Alexis P. Vlasto
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Alexis Peter Vlasto (14 November 1915 – 20 July 2000) was a British historian and philologist, specialising in
Slavonic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...
.


Life

Alexis Peter Vlasto was born at Toxteth Park, at that time a prosperous quarter in
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, a major port city in northwest England. He was the younger of the two recorded children (and the only son) of Peter Theodore Vlasto (1879–1941) by his marriage to Aziza Katherine Pallis. The Liverpool-based Vlastos at this time are described as a "family of Greek shipping agents". Vlasto attended
Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
, a prestigious English "public school" where he enjoyed the status of a "King's Scholar", before progressing in 1937 to
King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...
, where he studied modern and medieval languages. As the veil of secrecy lifted, it became known that in 1939 Vlasto was one of those headhunted to work at the British code breaking establishment at Bletchley in central England. Given charge of the Japanese Army Air Force section, tasks included cracking the Japanese Army Air Force code system 3366. Others assigned to the challenge included
Maurice Wiles Maurice Frank Wiles, FBA (17 October 1923 – 3 June 2005) was an Anglican priest and academic. He was Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford for 21 years, from 1970 to 1991. Life and academic career Wiles was educated at the ...
and Mervyn Jones. Someone else with whom he renewed an acquaintance at Bletchley Park was the young musicologist, Hilda Joan "Jill" Medway, like him seconded from
Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
to undertake "war work". War ended in May 1945: Vlasto and Medway had already married, on 19 March 1945. By the end of 1945 they were back in Cambridge, where Jill Vlasto resumed her teaching role, directing studies in music at both the "recognised institutions for the higher education for women" (after 1948 women's colleges). Alexis accepted a research fellowship at his old college and pursued his studies, working towards a doctorate. Their home was large enough to accommodate a lodger. The harpsichordist Thurston Dart, like Jill Vlasto a pioneer champion of the "
early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...
revival", lodged with the Vlastos on the western fringes of the city during 1949/50. By this time the focus of Vlasto's own academic work was on
Slavonic Studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...
, a topic which the political concerns of the time had pushed up the national and academic agendas. Alexis Vlasto was one of those who participated, as part of a small but eminent group of scholars gathered together by the remarkable Elizabeth Hill, in the establishment of the Cambridge University Department of Slavonic Studies which opened in 1948. Vlasto finally received his PhD in 1953. He taught in the Department of Slavonic Studies at Cambridge from 1954 until his retirement in 1983. 1968 was a defining year in two contrasting respects. His book "The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom" was published. Its contribution to scholarship has stood the test of time. 1968 was also the year in which, on 15 September, Jill Vlasto died, aged just 52. In 1969 Alexis Vlasto was elected a fellow of
Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge (formally Selwyn College in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Augustus Selwyn (18 ...
. The Master of the college was Owen Chadwick, who would later remember Vlasto as "a man who combined the ability to be infuriatingly impractical at times with a warm and generous heart in friendship". Retirement was gradual rather than sudden. Vlasto's other major work, "The Linguistic History of Russia", appeared in 1986 and continues to earn plaudits. In his final decades he was also able to devote more time to his principal long standing extra-curricular enthusiasms: music and botany. He had a deep knowledge of both subjects. In 1968 he collected seeds from a '' Silene viscariopsis'', an unusual plant he had found in what was then
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, and donated them to the University Botanic Garden. Plants grown from these seeds were distributed to botanical institutions around the world and opened the way to at least one significant research project. Alexis Vlasto died at
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
on 20 July 2000.


Selected works

* * ''The Linguistic History of Russia'' (1986)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vlasto, Alexis P. 1915 births 2000 deaths People from Toxteth People from Liverpool Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Bletchley Park people Fellows of Selwyn College, Cambridge 20th-century British historians