The prolific life of this eminent scholar has confidently aroused interest in his person and aimed at multiplying efforts to benefit from his wisdom and rich experience. Likewise, I also bury in my memory this kind of inner feelings, of which I have accumulated no small number while building a world of historical interest. The name of Professor Józef A. Gierowski had already sunk into my memory several decades ago. I reached for his publications when I had not yet crystallised a clear direction of interest. Nevertheless, I persistently reached for his texts to “taste” the problems of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The following paper presents recollections of a seminar by Professor Józef Andrzej Gierowski 1965–1967 by Kazimierz Przyboś.

Correspondence was an essential form of communication in the world of the humanities in the 1960s and 1970s. The letters exchanged between Józef Andrzej Gierowski and Jacek Staszewski exemplify the scholars’ discussion of Saxon times. This collection is at the same time a reflection of the main currents of research on political history and cultural history of the 18th century. Simultaneously, it is a testimony to the struggle of historians with the black legend of the reign of August II and August III.
The article presents the nature of these conversations and the topics discussed by the scholars: an exchange of views on resources in European archives, the reigns of August II and August III, a discussion of the Enlightenment, reviews of subsequent monographs and doctoral theses prepared at seminars in Kraków and Toruń. The correspondence between the two scholars is evidence not only of a shared passion, an interest in the Saxon era, neglected for many decades and marked by a black legend, but also of an intellectual exchange between the two humanists, which in time developed into a friendship.

The present text is the first attempt in historiography to evaluate the scientific output of Józef Andrzej Gierowski from the perspective of research into the parliamentarism of the Polish-‑Lithuanian Commonwealth. Out of the 482 publications written by him between 1946 and 2006, 20 were selected which were directly or significantly devoted to parliamentarism. The influence of Gierowski's on the study of parliamentarism was not limited to publications, but included the shaping of successive generations of historians of political history and political systems (including parliamentarism), through the promotion of master's and doctoral theses and numerous reviews in promotion proceedings and publishing procedures. A key role in promoting the results of his own research, as well as his profound reflections on the function-ing of parliamentarism, its role in the former Republic, and its significance on against the backdropground of the processes of change of the political systems of Europe at that time, is occupied by the extremely widely read syntheses of Polish history by Gierowski. He should therefore be regarded as one of the key figures in the field of research into Polish‑Lithuanian parliamentarism.

The Enlightenment occupied an important place in the oeuvre of Professor Józef Andrzej Gierowski. This piece presents his evolving views on the Enlightenment in three syntheses of the history of early modern Poland and the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth: two university textbooks first published in 1967 and 1978 respectively, and a book addressed to a wider, non‑academic readership first published in 2001, much of which was presented to Anglophone readers in 1996. J. A. Gierowski’s views are presented against the background of the sardonic references to “the enlightened age” and “enlightened Europe” in the synthesis published by his supervisor, Władysław Konopczyński in 1936, as well as the Marxist‑Leninist scheme of the Enlightenment forced on historiography and the humanities in postwar Poland, especially by Celina Bobińska. J. A. Gierowski’s view of “the ideology of the Enlightenment” gradually shifted from the primacy of rationalist and materialist thinking to the aim of the pursuit of happi-ness within human society. While still emphasising economic and social factors, including the role of the bourgeoisie in the Dutch Republic, England and France, he increasingly distanced himself from the model of the Enlightenment as the ideology of the rising bourgeoisie, forced on him in the early stages of his academic career. After long reflection on the question of the reception and originality of the Enlightenment in the Commonwealth, he came to appreciate the contributions of Royal Prussian burghers, the Catholic clergy and the Polish‑Lithuanian nobility. He also jettisoned the postwar dogma that the beginning of the capitalist order in Poland should be dated to 1764.

Among Gierowski's research, an important place was occupied by works on the past of Silesia. He started Silesian studies that fit into socio‑economic history. He also published syntheses and source editions devoted to the history of Silesia. His research was continued by Józef Lesz-czyński and Krystyn Matwijowski. Leszczyński continued and developed his reflection on the social and legal history of Silesia. Among them, he examined the problems of peasant revolts, the situation of the poorest in Silesia during the Thirty Years' War and after its end. He studied Polish‑Silesian relations in the 17th and 18th centuries. Matwijowski conducted research on the history of Pietism and the history of everyday life in Silesia and works devoted to the past of Lower Silesian towns. Gierowski's research is inspired by Jerzy Maroń, the author of a book devoted to the Thirty Years' War in Silesia, Leszek Ziątkowski, authors part of the history of Wrocław and books about the past of Jews in Silesia. Jacek Dębicki deals with the history of culture in Silesia. Daniel Wojtucki develops studies on socio‑cultural phenomena in Silesia and Lusatia.

