Who Wrote the Works Attributed to Prince Andrei Kurbskii?

This chapter discusses Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbskii, who was one of Russia's top military leaders and took part in the conquest of Kazan' in 1552. It explains Kurbskii's fame on engaging in an exchange of letters with Ivan IV in the second half of the sixteenth century, which he supposedly wrote after he defected. The chapter talks about Edward L. Keenan, a Harvard University professor of Russian history, who challenged the accepted attribution of Kurbskii's letters to Ivan IV and questioned their basic literacy. It highlights how Keenan wrote three articles in response to critics, only slightly altering his views to be even more sceptical that Kurbskii composed or translated anything.