Forsten, Georgii Vasilevich

Forsten, Georgii Vasil’evich 

Born May 30 (June 11), 1857, in Fredrikshamn (Hamina), Finland; died July 21 (Aug. 3), 1910, in the parish of Jorois (Joroinen), Finland. Russian historian of Swedish extraction. One of the first in Russia to study the history of Scandinavian countries.

Forsten graduated from St. Petersburg University in 1881 and became a professor there in 1896. His main area of scholarly interest was the history of the Baltic region from the 15th through 17th centuries. His works are distinguished by a broad approach to a problem, an abundance of factual material, a historical approach to the explanation of phenomena, and the extensive use of material from foreign archives. In his last years, Forsten concerned himself with the history of the Reformation and humanism in Germany.

WORKS

Bor’ba iz-za gospodstva na Baltiiskom more v XV i XVI stoletiiakh. St. Petersburg, 1884.
Baltiiskii vopros v XVI i XVII stoletiiakh (1544–1648), vols. 1–2. St. Petersburg, 1893–94.

REFERENCE

Pokhlebkin, V. V. “G. V. Forsten—odin iz osnovopolozhnikov izucheniia istorii Skandinavii v Rossii.” In Skandinavskii sb., vol. 2. Tallinn, 1957.