Personal Contacts of Bishops and Representatives of the Political Elite in 16th-Century Russia

This article deals with an important but hitherto unexplored issue – the personal contacts of Russian church leaders with representatives of the political elite. So far, the study of this issue has been limited to the enumeration of donations to monasteries. This article shows that some church leaders (the Bishop of Novgorod (1526–1542), Metropolitan (1542–1563) Makarii, the Archbishop of Novgorod Feodosii (1542–1551) and perhaps others) established and supported contacts with influential laymen (princes Shuisky, Obolensky, Rostovsky, Bulgakov, with the Morozovs, Sheins, etc.). These relations were facilitated by the existence of a dual system of local government – secular and ecclesiastical. In some cases, the bishops established relations with the governors and voivods sent annually from Moscow. These contacts did not cease when they returned to the capital: the bishops corresponded with them and sent them gifts. This collaboration was mutually beneficial. On the one hand, the bishops were supported by influential people in Moscow. This was especially necessary during periods of instability (the childhood of Ivan IV, the reign of Fyodor Ivanovich), when the princes Shuisky and Godunov were able to influence appointments in the Church. Relations with representatives of the nobility expanded the administrative possibilities of the bishops when it was necessary to defend the interests of the diocese. For example, they allowed the Archbishop of Novgorod to relieve the representatives of the service class of the burdensome service on the southern frontiers. On the other hand, the attention of the church leaders, who had immense authority in the Middle Ages, could flatter the members of the Royal Council (Duma). The ecclesiastical elite could both provide moral support in the event of the death of relatives and petition the court for aristocrats who were guilty in the eyes of the government. The study is based on chronicle and legal sources, records of church art objects, the book of expenses of the House of St Sophia for the years 1547–1548. The author applies the methods of historical source study, which help to reconstruct the picture of the past from fragmentary and contradictory evidence.