Tituly russkikh gosudarei by A. I. Filiushkin (review)

Abstract

reviews 549 Filiushkin, A. I. Tituly russkikh gosudarei. Al'ians-Arkheo, Moscow and St Petersburg, 2006. 255 pp. Index of names. Footnotes. Sketch-maps. List of abbreviations. Price unknown. Despite their apparently empty formality, titles are historically important. They proclaimed a ruler's legitimacy and status, described his powers, asserted his rights to territory,and staked his claims to territories held by others. They presented a rulers' image of himself to the world, and their acceptance or rejection by other rulers defined his and his country's standing in theworld. They often reflectpolitical struggles, and issues relating to them also arose in relation to diplomacy and war. Their importance is also reflected by the attention historians have lavished on them. In theRussian case, Kliuchevskii, Kostomarov and, more recently, Vodov, Khoroshkevich, Isaevych, Poppe and Szeftel are among those who were drawn to the subject ? and still the literature proliferates. The subject embraces many uncertainties, poses formidable difficulties and, relating as itdoes to legal history, political theory and theology, history and the study of texts, requires extensive learning of scholars who address it. This latest contribution to the field aims to resolve the problems with which the subject isbeset, taking account ofmodern theory and political culture. It is a formidable undertaking. The first notables we know? of were kagans and princes. The former disap peared when Christianity became the dominant religion of the elite; the latter became commonplace as the number of princes multiplied. Hence the title grand prince to distinguish the primus inter pares. Similarly, the designation Gosudar [Sovereign lord] was firstused in the fifteenth century, apparently to distinguish Moscow's ruler from other Grand princes, and put him on a higher level (Ivan III called himself 'Sole lawful Sovereign'). So far so good. But things became more complicated in the fifteenth and sixteenth centu ries. The title tsarhad been used sincemedieval times,partly, perhaps, to avoid the designation 'king' which was tainted in Russian eyes by its Catholic associations. Ivan III got the Turks to recognize his right to the title; and visiting Greek hierarchs, needing finance from Russia and anxious to please, referred to him as such, but he contented himself with great prince and 'the only lawful sovereign'. God was the obvious source of legitimization, but there is no early reference to anointment, the accepted means by which legitimacy was conveyed probably because no chrism was available with which he could be anointed. Russia came late to the European game of royal and princely hierarchy which may explain why the government of Muscovy was so anxious to get things right. Its concern was sometimes reflected in its experimental and tentative use of titles. The unicorn, symbol of royal potency, was invoked at one stage, though never developed. Perhaps thiswas just as well (though the book fails tomake the point) since the supposed biblical source for the idea, Psalms xci, 11was flawed by mistranslation from the original Hebrew. However, it might have suggested the messianic nature of the tsar's position and this would have chimed with Moscow's view that the tsardom had glorious associations and a great historic destiny. As it was, other ways 550 seer, 86, 3, july 2008 were found to that end. As Herberstein noticed (orwas told by his Russian minders), the trinityof titlesTsar, Autocrat and Great Sovereign was a terrestrial reflection of the Holy Trinity. The eschatological expectations thereby generated stimulated the lettered class both spiritually and politically. If this was one means of bolstering the legitimacy of Moscow's ruler, ge nealogical inheritance was another. Ivan claimed imperial blood by virtue of his descent from the union ofGrand Prince Vladimir and theByzantine prin cess Anna. However, insurance was subsequently taken out in the form of genealogies tracing his successors' descent from the Emperor Augustus's brother, Prus and, indeed, from themythical Romulus. Ivan IV assumed the tideTsar in 1547, although a conclave ofOrthodox prelates inConstantinople did not endorse the entitlement until 1561 and it stillhad to be legitimized internationally. In 1549 the designation 'orthodox' was added; and then the preface 'By grace of God'. The phrase 'ofAll Russia', originally a term of respect, is a different case because it came to represent...