An almost decade of research on the Carniolan polymath Janez Vajkard Valvasor (1641–1693), especially his genealogical and social background, yielded a great deal of new and often surprising findings. Since they were too many to be dealt with appropriately in a single volume, the first of the two books, concentrating on the history of the family Valvasor from its beginnings to the extinction of its family name, appeared in 2015. The present monograph, published – like the first one – in the series “Thesaurus Memoriae”, is devoted to the polymath himself, primarily with regard to his ancestry, family environment and his descendants surviving to the present day. It was only in 2006 that the fact about Valvasor's still living descendants was revealed.

The book ('The Polymath Janez Vajkard Valvasor, His Ancestors and his Descendants to the Present Day') is divided into three parts. The first part presents the main findings on Valvasor, including the more unpleasant aspects of his life. The second part portrays Valvasor's nuclear family and his ancestors on both his maternal and paternal side, originating from today's Italy, Slovenia and Austria. Valvasor's descendants, spanning thirteen generations, are depicted in the third part of the book. The two latter parts represent a collection of different life stories from the end of the Middle Ages to the dawn of the 21st century, the stories of people living in the fluid territory between Western and Eastern Europe.