Tsar and his people: power and society in Moscow state during the second half of the 16th century

Abstract

The article raises the issue about the nature of the relationship between the supreme power and society of the early Russian state. The authors of the article show that this unwritten contract, which was well understood by both parties, who participated in it, functioned well in Russia during the 16th - 17th centuries, and its existence refutes convincingly the Herberstein's passage, who failed to understand the Russian political realities of the early Modern Age