Dmitry Ilovaisky

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dmitry Ivanovich Ilovaisky (1832-1920) was an anti-Normanist Russian historian who penned a number of standard history textbooks.

Ilovaisky graduated from the Moscow University in 1854 and first attracted critical attention with his thesis on the Principality of Ryazan in 1858. He was wounded during the Siege of Pleven, in which he took an active part.

In the 1870s, Ilovaisky started publishing his extensive overview of Russian history, which was snubbed by reputable scholars as a mere compilation. In his later writings, he expounded a controversial hypothesis of Azov Rus, which was alleged to have been centered on Sarkel and Tmutarakan.

Ilovaisky was the father-in-law of Ivan Tsvetayev, who founded the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (see the article on Marina Tsvetayeva).