The historiographical potential of Vladimir and Vasily Lyaskoronsky's student works

Abstract

Brothers Volodymyr and Vasyl Lyaskoronskyi were Ukrainian professional historians who left behind a significant body of work on national and world history. Graduates of the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Vladimir's University, who were actively involved in scientific work during their student years, they are authors of scientific works awarded with gold and silver medals. However, their student period has been little studied, and their student legacy has been overlooked by historians. The aim of the study is to analyses the student works of the Lyaskoronsky brothers and determines their historiographical potential. The methodological basis of the study was formed by general scientific principles – historicism, objectivity, and systematicity. The article uses analytical, descriptive, and comparative-historical methods. An analysis of the works of the historian brothers has shown that their student works were written at a high scientific level and that some of their positions remain relevant today.

Volodymyr Lyaskoronsky left behind works of a source-studying nature. All works have the same structure, where the student tried to present a brief biography of the author of the source, characterize the main events described in the studied works, and determine their reliability.

During his student years, under the guidance of V. Antonovich, Vasyl Lyaskoronsky researched the history of the emergence of the Ukrainian Cossacks and presented a work on regional history devoted to the Pereyaslav region in the Old Russian period. Vasyl Grygorovych received a silver medal for his work, which details the events of the first stage of the confrontation between Catholics and Huguenots in France in the 16th century. Already in those years, the historian used his favorites method of analogy to fill in historical gaps. The student works of the Lyaskoronsky brother’s analyzed in the article deserve to be published and demonstrate the high level of professional training of their authors.