The Abyss of the Moscow Everyday Life of Peter the Great’s Time: “Notebooks for Driven People” of the Funny Yard (Poteshny Dvor) of 1697—1715 as a Historical Source

Abstract

The documents of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, the first Russian specialized institution of political investigation, have repeatedly attracted the attention of the researchers. However, few scholars know that one of the departments of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, such as the Funny Yard (Poteshny Dvor), also performed police functions in Moscow. This article, based on a study of the materials of the Funny Yard’s office work, aims to reveal the opportunities that the “notebooks of driven people” of the Funny Yard (1697—1715) provide for studying Moscow’s everyday life. Meanwhile, the authors rely on the theory of everyday life of the French historian and philosopher Michel de Certeau.