Baron Mikhail Alexandrovich Taube (May 15, 1869, Pavlovsk,

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. ...

– November 29, 1961;

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France) was a famous Russian international lawyer, statesman and legal historian. Being a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

converted from

Russian Orthodoxy Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most C ...

, Taube came from an old Swedish-German family von Taube, known from the 13th century, one of the branches of Baltic Germans in the service of the Russian throne.

Family

Taube's father was Alexander Ferdinandovich, a graduate of the Petersburg State Transport University and his mother was Anna (born Butorova). His brother,Alexander: a Lieutenant-General of the Russian Imperial Army, who after the revolution in Russia, being popular among soldier, was elected to represent them in local government. In 1917 Bolsheviks came to power in St.Petersburg and Moscow, eventually the central authorities have extended their power to Siberia where Alexander Taube was located. The next year, in 1919 Soviet Red forces were defeated by White Volunteer Army. General Alexander Taube was imprisoned and under investigation when he died of typhus in the Ekaterinburg prison. The other brothers: Colonel Jacob was murdered during Bolshevic uprising in St. Petersburg,1918; Colonel Boris served in Volunteer ("White") Army under general Miller, emigrated and lived in France; State Counsellor Sergei, a railway engineer, remained in the Soviet Union and was recognized as a distinguished engineer. Baron Michael Taube married in 1897, spouse Raisa Vladimirovna Rogal-Katchura, from whom he had three daughters and a son. His immediate family have initially emigrated to Sweden later lived in France.

Education

Graduated from St. Petersburg High School (1887, gold medal) and St. Petersburg University, Law Faculty, 1891, thesis: "The reception of Roman law in the West". Continued his work at the university starting December 1, 1891, to prepare for a professorship, Department of International Law. Taube was a pupil of the famous international lawyer, Professor

Friedrich Martens Friedrich Fromhold Martens, or Friedrich Fromhold von Martens,, french: Frédéric Frommhold (de) Martens ( – ) was a diplomat and jurist in service of the Russian Empire who made important contributions to the science of international law. H ...

Legal scholarship

On May 28, 1896 he received degree of Master of International Law ("The history of modern international law. (Middle Ages). T. I. Introduction and part of the total. SPb., 1894") and November 29, 1899 received degree of Doctor in International Law ("The history of modern international law". (Middle Ages). T.II. part: Principles of Peace and Law in International Conflicts of the Middle Ages. Kharkov, 1899"). From January 1, 1897, he taught at the University of Kharkov, from 1903 to 1911 at University of St. Petersburg (replaced his teacher at the Department

), from 1909 to 1917 at

Imperial School of Jurisprudence The Imperial School of Jurisprudence (Russian: Императорское училище правоведения) was, along with the Page Corps, a school for boys in Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire. The school for would-be ...

. Taube was also a founding member of the Russian Society of Maritime Law (1905).

Diplomat

From January 2, 1892 until 1917, he was attached to the Russian Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Taube was Deputy Director of the Second Department of the MFA (from 1905), then Adviser (from 1907) and permanent member of the Council of the Ministry. From 1904 to 1905 he was Russian legal representative at the Paris international commission of inquiry recarding

Dogger Bank incident The Dogger Bank incident (also known as the North Sea Incident, the Russian Outrage or the Incident of Hull) occurred on the night of 21/22 October 1904, when the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy mistook a British trawler fleet fro ...

, where he, along with Admiral

Fyodor Dubasov Admiral Fyodor Vasilyevich Dubasov (russian: Фёдор Васильевич Дубасов ) (3 July ( O.S. 21 June) 1845 – 2 July (O.S. 19 June) 1912, Saint Petersburg) was, Governor General of Moscow from 24 November 1905 to 5 July 1906. Fy ...

, was instrumental in the successful defense of Russian interests in this complex case. From 1908 to 1909 he represented Russia at a conference on maritime law in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. On November 18, 1909 Taube was Russia's representative to the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. He worked on numerous explanations, helped prepare and provide advice on international law. In 1914, a few weeks before the start of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, persuaded the Russian government to withdraw from the German banks. This included withdrawal of Russian gold from Germany to Russia.

Statesman

On April 22, 1911, he was Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Empire. Taube was a close associate of the minister

Lev Kasso Lev Aristidovich Kasso (1865–1914) was an Imperial Russian politician. A Professor of Civil Law by education, he served as Imperial Minister of Education from 1910 through 1914 in the Stolypin and Kokovtsov governments. The state's univ ...

and supported conservative political views. During Kasso illness, for about a year he acted as Minister of Education. After the death of Casso, from October 19, 1914 to January 11, 1915, he served as Minister of Education of Russia. On many occasions he spoke in the

State Duma (Russian Empire) The State Duma, also known as the Imperial Duma, was the lower house of the Governing Senate in the Russian Empire, while the upper house was the State Council. It held its meetings in the Taurida Palace in St. Petersburg. It convened four times ...

, for example on the allocation of the Kingdom of Poland in the Chelm province in 1912, as well as other topics. He participated in drafting the law on the universal primary education in the Russian Empire. On February 11, 1915, he was appointed a senator, privy councilor. On January 1, 1917, Taube became a member of the

State Council (Russian Empire) The State Council ( rus, Госуда́рственный сове́т, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj sɐˈvʲet) was the supreme state advisory body to the Tsar in Imperial Russia. From 1906, it was the upper house of the parliament under the ...

, a member of the Right wing of the Council.

The historian

He served as a member of the

Imperial Russian Historical Society The Imperial Russian Historical Society (Russian - Императорское Русское историческое общество) was a public organization of Imperial Russia. It was subject to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National E ...

