Abstract
MEDIEVAL RUTHENIA’S SOCIAL SYSTEM ACCORDING
TO LELEWEL AND KARAMZIN:
LOCAL GOVERNANCE OR FEUDALISM?
S u m m a r y
This paper deals with the social systems in medieval Poland and Ruthenia – as described by scholars of the
Enlightenment: Joachim Lelewel and Mikołaj Karamzin. The former sees the Slavic lands as dominated
by the local governance of the noblemen, with a high share of hereditary, rather than vassal, lands. The
latter stresses the influence of feudalism on the development of Ruthenia’s social system because he is
keen on erasing the technological and historical differences between present-day Russia and Western
Europe. This paper’s author sets out to show the influence of the changing feudal system on the development
of Central European countries.