Timofey Nikolayevich Granovsky (russian: link=no, Тимофей Николаевич Грановский; 9 March 1813 – 4 October 1855) was a founder of mediaeval studies in 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. ...

. Granovsky was born in

Oryol Oryol ( rus, Орёл, p=ɐˈrʲɵl, lit. ''eagle''), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast situated on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow. It is part of the Central Fed ...

, Russia. He studied at the universities of Moscow and Berlin, where he was profoundly influenced by

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

ian ideas of

Leopold von Ranke Leopold von Ranke (; 21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) was a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis of ...

and

Friedrich Carl von Savigny Friedrich Carl von Savigny (21 February 1779 – 25 October 1861) was a German jurist and historian. Early life and education Savigny was born at Frankfurt am Main, of a family recorded in the history of Lorraine, deriving its name from the cast ...

. He felt that the Western history was superior to that of his own country and became the first Russian to deliver courses on the medieval history of Western Europe (1839). Due to the strict censorship of the period, Granovsky assumed that lecturing provided a surer way of disseminating Western ideals in Russia than writing. His major printed work was his doctoral dissertation of 1849, ''Abbat Sugerii'' ( Abbot Suger), in which he "portrayed the great abbot as the architect of royal centralization." His master's thesis of 1845, "Volin, Yumsberg, i Vineta" (

Wolin Wolin (; formerly german: Wollin ) is the name both of a Polish island in the Baltic Sea, just off the Polish coast, and a town on that island. Administratively, the island belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Wolin is separated from th ...

Jomsborg Jomsborg or Jómsborg (german: Jomsburg) was a semi-legendary Viking stronghold at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea (medieval Wendland, modern Pomerania), that existed between the 960s and 1043. Its inhabitants were known as Jomsvikings. Jom ...

, and

Vineta Vineta (sometimes ''Wineta'') is the name of a mythical city at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. The myth evolved around the tradition about the medieval emporium called Jumne, Jomsborg (with which Vineta is sometimes identified), Julin or s ...

), attempted to disprove the historicity of Vineta and was very controversial, offending the

Slavophiles Slavophilia (russian: Славянофильство) was an intellectual movement originating from the 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed on the basis of values and institutions derived from Russia's early history. Slavoph ...

. His readings in 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 ...

were immensely popular and brought him in touch with other Westernizers. One of these,

Alexander Herzen 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 ...

, described Granovsky's lectures as "a draught of freedom in Nicholas I's Russia".

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

's novel '' The Possessed'' features a character, Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky, that is partly based on Granovsky. According to Cole, this "liberal who unwittingly inspired a generation of nihilists is unfair to Granovsky but is nevertheless another tribute to his importance as an inspiring teacher and a man of his age."Cole, "Timofei Nikolaevich Granovsky," p. 175.

References

External links

Biography and assessment (from Brockhaus and Efron)
by

Sir Paul Vinogradoff Sir Paul Gavrilovitch Vinogradoff (russian: Па́вел Гаври́лович Виногра́дов, transliterated: ''Pavel Gavrilovich Vinogradov''; 18 November 1854 (O.S.)19 December 1925) was a Russian and British historian and medieval ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Granovsky, Timofey 1813 births 1855 deaths People from Oryol People from Orlovsky Uyezd (Oryol Governorate) Russian nobility 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire Russian medievalists Liberals from the Russian Empire