Polabian Studies as an Area of Slavonic Research of Antonii Petrushevych (1821–1913)

Abstract

Among Ukrainian slavists of the second half of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century A. Petrushevych occupies a prominent place. The scholar had made a substantial, although ambiguous in its scientific value, contribution to the development of the discipline. His Slavonic studies cover a variety of subjects and problems, in particular they include papers, which to the larger or lesser extent are concerned with the past of the Polabian Slavs. In them A. Petrushevych explored the earliest period of their history, pagan beliefs, material culture, etc. Until now there is no separate study, which would investigate these works. So, the article’s purpose is a historiographic analysis of the research work of A. Petrushevych in the field of Polabian studies, of the topics, problems, and methods of his papers and notes. In the works on the ancient and medieval history of the Polabian Slavs, scholar’s interest is evident in religious, philological, historical, archaeological, and ethnographic problems. The researcher has read a wide range of the newest scientific – historical, archaeological, philological literature. Antonii Petrushevych had analyzed specific evidence and plots of the history of the Polabian Slavs, foremost their pagan cults, compared them with beliefs of the eastern Slavs, the Scandinavians, and other people of the ancient world. However, Polabian studies do not occupy an important place in his research work and only rarely appear on the pages of his Slavonic papers. In the works devoted to pagan beliefs of the Polabian Slavs, an interest in comparative studies is obvious. Such an approach is not careful and reasonable, because the phenomenas that are compared are very distant in time and distinct from one another. The research on the history of the Polabian Slavs is not systematic and shows rather a sporadic interest in the topic. At the same time, such interest was not accidental, inasmuch as it could be traced on various stages of the scholar’s scientific life. Antonii Petrushevych had not written any special work on the history of the Polabian Slavs, but, despite this, his Polabian studies constitute an integral part of his Slavonic research legacy.