The Mercenary as Diplomat: the Fall of the House of Stuart and the Rise of the Petrine Order

Abstract

The idea that seventeenth-century Russia languished in a state of isolation and stagnation that was only reversed by Peter the Great in the early eighteenth century was for many years a standard interpretation of early modern Russian history. Russia had entered European consciousness after its ‘discovery’ in 1553 as a ‘rude and barbarous kingdom’ rapidly expanding its territory under Ivan the Terrible. However, after the chaos and anarchy of the Smutnoe vremia (‘Time of Troubles’, 1598–1613) during which the state all but disintegrated, Russia re-emerged only as a fragile entity, weakly governed and inwardlooking, once more relegated to the geopolitical periphery of Europe. Historians were thus able to highlight more effectively the critical importance of Peter the Great’s contribution to the development of Russian history: Peter was able, through the force of his personality, inherent ability and strategic vision, to modernize the Russian state and to identify and bridge the cultural divides and religious cleavages which had previously split Russia from the West.