This is a photo of a cultural heritage object in Russia - Moscow State University
1856
Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
1858
Russian Geographical Society
Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
History of the Serbs and Bulgarians
Russian Geographical Society
This is a photo of a cultural heritage object in Russia - Moscow State University
folklorist historian publicist
Alexander Hilferding was born July 2, 1831, in Warsaw, Poland into a family of the director of the diplomatic office of the Viceroy of the Kingdom of Poland. His great-grandfather came from the Hungarian nobility of the Catholic religion and moved to Russia in the reign of Elizabeth.
Alexander Hilferding received a home education, having studied not only ancient and basic Western European languages, but also Slavic ones. Under the influence of the slavist I. Paplonsky, he became interested in the history of the Slavs.
As a student of the faculty of history and Philology at Moscow University (now Moscow State University), Alexander Hilferding joined the club of Slavophiles. He read his first articles in the Elagins salon. He was strongly influenced by A. Khomyakov, to whom he later dedicated the article A. Khomyakov (1860) and On the philological activities of the late A. Khomyakov (1860). After completing the course (1852), he joined the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After completing his course in 1852, Alexander Hilferding joined the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In his work On the affinity of the Slavic language with Sanskrit (Saint Petersburg. 1853) and its continuation On the relation of the Slavic language to related languages (1853), he showed his Slavophil position: the cultural history of the Slavs is separated from the European, the Eastern group of Indo-European languages is placed above the Western. The wealth of factual material differed Alexander's cycle of the History of the work of the Baltic Slavs (1855) and its sequel The Slavs Fighting with the Germans on the Baltic seaboard in the middle ages (1861), supplemented by other works on the same topic.
The most valuable works of Alexander Hilferding are on the history of the southern Slavs. The series of articles Letters on the history of the Serbs and Bulgarians (1854-1855), which formed the basis of the History of the Serbs and Bulgarians, was the first major study of the medieval history of these peoples; highly appreciated in Slavic countries, it was translated into German and Serbian.
In 1857-1859, Alexander Hilferding, who was appointed a consul to Bosnia, carefully studied the history and life of the country and made efforts to protect the population from Turkish oppression. In the series of essays Bosnia. Travel notes (1858) he describes the customs and traditions of the southern Slavs, historical sights, centers of education, provides valuable texts of folk poetry, gives the characteristics of folk singers. At the same time, Alexander Hilferding pointed out the political and economic oppression of the people, religious oppression, and low level of culture, including among the Orthodox clergy. The actual side of these works retains its significance. Alexander Hilferding also wrote about other Slavic peoples: On Russian literary activity in Galicia in 1855), the Folk Revival of the luzhichan Serbs in Saxony, and others. He published a pamphlet K.S. Aksakov (1861).
From 1859, he was the director of the Asian Department. From 1861 he served in the State Chancellery. He was the assistant state Secretary of the State Council (since 1863) while participating in the work of The Committee for the Kingdom of Poland (since 1864). Alexander Hilferding wrote a project to transform educational institutions in Poland (in order to weaken the influence of the Catholic Church in the village). From 1865 he served on the Main Committee of a rural state, participated in the creation of projects On the land device of the peasants, contributing to protecting the interests of the peasants of the Western provinces from the tyranny of the local administration, the social security of former soldiers. His scientific and social activities were also intensive. Since 1858, Alexander Hilferding was a member of the Russian Geographical Society, and in 1870 he was Chairman of its ethnographic Department. As the Chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of the Slavic Committee (since 1867), he constantly provided assistance to students from Slavic countries.
In April - May of 1871, Alexander Hilferding made a trip to the Olonets province where he collected valuable material on epics, recording texts with exceptional accuracy for that time. In difficult conditions he recorded 318 epics in 48 days from more than 70 singers, performing a feat of organization and efficiency. Alexander Hilferding first showed the role of creative people in folklore and established the existence of a certain storytelling tradition. In the summer of 1872, he went on a new expedition, contracted typhus, and died. His collection of epics was published posthumously Onega epics recorded by Hilferding in the summer of 1871 (1873).
The most valuable works of Alexander Hilferding are on the history of the southern Slavs. The series of his articles formed the basis of the History of the Serbs and Bulgarians - the first major study of the medieval history of these peoples; highly appreciated in Slavic countries, it was translated into German and Serbian.
In 1871 Alexander Hilferding made a trip to the Olonets province where he recorded texts with exceptional accuracy for that time. In difficult conditions he recorded 318 epics in 48 days from more than 70 singers, performing a feat of organization and efficiency.
(Russian edition)
1971
(1798-1864)
