In this thesis for the Candidate’s Degree, for the first time in historical science, a comprehensive historiographical research of the history of Ukrainian Cossacks of 1600–1622 in Polish classical historiography of the second half of the 19th – the beginning of 20th centuries, which was represented, above all, by two leading historical schools of the period, Krakow and Warsaw, was carried out. The researcher developed the necessary theoretical, methodological and terminological base of the research, emphasized the issue of defining the concept of “positivist” in relation to representatives of the Krakow and Warsaw scientific schools based on their attitude to positivist philosophy, historiography and methodology. Based on the analysis of historiographical studies, the achievements were outlined and the gaps in modern historiography, concerning the study of scientific schools and the history of the Cossacks were demonstrated.
The main groups of historiographical sources, necessary to elucidate the peculiarities of the coverage of the Cossacks history of the early 17th century were identified and classified in the works of representatives of the studied schools, analyzing the conditions of formation, development and functioning of scientific schools.
A new array of archival materials relevant to the lives and activities of Krakow and Warsaw schools’ historians was used and highlighted. In particular, the materials of the Warsaw Censorship Committee, archival materials of the Ministry of Education and Religion of the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Empire, official documentation of the Central Government of Education of the Kingdom of Poland, the personal and dissertation documents of historians in the Jagiellonian archives, documents of V. Smolensky in the archives of the Zelinski Library of Plotsk Scientific Society were analyzed.
The author created a collective portrait of the Krakow and Warsaw history schools’ historians, studied their common and distinctive features in scientific activities, political views and public life. The value judgments of the Polish scientists regarding the Ukrainian Cossacks were analyzed, the place and significance of the Ukrainian Cossacks history in the scientific works of representatives of the Krakow and Warsaw scientific schools were determined in the paper.
The dependence of the coverage of the Cossacks history upon the personality of the researcher, the researched epoch, and the personalities who acted in this epoch (attitude to P. Sahaidachny and B. Khmelnytsky differed) was found out.
