Boris Grekov, Soviet historian: a brief biography, the main work

The historian Boris Dmitrievich Grekov is one of the most famous Soviet researchers. The significance of his activity lies in the fact that he raised and developed many topics that were not studied before him. He deserves credit for creating a new approach in analyzing the most important events in ancient history. He published more than 300 scientific papers, was an outstanding teacher, headed the departments in the institutes. His circle of interests was extremely wide: he studied the political, socio-economic and cultural issues of antiquity, the Middle Ages and the New Times.

Formation of a historian

Boris Dmitrievich Grekov was born in Poltava province, in the family of a small servant, in 1882. He received a gymnasium education in the city, which is currently located on the territory of Poland. In 1901, he entered the University of Warsaw, where he studied under the leadership of the famous historian Petrushevsky, with the recommendations of which, after several years, he transferred to study in Moscow. Here, his leader was a prominent researcher Lubavsky.

Subsequently, he went to continue his studies in the capital of the empire, where he entered the magistracy. In 1913-1915 he actively studied the monastic archives of the northern regions of the country, which subsequently determined his interest in describing the church patrimony.

First works

His first publications showed that the main sphere of his interests was the social history of the peasants. In his early articles, Boris Dmitrievich Grekov studied the situation of Novgorod's wives. The author developed the idea that this category of persons belonged to the category of unsaved peasants who were associated with craft and trade. Thus, he posed one of the most important questions in historiography about the existence of craft in ancient and medieval Rus. These small works were the preparatory stage before writing his dissertation. In 1914 he defended the scientific work devoted to this topic.

His study, Boris Dmitrievich Grekov wrote on the basis of the Novgorod house of St. Sophia. Particular attention he paid to dependent categories of persons who worked on these lands. He studied and analyzed many social groups, beginning with the tiuns and clerks and ending with the direct producers.

Pedagogical activity

Boris Dmitrievich Grekov paid much attention to the teaching of history. He worked a lot at the Perm University, then transferred to the Taurida National Vernadsky University. Then the scientist moved to the capital, where he combined teaching activities with active work in the archives and academies. In 1930, he was arrested on false charges of collaboration and support of Wrangel. The latter circumstance negatively affected the future career of the scientist, as he, wishing to avoid attacks on supporting the White movement, was forced to write some scientific papers commissioned by the party. In fact, the historian did not fight, just during his stay in the south, the Taurida National Vernadsky University welcomed the arrival of the white general. However, thanks to the help and support of the director of the archaeological institute, the scientist was released.

Studies about Kievan Rus

In the 1930s, he began to actively study ancient history. Prior to this, in historiography, the main emphasis in studying the problem of the origin of the state was made on the analysis of annalistic news about the calling of the Varangians. There were very few works that would affect the question of the social order of the ancient Slavs before this event. Grekov Boris Dmitrievich, the basic provisions of the historical concept of which differed significantly from the theories of pre-revolutionary scientists, proposed a completely new interpretation of the emergence of the state.

He drew attention not to the very fact of calling the Varangians, but to the social order of the ancient Eastern Slavs, proving that they had immediately moved from feudalism to feudalism, bypassing the slave-owning stage. It was a new concept in historiography, because before him very few developed this idea.

Studying the history of the Slavs

The Soviet historian also denied the theory of the scientist Grushevsky that the legacy of Kievan Rus is limited only to Ukraine. Grekov convincingly proved that this stage of ancient history became the basis of the three branches of the Slavs: the eastern, western, southern.

He noted that her legacy became the property of subsequent periods of specific and medieval Rus. Heading the Institute of Slavic Studies, the scientist, of course, paid much attention to early history. He was engaged not only in the eastern, but also in the western and southern Slavs. Great is his merit in studying the legal system of the last two groups.

Work on peasants

Boris Dmitrievich Grekov, whose brief biography is the subject of this review, considered studying the situation of dependent categories of the population as his main topic. He started with the fact that he wrote articles and essays on Novgorodian beans, the dependent population of the fiefdom.

But the most fundamental of his monograph is considered to be a book about the situation of peasants in Russia from ancient times to the middle of the 17th century. In it, he again held the idea of the early birth of feudalism in our country, and also examined in detail the problem of the emergence of serfdom.

The study of political history and historiography

The main theme of Grekov's research was socio-economic history. However, he paid attention to the study of Russian appanage princedoms and the policies of their rulers. In co-authorship with the scientist Yakubovsky he wrote a monograph on the Golden Horde and relations with Russian lands. This is one of the largest works in historiography on this topic. The authors considered the causes, circumstances and conditions for the decline of the Golden Horde power in Russia. In addition, Grekov wrote several essays on the history of socio-political thought. Thus, he owns works on the analysis of scientific concepts and views of Engels on the patrimonial way of life, the theories of Lenin.

He also wrote several essays on the characteristics of historical representations of Russian writers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Grekov's legacy is very large and significant for the development of historiography. Although many of his provisions (in particular his theory of the early emergence of feudalism) have now been revised, nevertheless the author's contribution to the development of historical science is beyond doubt. This concerns a new approach to old problems, its methodology and interest in social and economic phenomena. We can not forget about his achievements in the field of source study. Being a brilliant scientist, he held many prominent posts; So, he headed the Institute of Slavic Studies. The famous historian died in 1953.