Joachim Lelewel (Warsaw 1786 – Paris 1861), the founder of modern Polish historiography and leading activist in the Polish democratic movement during the November Uprising of 1830-31 and in the diaspora, was from an originally Swedish noble family (Loelhoeffel) settled in East Prussia; his father, an ardent Polish patriot and supporter of the Insurrection of 1794, had changed the name to Lelewel.

Joachim was schooled at the Warsaw Piarist School and studied at Vilnius University between 1804 and 1808. After a few years in Warsaw, where he became involved in historical studies, he was appointed as a lecturer in history at Vilnius (1815) and later, after a stint as deputy librarian in the public library of the Warsaw University, as professor of history (1821) and official Censor (1823). There, he connected with national-liberal and Romantic students known as the philomaths and philarets (one of their members being Adam Mickiewicz). Upon their discovery by the Russian authorities, Lelewel was dismissed and banned from Vilnius (1824). He returned to Warsaw and devoted himself to historical studies as well as, increasingly, to political activities. He became a member of the Patriotic Society (Towarzystwo Patriotyczne, a radical opposition movement), and lent active support to the November Uprising of 1830 and 1831, ultimately as a member of the national government.

After the defeat of the uprising, Lelewel emigrated to Paris and organized the political activities of Polish democrats there, becoming chair of the “Polish National Committee” (Komitet Narodowy Polski). Under Russian diplomatic pressure, France expelled him in 1833, whereupon he settled in Brussels, turning that city into a node in the international Polish support network. He was chair of the democratic organization “Young Poland” (Młoda Polska, 1835-36) and other émigré societies, and together with Karl Marx he became vice-president of the International Democratic Society in Brussels. He was a signatory of the Communist Manifesto (1848), but withdrew from political activism in subsequent years. Buried at the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris, his remains were transferred to the Rossa (Rasos) Cemetery in Vilnius on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of Vilnius University in 1929.

Lelewel is the author of numerous historical works. He developed a Romantic conception, idealistic and democratic in equal parts, of Polish history and of its “spirit”, blaming the selfishness of the nobility for disregarding the nation’s interest, and thus for the loss of national freedom. This historical view also motivated his political refusal to give the nobility a role in a future Poland. Although Lelewel’s views belong firmly to the Romantic school of history-writing, his focus was on political rather than cultural developments, and, thanks also to his archival and academic experience, his sources were more firmly anchored in archival documentation; as such, he foreshadows a more factualist and scholarly approach to history-writing, as opposed to contemporaries like Narbutt.

His most important works are Trzy konstytucje polskie 1791, 1807 i 1815 (“Three Polish constitutions of 1791, 1807 and 1815”, Warsaw 1831), Dzieje Litwy i Rusi aż do unii z Polską w Lublinie 1569 zawartej (“History of Lithuania and Ruthenia until the union with Poland, established in Lublin 1569”, Leipzig 1839), Polska wieków średnich (“Medieval Poland”, 4 vols, Poznań 1846-51) and Polska, dzieje i rzeczy jej (“Poland, its history, life and institutions”, 7 vols, Poznań 1855-1863). He also dealt intensively with general history and even, in an innovative way, with the history of India (Dzieje starożytne Indii ze szczególnym zastanowieniem się nad wpływem, jaki wpływ mieć mogła na strony zachodnie “A history of ancient India, with special consideration of the impact which it could have had on the West”, Warsaw 1820). He sometimes is considered a precursor of comparative history with his Historyczna paralela Hiszpanii z Polską w wieku XVI, XVII, XVIII (“A parallel history of Spain and Poland in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries”, Warsaw 1831).