Medieval and Early Modern History of Ukraine in the Vision of Denys Korenets

Abstract

The relevance of the article is determined by the necessity to study the Ukrainian historiographical legacy of the first half of the twentieth century and to analyze conceptual approaches to the interpretation of Ukraine’s past. A special place in this context belongs to the scholarly works of Denys Korenets, which reflect the characteristic features of Ukrainian national historical thought of the aforementioned period. The study examines the vision of medieval and early modern Ukrainian history presented in the works of the prominent Ukrainian scholar and public-political figure.

The article primarily focuses on the author’s interpretation of the key stages of the Ukrainian historical process from the period of Kyivan Rus to the Cossack-Hetman era. The conceptual foundations of D. Korenets’s historical views are investigated, demonstrating that the central element of his historical conception was the idea of the continuity of the development of the Ukrainian people and their state-building traditions.

The paper analyzes D. Korenets’s interpretation of the Kyivan Rus period as the first form of Ukrainian statehood and characterizes the activities of Volodymyr the Great and Yaroslav the Wise, whom the scholar regarded as the creators of a powerful state system. It has been established that the historian attached particular importance to the Christianization of Rus, considering it a significant civilizational factor in the integration of Ukrainian lands into the European cultural space. At the same time, D. Korenets critically assessed the processes of political decentralization and princely internecine conflicts, which, in his opinion, became one of the causes of the weakening of Rus.

The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that, for the first time in Ukrainian historiography, it analyzes the views of D. Korenets concerning the medieval and early modern history of Ukraine; characterizes the scholar’s interpretation of the political, cultural, and civilizational role of Kyivan Rus' as the first form of Ukrainian statehood; and demonstrates that the historian’s historical concept was based on the idea of the continuity of Ukrainian state-building traditions.

It has been determined that the author attached special significance to the problem of Ukrainian statehood and the historical continuity of political tradition. The article also examines the historiosophical views of D. Korenets and analyzes the specific features of the combination of scholarly and national-educational approaches in the researcher’s works. It has been found that the writings of Denys Korenets were aimed not only at the popularization of historical knowledge, but also at the formation of Ukrainian national consciousness. It is emphasized that D. Korenets’s historical vision reflected the aspirations of Ukrainian intellectuals to substantiate the historical distinctiveness of the Ukrainian people. The study concludes that the scholar’s works occupy an important place in the development of Ukrainian historiography of the first half of the twentieth century.