The Revolution of Peter the Great by James s> Cracraft (review)

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340 SEER, 83, 2, 2005 their competences over Jews; the gradual extension of dominial interference in the affairsof kahals, such as the appointment of rabbis;Jews' treatmentby state, ecclesiastical and municipal courts; and the lords' attitudes to 'their' Jews as reflected in the judicial punishments imposed upon them. The latter seem to reflect a business-like approach more fines, but rather fewer floggings than were inflicted upon the Christianpopulation. Many magnates seem to have despisedtheJews personallywhile favouringthem economically. The same Pawel Sanguszkosentenced to deathJews accused of ritualmurder, while simultaneouslyabrogatingthe privilegesof existinginhabitantsin order to settleJews upon his estates (p. 86). Jews increasinglypreferredto settle in private towns than royal towns, where they enjoyed less protection from the municipal and ecclesiastical courts. The author plausibly suggests that one reason for the denser settlement of Jews in the eastern half of the Commonwealth was the much sparserparishnetworkof the Roman Catholic Church. The book is notable for its clear exposition of the varieties of estate organization and courtjurisdiction and procedures, itsjudiciousjudgements, and its copious and well chosen examples. These vividlyillustratethe situation of 'the lord'sJews', balanced precariouslybetween theirlowly legal statusand theireconomic indispensability. School ofHistory RICHARD BUTTERWICK Queen's University Belfast Cracraft, James. 7he Revolution of PetertheGreat.Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MAandLondon,2003. ix + 192 pp. Illustrations. Chronology . Notes. Furtherreading.Index. $25.95: [i 6.95. HAVING recently completed his excellent trilogy of works dealing with the 'revolution'which took place in severalareasof Russian endeavour (imagery, architecture and, most recently, verbal culture)during the reign of Peter the Great(i682-1725), James Cracrafthas produceda concise'interpretative history of the Petrine era' (p. viii), presumably aimed at the undergraduate and non-specialist reader. His aim is to draw together the various strandsof his considerable scholarship to discuss his theory that Russia underwent a 'cultural revolution' during Peter's reign. Although the phrase 'cultural revolution' may raise concerns in some quarters,Cracraftdefines it in careful terms, taking culture in its widest possible sense as 'the innumerable ways human beings have of making and doing things, and of thinking and talking about them' (p. 76). He begins, in the firstchapter,by looking atthe reforming tsarhimself. Rather than simplyproviding a potted biography, the focus is on Peter'scharacter and how it influenced his reign. Cracraftalso examines the tsar'srelationshipwith the membersof hisclose circle,highlightingthevarious groups within it such as foreigners and those of low or obscure social backgrounds,and his immediate family, particularlyhis wife, Catherine, and eldest son, Aleksei, to discuss the role they played in shaping and executing the tsar'svarious plans. Several pages are devoted to a discussion of Peter's dreams, which Peter himself considered important enough to note their content a subjecton which Cracrafthas alreadywritten. REVIEWS 341 The following chapters concentrate on three broad areas of development during Peter's reign: the military and naval spheres; the bureaucratic and diplomatic services;and Russian culture.The lattercovers many of the points raised in the trilogy mentioned above and the section dealing with the importance of the linguistic impact of Peter's reign gives a welcome introduction to a neglected area, dealt with in detail in Cracraft'srecently published ThePetrine Revolution in RussianCulture (Cambridge, MA, 2004). In each of these chapters, Cracraftsets out the wider European context before moving on to considerthecasepresentedby PetrineRussia.This isparticularly important when addressing some of the criticismslevelled at Peter'spolicies by modern historians.So, for example, although Peter'smilitaryreforms,the creation of a navy and pursuitof an aggressiveforeign policy were extremely expensive, they were not unusual in early modern Europe, with France and England draining their respective coffers to similar ends (pp. 38-39). Similarly ,ratherthan dwell on whether the PetrineState was of the 'well-ordered police' variety or an updating of the Muscovite patrimonial system, he draws comparison with contemporary Sweden and Prussia, whose absolute monarchies provided models of reform for Peter, in terms of his government and its bureaucracy (p. 65). However, the necessary brevity of each section can lead to some points of debate being passedoververyquickly.Forexample, the view that the Table of Ranks (1722) introduced a system of seniority and merit, ratherthan one of 'ascription'(p. 6i), does not seem to takeaccount of Brenda Meehan-Water'sAutocracy andAristocracy (New...