R U S S A9

ALFRED RAM-

BAUD

TRANSLATED BY LEONORA D . LANG

lN TWO VOLUMES

A SUPPLEAQENTARY CHAPTER OF RECENT EVENTS

By EDGAR SALTUS

I L L 03 Tm t T E D

VOL . 1

NEW YORK

P. F. COLLIER soNMGM"

P R EFA CE .

Tms Translat ion of M . A lfred Rembaud’s “Historie de la. R ue.

sie (Paris , 1 878) contains a number of emendations by the Au

thor. M . Rambaud has also written many addi tional pages : on

R ussian ethnography ; on the Es thonian Epic; on the early rela~

tions of England and R us s ia ; and on the Emperor Paul’s project

of at tacking England in India. The Trans lator ha s to express a

gratefu l sense of M . Rambaud’s constant and cou rteous aid. In

whatever is has ty or inaccurate in these volumes,he has no sha re.

The Trans lator has compiled Genealogical Tables,of. which M .

R ambaud has approved. The French book has no index, and an

at tempt has beenmade to s upply this deficiency. The Translator

regrets tha t, by a too close following of the French spe lling of the

ancient tribal names , new variet ies have been introduwd, where

variety was already toeplentifu l and confus ing. There seem,for

example, to be about thirteen ways of spelling Patzinak .

”A list

of some of these names as here printed, and of the forms u sed byDr. Lethsm (

“R ussian and Turk,” London

, is subjoined :

Tshud.

Dragovitsae, Dregoviczi.

Iatveguee Y atshvinge.

33734 1

CON TENTS, VOL. I.

tribe Cities Indus try A gricu l tu re,CHAPTER IV.

L IS T OF IL L U S TR A TION S

the G rea tT he City of N ovgorod

T he N ew Pa lace

View of the City of T obo lsk

HISTOR Y OF R U S S IA .

CHAPTER I.

GEOGRAPHY OF R U SS IA.

E as tern and Wes tern E urope compared : seas , mountains , climate—‘

I‘

he

fourzones—R uss ian rivers and his tory—Geographical unity of R ussia.

EASTE RN AND WESTERN EU ROPE COMPAR ED : SEAS, MOUNTA INS,CLIMATE.

EU R OPE may be rough ly divided into two u nequal parts . If wegive square mi les to the whole of EurOpe, only000 be long to the wes tern

,to the eas te rn part . The

former divis ion is shared between al l the monarchies and republics of Europe, Russ ia excepted ; the latter is un i ted under theRuss ian sceptre . Natu re

,not les s than pol icy or rel igion , has

es tab l ished a. s trong oppos i t ion be tween the two region s, betweenEas tern and Weste rn Europe .The shores of the latter are everywhere broken up by inland

seas,pierced by deep gulfs , jagged wi th pen insu l as , is thmu ses,

capes , and promon tories ; i s lands and crowded arch ipelagos areth ickly sprinkled along the coas ts . Great Bri tai n and the Greekninsula particu larly

,which have a coas t-l ine out of al l propor

ion to the i r area,contras t wi th the impenetrable compact mas s

of Eas te rn Eu rope. This stronglyomarked ou t l ine of the westernlands is the characteris ti c featu re of European geography, wh ilethe immense spaces of which Ru ss i a is composed seem the continuation of the plains and plateaux of Northern and Centra lAs ia. No doubt Ru ss i a is washed by many seas i n the northby the Icy Ocean

,which bi tes deep into the cou ntry through the

great fi ssure of the White Sea ; in the sou th by the Caspian, the

4 3 15701?Y or RUSSIA .

Sea of Azof, and the Black Sea ; i n the north-wes t by the Bal ticand the gu l fs of Bothnia, Finland, and Livonia ;but, wi th all

these seas , i t has only a comparatively meagre share of seaboard. While the res t of Eu rope has abou t mi les ofcoas t, Rus s ia, wi th a much more cons iderable surface, possessesonly 551 4 mi les of coas t ; and of this nearly half (2680 mi les)belongs to the Icy Ocean and the Wh i te Sea. N ow, these twoseas are only navigable during a few months of the year

,from

June to Septembe r, at furthes t. The Bal tic, i n its two mostnorthern gu lfs , freezes eas i ly ; armies have been able to crosson the ice, wi th al l the ir art i l lery suppl ies ;navigationis s toppedfrom the month of Novemberto the end of Apri l. The Cas pianoften freezes, especial ly i n its northern half, which includesA straI-than , its mos t flourishing port. The Sea of Azof

,here and

there, is l ittle better than a marsh. I t may be s aid that, wi th theexcept ion of the Euxine, the Russ ian seas have an an ti-Europeancharacter ; they can not be of the same use as ourwes tern seas .

From th is point of view Rus s ia is worse endowed by natu re thanany other European country ;compared wi th the privileged landsof the Wes t, shemigh t be s tyled continental Europe , i n oppos i t ionto maritime EurOpe.

Wes tern Europe, so j agged in its contour, is no less brokeni n its su rface . Withou t speaking of the vas t central mas s of theAlps

, there is not one European land which does not possess ,either in its length or breadth, a great mountain sys tem formingthe scaffolding or the backbone of the country. England hasher chain of the Peak and her H ighlands ; France has herCevennes and her cen tral support in Auvergne ; Spai n herPyrenees and the Sierras ; I taly her Apenn ines ;Germany herranges i n S uabia, Franconia, and the H artz ; Sweden her Scandinavian Alps ; the Greco—Slav peninsu l a has the Balkan andPindus. What mou ntains Ru ss ia possesses on the other hand,are banished, a s i t were, to the ex tremi t ies of her terri tory. Sheis bounded on the north-wes t by the gran i tic sys tem of Finl and,on the sou th-eas t by the branches of the Carpath ians

,to the

sou th by the rocky plateaux of the Crimea wi th the Y alia andT chardyr

-Dagh (51 83 fee t), by the Caucasus , ex tending over 687mi les , where Elburz feet) surpas ses by more than 2000

fee t the h ighes t mountain in Europe, Mon t Blanc. To the eas tis the Oural range, the longes t chain of mounta ins ( 1 53: mi les)i n Eu rope or As ia, runn ing paral le l to themeridians of longi tude,with peaks 6233 feet high I n the Tatar langu age, the word0am! signifies girdle, but i t is not only the Ourals which may becal led the mountain gi rdle ; al l the mountains of Ru ss ia dese rveth is name . They bound her, they confine her, but have on ly as l igh t influence on the configuration of her in terior and the dis

HIS TOR Y or RUSSIA. x3

tribution of herwaters . From the Carpa th i ans and the Caucasus only secondary rivers flow,

whi le the fou r great Russ ians treams take the ir rise in h i lls not 300 fee t h igh .

“ We mus t ohserve also tha t none of these great mountains form a separatesys tem; they are nearly al l fragments of sys tems belonging toother cou ntries . The empire of the Tzars is thus a hn e plain,which is cont inued on the wes t b the leve l lands of P0 and andPruss i a, and on the eas t by the imitless s teppes of Siberi a andTu rkes tan , and is i n s trik ing contras t wi th the rug cd and mu l titorm soi l of the wes t. From th is poin t of view, ussia may be

defined as the Eu rope of plain s , i n Oppos it ion to the Eu rope ofmou ntains .

Uniformi ty of su rface is never qu i te complete, and Russ iadoes prese n t inequal ities of soi l, thou h these are far less notablethan the depress ions and elevations o the Wes t. I n the faintlymarked so i l of Rus s ia, we mu s t notice, i n Jhe centre of thecountry, a kind of square tabIe-l and, cal led the cen tra l pl ateau,or the plateau of A laoune, from the name of its northe rn part.The north-eas te rn angle is formed by the he i hts of the Valdaiplateau , where the h il ls are 300 fee t h igh ; t wes te rn s ide of n

the central plateau by the smal l h i l ls of the Dnieper, wh ich extend as far as the Catamd s ; the sou thern s ide by the he ightswhich reach fromKoursk to Saratof; the eas tern s ide b the

sandy s tre tches which extend along the righ t bank of the olgaand the Kama ; the northe rn s ide by the undu l at ions of the landwhich separate the bas i n of the Volga from the rive rs that draini nto the IcyOcean . The cen tra l plateau is bes ides divided in totwo unequal parts by the deep val leys of the Upper Volga, ofthe Oka, and their t ribu taries .

Cons iderable depress ions correspond to this swe l l ing i n thecen tre of the Rus s ian plateau -t . Be tween the plateau of theValdai

‘

and the north-eas t slope of the Carpath ians l ies a deepval ley

,in which du ring the qu aternary age the Balti c and Euxine

mingled thei rwaves . I t is trave rsed on the north by the s ou thernDii na or Dwi na, and the Niemen; on the sou th by the Dnieper,and its afliuents ; it reaches its lowes t leve l i n the wide marshesof Pinsk . 2 . Be tween the low rocks on the righ t bank of theVolga and the spu rs of the Oural the soi l gradual ly s inks throughou t the whole length of the olga

,and reaches

the level of the sea at the Caspian,wh ich is 80 feet lowe r than

the Black Sea : here are the s teppes of Kirghi z, the lowes t partof Euroy ean Russ ia, formerly the bed of a great in l and merewhich was

gradually dried up, and of which the Caspian, the

Lake of Ar and othe r shee ts of wate r are only the remains.

1 100 feet above the level of the na.

1 6 HIS TOR Y OF R038 1 4 .

I f the Caspian cou ld only regai n the leve l of the Black Sea, alarge part of this s teri le plain, now covered wi th sal ine efflorescence, wou ld be inundated anew. 3. The th ird great depress ionof the Ru ss ian soil is the s lope of the north , covered wi th lakesandmarshes, where the frozen toumz

'm are los t amongs t the icefields of the Polar Ocean and the White Sea. 4. The te

°

on ofthe lakes Saima

, One a,Ladoga, which is continued y the

sandy t racts of the Ba tie, and wh ich forms a series of deepcavi ties, where the waters of the Bal tic and the Whi te Se a mustonce have found a meeting-poin t.From the fact that Rus s ia, taken as a

'

whole, is only a vas t

plain, i t fol lows that her su rface is swept by Polar wi nds, wh ichno mountai n barrier keeps out, for the Oura l chai n runs i n adirection paral le l to their course. From the fact, again, thatRuss ia is only washed by seas , small in proport ion to the exten tof the land, i t resu l ts that the temperatu re is modified neitherby sea-breezes, which i n the Wes t warm in win te r and refreshin summer, nor by the aeri al and marine cu rren t of the Gu l fS tream

,wh ich finally expires on the coas ts and on the mountains

of Scandinavi a, wi thou t being able to influence the shores of

the Bal tic. I n parallel lat itudes th is Scandinavian mountainchain makes a notable difference be tween the Norwegian andthe Swedish-Russ ian cl imate.Ru ss ia then, l ike the in terior of As ia, Africa, or Aus tral i a,

has to u ndergo the effects of a pu re ly continen tal cl imate . Thefirst of these efi

'

ects is a violent contras t be tween the seas ons.The Russ ian plain is subject i n tu rn to the influences of Polarreg ions and to those of Central and Sou thern As ia, of the dese rtsof ice and the deserts of bu rn ing sand . Under the lati tudeof Paris and of Ven ice,

"s ays M . Anatole Leroy-Beau l ieu , the

cou ntries s i tuated to the north of the Black Sea and the Caspianhave the temperature of Stockholm inJanuary, and the tem ra

ture of Made ira in Ju ly. A t As trakhan, i n the lati to e ofGeneva

,i t is by nomeans rare for the temperatu re to vary from

70 to 75degrees i n a period of six months. On the coas ts ofthe Caspian , i n the lat itude of Avignon, the cold descends to

30° below freez ing ; i n summer, on the con trary, the heat rises

to upwards of I n the s teppes of the Kirghiz,i n the lati

tude of the centre of France, the mercu ry is sometimes frozenfor whole days ;whil e i n the summer the same thermometer, ifnot carefu l ly watched, bursts i n the s un. Near the s hores ofthe Sea of Aral these ex tremes of temperature reach thei r maximum; there are intervals of 80

9

, perhaps of 90° centigrade,

between the greates t cold and the greates t heat.” Even atMoscow, they have had cold of 33

° and heat of 28 at Sr.

