Marina Vladislavovna Lenchinenko,
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Decembrist until December: Books by Nikita Muravyov
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2025-6-2
The article presents selected results of a study of the library of the Decembrist Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov, which is stored in the collection of the Scientific Library of Moscow State University as a gift from his mother, Ekaterina Fedorovna Muravyova. It contains books dating back to 1825. This collection is interesting not only for its contents but also for the traces of reading left by their owner. His numerous marginalia allow us to supplement our understanding of the development of the political views of the future Decembrist. The library’s contents demonstrate the diversity of its owner’s interests and the level of his education, which he owed largely to his father, Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov. He instilled in him a love for classical languages, literature, and history. Studying at Moscow University in the Physics and Mathematics Department of the Philosophy Faculty played a role in Muravyov’s development as a professional military man, as evidenced not only by books on military literature but also by maps with his notes. His special attitude towards history was manifested in his interest in its methodology, which he drew from the works of Thucydides and Mably. Thanks to his reading of historical literature, it becomes clear that Muravyov paid attention not only to N.M. Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State”, but also to history in general, which he perceived as the accumulated experience of humanity. His notes show how military affairs and history were intertwined in his work, resulting in the preparation of the “Course of Lectures on the Strategy and Tactics of Military Art”.
Publishing: 28/12/2025
The article has been received by the editor on 10/11/2025
How to cite: Lenchinenko M.V. Decembrist until December: Books by Nikita Muravyov // Historical Courier, 2025, No. 6 (44), pp. 35−48. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2025/ISTKURIER-2025-6-02.pdf]
Links: Issue 6 2025
Keywords: the Decembrist movement; Decembrist libraries; N.M. Muravyov; worldview; reading circle; socio-political views