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In June 1648, Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich Romanov triggered a bloody uprising by refusing to answer petitions of grievances from the citizens of Moscow, Russia. Mikhailovich's rejection began to undermine his authority, and from then on the divinely sanctioned covenant between tsars and their people began to deteriorate. The traditions of a political culture based on divine mercy and personal relations had begun to conflict with increasing bureaucratization and state building.

Ivan the Terrible: Profiles in Power, by Andrei Pavlov and Maureen Perrie. New York, Pearson-Longman, 2003. ix, 234 pp. $16.95 US (paper). Andrei Pavlov and Maureen Perrie have produced an [...]

The relationship between, gender and witchcraft accusation, in early modern Russia, or Muscovy, where men were at risk for accusations of witchcraft is explored. It also argues that gender, whether male or female, need not inevitably act as the primary determinant of witchcraft beliefs, anxieties, and accusations, and that in the Muscovite case it did not.

Orthodox Russia in Crisis: Church and Nation in the Time of Troubles. By Isaiah Gruber. (DeKaIb: Northern Illinois University Press. 2012. Pp. xi, 299. $48.00. ISBN 978-0-875-80446-0.) Isaiah Gruber's new [...]

Examines the religious awakening in 17th century Russia. Revival of the debate on the religion and spirituality of the Russians; Two factions in the debate; Discussion on the nature of Russian Orthodox theology; Popular religion and spirituality; Eschatological doctrines of Russian Orthodoxy.

Discusses the replacement of primogeniture with partible inheritance among the Muscovite landholding elite in Russia. Reasons behind the success of the tsarist state in coopting the provincial servitors into compliance; Views of the gentry in the tsarist state; Provincial landholders' readiness to defend the good name of their extended clan; Negative effects of partible inheritance.