Chapter The Civil Orthography and Literacy During Peter the Great's Reign: What Really Changed?

Abstract

In 1708 Peter the Great unveiled his new so-called “civil” orthography with great fanfare and ambition, and commanded that it immediately become the standard script for non-liturgical publications. This essay explores the impact of Peter I’s orthographic reforms on literacy and literacy instruction during the first third of the eighteenth century, with special attention to the modes of learning available to the realm’s semi-literate strata. Relying on primary sources as well as the work of previous scholars, it examines three key vectors: pedagogical texts, sites and methods of teaching, and publishing history so as to determine the extent to which the new orthography, pedagogies and texts penetrated both formal and informal primary schooling. Evidence suggests the impact was minimal.