Vasil Nikolov Zlatarski ( bg, Васил Николов Златарски; – 15 December 1935) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

-medievalist, archaeologist, and epigraphist.

Life

Vasil Zlatarski was born in

Veliko Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

in 1866, the youngest child of the teacher Nikola Zlatarcheto (from his home-town Zlataritsa, near Tarnovo) who was a prominent activist in the educational movement and the religious and national struggle in the Tarnovo region before the Liberation. Zlatarski obtained his education in Veliko Tarnovo (until 3rd grade) and in the Peter and Paul Seminary at Liaskovets, near Tarnovo where he was preparing for priesthood. After the early death of his father, he went to his brother in Russia, where in 1887 he graduated the First Classical Lyceum in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Studied History at the University of St. Petersburg in 1891 and as a post-graduate in Berlin in 1893–1895. Then he returned to Bulgaria and became a secondary school teacher in Sofia and Lecturer in the Higher School (now the

Sofia University Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

). He was promoted to the rank of full professor in 1906. Between 1926 and his death Zlatarski was vice-president of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Zlatarski is an historical objectivist, close to the positivist school. He contributed significantly to the development of Bulgarian historical science by becoming the first professor of history at the

who conducted original research and by creating the field of Bulgarian medieval history proper, within the parameters in which it still exists today. Between his first appointment at the university in 1893 and his death in 1935 he worked on his monumental ''History of the Bulgarian State in the Middle ages'' - a comprehensive study of the political history of the medieval Bulgarian state with long discussions of cultural and religious problems and meticulous analysis of broad source evidence. Zlatarski popularised historical research in the country and established contacts with major Russian and Western medievalists and Byzantinists such as A. A. Vasiliev or

Henri Grégoire Henri Jean-Baptiste Grégoire (; 4 December 1750 – 28 May 1831), often referred to as the Abbé Grégoire, was a French Catholic priest, Constitutional bishop of Blois and a revolutionary leader. He was an ardent slavery abolitionist and sup ...

. He was the chairman of the Fourth International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Sofia, 1934. Vasil Zlatarski's Grave

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* 1866 births 1935 deaths People from Veliko Tarnovo 20th-century Bulgarian historians Bulgarian medievalists Members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925) Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Epigraphers Burials at Central Sofia Cemetery Rectors of Sofia University Historians of Bulgaria {{Bulgaria-historian-stub