Karpov, Fedor Ivanovich

Date of birth unknown; died before 1545. Russian political figure and writer of the first half of the 16th century; a pupil of Maxim the Greek.

Karpov played a leading role in directing the foreign policy of the Russian government in the 1530’s and 1540’s. He was an okoVnichii (a noble ranking below the boyars). Karpov was a widely educated man, knowing Latin and being familiar with classical literature and philosophy. The best known of his few remaining works are his letters to Metropolitan Daniil, Maxim the Greek, and others; these epistles are distinguished by picturesque and stylistically refined language and by bold thought. By fighting for a strong and “just” autocracy, Karpov expressed the interests of the dvorianstvo (service nobility). I. S. Peresvetov later developed the views that Karpov championed.