Limits of Protection: Russia and the Orthodox Coreligionists in the Ottoman Empire
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/cbp.2015.201Abstract
Influence over the Ottoman Christians was the single most important manifestation of Imperial Russia’s “soft power.” In the context of the Russian-Ottoman wars of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, appeals of the Eastern Christian elites to Moscow and St. Petersburg for protection met with the attempts of the tsars and their commanders to rally the support of the co-religionists. However, Russia’s relations with the Orthodox subjects of the sultan were fraught with great ambiguity. Temporary Russian occupations of particular territories of Turkey-in-Europe during the wars incited among the local Christians the hopes for independence that subsequent restoration of the Porte’s authority would all but destroy. In order to maintain Russia’s standing among the co-religionists, the peace treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji of 1774 and subsequent Russian-Ottoman agreements included certain guarantees in favor of the Christian population of the returned territories. The present paper offers a comparative perspective on these arrangements, which served the basis for trilateral relations between Russia, the Porte and the elites of Moldavia, Wallachia, the Archipelago and Serbia in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The difference in attitudes and behaviour of the Romanian, Greek and Serbian leaders arguably explains varying degrees of autonomy that the territories in question enjoyed on the basis of the Russian-Ottoman treaty stipulations. More broadly, the paper seeks to problematize the notion of Russia’s protectorate over the Orthodox co-religionists. It shows that the legal basis of this protectorate remained very uneven, and, that for a long time, the makers of Russia’s Eastern policy dealt with particular Christian elites of Turkey-in-Europe rather than with the entire Orthodox community of the Ottoman Empire.
References
Acte și documente relative la istoria renașterii României. vol. 1. București: Carl Göbl, 1899.
Ardeleanu, G. S. “Știri din correspondența lui Petru I,” Studii și cercetări de istorie medie, no. 1 (1950):192-208.
Arkhiv gosudarstvennogo soveta, vol. 1. St. Petersburg: Tipografia Vtorogo Otdelenia Sobstvennoi E. I. V. Kantseliarii, 1869.
Arsh, L. G. “Rossiiskie emissary v Peloponese i Arkhipelagaskaia ekspeditisa 1770-1774,” Novaia i noveishaia istoria, no. 6 (2010):61-62.
______. “O russkoi sisteme “pokrovitel’stva” i o nekotorykh ee sotsial’no-ekonomicheskikh i politicheskikh posledstviakh dlia naselenia Balkan (konets XVIII – nachalo XIX vv.),” Etudes Balkaniques, no. 2 (1975):108-127.
Bazhova, A. P. Russko-iugoslavianskie otnoshenia vo vtoroi polovine XVIII v. Moscow: Nauka, 1982.
Beskrovnyi, L. G., ed. M. I. Kutuzov. Sbornik dokumentov, vol. 3. 1808-1812 gg. Moscow: Voenizdat, 1952.
Camariano-Cioran, Ariadna. “La Guerre Russo-turque de 1768-1774 et le Grecs,” Revue des Etudes Est-Européenes 3, nos. 3-4 (1965):513-547.
Cantemir, Dmitrie. The History of the Growth and Decay of the Othman Empire. Transl. N. Tindal, 2 vols. London: James, John, and Paul Knapton, 1734-35.
Cazacu, Mihai. “Familles de la noblesse roumaine au service de la Russie, XVe – XIXe siècle,” Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique 34, nos. 1-2 (1993):211-226.
Colson, Felix. De l’Etat présent et de l’avenir de principautés de Moldavie et de Valachie. Paris: A. Pougin, 1839.
Constantiniu, Florin and Șerban Papacostea, “Les réformes des premiers princes phanariotes en Moldavie et en Valachie: Essai d’interpretation,” Balkan Studies 13, no. 1 (1972):89-118.
Davis, Brian L. Empire and Military Revolution in Eastern Europe: Russia’s Turkish Wars of the Eighteenth Century. London; New York: Continuum, 2011.
Davison, Roderic H. “‘Russian Skill and Turkish Imbecility’: The Treaty of Kuchuk-Kajnardji Reconsidered,” Slavic Review 35, no. 3 (1976):463-483.
Documente privitoare la Istoria Românilor. vol. 7. București: Editura Socecu, 1876.
