Zemsky Sobors in the history of Russian statehood

The collection consists of such archival sources as official acts of all Moscow Zemsky Sobors of the 16th – 17th centuries, letters, petitions, as well as monographs, reviews, and other materials on the study of this issue in Russian and Soviet historical science.
The collected documents illustrate the composition, types and order of work of a special government body - Zemsky Sobors from 1549 to 1684. Numerous studies reveal their essence as the highest class-representative institution of Moscow Rus', which included the Tsar, the Boyar Duma, the Consecrated Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as military servicemen - nobles, representatives of commercial capital - merchants and industrialists. The range of issues discussed is extremely important and extensive. Thus, at the first council, the Code of Law of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, approved in 1551 by the Stoglavy Council, was adopted. He abolished the judicial privileges of appanage princes and strengthened the role of state judicial bodies.
In times of crisis for Russian statehood, when legitimate royal dynasties were suppressed, it was the Zemsky Sobor, as the central body of representative power, that elected the founders of new dynasties: Boris Godunov, Mikhail Romanov.
The collection's materials reveal the significance of Zemsky Sobors in resolving issues of war and peace. Thus, the council convened by Ivan IV in 1566 supported the sovereign in continuing the Livonian War, in 1621 - on a new war with Poland, in 1637 - on the aggravation of relations with the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, etc.
In general, the collection reveals the main features of Zemsky Sobors, which allowed historical science to draw parallels between the Russian elected body of representation and the European tradition of parliamentarism. The end of the era of Zemsky Sobors is associated with reforms of the management system and the formation of an absolute monarchy in the second half of the 17th century.