‘W

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w £ 13701?y op RUSSIA.

RUSS IAN RIVERS AND H ISTORY.

In a country so ex tens ive and so des titu te of seaboard as

Russ i a, rive rs have an immen se importance, and with riversEas tern Europe is wel l endowed . I t is her watercou rses whichpreven t Russ i a from be ing a continen t closed and sealed

,l ike

Africa or Aus tral ia. I n place of arms of the sea, she has greatrivers which pene trate to her cen tre, and have some times almos tthe proport ions of seas . In the level plains they have not theimpe tuou s cu rren t of the Rhone, they flow peaceful] th roughgreat beds cut i n the sand or clay, The rivers were or a longwhile the only means of commun ication . When the Russ ianprinces wished to make a progress through their domin ions, orbegin a campaign, they had either to take advantage of win te r,which from the Dniepe r to the Coral gave them a flat su rfacefor the ir s ledges, or awai t the thaw and fol low the cou rse of therivers . Boats i n summer, s ledges in wi n ter

,were the on]

means ot‘conveyance ; i n spring, the thaw and floods , whic

t rans formed the plain into a marsh , brough t the raspouh’

lm (theseason of bad roads) . Commerce fol lowed the same rou tes as

waror governmen t. The rivers which,i n Russ ia especial ly, are

the roads that run, explain the rapid ity wi th wh ich we see

the characters of Ru ss ian his tory traverse immen se spaces, andgo as eas i ly fromNovgorod to Kief, fromMoscow to Kazan, asa French king from his good city of Paris to R he ims or Orleans . The rivers are the all ies of the Russ ians agains t whatthey cal l thei r great enemy —space. Russ ian conques t orcolonization has everywhere fol lowed the course of the watersit was on the banks of the Oka, the Kama, the Don, and theVolga, tha t the Ru ss ian e lement of the popu l ation chicflygathered

,the aboriginal races eve rywhere retreating into the

th ickness of the primi tive fores ts .The plateau of Valdai is the dominan t point i n the river-sys

tern of Russ ia. I t is near th is plateau, i n the lake Volgo, thatthe Volga, which u l t imate] falls i n to the Cas pian

,takes its

rise . I n this neighborhoodyalso are the sou rces of the Dnieper

(flowing to the Black Sea) , the Niemen, t he Dwi na, which fal lsin to the Bal tic, the Velikai

‘

a, a tribu ta ry of the Pei

‘

pus , the riversformi ng lake I lmen, and those which feed the lakes Ladoga andOnega, whence rises the Neva. The hydrograph ic centre ofRus s ia being at the north-wes t angle of the central plateau, i tfol lows that the s lopes are turned to the sou th and to the eas ta d ispos it ionwh ich has had its influence on the developmen t ofthe national h is tory. This his tory

,indeed, begins i n the north

wes t, near the Valdai‘

plateau ; on the Peipu s and the I lmen theold commercia l cities of Pskot and Novgorod are es tabl ished.

HIS TOR Y OFKUS S II . 1 9

What is their opening to the sea ? Not the Narova, which fallsout of lake Peipus, and of which the cou rse is broken by ca tatacts, bu t the network of rivers and lakes wh ich terminates inthe Neva, the Thames of Russ i a, a river of l i tt le length but immense breadth

,on which S t. Pete rsburg, the Novgorod of the

1 8th cen tury, was afterwards to be bu i l t. I n primi t ive t imesNovgorod was safer i n the centre of this network of rivers and

l akes than she wou ld h ave been on the Neva. By the Volkhofher vesse ls sailed from the I lmen to the Ladoga, and by theNeva from the Ladoga to the Gu lf of Finland, and the grea tBalt ic Sea. Othe r smal l rivers put her i n communicat ion wi ththe l ake Onega and the White Lake (Bieloc-Ozero) ; by the

Soukhona and the northern Dwina she had re lations wi th theWhite Sea

,where later the port of Arkhangel arose. By the

tribu taries of the Dwin a the Novgorod explorers penetrateddeep in to the northern fores ts, peopled by aboriginal races , onwhom they imposed tribute: The watersheds be tween the slopeto the Wh i te Sea, the bas in of the Novgorod lakes , and the

bas i n of the Volga,are scarcelymarked at al l . The rivers seem

to hes i tate a t thei r rise between two oppos i te courses some ofthem never make up the ir minds, l ike the s luggish Cheksnawhich connects the White Sea and the Volga. This interlace~men t of the water-sys tem,

wh ich makes the northern Dwin a, theNeva, the Niemen, and the sou thern Dwina mere prolongat ionsof the Volga and the Dnieper, and pu ts the fou r Ru ss i an seasin unbroken commun ication , is in itse lf a suffi cient explanat ionof the exten t of the conques ts and great commercial pos it ion ofNovgorod the Great.Ou the Dnieper

,Rus s i a

,to rival the Rus s ia of Novgorod

,

founded at a ve ry early date the R ow s of Kief. She too followed the l ine marked out for he r by the course of the Dnieper,which necessarily led her to the Black Sea and the Byzantineworld.

I t was by the Dnieper that the flee ts of war des cendedagains t Cons tant inople ; i t was by th is river too that Greekcivi l iz ation and Chris tian ity reached Kief. The Dnieper

, whichhad made the greatness of Kief, has tened its decay. A s a

med ium of communication it was imperfect. The celebratedcataracts below Kief formed an insu rmountable barrier to navigation, and consequently the ci ty cou ld not remain the pol i t ical and commercial capi tal of Rus s i a.The Don , notwi ths tanding its length of 62 1 mi les , has had

l ittle influence on the evolution of Rus s ian h is tory. During thewhole pe riod of the growth of the nation it remained . i n thepower of the As iat ic hordes . In later years i t fel l, wi th Azov,i n to the possess ion of the Tu rks . The sandy shal lows near its

1 0 1 1 1 s Y or RUSS IA.

mou th wou ld in any case have proved fata l to its commercialimportance . The Dwi na and the N iemen a lso remained till the1 8th centu ry in the hands of the native Finns and Lithuanians

,

or of the Ge rman conquerors .

The river, par ex cellence, of Russ ia is the Volga the

“mother Volga,”as the popu lar s inge rs cal l it. It the Neva,

wi th the great lakes wh ich feed it, may be compared to the S t.Lawrence, the Volga may be compared to the Miss is s ippi. Witha l ength of 2336 miles, i t has a cou rse 250 leagues longer thanthat of the Danube. Many of its tribu taries may be reckonedamong the great rivers of the world. The Oka, wi th its 633mi les of length, su rpasses the Meuse and the Oder ; the Kama,1 266 mi les long, ou tv ies al l other Eu ropean rivers except theDanube for the Elbe is only 643mi les , the Loire 68 1 , and theRhine 8 1 2 i n length. T he junct ion of the Volga and Oka a tN ijnLN ovgorod is l ike themeeting of two arms of the sea ;it isan impos ing spectacle to contemplate from the h i l l on which theuppe r town is bu i l t, while the lower town or the fair, wi th its

fluctu ating inhabi tants, spreads its bu i ldings on thebanks of both rivers . The Volga, wh ich near Iaros l avl is 2 1 06

fee t broad, has a breadth of 4593 above Kazan ; towards S amara somet imes i t decreases to 2446 fee t ; sometimes i t spreads ,wi th its tr ibu tary s treams and lateral branches, over a breadthof 17miles . A t the Caspian i t divides i nto seventy-fivebranches, forming numerou s is lands, and its del ta s preads over

93 mi les . This immense river, the waters of which aboundwith fish as large as sea-fish,- s tu rgeon, salmon, l ampreys ,and where the s terle t some times weighs 1 073 pounds , wou ld bethe wonder of Eu rope, i f i t was not fros t‘ bound du ri ng manymonths i n the year. But at the thaw the ports, the dockyards,the wharves, are fu ll of l ife. Two hundred thous and workmenflock from al l parts of Ru ss i a to its banks . Fifteen thousandships and 500 s teamboats plough its waters . Kos troma, N iju iNov orod

,Kazan

,Simbirsk, Samara, S aratof, As trakhan, are

fille wi th noise and movement. The whole life of Russ iaseems concentrated on the Volga .

The bas in of the Volga and its tributaries embraces an exten t of su rface nearly t reble that of France. The bas i n of theOka ,alone has three t imes the extent of the bas in of theLo ire. In her vas t domain the Volga included nearly thewhole of the Russ ia of the 1 6th century, and has ex

ercised an i rres is tible influence over the des tiny of the l and.

From the day that the Grand Princes es tablished thei r os i talon the Moskowa, a tribu tary of theOka and sub-tribu tary o the

Volga,Rus s i a turned to the eas t, and began her s truggle with

the Turks and Tatars. The Dniepe r made Russ ia Byzan tine.

HIS TOR Y OFR USSIA . a t

theVolga made her A siatic : it was for the Neva to make herEu ropean. The whole h is tory of th is country is the h is tory ofits three great rivers, and is divided in to three periods : that ofthe Dniepe r wi th Kief, that of the Volga wi th Moscow, that ofthe Neva with Nn orod in the 8th centu ry, and S t. Petersburgin the 1 8th. The greatness of this creat ion of PeterI cons is ted in his transporting his capi tal to the Ba l t ic, WithOU I:abandoning the Caspian and the Volga, and in seeking for thegreat Eas tern rive r a new ou tle t which shou ld open a commun ication wi th Wes te rn seas . Thanks to the canals of the T ikcvinka and of the Ladoga, wh ich fu rnished that out le t, the Neyehas become, as i t were. the northern mou th, the Europeanestuary of the Volga.

THE FOU R ZON E S—THE GEOGRAPHICA L UN ITY OFRUSSIA .

Fmm the po in t of viewof production, Ru ss ia may be dividedinto fou r unequal bands, which run from the sou th-wes t to thenorth-eas t. namely : the zone of fores ts , that of the I k/zm oziamor Black Land

,that of the arable s teppes or prairies, and that of

the barren s teppes .1 . The mos t northerly and larges t zone is the po/z

'

essa orRuss ian fores t, which bo

!

rders on one s ide on the frozenmarshesand the Iozma

’ra of the icy shore, and on the othe r on the wide

clearings formed by the agricu l tural enterprise of Novgorod,Moscow, and Iaros lav l. I n the north the fores t begins with thelarch ;i n the cen tre res i nous trees , wi th the ir dark foliage, al ternate wi th the smal l leaves and wh ite bark of the birch furthersou th come the lime, the elm,

and the sycamore, and the oakappears at the southern l imi t.

2 . The Black Land ex tends from the banks of the Pruth tothe Caucasus, over the wides t exten t of Russ ia ;i t even pas sesthe Ou ral and the Caucasus, and is prolonged into As ia. It

derives its name from a deep bed of black mou ld of inexhaus t'

ible fertil i ty,wh ich produces wi thou t manu re the riches t haro

ves ts, and may be compared to a giganti c Beauce,mi les square, 21 corn-neid as large as the whole of France . F1 011 1this alone twenty-five mi l l ions are fed, and the popu l ation inc

creases dai ly. From t ime immemorial this soil has been thegranary of Eas tern Europe . I t was here H erodotus placed hisagricu l tu ral Scyth ians, and hence Athens drew her grain.

