Konstantin Nikolayevich Bestuzhev-Ryumin (; – ) was a Russian historian. He was the head of the School of Historiography at the

University of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

(1864–85) and was elected into the

St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

in 1890. In 1878, he founded and gave his name to the

Bestuzhev Courses The Bestuzhev Courses () in Saint Petersburg were the largest and most prominent women's higher education institution in Imperial Russia. The institute opened its doors in 1878. It was named after Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the first director ...

, "the largest and most prominent women's higher education institution in Russia".Quoted from: Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild. ''Equality and Revolution: Women's Rights in the Russian Empire, 1905-1917''. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010. . Page 56.

Career

Bestuzhev was born into one of Russia's oldest families;

Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin Mikhail Pavlovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin (; – ) was a Russian officer, one of the organizers of the Decembrist revolt. He was the youngest of the five hanged Decembrists. Biography Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin was born in the village Kudryoshky () o ...

was his uncle. He started out as a journalist, helping Andrey Krayevsky to edit the literary journal ''

Otechestvennye Zapiski ''Otechestvennye Zapiski'' ( rus, Отечественные записки, p=ɐˈtʲetɕɪstvʲɪnːɨjɪ zɐˈpʲiskʲɪ, variously translated as "Annals of the Fatherland", "Patriotic Notes", "Notes of the Fatherland", etc.) was a Russian lit ...

'' where he published numerous reviews of historical and ethnographic works. He was drawn to a moderate wing of the Slavophile movement and welcomed Nikolai Danilevsky's theories. His pupils include

Alexander III of Russia Alexander III (; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 1894. He was highly reactionary in domestic affairs and reversed some of the libera ...

, several Grand Dukes from the

Romanov family The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russia. Ni ...

, and historian

Sergey Platonov Sergey Fyodorovich Platonov () (28 June Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="6 June Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 1860 – 10 January 1933) was a Russian historian who led the official St Petersburg school of imperial historio ...

. Among Bestuzhev's works are a set of popular books on Russia's history, several monographs on medieval

paleography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

, and the two volumes of ''Russian History''. The latter work is considered his ''magnum opus''. Bestuzhev was known for carefully detailing the views of other historians whilst withholding his own opinions.

Citations

Sources

* ''Киреева Р. А.'' Бестужев-Рюмин и историческая наука второй половины XIX века. М., 1990. * ''Киреева Р. А.'' Бестужев-Рюмин К. Н. // Историки России: Биографии / Под ред. А.А. Чернобаева. М., 2001. * ''Малинов А. В.'' К. Н. Бестужев-Рюмин: Очерк теоретико-исторических и философских взглядов. СПб., 2005. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bestuzhev, Konstantin 1829 births 1897 deaths People from Bogorodsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast People from Gorbatovsky Uyezd 19th-century nobility from the Russian Empire 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire Male writers from the Russian Empire Academic staff of Saint Petersburg State University Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Imperial Moscow University alumni Privy Councillor (Russian Empire)