Robert Collis
University of Sheffield

Astrology at the Court of Peter the Great, 1689-1725

Astrology exerted a strong influence at the court of Peter the Great, yet it has received scant attention from either Russian or Western historians. My paper will explore the various ways in which astrology impacted upon various aspects of Petrine court culture. More specifically, I will analyse the manner in which astrological symbolism was repeatedly utilised in official court panegyrics to extol the reign of Peter the Great. I will also study how the form of astrology embraced at the Russian court reflected a profound interest in contemporary Western scientific and medical theories. In other words, alongside practical skills, such as shipbuilding, I will seek to demonstrate how Peter the Great also promoted strands of astrological thought. Lastly, I will focus on the influence of astrology in shaping the individual characteristics and worldviews of Petrine courtiers, with a particular emphasis on Prince Boris Ivanovich Kurakin (1676-1725), the most prominent Russian diplomat of his era.

Robert Collis is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield. He completed his PhD at The University of Turku, Finland, and was previously a student at the University of Sussex. In July 2009 his thesis, entitled The Petrine Instauration: Religion, Esotericism and Science at the Court of Peter the Great, 1689-1725, won the inaugural Thesis Prize of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism.  Robert has written numerous articles on aspects of western esotericism in early modern Russia, as well as co-editing a volume entitled Freemasonry and Fraternalism in Eighteenth-Century Russia.