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History Professor to Discuss Dowries for Muscovite

Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006

Dr. Russell Martin, Westminster associate professor of history, will discuss "Dowry Diplomacy in Moscovy" at Faculty Forum Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 11:40 a.m. in the Sebastian Mueller Theater in the McKelvey Campus Center.

"Some time ago, I discovered three manuscripts containing inventories of dowries for three Muscovite royal women who married in the late 15th and early 16th centuries," Martin said. "One married the king of Poland; another to a converted Chinghisid prince who was a descendant of Chinghis Khan; and the third married a domestic prince. I will present this program in two stories: one about the discovery of these little-known manuscripts; and the other about the marriages of these royal women in comparative perspective."

Martin appeared on A&E Biography in a broadcast on Ivan the Terrible as an expert on the controversial ruler. He is the co-founder of the Muscovite Biographical Database, a Russian-American computerized register based in Moscow of early modern Russian notables. The Neville Island, Pa., native is not only fluent in Russian, but also reads Old Church Slavonic/Russian, French, German, Latin, and Polish.

Martin, who has been with Westminster College since 1996, earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and his master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Faculty Forum, established in 1990, serves as a venue for the exchange of ideas and information among Westminster College faculty. Speakers present their research, teaching ideas, lectures, performances, special programs, and uses of technology to keep faculty informed about the work of colleagues from many disciplines.

The event is free and open to the public. Contact at Martin at (724) 946-6254 or e-mail martinre@westminster.edu for more information.

Dr. Russell Martin