The article addresses the topic of the professional contacts between the renowned Polish histor-ian, Józef Andrzej Gierowski, and Romanian historians from academic institutions in Bucharest, Iasi and Chisinau. Following an analysis of the extant sources, it has been concluded that these contacts were the most intensive in the 1970s. They included participation in academic con-ferences, congresses and symposia, as well as private correspondence, e.g. with Veniamin Ciobanu from Iasi. In this particular case, the professional relationship evolved into a personal friendship. Józef Andrzej Gierowski’s recognisability among historians on a foreign academic forum attests to the fact that his achievements in research on the history of Central and Eastern Europe earned him considerable standing and respect among his peers.

The Author analyzes Professor Józef Andrzej Gierowski's cooperation with the Wrocław academic community after this eminent Polish historian moved to Cracow in the years 1965-2007.

Józef Andrzej Gierowski’s academic profile is presented in the light of his interest in the problems of universal history in relation to events, but above all to phenomena which allow for a better knowledge and understanding of the mentality of the people of the time, their activities and their consequences. Gierowski’s studies on the history of Europe were closely linked to the history of the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth (especially the period of the Saxon Wettin dynasty on the Polish throne), highlighting its international position and associations, and the resulting foreign policy of its rulers. Among the questions raised, there was no shortage of issues relating to the culture and ideology of the Baroque and the Enlightenment and, of primary interest to the researcher, the problem‑laden, not fully deciphered transition period between the two currents.
The second ‘part’ of the article emphasises Józef Andrzej Gierowski’s understanding of Europe as a certain whole, encompassing not only political history, social or economic affairs, but also cultural patterns and phenomena to which he was particularly sensitive.

The main purpose of the article is to present the achievements of J.A. Gierowski in his research into the Saxon times, i.e., the period of the reigns of August II and August III Wettin in the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth (1697‑1763). For a long time, this period was assessed negatively in historiography. There was a widespread view that both for the Polish‑Lithuanian state and for Saxony, those years meant decline and catastrophe. Gierowski, who began his scientific work after World War II, carefully analysing Polish and German archival sources, created his own paradigm of research on Saxon times. After rejecting extreme assessments, Gierowski focused on the following elements of this paradigm: 1. the problem of internal reforms 2. a general assessment of the importance of the Polish‑Saxon union and its conse-quences 3. the problem of the place in Europe, i.e., diplomatic activity, and 4. the economic and social situation combined by the “one‑person rulers” of states. This model of research proce-dure has been accepted by historians.

The issues of the history of culture and science of the eighteenth‑century Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth are rare in the works of Józef Andrzej Gierowski. This article analyses his views on these issues. He devoted most attention to the subject of the beginnings of the Enlightenment in Poland, joining a long scholarly discussion about it. He agreed that the precursors of the Enlightenment in Poland were already active in the 1740s, during the era of the Wettins’ rule. He pointed to educational reform, writing activity (Benedykt Chmielowski’s, the political and journalistic work of a number of writers) and publishing (especially of the Załuski brothers), and the development of periodicals as the three pillars on which reforms were carried out in the future – during the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski. In addition, and just as importantly, he drew attention to methodological weaknesses concerning the study of intermediate periods, i.e. between the Baroque and the Enlightenment. He also pointed out the need for a comprehen-sive picture of the cultural history of the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18 ^th century – proponents of both Sarmatian culture and Enlightenment thought.

The article discusses the development of studies on the epoch of the Polish‑Saxon Union (1697– 1763) in the 20th century (until 1990). Particular attention has been paid to the works of Władysław Konopczyński and his students (including Józef Feldman, Emanuel Rostworowski, Jerzy Michalski, Józef Andrzej Gierowski), as well as Mieczysław Skibiński and Jacek Stas-zewski. An attempt was made to identify the conditions influencing academic interest in the Saxon era, the gradual changes in research topics and their effects, and the varying intensity of this research. It was emphasised that they were largely concerned with political history.