Miller Gerard Friedrich - historian, Russian academician, geographer, cartographer, traveler, founder of the "Norman theory", because of which he made enemies among Russian scientists, such as M. Lomonosov, S. Krasheninnikov, N. Popov. He spent ten years on an expedition in which he studied the history of Siberia, the nationalities inhabiting it, their way of life and languages. Archival documents brought from the expedition still provide invaluable assistance to scientists.
Origin
The Miller Gerard Friedrich family lived in Westphalia, a historical region of northwestern Germany, in the small town of Herford. Here he was born. His father was a rector in a gymnasium, a native of the pastoral family of the city of Zest. Mother, Bode Anna Maria, is from the family of a professor of law, theology and oriental languages at the University of Minden in Westphalia. His uncle, his mother’s brother, Heinrich von Bode, had the rank of court adviser, law professor in Halle and Rinteln.
Education
Gerard Friedrich Miller received his education at Heford Grammar School, which was led by his father. Then he continued his studies at the University of Leipzig, where the famous historian and philosopher I. Menke was his mentor. After training, he receives a bachelor's degree in history. In 1725, the Academy of Sciences was opened in St. Petersburg, and I. Menke recommends his colleague I.P. Kolya to it. He becomes an academician and heads the department of church history.
Being familiar with Miller Gerard Friedrich, he invites him to Russia, where, among other immigrants from Europe, he is determined by a student in the Russian Academy with parallel work in a gymnasium with her with a salary of 200 rubles a year. He taught Latin, geographical and historical sciences. In addition, his duties included maintaining ducts at meetings of the academy and other documents. He was the editor of SPb Vedomosti, a newspaper for a wide range of readers in which articles by academics, including his, were published.
Carier start
Schumacher, who at that time was acting as secretary of the academy and librarian, had a great influence on his early career. Gerard Friedrich Miller helped him in his library affairs. According to Miller himself, he did clerical work. After the librarian moved to Moscow, he accepted and sent correspondence for six months, which he signed on behalf of Schumacher, as he had the right to do so. That is, in fact, he performed his duties, while not forgetting his own. The biography of Gerard Friedrich Miller has undergone positive changes. For five years, he has made a brilliant career and becomes a professor at the Academy.
Trip to europe
In 1730 he went abroad. The purpose of his trip is to put things in order after the death of his father. In addition, he was given instructions from the Academy. He was to raise the status of this institution through personal conversations with prominent scientists of Europe. Gerard Miller invited them to Russia for scientific work and promised the title of honorary academicians. Negative rumors spread among foreign scientists to prevent their departure to Russia. He had to dispel them.
In addition, Gerard Miller was instructed to distribute books and prints published by the Academy abroad. He carried out all these instructions, as far as possible, regularly. It took a certain amount of time. Schumacher was in correspondence with him. On January 2, 1731 he sends Miller a letter in which he writes that the duties of the editor of St. Petersburg Vedomosti are assigned to another. He would like Gerard Friedrich to execute them, asking him to come urgently.
But Miller returned only on August 2, and found that Mr. Schumacher had an animosity for him. His daughter, whom Miller wanted to marry, married another, his place as editor was taken. In his apartment there was a closet in which correspondence was kept. He was opened, all the letters of Schumacher to him were seized. This hostility of the academic librarian persisted until the end of his life.
How Fedor Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Danilovich
Miller Gerard Friedrich, or Fyodor Ivanovich, as they called him in Russian, explains the reason for the persistent hostility to him from Schumacher by the fact that Count Osterman made him an advantageous offer to be a mentor to the niece of the empress, Princess Makenburgskaya Anna Leopoldovna. The intervention of I. Schumacher, who personally knew the count, consisted in proposing the candidacy of the husband of his sister Genninger for this position in his place.
But Schumacher personally asked him to hurry with his arrival. So this is most likely not true. What caused the quarrel between Fedor Ivanovich and Ivan Danilovich is still unknown. But there were rumors that Miller, quite simply, was setting up I. D. Schumacher. Upon learning of this, he could not forgive his former protege such an act.
