Dvorjanstvo, vlast’ i obščestvo v provincial’noj Rossii XVIII veka. Red. O. Glagoleva / I. Širle. Moskva: NLO, 2012. 652 S., 17 Abb. = Historia Rossica. Studia Europaea. ISBN: 978-5-86793-974-8

Dvorjanstvo, vlast’ i obščestvo v provincial’noj Rossii XVIII veka. Red. O. Glagoleva / I. Širle. Moskva: NLO, 2012. 652 S., 17 Abb. = Historia Rossica. Studia Europaea. ISBN: 978-5-86793-974-8.

Inhaltsverzeichnis/Table of Contents:

http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/exlibris/aleph/a21_1/apache_media/R1P5QV2KXMYLGBHHU7KV3J853Q9KEX.pdf

This book stems largely from a remarkable website project of the German Historical Institute in Moscow. Unfortunately if understandably, only participants have access to the project for now, but others will be able to become immediately acquainted with at least some of the project’s findings by means of most of the contributions to the book.

Ol’ga Glagoleva’s “Introduction” acutely discusses definitions and difficulties, taking as points of departure the interpretations of Marc Raeff and Iurii Lotman and citing other pertinent works. But neither Glagoleva nor any of the other authors mentions N. D. Chechulin’s “Russkoe provintsial’noe obshchestvo vo vtoroi polovine XVIII veka” and V.N. Bochkarev’s “Voprosy politiki v russkom parlamente XVIII veka”, both of which contain worthwhile insights. Indeed, Bochkarev provides the most succinct description of the socio-political convictions of the average Russian nobleman at the time of the summons of the Legislative Commission of 1767: “The tsar’s protection over the dvorianstvo, and the dvorianstvo’s – over all Russia.” To be sure, unwittingly, most of the contributions subscribe to this assertion, accepting that the Russian nobility was not a subservient ‘gentry’ and that it was bound together closely by rank and patronage.

The book is divided into five sections, each with a distinct identity although with some inevitable overlap. After the “Introduction”, “The Dvoriantsvo and Power: Old and New Functions of the Soslovie” follows. With special attention given to the provinces of Smolensk, Saratov, Tula and Bashkiriia as well as Moscow, light is thrown on the nobility on their estates as well as in service both military and civil, including their functions as voevody and kommendanty as well as electors. The ‘internal peripheries’ as well as the regions around the capitals are all discussed in an illuminating manner showing that the class played an essential if evolving role in the maintenance of state power throughout the century. Next comes “The Voice of the Dvoriane: ‘The Needs and Deep Wants of Our People’”, which gives special attention to three outstanding individuals – Shcherbatov, Karamzin and Kapnist – in their contexts. The important subject of education is broadly discussed, while close focus is given to the nakazy to the Legislative Commission as a source for the study of the history of the Orel district.

“Laws and Infringements: Conflicts in Provincial Society” comprise the ensuing section. Disputes could be among the dvoriane themselves over such vexed problems as estate boundaries, and between the class as a whole and commoners, most significantly during the Pugachev Revolt. The false Peter III receives most mention in a chapter on rumours, taken from the materials of the Secret Section of the Senate. The misdemeanours of the nobles themselves are examined in Orenburg. Finally, we are invited to consider “The Art of Life: Culture, Existence and ‘Provincial Manners’”. Here, the “Polnoe Sobranie Zakonov” is used as an unexpected source for the everyday concerns of the dvorianstvo. Special attention is given to Tambov in an analysis of the contribution of the nobility to the formation of town society, and then to the phenomenon of what might be called ‘capitalism’ in the theatre of the country estate. Last but far from least comes a study by the joint editor Ingrid Schierle of members of the upper class on their travels and in visits.

For once, contributions from the English-speaking world are absent, but those from the German-speaking world as well as Russia are more than worthwhile. Inevitably, however, a collection such as this necessarily falls short of a comprehensive grasp. Proportionately, there is not much on the dvorianstvo’s key role in the economy. Although there is little or no suggestion that the dvorianstvo was a component part of an embryonic civil society, there is a tendency to suggest that the eighteenth-century Russian nobility enjoyed self-confidence as well as self-consciousness. In the bad old days, moving in the opposite direction, Soviet historians found a society already in process of disintegration, with a stark warning of what was to come in Pugachev’s ‘Peasant War’. While that was over-teleological, the false Peter III and his followers undoubtedly had an impact way beyond rumour, denying a fundamental stability.

In particular, the comparative absence of the baleful influence of post-modernism is to be noted: for the most part, the contributors deal with the dvoriane in specific places facing concrete situations, as underlined by excellent name, place and subject indexes. In sum, these are essays informing and exciting a reviewer who began research on their subject more than fifty years ago.

Paul Dukes, Aberdeen