Description
Book SynopsisGod, Tsar, and People brings together in one volume essays written over a period of fifty years, using a wide variety of evidencetexts, icons, architecture, and ritualto reveal how early modern Russians (14501700) 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 seldomor neverexhibited 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
Trade Review
Over his career Daniel Rowland has given us a complex, source-based, new paradigm of Muscovite political thought. Throughout these essays his basic humanity is on display, particularly in generous recognition of fellow scholars. But do not let these warm acknowledgments lull you into missing how original, how erudite, and how path-breaking his work is.
* The Russian Review *
Rowland's examination of sources as diverse as saint's lives, throne room frescos, icons, architecture and ritual is a tour de force
* Kritika *
Table of ContentsThe Literature: Breaking the Code
1. Kurbskii and the Historians
2. Toward an Understanding of the Political Ideas in Ivan Timofeev's Vremennik
3. The Problem of Advice in Muscovite Tales about the Time of Troubles
4. Did Muscovite Literary Ideology Place Limits on the Power of the Tsar (1540s–1660s)?
5. The Memory of Saint Sergius in Sixteenth-Century Russia
The Visual: Investigating Art and Architecture
6. Biblical Military Imagery in the Political Culture of Early Modern Russia: The Blessed Host of the Heavenly Tsar
7. Moscow—The Third Rome or the New Israel?
8. Architecture and Dynasty: Boris Godunov's Uses of Architecture, 1584–1606
9. Two Cultures, One Throne Room: Secular Courtiers and Orthodox Culture in the Golden Hall of the Moscow Kremlin
10. Architecture, Image, and Ritual in the Throne Rooms of Muscovite Russia
11. Advice, Advisers, and Courtiers: Decision-Making and Advice in the Royal Book Volume of the Illustrated Chronicle Compilation
Summing Up: What Our Work Means
12. Ivan the Terrible as a Carolingian Renaissance Prince
13. Autocracy
14. Muscovy
15. God, Tsar, and People: Some Further Thoughts
