The Quality of Mercy in Early Modern Legal Practice

The Sophia–Divine Wisdom and justice in the seventeenth-century Russia

“…As Isolde Thyrêt shows, relying on and developing the traditional role of the tsaritsa and tsarevny was best suited for the fragile network of boyar families who accepted the ruler as arbiter for their prevailing concern, internal stabilisation 54. While eulogies stressed at the same time the process of the law and the tsar's access to Wisdom, seventeenth-century court cases predominantly ended by an act of mercy, usually protecting social status and underlining the limitations of justice 55.…”