Kotlyarevsky Aleksander (1837‒1881) – specialist in Slavic studies and in literature, ethnographer.
In 1853, after a gymnasium in Poltava, K. enrolled at the Philological faculty of the Moscow University; there his supervisors were O. M. Bodiansky and F. I. Buslaev. In 1856, he got the golden medal for his work ‘What year did the Christening of Bulgarian take place?’. In 1857, he graduated from the university without Candidate degree because of his conflict with the lector in theology. In 1862, he got that Candidate degree at the St. Petersburg University for his thesis ‘On the time of accepting of the Christian Faith by Bulgarians, and the role of St Cyril of Thessaloniki (historical-chronological research)’. In 1857-1862, he wrote journalistic articles and critical reviews for newspapers and magazines, including ‘Otechestvennye zapiski’, ‘Moskovskoe obozrenie’, ‘Russkyi vestnik’, etc.; he taught at the Alexandrine Orphan Cadets Corps and some other schools.
In 1862, in Moscow, he was arrested for the ‘connections with London propagandists’ – together with other members of the ‘Vertep’ group of the Narodnik revolutionary type (P. N. Rybnikov, P. S. Efimenko, N. A. Potekhin); he was in the Alekseevsky Ravelin of the St Peter and Paul Fortress, where he got T.B. In 1863, he got freedom but under the police surveillance till 1868; he was prohibited to teach (till 1875, when – after numerous petitions – he received a permission).
In 1868, he defended his Master thesis ‘On Funeral Rites of Pagan Slavs’ at the St. Petersburg University and got a position of Ass. Professor in Slavic Philology at the University of Dorpat (he worked there till 1872). Since 1872, he worked in Prague on his Doctor thesis ‘Antiquities of the legal Life of Baltic Slavs’, which was defended by him in 1874, and published the same year in Prague in two volumes: ‘Antiquities of the legal Life of Baltic Slavs: An Attempt of Comparative Studies in Slavic Law’ and ‘The Book of Antiquities of Pomeranian Slavs in the Twelfth Century: Materials for the Slavic History and Antiquities; Tale of Otto of Bamberg in Its Relation to the Slavic History and Antiquities’.
In November 1874, he became Full Professor of the Chair of Slavic Philology at the Kievan University, where he worked till 1881. Since 1875, he was Correspondent Member of the Ac. of Sc.; in 1877-1881 – Chairman of the Historical Society of Nestor the Chronicler.
In the summer of 1881, because of worsening of his illness, he went to Italy, where he died in Pisa on September 29, 1881.