New interpretation of medieval and Renaissance sources in Poland

Abstract

Abstract Extract The history of ideas is not necessarily part of the mainstream of Polish historiography, which concerns itself principally with theology, philosophy and social thought and where the immense output of scholars like Leszek Kilakowski and Stefan Swieiawski is widely recognized. This also explains why the term ‘intellectual history’ is not popular with Polish historians. A few of them would mention intellectual history as a discipline they are familiar with, although these scholars are cultural historians who form the most numerous group of what one might call ‘professional past-goers’ in Poland these days. The term ‘intellectual history’ is also rarely used because the influence of historical literature from the English-speaking world has traditionally been limited. Its origins are mainly geographical and political, dating back to the nineteenth century. Although the situation has been changing recently as more and more new ideas are considered and adopted here, the process is slow and hinde...