3. The zone of arable s teppes l ies paral le l to the Black Land ;to the sou th i t descends nearly to the sea : the coun try is fe rtile,though i t cannot do wi thout manure. I t formed before t i l lagea bare gras s-grown plain, comple tei devoid of wood, and withits 37 miles square recalls American prairie. The

33 HIS TOR Y OF R US S IA .

vegetation of the s teppe, where men and flocks can hidese lves as i n a fores t, is often five, six, and even e ight feet h igh.This monotonou s s tep unbroken except by the barrows thatcover the bones of ear y races , -th is s teppe, wh ich is an oceanof verdu re in spring, but russet and bu rnt up i n the autumn, isvery dear to he r ch ildren . I t was for long the Russ ia of heroes

,

the property of nomad hors emen, the coun try of the Cossack.The Black Land and the prai rie, which is nearly as fe rt ile, havea superficies of 7 mi les square, or of acres ofexce l len t earth

,a su rface equ al to that of France and Aus trian

Hungaryu nited.

4. T e fourth zone , that of the barren s teppes , s teppes whichare sandy at the mou th of the Dnieper, clay to the north of theCrimea

, sal ine to the north of the Caspian, only contai ns000 inhabi tan ts i n its whole exten t of 2 miles . “Unsu i tedto agricu l ture

,and in a great degree to civi l ized l ife,

”s ays M .

Leroy-Beau l ieu, these vas t spaces, l ike the neighboring plainsof As ia, seem only fi t forthe rais ing of cattle and the nomad exis tence. Of al l Ru s s i a in Europe, these are the only parts whicheven at the present day are inhabited by the Kirghiz and theKalmucks

,nomad tribes of As ia, and up to a few years ago by

the Tatars of the Crimea and the Nogais . Here the As ia ticsappear as much at home as i n their native country.”

The productive parts of Ru ss ia are these : the prairie, the3zw L and, and i n the zone of fores ts the agricu l tu re and in.

dustrial region of Novgorod, Moscow, N iju i-Novgorod, andKazan . Were the sea-leve l to rise and drown the northern partof thepolinm and the barren s teppes of the sou th, nothing wou ldbe taken from the real force and riches of Russi a.These al te rnations of low plains and plateaux, th is divers i ty

i n the direction of the great rivers , th is divis ion in to fores ts andbarren and arable s teppes, does not h inder Eas tern Europe frompresenting a remarkable uni ty. None of the parts of Ru ss iacould remai n isol ated from the others ;the plains admi t of nobarrier

,no frontier;t hose wh ich the rivers might impose would

be effaced in winter under the chariot-wheels of armi es, whenthe l and is ice-bound from the -White Sea to the Euxine, and thecl imate is almos t as severe at Kief as at Arkhangel. All theseregions , wh ich resume thei r dificrent characters in spring, arekept together by economical in teres ts and needs . The fores tzone needs the corn of the Dniepe r, the cattle of the Volga ;thes teppes of the south need the wood of the north. The commercewith Europe, wh ich was conducted by means of the northernDwina, the N eva and the sou thern Dwina, was completed bythat wi th the sou th and the eas t, carried on by the Dnieperandthe Volga.

191 s y OF 190331 4 . ,3

Only the region of Moscow,where fields and woods alte rnate,

was long sufficient for its own wants ;but s ince Moscow hastu rned to indus trial arts, she needs help from others. In earlytimes she uni ted the products of the north and the south ; shethus formed the connect ing l ink be tween them, and ended bbecoming the ir ru le r. Even Novgorod was forced to acknowedge her dependence on the princes es tabl ished on the Oka,who had only to forbid the t ransportation of corn from the UpperVolga to the region of the lakes to reduce the Great Republ icto obedience.The wide plains of Russ i a are as evidently des tined to be

u nited as Swi tzerland to be divided. Between the Carpathiansand theOurals, between the Caucasu s and the sys tem of Fin land,natu re has marked out a vas t empire of which the mou ntain

gi rdle forms the framework. How th is framework has been filledm is the lesson tha t his tory has to teach us.

CHAPTER II.

ETHN OGRA PHY OF RUS IA.

GreekColonies and the Scythia ofHerodotus—T he R ussian S lave of N ester~Ka thuan1an, Finnis h, and T urkish hordes in the ninth century—D ivis ionof the R ussians proper into three branches—How R us sia was colonized.

GR EEK COLON IES AND THE SCYTHIA OFHERODOTU S.

THE early Greeks had es tabl is hed factories and foundedflourishing colonies on the northern s hores of the Black Sea.The Miles ians and Megarians buil t Tomi or Kus tenje, nearthe Danube, Istros at its mou th, Tyras at that of the Dnies ter,Odes sos at that of the Bug, Olbia at that of the Dnieper, Cher»sonesos or Cherson on the roads tead of Sebas topol, Palakionwhich afterwards became Balaclava

,Theodos i a which bet "

Kafi'

a, Panticapea (Kertch), and Phanagoria on the two shoresof the Strai t of Ienikale, T anais at the mou th of the Don, Apatouros i n the Kuban

, Phas is , Dioscurias, Pityu s at the foo t ofthe Caucasus, , on the coas t of ancien t Colchis . Panticapea,Phanagoria and Theodos i a formed, in the 4th century B.C., a

confederation wi th a heredi tary chief ca lled the Archon of theBosphoru s at its head

,whose au thori ty was also acknowledged

by some of the barbarous tribesfRuss ian archaeologis ts, and qu ite recently, M . Ouvarof, have

brough t to l igh t many monuments of Greek civi lization, funera lpi l lars

,i nscriptions , bas-rel ie fs, s tatues of gods and heroes . We

know that the colonis ts carefu l ly prese rved the Greek civi l izat io/n, cu l t ivated the arts of thei r mother ci ties , repeated the

poems of Home r as they marched to battle, loved e loquen tspeeches as late as the t ime of Dion Chrysos tom, and offered as pecial cu l t to the memory of Achi l les . Beyond the l ine ofGreek colon ies dwel t a whole world of tribes, whom the Greeksdes ignated by the common name of Scythians, wi th whom theyentered i nto wars and al l iances , and who se rved them as middiemen in thei r trade with the countries of the north. Herodotushas handed on to us nearly all that was known of t hese barbarians i n the sth cen turyThe Scythians worshipped a sword fixed in the earth as an

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36 HIS TOR Y R (1551 1 .

once a year, become were wolves”

; the Agathyrsi,themselves in golden ornamen ts , and have their women to

towmon the Sauromati, sprung from'

the loves of the Scyth ianswith the Amazons t he Budin i and

,Gelon i, s l ightly tinged with

Greek cultnre the Thysagetaa, the M assageae the Iyrx, whol ived on the produce of the chas e ; the Argippei, whowere baldand s nub—nosed from the ir birth ; the Issedones, who used todevour their dead paren ts wi th great pomp and ceremo

ny;the

one-eyed Arimaspians ; the Gryphon s, guardians of fable goldthe Hyperboreans

,who dwel l i n a land where, summer and

win ter,the snow-flakes fal l, l ike a shower of whi te feathers .

I t seems probable that among al l these peoples there maybe some who have s ince emigrated wes twards, and who may belong to the German and Gothic races . Others , again,may haveconti nued to maintain themselves

,under differen t names, i n

Eas tern Europe, such as the Slavs , the Firms , and even a certain

number of Turkish tribes . M . R ittich bel ieves he can iden tifythe M elamfilaz

'

nai of Herodotus wi th the Es thon ians, who s t i l lprefer dark raiinent the A ndrop/mgz

’

wi th the Samoyedes, whosename is derived from the Finnish word suom adm ;the Isrea

'

one:

wi th the Vogouls , who may very wel l have dwel t on the Isseta,a sub—tribu tary of the Obi the A n

’

masf z'

arzs with Votiaks , whomthe Turks now cal l Ari; the A rgx

'

ppa , A orses , and Zyrians ofStrabo wi th the Erzes or Zyrians ;the M as sage!“ with the Bachk irs. M . Vivien de Saint-Mart in recognizes the Agatfiyrsi inthe A gatzirs of Prisons and A catzirs of Jomandes,who are the Khazars. The Finns

, then, have formed the mostwidely-spread race of Scythia.

THE R U SS IAN SLAVS OF N ESTOR THE CHRON ICL ER—LITHUAN IAN ,FIN N ISH

,A N D TU RKISH CLAN S IN THE N INTH CENTU R Y.

The great barbaric invas ions i n the 4th centu ry of our eraformed a period of change and terrible catas trophe in Eas te rnEu rope . The Goths, under Hermanaric, founded a vas t empireIn Eas tern Scythia. The Huns, under Atti l a, overth rew thisrJ othic domin ion

,and a cloud of Finnish peoples, Avars and

HIS N R Y ar R USS IA .

Bulgarians ,'

foll0wed later by Magyars and Khazars, hurriedswift ly on the traces of the Hu ns . I n the mids t of this strifeand medley of peoples , the Slavs came to the fron t wi th theirownmarked character, and appeared i n h is tory under the irpro

ger name . They were described by the Greek chroniclers andy the Emperors Mau rice and Cons tan tine Porphyrogeni tus .

They clas hed agains t the Roman Empire of the Eas t ; they began the secu l ar due l be tween the Greek and Slavonic races, adue l wh ich is s ti l l be ing waged for the prize of mas tery in the

peninsu l a of the Balkans . Ce rtain t ribes formed a separa tegroup among the others , and leceived the n ame of the Rus sianSlavs . Nes tor, the firs t Russ ian h istorian, a monk of Kief, ofthe rath centu ry, has described the i r geographical dis t ribu t ionas i t exis ted two hundred years before his t ime . The S law

,

properly so cal led, inhabited the bas in of the I lmen, and thewes t bank of Lake Peipus : the ir towns, Novgorod, Pskof, Izborsk,appear i n the very beginning of the h is tory of Russ i a. The Krivrtches, agai n, were

‘

settled on the sources of the Dwi na andthe Dnieper, round theircity of Smolensk. The Polotchans hadPolotsk, on the Upper Dwi na. The Dregovitches dwe l t on thewes t of the Dwi na, and of the Upper D nieper, and he ld Tourni.The R adimitches abode on the Soja, a tribu tary of the Dnieper,and pos sessed the old ci ties of Ouvritch and Korosthenes ; theViatitches on the H igher Oka ; the Drevlians, so cal led fromthe th ick fores ts which covered their territory, in the bas i n ofthe Pri pe t. Between the Desna and the Dnieper the Severi answere es tablished ; their towns were Loubetch, T chernigof, andPereiaslavl. The Pol ians faced the Severians on the righ t bankof the Dnieper ; Kief was their centre. The White Croa tsabode be tween the Dnies terand the Carpath ians the T ivertsesand the Loutitches on the Lower Dnies ter and the Pru th ; theBoniches and the Boujans on the Bug, a t ribu tary of the Vis tu la.Nes tor’s l is t of the Russ ian Slavs shows that, in the 9th cen

tury of ourera, when thei r h is tory begins, they occupied but asmall part of the Russia of to day. They were almos t completelypenned in the dis tricts of the Dwi na and the Upper Dnieper, oithe I lmen and the Dnies ter. In al l the immense basin of theCaspian, thei r s hare was only the land they occupied around thesou rces of the Volga and the Oka.

Ou the wes t and north, the Russ i an Slavs bordered on otherSlavonic tribes, which, abou t th is period, acqu i red dis ti n ctnational names: Some groups, scattered abou t the Upper Elbeand the two banks of the Vistu l a, afte r the invasion of theTcheques and the Liakhs orLechites (from the 4th to the 7thcentury) , formed themselves into the S ta tes of Bohemia and Po

land.

28 HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

Other tribes on the March, or Morava,made, in the k ingdomof Moravia

,their firs t attempt to secure political exis tence (9th

cen tu ry). Certai n others s catte red on the Lower Danubeformed the k ingdom of Bulgaria, after the invas ion of the Bulgat ians u nder Asparuch I n a more dis tan t land on theAdriat ic, the Se rv ian and Croat ian tribes were preparing toorganize themselves i n to the kingdoms of Croatia, Dalmatia,and Se rvia. On the Bal tic were the Slavs of Pomeran ia

, ot'

Brandenbu rg (H avelians), and Sprevanians of the banks of theElbe (Obotrites ,Wiltzes , Lu titzes, and Sorabians or Sorbes), al lone day to be absorbed by the German Conques t.A t th is period there was litt le difference between Russ ian

and Pol ish Slavs . M . Koulich th inks that conques ts achievedby two differen t races of men; that the adoption of two irreconcrlable creeds (those of Rome and of Byzantium) ; that the influence of two rival civi l izations, the Greek and the Latin, wi ththei r separate l iteratu res and alphabets ;—that al l these influences created two antagonis t ic peoples i n the mids t bf a race ofone blood, and s tamped on the inert and u nconscious materialof the Slavonic kindred the impress of two hos t i le nat ional i ties .

