The Path of the Historian and Teacher: to the Anniversary of Ludmila V. Mininkova

Abstract. The article is dedicated to the anniversary of the doctor of historical sciences, Professor Lyudmila Vladimirovna Mininkova, the main milestones of her life path, professional activities and interests. L.V. Mininkova began her professional career as a researcher of Bolsheviks’ memoirs on the revolutionary movement of 1907–1914, then she turned her attention to the problems of the history of Medieval Rus’, primarily to the to the inter-princely arrangements and relations between princes and their retinues in the pre-Mongol period, considered from her point of view as typical medieval phenomenon of suzerainty-vassalage. L.V. Mininkova wrote a few monographs to reconstruction of these relationships, their specificity in the context of medieval Russian reality. Her doctoral dissertation was devoted to the same topic. Further, the attention of the historian was focused on the theory of the patrimonial state, that was widespread in Russian historiography from the middle of the 19th century, and other problems related to the history of the late Middle Ages and historical memory. The anniversary celebrant also pays the closest attention to the questions of theory, philosophy and methodology of history in her studies and pedagogical activity.

Keywords: L.V. Mininkova, anniversary, Bolsheviks memories, the Middle Ages, suzerainty and vassalage, historiography, patrimonial state.