Alexander Borisovich Lakier () (1825-1870) was a Russian historian of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

descent who was interested in

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

. Alexander Lakier was born in the city of

Taganrog Taganrog (, ) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don (river), Don River. It is in the Black Sea region. Population: Located at the site of a ...

in 1825. His father, Boris Lakier, a convert from Judaism, was the doctor who certified the death of the late Russian Emperor

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (, ; – ), nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russian Empire, Russia during the chaotic perio ...

who died in Taganrog in 1825. Lakier graduated from the Legal Dept. of the

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

and defended his thesis with ''On Domains and Estates'' (O Votchinah i Pomestyakh) released in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 1848. In 1856-1858, Lakier traveled across

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Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

and the

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. He kept a travel diary, fragments of which were published in ''

Sovremennik ''Sovremennik'' ( rus, «Современник», p=səvrʲɪˈmʲenʲːɪk, a=Ru-современник.ogg, "The Contemporary") was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in Saint Petersburg in 1836–1866. It came out f ...

'' (1858) and ''

The Russian Messenger The ''Russian Messenger'' or ''Russian Herald'' (, Pre-reform Russian: Русскій Вѣстникъ) has been the title of three magazines published in Russia during the 19th century and early 20th century. ''Russian Messenger'' period I and ...

'' (1858) and were later included in the book ''The Travel Through North American States, Canada and Cuba'', which was published in Saint Petersburg in 1859. In 1858, Alexander Lakier entered the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he was involved in statistics work and worked as editor in the commission on liberation of peasants. In 1860, he returned to

, where he worked as lawyer. Alexander Lakier published ''The History of Russian Sovereigns' Titles'' (1847), ''On Service in Russia before Peter The Great Times'' (Saint Petersburg, 1850), ''Review of Relations between Russia and England in 16th and 17th Centuries'' (1854) and other. His most famous work was "Russian Heraldry" (Saint Petersburg, 1855). This oeuvre is still a valuable reference, where Lakier made an attempt to analyze and explain coats of arms of Russian dukes and nobility. The volume also featured the history of Russian stamps - unique until the early 20th century.

References

* Walter Laqueur ''Thursday's Child Has Far to Go. A Memoir of the Journeying Years.''New York etc. (Maxwell Macmillan) 1992, 44-47. * Таганрог. Энциклопедия, Таганрог, издательство АНТОН, 2008 Image:Lakier_Coatofarms.jpg, The ancestral coat of arms of Lakier family. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lakier, Alexander 1825 births 1870 deaths Writers from Taganrog People from Yekaterinoslav Governorate Nobility from the Russian Empire 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire Moscow State University alumni