The Slay, moulded by the Lechites , converted to the Church ofRome, and s ubject to the influences of the wes t, became thePole . The Slav, mou lded by the Varangians , converted to theGreek church, and subject to Byzantine influences, became theRuss ian . I n the beginn ing

, on the Vis tu la as on the Dniepe r,al l were Slavs al ike ; al l pract ised the s ame heathen ri tual ; al lwere governed by the same tradit ions , and spoke almos t thes ame language . I ndeed

, the aflinities of the Russ ian andPol ish idioms

,between which the dialects of White Rus s ia, of

Red Ru ss ia, and of Li ttle Russ ia serve as l inks , sufliciently demons trate an original brotherhood

,which the strifes of churches

and of thrones have des troyed.

The Russ ian Slavs, before taking posse ss ionof al l the domai nass igned to them by h is tory, had to s t ruggle in the north andeas t agains t the nations belongin to three principal races

,the

Le tto-Lithuan ians , the Finns an the Tu rks , i n whom Finn is hand Tatar e lements were more or less mingled. The Finnsand the Turks be long to that branch of the human fami ly wh ichhas been named

,from its twofold cradle of the Oural and the

Altai, Ouralo-Altaic. The first of these races belongs to theAryan fami ly, bu t is nevertheless dis ti nct from the German icor Slav races , and its dialects have more resemblance to Sanscri t than any other Eu ropean tongue . The Jmouds and theLithu anians , properly so cal led, dwell on the Niemen, the Iatoviagues on the Narev. Oh the wes tern shore of the Gu l f ofRise and on the Bal tic, the Ka ma , who give their name to

Courland, are to be found, while the Sm x‘

gallz'

inhabit the leftbank of the Dwina;and the Letgols, fromwhom are descendedby a mingl ing wi th the Finn ish race of Livonians , the Letts 01L atiches of Sou thern Livonia. The Livonians on the Gulfs ofLivonia and Fin land, and the Tchoud-Es ton ians,who gave theirname to Peipus , the Lake of f/ie w adr, belong to the Finnishrace. They are -the ances tors of the resent inhabi tants ofNorthe rn Livon ia and Es thonia. The ree so-ca l led Germanprovinces of the Bal tic are then Le ttish in the sou th, Finnish i nthe north . The N arovians were es tablis hed on the Narova

,

which is a terri tory of the Peipus ;the Votes or Vades, betweenthe Volkhot and the sea, i n a country ca l led by the N ovgorodians

, Vodskai‘

a P iatina ; the Ingrians or I’

ors, on the I°

ora orI ngra, a tribu tary on the left bank of the eva. The ohond~Es ton ians at the presen t day number the Livonians2540. the Vodes 5000, and the IngriansFinland or Suomen-maa (land of the Suomi) is s til l inhabited

b the Suomi, who were divided in to three tribes , the Iames oravas ts on the sou th-eas t, round Inamburg and Tavas tehus ;

the Kvins or Kai'

ans , on the Gu l f of Bothnia ; the Carelians,whowere more numerous than the two otherna tions pu t toge ther,occupied the res t of Finland These three peoples a t presen tamount to a total of 1 , The north of Finland was andis inhabi ted by the Laps or Laplanders , who form a speci ald ivis ion of the Finnish race, and reckon in Russ ia about 4000sou l s . The shores of the Icy Ocean, from the Mezen to theYenissei

,have been a lways occupied b the Samoyedes, a very

wide-spread but farfromnumerous pe0p 0, who amount i n Europeto abou t 5000 souls . Iri the time of Nes tor the Vesses dwel t onthe Cheksh a and the Wh ite Lake ; the Mouromians (whosename is repeated in that of Monrom) on the Oka and its aflinents, the Moskowa and the Kliazma ; the Merians on the UpperVolga around the Lake Klechtchine and Lake Nero or R ostof.These three tribes have complete ly disappeared, having beenabsorbed or transformed by the Rus s ian co lon iza tion, but leavebehind them innume rable kourgam or tumuli. Between 1 8 1

and 1 854, M . Ouvarot and M . Savelief excavated 7729 inMerian cou ntry alone. Bes ides these monuments and the

remains which they contain, the only traces left of these tribesare to be fou nd in names of places, and in certain pecu l iaritiesof the local dialects . I t was around their territory tha t theMus covite State and the Rus s ian empire were formed. The

TchoucLZavolotchians were encamped on the LowerDwina ;theErzes, orZyrians, i nhabi ted the bas in of the Petchora the Per

mians, the source of the Dwina and the Kama ; the Votialrs or

Ari lived on the Viatka,where the townof Viatka stillpreserves

30 ”IS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

thei r name . These races formwhat is cal led the Permianbranchof the Finn is h nation ; thei r country was n amed by thenavians, Biarmia or Biarmaland, and Great Permia ” by theMus covites . Biarmaland was discovered in the 9th century bythe Norwegian navigator Other,who not long afterwards e n teredthe Service of Alfred the Great, k ing of England, and has lef ti n Anglo-Saxon an accoun t of his t rave ls . This narrative provesthat the Permians were then a civi l ized people

,who traded wi th

India and Pers ia. The temple of thei r god Ioumala was so

rich ly ornamented wi th precious s tones, that its bri l l iance i l luminated all the su rrounding country . The Erzes number at the

presen t day only the Permians the Votiaks

The Ougrianbranch is composedfirst of the Osti aks, amounting to and of the Vogu ls 7000 On the eas t they ihhabi t the Ourals

,and on] border on Eu rope . Formerly they

l ivedmore to the sou th . T e M yars,whomade Europe tremble

in the roth centu ry, and founde the k ingdom of Hungary, belonged to th is race .Between the Kama and the Oura l were al ready to be found

the Bach-Kou rtes (shaven-heads) or Bachkirs of the 1 6th to the

17th centuries, original ly a Finnish people, no doubt of the Ugrianbranch, but profoundly T atarized, wi th whom were mingled theMetcheraks, a tribe named by Nes tor. There are at present

Bachkirs,and Metcheraks . On the M iddle Volgadwel t the Tcheremis ses, the T chouvaches, and the Mordvians ;the Tcheremis ses are fou nd again to-day in the gove rnment ofKaz an , Nijn i-Novgorod, and Viatka ;the T chouvaches i n Kazan,N ijni~N ovg0rod, and Simbirsk ; the Mordvians i n Kazan, T ambof, Pensa, Simbi rsk, Samara, and Saratof, bu t the se are nowonly smal l is le ts amid the Russ ian colonization, whereas i n thetime of Nes tor they formed a compact mas s . T he T cheremis sesnow on ly numbe r the Tchouvaches and theMordvians all the res t have become Russ ians except afew who have become Tatar.Al l seems s trange among these ancien t people s. The type

of countenance is blu rred and,as i t were, unfinished ; the cos

tume seems to have been adopted from some antediluvianfash ion the manners and supers ti tions preserve the trace ofearly rel igions beyond the da te of any known paganisms ; thelanguage is sometimes so very primi t ive that the Tchouvachesfor example do not possess more than a thousand original words .

The Tcheremiss women wear on the i r breas ts two plates forming a cu i ras s

,and ornamented wi th pieces of s i lver, t ransmi tted

from generation to generation. A numismatis t wou ld makewonderfu l discoveries in these walking museums of medals

HIS TOR Y OFRUSSIA. 3;

They drape thei r legs in a piece of tightly tied back blackcloth

,and th ink thatmodes ty cons is ts ih never showing the le 3

,

jus t as the Tatar women make a point of never unveiling e

face .The T chouvachwomen cover their heads wi th a l itt le peaked

cap like a Saracen he lme t, carry on their backs a cove ring ofleathe r and me tal

,l ike the trapping of a war—horse, and wear on

féte-days a s tifi and rectan l armantle like a chasuble . Amongth is s ingu l ar people,

“ blac and beau t ifu l are synonymous,and when they wish to revenge themse lves they hang themse lves at thei r enemy’s door.In Spi te of three centuries of Chris tian miss ions, these tribes

dwel l ing in the heart of Russ i a and on the great artery of theVolga are not even ye t comple te conve rts to Christ ian ity.There are sti l l some pagan dis tricts . I t may even be said

that a cons iderable portion of the T cheremisses, T chouvaches,Mordvians, and Votiaks remain attached to the worship of theancient deities, wh ich they sometimes mingle wi th the orthodoxpractices and theworship of S t. Nicholas . Their rel igion cons is tedessen ti al ly in dual ism : the good principle is cal led by the

Tchouvaches, Thora ; Iouma (the Ioumal of the Finns)by the Tcheremisses ; I nma by theVotiaks, e tc. The bad principle was n amed Chaitan or Satan . Between the two is adivin i ty whom men had in former times cruel ly offended, whois called Kereme t. From the good god proceeded an infinity ofgods and goddes ses ; from Kereme t a numerous progeny ofmale and female Keremets, gen i i more mischievou s and malevolent, to whom the aborigines ofi er pieces of money, andsacrifice horses, oxen, sheep, swans, and cocks and. hens, i nsanctuaries also named Kereme t, bu il t i n the depths of thefores ts and far from Russ ian spies .

Human sacrifices have been talked of. The worship of thedead inspired ideas which guide the savage everywhere. M en

have preserved the cus tom of wifeocapture, or buying bridesfrom the fathers by paying the ka/fym they practise agricu l turalcommunism. In a word

,the l ife of these races of the Volga

in the 1 9th century is the l iving comr’

nentary of the accounts ofNes tor of the Ru ss ian Slavs of the 9th centu ry.It is probable that Slavs and Russ ians then l ived in an

absolutely -iden t ical s tate of civilization, and had a lmos t thes ame rel igiou s ideas and the same cus toms.There remain two Finn ish peoples s t il l to be spoken oi, who,

mentioned by Nes tor, have at presen t disappeared, but who werefarmore remarkable than any of the preceding. These are theKhazars, who, al though mingled wi th Tu rk ish elements , werees senti al ly Finnish. Rema rkable for thei r apti tude for civil iza

3,H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA.

tion, they had formed in the 9th cen tury a vas t empire, whichembraced the regions of the LowerDnieper, the Don, and theLower Volga, round the Sea of Azot and the Cas pian ; they hadbu ilt I ti l on the Volga, and Sarkel or the White Ci on theDon ; they had sometimes gove rnors at Bosporos an Chersonin the Tau rid peninsu l a ; in the Kuban they possessed the

Tamatarchia of the Greeks. They had commercial and friendlyrelations wi th Byzantium, the cal iphate of Bagdad, and even thecal i hate ot Cordova, the only c ivi l ized s tates of the then knownword. The Khazars had flourishing schools , and tole rated allre l igions bes ides the national paga nism. Mussu lman miss ionaries appeared in the 7th, Jewishmiss ionaries in the 8th centu ry,and Sain t Cyril arrived abou t 860 at the court of the ir Chagan .

