Succession to the throne in early modern Russia : the transfer of power 1450-1725 / Paul Bushkovitch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bushkovitch, Paul, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Russkai︠a︡ pravoslavnai︠a︡ t︠s︡erkovʹ.

Inheritance and succession.

History.

Monarchy.

Heads of state--Succession.

Kings and rulers.

Russia--Kings and rulers--Succession--History.

Russia.

Heads of state--Succession--Russia--History.

Heads of state.

Monarchy--Russia--History.

Inheritance and succession--Russia--History.

Russkai︠a︡ pravoslavnai︠a︡ t︠s︡erkovʹ--Influence.

Russkai︠a︡ pravoslavnai︠a︡ t︠s︡erkovʹ.

Russia--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 397 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

This revisionist history of succession to the throne in early modern Russia, from the Moscow princes of the fifteenth century to Peter the Great, argues that legal primogeniture never existed: the monarch designated an heir that was usually the eldest son only by custom, not by law. Overturning generations of scholarship, Paul Bushkovitch persuasively demonstrates the many paths to succession to the throne, where designation of the heir and occasional elections were part of the relations of the monarch with the ruling elite, and to some extent the larger population. Exploring how the forms of designation evolved over the centuries as Russian culture changed, and in the later seventeenth century made use of Western practices, this study shows how, when Peter the Great finally formalized the custom in 1722 by enshrining the power of the tsar to designate in law, this was not a radical innovation but was in fact consistent with the experience of the previous centuries.

Contents:

aDesignation and heredity 1450-1533

Benediction to election 1533-1598

Election and heredity 1598-1645

Succession and the new culture of the court 1645-1689

Peter the Great and succession 1690-1719

Peter's heirs and Feofan Prokopovich 1719-1725.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 22 Feb 2021).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781108783156

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.