(1912), the Imperial Society of Zealots in the historical education sector (1914), an honorary member of the Moscow Archaeological Institute (1912), Vitebsk (1909), Tula (1913) and Pskov (1916) Provincial Scientific Archive Commission and Pskov Archeological Society (1916). Professionally engaged in genealogy, Taube was the author of studies on the history of labor. He also published several books, one of them: Ikskul family genealogy. He was one of the main developers of the Charter of the Russian Genealogical Society ( 1897 a founding member). On March 15, 1914, he was elected vice-chairman of the Society. On May 14, 1905 Taube became member of Historic Genealogical Society in

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 ...

. Author of scientific papers on the origin of the Russian state and the baptism of Rus, Russia and the relationship with

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Cultural activities

Mikhail Taube was a member of the Saint Petersburg Philosophical Society (1906), an honorary member of the Society of Classical Philology and Pedagogy in Saint Petersburg (1913). In exile, he published a collection of poems "The visions and thoughts." Taube was also a memoirist and actively preparing to sign the International Covenant on Cultural and historical values (

Roerich Pact The Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments or Roerich Pact is an inter-American treaty. The most important idea of the Roerich Pact is the legal recognition that the defense of cultural objects is ...

and

Banner of Peace The banner of peace is a symbol of the Roerich Pact. This pact is the first international treaty dedicated to the protection of artistic and scientific institutions and historical monuments. It was signed on April 15, 1935. The banner of peace wa ...

) in the late 1920s early 1930s in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the United States, which was signed in the United States on April 15, 1935, and based in

. Convention of 1954, signed by the participants focused on the protection of cultural property during armed conflict.

Emigration

After the Russian revolution, since 1917 Taube lived in exile, and was a member of the Special Committee for Russia in

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 ...

(1918). While in

, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs within a government in exile under the leadership of

Alexander Trepov Alexander Fyodorovich Trepov (; 30 September 1862, Kiev – 10 November 1928, Nice) was the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire from 23 November 1916 until 9 January 1917. He was conservative, a monarchist, a member of the Russian Assembly, a ...

(1918). Then lived in Sweden (he lectured on the history of international relations and international law at Uppsala University), and Germany. From 1928 he lived in

, where he taught at a branch of the Russian Institute at the Faculty of Law, University of Paris and the European Center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was a member of the Scientific Council of Russian Scientific Institute in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and has lectured at various universities in Germany and Belgium. Taube continued his study of international law, being a member of the Academy of International Law in

. From 1932 to 1937 he was a Professor of the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over ...

(Germany). Member of the Supreme Council and the Monarchist Society "Icon" in Paris. In the 1930s, Taube was a legal adviser to the Grand Duke

Cyril Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia (russian: Кирилл Владимирович Романов; ''Kirill Vladimirovich Romanov''; – 12 October 1938) was a son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Emperor Ale ...

. He participated in the development of a new charter of the imperial family in the version which followed the Grand Duke

and

Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia (russian: Владимир Кириллович Романов; 21 April 1992) was the Head of the Imperial Family of Russia, a position which he claimed from 1938 to his death. Early life Vladimir was bo ...

. On December 1, 1951 Taube took part in the Central Commission for genealogy establishing measures and legal documentation, court estate arbitration, general registration of noble families, the Russian edition of the lists of titled and untitled nobility, focusing on the history and genealogy of the Baltic and Russian nobility. Taube was also a member of the Russian Historical Genealogical Society in America.

Catholicism

Mikhail von Taube was a parishioner of the Russian Greek Catholic church of the Holy Trinity in

and a member of the Russian apostolate, publishing his works in the bulletin " Our parish."

Facts

Michael Taube was an official reviewer for dissertations of Andrey Mandelstam.

Contributions

* ''History of the Birth of Contemporary International Law'', Vol. 1 (St. Petersburg, 1894); Vol. 2 (Kharkov, 1899) (История зарождения современного международного права. том I, СПб., 1894; том II, Харьков, 1899.) * ''Christianity and the Organization of International Peace'', 2nd ed., Moscow, 1905 (Христианство и организация международного мира. 2-е изд., М., 1905.) * ''The System of International Law'', St. Petersburg, 1909 (Система междугосударственного права. СПб, 1909.) * Восточный вопрос и австро-русская политика в первой половине XIX столетия. Пг., 1916. (''The Eastern Question and Austrian-Russian Politics in the First Half of the 19th Century'', Prague, 1916) * Вечный мир или вечная война? (Мысли о Лиге наций). Берлин, 1922. (''Perpetual Peace or Perpetual War: Thoughts on the League of Nations'', Berlin, 1922) * Этюды об историческом развитии международного права в Восточной Европе. 1926 (на французском языке). (''Episodes from Historical Development of International Law in Eastern Europe'', 1926 (in French) * Аграфа: О незаписанных в Евангелии изречениях Иисуса Христа. Варшава, 1936. – 150 с. (также: М.: Крутицкое Патриаршее Подворье, 2007). * Аграфа у Отцов Церкви. Варшава, 1937. * Аграфа в древнехристианских апокрифах. Париж, 1947. * Аграфа в иудейских и магометанских писаниях. Париж, 1951. * Император Павел I – великий магистр Мальтийского ордена. Париж, 1955 (на французском языке). * «Зарницы»: воспоминания о трагической судьбе предреволюционной России (1900–1917). М., 2006. * Michael v. Taube, "Der Grossen Katastrophe Entgegen",verlag von K.F.Koehlers,Leipzig,1937