God, Tsar, and People
Title | God, Tsar, and People PDF eBook |
Author | Daniel B. Rowland |
Publisher | Cornell University Press |
Pages | 420 |
Release | 2020-11-15 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1501752111 |
God, Tsar, and People brings together in one volume essays written over a period of fifty years, using a wide variety of evidence—texts, icons, architecture, and ritual—to reveal how early modern Russians (1450–1700) imagined their rapidly changing political world. This volume presents a more nuanced picture of Russian political thought during the two centuries before Peter the Great came to power than is typically available. The state was expanding at a dizzying rate, and atop Russia's traditional political structure sat a ruler who supposedly reflected God's will. The problem facing Russians was that actual rulers seldom—or never—exhibited the required perfection. Daniel Rowland argues that this contradictory set of ideas was far less autocratic in both theory and practice than modern stereotypes would have us believe. In comparing and contrasting Russian history with that of Western European states, Rowland is also questioning the notion that Russia has always been, and always viewed itself as, an authoritarian country. God, Tsar, and People explores how the Russian state in this period kept its vast lands and diverse subjects united in a common view of a Christian polity, defending its long frontier against powerful enemies from the East and from the West.
God, Tsar, and People
Title | God, Tsar, and People PDF eBook |
Author | Daniel B. Rowland |
Publisher | Cornell University Press |
Pages | 281 |
Release | 2020-11-15 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1501752103 |
God, Tsar, and People brings together in one volume essays written over a period of fifty years, using a wide variety of evidence—texts, icons, architecture, and ritual—to reveal how early modern Russians (1450–1700) imagined their rapidly changing political world. This volume presents a more nuanced picture of Russian political thought during the two centuries before Peter the Great came to power than is typically available. The state was expanding at a dizzying rate, and atop Russia's traditional political structure sat a ruler who supposedly reflected God's will. The problem facing Russians was that actual rulers seldom—or never—exhibited the required perfection. Daniel Rowland argues that this contradictory set of ideas was far less autocratic in both theory and practice than modern stereotypes would have us believe. In comparing and contrasting Russian history with that of Western European states, Rowland is also questioning the notion that Russia has always been, and always viewed itself as, an authoritarian country. God, Tsar, and People explores how the Russian state in this period kept its vast lands and diverse subjects united in a common view of a Christian polity, defending its long frontier against powerful enemies from the East and from the West.
Tsar and People
Title | Tsar and People PDF eBook |
Author | Michael Cherniavsky |
Publisher | New Haven, Yale U.P |
Pages | 306 |
Release | 1961 |
Genre | National characteristics, Russian |
ISBN |
The author traces the ruler cult from its tenth-century origins to its demise late in the nineteenth century, pointing out that the princes of Russian history are seen as saints both through their actions and through their function as mediator between God and people.
"Tsar and God" and Other Essays in Russian Cultural Semiotics
Title | "Tsar and God" and Other Essays in Russian Cultural Semiotics PDF eBook |
Author | Victor Zhivov |
Publisher | Ars Rossica |
Pages | 300 |
Release | 2018-05-30 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 9781618118042 |
Featuring a number of pioneering essays by the internationally known Russian cultural historians Boris Uspenskij and Victor Zhivov, this collection includes a number of essays appearing in English for the fi rst time. Focusing on several of the most interesting and problematic aspects of Russia's cultural development, these essaysexamine the survival and the reconceptualization of the past in later cultural systems and some of the key transformations of Russian cultural consciousness. The essays in this collection contain some important examples of Russian cultural semiotics and remain indispensable contributions to the history of Russian civilization.
Between God and Tsar
Title | Between God and Tsar PDF eBook |
Author | Isolde Thyret |
Publisher | |
Pages | 275 |
Release | 2001 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780875802749 |
Challenging traditional interpretations of the roles of royal women in patriarchal Muscovite society, Between God and Tsar opens a new approach to understanding medieval Russia. Drawing upon a wide range of sources in anthropology, sociology, art history, and literature, it sheds light on the lives of the tsaritsy, about which little has been known, and on the culture surrounding them. This pioneering study demonstrates that the wives of the early tsars played complex roles in government, especially during times of crisis, and shows how religious culture perpetuated the expressions of their legitimacy as female rulers. Muscovite Russia's values were sanctioned by religion, and it is through religious images that the royal women's claims to rulership can be seen most clearly. Thyrêt explores Orthodox iconography--such as that of the Golden Palace of the Tsaritsy, which proclaims Irina Godunova's right to act as an independent ruler--and shows how the Muscovite court used gendered images to reveal the spiritual power of female rulers. Myths and legends adapted from one generation to another also underscore royal wives' claim to authority based on their great spiritual power. Illuminating medieval Russia's art, literature, and culture, Between God and Tsar opens new ways to understand the tsaritsy. Students of Russian history have often wondered how and why, under the Romanovs, female rulers governed so often. Thyrêt's broadly researched study provides an answer. Between God and Tsar offers stimulating insights into the power of Russia's royal women and how it was manifest in Muscovite culture.
For Prophet and Tsar
Title | For Prophet and Tsar PDF eBook |
Author | Robert D. Crews |
Publisher | Harvard University Press |
Pages | 490 |
Release | 2009-05-31 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0674262859 |
Russia occupies a unique position in the Muslim world. Unlike any other non-Islamic state, it has ruled Muslim populations for over five hundred years. Though Russia today is plagued by its unrelenting war in Chechnya, Russia’s approach toward Islam once yielded stability. In stark contrast to the popular “clash of civilizations” theory that sees Islam inevitably in conflict with the West, Robert D. Crews reveals the remarkable ways in which Russia constructed an empire with broad Muslim support. In the eighteenth century, Catherine the Great inaugurated a policy of religious toleration that made Islam an essential pillar of Orthodox Russia. For ensuing generations, tsars and their police forces supported official Muslim authorities willing to submit to imperial directions in exchange for defense against brands of Islam they deemed heretical and destabilizing. As a result, Russian officials assumed the powerful but often awkward role of arbitrator in disputes between Muslims. And just as the state became a presence in the local mosque, Muslims became inextricably integrated into the empire and shaped tsarist will in Muslim communities stretching from the Volga River to Central Asia. For Prophet and Tsar draws on police and court records, and Muslim petitions, denunciations, and clerical writings—not accessible prior to 1991—to unearth the fascinating relationship between an empire and its subjects. As America and Western Europe debate how best to secure the allegiances of their Muslim populations, Crews offers a unique and critical historical vantage point.
Banners
Title | Banners PDF eBook |
Author | Steve Pribish |
Publisher | iUniverse |
Pages | 233 |
Release | 2005-05 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 0595356117 |
An assassination in Serbia sets off a series of events that draws the world into an ever-expanding vortex of madness. As mighty armies clash, entire populations must either flee their ancestral homes or be ground into dust. Akulina Boriskova Pribish and her two young sons are caught in the center of the madness and with the other villagers of Hutawa, Byelorussia must choose between death as warriors and life as refugees. Here is the saga of a people caught in the horrors of the Great War and the Russian Revolution. From the first heady days of victory, through humiliating defeats and the empty promises of revolution, their experiences mirror those of millions upon whose mighty shoulders future generations would rest.