Politics and Culture in Eighteenth-Century Russia : Collected Essays by Isabel De Madariaga

This is a collection of thirteen major essays on eighteenth-century Russia by one of the most distinguished Western historians. They illustrate and explore three major themes: the development of the Russian state and Russian society, in the years when Russia was changing from a minor power on the European periphery to a major actor on the continental stage; the influence of western ideas and western thought on Russian politics and culture; and the impact of the Enlightenment on Russia. This is a substantial contribution not just to the history of Russia, but to early modern Europe generally. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Acknowledgements 7 Introduction 10 PART ONE: Russian Government and Society 22 1. Tsar into emperor: the title of Peter the Great 24 2. Autocracy and sovereignty 49 3. Portrait of an eighteenth-century Russian statesman: Prince Dmitry Mikhaylovich Golitsyn 66 4. The eighteenth-century origin of Russian civil rights 87 PART TWO: Social and Administrative Problems 104 5. Penal policy in the age of Catherine II 106 6. Catherine II and the serfs: a reconsideration of some problems 133 7. Freemasonry in eighteenth-century Russian society 159 8. Catherine II and the foundation of the Russian educational system 177 PART THREE: Catherine II, Russian Society, and the World of Ideas 202 9. Catherine II and enlightened absolutism 204 10. Catherine II and the philosophes 224 11. Catherine II and Montesquieu between Prince M.M. Shcherbatov and Denis Diderot 244 12. Russia and the Enlightenment 271 13. The role of Catherine II in the literary and cultural life of Russia 293 Index 306 This is a collection of thirteen major essays, four never before published, by one of the most distinguished Western historians of 18th century Russia. These are not just random pieces but a broad and readable study which challenges the conventional view of imperial Russia as a semi-barbaric outsider on the periphery of continental Europe. Themes covered include Autocracy and Sovereignty, civil rights, serfdom, penal policy, freemasonry educational reform, and Catherine the Great. This collection of essays on 18th-century Russia challenges the conventional view of imperial Russia as a semi-barbaric outsider on the periphery of continental Europe. The book also explores the way Russia absorbed and participated in the European Enlightenment.