Social Control and Representation of Ruling Power in Russia 16th - early 19th century

Lecture 1: Introduction to the Course: The Geographical and Climatic Factor
Topic: General structure of the course; historical context. The basic reasons for the formation of peculiarities in the Russian social and political system.
Thesis: The initial geographical and climatic conditions during the formation of Russian statehood became a kind of "hereditary trauma" which influenced characteristics of Russian history, such as very limited material resources, economic and social backwardness; and a mobilization-based development regime.
Research Problem: The channels of the influence of geographical and climatic factors.
Sources for joint analysis: Results of ethnographic expeditions, folklore.

Lecture 2: Introduction to the Course: The Social Structure of Russian Society
Topic: The influence of geographical and climatic factors on social institutions and the structure of Russian society.
Thesis: Autocracy, serfdom, and the peasant commune can be seen as compensatory mechanisms for social development with a very small volume of total product. The absence of a "third estate," the small number of the educated Europeanized elites, and the cultural division of society are consequences of Russia's "oppressive modernization."
Research Problem: The simplified hierarchical structure of Russian society and the complete subordination to the power of the throne.
Sources for joint analysis: Chaadaev's "Philosophical Letter."

Lecture 3: The First Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible: Coronation
Topic: The formation of the coronation ritual; cultural transfer of the Byzantine tradition, and the influence of European coronation ceremonies. The sacralization of power.
Thesis: The coronation ritual of Ivan the Terrible was developed by Metropolitan Makarius based on the Byzantine canon. The ideological context of this ritual was the theory of "Moscow – the Third Rome."
Research Problem: The influence of the sacrament of the coronation on the use of sacred ideas to legitimize the monarch's power in Russia.
Sources for joint analysis: Texts of the manifestos of "ascension to the throne."

Lecture 4: The Last Judgment in Russian Icons and Frescoes: Symbolism of Mass Executions under Ivan the Terrible
Topic: Semiotic analysis of Last Judgment iconography; depictions of execution of sinners' bodies in Hell; political realities, and archetypes of Russian consciousness in the 16th century.
Thesis: Ivan the Terrible's coronation in 1547 marked the rebirth of the personality and body of the first Russian tsar. The messianic moods of the ruler and the Orthodox population were intensified by the fall of Constantinople and the general expectation of the Apocalypse during the final calculated Paschal periods.
Research Problem: The impact of the expectation of the Last Judgment and the sacred mission of the Orthodox tsar on the executions during the time of Ivan the Terrible.
Sources for joint analysis: Icons and frescoes of the Last Judgment.

Lecture 5: The Formation of the Public Execution Ritual in the 17th Century
Topic: Analysis of two public executions in the 17th century – the Impostor Timofey Akundinov and the leader of the Cossack uprising Stepan Razin.
Thesis: Public execution can be viewed as a demonstration of the monarch's victory over the criminal.
Research Problem: The heuristic potential of case studies – the history of two deviant individuals from the 17th century, their public executions, and open opposition to the throne.
Sources for joint analysis: Theses of articles on microhistory.

Lecture 6: Church and Monarch in 17th Century Russia, Church Schism (Split), Psychological Preparation for Peter I’s Reforms
Topic: Political reasons and social consequences of the church schism.
Thesis: The causes of the schism were related to the Russo-Polish war, the annexation of Left-bank Ukraine, the political ambitions of the tsar and patriarch, the primitiveness of Russian Orthodox theology, and the significant role of ritual in the Orthodox Church.
Research Problem: The impact of the monarch's victory over the church ritual on society’s psychological readiness for Peter I's secular reforms.
Sources for joint analysis: Semantics of the new and old rituals.

Lecture 7: Proclamation of Peter I as Emperor
Topic: The semantics of celebrating the victory over Sweden in the Northern War and the proclamation of Peter as Emperor.
Thesis: The context of Peter I's proclamation as Emperor: visualizing a break from the Byzantine legacy and turning toward the legacy of Ancient Rome. A secular investiture of the imperial title. The celebrations in St. Petersburg and Moscow were accompanied by a "blasphemous carnival" of the All-Jesting and All-Drunken Assembly.
Research Problem: Defining the audience for the representation of the ruling power. The triumphal celebration of victory supported Russia’s foreign policy ambitions. The provocative All-Jesting and All-Drunken Assembly symbolized the emperor's right to break with tradition and claim the sacred authority of the Church.
Sources for joint analysis: A fragment of the Senate's address to Peter, asking him to accept the title of Emperor, the definition of "Great," and the title "Father of the Fatherland."