The Second Kamchatka Expedition (1733-1743)
In 1732, Miller prepared and published a series of articles on the history of Russia. This publication was intended to introduce foreigners to the geography and history of Russia. The biography of Gerard Friedrich Miller was replenished with another important event. At that time, preparations were underway for the Second Kamchatka Expedition, the duration of which was 10 years. On behalf of the Academy of Sciences, Miller takes part in it.
He didn’t get to the Kamchatka Peninsula, but he traveled all the settlements of eastern and western Siberia, having traveled more than 31 thousand miles. On his way were Berezov, Ust-Kamennogorsk, Yakutsk, Nerchinsk. Here he worked with local archives. He collected, systematized and described them, having done a great job. It was he who owned the opening of the Remezov Chronicle.
The Siberian expedition provided a lot of interesting and important material on archeology, the state of the region at the time of the study, and ethnography of the local population. Of great value was a large collection of archival documents found in local archives. She gave a detailed picture of the history of Siberia.
Miller Gerard Friedrich used only a tiny fraction of them in his works. It included archival funds of more than 20 Siberian cities. Among them - Tomsk, Tobolsk, Yakutsk. Documents used by many Russian scientists in their work. They give researchers an idea of the life of past generations of residents of the Siberian Territory.
Geographical Descriptions
The basis for compiling maps of some regions of Siberia (Tomsk, Mangazeysk, Krasnoyarsk, Kuznetsk, Yenisey, Selenginsky, Nerchinsky) were their descriptions made by the professor. They contain detailed toponymy. Under the guidance of Professor Miller, drawings and descriptions of Siberian rivers, such as the Irtysh, Angara, Lena and others, were made.
In 1740 he finished the work, which was called "The Story of the Countries lying on the Amur River", and in 1744 he published the "General Geography of Siberia" in six parts, one of which he devoted to rivers. In a brief biography of Miller Gerard Friedrich there is no way to list all his works, therefore only those that are of great importance are listed here.
A family
In 1742, Miller, being in Siberian Verkhoturye, married. His wife was the daughter of his sworn enemy I.D. Schumacher, who married during his departure to Europe. After her husband died, she remarried her ex-groom. She, of course, already had a different surname. This explains some bewilderment caused by the words of MV Lomonosov in what he called Miller's son-in-law Schumacher. The professor had two sons. The eldest, Carl, is the future court adviser, prosecutor of the Supreme Court. The younger, Jacob, is the future second major.
Return to St. Petersburg
After returning from Siberia, the works of Miller Gerard Friedrich were replenished with another work on the history of Russian research. It was printed in France. In 1747 he became a subject of Russia. In the same year he was appointed chief state historiographer and continues to work on his articles and books on the history of Siberia.
Miller's Speech
In 1749, between Miller and Russian scientists M. Lomonosov, S. Krasheninnikov, N. Popov, a real irreconcilable enmity broke out. The reason for it was the report prepared by him for the meeting of the Academy, at which the issue of the origin of the people and the word "Russian" were considered. Scientists Lomonosov, Krasheninnikov and Popov found it reprehensible for the Russian people.
Miller was accused of the fact that his speech did not contain a single significant event in the life of Russia. In his speech, only battles prevailed in which the Russian squads suffered defeats. Russian people were represented on the negative side. If any positive event was present in his report, then it necessarily took place under the guidance of the Normans. As a result (according to Miller) the Scandinavians conquered all of Russia, and all that was done positively is their merit.
Shocked by such a rebuff, Miller allegedly burned his speech. But the scandal received wide publicity, and he was transferred from professors to associates with a lower salary. This decision was made by Count Razumovsky, at that time the president of the Academy. But after some time, Miller petitioned for the abolition of punishment and was forgiven.
Drawing a portrait of Gerard Miller, one can imagine a man who is hardworking, punctual, but does not know the specifics of the Russian question, judging the events and deeds of the historical figures of Russia from the point of view of the German burgher. It’s probably impossible to accuse him of deliberate distortion of facts ...
