Mikhail Stasyulevich

Mikhail Matveyevich Stasyulevich (Михаи́л Матве́евич Стасюле́вич, August 28, 1826, Saint Petersburg, Russia – January 23, 1911, Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a Russian writer, scholar, historian, journalist, editor and publisher. He is best known as the founder (in 1866) and editor-in-chief (1866–1909) of Vestnik Evropy ("Herald of Europe"), one of Russia's leading literary magazines of the time.

Biography Mikhail Stasyulevich was born in Saint Petersburg to the family of a doctor. He graduated from the Saint Petersburg University's Philology faculty in 1847. In 1852 he was invited to teach the children of the Russian monarch's family and in 1860-1862 was a personal history tutor for tsesarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich.

In 1856-59, Stasyulevich toured Europe, meeting many members of the Russian emigre community, such as the Utin family, who would later become heavily involved in revolutionary activity back in Russia, and Alexandr Herzen, the famous editor of Kolokol, a progressive paper that was illegal in Russia. He actively participated in the academic life of Western European universities, intending to bring the European modes of pedagogy to Saint Petersburg University. One of his fellow professors at the university, P.V. Ostrogorskii, described him as a "brilliant lecturer-popularizer" who "showed us for the first time history's significance and explained the profound meaning of civilization."

His grave in the Voskresenskaya church was destroyed in the late 1920s, as well as the church itself. The first comprehensive study of his legacy, A Man of His Times, was written by Viktor Kelner and published in 1993.

Selected works A History of the Middle Ages in Writings of the Time and Modern Day Studies / История средних веков в ее писателях и исследованиях новейших ученых (Vol. 1—3, Saint Petersburg, 1863—65) A Study in Review of the Philosophy of History's Basic Systems / Опыт исторического обзора главных систем философии истории (Saint Petersburg, 1866)