A Jewish Chagan of the name of Joseph in terchanged somecu rious l e tters wi th the Rabbi Hasdai of Cordova, announcingto him that the people of God, the Israel Khazar, ru led overn ine n ations of the n ine tee n of the Caucasus , and thi rteen of theBlack Sea, and that he did not al low the Russ ians to descendthe Volga to ravage the terri tory of the Ca l iph of Bagdad. TheIs rae l i tish Khazars became afte rwards mingled with the Kharaite Jews , and the Mos lem Khazars with the Tatars of theCrimea. Among the vas sal nations ot the Khazars enumeratedby the Chagan

{oseph, were the Bourtass and the Bulgars of

the Volga : the atter, kinsmen of the Bu lgars who were sub

jected by the Danubian Slavs, and apparentl nearl related tothe Tchouvaches, were a mixtu re of Finnish, urkis and evenSlav elements, according to an Arabian accoun t. Sedentary,indust rious, and desti ned to inheri t the commercial splendorof the Khazars , they blended wi th the native supers titions theIs lamism which was preached to them i n 92 2 by missiona riesfrom B dad, and possessed i n the 1 oth centu ry a flourishings tate. he ir capi tal was Bo lga ry or the “ Great City,

”on the

junction of the Volga and the Kama. They also owned the

ci ties of Bou l lar or Biliarsk , Souvar, Krementchoug, 8m. Theirdescendants were fused wi th the Tata r conqu erors of the 1 3thcentu ry.The Finnis h races , even more than the Slavs, are the real

aborigines of Russ ia. In the sth centu ry B .C. H erodotus wri tesof them as al ready long possessed of the soil. Everywhere i nthese wide regions the traces of their occupation are vis ible.A t differen t periods they ex tended from the Livonian Gu lf tothe Ourals, and from the Icy Ocean to the Black Sea. Thewi thdrew at various times, especial ly from the sth to the 9centu ries, to al low the pas sage of the great migra tions and of thegrea t invasions ;but in the 1 0th century they occupied, with the

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34 m mk r ap R USS IA .

Drevlians, Doulebes, now forming the governments of Vitepsk,Mohilef, and Minsk. The governmen ts of Kovno, Grodno andWilna, at presen t unequa l ly R ussicized, were originally Litheanian. The Lithuanian terri tories of Grodno,Belos tok were sometinws ca lled B laté R ussia.

and Polians in

R wria Arkhangel), E astern R ussia (the Volga,Kazan, As trakhan), an N ew R ussia or Sour}: R us sia (Cherson,Ekaterinoslat, Kharkof, Odess a, the Crimea). Great Russia asa whole, apart from Novgorod and Pskof, was won from fore ignraces by Rus s i an colon ization. I t was a colony of KievianRus s i a, and, though for a time subjuga ted by the Tatars, wasable to shake off their yoke, while Kief s til l remained a Litheanian province . I t con tinued to extend its conques ts in the

Eas t ; then turning to the Wes t in the 1 7th and 1 8th cen turies,was able to recove r Wh ite Rus s i a and Little Russ ia.I n the empire the White Ru s s ians number the

Li ttle R ussi ans and the Great RussiansThere are dialectical differences be tween the idioms of thesethree fami l ies , wh ich hi s torical and l iterary influences eas i ly explain . Some writers have been anxious to es tablish the existenceof a profou nd difi erenoe be tween Great Rus s i a and her twone ighbors . They have rese rved the name of Rus s ians and thecharacterof Slavs tortheWhite Russian s and the Li ttle Rus sians,and have pretended to see i n the “Muscovi tes ” noth ing butdescendan ts of Fi nns, Turks and Tatars, i n a word Tu ran ians,Russian only in l anguage. The Muscovite Empire, founded inthe mids t of Vesses , of Mouromians, and of Merians , ex tendedat the expense of the Tchouvaches, the Mordvians, Tatars andKirgh iz

,wi th its two capi tals Moscow and St. Petersburg in the

Tchoudtc region, is not, if these wri ters are to be trusted, evena Eu ropean s tate . A more ca refu l s tudy shows us tha t Muscovywas formed in the firs t place by the migrations of R u ss ian col

onis ts, in the second pla ce by the assimilation of certain fore ignraces . 1 . When the steppes of the sou th became the prey ot

Asia tic nomads;the R uss tan popula tion flowed back in a‘ vas t

wave, from the banks of the Dnieper to the Upper and MiddleVolga. We see the princes of Souzdal calling to their aid the

H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA . 35

inhabi tan ts of the banks of the Dnieper, whi le in the fores ts ofthe north new ci ties are cons tantly founded b the people ofNovgorod. The Russ ia of Kief once destroye a new Russ iabegins to form i tself, almos t out of the same e lements, at theOppos i te ex tremi of the Orien tal plain . The n ames given tothe new towns of ouzdaland Muscovymu s t be noticed. Thereis a Vladimi r on the Kliazma as there is a Vladimi r in Volhynia,a Zven igorod on the Moskowa as on the Dnies ter, a Galitch inS ouzdal as i n Gallicia, a Iaros l avl on the Volga as on the San .Souzdal and Riazan, l ike Kief, have the ir Pereiaslavl; that ofthe former bears the t i t le of Zalies ski, or beyond the fores ts."

In a differen t land and under another sky the emigrants clearlytried to res tore the name, if they cou ld no t find the image oftheir nat ive country. Is i t no t thus that the English in Americafounded N ew Y ork, and the French N ewOrleans ? Moreover,when we have seen a popu lation of Russ i ans gather i nthe Caucas us and i n Siberia-m when we see that the s teppe s ofthe sou th which were deserts i n the t ime of Catherine I I. reckonto-day their to inhabitan ts ,—it is easy to un‘

derstand how, at amore dis tan t epoch , the bas i n of the Volgawascolonized. A s for s aying that the inhabi tants of N ew Rus s i aare nothing but Finns and R u s sified Tu rks , one might as wel lpre tend that the or of North Ame rica areRed-skins who have learn t Engl is h and embraced Protes tantism.

We mus t recognize that the Ru s s ian, almos t as much as the

Anglo-Saxon,has the ins tinct wh ich drives men to emi rate and

found colonies . The Russ ians do in the far Eas t 0 Europewhat the Anglo-Saxons do i n the far Wes t of America. Theybelong to one of the great races of pioneers and backwoodsmen .

Al l the his tory of the Ru s s ian people, from the foundation ofMoscow

,is that of the ir advance in to the fores t, into the Black

Land, in to the prai ri e. The Russ ian has his trappers and set

tlers i n the Cos sacks ot the Dnieper, Don, and T ereck ; in thetireless tur-hunters of S ibe ri a ; i n the gold-diggers of the Ouraland the Al tai; in the adventu rous monks who eve r lead the way,founding in regions always more dis tant, a monas te ry wh ich isto be the centre of a town ; l as tly, in the R askolnicks , or Dissenters, Russ ian Puri tans or Mormons, who are persecuted by lawshuman and divi ne, and seek from fores t to fores t the Jerusalemof the ir dreams . The level plains of Ru ss ia natu ral ly temptedmen to migration . The mountain keeps her own, the mountaincal ls her wanderers to re tu rn ;whi le the s teppe, s tretch ing awayto the d immes t hor izon, invi tes you to advance, toride at advent.ure, to go where the eyes glance.

”

The hat and monotonous soi l has no hold on its i nhabitants ;they willfind as here a lands cape anywhere A s fortheir hovel,

35 ms roiw ar R USS IA .

how can they care for their hovel ? it is burned down so

often. The We s tern express ion, the“ ances tral roof, has no

meaning forthe Russian peas an t. The native of Grea t R uss i a,accus tomed to l ive on l i ttle , and endure the ex tremes of heat andcold, was born to brave the dangers and rivet ions of the etnigrant’s l ife. With his crucifix, his axe i n

'

s be l t, and his bootss lung behind his back , he will go to the end of the Eas ternworld.

However weak may be the infus ion of the Rus s i an elemen t inanAs iat ic popu lation , i t cannot transmu te i tse lf nordisappearitmus t become the dominaht power.

H is tory has helped to make this movemen t irresis tible.When the Rus s ian took refuge in Souzdal, he was cornpelled toclear and cu l tivate the very wors t l and of his futu re domain, forthe fi fim oziomwas then ove rrun by nomads. How cou ld heescape the temptation to go and l ook in the south for more fertile soil which withou t labor or manure wou ld yield fou r timesas great a harves t ? Vil la

ges and whole cantons i n Muscovy

have been known to empty emselves ina moment, the pe as an tsmarch ing i n a body, as i n the old time s of the invas ions, towardsthe Black Soil,

” the “Warm So i l ” of the sou th. Governmentand the landholders were obl iged to use the mos t te rrible meansto s top these

“

migrations of the husbandmen . Withou t these re.

pres s ive meas u res the s teppes would have bee n colonized two

centu ries earl ie r than they actual ly were. The report that theTzar au thorized the emigration- a forged ukase

, a rumor—anything was enough to uproot whole peoples from the 801 1.

The peas ant’s pass ion for wande ring explains the developmentof Cos sack l ife in the plains of the south ; it expl ains the legisl ation which from the beginn ing of the 1 6th cen tu ry chained these rf to the glebe and bound him to the soil. I n the 1 3th centu ry, on the othe r hand, the peas an t was free . His princeencouraged him to emigrate, and hence came the colonizationof Eas te rn Russ ia.

2 . The Russ ian race, i t is t rue, has the facu l ty of absorbingcertai n aboriginal s tocks . The Li ttle Rus s ians assimilated theremnants of Tu rk ish tribes, the Great Russ i ans swal lowed upthe Finnis h nations of the Eas t. There mus t, however, be no

re lig ious barrier between the conquerors and the conque red, forthe Tchoud, while s till heathen, is eas ily assimilated ;but onceconverted to Islamism, he is a refractory e lemen t th at can

sca rcely be brought to order. A baptized Tchouvach inevitablybecomes a Russ ian, 3 circumcised Tchouvach inevitably becomes a Tatar. We have seen the Vesses, the Mourornians,the Merians disappear wi thou t leaving a trace the Tchouvaches,the Mordvians, the Tcheremis ses become more Russ ian everyday. The success ive stages, and the steps which lead to the

H IS TOR Y OF R US SIA . 37acoornplishment of th is change, were l ately observed by Mr.Wallace, an Englis h travel le r

During my wanderings in these northe rn provinces I ha vefound villages

r in every s tage of R u s sification. I n one everthing seemed thoroughly Finnis h : the inhabi tants had a reddish

,

ol ive skin, very h igh cheek-bones, obliquely-set eyes , and a peculiarcos tume ; none of the wome n and ve ry few of the mencou ld u nders t and Rus s ian, and any Russia n who vis i ted theplace was regarded as a foreigner. In a second there were alread some Rus s ian inhabitan ts ; the others had los t somethingof e ir pure Finn ish type

,many of the men had discarded

the old cos tume and spoke Rus sian fluently, and a Rus s ianvis i torwas no longer shunned. I n a th ird, the Finnish typewas s ti l l fu rther weakened ; all the men Spoke Russ ian , andnearly al l the women unders tood ir; the old male cos tume hadentire ly d isappeared

,and the old female cos tume was rapidly

following it, and' the in te rmarriage wi th the Rus s ian pa lat ion

was no longe r rare. In a fou rth, in te rmarri age had mos t com

pletely done its work, and the old Finnish elemen t cou ld be detected merely in certain pecu l iari t ies of physiognorny and ac

cen t ” (vol . i. p.

The dens i ty and res is ting power of t hese ancien t peoples,sca ttered over such immense Spaces of the continent, mus thave been comparat ively s ligh t, wh ile the Russ i an emigrantscame on in vas t waves , or s tole in l ike the cons tan t dropping ofwater. The aboriginals mu s t often have recoiled and concentrated the i r forces , thus leaving room and verge for the pureSlavonic elemen t. The more or les s cons iderable mixtu re ofraces, on the othe r hand, cannot but have influenced the phys ical type

,character

,and powers of the Great Russ ian i n a pecul

iarway. The bright Slavonic natu re, when blended wi th t ribesof a du l ler cas t, gained in s trength and we ight what i t los t invivacity. Hence

,of all the Slavonic peoples , the Great R us

s i an alone has been able to create and to maintain, in face ofevery obs tacle, a vast and durable empire.

3s ms roa y or amen .

CHAPTER III.

