Dmitry Ilovaysky

Who was Dmitry Ilovaysky?

Dmitry Ivanovich Ilovaysky was an anti-Normanist Russian historian who penned a number of standard history textbooks.

Ilovaysky graduated from the Moscow University in 1854 and first attracted critical attention with his thesis on the Principality of Ryazan in 1858. He was wounded during the Siege of Plevna, in which he took an active part.

In the 1870s, Ilovaysky started publishing his extensive overview of Russian history. In his later writings, he expounded a controversial hypothesis of Azov Rus, which was alleged to have been centered on Sarkel and Tmutarakan.

Ilovaysky was the father-in-law of Ivan Tsvetayev, who founded the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.