Department of Russian History up to the beginning of the Nineteenth Century

Department of Russian History to the beginning of the Nineteenth Century

Russian history has been taught at Moscow University for more than 200 years. Among the first University Professors there are such famous historians as M.P.Pogodin, S.M.Solov'ev and V.O.Klyuchevskii. In the 20th century the best traditions of Russian historical science were developed by the renowned scholars B.D.Grekov, M.N.Tikhomirov, L.V.Cherepnin, professors S.V.Bakhrushin, K.V.Bazilebich, B.B.Kafengauz, B.I.Lebedev, G.A.Novitskii, N.L.Rubinshtein, V.I.Shunkov, A.M.Sakharov, M.T.Belyavskii, A.D.Gorskii, P.P.Epifanov and N.B.Golikova. At present members of the teaching staff of the department are: member-correspondent of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) B.N.Florya, professors D.Y.Arapov, A.A.Gorsky, N.V.Kozlova, V.I.Moryakov, associate professors L.N.Vdovina, I.P.Kulakova, A.V.Laushkin, P.S.Stefanovich, laureate of the Lomonosov premium assistant professor A.S.Orlov, D.A.Khitrov, senior lecturer A.E.Tarasov, research associate O.D.Shemyakina, junior researcher T.A.Matasova.
Professor N.S.Borisov is the current head of the Department.
The university course in the Faculty of History starts with a series of lectures on the history of Russian antiquities.
The department's area of specialization includes the following disciplines: "History of Russian culture," "Source studies of Russian history," "Historiography of Russian history," "Historical geography", "Introduction to archival studies," "Paleography," "Old Russian language", and "Reference instruments for researchers of Russian history." Also students take part in the department's special seminar "Characteristics of the historical process in Russia".
A special attention in the department is devoted to creating new special courses. Over the last 10 years many of them have been added to the list of the department's lectures. Among them:
N.S.Borisov: "Russian road as a historical and cultural phenomenon", "The founders of the Moscow State: characters, motives, circumstances".
B.N.Florya "The state and the church in Russia in the XVII century", "Annexation of Novgorod to the Moscow State", "Church and State Relations in Medieval Rus"
D.Y.Arapov "Russian -Turkish wars in XVII-XVIII centuries", "Russia and the Islamic world', "Church-state institutions in Russia (XVIII-XX centuries)."
A.A.Gorsky "Titles of the ruler of medieval Rus'", "The beginning of Russia", "Works of ancient Russian poetic literature: problems of sources."
L.N.Vdovina "Freemasonry in Russian culture of the 2nd half of XVIII century."
V.I.Moryakov "Power and socio-political thought in Russia in the 2nd half of XVIII century."
I.P.Kulakova "Russian intellectuals of the early modern times", "Cultural practices of ancient and early modern Russia"
N.V.Kozlova "Russian city of Early modern times in macro - and microhistorical research"
P.S.Stefanovich "Elite of Old Russian state (X-XIII centuries)"
D.A.Khitrov "The territory of Russia in XVI-XVIII centuries"
The department also invites specialists working in other departments of the Faculty of History to offer their special courses.
The department's students prepare their master's theses in special courses on various problems: "Russian medieval society" (A.A.Gorsky), "Socio-Political History of Medieval Russia" (B.N.Florya), "Problems of the Russian State and Society History in the 15th Century" (N.S.Borisov), "The Literary Comprehension of History and Mankind in Medieval Russia" (A.V.Laushkin), "Russian Town and State Authority (17th and 18th Centuries)" (N.V.Kozlova), "Fundamental Problems of the History of Middle Asia (13th - early 19th Century)" (D.Y.Arapov), "Russian Culture of the 18th Century: Fundamental Problems, Ideology, and Contradictions of its Development" (L.N.Vdovina), "Russian aristocracy in the XVIII century" (V.I.Moryakov), "Russian cultural elite of XVIII century: transformation and development of Russian cultural life in the early modern time" (I.P.Kulakova),"Socio-economic development of the regions of Russia in XVII-XVIII" (D.A.Khitrov).
