Between Tradition and Critique: Lelewel, Schlözer, and the Transformation of Historical Method in the Late Enlightenment

Joachim Lelewel, a historian educated at the University of Vilnius, was one of the most significant representatives of the critical approach to historical sources in Polish historiography. August Ludwig Schlözer, a linguist, gained renown above all for his critical edition of the ‘Nestor Chronicle’, the final volume of which appeared just as Lelewel was beginning his academic career. This article examines how, and to what extent, Lelewel’s intellectual work in the critical analysis of historical sources was influenced by Schlözer’s methods. Through a close reading of Lelewel’s writings, it will be shown how he adopted categories developed by Schlözer, at times even employing them against Schlözer himself. Lelewel’s engagement with Schlözer not only reflects the wider Enlightenment debates on historical method, but also complicates simplified models of knowledge transfer between scholars from Western and Central-Eastern Europe.