“To cover him with the banner”: on the instruments of sacralizing the banner in the Russian army of the 17th and 18th centuries

The article studies the changes in the perception of the banner which occurred in the Russian Army as a result of the reforms of Emperor Peter I. Following the principles of historical military anthropology, the authors focus their attention on the military behavioral models and patterns in relation to the banner. In their effort to understand the depth of those changes, they analyze the meanings and functions of the banner in their development throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Based on a wide range of published sources and archival documents, the article explains the mechanism of forming a new military ethics in its moral and psychological, axiological, and practical aspects. The authors reveal the factors making the perception of the banner carrier’s status humiliating and dishonorable in the time before Peter I and determine the causes of a profound change in the meanings and functions of the banner during the epoch of Peter I. The instruments and practices involved in this process are classified as intimidating, inspiring and sacralizing. The authors arrive at the conclusion about the military ethics in the Russian Army of the 18th century as a corporate one, in the first place, having a specific socio-cultural character and hierarchy of values. Also, it is assumed that the army, as a powerful socio-cultural factor, affected the historical development of Russia, in general.