Vasily Klyuchevsky and his historical theater in the Presidential Library's collections

“We would have difficulty in placing any of the famous Western historians next to Klyuchevsky”, - writes B. Syromyatnikov in a digitized edition “Vasily Klyuchevsky and Russian Historical Science“, which is available on the Presidential Library’s portal, a person, who combined the first-class artistic talent and the art of vivid and imaginative speech with the striking power of profound historical analysis and the richest erudition of the specialist”.

January 28, 2019 marks the 178th anniversary of the birth of Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky. The distinguished historian, professor of Moscow University and honorary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences is illustrated in the Presidential Library’s e-collection “Vasily Klyuchevsky (1841–1911)”. The selection includes digital copies of the fundamental works of the scientist, research papers devoted to him, archival documents and little-known memories of him, such as a facsimile of Klyuchevsky's friendly letters to A. F. Koni, Vasily Osipovich's student memories of S. M. Solovyov, memories of friends and students about Klyuchevsky.   

The future historian was born in 1841 in the family of a village priest, he studied at the Penza Theological School, then at the Penza Theological Seminary. “This initial life situation has enveloped his young soul with that moral warmth that, despite everything, has warmed up the working life of the Russian village”, - notes the publication “Vasily Klyuchevsky: characteristics and memories” (1912). - That sympathy for the Russian peasant-farmer, his keen interest in the fate of this peasant go back, of course, to the impressions of his childhood and youth. Here we should also look in part for an explanation of the research sympathies that Vasily Osipovich showed to the historical activities of the class that stood next to the peasantry, which was the people's intelligentsia, that is, the Russian clergy”.

It would seem that fate of Vasily Klyuchevsky was predetermined. However, a week later, after the abolition of serfdom in 1861 having left the seminary its best pupil "came free". “There was undoubtedly some internal connection between these two facts”, - the author continues. Among the Russian public, there was a new, free spirit, tempting life prospects began to open up, a wide field for the application of abilities, and the talented seminarian naturally attracted this public space”.   

Klyuchevsky found interest in historical fates in high school, he later learned about works of Tatishchev and Karamzin, “which were not only read, but also changed their minds”, - and decided to enter the philological-historical faculty of Moscow University.  

According to the “New Encyclopedic Dictionary”, published by F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron (1912), the formation of scientific interests of Klyuchevsky was strongly influenced by B. N. Chicherin, Professor of the State Law Department, and S. M. Solovyov, Professor of the Russian History Department: “In Chicherin’s lectures he was captivated by the harmony and integrity of scientific constructions; in the lectures of Solovyov, he learned, by his own words, "what a pleasure for a young mind, beginning a scientific study, to feel in possession of a whole look at a scientific subject".

The digital collection of the Presidential Library included Klyuchevsky’s thesis “Legends of Foreigners on the Moscow State”. Klyuchevsky defended his master's thesis on the topic “Old Russian Lives of Saints as a Historical Source”, and then a doctoral thesis on the topic “Boyar Duma of Ancient Rus’” - it became an event that marks the emergence of a new historical school. “The Boyar Duma is not only at the center of Klyuchevsky’s historical heritage”, - Professor B. Syromyatnikov will later say in the study “Vasily Klyuchevsky and Russian historical science", - but also the entire historical literature of the new time. From this brilliant book, some spiritual force is hidden, which will ignite the scientific inspiration of future generations of Russian historians for a long time”.  

After S. Solovyov left for deserved rest, it was Klyuchevsky who began to read the course of national history. The audience in his lectures has always been full. Klyuchevsky did not just have a rare sense of the word - he first described Russian history in a truly Russian language, and in the course of his story, the connection between the times became obvious: on a broad historical background, Rurik, Alexander Nevsky, Peter the Great, Duma boyars and caused by a lecturer brilliantly depicted appeared on a wide historical background. from non-existence great battles, conflicts of times of Troubles, the election of the first tsar in Rus’. “Klyuchevsky’s speech was quiet from the desk, and we felt, listening to him, unusually close to the subject of the lecture, as if here, in the audience itself, a trend of the historical past was hovering over us”, - recall students in the publication “Vasily Klyuchevsky: characteristics and memories”. In addition, the Presidential Library’s collectiona contain a handwritten version of the brilliant lectures of a professor on Old Russian history, which he read in 1884/85.

The most famous research paper of V. O. Klyuchevsky is “The Course of Russian History” (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), first published in 1902 and subsequently reprinted several times. Klyuchevsky called the main factor of Russian history colonization, during which the country realized itself as a state responsible for the existence of all the peoples inhabiting it. In this regard, Klyuchevsky proposed his periodization of the history of Russia, taking into account the peculiarities of the movement of the majority of the population and geographical conditions.

The theme of comprehension of the sovereign responsibility can be traced already in Klyuchevsky’s early works, for example, in the essay “Peter the Great among his employees”. On these grounds, his view of the tsarist power, which was completely unaccustomed to Russian society, was also kept ... In this respect, the old Russian political consciousness experienced a dramatic change in the person of Peter the Great, a decisive crisis”.

But, according to Klyuchevsky in the Course of Russian History: “As the territory expanded, along with the growth of the people’s external power, his inner freedom was becoming more and more shy”. He concluded: "The state is plump, and the people are sick". The scientist’s insight prompted that a low standard of living could provoke popular discontent and revolutionary upheavals. He himself stood for a purely evolutionary development path.

Due to the breadth of the scientific outlook "History" of Klyuchevsky is extremely interesting in details, facts, depth of analysis and synthesis of Russian reality in its length in time. “Whatever the future fate of the science of Russian history”, - summarizes B. Syromyatnikov in a digitized study of the Presidential Library “Vasily Klyuchevsky and Russian historical science", - there is no doubt that it has only one way to the future - the way through the Klyuchevsky’s school".