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Pravjascie elity i dvorjanstvo Rossii vo vremja i posle petrovskich reform (1682-1750) [Die herrschenden Eliten und der Adel Russlands während und nach den Petrinischen Reformen (1682-1759)]. Otv. sost. N. N. Petruchincev / L. Erren. Moskva: Rosspen, 2013. 455 S., Tab., Graph. = Rossija i Evropa vek za vekom XVII-XVIII. ISBN: 978-5-8243-1717-6.
This useful collection of essays stemming from a conference with the same title is a welcome addition to the series Rossiia i Evropa vek za vekom XVII-XVIII edited by A. V. Doronin and issued by the German Historical Institute in Moscow. The contributions are divided into four sections, and the contributors are all Russian: from Ekaterinburg, Cheliabinsk, Ufa, Samara, Lipetsk and Novosibirsk as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg, with one from the USA.
While the editorial suggestion that the first half of the eighteenth century has been less studied than the second is well-founded, the last decades of the seventeenth century have been even more neglected and receive comparatively little coverage here. Indeed, the cut-off dates of the book are somewhat misleading, since far less attention is given to the years before 1700 than those following. So, while the collection is based on the assumption that the reforms of Peter I constituted a break with the Muscovite order, this might appear less abrupt if closer attention were given to the earlier period. (After all, Peter himself gave the credit for the formation of the Russian army to his father Aleksei Mikhailovich.) To this end, there could also have been more comparative focus on other nobilities throughout Europe, in Prussia and France for example. Nevertheless, within its own parameters, the collection adds considerably to our understanding, with virtually all its contributions based on archival...