Alexander Sturdza

Stella Ghervas,
"Le réseau épistolaire d’Alexandre et Roxandre Stourdza : une médiation triangulaire entre Occident, Russie et Sud-Est européen"
[The Correspondence Network of Alexander and Roxandra Sturdza: a Triangular Intermediation between Russia, Western and South-Eastern Europe], "Revue des études sud-est européennes", vol. LI, no. 1-4, 2013, pp. 291-320.

Abstract:

This paper examines the reconfiguration of social relations across Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century, through the correspondence of Alexander and Roxandra Sturdza, which is kept for the most part at the Manuscript Section of the Institute of Russian Literature (the Pushkin House) in Saint Petersburg and at the Regional Archives of Odessa. Spanning half a century (1805-1854) and involving over 200 correspondents, these letters reveal a triangular network of exchanges that embraced Russia, Western and South-Eastern Europe. From the diplomatic subjects of the Congress of Vienna to the pleas for help when the Greeks revolted against the Sultan (1821-1823), to the later exchanges of Alexander Sturdza with Western and Russian scholars on religious matters, this correspondence is a testament of a “continent without borders”, which was to largely disappear in the political upheaval of the Crimean War.

Keywords:  Epistolary network, European margins, Russia, South-Eastern Europe, circulation, 19th Century.