Every now and again, and these days perhaps with increasing frequency, we are brought to realize that circumstances and events in Russian history that we thought we understood perfectly were in fact more problematic or complicated or multifaceted than we once realized. Such now seems to be the case with Tsar Peter I's policy to force most Russian men to shave their beards and for those who served the state and those who lived in towns to abandon traditional Russian garb for clothing patterned on western European styles. Peter's personal wielding of the razor on boyars in Preobrazhenskoe on the first full day following his return to Moscow from the Grand Embassy in August 1698 is a matter of legend. But after that, no ukaz has been found forbidding the wearing of beards until that of January 1705 requiring almost all men other than clergy and peasants to shave off their facial hair or pay a hefty annual tax (poshlina) varying in value depending on one's soslovie, for the right to retain a beard. How to account for the more than six year gap between the first deed and the law? What exactly motivated each step Peter took regarding these policies, not just in 1698 and 1705, but in between and thereafter throughout his reign?

Evgenii Akel΄ev has written the first comprehensive history of the circumstances and motivations surrounding the “Russian beard hater,” drawing the title from Emperor Julian the Apostate's 363 CE satirical essay against beards. Drawing on sources such as kormchie knigi, the archives of various prikazy (in particular the Preobrazhenskii prikaz), circular letters, and other published and unpublished writings of prominent churchmen (including the last two patriarchs and Bishop Dmitrii Rostovskii), and the papers and correspondence of Peter I himself, Akel΄ev brings to light a far more nuanced story than traditional historiography has generally traced.

As Akel΄ev demonstrates, opposition to the shaving of beards was by no means universal among the top levels of Muscovite society in the last two decades of the seventeenth century. Grand Princess Sophia's court boasted several clean-shaven men, including her favorite Prince Vasilii Golitsyn. One of the churchmen whose views supported Peter's was Dmitrii Rostovskii. But by far the prevalent view was that man, created in the image and likeness of God, must retain his beard in order to help ensure his salvation. Akel΄ev points out that an ukaz was prepared in October 1698, but not published, to force beard shaving for most non-peasant men in Russia. Peter apparently feared vehement opposition to such a law at that time. His suspicions were well-founded given the public appearance shortly thereafter of Grishka Talitskii, the largely self-educated bookbinder who used his reading of Biblical prophets and prophecies to conclude that Peter was the Antichrist. Talitskii was not alone in this belief, but was the most celebrated victim of state retribution, sentenced to be roasted to death on Red Square. The memory of the danger to Peter's retaining power represented by Talitskii apparently haunted the tsar for the rest of his life.

When the ukaz to shave beards or pay a costly poshlina finally appeared, it led directly to the Astrakhan uprising of 1705, confirming Peter's misgivings. By that time, Akel΄ev argues that for Peter the strongest motivator was not religious belief but fiscal necessity. Russia found itself deep in war with Sweden and up against the wall financially. Peter apparently hoped to bring in to the treasury perhaps a million and a half rubles per year from beard taxes. This was not to be, as noncompliance was widespread. As early as September 1706 Peter began backtracking on his policy, initially on the imposition in some areas of one kopeck from every bearded peasant who passed through the gates of a town.

The major question regarding Akel΄ev's treatment of the topic is why the Old Belief and Old Believers are not featured more prominently. After all, they were the elements in the population who most vociferously opposed beard shaving. They were prominent in the Astrakhan uprising. From 1724, cases relating to beard-wearing were handled by the newly created Raskol΄nicheskaia kontora. The inclusion of eighteen appendices providing the full texts from archival sources of various projects, ukazy, remonstrations, and amendments to ukazy provide a distinct flavor to the book.