History Professor Presented at International Conference in Moscow

Dr. Russell Martin, Westminster College associate professor of history, presented a paper at an international conference sponsored by the Museum of the Moscow Kremlin and the World History Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences June 23-25.

The conference, held in the medieval Patriarch's Palace inside the Kremlin, was "Power, the Elite, and Society in Russia from the 14th through the First Half of the 19th Centuries: The Russian Monarchy in the Context of European and Asian Monarchies and Empires."

Martin delivered his paper, "Bride-Shows in Muscovy in the 16th and 17th Centuries in the Context of Eurasian Monarchical Systems," in Russian.

According to Martin, the conference was attended by over 100 scholars from Russia, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Estonia, Sweden, Italy, Spain, and three Americans, including Martin.

"Participation in the conference was by invitation only, though even then proposals had to be vetted and approved," Martin said. "The proceedings were published in advance of the conference, which made for lively question-and-answer sessions after each paper, including mine."

"One of the highlights of the conference was the opportunity given me-and a few other foreign and non-Moscow-based Russian scholars-to visit and tour parts of the Kremlin rarely seen, including the Grand Kremlin Palace, the medieval throne room of the Palace of Facets, and the Terem (the tsarina's private apartments and some of the best preserved elements of the medieval Kremlin)," Martin added. "I was also taken to the very top of the Bell Tower of Ivan the Terrible, which offered a rare panoramic view of the city."

"During my stay in Moscow, I also worked in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, a repository of medieval documents that I know very well and have worked in many times previously," Martin said. "I was able to examine numerous medieval manuscripts that I hope to use for my next research project."

Martin met scholars from across Russia and was invited to return later this year or next as a guest lecturer at the University of Riazan.

He also met with members of the chancellery of Her Imperial Highness, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, head of the Russian Imperial House and heiress of the vacant Russian throne. Plans for her upcoming visit to Russia were discussed, as well as changes and improvements to the official Web page for the Imperial House, on which Martin will be working this fall.

"I extend thanks to Dr. Sandra Webster, Westminster faculty development officer; Dr. Jesse Mann, dean of the College; and Dr. Bryan Rennie, chair of Westminster's Department of Religion, History, Philosophy and Classics, who supplied and approved funding for this trip and who continually offer moral support and encouragement for all my research plans," Martin said.

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

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 continues to translate from Russian to English the official Webpage of Her Imperial Highness, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, the heiress to the vacant Russian throne. Translations are available at www.imperialhouse.ru. In 2008, Martin was awarded the Order of St. Anna (with the rank of Knight Companion) by the grand duchess for his work on behalf of the House of Romanov.

Martin currently serves as president of the Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and Culture, Inc. (ASEC), an international organization of scholarly study of society, culture, and belief among Eastern Christian communities.

Contact Martin at (724) 946-6254 or e-mail martinre@westminster.edu for additional information.

Dr. Russell Martin