Peter I and the Birth of Russian Historical Science

Abstract

The article describes the significant influence of Peter the Great on the emergence of Russian historical science. Tsar Peter Alekseevich supported rationalism and the theory of natural law, demanded that his subjects accepted the postulates of Western European theories that could be viewed as advanced at that historical moment, and be guided by them in their activities. Attaching great importance to historical knowledge, Peter I closely followed the development of Western European historical science, ordered the works of European historians to be translated into Russian. In particular, in 1718 the Tsar personally ordered Gabriel Buzhinsky to translate from Latin into Russian the work of the German historian and lawyer Samuel Pufendorf “Introductio ad Historiam Europeam”, and then personally checked the accuracy of the translation. Peter the Great commanded that the artillery Lieutenant-Captain V.N. Tatishchev began to write a work in geography, and then in the history of Russia. In turn, the author of the article shows that the works of S. Pufendorf had a serious impact on the formation of V.N. Tatishchev’s scientific worldview. Comparative analysis of the historical and philosophical works of Pufendorf and Tatishchev allows us to trace the intellectual process set by Peter I: the process of penetration of rationalistic methods of thinking and cognition into the Russian national worldview.