peter I internal reforms

role of church in muscovy before peter

• Weakened by the schism, removal of Nikon by Tsar Aleksis since argued he tried to compete with tsar.

• Patriarch still had enough political authority to intervene in politics.

• Church had jurisdiction over family and sex life.

• Xenophobic sentiments promoted by clergy, source of national identity.

1695-6 challenging the church

1695-6 Azov campaign: church hierarchs forbidden to collect taxes, ban on new building projects in monasteries, clergy obliged to contributed funds to building the navy and provide recruits.

Trying to change church for his own political and military needs.

1698 challenging the church

Peter goes abroad, open contacts with foreigners. Was impressed by Lutheran service, met with Quakers.

monastery department established

1701 monastery department established. Supervised church court and lands, church no longer independent in issues relating to family life. Collected and redistributed revenues. Headed by a secular officer, Musin-Pushkin.

• Growing administrative pressure on church.

abolition of the patriarchate

Russian orthodox church received its patriarchate as early as 1589, was the head of the orthodox church, seen as important manifestation of churchs status.

• When Patriarch Adrian died in 1700 Peter used the war with Sweden as grounds for delaying new appointment. Ukrainian Stefan was appointed as locum tenens, headed orthodox church.

• 1718 trial of tsarevich Aleksei, Peter thought he was planning a coup d'etat and wanted to reintroduce patriarchate.

spiritual regulation 1721

Peter wanted to make the church conform to more secular model of government. Jan 1721 Spiritual Regulation which sets out rationale and structure of a spiritual college instead of the patriarchate.

reforms to monasteries

Peter suspected that monasteries provided a refuge from state obligations, suspected them of hiding opposition. Thought monks werent contributing enough to his grand vision for Russia.

• 1722 ordered monasteries with land to set up hospices. 1724 reminds the Synod of original definition of monasticism, reasons for becoming a monk should be personal conviction. Number of monks should be limited and all monks should do useful work eg running hospitals, orphanages.

• 1724 intentions of introducing ordering of monks status, would regulate allowances according to a system of ranks similar to army, but plans interrupted by his death.

peter church education reforms

• Educational qualifications for monks - peasant entrants must be literate and have permission from their lord.

• Introduced learning of Latin and foreign languages, episcopal schools.

• Monks were to help dissemination of public information.

• Churches had to keep registers of population.

peter controlling monk cultural activities

• 1701 decrees on when and where monks could write ie not in their cells, but in the refectory or specially allocated places, were to be in the open not secretly.

• Minimum age for women to take the veil was 40. Wanted women to have as many children as possible before being able to enter the convent.

• 1722 decree said if someone discloses during confession intended criminal acts, the priest was to inform the authorities.

peter attitude to other religious groups

• 1716 double tax on old believers, who were banned from holding government offices or giving witness in courts.

• 1721 Lutherans allowed to marry orthodox.

• 1723 orders copies of catholic, lutheran and calvinist catechisms to be collected, translated and published.

• More tolerant approach, indifferent view of other religious groups.

why did peter attack the church

tsar's main function no longer to facilitate the salvation of souls by maintaining a pious earthly realm, but to pursue worldly goals for their own sake - Tsar and his subjects had to actively pursue worldly goals such as wars, the common good, personal fame.

Was eager to extract material and human resources. Church was to be an active supporter of the state, did not tolerate the church as opponent of the state or even as passive subordinate. Integrated the church in the administrative system.

limitations of peters church reforms

However Peter failed to secularise church land ownership. Church retained its economic basis and prosperity as a result.

• Church retained jurisdiction over marriage/divorce, church schools, religious censorship, consistory courts. Kept some autonomy.

• Peter did not secularise Russia, rather subordinated spiritual goals to secular ones.

peter and aleksei

When Peter's second son born, Peter proposes that Aleksei renounces the throne. Aleksei flees to Vienna, but Peter drags him back and forces him to renounce succession. Undergoes trial and death under torture in 1718.

feofan defending aleksei torture

1722 Archbishop Feofan writes 'the justice of the monarch's right to appoint the heir to his throne'.

prokopovich defending aleksei torture

• Prokopovich gives 16 reasons/arguments relating to the tsars power.

• Uses patriarchal language presenting the tsar as parent/father.

• Argued that the tsar can appoint whoever he wants, justified his argument with reference to religious texts and European philosophers and natural law theorists such as Hugo Groitus 'on the law of war and peace'.

