aron gurevich ’s medieval individual 301 ARON GUREVICH’S MEDIEVAL INDIVIDUAL YURI ZARETSKY, BORIS STEPANOV Studies of the history of the medieval individual occupy an important place in Aron Gurevich’s legacy. Ater initially addressing this theme at the end of 1960s, he continued writing and relecting upon it until the last days of his life. What is Gurevich’s contribution to the under- standing of the individual in medieval culture? Which circumstances contributed to his turn towards the study of the medieval individual? Which metamorphoses did this study undergo? Finally, how does Gurevich’s work on this subject relate to the changes in Russian humanities in the last decades? hese are the questions this article seeks to answer. he History of the Individual he emergence of the history of the individual is associated with Jacob Burckhardt, the famous historian of Renaissance Italy. 1 His major thesis airms that the modern individualistic type of man appeared during the Renaissance, and his appearance marked the beginning of the modern period in history. Using Jules Michelet’s formula “la découverte du monde, la découverte de l’homme” to describe this event, Burckhardt stressed the second part of the dei- nition, “the discovery of man.” What is particularly important is that Burkhardt illed this metaphor with solid content and convincing examples. At the foundation of Italian Renaissance culture lies one central and revolutionary idea—man’s awareness of his individuality. he whole book essentially represents a description of the social and cultural transformations provoked by this new understanding of the individual. 2 However, Burckhardt indicated not only the time and place but also the “mechanism” of the emergence of the new European indi- 1 Jacob Burckhardt, Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (Basel, 1860). 2 See Felix Gilbert, History: politics or culture? Relections on Ranke and Burckhardt (Princeton, 1990), 58-59, 68. LME5_Book 1.indb 301 LME5_Book 1.indb 301 11-5-2010 10:31:44 11-5-2010 10:31:44