卷 81, 编号 4 (2020)

The occasion for this contribution was the acquaintance with an authentic letter, issued by the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Rudolf II in 1577. The letter is preserved in the Archive of the St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences, under the signature 11/404. The Emperor’s letter is addressed to the chapter of the Fulda Abbey and contains an order to delegate representatives of the chapter to the Imperial Court for participation in the court case about the chapter’s conflict with the abbot of Fulda. It is a dramatic episode from the history of Catholic confessionalization in Germany. Balthasar von Dernbach, abbot of Fulda and ecclesiastical prince of the Holy Roman Empire, was deposed by opponents of his counterreformation-actions because of his strong measures for the renewal of the Roman Church. In the article it becomes clear how contradictory the motivation of the institutions and persons involved in the deposition was. Various factors that caused the long course of the process are also presented. The paper includes a transcription of the letter, his translation into Russian and his reproduction.

The article examines the relationships between the famous soviet historian of Middle Ages A.N. Nasonov (1898–1965) and D.M. Petrushevsky (1863–1942), who patronized him, and examines the professional and personal relationships of specialists in Russian and World history in 1920–30s. The representatives of the old historiographical school wished to provide continuity of scientific tradition. That’s why they educated and supported some historians of new generation who would determine the development of the soviet historiography in 1930–70s. The personal factor influenced the relationships between historians. Close relationships between D.M. Petrushevsky and the Nasonov family, which had established in Warsaw at the turn of 19–20th centuries, played the important role. In the letters (1933–1940) to his disciple, the head of the soviet historical science B.D. Grekov (1882–1953) D.M. Petrushevsky defended A.N. Nasonov’s interests because of his personal and professional considerations. The article is based on such historical sources as Russian historians’ memoirs, diaries, letters of the end of the 19th – at the beginning of the 20th century. The author analyzes both the published and unpublished sources from the funds of D.M. Petrushevsky, A.N. Nasonov and S.V. Bakhrushin (the Archive of the Russian Academy of Science).

«Cantigas de Santa Maria» is a collection of 420 Galician-Portuguese marian poems, composed under the supervision of Alfonso X in the last years of his reign. In this paper we will focus on the representation of the ideal peasant in this literary work. The moral images described in the miracle-tales allow us to identify the main aspects of Christian righteousness from the point of view of the King Alfonso X. For peasants, this ideal consists of two main elements: the purity and sincerity of their faith in God and the Virgin, and the danger that the sin of greed presents for them.

Machiavelli is one of few Renaissance thinkers which up today causes in his readers nonantiquarian interest. His real or supposed understanding of politics provokes them to enter in polemics, and this reaction was only intensified in XX century with its upheavals and ideological struggle, its challenges to basic principles of ethics. Leo Strauss, a representative of Pleiad of German professors fled to USA from Nazi regime, wrote the works which are considered to have influenced modern American political theory. In his important book «Thoughts on Machiavelli» with rare determination he calls the Florentine the «teacher of evil». However when reading this work, where a fine and quite objective analysis of Machiavelli’s treatises is proposed, one has an disappointing impression (noticed by critics) that the author is rather sympathizing and in part imitating the founder of modern political science. So a question arises: to which extent sincere was he in his conclusions and whether his assessment of Machiavelli is completely unambiguous?

12 октября 2019 года состоялось первое заседание постоянного семинара Historia Ecclesiae et Religionis, организованного на базе Центра по изучению истории религии и Церкви в рамках работы Отдела Новой и новейшей истории Института всеобщей истории РАН.

The review considers the latest book by R. McKitterick, British medievalist, on the history of the early medieval papacy as reflected in the Liber Pontificalis (The Book of Popes), created in the first decades of the VI th century and then extended and completed till the IXth century. Attention is paid to the structure of the monograph, its argumentation and conclusions, as well as to the author’s general historical views important for the consideration of the problem. R. McKitterick analyzes this remarkable and influential text, examines its historical context, its content, and its textual transmission. She makes an emphasis on the representation of the early medieval popes’ authority, as it is presented in the «Liber Pontificalis», as well as on the narrative strategies allowing to shape and transfer this image. The reviewer notes the high quality of the research, at the same time stating certain flaws. Among them are the perception of the Papacy itself and its selfrepresentation as somewhat static and insufficient attention to the language and the style of the source.

In the review there is an analysis of a critical edition of «Dialogus» by Perus Alfonsi published in 2018. It discusses the history of the publishing of this text and the method used by the publishers, as well as notes the strong and weak points of the edition under consideration.

«Bastard feudalism» is a system of patronage relations in late medieval England, contrasted with vassal-seigniorial relations of the classical feudalism. The degree of influence of this phenomenon is actual problem. In the reviewed book «bastard feudalism» is studied using the archives of the Court of King’s Bench.