Ethnoconfessional features and national-cultural life of the Ruthenian population of the Habsburg monarchy in the perception of M. M. Levchenko in 1849

Abstract

The article is devoted to the publication published in 1855 by Mikhail Mikhailovich Levchenko (1830–1891 or 1892) “Memories of the campaign in Hungary in 1849. (Notes of an infantryman)”. A member of the Hungarian campaign, infantry officer M. M. Levchenko (a little Russian patriot, later a well-known lexicographer and ethnographer) personally got acquainted with the life of various peoples of the Austrian Empire. The officer paid considerable attention to the East Slavic population of Hungary and Galicia — Ruthenians. Unlike other participants of the Hungarian campaign, whose diaries and memoirs were published, Levchenko was initially keenly interested in Slavs, so he clearly characterized the Ruthenians as “tribesmen of our Little Russians”. At the same time, despite certain knowledge in the field of Slavic studies, Levchenko’s text also contains obvious inaccuracies, which are analyzed in this article. Levchenko was greatly impressed by the nascent national and cultural life of Ruthenians, especially Galicians, and the development of literature and education. Apparently, Levchenko’s stay in 1849 in the lands of the Habsburg monarchy with an East Slavic population had a noticeable impact on all his further activities. Thus, it is noteworthy that Levchenko popularized in Russia the ethnonym Rusyn as a national name for all Little Russians and Ruthenians.