A Bride for the Tsar - (Niu Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) by Russell E Martin (Hardcover)

About the Book

From 1505 to 1689, RussiaÆs tsars chose their wives through an elaborate ritual: the bride-show. The realmÆs most beautiful young maidensprovided they hailed from the aristocracygathered in Moscow, where the tsarÆs trusted boyars reviewed their medical histories, evaluated their spiritual qualities, noted their physical...

Book Synopsis

From 1505 to 1689, Russia's tsars chose their wives through an elaborate ritual: the bride-show. The realm's most beautiful young maidens--provided they hailed from the aristocracy--gathered in Moscow, where the tsar's trusted boyars reviewed their medical histories, evaluated their spiritual qualities, noted their physical appearances, and confirmed their virtue. Those who passed muster were presented to the tsar, who inspected the candidates one by one--usually without speaking to any of them--and chose one to be immediately escorted to the Kremlin to prepare for her wedding and new life as the tsar's consort.

Alongside accounts of sordid boyar plots against brides, the multiple marriages of Ivan the Terrible, and the fascinating spectacle of the bride-show ritual, A Bride for the Tsar offers an analysis of the show's role in the complex politics of royal marriage in early modern Russia. Russell E. Martin argues that the nature of the rituals surrounding the selection of a bride for the tsar tells us much about the extent of his power, revealing it to be limited and collaborative, not autocratic. Extracting the bride-show from relative obscurity, Martin persuasively establishes it as an essential element of the tsarist political system.

Review Quotes

A monarchy is not just a form of government but also a family, and Russell Martin's pioneering study of marriage politics in early modern Russia reflects precisely that understanding."--Canadian-American Slavic Studies

-- "Canadian-American Slavic Studies"

A Bride for the Tsar-with its detailed descriptions, its use of previously unexamined sources, its beautiful illustrations and informative charts, and its well-thought-through argument about how politics functioned in Muscovy-should be on the reading list of every scholar interested in the early modern period.

-- "Russian History"

Although Martin intends his book for specialists in premodern Russian history, it is accessible to readers whose knowledge does not exceed that of an undergraduate textbook. Moreover, he tells the story engagingly. Consequently, readers might not realize the complexity involved in reconstructing even the bare factual narrative, or the difficulty in gleaning usable information from laconic sources consisting of little more than names and dates. Three appendixes contain examples of such sources, in the original Old Russian. Readers who consult these sources cannot help but admire the careful research and imagination Martin brought to fruition with this monograph.

-- "Slavic Review"

In this meticulously researched and nicely written study, Martin examines a little-known ritual in early modern culture. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

-- "Choice"

Readers who are fascinated by the minutiae of court rituals will find rich pickings in this volume[.]The author has conducted extensive archival research for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in particular, and he provides a thorough and meticulous account of these ceremonies.

-- "Slavonic and East European Review"

Russell E. Martin has produced an impressive study of early modern weddings among Russia's ruling family. Martin draws on his command of obscure sources and the history of this period to tease out a number of worthwhile, and occasionally surprising, insights. Not the least of his accomplishments here is that he has written a book that is fun to read.

-- "Slavic Review"

Russell Martin's new book is a beautifully written and thoroughly researched examination of the monarchical politics of marriage in sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Russia.

-- "The Journal of Modern History"

About the Author

Russell E. Martin is professor of history at Westminster College and codirector of the Muscovite Biographical Database in Moscow.