The teaching aids written by the members of the department are widely reputable:
A.A.Gorsky "History of Russia from Antiquity to 1914. Textbook" (2008), "Slavs in the early Middle Ages, Frankish, Byzantine and Russian works. Teaching aid" (2008); "Tutorial of Russian history for entering the university" (2007, Authors D.Y.Arapov, V.I.Moryakov, A.S.Orlov and others), "History of Russia before the ninth century (seminar for 1st year students of History Department)" (2011, Authors V.I. Moryakov, D.A.Khitrov) and others. In 2010, the collective of the department prepared for publication a textbook for university students "History of Russia from the earliest times to the end of the XVIII century."
Teaching activities of the department's staff are closely connected with their academic work, conducted along several directions, including the problems of the socio-economic and political development of the Russian state from the 9th to the 18th century, history of social thought and the historical science, and history of Russian culture from Antiquity to the beginning of the 19th century.
The most widely developed directions of academic research cover economic and social processes in Russia, as well as the development of its political system.
The early period of Russian history, the establishment and development of the first state machinery is studied by A.A.Gorsky. The Epoch of the assemblage of the state of Moscow and the formation of its political system receives all-round illumination in the research of N.S.Borisov. The history and culture of medieval Russia in XIV-XVI centuries and of the Russian Orthodox Church are major topics of A.E.Tarasov's research. Church, clergy and laity in Russia till the end of the XVII century are also the themes of P.S.Stefanovich's works. N.V.Kozlova fruitfully studies the history of Russian merchant class, its relation with the state authority and specific qualities of its mentality. She is also focused on family relations of Moscow merchants in the 18th century. D.A.Khitrov's studies contacts to the social and economic history of Russia in XVII-XVIII centuries and the history of the Cossacks, a separate area of his research is the historical cartography.
B.N.Florya investigates the history of Russia's foreign policy in XVI-XVII centuries, as well as the social, political and religious history of Eastern Europe. T.A.Matasova studies Russian-Italian relations in the Middle Age.
Most of the members of the department by and large touch in their academic research on the problems of Russian culture and social thought. This is the basic issue in the work of L.N.Vdovina, who, using the anthropological approach to the history of culture, researches mankind's place in 18th century Russian culture, the problem of socialization of young men, the formation of the national self-consciousness, and the spiritual search in Russian society. The same historical period is the focus of V.I.Moryakov's attention, who investigates not only the evolution of the political superstructure, but also its influence on the mentality of the Russian nobility in the era of the Enlightenment. A.S.Orlov is studying the history of science and socio-political relations of this period. I.P.Kulakova researches the history of Moscow University and the history of education in general, as well as the history of cultural practices and everyday life of the Russian educated class of XVIII - early XIX centuries in particular. The academic work of A.V.Laushkin is devoted to one of the major elements of Christian culture of Ancient Rus and to the perception of history by the Medieval Russian Princes. The development of the historical science is the topical problem in the works by D.Y.Arapov, revealing historiographical aspects of studying the history of Central Asia; another direction of his research mostly concerns the Islam and Muslims on the territory of Russia throughout a large period of Russian history.
Recent publications of the Department include N.S.Borisov's monographs "Daily life of a Russian traveler in the era of impassability of roads" (2010) and "The rise of Moscow" (2011); N.V.Kozlova's monograph "Decrepit, sick and miserable people in Moscow (XVIII century)" (2010); A.A.Gorsky's monographs "Russian Middle Ages: the myths and historical reality"(2010) and "From lands to the great reigns" (2010); Collection of articles to the memory of L. Milov "Characteristics of the historical process in Russia"(2009) and others.
Since 2009, the department regularly hosts international scientific conference "Rus', Russia: the Middle Ages and Modern times. Readings to the memory of academician L.V.Milov"