• Claimed tsar had 'the highest authority' and 'whose actions are not subject to another authority'.

Traditional interpretation of Prokopovich work is that is a defence of absolutist monarchy. Argued monarch was free to ignore existing laws such as law of succession.

bushkovitch view of aleksei torture

interprets differently - Russia had no succession laws in 1722 - In 1722 Peter issued a decree declaring that the succession to the Russian throne would henceforth be at the discretion of the reigning monarch. Prokopovich was producing a defence of a specific law, writing in a specific political context.

peter court vs muscovite court

• Muscovite court was hierarchal with traditional ranks, but Peters was flexible and mobile with no discernible hierarchy.

• Muscovite court was located in the walled Kremlin, Peter's was in St Petersburg and was architecturally open with western architecture.

• Muscovite court followed orthodoxy while Peters had strong secular elements with coexisted with religious, fewer churches and monasteries.

• Muscovite court saw segregation of sexes but Peters was desegregated.

decree on assemblies

1718 decree on assemblies - attempt to extend polite society beyond the royal residences and palaces. Inspired by Peter's visit to France in 1717. Wide range of guests from nobles to craftsmen.

peters court cultural element

Guests encouraged to indulge in activities once denounced by the church such as smoking, dancing, cards, chess, instrumental music. A gentleman could invite any lady to dance, even the empress, designed as open activity where ranks and hierarchal positions were transcended.

• Had balls, masquerades, regattas, ship launches, weddings etc.

religious part of peters court

Were still some religious elements - eg blessing of the waters at the Epiphany, transfer of relics of Alexander Nevskii. Religious activities did not disappear completely but importance significantly reduced.

peter creating polite society

Wanted to create 'polite society' - 1698 Peter cuts the beards of his courtiers on the day of his return from the grand embassy, 1700 decree on dress which printed instructions of approved western-style fashions, 1705 decree on beards which meant men of all ranks had to shave and those who wished to keep their beard had to pay a fine, dance lessons.

representation of women changing

Representation of women changed under Peter - 1700 women living in towns forced to adopt western dress, 1722 forced marriages banned, dynastic marriages for diplomatic/political gain.

Peter's sister Natalia revived Tsar Aleksei's court theatre, owned 61 paintings and pictures, 110 books. Top-down attitude to cultural reforms for women.

peter’s helpers

All promoted thanks to proximity to tsar rather than a concerted desire to reward talent.

Foreigners such as Franz Lefort a swiss mercenary, Old muscovite families, Russian social climbers

ledonne 1991 view of peters helpers

Informality of relationships among ruling families threatened to create anarchy in governing of a large empire whenever rivalries among great lords were unrestrained by a network of institutions.

Great lords continued to run public business like their private households, and ambitious figures used their personal rapport with the tsar to bypass institutional devices.

• This led to ongoing "battles over turf" between the Senate, the military high command, and the new colleges

views of petrine reforms

• Achieved: efficiency, accountability in central government

• Failed: to establish municipal self-government, to separate justice from administration

ledonne 1991 view of petrine reforms

Tsar's vision of a Russia brought into the mainstream of European developments led him to change governmental structure.

• Despite the introduction of formal institutions, Russian government remained "patriarchal".

• While Peter successfully restored centralization, he created a "network of central agencies that was beginning to grow out of control",. By the end of his reign, a "new symmetry" was achieved between a poorly coordinated central government and a poorly coordinated provincial government, ultimately to the "detriment of both"

bushkovitch 2001 view of petrine reforms culture

At the end of his reign, Peter left a country that had in many respects changed beyond recognition.

• The culture of the Russian elite was almost wholly different from that of his father's time, and the government had changed greatly in structure.

bushkovitch 2001 view of petrine reforms power

The composition of the Russian elite, however, had changed much less. The pinnacle of power, in 1725 the Senate, the colleges, and the major military and diplomatic posts, still consisted of old aristocrats, relatives of the tsar, and a variety of newcomers.

• Between 1699-1708 he ignored rather than replaced the aristocrats and tried to run the country through his favourites, the aristocratic Golovin and the plebeian Menshikov. From then on he sought a balance among the various components of the elite, favourites, his own relatives like the Apraksins, Naryshkins, and Saltykovs, and the old aristocrats.

patriarch joachim testament

11th Patriarch Joachim testament 'may our sovereigns never allow any Orthodox Christians in their realm to entertain any close relations with heretics and dissenters'