Ruling families in the Russian political order, 1689-1825 : I. The Petrine leadership, 1689-1725; II. The ruling families, 1725-1825 - article ; n°3 ; vol.28, pg 233-322

John P.Le Donne

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Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique - Année 1987 - Volume 28 - Numéro 3 - Pages 233-322
John P. Le Donne, Les familles dirigeantes dans l'ordre politique russe. I : La direction de Pierre, 1689-1725 ; II : Les familles dirigeantes, 1725-1825.
Ces deux articles ont pour but d'identifier les familles apparentées aux Romanov qui ont constitué la classe dirigeante de l'Empire russe pendant plus d'un siècle. Ces familles, ainsi qu'il apparaît, forment deux groupes dont l'origine remonte aux deux femmes du tsar Alexis Mihajlovič, le père de Pierre le Grand. La vie politique de l'Empire russe est présentée comme une rivalité entre ces deux groupes pour se partager les « dépouilles », c'est-à-dire les nominations aux postes administratifs importants dont les détenteurs étaient de ce fait en mesure de mettre en place des « réseaux de protection ». On suggère alors que l'ordre politique russe aux XVIIIe siècle reposait sur l'acceptation générale du principe de l'autocratie, sur le servage et sur l'extension des « réseaux de protection », aussi bien en Russie même qu'entre la Russie et ses régions frontières.
John P. Le Donne, Ruling families in the Russian political order. I : The Petrine leadership, 1689-1725 ; II : The ruling families, 1725-1825.
The purpose of these two articles is to identify families related to the Romanov house which constituted the leadership of the Russian Empire for more than a century. These families are seen to form two groups, and the origin of these groups is traced to the two wives of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, Peter the Great's father. The politics of the Russian Empire is presented as a struggle between these two groups over the distribution of the spoils, i.e., appointments to important administrative positions from which their holders were in a position to develop patronage networks. It is then suggested that the Russian political order in the eighteenth century was held together by the general acceptance of the autocratic principle, by serfdom, and by the extension of patronage networks, both within Russia proper and between Russia and its borderlands.
90 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: CAHIERS_DU_MONDE_RUSSE_ET_SOVIETIQUE
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1987
• Nombre de lectures: 23
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