Dostian, I. S., ed. Pervoie serbskoie vosstanie. Dokumenty i Materialy. vols. 1-2. Moscow: Nauka 1980-1983.
Dragnev, D. M., ed. Ocherki vneshnepoliticheskoi istorii moldavskogo kniazhestva (posledniia tret’ XIV – nachalo XIX v. Kishinev: Shtiintsa, 1987.
Dragomir, Silviu. Contribuții privitoare la relațiile biserici românești cu Rusia în veacul XVII. București: Șosec C. Sfetea. Librărie Națională, 1912.
Druzhinina, E. I. Kuchuk-Kainardzhiiskii mir1774 goda. Moscow: Akademia Nauk SSSR, 1955.
Dvoichenko-Markov, D. “Russia and the First Accredited Diplomat in the Danubian Principalities,” Slavic and East European Studies 8 (1963):200-229.
Focșeneanu, Ion. “Tratatul de la Luțk și Campania Țarului Petru I în Moldova (1711),” Studii privind relațiile romîno-ruse. București: Academia Republicii Populare Romîne, 1963, 1-55.
Eremia, Ion. “Considerații privid tratatul moldo-rus de la 1711,” Sorin Șipoș, Mircea Brie, Florin Șprengeu and Ion Gumenâi, eds. Frontierile Spațiului Românesc în Contextul European. Chișinau: Editura Cartdidact, 2008, 102-120.
Fortunatov P. K., ed. P. A. Rumiantsev. Dokumenty. 1768-1775. vol. 2. Moscow: Voiennoie izdatel’stvo ministerstva oborny SSSR, 1953.
Freidenberg, M. M. “Stepan Malyi iz Chernogorii,” Voprosy istorii, no. 10 (1975):118-132.
Pamiatniki novoi russkoi istorii, vol. 1, 142-143.
Georgescu, Vlad, ed. Mémoires et projets de reformes dans les principautés Roumaines, 1769-1830. Bucarest: Association internationale d’études du Sud-Est Européen, 1970.
Girs, A. A. “Iz proshlogo konsul’stva v Iassakh,” Russkaia starina 89 (1897):315-325
Giurescu, Constantin. Capitulațiile Moldovei cu Poarta Ottomană. București: Institutul de Arte Grafice Carol Göbl, 1908.
Görtz, Johann Eustachius, ed. Mémoires et actes relatives aux négociations qui ont précédé le partage de la Pologne. Paris: s. n., 1810.
Grosul, G. S. Dunaiskie kniazhestva v politike Rossii, 1774-1806. Chişinău: Shtiintsa, 1975.
Grosul, V. Ia. Reformy v Dunaiskikh kniazhestvakh 20-kh – 30-kh gg. XIX veka i Rossia. Moscow: Nauka, 1966.
Hurewitz, J. C., ed. The Middle East and North Africa in World Politics: A Documentary Record. vol.1. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1975.
Ionescu, Dimitrie G. “Tratatul lui Gheorghe Stefan cu rușii,” Revista istorică romîna, no. 3 (1933):241-46.
Iorga, Nicolae. Byzance après Byzance. Bucarest: L’Institut d’Etudes Byzantines, 1935.
______., ed. Genealogia Cantacuzinelor de banul Mihai Cantacuzino. București: Institutul de Arte grafice și Editură Minerva, 1902.
Istoricheskie sviazi narodov SSSR i Rumynii. vols. 1-3. Moscow: Nauka, 1965-1970.
Iuzefovich, T. P., ed. Dogovory Rossii s Vostokom. St. Petersburg: tip. O. I. Baksta, 1869.
Jewsbury, George F. Russian Annexation of Bessarbia, 1774-1828: A Study of Imperial
Expansion. Boulder, Colo.: East European Monographs, 1975.
Jovanović, Miroslav et als. eds. Moskva – Serbia. Belgrad – Rossia. Sbornik dokumentov. vol. 2. Obschestvenno-politicheskie sviazi, 1804-1878. Moscow, Belgrade: Glavnoie Arkhivnoie Upravlenia goroda Moskvy, 2011.
