This book explores Peter I's same-sex relations, men's sociability and male favoritism at the royal court in the context of the Petrine myth, scenarios of power, propaganda and othering. The first part is devoted to sources, historiography, the theory of the topic, and the question of why there is still no research on the male same-sex relations of Peter I. The second part explores early modern Russian discussion of male same-sex relations. The third part examines how the motif of Russian male same-sex relations was used during the Great Northern War, 17001721 as a tool of German-Swedish anti-Russian propaganda. This book brings a Russian perspective and Eastern European sources into the field of European queer studies and discusses the possibility of considering the topic of non-normative sexuality of the monarch and elites in Petrine Russia in a global context, which has not been done before.

Examines homosexuality in the context of Peter I's reign and the early Russian Empire Fills a gap in queer and sexuality studies of early modern Russia Uses both Russian and Western European archival material

Autorentext

Hanna Filipova is Postdoctoral Researcher and Marie Skodowska-Curie Actions Fellow at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her research and teaching interests include political ideology in early modern Russia, propaganda during the Great Northern War, 17001721, queer and gender in early modern Russia, and othering traditions in early modernity.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. Introduction. "Peter the Gay"?.- Chapter 2. Russian view.- Chapter 3. Western view.- Chapter 4. Fornication and phiia of Alexander Meshikov. Chapter 5. Conclusion.