Lystsova, Anastasiia Sergeevna. "For a truly stable, secure, and prosperous… Fatherland": the search for a resolution to 1741 accession crisis in Russia

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Title of the article

«For a truly stable, secure, and prosperous… Fatherland»: the search for a resolution to 1741 accession crisis in Russia

Authors

Lystsova, Anastasiya Sergeevna —Junior Research, Laboratory of Primary Sources Research, Ural Federal University named by B. N. Yeltsin, Ekaterinburg, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Scopus ID 57195253309, SPIN-код 9747-1452, AuthorID 840068

In the section Fontes / Historical sources 
Year 2017 Issue 1 Pages 52-63
Type of article RAR Index UDK; BBK UDK 94(470)“1741” + 323.311 + 340.130.5; BBK Т3(2)512–33 + Ф053 + С541.1 Index DOI 10.21638/11701/spbu19.2017.105
Abstract

This article was prepared within the framework of the state project of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation No. 33.8064.2017/8.9 «Communicative fields in modern Russian innovation: genesis, function, and transformation» (Laboratory for the Study of Primary Sources, Ural Federal University)

The article is devoted to the events that took place in October–November of 1741 which were connected with the attempts of a number of dignitaries to work out the legislative mechanism of accession within the ruling family in order to avoid a possible interregnum. The active participants of the discussions were Regent Anna Leopoldovna, cabinet ministers A. I. Osterman and M. G. Golovkin, the first member of the Synod Archbishop of Novgorod Ambrose, as well as a member of the Economy Collegium I. N. Temiriazev and the secretary of the Foreign Affairs Collegium A. Poznyakov. As a rule, in historiography these events are deal with the court intrigues. At the same time the surviving documents are of special interest as sources of the political culture of the XVIIIth century Russian nobility. The analysis of documents (opinions and drafts of persons which are published in this article) allows us to conclude that the positions and preferences of their authors can not be explained simply by court conjuncture. They sought to solve the problem within the framework of the actual legislation. The authors showed themselves as a supporters of the «legal monarchy» but not voluntary decisions even if it was sanctified by the name of the sovereign. Also these events showed that representatives of the ignoble metropolitan nobility had a chance to express themselves and even to influence the creation of the fundamental law of the monarchy. Although the coming to the power of Elizabeth Petrovna did not allow this projects to be realized and their opinions hadn’t significant impact on the history of the imperial legislation, these documents testify to certain successes in the development of secular political culture in post-Petrine Russia.

Keywords Anna Leopoldovna, fundamental law, succession law, A. I. Osterman, M. G. Golovkin, the European political culture, history of the XVIIIth century Russia, A. Poznyakov, I. N. Temiriazev, Russian nobility, XVIIIth century, Synod Archbishop of Novgorod Ambrose, the court intrigues, history of Russia
Full text version of the article. Article language Russian
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Tags: fundamental law, succession law, European political culture, history of Russia, I. N. Temiriazev, Russian nobility, Synod Archbishop of Novgorod Ambrose, court intrigues, FONTES / HISTORICAL SOURCES, LYSTSOVA A. S.