The Loneliness of the Half-Blood: Notes

by Bill Bowler

The 14th year of our century is memorable for important and very significant events: 2014, the year of the coup in Kiev, the battle for the Donbass, and the annexation of Crimea.

False Dmitry: “The generic name False Dmitry refers to various pretenders to the Russian throne during the Time of Troubles (1598-1613) who passed themselves off as Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich of Russia, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, after the real Dmitry’s death at the age of eight in 1591. Each of these impostors claimed to have miraculously escaped the assassination attempt that appeared to have claimed Dmitry’s life, and, in the case of II and III, also to have escaped the assassinations that subsequently targeted I and II.” (Wikipedia)

Holy Alliance: “The Holy Alliance was a coalition of the great monarchist powers of Russia, Austria and Prussia. It was created at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia after the defeat of Napoleon and signed in Paris on 26 September 1815. The intention of the alliance was to restrain liberalism and secularism in Europe in the wake of the devastating French Revolutionary Wars.” (Wikipedia)

But when Russia found herself in a complex position: A reference to WWI, the collapse of the Russian monarchy and the Russian Revolution.

Simbirsk and Yanovka: Birthplaces of Lenin and Trotsky, respectively.

the stand on the Ugra River: “A standoff between the forces of Akhmat, Khan of the Golden Horde, and Grand Prince Ivan III of Muscovy in 1480, which ended when the Tatars departed without conflict. It is seen in Russian historiography as the end of Tatar rule over Moscow.” (Wikipedia)

Simeon Bekbulatovich: “a Muslim-born Khan of the Khanate of Qasim. Ivan the Terrible named Simeon Grand Prince of All Rus’ (1575-1576).” (Wikipedia)

the cap of Monomakh: “Vladimir II Monomakh (1053 - 1125) reigned as Grand Prince of Kievan Rus’ from 1113 to 1125. The cap of Monomakh refers to Monomakh’s crown, currently on display at the Kremlin Armoury. It is a relic of the Russian Grand Princes and Tsars and symbolizes the Russian autocracy.” (Wikipedia)

Polish Prince Wladyslaw IV: “Wladyslaw IV Vasa (1595 - 1648) reigned as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1632 until his death in 1648. In 1610 the Boyars elected teen-aged Wladyslaw as Tsar of Russia, but he did not assume the Russian throne due to his father’s opposition and a popular uprising in Russia. Nevertheless, until 1634 he used the title of Grand Duke of Muscovy.” (Wikipedia)

Time of Troubles: “The Time of Troubles was a period of Russian history comprising the years of interregnum between the death of the last Russian Tsar of the Rurik Dynasty, Feodor Ivanovich, in 1598, and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613.” (Wikipedia)

Rus’: Kievan Rus’ was a loose federation of East Slavic tribes in Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century under the reign of the Rurik dynasty. The modern peoples of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine all claim Kievan Rus’ as their cultural ancestors, with Belarus and Russia deriving their names from it. The apostrophe is a transliteration of the “soft sign” in Russian spelling.

a third Rome: For the Russian Orthodox church, Byzantium was the second Rome and Moscow, the third. There is not expected to be a fourth.

General Frost: a metaphor for Russian winter.

Arch-strategist Michael: “In the book of Revelation, the archangel Michael is referred to as leading the Angels to fight against Satan. Christian tradition holds that Michael is a principal strategist and soldier of the Lord.” (Google)

“other peoples and kingdoms make way and allow to pass”: The last line of Gogol’s Dead Souls

the classic poem of the Fatherland: an ironic reference to a Russian “gangster” rap song “Tumbler” by the band Oxxxymiron