Miller as the founder of Norman theory
This speech could not but outrage Russian scientists who knew perfectly the whole history of Russia. They considered this attitude to the Russian people and its history offensive. And today, many believe that such a reaction from Lomonosov and his comrades was caused by the unfriendly relations between Sweden and Russia at that time, but this is not so.
The origin of the Norman theory has completely anti-Russian roots. Its founders were German scientists serving in the imperial Academy. Against the dominance of the Germans in Russian historical science, Lomonosov once spoke out, having made many enemies for himself. He, a brilliant scientist, was saved only by world fame.
The Germans were based on the annals of "The Tale of Bygone Years", which talked about the call for reign in Rurik from Varangian tribes, considering them Norman. But even today no scientist can say with accuracy who the Vikings are. Only one thing is clear that the Varangians called all the tribes living on the shores of the Baltic Sea, which at that time was called Varyazhsky. In addition to the Scandinavian tribes, Slavic tribes who came there from Pomerania lived on its coastal territory. They were also called Varangians.
By the way, German specialists working in an academic gymnasium, where Miller’s brother was a teacher (and Miller himself worked here upon arrival from Germany), for thirty years of its existence did not prepare a single student for the university, explaining this not by their attitude to work , their incompetence, and the inability of Russians to learn. And they even offered to bring students from Germany.
These “specialists” had unlimited access to all archival documents and the ability to interpret the history of Russia as they see fit. This explained their attitude towards the Russians as dumb, retarded, incapable of learning. It was this attitude towards everything Russian that was characteristic of Herr Miller.
Proceedings of Miller Gerard Friedrich
His universally recognized merit can be considered works on the history of Siberia. An example is the Description of the Siberian Kingdom, which he carried out on behalf of the Academy. The first volume of this work was published in 1750 and earned the recognition of scientists and history buffs. The second volume was published only in fragments. For some unknown reason, Miller hesitated to write the second volume. The Academy entrusted writing to Academician Fisher. His work was recognized as plagiarism of already printed extracts of Miller Gerard Friedrich. The photo at the beginning of the article displays a monument in Khanty-Mansiysk, it was delivered to the conquerors of Siberia, including Miller.
Since 1754, as a conference secretary, he has been engaged in correspondence with famous European scientists, and continues, as before, to invite them to work in Russia, at Moscow University. He has an active correspondence with Voltaire, who compiles the history of the reign of Emperor Peter I. Miller provides him with all available materials on this topic.
Nine years, from 1755 to 1765, he is the editor of the journal "Monthly Works", which was the first periodical in Russian. Almost all famous writers of that time were published here. Miller publishes his works in it about the chronicler Nestor and the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. He does not leave the theme of the origin of the Russian people. In the work “On the Beginning of Novgorod,” he addresses the theme of the origin of the Russian state, but, bearing in mind the scandal with Lomonosov, he suggests that it was founded by the Roxolans living in the Baltic.
Miller wanted, in the continuation of Tatishchev, to study the Time of Troubles of the times of Godunov and False Dmitry, but Lomonosov, worried that Miller could not cope with this topic and completely confused everything, since this gloomy and difficult period of Russia contained many unexplored and unknown moments, got from Academy termination of his work.
Moscow period
In 1765, Miller petitioned for his transfer by his chief overseer to the newly opened Educational Home in Moscow. On this basis, the secretary of Catherine II I. Betskoy recommended him. By decree of the empress, he was appointed to this post. Behind him at the Academy remained the position of historiographer. In 1766, he was appointed head of the archive of the College of Foreign Affairs in Moscow. This appointment was signed by the Empress with an order to draw up a "Collection of Russian Diplomacy."
In 1772, G.F. Miller broke paralysis, but he continued to work in this position for another 11 years, until his death on October 22, 1783. He prepared for publication and published the works of scientists and writers, which were monuments of Russian history. He collected a collection of genuine documents about the times of E. Pugachev, which were included in his Pugachev portfolio. For all his mistakes, Miller made a definite contribution to Russian science, primarily as a geographer and archivist, who systematized a lot of valuable documents. It is difficult to underestimate his work on the history of Siberia.