Posted on Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Dr. Russell Martin, associate professor of history at Westminster College, recently presented papers in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS).
"'Tsarevna Ovdotia and Her Sister Domna Saburovna: Matrimonial Spectacle and the Integration of Royal In-Laws into the Ruling Circle (1571)' is an analysis of a little known late medieval source for the wedding of Ivan the Terrible's son, Ivan Ivanovich, to Ovdotia Saburovna," Martin said. "It explored how royal in-laws were introduced into the inner circle of power and privilege in the Kremlin via the rituals of marriage. My other paper The Current State of the Study of Death and Commemoration' was in a roundtable where I and other presenters discussed the state of the study of various topics in the history of Russian Orthodoxy."
While at the meeting, Martin was elected to a three-year term on the book award committee of the Early Slavic Studies Association (ESSA).
"The ESSA is a group of scholars doing work in all Slavic areas and in various disciplines such as history, literary studies, archeology, and linguistics," Martin said. "I have been a member since its beginnings nearly 10 years ago."
Martin's article, "Choreographing the Tsar's Happy Occasion': Tradition, Change, and Dynastic Legitimacy in the Weddings of Tsar Mikhail Romanov" appeared in the winter 2004 issue of Slavic Review. His entry "The Romanovs" was included in the three-volume Encyclopedia of Holy People.
"'The Romanovs' discussed the last tsar, Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their children, as well as other Romanovs who have been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as martyrs," Martin said.
Martin appeared on A&E Biography in a broadcast on Ivan the Terrible as an expert on the controversial ruler, and has been an expert witness in a Canadian civil trial about the Russian royal family. 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.
For more information, contact Martin at (724) 946-6254 or e-mail martinre@westminster.edu.
