Vasily Klyuchevsky
| Vasily Klyuchevsky | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
28 January 1841 Penza Governorate, Russia |
| Died |
25 May 1911 (aged 70) Moscow, Russia |
Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky (Russian: Василий Осипович Ключевский; 28 January [O.S. 16 January] 1841 in Voskresnskoye Village, Penza Governorate, Russia – 25 May [O.S. 12 May] 1911, Moscow) dominated Russian historiography at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He is still regarded as one of three most reputable Russian historians, alongside Nikolay Karamzin and Sergey Solovyov.
Biography
Early life
A village priest's son, Klyuchevsky, of Mordvinian ethnicity, studied in the Moscow University under Sergey Solovyov, to whose chair he succeeded in 1879. His first important publications were an article on economic activities of the Solovetsky Monastery near the old Russian town of Belozersk (1867) and a thesis on medieval Russian hagiography (1871).
Career
Kluchevsky was one of the first Russian historians to shift attention away from political and social issues to geographical and economical forces. He was particularly interested in the process of Russian peaceful colonisation of Siberia and the Far East. In 1882, he published his landmark study of the Boyar Duma, whereby he asserted his view of a state as a result of collaboration of diverse classes of society.
In 1889, Klyuchevsky was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences. Although his lectures were highly popular, he published but a handful of biographies of "representative men", including Andrei Kurbsky, Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin, Feodor Rtishchev, Vasily Galitzine, and Nikolay Novikov.
Later life
The last decade of his life was spent preparing the printed version of his lectures. He also became interested in politics, and joined the Constitutional Democratic party.
Notes
English Translations
- A History of Russia, (4 Volumes), J.M. Dent/E.P. Dutton, London/NY, 1911. from Archive.org
- Peter the Great, Beacon Press, Boston, 1984.
- Rise of the Romanovs, Barnes & Noble, 1993.
- Two samples of his prose can be found in Crimean-Nogai Raids#Historians on the Tatar Raids
Further reading
- Mazour, Anatole G. "V.O. Kliuchevsky: The Making of a Historian", Russian Review, Vol. 31, No. 4. (Oct., 1972), pp. 345–359.
- Mazour, Anatole G. "V.O. Kliuchevsky: The Scholar and Teacher", Russian Review, Vol. 32, No. 1. (Jan., 1973), pp. 15–27.
- Vasily Klyuchevsky. "The course of the Russian history", ISBN 5-244-00072-1, (in Russian)