Lecture 8: Public Executions in the First Third of the 18th Century
Topic: Death sentences and execution rituals.
Thesis: The church schism, the rapid change in the monarch's image, "oppressive modernization," and secularization led to a conflict between the throne and the deviant part of society, sharply increasing the number of public executions.
Research Problem: Analyzing the ways the ruling power defended itself through the ritual of executions: punishing the body after the criminal’s death, displaying the bodies of the executed, etc.
Sources for joint analysis: Fragments of foreign travelers’ notes on the execution of the Streltsy (Soldiers and Officers).

Lecture 9: Moratorium on the Death Penalty in Russia
Topic: Circumstances of introducing a 20-year moratorium on the death penalty and its impact on society.
Thesis: The moratorium on the death penalty was not officially declared or employed as a tool of representation by the government, but it changed Russia’s political landscape and initiated the first discussion of capital punishment among the educated elite.
Research Problem: An analysis of the personal qualities of the monarch, particularly his religious beliefs, and their impact on the political climate in the country, as well as the educated elite’s attitude towards the suspension of the death penalty.
Sources for joint analysis: Fragments of articles on the educated elite’s attitude toward the death penalty.

Lecture 10: The Phenomenon of "Political Death"
Topic: The introduction of so-called "political death," which had all the characteristics of an execution, but the criminal remained alive and directly on the scaffold heard the sentence of pardon.
Thesis: The staging of the death penalty was both a demonstration of the monarch's mercy and a tool of intimidation.
Research Problem: Analyzing the ritual of "political death" as one form of legitimizing power.
Sources for joint analysis: Fragments of the manifesto on the "political death" of Count Osterman.

Lecture 11: Sentence to Repentance as a Gradual Shift from Punishing the Body to Punishing the Soul
Topic: The use of church practices and the sacred space of monasteries to punish criminals; pardoning the criminal's body and attempting to correct his soul – a new trend in criminal law.
Thesis: Despite secularization and negative views toward monasticism, Catherine II used the spiritual authority of the Church to reduce the use of torture during investigations and correct the criminal’s soul.
Research Problem: Comparing the sentence to penance epitimia (church punishment) to understand the extent of the reduction in the Church’s jurisdiction.
Sources for joint analysis: Fragments of the public penance ritual.

Lecture 12: Representation of the Image of the “Merciful Tsar” in the Russian Empire
Topic: In the second half of the 18th century and early 19th century, the suspension of the death penalty was declared across the empire and used to represent the image of the "merciful Orthodox emperor."
Thesis: The suspension of the death penalty applied only in areas where the institution of capital punishment and relevant legislation existed; the temporary moratorium did not cancel the harsh suppression of uprisings and protests.
Research Problem: Using the “monopoly on violence” to present the image of the “merciful monarch.”
Sources for joint analysis: Fragments of manifesto texts on amnesty.

Lecture 14: Final Lecture
Topic: Methods of researching sources of different origins and social functions.
Thesis: Extracting "hidden" information from sources requires special methods.
Student Presentations: Examples of using the methods discussed in the course, based on their own research.
 

• Bryner, Cyril: The Issue of Capital Punishment in the Reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, in: Russian Review, 49 : 4 (1990), Р. 389–416.
• Chrissidis, N.A.: Crying Their Hearts Out: A Case of Public Penance in the Era of Catherine the Great, in: Religion and Identity in Russia and the Soviet Union, (Bloomington, 2011, P. 107 – 125).
• Foucault, Michel: Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (New York, Vintage Books, 
  1979).
• Gasparov, Boris: Introduction, in: The Semiotics of Russian Cultural History. Essays by Jurii M.Lotman, Lidia Ia.Ginsburg, Boris A.Uspenskii (New York, 1985).
• Ginzburg, Carlo: Clues, Myths, and the Historical Method, (Baltimore, 1989).
• Kantorowicz, Ernst: The King’s Two Bodies. A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology, (Princeton, 1957).
• Kivelson, Valerie: Torture, Truth, and Embodying the Intangible in Muscovite Witchcraft Trials, in: (Marker, Gary; Neuberger, Joan; Poe, Marshall, Rupp, Susan (ed.): Everyday Life in Russian History: Quotidian Studies in Honor of Daniel Kaiser, Ed. by Bloomington, 2010, P. 359 – 373).
• Kollmann, Nancy: Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Russia (Cambridge University Press, 2012).
• Koselleck, Reinhart: Linguistic Change and the History of Events, in: Journal of Modern History, 61 : 4 (1989),  P. 649 – 666.
• Pocock, John: Politics, Language and Time: Essays in Political Thought and History, (London, 1972).
• Spierenburg, Pieter: The Spectacle of Suffering: Executions and the Evolution of Repression: From a Preindustrial Metropolis to the European Experience (Cambridge, London, 1984).
• Wortman, Richard S: Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy, (Princeton University Press, 1995–2000, 2 vols.).
• Zitser, Ernest: The Transfigured Kingdom Sacred Parody and Charismatic Authority at the Court of Peter the Great (Cornell University Press, 2018).