Russian Peasant Bride Theft (Paperback)

This book explores the history of Russian peasant bride theft - abduction, capture - from the adoption of Christianity in Kievan Rus in the late tenth century to the very early twentieth century. It argues that bride theft in eighteenth and nineteenth century Russia was practised in large part by, but not exclusively by, Old Believers, the schismatics who rejected the Church reforms of the mid-seventeenth century and shunned contact with the Orthodox Church; and that the point of bride theft, where the bride was often a willing party, often married secretly at night by an Orthodox priest acting illegally, was to absolve the bride and her parents of the responsibility for engaging in a formal Orthodox ritual which Old Believers regarded as sinful. The book also considers how bride theft originated much earlier in Russia and was a continuing tradition in some places, and how all this fitted into the Russian peasant economy. Throughout the book provides rich details of particular bride theft cases, of Russian peasant life, and of Russian folklore, in particular bridal laments.

General

Imprint:	Routledge
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe
Release date:	September 2022
First published:	2021
Authors:	John Bushnell
Dimensions:	234 x 156 x 17mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	218
ISBN-13:	978-0-367-67624-7
Categories:	Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > General Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > General Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > General Books > Christianity
LSN:	0-367-67624-9
Barcode:	9780367676247

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