Peter the Great and His Time in Russian Song and Prose Folklore

2021 ◽  
pp. 11-25
Author(s):  
Сейран Акопович Джанумов ◽  
Ирина Николаевна Райкова
Keyword(s):  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Great Northern War

В статье, посвященной 300-летию Российской империи и 350-летию со дня рождения Петра Великого, речь идет об отражении в фольклоре петровского времени некоторых важных военных событий: Северной войны со Швецией 1700-1721 гг. и ее кульминации - Полтавской битвы. Отмечается, что в исторических песнях о Северной войне есть не только изображение военных событий, но и окрашенный лиризмом, психологически верный показ душевного мира персонажей, их ожиданий и надежд. Представляет интерес и песня о русских солдатах, готовящихся к сражению со шведами, с иносказательным мотивом приготовленного врагам «угощения». Внимания заслуживает и устная историческая проза Петровской эпохи: предания, легенды, анекдоты и сказки. Воображение народа пробудила неординарная личность первого императора России и необычный образ жизни этого царя, «работника на троне». Так, смелое решение Петра I - перелить часть монастырских колоколов в пушки - отразилось в нескольких преданиях и анекдотах: эта идея приписывается и пушечному мастеру, и мудрому патриарху, и самому царю. Резко выражены социально-политические конфликты и мотивы в исторических песнях, анекдотах и бытовых сказках об А. Д. Меншикове. В песнях народное недовольство неблаговидными деяниями петровского временщика выражено прямо, в едкой и насмешливой форме. В фольклорной прозе противоречивость натуры царского фаворита и сподвижника передается более тонко, как, например, в сказке о царе и кузнеце, в одном из вариантов которой кузнецом оказывается Меншиков. Безбоязненно обличается в исторических песнях и преданиях взяточник и казнокрад, первый сибирский губернатор М. П. Гагарин, казненный за свои провинности по приказу Петра I в 1721 г. Сделан вывод, что в исторических песнях и устной прозе наблюдаются жанровые отличия в изображении Петра I и его времени, и только во всей совокупности текстов разных жанров образы людей и событий представлены разносторонне, с присущими им противоречиями, передающими не правду факта, а дух эпохи. This article, dedicated to the 300 th anniversary of the Russian Empire and the 350 th anniversary of Peter the Great’s birth, deals with the Great Northern War of 1700-1721 and its culmination, the Battle of Poltava, as they are reflected in the folklore of Peter’s time. Historical songs about the Great Northern War not only feature military events, but also present a lyrically colored, psychologically convincing portrayal of their characters. The songs include one about Russian soldiers getting ready for battle with the Swedes preparing various allegorical “dishes” prepared for their enemies. The article also examines the oral historical prose of the era, including legends, anecdotes and fairy tales. The extraordinary personality of the first emperor of Russia and his unusual way of life as “a worker on the throne” caught the people’s imagination. Several legends and anecdotes describe Peter’s decision to recast monastery bells as cannons, an idea they attribute to the cannon master, the patriarch, and to the tsar himself. Historical songs, anecdotes and household tales about A. D. Menshikov express socio-political conflicts and motifs. The songs reflect discontent with the unseemly deeds of Peter’s favorite and associate in a caustic and mocking form. In folklore prose, Menshikov’s contradictory nature is conveyed more subtly, as, for example, in a fairy tale about the tsar and a blacksmith, in one variant of which Menshikov himself turns out to be a blacksmith. Other historical songs and legends denounce M. P. Gagarin, the first governor of Siberia, bribe-taker and embezzler, whom Peter the Great had executed for his crimes in 1721. The image of Peter the Great and his time differs in historical songs and oral prose, due in part to differences in genre. However, taken in their entirety, the texts present a multi-faceted picture of people and events that, along with their inherent contradictions, convey not the factual truth but the spirit of the era.

