P. V. Sedov. To one of Pushkin’s plans for “The History of Peter I” // St. Petersburg
Historical Journal, no. 4, 2024, pp. 44–52.

Abstract:

In the preparatory materials for writing The History of Peter the Great, A. S. Pushkin outlined
one of the cross-cutting themes of his future work, namely the bribery of officials and their violation of the law. This topic was of great relevance in Pushkin’s time. Having identified “greedy clerks” as the initial focus of his analysis of the Muscovite kingdom, Pushkin drew upon the work of I. I. Golikov’s account to Peter I detailed the instances of bribery and embezzlement that were prevalent at the time, as well as the efforts made by Peter to combat these practices. From this, we can infer that, in Pushkin’s view, the despotic nature of the autocratic tsar’s reforms was not primarily a reflection of his character, but rather a consequence of the historical and socio-political conditions that shaped Russian life over centuries. From this perspective on Russian autocracy and national history, it is evident that Pushkin was a pioneer in his understanding of these issues.

Key words: A. S. Pushkin, Peter I, reforms of Peter I, bribes.

Author:

Sedov, Pavel Vladimirovich — Dr. of Sciences in History, Head of Medieval Russian history
Division of the St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Russia).
E-mail: sedovpv@rambler.ru

References:
MASON SH. Sekretnye zapiski o Rossii vremeni tsarstvovaniia Ekateriny II i Pavla I [Secret notes about Russia during the reign of Catherine II and Paul I. In Russ.]. Moscow, 1996.

MEZIN S. A. Vzgliad iz Evropy: frantsuzskie avtory XVIII veka o Petre I [A view from Europe: French
authors of the 18th century about Peter I. In Russ.]. Saratov, 2003.

RUDENSKAYA M., RUDENSKAYA S. Pushkinskii litsei. Ocherk-putevoditel’ [Pushkin Lyceum. Essayguide. In Russ.]. Leningrad, 1980.

SEDOV P. V. Podnosheniya v moskovskikh prikazakh XVII v. [Offerings in Moscow orders of the 17th century. In Russ.] // Otechestvennaya istoriya. 1996. No. 1. P. 139–150.

SEDOV P. V. Podnosheniia v sisteme voevodskogo upravleniya Novgoroda XVII v. [Offerings in the system of voivodeship administration of Novgorod in the 17th century. In Russ.] // Novgorodskii istoricheskii sbornik. Saint Petersburg, 1999. Iss. 7 (17). P. 130–163.

SEDOV P. V. “Samaia deistvennaia russkaia konstitutsiia” (Kul’turnyi traditsionalizm srednevekovogo kormleniia i ego modernizatsiia v petrovskuiu epokhu) [“The most effective Russian constitution” (Cultural traditionalism of medieval feeding and its modernization in the Peter the Great era). In Russ.] // Chelo. 2003. No. 1 (26). P. 35–47.

SEDOV P. V. Pravda i Zakon (Sudebnaia praktika vtoroi poloviny XVII v. glazami ee uchastnikov)
[Truth and Law (Judicial practice of the second half of the 17th century through the eyes of its participants). In Russ.] // Rusistika Ruslana Skrynnikova. Budapesht — Volgograd, 2011. P. 240–253.

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