The Russian Imperial Court and Victory Celebrations during the Early Napoleonic Wars

Abstract

‘There is no place duller but more magnificent than the court of the Russian Emperor.’ While the precise source of this well-known quotation from the early nineteenth century remains vague, it encapsulates an established perception of the Russian court of this period, and subsequently, as glittering but uninteresting. This perception may help to explain the relative paucity of serious academic studies on the court in general, despite the central role of the ruler and the elite in the pre-modern state apparatus. Yet, despite this importance, it took until the late twentieth century for the royal court to become the focus of scholarly attention.¹ In the Russian case, scholars of the late imperial period produced significant compilations and archival extracts on the rulers and their courts in the preceding century, but little meaningful analysis.² However, on the basis of extensive work in Russian archives — now more accessible than ever before — modern scholars have a great deal of previously unused material and can examine the question of the Russian court’s evolution as an institution during its transitionary period in the eighteenth century. For example, Ol’ga Ageeva has produced two complementary monographs, dealing with the Russian court’s ‘Europeanization’ in its titles and regulations, often informed by courtly practices elsewhere, alongside an exhaustive examination of its administration, chief offices and financial affairs.³