Nikolay Pavlovich Bogolepov () (9 December 1846 – 15 March 1901) was a Russian

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and Minister of National Enlightenment, assassinated by a Socialist-Revolutionary activist.

Student life

Bogolepov was born in

Serpukhov Serpukhov ( rus, Серпухов, p=ˈsʲɛrpʊxəf) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Oka and the Nara Rivers, south from Moscow ( from Moscow Ring Road) on the Moscow—Simferopol highway. The Moscow— T ...

, in the Moscow Governorate of the

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. ...

. His father was a police inspector. In 1857 he moved to

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 ...

to continue his education in secondary school because his father did not find a satisfactory one in Serpukhov. The father could not afford moving to Moscow himself and Bogolepov had to live alone in a school boarding house. In 1864 he finished the school and entered the Law faculty of the

Moscow State 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 ...

. After graduation he worked in the Criminal Department of the Senate but left it a year after and in 1869 returned to the University for academic studies in

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

Official life

As a young student, Bogolepov was inclined towards revolutionary activity, like all young students, but once he had been accepted by the establishment, he became "a mere tool in the hands of the Procurator of the Holy Synod." In 1881 he was appointed professor and two years later he was elected

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the Moscow University continuing lecturing in Roman law. In 1886 two of his children died in a row. Being unable to work in the University after this tragedy he resigned. In 1891 Bogolepov was made rector again but resigned two years after due to constant student unrest. In 1895 Minister of Popular Enlightenment Ivan Delyanov died.

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

appointed Bogolepov as his successor. Bogolepov faced an enormous bulk of problems, firstly student disturbances that ranged from typical protests and demands for autonomy for universities to

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

ary propaganda. The government introduced various restrictive measures which only made the situation worse. In 1896, according to

Konstantin Pobedonostsev Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev ( rus, Константи́н Петро́вич Победоно́сцев, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ pəbʲɪdɐˈnostsɨf; 30 November 1827 – 23 March 1907) was a Russian jurist, statesman ...

, Bogolepov was responsible for decreeing that students who participated in protests were to be drafted into the military. In 1900 Minister of Finance Witte introduced "Temporary Regulations" according to which a university student could be conscripted into the army as a punishment for participation in student riots. Bogolepov was not the author of this highly unpopular innovation, but he approved of it and in the beginning of 1901 he commanded that 183 students of

Kiev University Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

were conscripted into the army. On 27 February he was shot in the

neck The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

by Pyotr Karpovich, supporter of the

Socialist-Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...

and died on 15 March. Karpovich was sentenced to twenty years of

katorga Katorga ( rus, ка́торга, p=ˈkatərɡə; from medieval and modern Greek: ''katergon, κάτεργον'', "galley") was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoner ...

. Five years later he escaped and died in 1917 when a ship with Russian émigrés was sunk by a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogolepov, Nikolay 1846 births 1901 deaths People from Serpukhov People from Serpukhovsky Uyezd Government ministers of Russia Members of the State Council (Russian Empire) Imperial Moscow University alumni Academic staff of Moscow State University Rectors of Moscow State University Assassinated politicians of the Russian Empire