The historian Boris Dmitrievich Grekov is one of the most famous Soviet researchers. The significance of his work lies in the fact that he raised and developed many topics that were poorly studied before him. He owes the merit of creating a new approach to the analysis of the most important events in ancient history. He published more than 300 scientific papers, was an outstanding teacher, and headed departments at institutes. The range of his interests was extremely wide: he studied the political, socio-economic and cultural issues of antiquity, the Middle Ages and the New Age.
The formation of a historian
Boris Dmitrievich Grekov was born in the Poltava province, in the family of a small employee, in 1882. He received high school education in the city, which is currently located in Poland. In 1901, he entered Warsaw University, where he studied under the guidance of the famous historian Petrushevsky, from whose recommendation he transferred to study in Moscow a few years later. Here, its leader was a prominent researcher Lubavsky.
Subsequently, he went to continue his studies in the capital of the empire, where he entered the magistracy. In 1913-1915, he actively studied the monastery archives of the northern regions of the country, which subsequently determined his interest in describing the church patrimony.
First work
His first publications showed that the main area of ​​his interests was the social history of peasants. In his early articles, Boris Dmitrievich Grekov studied the situation of Novgorodian bean. The author developed the idea that this category of people belonged to the category of uncultivated peasants who were associated with craft and trade. Thus, he posed one of the most important questions in historiography about the existence of crafts in ancient and medieval Russia. These small works were a preparatory stage before writing his dissertation. In 1914, he defended a scientific work devoted to this topic.
Boris Dmitrievich Grekov wrote his research on the basis of the Novgorod house of St. Sophia. He paid special attention to the dependent categories of people who worked on these lands. He studied and analyzed many social groups, from tyuns and clerks to direct producers.
Educational activities
Boris Dmitrievich Grekov paid much attention to the teaching of history. He worked a lot at Perm University, then transferred to the Taurida National University named after V.I. Vernadsky. Then the scientist moved to the capital, where he combined teaching with active work in the archive and the academy. In 1930, he was arrested on false charges of collaborating and supporting Wrangel. The latter circumstance negatively affected the future career of the scientist, since he, wanting to avoid attacks in support of the white movement, was forced to write some scientific works commissioned by the party. In fact, the historian did not fight, just during his stay in the south the Taurida National University named after V.I. Vernadsky welcomed the arrival of the white general. However, thanks to the help and support of the director of the archaeographic institute, the scientist was released.
Research on Kievan Rus
In the 1930s, he began to actively study ancient history. Prior to this, in historiography, the main emphasis in the study of the problem of the origin of the state was made on the analysis of the annalistic news of the calling of the Vikings. There were very few works that would one way or another touch upon the issue of the social structure of the ancient Slavs before this event. Grekov Boris Dmitrievich, the main provisions of the historical concept of which differed significantly from the theories of pre-revolutionary scientists, proposed a completely new interpretation of the emergence of the state.
He drew attention not to the very fact of calling the Varangians, but to the social system of the ancient Eastern Slavs, proving that they immediately switched from the primitive system to feudalism, bypassing the slave stage. This was a new concept in historiography, since before it, only very few developed this idea.
Studying the history of the Slavs
The Soviet historian also refuted the theory of the scientist Grushevsky that the heritage of Kievan Rus was limited only to Ukraine. Grekov convincingly proved that this stage of ancient history became the basis of three branches of the Slavs: eastern, western, southern.
He noted that her legacy became the property of subsequent periods of specific and medieval Russia. Leading the Institute of Slavic Studies, the scientist, of course, paid much attention to early history. He studied not only Eastern, but also Western and Southern Slavs. Great are his merits in studying the legal system of the last two groups.
Work about the peasants
Boris Dmitrievich Grekov, whose brief biography is the subject of this review, considered the study of the situation of dependent categories of the population his main topic. He began by writing articles and essays about Novgorodian bean, the dependent population of the patrimony.
But his most fundamental monograph is considered to be a book about the situation of peasants in Russia from ancient times to the middle of the 17th century. In it, he again carried out the idea of ​​the early emergence of feudalism in our country, and also examined in detail the problem of the emergence of serfdom.
The study of political history and historiography
The main theme of Grekov’s research was socio-economic history. However, he paid attention to the study of Russian specific principalities and the policies of their rulers. In collaboration with the scientist Yakubovsky, he wrote a monograph on the Golden Horde and the relations of Russian lands with it. This is one of the largest works in historiography on this topic. The authors examined the causes, circumstances and conditions of the decline of the Golden Horde power in Russia. In addition, Grekov wrote several essays on the history of socio-political thought. So, he owns the work on the analysis of scientific concepts and views of Engels on tribal life, the theories of Lenin.
He also wrote several essays on the characteristics of historical representations of domestic writers of the 18-19th century. Grekov’s legacy is very large and significant for the development of historiography. Although many of his propositions (in particular, his theory about the early emergence of feudalism) are currently being revised, nevertheless, the author’s contribution to the development of historical science is undeniable. This concerns a new approach to old problems, its methodology and interest in social and economic phenomena. We must not forget about his achievements in the field of source study. As a brilliant scientist, he held many prominent posts; So, he headed the Institute of Slavic Studies. The famous historian died in 1953.