Igor Pavlovich Shaskol'skii

Igor Pavlovich Shaskol'skii or Shaskolsky (; 31 October 1918 – 25 April 1995) was a Russian medievalist and economic historian who was a specialist in Russian relations and trade with the Baltic provinces and Scandinavia in the medieval and early-modern periods.

Early in his life he was present during the Siege of Leningrad and subsequently worked at various Soviet state-sponsored institutions. He was a part-time lecturer at Saint Petersburg University and a corresponding member of the Saint Petersburg Institute of History and its predecessors. He challenged the established Soviet positions on the origins of the Rus' and trade through the Baltic, and was instrumental in the wider dissemination of primary source material.

Early life and education Igor Shaskol'skii was born in Saint Petersburg in 1918. He graduated from Leningrad State University (LSU), now Saint Petersburg State University, in 1941. In 1941–42 he was present during the siege of Leningrad by the Germans during the Second World War and helped to build defensive structures. He was evacuated in 1942 due to illness.

In 1947 he produced a thesis for LSU on the struggle of Novgorod with Sweden and Norway in the 13th century.

Shaskol'Skii specialised in the history of Russian relations and trade with the Baltic and Scandinavia in the medieval and early-modern periods, particularly trade and diplomatic relations with Sweden. His book, Normanskaia teoriia v sovremennoi burzhuaznoi nauke (Norman theory in modern bourgeois science) was published in 1965 and also dealt with the history of the Varangian controversy.

He was instrumental in the wider dissemination of primary source material from archives through his work on editorial boards and wrote many articles that made extensive use of primary sources.

Death and legacy Shaskol'skii died in Saint Petersburg in 1995.

Selected publications Articles "Bor’ba shvedskikh krestonostsev protiv finliandii XII—XIV veka", Istoricheskii zhurnal, No. 4–5 (1940), pp. 102–12. "Dogovory Novgoroda s Norvegiei", Istoricheskie zapiski, T. 14 (1945), pp. 45–61. "Byla li Rossiia posle Livonskoi voiny otrezana ot Baltiiskogo moria", in Istoricheskie zapiski, Vol. XXXV (1950). "СКАНДИНАВСКИЙ СБОРНИК" (Scandinavian Collection), Voprosy Istorii, No. 12 (December 1959), pp. 159–166. "Ustroistvo shvedskikh gostinykh dvorov v gorodakh Rossii posle Stolbovskogo mira 1617 g.", Skandinavskii sbornik, Vol. 10 (1965). "Torgovlya Rossii s Pribaltikoi i Zapadnoi Evropoi v XVII v.", Skandinavskii sbornik, Vol. 11 (1966). "Vosstanovlenie russkoi torgovli so shvedskimi vladeniyami v pervye gody posle Stolbovskogo mira", Skandinavskii sbornik, Vol. 11 (1966).

Books Borʹba russkogo naroda za nevskie berega. (The struggle of the Russian people over the Neva coast) Voenizdat, Moscow, 1940. Shvedskaya interventsiya v Karelii v nachale XVII v. (Swedish intervention in Karelia at the beginning of the 17th-century) Gos. izd-vo Karelo-Finskoĭ SSR, Petrozavodsk, 1950. Stolbovskii mir 1617 g. i torgovye otnosheniia Rossii so Shvedskim gosudarstvom (The Peace of Stolbovo of 1617 and trade relationships between Russia and Sweden). Izdatel'stvo Nauka, 1964. Normanskaia teoriia v sovremennoi burzhuaznoi nauke. (Norman theory in modern bourgeois science) Moscow and Leningrad, 1965. Borʹba Rusi protiv krestonosnoĭ agressii na beregakh Baltiki v XII-XIII vv. (The struggle of Russia against the crusader aggression on the shores of the Baltic in the XII-XIII centuries) Nauka, Leningrad, 1978. Borʹba Rusi za sokhranenie vykhoda k Baltiĭskomu mori︠u︡ v XIV veke. (The struggle of Russia to maintain access to the Baltic Sea in the XIV century) Nauka, Leningrad, 1987. Borʹba Rusi protiv shvedskoĭ ekspansii v Karelii:Konet︠s︡ XIII - nachalo IVv. (The struggle of Russia against the Swedish expansion in Karelia the end of the XIII - the beginning of the XIV century) Petrozavodsk, 1987. Russkaia morskaia torgovlia na Baltike v XVII v. (torgovlia so Shvetsiei). (Russian maritime trade in the Baltic in the XVII century (trade with Sweden)) Nauka, Saint Petersburg, 1994. Ekonomicheskie otnosheniia Rossii i Shvedskogo gosudarstva v XVII v. (Economic Relations between Russia and the Swedish State in the Seventeenth Century) Dmitrii Bulanin, Saint Petersburg, 1998.