Dr Sergei Bogatyrev

Senior Lecturer in Early Russian History

Email
s.bogatyrev@ssees.ucl.ac.uk

Phone Number
020 7679 8721

Fax
020 7679 8777

I first became interested in early Russian history during my studies at the University (Institute) of Historical and Archival Studies in Moscow (1983-8). I was fortunate to be supervised by one of the best specialists on 16th-century Russian history, Professor Sigurd O. Schmidt. The institute was located very close to the Kremlin. There were even rumours that if you were lucky (or rather unlucky) enough, you could meet Ivan the Terrible in the medieval haunted building of the Institute. Though I never checked these rumours, I developed a sustained interest in the reign of Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584). After moving to Finland in 1992, I continued my studies of Russian history and culture at the University of Helsinki. In 2000 I received my PhD from the University of Helsinki. My doctoral thesis The Sovereign and His Counsellors. Ritualised Consultations in Muscovite Political Culture, 1350s-1570s was published by the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters. I have worked as a lecturer in the University of Helsinki and have held research fellowships at the Slavonic Library (Helsinki) and the University of Joensuu (eastern Finland) and a British Academy visiting fellowship. I was appointed Lecturer in Early Russian History at SSEES in 2003 and Senior Lecturer in 2007. Currently I am the Director of the Centre for Russian Studies. I am also the editor of H-EarlySlavic (online bulletin for early Slavists) and one of the editors of Kritika. Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History .

Research Interests
My research interests lie in the history of Muscovite Russia (15th-17th centuries). From 2001 to 2004 I was engaged in a study of localism in Russia. I edited and contributed to a book on this subject (2004). In this work I look at the Muscovite local administration as a complex organisation, which enabled the central authorities to accommodate localism. I have also published extensively on the cultural history of Muscovy. Most of my studies deal with Ivan the Terrible in one way or another. I have published a chapter on Ivan the Terrible in the prestigious Cambridge History of Russia (vol. 1, 2006). I have also published a study of the symbolism of Ivan IV's military campaign (2002) and several works on the cultural transformation of the Muscovite autocracy during Ivan's reign and on the relations between Ivan the Terrible and the Church. I am also interested in cross-cultural contacts between Russia and the West in the sixteenth century and the image of Russia in Western Renaissance literature.

Teaching and supervision
I teach a Group 3 course on Ivan the Terrible and the Russian monarchy in the 16th century, Group 1 courses on the history of Russia from the earliest period to the nineteenth century, and an MA course on Visions of Power. The Arts and Rulership in PreModern Russia. I also contribute to various BA and MA courses on source criticism and aspects of Russian history. I would be happy to supervise dissertations on early Russian history and the history of Russian religion and culture.

Current Project
I am currently working on a cultural history of the Muscovite dynasty in the 16th century. The underlying question of my research is how the political and cultural interests of the dynasty affected Muscovite domestic and foreign policy. My study is based on the collections of the Moscow Kremlin and other Russian museums. I will also conduct a comparative study of dynasticism in various early modern states. I try to visit as often as possible various museums in England, France, Germany, Italy and other countries. I find different visual images of dynasties especially fascinating. My digital camera is thus an indispensable research tool in my study.

Recent Publications

Additional Publications

Links

Centre for Russian Studies: http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/russstud.htm

H-EarlySlavic: http://www.h-net.org/~ess/

Kritika: http://www.slavica.com/journals/kritika/kritika.html

This page last modified Tuesday 25 May 2010.