PR IMITIVE R U SSIA : THE SLAVS .

Religion of the S lavs—Funeral rites—D omes tic and political customs ; thefamily, the rm

'

r orcommune, the 00101 ! orcanton, the tribe- Cities- Ininbtry—A griculture.

R ELIGION OF T HE SLAVS—FU N ERA L R ITES.

Tms rel igion of the Russ ian Slavs , l ike that of al l Aryanraces, was founded on natu re and its phenomena. I t was a

pantheismwhich, as its original meaning was los t, necess ari lybecame a polytheism. Jus t as the Homeric deities were preceded by the gods of Hes iod, Ouranos and Demeter, or Heavenand Earth

,so the mos t ancient gods of the Russ i an Slavs seem

to have been Svarog, the heaven, and our mother, the dankearth .

” Then new conceptions appeared in the first rank i n thehis toric period. 1 . Ancien t poets and chroniclers (see the Songof Igor, and Nes tor) have preserved to as the names of D ag}:

B og, god of the sun, father of natu re ; V010“, a solar de i ty, and,l ike the Greek Apol lo

,ins pirer of poe ts and protector of flocks ;

P crzm, god of thunder, another personification of the Sun at warwi th the Cloud ;Sm

’

bog, the Ru ss ian E olus , father of winds,protector of warriors ;Khan ,

a solar god ; Sema rgl andM okoc/i,

whose attribu tes are u nknown . 2 . I n some of the early hymnsthey s ing of Koupalo or f arila, god of the summer sun, and D idLudo

, goddess of fecundi ty. 3. I n the epic songs are celebratedSw

‘

a togor, the giant-hero, whose weigh t the earth can scarcelybear ;M koula Seliiminom

’

fc/z, the good laborer, a k ind of SlavTriptolemus, the divine personification of the race

’s pas s ionate

love of agricu l tu re, s t rik ing wi th the iron share of his ploughthe s tones of the fu rrow, wi th a noise that is heard three days

’

journey oft ; Volga Km law'mi, a Proteu s who can take al l man

ner of shapes ;P olkau , a centaur ; D ounai, D on Ivanovifc/i,D nieper Korolw itc/z, who are rive rs ; then a series of heroes ,conquerors of dragons like [Zia of M ourom

,who seem to be solar

gods degraded to the rank of paladins . 4. In the s tories whichbegu i le the vi l lage evening assembl ies , appear M orena

,god.

dess of death ;Kotkfcfia'

and M om , personifications ot the bitter wi nte r weather ;B aba Yaga, an ogress who l ives on the edgeof the fores t, i n a hut bu i l t on the foot of a fowl, and swayed bythe winds and the King qf tbc See, who ent ices sailors to his

HIS TOR y or R USS IA . 39

watery palaces. 5. rstition continues to peoplenatu re wi th good and the Ku mlki, water spri tes ;Vodiaaoz

‘

, river genii ; the L imit: and the Liemié,fores t de

mons ; the Dmo wt'

(dam, house), the brown ie of the domestichearth ; and the Vampira , ghos ts who steal by nigh t from the irtornbs, and su ck the blood of the living during thei r s leep.Since Mythology reproduces under so many forms the strug

gle of the heroes of the light wi th the mons ters of darkness , i t 1 8pos s ible that she may have admi tted a bad pri nciple at variancewi th a good pri nciple, an i l l-doing god, of whom Morena, Kochtebei, Baba-Y aga, the dragon, the mou ntain-se rpen t, are onlytypes . We cannot find any pos i tive confirmation of this hypothesis, as far as the Russ ian Slavs are concerned, but R elmoldas se rts that the Bal tic Slavs recognize B z

’

d ibog, the Whi te God,and Tam obog , the Black God.

The Russ ians do not seem to have had ei ther temples or

pries ts in the prope r sense of the word. They erected rudeidols on the hi lls, and venerated the oak consecrated to Peru n ;the leaders of the people offe red the s acrifices . They also hadsorcerers, or magicians, analogous to the Tatar Shamans, whosecounse ls appea r to have had great weight.I t has been the s tudy of the Russ i an Chu rch to combat paism by purifying the supers tit ions she cannot uproot. Shetu rned to account any s imi lari ty i n names or symbols. She

has been able to honor Sain t Dmi tri and Sain t George, the s l ayera of dragons ; Saint John, who thunders i n the Spring ; Sain tElias, who reca l ls I l ia of Mourom; Sain t Blais e orVlaise, whohas succeeded to Voloss as gu ardian of the flocks ; Sain t Nicholas , or M ikoula, patron of laborers, like Mikoula Selianino

vitch ; Sa i n t Cosmas, or Kouzma, protector of bla cksmiths, whohas taken the place otk oum tr, themys terious blacksmi th forgetot the

’

des tinies of man i n the mountains of the north . In somepopu lar songs the Vi

°

n Mary replaces Did-Lado, and thenSain t John succeeds to cru n or Iarilo. Who can fail to recogn ize the myth of the Spri ng and the fru itful rains accompan iedby thunder, in th is White Russ ian song tha t is repeated at thefes tival of St. John ? “ John and Mary—bathed on the hi l lwhile John bathed—the earth shook—while Ma ry bathed—theearth germinated.

” The Church has taken care to consecrateto the Saints of her calenda r or to purify by holy rites the sacredtrees and mys te rious we l ls to which crowds of pilgrims continued to flock.

R uss ian Slavs ce rtainly had vis ions of another l ife, but, likeall primi tive peoples, they looked forward to a l ife which

gros s and materi al . I n the 7th centu ry m an the Wends, Ger~man Slavs ,women refused to survive the irhus ands, and burned

4° msma y op R US S IA.

themse lves on thei r funeral pile. This ancien t Aryan cu s tommus t have been i n v igor among the Ru ss ian Slavs at an equal lyearly epoch. The Arabic writer, Ibn-Foszlan, g ives an accountof the Rus s i an funeral ri tes which he himsel f wi tnessed i n the9th cen tu ry. For ten days the friends of the deceased bewailedhim,

and in toxicated themselves over his corpse . Then the

men-se rvants were asked, which of themwou ld be bu ried withhis mas ter ? One of them repl ied in the aflirmative, and was iai ns tan tly s t rangled . The s ame ques tion was also put to thewomen-servants , one of whom l ikewise devoted hersel f. She

was then washed, adorned, and treated like a princess , and didnothing but drink and s ing. On the appoin ted day the deadmanwas laid i n a boat, wi th part of his arms and his garments .

The man-se rvan t was s lai n wi th the favori te_horse and other do

wes tie animals and was l aid i n the boat, to which the young girlwas then led. She took off her jewels, and wi th a glas s of kvassi n herhand sang a song that she wou ld only too wi l l ingly haveprolonged . A ll at once, says the eye-wi tness , the oldwomanwho accompanied her, and whom they cal led the angelof death, ordered her to drink qu ickly, and to en ter into thecabin of the boat, where lay the dead body of her mas ter. A t

these words she cha nged color, and a s she made some difiicul‘t ies abou t entering, the old woman seized her by the hair, dragged her ih , and entered wi th her. The menammediately beganto beat thei r shields with clubs to prevent the other girls fromhearing the cries of the ir companion, wh ich migh t prevent themfrom one day dying for their mas ters .

” While the funeral pileblazed

,one of the Russ ians sa id to our narrator, You Arabs

’

are fool s : you h ide in the earth the man you have loved bes t,and there he becomes the prey of worms . We, on the contrary,bu rn him up i n the twinkl ing of an eye, that he may the qu ickerente r paradise.” Nes tor found the ri te among the Russ ianSlavs. The excavations made in a great number of koargam(barrows) confirm his tes t imony. The dis coveries recentlymadei n the tombs of Novgorod by M . Ivanouski, prove that theSlavs of I lmen had preserved or adopted the cus tom of bu rying the i r dead. I n these tombs are found a great quan ti ty ofarms, i ns truments, jewel s , an imals, bones, and grai ns of wheat ;fromwhich we may conclude that the Rus s ian Slavs expectedthe fu tu re l ife to be an exact cont inuation of the presen t one,and that they surrounded the dead with al l the objects that herecontribu ted to his happiness . The exami nation of the humanbones preserved in the M argaux also confirms the his torical aocounts, and proves that servants and female slaves were sacrificed overthe corpse.

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4, HIS TOR Y op R USS IA .

Pri nces s Olga becoming heir and avenger ot her husband andguardian of his son. The epic songs showus many bold heroiness ide by s ide wi th the heroes of the Kievian cycle, and mothersof heroe s s u rrounded wi th wonderfu l luxu ry and ex traordinaryhonors . The excavat ions of the h uman: show us skeletons ofwomen richly ornamented with jewe ls .The commune, or mz

'

r,was only the expans ion of the family ;it

was subject to the authori ty of the elders of each household,who as sembled in a counci l or par/za

’

. The vil lage l ands wereheld in common by all the membe rs of the as sociation the ihdividual only pos ses sed his harves t, and the dvor or enclosu reimmediately su rrounding his house. This primi t ive conditionof property, exis t ing ia~Russia u

s) to the present day, was

once common to all European pe0p es . 1

The communes neares t together formed a group cal led valor!orpaged (can ton, paris h) . The volos twas governed by a counci lformed of the elders of the communes : one of these elders, e itherby hereditary righ t, age, or election, was recognized as morepowerfu l than the res t, and became chief of the canton . His

au thority seems much to have resembled that of Ulysse s overthe numerous kings of li ttle I thaca. In times of danger

, the

s olo“: of the same tribe cou ld elect a temporary head, but decl ine to submi t to a general and permanent ru le r. The Emperor Mau rice had already observed that pass ion for l ibe rty amongthe Slavs, which made them detes t al l sovereignty. The R uss ian Slavs e as ily rose from the idea of a commune to that of acanton

,wi th a chief chosen from the e lders of the fami ly ;in an

emergency they migh t permi t a temporary confede ration of allthe cantons of one t ribe (dlernia), bu twe never hnd tha t therewas a prince of the Severians, Polians , or R adimitches. Onlypri nces of the 20105! cou ld exis t among them,

like the prince ofKorosthenes i n the legend of Olga. The idea of the unity of atribe, and df ortiorx

'

the un i ty of the Russ ian‘ nation, was ab so

lutely foreign to the race . The ideas of government and of theState had to come to them fromwi thou t.

TOWN S~ TRADE- AGRICULTUR L

Nes tor declares that the Russ ian Slavs, for the mos t part,l ived in forests like the wild beas t.” Karamsin and Schloezerhave concluded from this that they had no towns . N ow thereexis t a number of monumen ts i n Russ i a wh ich have for longpuzzled archaeologis ts. There are the gm dz

‘

cldc/z/r (fromgm d,town), enclos u res formed by the earth be ing thrown up, and thesewe find i nvariably on the s teep bank of a watercourse, oron a

FIS TOR Y OFR USS IA . 43

small hi l l . M . Sarnokvassot, who has explored this very countryof the Seve rians, described by Nes tor as l iv ing whol ly in fores ts,has been abl e to prove that these gorodicbtt/zc’s ‘ are thethe primi t ive towns of Russ ia. I n the

dgovernment of Tcherni

got alone, M . Samokvassof has reckone 1 60 in th at ofKourslc.

50. We may calcul ate from th is that numbe rs exist i n Russia,and that eve ry tzalmhad at leas t one. Abou t these earth-enclosures , wh ich were capped by wooden palisades or hedges ofos ier, and were the common means of defence for each group offami l ies , we usu al ly find grouped, as i n a cemetery, the bourgam

'

or tumuli of the dead.The excavationsmade, eitherin the éourgam or in the soil of

the gorodic/zk fie’

s,have shown us the Slavs were inore civi lized

than Nes tor supposed. Vessels of pottery, tolerably wel l designed, i ron and bronze, gold and s ilver objects , glas s, falsepearls, rat tles, prove that they had a ce rta in amount of trade,and a fairly extens ive commerce, part icu l arly wi th As ia. Orie ntal coins have been dug up, dating from 699, or near two hundred years before the arrival of th Varangians . There are a

great number of these coins in the ountry. Near Novgorod avase was discovered, contain ing abou t7000 roub les

’worth of this

early money. The fame of the swords made by the Russ ianSlavs ex tended to Arabia. Nes tor re lates that the Khazars imposed a t ribu te of swords on the Pol ians . When the latterbrought the arms to the Khazars , they were afraid, and s aid totheir princes, Ourswords have only one cd e—these have two.