Stephan Wilhelm Kinsky —an imperial diplomat in Russia in 1721–1722

2020 ◽  
pp. 71-77
Author(s):  
Anežka Hrebiková ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Habsburg Monarchy ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Great Northern War

The aim of the present study is to analyse the diplomatic mission of Count Stephan Wilhelm Kinsky to the court of Peter the Great. On the basis of diplomatic dispatches, the main focus is concentrated on the course of Kinsky's mission and on his obligations as envoy. His task was to stabilise Russian-Habsburg relations, especially with regard to the new imperial title of Tsar Peter. The study tries to depict the transitional period in the Russian Empire after the end of Great Northern War and focuses on the atmosphere of court society at that time. The study addresses the question of which instructions from the Vienna court were fulfilled by the Bohemian aristocrat (and which were not). Kinsky's mission is approached as a part of the process of the negotiation of an alliance between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Russian Empire. Kinsky was forced to deal with the inconveniences of the nascent Saint Petersburg, natural disasters, and the intrigues of competing delegations at the Russian court during the mission. Although the mission and its results at first sight cannot be described as a success, Kinsky's activity in the Russian Empire became a turning point both in his own career and, as an upshot, in the development of the Russian-Habsburg relations.

scholarly journals The History of Pre-Petrine Russia as Recounted by Voltaire: The View of an Enlightened European

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey Mezin
Keyword(s):  
World History ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Medieval History ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
French Writer ◽  
History Of ◽  
Realistic Form ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
New Look

This article analyses Voltaire’s evaluation of pre-Petrine Russia, its evolution, the sources of Voltaire’s data on medieval Muscovy, and his Russian contemporaries’ attitude to the historical work of the enlightener. The topic of Russia is touched upon in a number of Voltaire’s works: The History of Charles XII, Anecdotes of Peter the Great, Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations, and History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great. Peter I is always characterised as the “creator” of a new Russia. This idea, as well as European stereotypes of Muscovy, determined the author’s attitude to pre-Petrine Rus’. Voltaire created a picture of a barbaric society characterised by superstitions, ignorance, despotism, the enslavement of its subjects, the dominance of Asian customs, and isolation. In History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great, Voltaire softens his characterisation of pre-Petrine Rus’. It no longer looks to him like a country stuck in its barbarism. Voltaire emphasises the desire of Peter’s predecessors for transformation, as a result of which the picture of medieval Russia acquires a more realistic form. On becoming acquainted with the sources, the enlightener’s observations indicate the formation of a new look at the process of civilization. The article’s author singles out issues of medieval history of Russia considered by Voltaire in his works and the sources that formed the basis of the “Russian” works of the famous French writer, paying attention to the conclusions that ultimately not only confirmed Voltaire’s new history of Russia, but also outlined novel ways to study world history.

scholarly journals German Colonists in the Migration Policy of the Russian Autocracy (Analysis of the Laws of the Russian Empire)

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 810-823
Author(s):  
Olga V. Erokhina ◽  
Olga A. Litzenberger
Keyword(s):  
Birth Rate ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
German States ◽  
Historical Comparative ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Xix Century

The article traces the policy of resettlement of German nationals from German states to the southern outskirts of the Russian empire based on the analysis of legislative material. To analyze the laws of the Russian Empire, the authors use historical-comparative and historical-systemic methods. Analysis. Mostly farmers were invited to Russia. They were to contribute to the transfer of improved European agricultural practices to the Russian peasantry. However, the Russian authorities could not predict the possible consequences of inviting foreigners. Therefore, there was no clear mechanism for organizing and regulating this process. Immigrants were offered significant benefits and privileges, so they agreed to move. Over time, the overpopulation of the colonies due to the high birth rate and lack of land contributed to the beginning of migration movements of the Germans in the second quarter of the XIX century in various regions of Russia from the mother colonies. The geography of the colonists began to expand as new laws were passed that eventually regulated their way of life. They created new colonies in the image of their mothers in the Caucasus and the Don, Siberia and Central Asia. The loss of benefits and privileges led not only to an increase in migration processes among them, but also forced them to emigrate to America and even return to Germany.

scholarly journals Unknown pages from Maria Kantakuzino’s biography

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 45-49
Author(s):  
Victor Tvircun ◽  
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The Political ◽  
Biographical Data ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
State Archives ◽  
The Russian Empire

Thе present publication is the first in historiography to highlight the unknown pages from the biography of Maria Andreevna Kantakuzino, wife of Foma (Toma) Kantakuzino, Major General of the Russian Army, an associate of Peter the Great. The research is based on documents discovered by the author in the State archives of the Russian Federation. The hallmark of this article is the fact, that the biographical data of Maria Cantacuzino are disclosed in the context of the political events of the 1st quarter of the 18th century, as well as her personal ties and correspondence with statesmen of the Russian Empire, the author reflects the issue of the financial situation of the countess in Russia. At the same time, the publication sheds light on the previously unknown biographical data of Maria Cantacuzino – the time and conditions of her arrival in Russia, the place of residence, as well as the date of her death. This publication, on the basis of archival documents discovered and introduced into scientific circulation, makes it possible to show the property status and possessions of the Cantacuzino family in Russia in the first half of the 18th century, as well as their fate after the death of the owners.

