God, Tsar, and People: The Political Culture of Early Modern Russia

420 Pages·2020·50.747 MB·English

by  Daniel B Rowland

GOD, TSAR, AND PEOPLE
A volume in the NIU Series in Slavic, East Eu ro pean,
and Eurasian Studies
Edited by Christine D. Worobec
For a list of books in the series, visit our website at cornellpress . cornell . edu.
GOD, TSAR,
AND P EOPLE
THE PO LITI CAL CULTURE OF
EARLY MODERN RUS SIA
Daniel B. Rowland
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY PRESS
AN IMPRINT OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
Ithaca and London
Copyright © 2020 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review,
this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any
form without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage
House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
Visit our website at cornellpress . cornell . edu.
First published 2020 by Cornell University Press
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Rowland, Daniel B. (Daniel Bruce), 1941– author.
Title: God, Tsar, and people : the po liti cal culture of early
modern Rus sia / Daniel B. Rowland.
Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press,
2020. | Series: NIU series in Slavic, East Eu ro pean, and
Eurasian studies | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020011767 (print) | LCCN 2020011768
(ebook) | ISBN 9781501752094 (cloth) |
ISBN 9781501753725 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781501752100 (epub) |
ISBN 9781501752117 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Po liti cal culture— Russia. | Russia—
Intellectual life. | Moscow (Russia)— Kings and rulers.
Classification: LCC DK32.7 .R69 2020 (print) |
LCC DK32.7 (ebook) | DDC 306.20947/09031— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020011767
LC ebook rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov
/ 2020011768
Cover image: Battle standard with images of Joshua, the
Archangel Michael, and the Lord Sabaoth, early
seventeenth century, Tretiakov Gallery. Source: N.
Maiasova, Drevnerusskoe shit’e (Moscow: Iskusstvo,
1971), plate 54.
To Wendy

Contents
Acknowl edgments ix
A Brief Note on Transliteration and
Our Editorial Policy xiii
Foreword: Pathbreaking and Paradigm-
Shifting by Russell E. Martin xv
The Textual: Breaking the Code
1. Kurbskii and the Historians 3
2. T oward an Understanding of the
Po liti cal Ideas in Ivan
Timofeev’s Vremennik 23
3. The Prob lem of Advice in Muscovite
Tales about the Time of Trou bles 54
4. Did Muscovite Literary Ideology
Place Limits on the Power of the
Tsar (1540s–1660s)? 82
5. The Memory of Saint Sergius in
Sixteenth- Century Rus sia 115
Adding the Visual: Investigating Art and Architecture
6. Biblical Military Imagery in the Po liti cal
Culture of Early Modern Rus sia:
The Blessed Host of the Heavenly Tsar 127
7. Moscow— The Third Rome or the
New Israel? 155
viii Contents
8. Architecture and Dynasty: Boris
Godunov’s Uses of Architecture,
1584–1606 188
9. Two Cultures, One Throne Room: Secular
Courtiers and Orthodox Culture in the
Golden Hall of the Moscow Kremlin 211
10. Architecture, Image, and Ritual in the
Throne Rooms of Muscovite Rus sia 234
11. Advice, Advisers, and Courtiers:
Decision Making and Advice in the
Royal Book Volume of the Illustrated
Chronicle Compilation 259
12. Ivan the Terrible as a Carolingian
Re nais sance Prince 299
Summing Up: What Our Work Means
13. Autocracy 315
14. Muscovy 319
15. God, Tsar, and People: Some
Further Thoughts 358
Index 389
Acknowle dgments
Any scholar who has been active over a period
of almost five dec ades would have accumulated major debts to his or her col-
leagues in the field. But in my case, my colleagues in the field of Muscovite
history have had an unusual degree of influence over my work. Over t hese
de cades, we have puzzled together over the same or similar prob lems, start-
ing with what to make of the picture of Muscovite culture and politics that
we inherited from earlier generations. Each of us charted his or her own
course, examined dif er ent types of evidence, and came to separate conclu-
sions. But, as we presented our research and commented on each other’s pa-
pers yearly at the conferences of the American Association for the Advancement
of Slavic Studies, now renamed the Association for Slavic, Eastern Eu ro pean,
and Eurasian Studies, and in numerous other venues, both formal and informal,
we felt part of a common undertaking: the creation of a new paradigm in our
understanding of that time and place. In that extraordinarily fertile and long-
lasting environment, it is hard for me to say where my own ideas end and t hose
of my colleagues begin. So my first acknowle dgment is to all of my colleagues
in early modern Rus sian history without whose work virtually none of these
essays would be the same.
Among this scholarly family, I am indebted particularly to a small handful
of friends and colleagues who have been of special help, and whose influence
on t hese essays is particularly g reat. The last essay in this volume explores this
influence in substantive terms, but I can here express my personal gratitude
to t hese friends. First, to Bob Crummey and Ned Keenan, whose guidance was
essential to my formation as a historian of Muscovy. My longest-l asting friend-
ship in the field is with Don Ostrowski. He put me up on his floor or couch
during my earliest visits to Harvard, and we have discussed intensely and at
length both issues in early modern history and prob lems we encountered in
our teaching of the history of vari ous places and periods.
As I wrote in the final essay here, Nancy Shields Kollmann, Russ Martin,
Valerie Kivelson, and Michael Flier have had direct and continuing influence
on my thinking. Together t hese scholars have rei magined many, even most
ix