Khitrova, N. I. “Russko-chernogorskie sviazi v XVIII v. (tserkovnye i kul’turnye),” XVIII vek: Slavianskie i Balkanskie narody i Rossia. Moscow: Institut slavianovedenia i balkanistiki RAN, 1998, 6-26.
Kogălniceanu, Mihai. L’Istoire de la Dacie, des Valaques Trasdanubiennes et de la Valachie. Berlin: Librairie B. Behr, 1854.
Kudriavtseva, E. P. Rossia i Serbia v 30 – 40-kh godakh XIX veka. Moscow: Institut Rossiiskoi Istorii, 2002.
Martens, Georg Friedrich von, ed. Recueil des principaux traites d’alliance. vol. 3. Gottingen: Jean Chrétien Dietrich, 1791.
Maslovskii, D. F. Stavuchanskii pokhod. Dokumenty 1739 g. St. Petersburg: Voenno-uchebnyi komitet Glavnogo Shtaba, 1892.
Materialy dlia istorii Russkogo flota. vol. 12. St. Petersburg: tip. Morskogo ministerstva, 1888.
Medvedeva, O. V. “G. V. Vashchenko – pervyi rossiiskii konsul v bolgarskikh zemliakh,” I. K. Nikiforov ed. V “interiere” Balakan: Iubileinyi sbornik v chest’ Iriny Stepanovny Dostian. Moscow: Institut Slavianovedenia RAN, 2010, 244-257.
Meriage, Lawrence S. Russia and the First Serbian Uprising, 1804-1813. New York: Garland Publishers, 1987.
Mischevca, Vladimir and Periklis Zavitsanos, Principele Constantin Ypsilanti. Chişinău: Civitas, 1999.
Mitilineu, Mihai, ed. Colecțiune de tratatele și convențiunile ale României cu puterile straine. București: Noua tipografia ale laboratorilor români, 1874.
Narochnitskii, A. L. and N. Petrovich, eds. Politicheskie i kul’turnye otnoshenia Rossii s iugoslavianskimi zemliami v XVIII v. Dokumenty. Moscow: Nauka, 1984.
Nouradounghian, Gabriel Effendi, ed. Recueil d'actes internationaux de l'Empire Ottoman, vol. 1. Paris: Librairie Cotillon, 1897.
Papacostea, Şerban. Oltenia sub stapânirea austriaca, 1718-1739. București: Editura Enciclopedică, 1998.
Petrov, A. N. Voina Rossii s Turtsiei i pol’skimi konfederatami, 1768-1774. vols. 1-5. St. Petersburg: tip. Eduarda Veimera, A. Transhelia, K. V. Trubnikova i V. A. Poletika 1866-1874.
______. Voina s Turtsiei, 1806-1812 gg. vols. 1-3. St. Petersburg: Voennaia tipografia, 1885-87.
Philliou, Christine M. Biography of an Empire: Governing the Ottomans in an Age of Revolution. Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 2011.
Polnoie sobranie zakonov Rossiiskoi Imperii, ser. 1, vols. 2, 4, 18, 19, 20, 22, 26; ser. 2, vol. 3. St. Petersburg: Tipografia Vrotogo Otdeleinia Sobstvennoi E. I. Velichestva Kantseliarii, 1830.
Popov, N. A. Rossia i Serbia, 1806-1856. vol. 1. St. Petersburg: Grachkov i Ko., 1869.
Prousis, Theophilus C. The Russian-Ottoman Relations in the Levant: The Dashkov Archive. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2002.
Rahić, E., A. Vtirić, “Vlianie russko-turetskoi voiny 1828-1829 gg. na obretenie nezavisimosti Serbiei,” Drinovskyi Zbirnik 5 (2012):378-387.
Saul, Norman E. Russia and the Mediterranean, 1797-1807 (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1970.
Sbornik Imperatrskogo Russkogo Istoricheskogo Obshchestva, vols. 1, 2, 6, 12, 19, 97, 135. St. Petersburg: Imperatorskaia Akademia Nauk, 1867-1912.
Semenova, L. E. Kniazhestva Moldavia i Valakhia, konets XIV – nachalo XIX vv. Ocherki vneshnepoliticheskoi istorii. Moscow: Indrik, 2006.