We tremble les t one day th is people shouldfievy a tribu te on u s

and other tribes .

”

Agriculture was the favori te occupation of the Slavs . Nearlyall the ir de i ties are of an agricu l tu ral characte r. The f avori teheroes of the i r epic cycle, Mikéula and I l ia, were the sons oflaborers. They had the more l ik ing for field l ife, as the serfageof the glebe was s t i l l unknown amongs t them. I t has been saidthat the Germans borrowed the plough fromthe Slavs, and thatthe German name ofp/lug is derived from the Slavploug . Withthe wax and honey of their h ives

,the corn of the Tc/zemozz

‘

om,

and the furs oi the north,the Russ ians carried on a great trade.

Their need of s trangers, together wi th a sociable ins t inct, natural to primi t ive races, made them very hospi table ; i t was evenpermi t ted to s teal for the benefit of the unexpected gues t. Apeacefu l race, devoted to l ibe rty, mus ic, and dancing, appearstu the idyl l ic picture painted for us of the early Slavs . TheErnperorMau rice, on the contrary, who had had dealings wi thall kinds of adventurous t ribes, assures na that they were warl ike, crue l i n batt le, fu ll of savage wi les, able to conceal themse lves i n places where i t seemed imposs ible the ir bodies cou ld

44 HIS TOR Y OFR USS IA .

be hidden, orto lie inambush in s treams forhours together, theVater over the i r heads, breathing by means of a reed. Theirarmor was defective, they had no breas t-plates, they fough t onfoot, were naked to the wa is t, and had for weapons, pikes, largesh ie lds, wooden bows, poisoned arrows, and lassoes to ca tch the irvictims . This sketch specially applies to the i nvaders of theRoman provinces of the Danube . I t is probable that these agriculturalraces had in general a mil i tary organization interior tothat of their Turk ish and Scandinavian neighbors who lived byplunder. The imperfection of the i r pol i tical condit ion, the irmi nu te divis ion in to clans and 0010515, the incess ant warfare ofcanton wi th canton, delivered them up, defence less, to their iavaders . Whilst the Slavs of the south paid tribu te to the Khazars, the Slavs of I lmen, exhausted by their divis ions, decidedon call ing in the Varangians .

“ Let us seek ,’they s aid,

‘ aprince who wi l l gove rn us and re asonwi th us

°

ustly.

‘ Then,”

continues Nes tor, the Tchouds,

‘ the Slavs eN ovgorod), theKrivitches, and other confederate races , s aid to the princes ofVarangia, Our land is great and fru i tfu l, but i t l acks orderandjus t ice ; come and take pos sess ion, and govern us .

’

The T chouds here mentioned are ratherSlavs who had cola fiaed theTM com try about Pakot and Izborsk.

HIS TOR y OF £ 0551 4 .

45

CHAPTER IV.

ma vm wcrans : FORMATION or R U SSIA ; 71 1 8 FIRST m amrrons AGA IN ST CON STA N

‘

I‘

INOPLE, 862-972 .

The N orthmen of R uss ia- Origin and cu s toms of the Varangians—T heR uss ian princes :

“

R urik, Oleg, Igor—Expeditions ains t Cons tantino le—Olga —C hris tianity in R uss ia- Sviatos laf—The

a

Sanube disputedtween the R uss ians and Greeks .

NORTHMEN IN R U SSIA—OR IGIN A N D CU STOMS OF THE VM

GIAN S.

W1 1 0 were these Varangians ? To what race did they belong ? N o ques t ions i n the early h is tory of Russ ia are moreeagerly debated . After more than a cen tu ry of controversy, thevarious views have been reduced to three

1 . The Varangians were of Scandinavian origin , and i t wasthey who imposed the name of Russ i a on the Slav countries . A

mos t weigh ty argument i n support of th is theory is the largenumber of Scandinavian names i n the l is t of Varan ian princesreigning i n Rus s i a. The Emperor Cons tan t ine Porp yrogenitu s ,Speaking of Rus s ia, makes a dis t inct ion be tween the Slavs andthe Rus s ians proper. Describing the cataracts of the Dn ieper,he gives to each the R ussian and the S lav name . N ow these

R us sian names may nearly all be unders tood by reference toScandinavian roots . Liutprand, speaking of the Russ ians , expresses himsel f i n these te rms Gm a

'

vacant R usso: mo:

vero N ormannas .

” The A nnals of S a int B a rium say, that theEmperor Theophilu s recommended some R us s ian envoys toLou is 10 Débonnaire, but he, tak ing them for Norman Spies,threw themi nto prison . Finally, the first Russ ian Code of Laws,compiled by Iaroslaf, presents a s trik ing analogy with the Scanc

dinavian laws . The Part isans of this opin ion place the mothe rcou ntry of the Russ ians in Sweden,where they point particu larlyto a spot called R aslog, and as sociations of oarsmen cal led £ 01

.

A t the present day the Finns cal l the Swedes R ooter.

z . The Varangians were Slavs , and came ei ther from the

hores of the Bal tic, or from some Scandinavian region~where the Slavs had founded a colony. The word R am a 13

not of Swedish origin ; i t is applied very early to the country oftheDnieper. To come from R oam or to go to R ow: are ex

45 3157019y or R USS IA .

press ions to be met wi th i n the ancien t documents, and R oadthere signifies the coun try of Kief. Arabic wri ters give thename of Ru ss ians to a nation they cons ider very numerous, andthey mean in this ca se, not Scandinavians, but i nd igenou sSlavs .

3. The Varangians were not a n ation, but a band of warriors formed of ex i led adven tu rers, some Slavs , othe r Scandinavians . The part isans of th is Opin ion s how us the Slav andScandinavian races from

, very early times, in frequen t commercial and pol i tical relations . The leaders of the band we regeneral ly Scandinavian , but part of the soldie rs were Slav.This hypothes is , which dimi nishes the Norman element in theVarangians, serves to explain how the es tabl ishment of theseadven turers i n the coun try but l it tle afiected the Slavs of theIlmen and the Dniepe r. I t ex plains, too, the rapid absorptionof the new comers i n the conquered race, an absorption so corn~

plete that the grandson of Ru rik, Sviatoslaf, already bears a

Slav name , whi le his great-grandson, Vladimir, remains i n the

memory of the people as thetyp

e of Slav prince. Whether theVarangians were pu re Scan inavians , or whether they weremingled wi th Slav adventurers, i t seems ce rtain tha t the formerelemen t predomi nated, and tha t we may identify these menfrom the North wi th the sea-k ings so ce lebrated in the Wes tduring the decay of the Carol ings . M . Samokvas sot has l atelyopened, near Tchernigof, the Mark tomb con tain ing the bonesand arms of an unknown prince who l ived in the roth cen tury,and was probably a Varangian . His coat-of»mail and pointedhe lme t completely resemble the arms of the Norman warriors .

The Rus s ian princes that we find in the early miniatures, are01o and armed like the Norman chiefs i n the BayeuxTapes try of Queen Ma ti lda. I t is therefore not su rpris i ng that,in ourown e, art has made almos t identical represen ta t ionsof Ruri k on e monumen t la tely e rected at Novgorod, and ofWil l iam the Conqueror on the monumen t at Falaise . TheVarangians, like the Normans. as tonis hed the nations of theSou th by their reckless cou rage and gigantic s tature. “Theywere as ta ll as palmtrees,

”said the Arabs . Bold s ailors, ad

mirable foot-so ld iers, the Varangians differed wide] from themounted and nomad races of Southern Russ ia, ungarians,Khazars , Patzinalrs, whose tacti cs we re always Parthian . The

Russ ians, according to Leo the Deacon , who was an eye-wi tness

ot the fact, fought in a compact mass, and seemed l ike a wall ofiron, bris tl ing wi th la nces , gli ttering with shie lds, whence ranga cease les s cl amor like the waves of the sea—the famous barditu: or 64mm: of the Germans of Tacitus . A huge shieldcovered them to their fee t, and, when they fought in retreat.

5 15703 ? or R USS IA . 4,

they turned this enormous buckler on their backs, and becameinvulnerable . The fu ry of battle at las t made them bes idethemse lves, l ike the Bersarks . Never, says the same au thor,were they seen to su rrender. When victory was los t, theys tabbed themselves, for the he ld that those who died by thehand of an enemy were con emned to serve him in another l ife.The Greeks had for long highly es teemed these heroes worthy ofthe Edda. Under the name of R a: or Varangians, they formedthe body-gu ard of the Empe ror, and figured i n al l the ?

zantine

armies. In the expedition of 902 agains t Crete, 700 us sians

took part ;415 in that of Lombardy in 925;584 in that ofGreece in 949.

The Russ ian Varangians readily took the pay of foreignnations of Novgorod as we l l as Byzantium. This is one morefeature of resemblance wi th the Normans of France, whom theGreek emperors also employed in their wars wi th the Saracensof I ta ly. Sometimes, ins tead of fighting for others, they madewar for themselves. This was the case wi th the Danes i n England

,the Normans i n Neus t ria, the descendants of Tancred in

Naples and Sici ly, the companions of Ru rik in Russ ia. As theywere u sually a very sma l l number, they blended rapidly wi ththe conquered nations . Thus the descendants of Rol lo qu ick lybecame Frenchmen, and those of Robert Guiscard, Sicil ians .

I n the Varangian bands, Slavs as we l l as Scandinavians weremixed ; but we l ikewis e know that i n the bands of Northmenthat ravaged the cou ntry of France, the re was a large numberof Gal lo-Romans, renegades from Chris tiani ty, who th irs tedmore for p il lage and murder than did the Vikings themselves .

This mingl ing of the adven tu rers and the indigenous race expla i ns the rapidi ty wi th which bo th the Normans of Rus s ia andthe Normans of France los t the ir l anguage, cus toms andligion. The Varangians only retained one thing, the ir mi litarysuperiori ty, the habi t of obeying the chosen or heredi tary chief.Into the Slav anarchy they brought th is element of warl ike anddis cipl ined force, wi thou t which a State canno t exis t. They imposed on the natives the amoun t of cons train t necessary to dragthem from the ir isolation and divis ion i nto andvalortr. The Slavs of the Danube also owe their cons ti tu tion to aband of Finno-Bu lgarian adventu rers under Aspar Asparuch ;thePol is h Slavs to the invas ion of the Liakhs or Lechites; theTcheques to the Frank Samo, who enabled them to shake offthe yoke of the Avars .

