Ihor Ševcenko
Encyclopedia
Ihor Ševčenko was a Polish
-born philologist and historian
of Ukrainian origin. He died 26 December 2009 in Cambridge, MA. A memorial website, where remembrances can be posted, has been established at https://sites.google.com/site/ihorsevcenko/home
of Ukrainian
parents and was educated at the Adam Mickiewicz
Gymnasium
and Lycaeum in Warsaw
, the Deutsche Karlsuniversität
in Prague, the Université Catholique de Louvain
, and the Foundation Byzantine of Professor Henri Grégoire
(as member of the Seminar) in Brussels. His work reflects the influence of the numerous scholarly traditions he encountered via this education, and the multiple source languages from which he is able to draw: he learned Greek
and Latin
at the Gymnasium in Warsaw, encountered German
, Czech and francophone
approaches to scholarship in Prague and Brussels, and is a fluent native speaker of Ukrainian
, Russian
and Polish
. Ševčenko later moved to the United States
, where he taught at the University of California, Berkeley
, the University of Michigan
, Columbia University
, and Harvard University
, where he was Dumbarton Oaks
Professor of Byzantine History
and Literature
emeritus
until his death. He was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Collegium Artium
in Kraków
. During his early years in the United States, Ševčenko became acquainted with Ernst Kantorowicz
, an eminent medievalist who worked on political and intellectual history. Ševčenko was married to Margaret (née Bentley) Ševčenko and to Nancy (née Patterson
) Ševčenko; both marriages ended in divorce.
, Slavic studies
, and Ukrainian Studies. His work addresses Byzantine written culture and society from the Late Antique
period to the 15th century, and explores contact between the Slavic world and Byzantium from the medieval to the early modern period
. Ševčenko has written on philology, literature, epigraphy
, paleography and codicology
. He is noted for the engaging, "detective novel" style of his prose, as in his famous article “The Date and Author of the So-Called Fragments of Toparcha Gothicus”, which reveals that the text considered the earliest surviving narrative source on the history of the Kievan Rus’
is a 19th century forgery crafted by its “discoverer” and editor Karl Benedikt Hase.
Ševčenko’s approach is noted for its extensive engagement with primary source
material, not simply as edited texts but as original manuscripts. He uses these sources to elucidate key issues in Byzantine
and Slavic studies, such as the evangelizing mission of Cyril
and Methodios among the Slavs, Byzantine political ideology and its reception in the Slavic world, and the Zealot uprising in 14th century Thessaloniki
. His most recent publication is an edition and English translation of the only extant secular biography in Byzantine literature
, the Life of the 9th century emperor Basil I
, which was written by scholars associated with Basil’s grandson, emperor Constantine VII
. Basil’s biography is a major source for the political and cultural history of Byzantium
and its neighbors in the 9th and 10th centuries.
Ihor Ševčenko, Society and Intellectual Life in Late Byzantium (1981) ISBN 086078083X, ISBN 978-0860780830
Ihor Ševčenko, Ideology, Letters and Culture in the Byzantine World (1982)
Ihor Ševčenko, Byzantium and the Slavs in Letters and Culture (1991) ISBN 0916458121, ISBN 978-0916458126
Ihor Ševčenko, Ukraine between East and West (1996) ISBN 1895571154, ISBN 978-1895571158
Ihor Ševčenko, ed. and trans., Chronographiae Quae Theophanis Continuati Nomine Fertur Liber V Quo Vita Basilii Imperatoris Amplectitur (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae) (forthcoming in December 2012) ISBN 978-3-11-018477 http://www.degruyter.de/cont/fb/ge/detailEn.cfm?id=IS-9783110184778-1
Zakorzeniony kosmopolita. Ihor Szewczenko w rozmowie z Łukaszem Jasiną, Lublin: Instytut Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej 2010 ISBN 978-83-60695-51-7
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
-born philologist and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
of Ukrainian origin. He died 26 December 2009 in Cambridge, MA. A memorial website, where remembrances can be posted, has been established at https://sites.google.com/site/ihorsevcenko/home
Biography
Ševčenko was born in PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
of Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
parents and was educated at the Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
and Lycaeum in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, the Deutsche Karlsuniversität
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...
in Prague, the Université Catholique de Louvain
Université catholique de Louvain
The Université catholique de Louvain, sometimes known, especially in Belgium, as UCL, is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve and in Brussels...
, and the Foundation Byzantine of Professor Henri Grégoire
Henri Grégoire
Henri Grégoire , often referred to as Abbé Grégoire, was a French Roman Catholic priest, constitutional bishop of Blois and a revolutionary leader...
(as member of the Seminar) in Brussels. His work reflects the influence of the numerous scholarly traditions he encountered via this education, and the multiple source languages from which he is able to draw: he learned Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
at the Gymnasium in Warsaw, encountered German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Czech and francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
approaches to scholarship in Prague and Brussels, and is a fluent native speaker of Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
. Ševčenko later moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he taught at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where he was Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks is the conventional name for the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, situated on a historic property in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The institution is administered by the Trustees for Harvard University. Its founders, Robert Woods Bliss and his wife...
