The paper examines the subject and methodology of historical knowledge in the context of history of hermeneutics and its representatives. Hermeneutics studied problems of historism, in historical studies, however, hermeneutics is not of special interest. The paper considers ideas of W. Dilthey with his “critics of the historical reason”, of M. Heidegger and H.-G. Gadamer who re-evaluated classical historism, of P. Ricœur and E. Betti who discussed principles of methodological hermeneutics and interpretation in historical studies. Special attention is paid to G. G. Shpet’s history of hermeneutics and hermeneutics of history, to problems of logic of historical knowledge in his letter to medievalist historian D. M. Petrushevsky.