Ivan Musin-Pushkin, Boyar and Count

The name of Ivan Alekseevich Musin-Pushkin, the only senator who outlived Peter I, is very well known: it is most frequently mentioned in connection with his management of the Monastery Prikaz and publishing in the country’s two capitals. Additionally, there is an unusual myth that he was an illegitimate son of Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich. The existing historiography focuses on his kinship with Patriarch Joachim. Because of this, the reasons why a stolnik born into a family with no noble rank climbed the career ladder until he became a boyar, count, and senator were perceived one-sidedly. Attention to Musin-Pushkin’s tenure as governor of Astrakhan makes the author question the priority of kinship and blood relationships when climbing the social ladder. The author refutes the legend about the count’s kinship with the tsar, which was created by 19th-century journalists. Musin-Pushkin’s marriage to Joachim’s niece was concluded a month before the death of the patriarch and could not considerably influence the promotion of Musin-Pushkin. The article is supplemented by archival documents and the count’s letters, which help understand the communication channels of the St Petersburg dignitary and his circle of relations. The author also provides five previously unpublished documents from the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and the count’s testament. The article also contains a highly unique source, Musin-Pushkin’s Notebook of Correspondence for the first half of 1715, which mentions the journeys undertaken by the tsar and the count between May and June 1715

Art · Art history · Genealogy · Historiography · Kinship · Legend · Literature · Mythology · Nephew and niece · Political science · Central European and Russian historical studies · Classics · History · Law