Professor of Byzantine History
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and Literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
until his death. He was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Collegium Artium
Collegium Artium
Collegium Artium is an independent, NGO and non-profit foundation promoting excellence in the field of Humanities. It was founded in 2008 and is based in Krakow, Poland....
in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
. During his early years in the United States, Ševčenko became acquainted with Ernst Kantorowicz
Ernst Kantorowicz
Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz was a German-Jewish historian of medieval political and intellectual history, known for his 1927 book Kaiser Friedrich der Zweite on Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, and in particular The King's Two Bodies .Kantorowicz was born in Posen to a wealthy, assimilated...
, an eminent medievalist who worked on political and intellectual history. Ševčenko was married to Margaret (née Bentley) Ševčenko and to Nancy (née Patterson
Patterson
-Places:Canada*Patterson, New Brunswick*Patterson Settlement, New Brunswick*Patterson Siding, New Brunswick*Patterson, Ontario*Pattersons Corners, Ontario*Patterson, Quebec*Patterson Township, Ontario*Patterson, Calgary a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta....
) Ševčenko; both marriages ended in divorce.
Scholarship
Ševčenko has contributed to two connected yet distinct disciplines, ByzantineByzantine studies
Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, costumes, religion, art, such as literature and music, science, economy, and politics of the Byzantine Empire. The discipline's founder in Germany is considered to be the philologist Hieronymus...
, Slavic studies
Slavistics
Slavic studies or Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, Slavic languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was primarily a linguist or philologist who researches Slavistics, a Slavic or Slavonic scholar...
, and Ukrainian Studies. His work addresses Byzantine written culture and society from the Late Antique
Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
period to the 15th century, and explores contact between the Slavic world and Byzantium from the medieval to the early modern period
Early modern Europe
Early modern Europe is the term used by historians to refer to a period in the history of Europe which spanned the centuries between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the late 15th century to the late 18th century...
. Ševčenko has written on philology, literature, epigraphy
Epigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...
, paleography and codicology
Codicology
Codicology is the study of books as physical objects, especially manuscripts written on parchment in codex form...
. He is noted for the engaging, "detective novel" style of his prose, as in his famous article “The Date and Author of the So-Called Fragments of Toparcha Gothicus”, which reveals that the text considered the earliest surviving narrative source on the history of the Kievan Rus’
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
is a 19th century forgery crafted by its “discoverer” and editor Karl Benedikt Hase.
Ševčenko’s approach is noted for its extensive engagement with primary source
Primary source
Primary source is a term used in a number of disciplines to describe source material that is closest to the person, information, period, or idea being studied....
material, not simply as edited texts but as original manuscripts. He uses these sources to elucidate key issues in Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
and Slavic studies, such as the evangelizing mission of Cyril
Cyril
Cyril is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Greek name Κύριλλος meaning "Lordly, Masterful" which in turn derives from Greek κυριος "Lord"...
and Methodios among the Slavs, Byzantine political ideology and its reception in the Slavic world, and the Zealot uprising in 14th century Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
. His most recent publication is an edition and English translation of the only extant secular biography in Byzantine literature
Byzantine literature
Byzantine literature may be defined as the Greek literature of the Middle Ages, whether written in the territory of the Byzantine Empire or outside its borders...
, the Life of the 9th century emperor Basil I
Basil I
Basil I, called the Macedonian was a Byzantine emperor of probable Armenian descent who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in the Byzantine theme of Macedonia, he rose in the imperial court, and usurped the imperial throne from Emperor Michael III...
, which was written by scholars associated with Basil’s grandson, emperor Constantine VII
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959...
. Basil’s biography is a major source for the political and cultural history of Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
and its neighbors in the 9th and 10th centuries.
Publications
Ihor Ševčenko, Études sur la polémique entre Théodore Métochite et Nicéphore Choumnos (1962). ASIN: B000KJ9U8OIhor Ševčenko, Society and Intellectual Life in Late Byzantium (1981) ISBN 086078083X, ISBN 978-0860780830
Ihor Ševčenko, Ideology, Letters and Culture in the Byzantine World (1982)
Ihor Ševčenko, Byzantium and the Slavs in Letters and Culture (1991) ISBN 0916458121, ISBN 978-0916458126
Ihor Ševčenko, Ukraine between East and West (1996) ISBN 1895571154, ISBN 978-1895571158
Ihor Ševčenko, ed. and trans., Chronographiae Quae Theophanis Continuati Nomine Fertur Liber V Quo Vita Basilii Imperatoris Amplectitur (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae) (forthcoming in December 2012) ISBN 978-3-11-018477 http://www.degruyter.de/cont/fb/ge/detailEn.cfm?id=IS-9783110184778-1
Zakorzeniony kosmopolita. Ihor Szewczenko w rozmowie z Łukaszem Jasiną, Lublin: Instytut Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej 2010 ISBN 978-83-60695-51-7