“TEKA STAŃCZYKA” AND THE KRAKOW HISTORICAL SCHOOL OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY ON THE PROSPECTS FOR POLISH STATEHOOD REVIVAL

Abstract

The article examines the specifics of the Poles’ struggle in the second half of the 19^th century for the revival of statehood after its loss during the gradual conquest by Russia, Austria and Prussia in 1772, 1793, and 1795. The attempts of Poles in the territories enslaved by Russia to revive it during the unsuccessful November (1830) and January (1863) Uprisings were brutally suppressed. Krakow also lost its status as a “free” city due to the 1846 riots, which historians call the Krakow Revolution. All of this has led to despondency and apathy in the general public. In turn, former active participants in the liberation struggle also advocated peaceful forms of struggle as a way to obtain certain concessions from the occupation administration. This was called for in “Teka Stańczyka”, the authorship of which was attributed to a number of Krakow intellectuals. In 1867, the Jagiellonian University allowed the opening of the Polish History Department, headed by Józef Szujski, one of the founders of the Krakow School of History. Representatives of this trend in Polish historical scholarship blamed the Poles themselves for losing independence and opposed using force to revive the statehood.