Resumen de Preserving the Balance of Power in Muscovy.
In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the successful reunification of Russia's appanage principalities drained the pool of Orthodox princesses available to marry the grand princes (later tsars) of Muscovy. Foreign rulers often resisted Russian demands that brides convert to Orthodoxy, and the fiscal and cultural costs of finding wives abroad seemed to outweigh the benefits. But choosing a bride from one of the ruling boyar clans threatened to destabilize the balance of power at court. The Muscovite government's solution to the problem of finding suitable wives for its rulers without undermining the existing political order was the bride-show. Martin argues that from 1505, when Grand Prince Vasilii III (1505–33) first sent messengers throughout his realm demanding that the middle service gentry produce its unmarried daughters for inspection, until Peter the Great (1682/89–1725) abandoned the practice in 1698 every Muscovite ruler and most male members of the dynasty in power chose their wives through a bride-show. In this way, the elite avoided having to deal with foreign cultural influences and largely prevented political conflict within the boyar clans, both outcomes considered potentially harmful to the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
