Kazimir Valishevsky and his best works

His books on various historical milestones of Russian history are a benchmark for many scholars who believe that this writer fully deserved the right to stand alongside such eminent researchers as Vasily Tatishchev, Nikolai Karamzin and Vasily Kliuchevsky. Leo Tolstoy himself in his time highly appreciated the material that the Pole expounded. Subsequently, he wrote: "Casimir Valiszewski, with unobtrusive strokes, knows how to convey the main thing vividly."

One way or another, but in his writings periodically slips subjectivism, so the foreigner's point of view on some events of the past sometimes does not find agreement and response in the soul of a Russian person. So who is he, Casimir Valiszewski? And why is his readers' interest in readers so keen on their national history? Let's consider this issue in more detail.

Years of childhood and adolescence

Kazimir Feliksovich Valishevsky is a Pole by birth. He was born on November 19 in 1849 in the village of Gole (Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province of Poland).

To receive primary education, Casimir was enrolled in the Warsaw Gymnasium. But after a while the boy was forced to continue his studies at the Jesuit school, which was in France. Growing up, Casimir Valiszewski was carried away by jurisprudence and eventually became a graduate of the School of Law in Paris, where he was awarded a doctorate in law. After studying, the young man took up teaching in the educational institutions of Krakow.

The field of journalism

Since the mid-80s of the 19th century, Casimir Valiszewski spent most of his time in France. For several years now, he has been writing work, which touches on topical issues on political, legal and economic issues. Some of his monographs, for example, "Poland and Europe in the second half of the 18th century," even translated into Russian.

Books about outstanding personalities from Russia's past

Soon the Doctor of Jurisprudence from Poland was carried away by the Russian history of the period of 17-19 centuries.

He writes a whole series of works about monarchs who "served faithfully and faithfully" to our Motherland. In one of the narratives, the publicist will write in detail about the difficult foreign policy relations between Russia and Poland that developed in the Time of Troubles. Here, in fact, what became famous Casimir Valishevsky, whose books are in great demand not only in our country, but also abroad. To his works do not differ from the real facts from the past, the publicist "shoveled" the state archives of Vienna, London, Berlin, and, of course, St. Petersburg.

Let's analyze the contents of the most popular works of the Polish author who spent more than three decades of his life studying Russian historical science.

"The novel of one empress. Catherine the Great »

This work of the Polish historian was published in 1892. Already from its name it becomes clear what object for research was chosen by Kazimir Valishevsky. "The Empress's novel" is, in fact, the culmination of the whole series, despite the fact that from the point of view of the chronology the book was written first. Did the author try to describe in detail all the love affairs of Catherine II?

By no means, the work is not about that. His main idea is to emphasize how strongly and faithfully the German from the province fell in love with Russia, and how, having ascended to the throne, she did her best for her prosperity and well-being. But the novel also contains the author's point of view on the personality of the empress, which Kazimierz Valiszewski told the reader. Catherine the Great in his eyes is a lazy, sometimes scattered and not sufficiently educated person. But this is the subjective position of the Pole.

"Peter the Great"

This work appeared in 1897. What content did Valishevsky Casimir invest in it? "Peter the Great" - a novel in which the author does not hide his if not admiration, then the satisfaction of the affairs of the first Russian emperor. He awards him with a whole series of odious epithets: boring, rude, impatient, impulsive ... Kazimir Feliksovich emphasizes that the emperor has a strong and close relationship with his people. King Peter cares and protects him in every possible way. The author admires the reforms of the emperor in military affairs and directly says that he managed to create the most powerful and advanced army since the times of patriarchal Russia.

At the same time, the Polish historian, again exhibiting subjectivity, criticizes the tsar's affairs with regard to the navy. In his opinion, ships are unnecessary, and very expensive and therefore unnecessary expenses for the treasury ...

"Ivan the Terrible"

This work came from the writer's pen in 1904. What does Casimir Valiszewski describe in it? "Ivan the Terrible" - a book that in its content differs from the views on the era of Oprichnina, formed by domestic historians. The fact is that traditionally we are accustomed to assess the king on his internal affairs in the state, and only then we pay attention to the quality of the foreign policy of the ruler. Kazimir Feliksovich changed priorities and gave a description to Ivan IV in terms of the ability to build diplomatic relations with "foreign" states. Speech, in particular, is about Lithuania and its native Poland. Of course, for Valishevsky domestic politics matters, but it is secondary. The discrepancy with the positions of Russian historians was manifested in the characterization of the personality of Ivan the Terrible himself, for which the status of tyrant, villain and murderer was firmly entrenched in domestic science.

Kazimir Feliksovich in the ratings here is more lenient and treats the moniker Grozny as "revered" and "respected". In addition, the author positively comments on the reforms that the tsar started.

"Time of Troubles"

This work became available for reading in 1911. What Kazimir Valishevsky wanted to say with this novel. "Troubled Time" is a book that is a kind of continuation of the massive work of a Polish publicist called "The Origin of Modern Russia". The first pages of the "Time of Troubles" are devoted to the evaluation of one of the offspring of Ivan the Terrible - Fedor Ioanovich, who grew up in an atmosphere of terror and fear. Smoothly the author goes on to cover the events of the early 17th century, when a real struggle for spheres of influence was taking place on the political map of Eastern Europe. At that time, Poland turned into a strong state with a strong army. But in Russia, the best times have come. The "terrible" tsar died, the power in the country passed to the son of Ivan IV, who in fact proved to be a weak ruler. Oprichnina and the Livonian War were serious repercussions of the socio-economic crisis. The people's discontent was growing in the country.

Kazimir Feliksovich describes in detail the political situation in Russia and Poland. He focuses on the fact that the Troubles had an entirely different impact on the further life of Russians and Poles. Valishevsky, using "strong literary temperament," brightly and colorfully gives a description of the complex and difficult period of national history, which occurred at the beginning of the 17th century.

Evaluation of his work

The press in Russia, naturally, did not make long to wait for feedback on the works of a Polish historian and publicist, who dedicated his final novel, published in Paris in 1925 to Emperor Alexander I.

And reviews about his work were both positive and negative. And Kazimir Feliksovich scrupulously followed the assessments that readers gave his books. He will write: "In spite of the fact that the majority reacted to my work with indulgence, I could still notice that my presentation of separate historical periods of Russia provoked some discussions in the society. And the fact that a certain part of people accuse me of slandering the past did not upset me in the least. "

The Polish publicist and historian died in Paris in 1935.

The publication of Valishevsky's books in Russia began in 1905 and continued until the First World War. And it was only in the late 80s of the last century that reader interest in his works arose again.