Pretenders and Popular Monarchism in Early Modern Russia

More than a dozen pretenders appeared in Russia in the early seventeenth century, during the period of civil strife and foreign invasion known as the Time of Troubles. The most successful of these was the First False Dimitry, who occupied the throne in 1605–6; he was followed by Second and Third False Dimitrys, and by various other impostors. Maureen Perrie traces the careers of these pretenders and offers explanations of their success. She argues that support for the false tsars and tsareviches was influenced not only by the ingenious tales they told to justify their claims, but also by religious-miraculous notions of Christ-like rulers risen from the dead, and by 'popular monarchist' views of the true tsar as the scourge of the boyars. Her conclusion draws comparisons and contrasts between the Russian pretenders and royal impostors who appeared elsewhere in early modern Europe.

"All in all, Perrie has produced ont only a fresh scholarly approach to the pretense phenomenon but a well-written book that might serve as a good college text for courses on early modern Russia." Historian, "Maureen Perrie's gracefully written and intellectually rigorous study of samozvanchestvo, or royal imposture, will be of value to scholars working in a number of different disciplines. Historians, literary critics, and cultural anthropologists alike will find not only a wealth of information but also sound interpretations of this odd phenomenon of early modern Russian culture. Pretenders and Popular Monarchism is noteworthy both for its painstaking analysis of a wide variety of primary and secondary sources and for its semiotic approach to cultural history which allows Perrie to clearly delineate the specifically Russian features of samozvanchestvo....Pretenders and Popular Mechanism is an indispensable source for the study of royal pretense in Russia. Maureen Perrie deftly summarizes quantities of Russian and other foreign language materials and makes them available to the English reader in an elegant and cogent monograph." Nationalities Papers, "...Perrie has produced not only a fresh ascholarly approach to the pretense phenomenon but a well-written book that might serve as a good college text for courses on early mosern Russia." Andrei A. Znamenski, The Historian, "Maureen Perrie's new monograph is an excellent and often entertaining introduction to this extraordinarily complex sequence of events and to the phenomenon of pretense in early-seventeenth-century Russia more generally....Perrie's detailed and engaging reconstruction of this little-understood yet critical episode in Russian political history is likely to stand as the definitive account for decades to come." Daniel E. Schafer, Sixteenth Century Journal, "Perrie's book is a thoughtful and stimulating contribution to the ongoing reevaluation of the Time of Troubles." Robert O. Crummey, American Historical Review