Adrian Jones discusses Muscovite rural society and then moves on to discuss the late onset (in Muscovy!) of serfdom, the system of land tenure, and the implications for the distinct lack of a legal culture in Russia. Adrian then turns to discussing the boyars and their chancery clerks, their way of life and their role in the administration of state. Copyright 2013 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Early Imperial Russia

Muscovite Society

In this subject, students examine the emergence, consolidation and development of Russian state and society in a hitherto 'wild' region in eastern Europe. The formative phase in the political, social and intellectual history of the Tsardom of Muscovy is traced. The focus is on the interplay of strange dichotomies like those between autocracy and oligarchy, patriarchy and communalism, xenophobia and Westernism, in shaping Russian state, society and culture in the turbulent era of Ivan the Terrible.

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Early Imperial Russia