Konstantin Sergeyevich Aksakov was a well-known Russian historian and publicist who adhered to Slavophile views. He was born in 1817 in the village of Aksakovo in the Orenburg province and died in 1860 on the Greek island of Zante (Zakynthos). Konstantin was the son of the writer Sergey Timofeyevich Aksakov and grew up in a village surrounded by nature and patriarchal peasants. At the age of nine, after the family moved to Moscow in 1826, he found himself in an environment characterized by a hospitable life based on old Russian traditions.

His mother, Olga Semyonovna, born Zaplatina, was a straightforward woman and a passionate patriot. According to Ivan Sergeyevich Aksakov, who wrote a biography of his brother, Konstantin inherited moral qualities from his mother and aesthetic taste and love for literature from his father. Even in childhood, Konstantin developed a love for everything native, especially ancient Russian culture. At 12, he organized a group among friends, fascinated by ancient Russian weaponry. In addition, he showed interest in intellectual pursuits: having learned to read at four, he studied all classical literature and received a thorough home education under the guidance of teachers such as geographer Frolov and Venelin.

In 1832, Konstantin entered the Faculty of Philology at Moscow University and joined the Stankevich circle, which included Belinsky, Botkin, and others. During this time, significant changes were occurring at the university: old professors were replaced by Pavlov, Nadezhdin, Shevyrev, and Pogodin, and students began to be interested in Hegelianism and social issues.

In the circle that Aksakov joined, Hegelianism became a kind of religious cult, which influenced his historical perception. Gradually, his views began to develop in a national direction, distancing him from the Stankevich circle. In 1840, he finally parted ways with Belinsky and became closer to Khomyakov and the Kirievsky brothers.

After graduating from university in 1835, Aksakov actively engaged in literary activities, publishing reviews and poems in various publications. In 1838, he spent five months in Berlin but soon returned home, unable to endure the loneliness abroad.

In 1847, Aksakov defended his master's thesis on Lomonosov, and in 1852, he published an article on the family life of the Slavs, which became significant in Russian literature. In December 1850, he staged a patriotic drama that was removed from the repertoire due to its expressed idea that the people, not the boyars, liberated Moscow. In 1853, his article on the heroes of Prince Vladimir was banned by censorship, and Aksakov found himself under police surveillance.

In 1857, he edited the newspaper 'Moscow,' and in the late 1850s, he published the comedy 'Prince Lipovitsky,' which mocked the Western worldview. His works on grammar and Russian history aimed to prove the national uniqueness of the Russian people.

In 1859, his father died, and Konstantin, who had strong health, could not bear the loss. He passed away on the island of Zante, where he had moved at the insistence of doctors. His writings were published posthumously but remained unfinished.

Aksakov was one of the main theorists of the Slavophile school, engaged in the historical justification of its ideas. After his death, many of his poems were published in various editions.