Izvestiya of Saratov University.
ISSN 1819-4907 (Print)
ISSN 2542-1913 (Online)


Россия в XVIII в.

A new French source about Russia in the eighteenth century in the genre of historical anecdote

A review of the book by S. A. Mezin and the publication of an interesting historical source written in 1757 by Chevalier d’Eon, a diplomat and adventurer is presented. The manuscript “Secret Anecdotes about the Court of the All-Russian Empress” is published for the first time both in French and in Russian. In the peer-reviewed book the source characteristic and the analysis of the manuscript, scientific comments, the detailed essay on French studies of Russia in 1725–1762 were qualitatively made.

Heads of local authorities in central Russia from the regional reform of Peter I to the administrative transformations of Catherine II: “Local history” opus

. The review is devoted to the first monographic study about the leaders of the Vladimir province – an administrative unit in central Russia,formed duringthe Petrine reforms and abolished under Catherine II. It was found that the book by L. A. Mogilnaya meets the criteria inherent in modern researching with the “local history” methodology. The book is also a serious contribution to the study of the history of local government and its leaders, traditional for Russian science, and an example for carrying out similar works in other regions.