THE KING OF RUS’ DANIEL IN CZECH HISTORIOGRAPHY: FROM WORLD HISTORY TO SYNTHESES OF MEDIEVAL RUS’ IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

In 1942, the 4^th volume of the World History was published, an ambitious book project that covered the period of the high and late Middle Ages. Although only a single paragraph was dedicated to Daniel in that volume, he was titled as king of Rus’. Similarly, František Palacký wrote about Daniel as king of Rus’ already a century earlier. In the second half of the 20^th century, however, this eminent prince almost completely disappea­red from the Czech historiography. In several compendia of Russian (Soviet) history at that time he was either completely omitted or at least not mentioned as a king of Rus’. Only in recent years have two voluminous syntheses of the history of medieval Rus’ been published, which provide more elaborated interpretation of Daniel’s reign and his royal coronation. A Czech annotated translation of the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle has also appeared. This apparently inspired the creation of several theses, mainly dealing with Daniel’s efforts to cope with Mongol expansion. The emergence of a new generation of young Czech historians should contribute to the strengthening of interest in studying the figure of King Daniel Romanovych. There is a need to revise old Russian and Soviet clichés in assessing his activities. For Czech historiography, this is an opportunity to better understand Ukrainian medieval history. The current Russian invasion of Ukraine and its obstruction of Ukrainian’s European integration processes force Europe to better study Ukrainian historical and cultural heritage. This will allow us to understand the essence of the aspirations of Ukrainians, including through historical examples from the medieval past.