Modern Ukrainian Historiography about the Everyday Life of the Early Modern Nobility

Abstract

The article analyzes the approaches in modern Ukrainian historiography to coverage of the everyday life problems of the early modern nobility. It is emphasized that the study of this problem has been tendentious and superficial for a long time. Attention is paid to the fact that in the 19th century it was due to the perception of the Commonwealth as a state of other nations, in which the Ukrainian nobility lost its identity and gradually assimilated with the Polish one. The 20th-century’s studies of this topic were significantly influenced by the historiography of the Soviet era, both because of the Marxist-Leninist research methodology and the limited communication with Western European scholars. It is pointed out that such interpretations and distancing from the history of the nobility had a negative effect on the study of the life realities of this community, and accordingly on the understanding of the characteristics of Ukrainian early modern times.The works of modern historians dedicated to the everyday life of the nobility are considered. It is established that the greatest contribution to the development of this aspect was made by N. Yakovenko, I. Voronchuk, M. Dovbyshchenko, and N. Starchenko. Emphasis is placed on the active development of the genealogy of the Ukrainian nobility. The assessment of the identity of an early modern nobleman in modern works is considered, which allows observing the multiplicity of his self-perception (awareness of belonging to local groups and a sense of homeland). Basing on the analyzed works of Ukrainian historians, it is proved that the aristocratic everyday life’s conflicts were regulated and controlled by the community itself. The discussion about the number of the nobility and the strategies of a nobleman in the private space, which was determined by one’s family and court, is considered. The opinions of Ukrainian researchers on the problems of religious conversions and the presence of the sacred in the worldview of the nobility are compared.The problems of nobility’s everyday life, which require additional research (history of local aristocratic groups, economic activity of the nobility, the concept of labor and leisure, consumption culture, history of clothing, intellectual needs, etc.), are distinguished.