scholarly journals Peace or conflict? Past cultural relations between the Nordic countries, Russia and the Romanian area (17th – 19th Centuries)

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-126
Author(s):  
Mihaela Mehedinţi-Beiean
Keyword(s):  
Russian Empire ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
General Observation ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Military Conflicts ◽  
The Russian Empire

During the modern period, Europe was affected by a series of military conflicts, which periodically rebalanced and reshaped political, social and cultural relations between the states involved in them. The wars in which the Nordic countries, the Russian Empire and/or the Romanian area took part thus resulted in temporary or more constant alterations of the bilateral and multilateral connections between them. Although not always accurate when put into the perspective of the subsequent events, contemporary accounts regarding these conflicts and the shape of the political and cultural relations surrounding them represent extremely important sources of information for researchers interested in establishing the reasons that caused certain international developments of the 20th century. Having this in view, the present study’s aim is twofold. Firstly, it intends to reveal the value of the written accounts pertaining to Nordic and Russian travellers through the Romanian area in the modern period and, secondly, to bring to light some rather hidden aspects of the cultural relations between these three geographically and culturally distinct spaces. As cultural interactions are closely connected to political developments, a fact particularly relevant during the modern period, these two types of interstate contacts can only be analysed jointly and this general observation was either intrinsic to or made explicit in most of the analysed travel accounts. Moreover, the conclusion that must be drawn after evaluating the relations between the Nordic countries, Russia and the Romanians during the 17th-19th centuries is that sometimes political conflicts, even when they took the form of wars, could stimulate, not hinder, cultural contacts between the parties involved.

Paradoxes of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great's Writings for Children

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-159
Author(s):  
Sara Pankenier Weld
Keyword(s):  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Russian History ◽  
The Future ◽  
Enlightenment Project ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Ideological Context

An ‘enlightened despot’ who ruled the Russian empire as an absolute autocrat despite a tenuous claim to the throne, Catherine the Great embodied innumerable paradoxes during her long reign. This article examines the little-known fairy tales Catherine wrote for her grandsons to reveal the possible and impossible child she posits, envisions and instantiates through her writings for a young audience. Placing these works in a broader intellectual and historical context illuminates the paradoxes of the impossible infans she cultivates as part of an Enlightenment project and reveals how Catherine's writings for children (re)enact a kind of repossession of the child. Catherine's treatment of childhood within and without her texts reflects her ideological aims as a writer, ruler and matriarch. In addressing and attempting to instantiate an impossible child, whether an enlightened subject of her empire or an ideal absolute monarch of the future, Catherine reveals paradoxes that contrast with the reality of vulnerable young individuals in the historical record. These real children from the annals of Russian history offer an illuminating contrast for the impossibly idealised child protagonists constructed by Catherine's writings for children and shed light on the ideological context in which her treatment of childhood is embedded.

scholarly journals Hybrid war on stage of Kyiv Mohyla Academy (1736—1737)

2020 ◽  
pp. 86-101
Author(s):  
Архиєпископ Ігор Ісіченко
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Hybrid War ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Academic Year

During the 1736/1737 academic year, Mytrofan Dovhalevskyi taught a course in poetics at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. According to the rules of the time, he prepared two school dramas, the texts of which survived — for Christmas and Easter. Five interludes were set for each drama. In the 3rd interlude to the Christmas drama and the 5th interlude to the Easter drama, the plot is based on the confrontation of Liakh (Pole) and Zhyd (Jew), oppressing Belarusian and Ukrainian peasants, with Cossack. Moskal (Moscovite) is a powerful ally of the Cossack. The propaganda sense of both interludes is revealed in the context of political conflicts of that era. During 1733—1735 Stanisław Leszczyński, a former ally of Hetman Ivan Mazepa, led the war for the royal throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most Ukrainian lands were then part of the Commonwealth. The Russian empire introduced troops into the territory of the Commonwealth and put on the throne Stanisław Leszczyński’s rival August III. Ukrainian citizens of the Commonwealth were prompted by Russians to revolt against Polish authorities. The Haidamaky movement emerged which Russia promised to support. The Cossacks of Zaporizhzhia in 1734 betrayed Hetman Pylyp Orlyk and came under the jurisdiction of the Russian empress. The interludes to the Mytrofan Dovhalevskyi’s dramas form the ideological basis for Russian aggression and future division of the Commonwealth. They impose on the spectators the idea of   oppressing Ukrainians and Belarusians by Poles, complementing it with anti-Semitic nuances. Cossacks are encouraged to engage in aggression, interpreted as a liberation mission. These trends, identified still in the Baroque literature, were used in 2014 by the Russian Federation for motivating its incursion into Ukraine. The modern terminology defines such trends with the concept of ‘hybrid war’.

