The Karazin Family: A New Reading (To the 250th Anniversary of the Birth of V. N. Karazin)

Abstract

The article, dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the birth of the founder of Kharkiv Imperial University Vasyl Karazin, details little-known episodes of his life and traces the genealogy of the entire Karazin family. Based on a thorough study of archival materials, the author for the first time discusses not only the Bulgarian, but also Ukrainian, Greek, and Polish roots of the Karazin family, calling into question the one-sided views that have long dominated the literature on the subject (for example, regarding the alleged Greek roots of the founder of Kharkiv University). The author’s arguments and observations are rooted in the analysis of the records of the Department of Heraldry in the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg and personal papers of Nazar Karazin preserved in the Russian State Military Historical Archive. The article provides a wealth of biographical information on all members of the Karazin family, starting with Oleksandr Karazin, who settled in the lands of the Sloboda regiments and whom the author considers as the family’s founder. The biography of Vasyl Karazin’s father, Nazar Oleksandrovych, a colonel in the Russian army during the time of Catherine II, is explored in more detail. On the basis of archival records, the author describes in particular Nazar Karazin’s military and diplomatic service during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774. New light is shed on the life of Vasyl Karazin’s grandson Mykola Mykolayovych Karazin, a well-known artist, member of the Russian Academy of the Arts, and writer, who left to posterity a diary and reports from the frontlines of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. These writings are published by the author of the article in a separate edition. Furthermore, research in the Russian State Naval Archive enables the author to flesh out little-known episodes of the life of one of the sons and another grandson of Vasyl Karazin – Filadelf senior and Filadelf junior, who served in the Russian Navy. The author has also discovered new facts from the lives of descendants of the Karazin family currently living in Ukraine and abroad.