HISTORICAL VIEWS OF E.P. SAVELYEV IN THE APPRAISALS OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCHERS
Evgraf P. Savelyev is one of the brightest and most popular Don historians of the early XX century, the author of generalizing monographs, essays, journalistic writings, reports on archaeological expeditions, poetic and prosaic works, dramas, and songs.The author refers to the appraisals of the historical views of E.P. Savelyev in modern historiography. The historiographic sources are the works of N.A. Mininkov, M.A. Ryblova, B.S. Kornienko, I.I. Yurchenko, A.Yu. Peretyatko, A.I. Kozlov, A.I. Agafonov, M.P. Astapenko, G.D. Astapenko and E.M. Astapenko, other Russian historians, as well as the publications of E.P. Savelyev.The greatest attention of researchers is attracted by the large generalizing work of E.P. Savelyev «The history of the Cossacks from ancient times to the end of the XVIII century. Historical research in three parts” (1915-1918), in which an original concept of the genesis and development of the Don Cossacks is proposed. Many Russian historians criticize this concept, especially the research methods of E.P. Savelyev, though it became wide-spread in connection with the processes of Cossack revival in the 1990s-2000s. A positive assessment of the views of E.P. Savelyev was given by representatives of the «new chronology» and Slavic folk history, considering it consonant with their own views.Other historical works by E.P. Savelyev are still less in demand among professional historians and a wide circle of readers, in particular those dealing with the activities of the Don atamans M.I. Platov and Prince N.I. Svyatopolk-Mirsky. Meanwhile, without them, it is impossible to give a comprehensive assessment of the work of E.P. Savelyev as an integral part of the Don historiography of the early XX century.