THE SCOTS IN THE RUTHENIAN VOIVODESHIP: AN ANALYSIS OF BRITISH HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

This article analyzes British historiography concerned with the emigration of the Scots into the Ruthenian Voivodeship territory during the 14–17th centuries as one of the paths of their migration into the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. British and Polish researchers are the most thorough in investigating these processes. However, it would be fitting to examine them separately, as, for a long time, the research in both countries was conducted mostly independently. It has been determined that several stages in the development of British historiography can be outlined. Historians in the United Kingdom first turned their attention to the massive nature of Scottish emigration as early as the late 19th century. Thus, the first stage is confined to 1889–1939 (from the publication year of the first scientific paper on the given subject, and until the beginning of World War II). Work conducted during this period mainly focused on the description of the Scottish and Polish sources. The second stage begins after the end of World War II – when part of the Polish scholars emigrated to the United Kingdom and continued their research there — and ends in the late 1990s. This period is characterized by the publication of monographs dedicated to Scottish trade and emigration. It has been established that the lands of the Ruthenian Voivodeship did not constitute a separate subject for research among British scholars until the 21st century. Therefore, a third stage is singled out from the beginning of the 2000s to the present time. During this period, papers begin to point to the lack of scientific works dedicated to the Scottish migration into the Ruthenian Voivodeship among both British and Polish researchers. It is summarized that British historiography is quite fragmentary when it comes to Scots migration into the Ruthenian Voivodeship and that this subject is dealt with only within the context of the greater emigration into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The amount of writings on this subject has grown over the last two decades. Nevertheless, it still requires further research.