Mikhail Priselkov

Born Sept. 7(19), 1881, in St. Petersburg; died Jan. 19, 1941, in Leningrad. Soviet historian.

Priselkov graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1903 and was a privatdocent from 1907 and a professor at the university from 1918. He worked in the 1920’s in the historical artifacts division of the Russian Museum. He was a professor at Leningrad University from 1936 to 1941. Priselkov’s principal works were on the political history of ancient Rus’ and were based on a critical study of the chronicles. Continuing in the tradition of A. A. Shakhmatov, he examined the chronicles as “political documents” and demonstrated that a number of historiographic trends of the 18th to early 20th centuries reflected the biased views of the ancient chroniclers. Both in his research and teaching, Priselkov advocated thorough investigation of the origins and authenticity of historical sources.