Prince Alexander Ivanovich Urusov (russian: Александр Иванович Урусов, April 2, 1843,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, — July 16, 1900, Moscow) was a Russian Empire
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
, literary critic, translator and philanthropist.
Biography
Alexander Urusov was born in Moscow. The
Urusov Urusov/Ouroussoff (russian: Урусов) and Urusova/Ouroussoff (russian: Урусова; feminine) is a Russian princely family of Nogai origins (from turkic ''urus'', "russian")
Famous members
* Andrey Urusov (also known as Kasim-Murza, 1 ...
family was of
Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different ancestry, ennobled during the times of
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
.
[Aleksandr Vasilʹev, ''Beauty in Exile: The Artists, Models, and Nobility who Fled the Russian Revolution and Influenced the World of Fashion'', Harry N. Abrams (2000), p. 194] His father, Colonel Ivan Alexandrovich Urusov, was the Moscow military chief
Arseny Zakrevsky
Count Arseny Andreyevich Zakryevsky (russian: Граф Арсе́ний Андре́евич Закре́вский; September 24, 1783 or 1786 in Tver Governorate – January 23, 1865 in Florence) was a Russian statesman and Minister of the I ...
's deputy. His mother Princess Yekaterina Ivanovna Urusova (née Elsnits) belonged to the aristocratic
Naryshkin family
The House of Naryshkin (russian: Нарышкины) is a noble Moscow boyar family of Crimean Tatar descent, going back to a certain Mordko Kurbat Naryshko, a Crimean Tatar, who moved to Moscow in the 15th century.Sergei O. Prokofieff, ''The Spi ...
. After graduating the
Moscow University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
in 1866 he joined a
Saint 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 ...
district court as a lawyer and became famous after achieving the acquittal of Marfa Volokhova, a peasant woman falsely accused of her husband's murder. According to
Alexander Hertzen
Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ге́рцен, translit=Alexándr Ivánovich Gértsen; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism" and one of the main fathers of agra ...
, "by the late 1860s Urusov has become the major star of the Russian advocatory."
In 1871 Alexander Urusov successfully defended in court several members of the so-called
Nechayev group: some of his clients were acquitted. According to a secret agent's report to his
Special Corps of Gendarmes
The Separate Corps of Gendarmes (russian: Отдельный корпус жандармов) was the uniformed security police of the Imperial Russian Army in the Russian Empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its main responsibilitie ...
's chief, Urusov "in Moscow
asquite enjoying his popularity as a people's tribune."
A year later in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
Urusov issued a statement advising the Swiss authorities against extraditing Sergey Nechayev to Russia. Accused on this account of "maintaining criminal contacts with revolutionaries," in September of that year Urusov was arrested in Moscow and deported to
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
where he stayed in exile until 1876. "I very much hope that he will stay there under the real, not imaginary police surveillance," Tsar
Alexander II inscribed upon the Urusov's police file.
Banned from practice in court, Urusov turned to journalism and became a popular literary and theatre critic, writing under the pseudonym Alexander Ivanov. He was a friend of
Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...
, regularly corresponded with
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
, was considered an authority on the
French poetry
French poetry () is a category of French literature. It may include Francophone poetry composed outside France and poetry written in other languages of France.
French prosody and poetics
The modern French language does not have a significant st ...
and literature (
Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...
and
Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...
in particular) and later exerted the strong influence upon the circle of the young
Russian symbolists. Urusov was the first to recognize a major talent in
Konstantin Balmont
Konstantin Dmitriyevich Balmont ( rus, Константи́н Дми́триевич Бальмо́нт, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪdʑ bɐlʲˈmont, a=Konstantin Dmitriyevich Bal'mont.ru.vorb.oga; – 23 December 1942) was a Rus ...
and helped him publish his book ''Under the Northern Sky'' (Saint Petersburg, 1894). In his essays and articles Urusov (who described himself as "a liberal") was a fierce critic of social injustice in Russia, propagating the same principles he upheld in court.
In the late 1870s Urusov moved to
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
and made himself a name there as a court prosecutor. In 1878 another famous Russian lawyer
Anatoly Koni
Anatoly Fedorovich Koni (Russian: Анато́лий Фёдорович Ко́ни; 9 February 1844 – 17 September 1927) was a Russian jurist, judge, politician and writer. He was the most politically influential jurist of the late Russian Empir ...
assisted his return to Saint Petersburg where he joined the city's regional court as a prosecutor's assistant. Urusov was permitted to return to a barrister's practice in 1881 by the
Minister of justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
Dmitry Nabokov's special order. In 1891 he became known in Europe, helping to acquit the French writer
Léon Bloy
Léon Bloy (; 11 July 1846 – 3 November 1917) was a French Catholic novelist, essayist, pamphleteer (or lampoonist), and satirist, known additionally for his eventual (and passionate) defense of Catholicism and for his influence within French C ...
, accused of
defamation
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
.
In 1890s Alexander Urusov's health deteriorated. He died in 1900 after prolonged illness. Fellow lawyer and writer
Sergey Andreevsky
Sergey Arkadievich Andreyevsky (russian: Сергей Аркадьевич Андреевский, December 29, 1847, – November 9, 1918) was a leading defense attorney of the Russia Empire. He was also known as a writer, poet, and literary cri ...
, speaking at the funeral, called Urusov "the first great role model for a defending lawyer that Russia has ever had."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urusov, Alexander
Lawyers from the Russian Empire
Literary critics from the Russian Empire
People from the Russian Empire of Tatar descent
Lawyers from Moscow
1843 births
1900 deaths
Translators from the Russian Empire
Moscow State University alumni
Philanthropists from the Russian Empire
19th-century translators from the Russian Empire
19th-century philanthropists
Russian people of Tatar descent