Russia under the first Romanovs from Cambridge history of Russia, volume 1

Скачать или читать эту книгу на КулЛиб

PART III
*
RUSSIA UNDER THE FIRST ROMANOVS (1613-1689)
The central government and its institutions
MARSHALL РОЕ
For the Muscovite state, the seventeenth century was one of evolution and growth, rather than radical change.[1] The century experienced no political revolutions of the magnitude seen during the reigns of Ivan III and Ivan IV. Russia, having recovered from the confusion of the Time of Troubles, remained a strong autocracy held firmly in the hands of a small, martial rul­ing class. This is not to say that there was general stasis. Things still fell apart, though only for brief moments. And one can detect a single important political trend - the remarkable inflation of honours begun under Tsar Aleksei (Alexis) Mikhailovich and radically amplified by his weak successors. Nonetheless, the general picture was one of continuity, punctuated by momentary fits of confusion and gradual change.
The case is much the same in the realm of institutions.[2] Seventeenth-century Muscovy...