scholarly journals Zarudny Sergiy Ivanovych (1821-1887) - Ukrainian and Russian lawyer, statesman of the Russian Empire

10.33287/1194 ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 36-49
Author(s):  
І. С. Міронова
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Work ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The State ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
Judicial Reform ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Legal Proceedings ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Xix Century

The article is devoted to the way of life of a famous statesman of the Russian Empire, a Ukrainian of descent, a lawyer, one of the main founders of the court reform and a leader of peasant reforms of the second half of the XIX century, an interpreter, secret counselor Serhiy Ivanovych Zarudnyy. His origin, pedigree, civil service in the Ministry of Justice, in the State Chancellery, in the State Council, as a senator was studied. Attention was paid to his work in the commissions for the preparation of judicial reform, the development of the «Basic Provisions for the Transformation of the Judiciary in Russia» and the Judicial Statutes, which were approved in 1864. His role was proved in the creation of the world justice system, in the introduction of jury and the institute of attorneys in the Russian judicial system, in approving the principles of publicity, immediacy, and adversarial proceedings. Considerable attention is focused on the role of the statesman in the development of reform projects on the elimination of serfdom 1861. A special place is dedicated to the scientific work of S. Zarudnyy, in particular to his monographs, articles, a collection of materials on judicial reform entitled «The Case Зарудний of the Transformation of the Judiciary in Russia», organized in 74 volumes. It was noted that for his juridical and scientific work, contemporaries and biographers of S. Zarudnyy called him «the luminary of our judicial world», «leading figure of judicial reform», «father» and «soul» of the case of concluding judicial charters. The article substantiates the conclusion that S. Zarudnyy laid down the democratic principles of the judicial system and legal proceedings in the Russian Empire with his activities.

scholarly journals Ideological and Political Legal Bases for the Russian Expansion in Kazakhstan (1714 – mid-XIX century)

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-46
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Ivanov
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The Third ◽  
Amu Darya ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
Political Relationships ◽  
Land Use System ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Xix Century

The article deals with the methods used by the Russian Empire for the expansion towards the Kazakh Khanate and its future incorporation. Special attention is drawn to the ideological bases of the Russian statehood caused peculiarities of those methods’ contents and normative background for their implementation. The Kazakh Khanate was founded in 1465. There were united diversified tribes having complicated administrative systems and quite different economic specializations. Several decades later khanate was divided into three various subjects called juzes. There were created Minor, Middle and Senior juzes. Each of them occasionally had economic and political relationships with the Moscow Tsardom. That state leaders found out the great strategic interest the Kazakh steeps posed for them. Peter the Great, the first Russian emperor proclaimed in 1721, looked for the new trade way to India. The Kazakh territories fit well enough for that goal. That’s why there were arranged two military expeditions to examine possible means to create that way and to settle well-equipped fortresses along the rivers Amu Darya and Sirdarya. During the reign of Anna (1730–1740) the Minor (1731) and the Middle (1740) juzes were incorporated into the Russian Empire due to their requests. The Senior juze was incorporated in 1818 under the reign of Alexander I without any requests. Each juze was given a charter guaranteeing its status within the empire and proscribing obligations as a pay for the emperor’s adherence to them. The Russian Empire authorities used all the possible means to break traditional Kazakh governing bodies, customs, land use system and culture. There were special Emperor’s rescripts implementing militarized system of government for juzes and establishing all-Russian courts’ jurisdiction there. Local legal customs were being gradually excluded from use. Such way measures collided with charters given to juzes after their incorporation. They were aimed to make Kazakhs and their territories unalienable integrated parts of the Russian Empire. Its state policy was based on the ideological principles dating back to the Mongol-Tatar statehood and to the concept of “Moscow – the Third Rome”.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document