Stones on the Prairie: Acculturation in Texas

Gifts for Kith and Kin: Gift Exchanges and Social Integration in Muscovite Royal Weddings

Rude & Barbarous Kingdom Revisited: Essays in Russian History and Culture in Honor of Robert O. Crummey. Chester S. L. Dunning, Russell E. Martin, and Daniel Rowland, eds. Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2008, 89–108.       Gifts for Kith and Kin: Gift Exchanges and Social Integration in Muscovite Royal Weddings Russell E. Martin As  Tsar  Mikhail  Fedorovich’s  first  wedding  on  September  19,  1624,  was  still   being  celebrated,  a  tableman  (stol’nik)  crossed  the  Kremlin’s  Cathedral  Square   to  Voznesenskii  Convent,  where  the  former  wife  of  Tsar  Vasilii  Shuiskii  (ruled   1606–10),  Ekaterina/Mariia  Petrovna  Buinosova-­‐‑Rostovskaia,  had  been  living   for  the  past  14  years  as  the  nun  Elena.1  The  unnamed  stol’nik  brought  wed-­‐‑ ding  gifts  with  him,  sent  directly  from  the  tsar  and  his  bride:  an  oblong  orna-­‐‑ mental  nuptial  cloth  (ubrusets),  richly  made  of  taffeta  with  pearls  sewn  into   the  fabric;  and  an  ornamental  kerchief  (shirinka),  also  of  taffeta,  with  rich  gold-­‐‑ thread  embroidery  and  gold  fringe  along  its  edges.  At  presumably  the  same   time,  the  stol’nik  Prince  Danil  Grigor’evich  Gagarin  was  dispatched  from  the   wedding  to  Tikhvin  Convent,  about  300  miles  north  of  Moscow,  bearing  the   same  gifts,  these  intended  for  the  nun  Dar’ia,  formerly  Anna  Alekseevna  Kol-­‐‑ tovskaia,   the   fourth   wife   of   Tsar   Ivan   IV.2   The   marriage   commemorated   in                                                                                                                             Funding   for   this   research   was   provided   in   part   by   the   International   Research   Ex-­‐‑ changes   Board   (IREX)   and   by   the   Ruth   and   George   Watto   Faculty   Research   Award   from  Westminster  College,  to  whom  I  extend  my  sincere  thanks.  I  also  wish  to  thank   Ideia  Andreevna  Balakaeva,  Deputy  Director  of  the  Russian  State  Archive  of  Ancient   Acts  (hereafter,  RGADA)  for  providing  me  open  and  unstinting  access  to  rare  manu-­‐‑ script   materials   essential   for   this   study.   I   am   indebted   to   Donald   Ostrowski   and   to   Chester  Dunning,  who  offered  useful  suggestions  on  an  early  draft  of  this  article  that   improved  it  in  innumerable  ways.  Finally,  I  wish  to  thank  Dr.  Sheryl  Simon  and  Dr.   Kenneth  Foon,  during  whose  care  this  project  was  completed.   1  RGADA   f.   135,   section   IV,   rubric   II,   number   14,   folios   7–8.   Tsar   Vasilii   Shuiskii’s   bride  was  born  Ekaterina,  but  took  the  name  Mariia  shortly  before  the  wedding.  She   then  took  the  monastic  name  Elena  at  the  time  of  her  tonsuring.  See  S.  A.  Belokurov,   ed.,  Razriadnye  zapisi  za  Smutnoe  vremia  (7113–7121  gg.)  (Moscow,  1907),  248.  On  royal   brides   changing   names,   see   Ivan   Egorovich   Zabelin,   Domashnii   byt   russkogo   naroda   v   XVI   i   XVII   stoletiiakh,   vol.   2,   Domashnii   byt   russkikh   tsarits   (Moscow:   Tip.   Gracheva,   1869;   repr.,   Moscow:   Iazyki   slavianskoi   kul’tury,   2001),   221;   and   Russell   E.   Martin,   “Dynastic  Marriage  in  Muscovy,  1500–1727”  (Ph.D.  diss.,  Harvard  University,  1996),   68–72.     2  RGADA  f.  135,  sec.  IV,  rub.  II,  no.  14,  fols.  7–8.  The  task  of  sending  these  gifts  to  the   nun   Dar’ia   from   Tsar   Mikhail’s   first   wedding   was   originally   given   to   her   kinsman,   Dmitrii  Koltovskii.  His  name  on  one  extant  gift  list  (RGADA  f.  135,  sec.  IV,  rub.  II,  no.   90 RUSSELL E. MARTIN these  gifts  was  short-­‐‑lived.  Tsar  Mikhail’s  bride,  Mariia  Vladimirovna  Dolgo-­‐‑ rukova,  was  dead  4  months  after  the  wedding.  When  Tsar  Mikhail  married   for   a   second   time,   on   February   5,   1626,   the   nun   Elena   was   already   by   then   dead  too,  but  Prince  Danil  was  sent  yet  again  with  another  ubrusets  and  shi-­‐‑ rinka  for  the  ex-­‐‑tsaritsa  Dar’ia.3     Written  instructions  (pamiat’)  given  to  Prince  Danil  for  this  second  trip  fill   in  some  of  the  details  for  his,  and  probably  the  other  stol’nik’s,  missions.  On   arrival  at  the  Tikhvin  Convent,  he  was  to  go  immediately  to  Dar’ia  and  in-­‐‑ form   her   that   he   had   been   sent   to   her   “by   the   Sovereign,   Tsar   and   Grand   Prince  Mikhail  Fedorovich  of  all  Rus’  and  by  his  consort,  Tsaritsa  and  Grand   Princess  Evdokiia  Luk’ianovna  of  all  Rus’,  directly  from  their  wedding”  with   these  gifts  for  her.4  Prince  Danil  was  then  to  present  the  gifts  on  two  separate   platters  to  the  nun  Dar’ia,  along  with  a  letter  from  Tsar  Mikhail  (gosudareva   gramota),  now  lost  but  probably  containing  a  text  describing  and  formally  be-­‐‑ stowing  these  gifts  on  Dar’ia.  The  nun  Dar’ia  was  then  to  offer  Prince  Danil   something  to  eat  and  to  give  him  a  return  letter  (otpiska)  and  a  blessing  to  de-­‐‑ part  to  Moscow,  where,  according  to  his  instructions,  Prince  Danil  was  to  re-­‐‑ port   immediately   to   Council   Secretary   Ivan   Gramotin   at   the   Foreign   Office   (Posol’skii  prikaz...