Mirror of a Nation: Professionalization of History and Nation-Building in 'Long' Nineteenth Century

The article deals with the shaping of history as an academic discipline in the `long' nineteenth century. The period of romantic history-writing resulted not only in growing interest to national cultures and histories but also in professionalisation of history. While searching the archival materials and in the process of criticising of historical sources and arguing that the roots of a nation lie in the Medieval history 19th century authors shaped professional standards for academic history. While using fiction and 'histories' of the Modem Times intellectuals, the author concluded that for the 19th century romantic writers history became an intellectual strategy which proves inevitability of national contemporaneity.