In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Russians from all ranks
of society were bound together by a culture of honor. Here one of
the foremost scholars of early modern Russia explores the intricate
and highly stylized codes that made up this culture. Nancy Shields
Kollmann describes how these codes were manipulated to construct
identity and enforce social norms—and also to defend against
insults, to pursue vendettas, and to unsettle communities. She
offers evidence for a new view of the relationship of state and
society in the Russian empire, and her richly comparative approach
enhances knowledge of statebuilding in premodern Europe. By
presenting Muscovite state and society in the context of medieval
and early modern Europe, she exposes similarities that blur
long-standing distinctions between Russian and European
history.Through the prism of honor, Kollmann examines the
interaction of the Russian state and its people in regulating
social relations and defining an individual's rank. She finds vital
information in a collection of transcripts of legal suits brought
by elites and peasants alike to avenge insult to honor. The cases
make clear the conservative role honor played in society as well as
the ability of men and women to employ this body of ideas to
address their relations with one another and with the state.
Kollmann demonstrates that the grand princes—and later the
tsars—tolerated a surprising degree of local autonomy throughout
their rapidly expanding realm. Her work marks a stark contrast with
traditional Russian historiography, which exaggerates the power of
the state and downplays the volition of society.
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