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John P. LeDonne
Ruling families in the Russian political order, 1689-1825 : I. The
Petrine leadership, 1689-1725; II. The ruling families, 1725-1825
In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 28 N°3-4. Juillet-Décembre 1987. pp. 233-322.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
LeDonne John P. Ruling families in the Russian political order, 1689-1825 : I. The Petrine leadership, 1689-1725; II. The ruling
families, 1725-1825. In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 28 N°3-4. Juillet-Décembre 1987. pp. 233-322.
doi : 10.3406/cmr.1987.2115
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_0008-0160_1987_num_28_3_2115Résumé
John P. Le Donne, Les familles dirigeantes dans l'ordre politique russe. I : La direction de Pierre, 1689-
1725 ; II : Les familles dirigeantes, 1725-1825.
Ces deux articles ont pour but d'identifier les familles apparentées aux Romanov qui ont constitué la
classe dirigeante de l'Empire russe pendant plus d'un siècle. Ces familles, ainsi qu'il apparaît, forment
deux groupes dont l'origine remonte aux deux femmes du tsar Alexis Mihajlovič, le père de Pierre le
Grand. La vie politique de l'Empire russe est présentée comme une rivalité entre ces deux groupes pour
se partager les « dépouilles », c'est-à-dire les nominations aux postes administratifs importants dont les
détenteurs étaient de ce fait en mesure de mettre en place des « réseaux de protection ». On suggère
alors que l'ordre politique russe aux XVIIIe siècle reposait sur l'acceptation générale du principe de
l'autocratie, sur le servage et sur l'extension des « réseaux de protection », aussi bien en Russie même
qu'entre la Russie et ses régions frontières.
Abstract
John P. Le Donne, Ruling families in the Russian political order. I : The Petrine leadership, 1689-1725 ;
II : The ruling families, 1725-1825.
The purpose of these two articles is to identify families related to the Romanov house which constituted
the leadership of the Russian Empire for more than a century. These families are seen to form two
groups, and the origin of these groups is traced to the two wives of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, Peter the
Great's father. The politics of the Russian Empire is presented as a struggle between these two groups
over the distribution of the spoils, i.e., appointments to important administrative positions from which
their holders were in a position to develop patronage networks. It is then suggested that the Russian
political order in the eighteenth century was held together by the general acceptance of the autocratic
principle, by serfdom, and by the extension of patronage networks, both within Russia proper and
between Russia and its borderlands.ARTICLES
JOHN P. LE DONNE
RULING FAMILIES
IN THE RUSSIAN POLITICAL ORDER
1689-1825
For Edward Keenan and Marc Raeff
Parti
The Petřině leadership
1689-1725
More than a decade ago Robert Crummey deplored the "old-fashioned quality"
of recent writing on Russian history. "It is startling," he declared, "that at a time
when the study of political and social elites is a common undertaking of historians
of other countries and among political scientists has reached the status of a ha
llowed cliché, historians have given the governing elite of Russia scant atten
tion."1 Despite some pioneer work in the study of political families,2 little
progress has been made since then, and there is still no comprehensive survey of
the political leadership during the momentous reign of Peter I and the three subse
quent generations, when families brought into the entourage of the ruler by marr
iage, talent, or some accident of fortune, consolidated their gains and built patron
age networks. Even the broad circulation of elites, so characteristic of the reign
of Alexander I, has been ignored by historians, despite the compelling fact that his
reign and that of Peter I, similar in many ways - a protracted war threatened the
survival of the political order, imposed structural changes, and accelerated social
mobility - formed two major transition periods in the evolution of the political
leadership of the Romanov dynasty.
Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, ХХУШ (3-4), juillet-décembre 1987, pp. 233-322. 234 JOHN P. LE DONNE
To discuss the Russian political leadership presupposes a willingness to see the
ruler as the center of an autonomous constellation of power. The acceptance of
the autocratic form of government, reflected in the absence of permanent institu
tions representing social formations strong enough to win recognition and unite in
challenging the monopoly of the ruler, never precluded the existence of a court so
ciety.3 It was a society that shaped the ruler as much as it was shaped by
him. It paired off the offspring of its members, banished the undesirables, and
ceaselessly tunnelled a labyrinth of intrigues under the seemingly most secure posi
tions. It brought forth advisers and favorites and destroyed them with equal ease,
unabashedly using autocracy as a shield to advance its interests and justify its irr
esponsible behavior.
Such a discussion must follow two consecutive lines of approach. The first,
followed in these two articles, defined political leadership narrowly as a group of
men occupying the major positions of government. Accordingly, we must trace
the genealogies of these men and their closest ties with other families. To do so
with profit, however, there must be an agreement on a guiding principle to order
these relationships into a meaningful whole. If it is premised that the leadership
revolved around the ruling house, marital links with the Romanovs become funda
mental elements shaping its constitution and governing its evolution. Thus it
will be shown that the families of the first two wives of Tsars Mikhail, Alcksei,
and Peter on the one hand, and those of the second wives of Tsars Mikhail and
Aleksei on the other, formed the core of two extended political famil
ies. Individuals in leading positions came for the most part from these families
constituting collectively the extended family of the Romanov house, dispensing
patronage throughout the century, and keeping open the channels through which
certain outsiders were groomed for leadership positions and for marriage into the
leadership.
Such is the purpose of these two articles. The second line of approach, once
a genealogical classification of the ruling families has been completed, must be to
study the position of individual members of the leadership on various issues con
fronting the Russian government and to determine whether their families can be as
sociated with a definite policy concerning contemporary issues. But the first and
indispensable step remains the identification of families in order to place them
within a social context and tradition that conditioned their attitudes.
When Tsar Aleksei died in January 1676, his son Fcdor inherited a political si
tuation charged with the mutual hatred of the families of Aleksei's two wives, the
Miloslavskiis and the Naryshkins.4 Fedor, a sick and weakly child of fifteen, left
much of the governance of his realm to his relative Ivan Miloslavskii, who ban
ished the young Peter and his mother, Nataliia Naryshkina, to the village of Pre-
obra/henskoe, outside Moscow. Following Fedor's death in April 1682, the Na
ryshkins obtained the proclamation of the ten-year old Peter as tsar, thus bypassing
the lawful heir, the sixteen year-old Ivan, no less sick and unfit to rule than his
brother Fcdor. But Ivan Miloslavskii's skill in using the discontent of the
strel'tsy troops that flared up in open revolt in May 1682 led to the acceptance of
Ivan and Peter as co-tsars, in a regency headed by Sofiia, Ivan's sister. In this
uneasy association of the two families the Miloslavskiis had the upper hand, but
Ivan Miloslavskii's death in July 1685 and Sofiia's inability to consolidate her
power resulted in the coup of August 1689. Sofiia was incarcerated in the RULING FAMILIES IN THE RUSSIAN POLITICAL ORDER 235
Novodevichy Convent, and new appointments were made in most agencies of gov
ernment.5 The joint rule of the two tsars continued, but they took little part in
the government, Ivan because of his disabilities, Peter because of his lack of inter
est. His unbounded curiosity in other areas led him meanwhile to make unusual
acquaintance and daring small-scale experiments, which directed his violent energies
toward reshaping Russian society and government after the outbreak of the North-
em War a decade later.
The struggle for influence and for positions to translate this influence into
power was fought over appointments in the administrative machinery. It is
therefore necessary to keep the organization of government always in mind and this
can be done best by dividing the administrative history of Peter's reign into three
periods. The first began with the tsar's departure for his grand tour of Europe in
1697 and ended on the eve of the creation of the gubernii and the appointment of
governors in 1708. The second stretched from 1709