Between Integration and Isolation. Voluntary and involuntary migration into urban areas of Muscovy in mid-17th century

The aim of my dissertation project is to reassess the social position of immigrants from various European dominions in 17th-century Muscovy by analysing the interactions and divergences between the state-defined norm, which increasingly prescribed the physical and social isolation of non-Orthodox immigrants in the 17th century, and the interactions taking place in the local environment of immigrants and forced migrants. Focusing on the destinations of the migratory movements, I examine not only recruited foreign specialists and military personnel, as well as long-distance traders and others who voluntarily settled in various urban areas of the Moscow state, but also those who were brought to the Moscow Empire against their will and who have received little attention from researchers to date. The study consists of various case studies: 1) (inter)confessional contacts and conflicts in the streets of Moscow, 2) labour and economic cooperation in the context of the transition from seasonal to permanent settlement of immigrants in Arkhangelsk and Vologda, 3) the integration of prisoners and deportees into Muscovite economic and social structures in the context of the Muscovite-Polish War of 1654-1667 and 4) disputes over and adaptations to temporary settlements of military personnel in Tsarist service and their dependants in the context of Muscovite expansion into Siberia. The main sources are petitions, interrogation records and census data.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ricarda Vulpius (Department of Eastern European History, Münster)
Second supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Wolfgang Mueller (Institute for Eastern European History, Vienna)