A Large Feudal Estate and The Sociopolitical Struggle in Russia (Late Fifteenth-Sixteenth Century)

Abstract

The status of the monastery of Iosif of Volokolamsk [a] as a major clerical feudal lord determined the character of the ideology of the Josephans, one of the leading elements among sixteenth-century monastics. Iosif Sanin and his followers strongly defended the right of monasteries to possess landed wealth. They were the first among Russian polemicists to develop a theory justifying the need for landholding monasteries. Their task was to give ideological sanctity to the acquisitive policy of the monastic brotherhood. The ideology of the Josephans in turn influenced the Volokolamsk Monastery's practical activity — which was in truth feverish — in building its holdings. The struggle between the Josephans and the Nonpossessors significantly influenced the landholding policy of the monastery.