"Kondycje mitawskie" i próba ograniczenia samodzierżawia w Imperium Rosyjskim na początku 1730 r

In: Studia nad Autorytaryzmem i Totalitaryzmem, Band 39, Heft 1, S. 163-180

Abstract

THE MITAU CONDITIONS AND THE ATTEMPT TO LIMIT AUTOCRACY IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE EARLY 1730Tsarist autocracy is specific to Russia's absolute power, in which the tsar's position was su­perior and fully sovereign. In January of 1730 after the death of the last member of Romanov's dynasty, Tsar Peter II of Russia, the dignitaries sitting at the Supreme Privy Council decided to vest the Russian's throne to amember of the female line of this family — the Duchess of Courland, Anna Ivanovna. However, several political conditions were implemented, significantly reducing the scope of the imperial power. Their content was set out within so called "Mitau Conditions", which after acceptance was to become asui generis constitutional document for the Russian Empire's subjects. The resistance of conservative nobles gathered in Moscow caused acomplete fiasco of this initiative.