders of the Republic, which resulted in the Union of Brest in 1596.