This book traces the evolution of religious attitudes in an important transitional period in Russian history. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Russia saw the gradual decline of monastic spirituality, the rise of miracle cults, and ultimately the birth of a more personal and private faith that stressed morality instead of public rituals. Bushkovitch not only skillfully reconstructs these rapid and fundamental changes in the Russian religious experience, but also shows how they were influenced by European religious ideas and how they foreshadowed the secularization of Russian society...

A narrative of political struggles at the Russian court during Peter the Great's reign.

This book is a history of Russian politics during a fifty-year period that saw the transformation of Russia into a European monarchy by Peter the Great. Bushkovitch demonstrates that the interaction of the tsar and the ruling elite was at the core of Russian politics as Peter managed to largely master the contentious elite by a series of compromises, ultimately toward one that favored new men without excluding the aristocrats entirely. The outcome was a new balance of power at the center, and a new Europeanized culture.

Using evidence drawn from archives in Moscow, Professor Bushkovitch challenges conventional analyses of trade and industry during this period. The Merchants of Moscow 1580 1650 examines the formation of the merchant class in Russia before the reforms of Peter the Great, focusing on the role of the Muscovite merchants in the establishment of foreign and domestic trade and commerce. Bushkovitch places the merchants of Moscow within the context of Eastern Europe, a region whose economic complexities and contradictions make it a more apt standard for comparison than the Western European nations...

Centuries after he ruled Russia from 1689 to 1725, Peter the Great remains one of the most revered and enigmatic leaders in world history. Now in a new edition, this penetrating study by noted Yale historian Paul Bushkovitch casts new light on Peter and his times, and demonstrates why it is impossible to comprehend the later course of Russian history without first grasping Peter's profound influence. Bushkovitch illustrates how Peter, during his thirty-six years as tsar, transformed his country into a modern nation--he strengthened the state, reorganized the army, established a navy, and...

Centuries after he ruled Russia from 1689 to 1725, Peter the Great remains one of the most revered and enigmatic leaders in world history. Now in a new edition, this penetrating study by noted Yale historian Paul Bushkovitch casts new light on Peter and his times, and demonstrates why it is impossible to comprehend the later course of Russian history without first grasping Peter's profound influence. Bushkovitch illustrates how Peter, during his thirty-six years as tsar, transformed his country into a modern nation--he strengthened the state, reorganized the army, established a navy, and...