About Professor Bolesław Wilanowski: A Somewhat Forgotten Vilnius Scholar

Abstract

The article titled About Professor Bolesław Wilanowski: A Somewhat Forgotten Vilnius Scholar covers the figure of Professor Bolesław Wilanowski, law historian, canon law expert, theologian, and orientalist. In pre-WW2 Poland, he worked at the University of Stefan Batory in Vilnius. After WW2, he joined the faculty of Łódź Univeristy. Wilanowski was one of the scientists who helped lay the foundations for these research centres.

Despite the fact that Wilanowski did not live that long ago, his biography contains some gaps and unknowns. The literature on the subject is extremely scarce. This article aims to describe some facts and events from the fruitful life of the scholar, which are still uncertain and inadequately exposed. The author also draws attention to the question of the value of Wilanowski’s unpublished typescripts.

In his study, the author reaches out to documentary evidence, mainly sourced at the Lithuanian Central State Archives in Vilnius, the Archive of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Archive of the University of Łódź, and, to a lesser extent, the Archive of the Jagiellonian University.