F.W. Maitland – P.G. Vinogradoff: University question in the academic biographies of the professors

Abstract

This article discusses the problems of higher education in Great Britain and Russia between the second half of the 19th and the early 20th century as viewed by the historian and lawyer F.W. Maitland (1850–1906) and the Russian-English legal historian P.G. Vinogradoff (1854–1925), both struggled to reform higher education in these countries. The relevance of the study is due to insufficient data on the activities of British and Russian historians to transform the traditional system for training lawyers and historians at Cambridge and Moscow universities. Comparative analysis of the weak spots identified by F.W. Maitland and P.G. Vinogradoff in the English and Russian systems of university education was carried out by studying their articles and epistolary writings with the help of historical-comparative, historical, and biographical methods of research. The conclusions obtained help to understand the life paths of F.W. Maitland and P.G. Vinogradoff and are of potential interest for lecture courses on the historiography of the world and Russian history. The active role played by the scholars in bringing change to the education systems at Cambridge and Moscow universities influenced them considerably: for F.W. Maitland, who had acquired no higher rank but professorship since 1888, it hampered career growth; for P.G. Vinogradoff, it had fatal consequences in Russia (two resignations (1901, 1911) and emigration), but he acquired British citizenship and finally became an outstanding historian and jurist in England, which turned out to be an irretrievable loss for Russia.

Keywords

• f.w. maitland
• p.g. vinogradoff
• university question
• reforming higher education
• cambridge university
• oxford university
• moscow university
• comparative historical analysis