Shul’man, E. B. “Prorusskaia partia v Valakhii i ee sviazi s Rossiei. 1736-1737,” Russko-rumynskie i rumynsko-russkie otnoshenia. Kishinev: Shtiintsa, 1969, 7-41.
_______. “Missia valashskogo vornika P. Dragunescu v Rossiiu (1736-1737 gg.),” Vekovaia druzhba. Kishinev: Shtiintsa, 1963, 211-39.
Skinner, Barbara. The Western Front of the Eastern Church: Uniate and Orthodox Conflict in 18th Century Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2011.
Smilianskaia, E. B., I. M. Smilianskiaia, M. B. Velizhev, Rossia v Sredizemnomorie: Arkhipelagskaia ekspeditsia Ekateriny II. Moscow: Indrik, 2006.
Sokolov, Ivan. The Church of Constantinople in the Nineteenth century. An Essay in Historical Research. Translated from the Russian by Hieromonk Nikolai Sakharov. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2013.
Spiridonakis, B. G. “Le Consulat Russe dans les principautés Danubiennes,” Balkan Studies 4 (1963):289-314.
Stanislavskaia, A. M. Rossia i Gretsia v kontse XVIII – nachale XIX veka. Politika Rossii v Ionicheskoi respublike 1798-1807. Moscow: Nauka, 1976.
Storia della Guerra presenta tra la Russia, la Polonia e la Porta Ottomana. vols. 1-5. Venice: Graziosi, 1770.
Sumner, H. B. Peter the Great and the Ottoman Empire. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell, 1949.
Ulianitskii, V. A. Dardanelly, Bosfor i Chernoie more v XVIII v. Moscow: A. Gatsuk, 1883.
______. ed. “Materialy k istorii Vostochnago voprosa v 1808-1813 gg.,” Chtenia v Imperatorskom Obshchestve Istorii i Drevnostei Rossiiskikh 199, no. 4 (1901):I-XVI + 1-196.
______. Russkie konsul’stva za grantsei v XVIII stoletii. parts. 1-2. Moscow: Lissner and Gershel, 1899.
Taki, Victor. “Russia on the Danube: Imperial Expansion and Political Reform in Moldavia and Wallachia, 1812-1834.” PhD. Thesis, Central European University, 2007.
Vianu, A. “Cîteva date privitoare la emigrarea romînilor în sudul Rusiei în secolul al XVIII-lea,” Studii privind relațiile romîno-ruse. București: Academia Republicii Populare Romîne,
, 57-65.
Vinogradov, V. N., ed. Bessarabia na perekrestke evropeiskoi diplomatii. Moscow: Indrik, 1996.
_______. ed. Vek Ekateriny II. Dela Balkanskie. Moscow: Nauka, 2000.
Vinogradov, V. N., L. E. Semenova, “Nekotorye voprosy otnoshenii mezhdu Rossiiei i Dunaiskimi kniazhestvami v XVIII – nachale XIX veka vsvete materialov sovetskikh arkhivov,” G. L. Arsh ed. Balkanskie narody i evropeiskie pravitel’stva. Moscow: Nauka, 1982, 6-37.
Vneshniaia politika Rossii XIX i nachala XX veka. ser. 1, vols. 2-6 and ser. 2, vols. 2-3. Moscow: Politizdat, Nauka,1963-1979.
Xenopol, A. D. Epoca Fanarioţilor pâna la 1812. Iaşi: Editura librăriei şcoalelor Fraţii Saraga, 1896.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
- Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
- The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the exclusive right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known for a term of 3 years after the Publisher first publishes the Work (the Embargo Period).
- During the Embargo Period, the Author shall refer to the Publisher all third-party requests for permissions or licenses with respect to the Work, and decisions on such requests shall be within the Publisher's sole discretion.
- After the Embargo Period, the Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter knwn under a Creative Commons 3.0 License (Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works), or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
- Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
- Noncommercial—other users (including Publisher) may not use this Work for commercial purposes;
- No Derivative Works—other users (including Publisher) may not alter, transform, or build upon this Work,
with the understanding that any of the above conditions can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
- After the Embargo Period, The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a pre-publication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, and during the Embargo Period, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access). Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
- Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
- The Author represents and warrants that:
- the Work is the Author’s original work;
- the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
- the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
- the Work has not previously been published;
- the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
- the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
- The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.
