Cambridge History of Russia

This first volume of the three-volume Cambridge History of Russia deals with the period before the reign of Peter the Great. The concept of the 'prePetrine' period has a profound resonance in Russian intellectual and cultural history. Although Russia had not been entirely immune from Western influences before Peter's reign, the speed and scale of Europeanisation increased greatly from the beginning of the eighteenth century. This process was deeply divisive, and its significance and effects were debated in the nineteenth century by 'Westerniser' intellectuals, who favoured modernisation, and their 'Slavophile' opponents, who idealised the Muscovite past.

 

In the post-Soviet period, as Russians attempt to reconstruct their national identity after the experience of seven decades of state socialism, aspects of this debate have been revived. The pre-Petrine period has come to be seen in some neo-Slavophile circles as the repository of indigenous Russian values, uncontaminated by the Western influences which were to lead eventually to the disastrous Communist experiment. For many contemporary Westernisers, by contrast, the origins of the Stalinist dictatorship lay not so much in the dogmas of Marxism as in old Muscovite traditions of autocracy and despotism. Such views, which have found an echo in much Western journalistic commentary and in some popular English-language histories of Russia, tend to be based on outdated and ill-informed studies. The present volume, which brings together the most recent interpretations of serious scholars in order to provide an authoritative and reliable new account of pre-Petrine Russia, is designed to advance the knowledge and understanding of the period in the anglophone world.

 

Edited by Maureen Perrie

Cambridge university press, 2006. - 823 pp.

ISBN-13 978-0-521-81227-6 hardback 

ISBN-10 0-521-81227-5 hardback

 

List of plates 

List of maps 

List of figures 

List of genealogical tables 

Notes on contributors 

Acknowledgements 

Note on dates and transliteration 

Chronology 

List ofabbreviations

1 Introduction - Maureen Perrie

2 Russia's geographical environment - Denis J. B. Shaw

Part I EARLY RUS' AND THE RISE OF MUSCOVY (c. 900-1462)

3 The origins of Rus' (c.900-1015) - Jonathan Shepard

4 Kievan Rus' (1015-1125) - Simon Franklin

5 The Rus' principalities (1125-1246) - Martin Dimnik

6 North-eastern Russia and the Golden Horde (1246-1359) - Janet Martin

7 The emergence of Moscow (1359-1462) - Janet Martin

8 Medieval Novgorod 188 - V. L. Ianin

Part II THE EXPANSION, CONSOLIDATION AND CRISIS OF MUSCOVY (1462-1613)

9 The growth of Muscovy (1462-1533) - Donald Ostrowski

10 Ivan IV (1533-1584) - Sergei Bogatyrev

11 Fedor Ivanovich and Boris Godunov (1584-1605) - A. P. Pavlov

12 The peasantry - Richard Hellie

13 Towns and commerce - Denis J. B. Shaw

14 The non-Christian peoples on the Muscovite frontiers - Michael Khodarkovsky

15 The Orthodox Church - David B. Miller

16 The law - Richard Hellie

17 Political ideas and rituals - Michael S. Flier

18 The Time ofTroubles (1603-1613) - Maureen Perrie

Part III RUSSIA UNDER THE FIRST ROMANOVS (1613-1689)

19 The central government and its institutions - Marshall Poe

20 Local government and administration - Brian Davies

21 Muscovy at war and peace - Brian Davies

22 Non-Russian subjects - Michael Khodarkovsky

23 The economy, trade and serfdom - Richard Hellie

24 Law and society - Nancy Shields Kollmann

25 Urban developments - Denis J. B. Shaw

26 Popular revolts - Maureen Perrie

27 The Orthodox Church and the schism - Robert O. Crummey

28 Cultural and intellectual life - Llindsey Hughes

Bibliography 

Index 

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