[Mikhail Petrovich].Russian historian and archæologist, born in Moscow on the 23rd of November 1800; graduated from the University of Moscow, of which he became professor in 1830, resigning in 1844 to devote himself entirely to archælogical researches. His great historical work, Isledovania, Zamietchaniya i Lektzie, extended to seven volumes, and was published from 1846–54. He was unable to complete this work, but the government purchased his historical collections in 1852. He wrote a series of novels and dramatic pieces, among the latter being Marfa the Passadnitsa (1831). He founded the Moskvitianin in 1841 and Russki, a literary and political periodical, in 1867. In 1831 he published The Origin of the Russians and The Historical Basis of Serfdom. He was one of the founders of the Moscow Slav Committee, and was a Panslavist. He died in Moscow on the 8th of December 1875.
