This book explores the history of Russian peasant bride theft - abduction, capture - from the adoption of Christianity in Kievan Rus in the late tenth century to the very early twentieth century. It argues that bride theft in eighteenth and nineteenth century Russia was practised in large part by, but not exclusively by, Old Believers, the schismatics who rejected the Church reforms of the mid-seventeenth century and shunned contact with the Orthodox Church; and that the point of bride theft, where the bride was often a willing party, often married secretly at night by an Orthodox priest acting illegally, was to absolve the bride and her parents of the responsibility for engaging in a formal Orthodox ritual which Old Believers regarded as sinful. The book also considers how bride theft originated much earlier in Russia and was a continuing tradition in some places, and how all this fitted into the Russian peasant economy. Throughout the book provides rich details of particular bride theft cases, of Russian peasant life, and of Russian folklore, in particular bridal laments.
| ISBN: | 9780367676247 |
| Publication date: | 26th September 2022 |
| Author: | John Bushnell |
| Publisher: | Routledge an imprint of Taylor & Francis |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 218 pages |
| Series: | Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe |
| Genres: |
Regional / International studies Gender studies: women and girls Anthropology European history Religion: general Christianity |
This book explores the history of Russian peasant bride theft - abduction, capture - from the adoption of Christianity in Kievan Rus in the late tenth century to the very early twentieth century. It argues that bride theft in eighteenth and nineteenth century Russia was practised in large part by, but not exclusively by, Old Believers, the schismatics who rejected the Church reforms of the mid-seventeenth century and shunned contact with the Orthodox Church; and that the point of bride theft, where the bride was often a willing party, often married secretly at night by an Orthodox priest acting illegally, was to absolve the bride and her parents of the responsibility for engaging in a formal Orthodox ritual which Old Believers regarded as sinful. The book also considers how bride theft originated much earlier in Russia and was a continuing tradition in some places, and how all this fitted into the Russian peasant economy. Throughout the book provides rich details of particular bride theft cases, of Russian peasant life, and of Russian folklore, in particular bridal laments.
Russian Peasant Bride Theft features in the following genres: Regional / International studies, Gender studies: women and girls, Anthropology, European history, Religion: general, Christianity
Russian Peasant Bride Theft is available in Paperback, Hardback, Ebook
Russian Peasant Bride Theft was written by John Bushnell and published by Routledge an imprint of Taylor & Francis
Russian Peasant Bride Theft has 218 pages
Yes it is part of Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe series
£40.49