Hieronim Cheslavovich Grala is the Polish Expert on the History of Moscow Russia

Abstract. The article provides an overview of studies produced by the Polish historian Hieronim Grala in the area of Muscovite history. Special attention is given to his book, dedicated to the famous statesman of the third quarter of the 16th century Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovatyi, where author demonstrated that the Muscovite state secretaries (diaki) in the middle of the 16th century were distinguished by a high level of education and public administration skills; Viskovatyi was a typical representative of the arising professional bureaucracy; his example allows us to speak about a significant modernization of the Russian state in the era of Ivan the Terrible. The object of analysis is the articles of the Polish historian on the Russian diaki as a social group which was more similar to the French “official nobility” than to the scribes in the chancelleries of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The results of some special works of the Polish historian (including his analysis of the ideas of the Russian and Polish-Lithuanian nobility about similarities and differences between the nobility of these two countries) and his views on the relations between the Muscovite rulers and Russian society are characterized. It is emphasized that thanks to Professor Grala many a priori stereotypes about the Russian political culture of the pre-Peter period are being revised.

Keywords: Hieronim Grala, Muscovite Russia, Muscovite state secretaries (diaki), autocracy, political culture.