The spontaneous appeal of the Slavs to the Varangianprinces may seem to us s trange . We might be l ieve that the

l ike the old French his torians , has t ried to disgu ise thefact of a conques t, by representing that the Slavs submi tted

48

voluntari ly to the Varangians of Rurik, as the Gaul: are stip

posed to have done to the Franks ot Clovis. I n reali ty therewas no conques t, a s tatement which is proved by the fact thatthe muncipal organization remai ned intact, tha t the rack! continued to del iberate by the s ide of the prince, the loca l army tofight i n conjunction with the band of adventurers. T he laws of

Iaroslaf es tabl is hed the same wer-gi ld tor the murder of e itherSlav or Varangian,while the Merovmgian laws recognize a greatdifference between a Gal lo-Roman and 3 Frank. The defenceof the country, the admin is tration of jus tice, and the collectionof the tribu te were the special cares of the prince, the las t beingcons idered his legitimate

'

reward. He played in the Slav townsa r&le s imi lar to that of the I ta l ianpodertd: in the isth century,who were cal led in to admin is te r jus ti ce impartial ly, or that ofthe leaders of condom‘err

'

,to whom the cit ies entrus ted their

defence.A s early as 859 the Varangians exacted tribu te from the

Slavs of I lmen and the Krivitches, as wel l as the Tchouds, Vesses , and Merians . The natives had once expe lled the Varangians , bu t as divis ions once more became rife among them, theydecided that they needed a s trong government, and recalled theVarangians in 862 . Whether the name of R us sia or of R ow :

was original ly de rived from a province of Sweden, or from the

banks of the Dniepe r, the fact remains that wi th the arrival ofthe Varangians i n Slavon ia, the true his tory of Russ ia commencesI t was the roooth ann iversary of this event that was commenrorated at Novgorod i n 1 862 . With the Varangians the Russ ianname became famous in Eas tern Europe. I t was the epoch ofbrill ian t and adventurous expeditions ; i t was the heroic age ofRus s i a.The Varangians of Novgorod and Kiet are not unworthy

mates of the Normans ot the Wes t—the bold conquerors whosough t their fortunes from the coas ts of England, S ici ly, andSyria. They are to be found ‘

nearly at the s ame t ime under thewalls of Constan ti nople and at the foot of the Caucasus, wherethey captu red the town of Berdaa from the Arabs N es

tor, the monk of the Petcherski convent at Kief, whose his toryextends to 1 1 1 6, adds to his conscientious accounts many legendary traits, wh ich seem an echo of Scandinavian saga: and earlyRuss ian bylr

’

nar. His Annals , which Greek and French au thorities enable na to check

, and which are tolerably exact in all essentials, seem at t imes, l ike the first books at Livy, to be epicpoetry converted into prose.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

so171 s ? or Rvssu .

united nearly al l the Rus sian tribes under his sce tre. I t wasabou t this time that the Hungarians crossed the niepernearKiet

,and invaded Pannonia. The Magyar chronicles speak of

their having defeatedOleg ;Nestoris s ile nt on the subject.I n 907Ole col lected a large army from among the tribu tary

races , equippeg2000 boats , and prepared to invade T zargradby l and and sea. Rus s ian legends have embel l ished th is expe~

di tion with many wonderfu l de tails . Oleg bu i l t wheels to hisvessels, and spread thei r sai ls blown by the wind they reachedthe gates of the ci ty. Leo VI . the Ph ilosopher, horror

-s tricken,

agreed to pay tribu te, but the Greeks t ried to ge t rid of theRussians by offering them poisoned food. Oleg divined their

perfidy. He imposed a heavy contribu t ion, a commerical treatyadvan tageous to the Russ i ans, and suspended his s hie ld on theGolden Door.To his subjects Oleg was more than a hero. Terroro stricken

byhis wisdom, this“ fool is h and idolatrous people looked on

him as a sorcerer. In the Scandinavian saga: we find many instances of ch iefs , such as Odin, Gylt and R aude, be ing at thesame time great warriors and great magici ans . I t is s trangethat ne i ther Greek, Frank, nor Venetian his tori ans al lude toth is campaign . Nes tor ci tes the names of the Ru ss ian envoyswho negoti ated the peace, and gives the tex t of the treaty.

A mag ician had predicted to Oleg that his favori te horsewould caus e his death . I t was kept apart from him, and when,five years after, the an imal died, he insis ted on being taken tosee its body, as a triumph over the ignorance and impos tu re ofthe sorcerers . But from the sku l l ot the horse issued a serpentwhich inflicted a mortal s ting on the foot of the hero .

Igor led a th ird expedi tion against T zargrad. The Dnieperconducted, as i t were of her ownwil l , the Rus s ian flotilla to theseas of Greece . Igor had vesse ls according to theGreek h is torians, 1 000 according to the more probable calcul ation of L iutprand. This wou ld al low men in the firstcase, and only i n the second. Ins tead of attack ing thetown, he cruel ly ravaged the Greek provinces . The Byzant ineadmi ra ls and generals un i ted

,and des troyed the Ru ss ia n army

i n -

a series of engagements by the aid of Greek fire. Nes tor hasnot copied the numerous details the Byzantine his torians give ofthis battle, but we have the evidence of L iutprand, bisho oi

Cremona, derived from his father-in-law, the ambassador o the

k ing of I taly at Cons tan tinople, who saw wi th his own eyes thedefeat of Igor, and was present at the sacrifice of prisoners , be'headed by order of the Emperor Romanus Lecapenus . I n 944Igor secured the help of the formidable Patzinaks

, and organizedan expedition to avenge his defeat. The Greek Emperor, now

HIS TOR Y OF R US SIA . s ]

serious ly alarmed, offered to pay t ribute, and signed a new commercial trea ty, of which the tex t is given by Nes tor. Byzant ineand Wes tern wri ters do not mention this second expedition otIgor. On his return from Rus s ia, he was ass ass inated by theDrevlians, from whom he had tried to exact t ribu te. Leo theDeacon, a Greek write r, says he was torn i n pieces bymean s oftwo young trees , bent forcibly to the earth, and then allowed totake the i r natural direction

OLGA—CHR IST IAN ITY IN R USSIA.

Olga, widow of Igor, as sumed the regency in the name ofherson Sviatoslat, then a minor. Herfirs t care was to revengeherself on the Drevlians . In Nes tor’s accoun t i t is impos s ibleto dis tingu ish between the his tory and the epic. The Russ ianchronicle r re lates i n detai l how the Drevlians sent two depu ta~tions to Olga to appease her, and to otter her the hand of the irprince, and how she dis posed of them by treachery, buryingsome al ive, and caus ing others to be s tifled in a bath ing-house .Next, s ays Nes tor, she bes ieged thei r ci ty Korosthenes, and sheofiered them peace on payment of a tribu te of three pigeonsand three sparrows for each house . Lighted tow wa s t ied tothe tai ls of the birds , and they were set free . They flew s traigh thome to the wooden town, where the barns and thatched roofsi ns tan tly took fire. Las tly the legend relates that Olga mas sacred part of the Koros thenians, and the rest became s laves .

Th is vindictive Scandinavian woman, in Spi te of al l, was dest ined to be the firs t apos tle of Ru ss ia. Nes tor relates that shewen t to T zargrad to the Emperor Cons tan tine Porphyrogenitu s,as ton is hed him by the s treng th and adroi tnes s of her character,and was baptized under the name of Helen, the Greek Tzar being her godfather. Only two facts in N es toi’ s account arehis torical , namely, the reception of Olga at the impe rial palaceof Cons tantinople, re lated i n detai l in the ‘Book of Ceremonies ,

’ and perhaps her baptism. I f the Greek his torians do notmen tion it i n the contemporary chronicles , i t is because theydid not perceive the importan t consequences of this event. I fwri ters al lude to i t in the chronicles of the 1 1 th and 1 2 th centu ties, i t is because the consequences of the event had by thattime been complete ly developed.

Even in Ru s s ia Olga’s convers ion pas sed almos t u nnoticed.Chris tian ity had made but l i ttle progress i n that cou ntry. N o

doubt s ince Cyril and Method ius had i nvented the Slavoeicalphabe t, and trans l ated the Holy Books for the Bulgarians

A . R ambaud, L’Empire p ee au dixieme sibele,

’

$3.

s3 HIS N R YOF R (15674 .

Chris tiani ty, which had al ready triumphed ove r some Slavpeoples, was be ing handed on from one to the other. Somemiss ions were already es tabl ished in Rus sia. The Byzan tinessay, that alarmed by the miracu lous defeat of Askold and Dir,and seized wi th a respectfu l awe of the Chris t ian tal ismans otthe Patriarch Photius , the Russ ians sent envoys to Cons tant i~n0ple to ask for baptism.

” The Emperor Bas il the Macedonianthen gave them an archbishop, who pe rformed a miracle beforethem. He threw a copy of the Gospels i nto a braz ier, and drewi t out unharmed . According to this accoun t, Askold was thefi rs t Rus s ian prince who became a Chris t ian . Hence the worship rendered to his tomb and memory. In the l is t of Eyaent ine Eparch ies under Leo VI., the Bis hopric of Russ ia figures,of which no doubt Kiet was the metropolis . These miss ions,however, do not seem to have been very successfu l ; at the t imeof the tre aty concluded between Oleg and Leo VI., the R uss ians s ti l l swore by thei r swords , by Voloss and Perun . In thetreaty concluded by Igor

, when the Rus s ians swore atfore the Emperor’s envoy, to confirm it, some ascended the h il lof Perun and pe rformed the vows i n the ancien t way ; otherswen t to the chapeL of Sain t El ias, and laid thei r hand on theGospe l . There exis ted then

,i n the mother of Russianci ties,

”

a Chris tian commun ity, though a veryweak one, it i t is true thatOlga refus ed to be baptized inK ief for fear of the pagans .

”

The mas s of warriors kept Chris t ianity at a dis tance . In thei rexpedi tions agains t the Byzantine provinces, we find them at

tackingmonas teries and churches by prefere nce, giving them upto the flames , and finding a pecu l iar pleasure in tortu ring pries tsand monks by driving nails i nto the ir heads . I t was thus thatthe Normans of France

,the fanat ics of Odin ism, t reated the

eccles ias tics wi th refinements of cruel ty, boas t ing that they“sang them the Mass of l ances .

” When one of the soldiersof the Grand Prince wished to become a convert,

”says Nes tor,

he was not prevented, but only laughed ar.

” The efiorts ofOlga for the convers ion of her son Sviatdslaf, who had as sumedthe re ins of governmen t on reaching his majori ty, were fru itless .

He did not l ike expos ing himself to the ridicu le of his soldiersby embracing a new faith. My menwi l lmock me, he repl iedto the prayers of his mother. And often

,Nes tor affirms

sadly, he became fu rious wi th her.” Olga vainly as sured himthat if he wou ld be baptized, al l his subjects wou l d soon followhis example. The publ ic mind was not ye t in a condition forthe example of the prince to be al l-powerfu l . The Chris t i anOlga, canonized by the Church , the firs t Russian who mount.cd to the heavenly kingdom,

” remained an exception, l ittnoticed orthought of in the mids t of the pagan aris tocracy

HIS TOR Y OF-R 088 1 4. 53

R USSIAN S.

The reignof Sviatoslaf, 664-972 , though short, was signalized by two memorab le even ts : the defeat of the Khazars , andgreat war agains t the Byzantine Empire for the posses s ion

of Bu limia. A bou t the former event the annal is t gives few de

tails ; u t Sviatoslat mus t have gained a comple te victory, if i tbe true that he took the White City, capi ta l of the Khazar Empire on the Don, and that he exacted t ribute from th e Iasses orOs sets of the Caucas us, and the Kassogans or T cherkesses .The Rus s ians had no reason to rejoice in thei r su ess , for thedecl ine of the Khazars, who were a civilized people, avored the

rogres s of the Pa tzinak s, the mos t ferocious of al l barbarians.he Arabs spoke of them a s wi ld beas ts and Matthew of Edessacalls them a greedy people, devou ring the bodies of men,corrupt and impure, bloody and crue l beas ts.

” f

During'

one ofthe frequent absences of Sviatoslaf, the Patzinaks suddenly appeered u nder the wal ls of Kief, where the mothe r and childre nof the Grand Prince had taken refuge, and redu ced i t to the

l as t extremi ty. The bold mancenvre of a voievode saved theKievians , who were starvin On his re tu rn to his capital,Sviatoslat was horrified at 0 risks i t had encou ntered. I twas at the hands of these same Patzinak s that he was one dayto perish .

Ou the subject of the Bulgarian war the narrative of Nes toris confu sed and incomplete. He is s i len t abou t the Russ iandefeats , and legend mixes large ly wi th his torical facts . Nes torre lates that the Greeks wished to ascertain wha t sort of manSviatoslaf was . T hey senthim gifts of gold and fine t issues, bu tthe Grand Prince looked on themwith disdain, and sa id to hisso ldie rs, Take them away.” Then they sent him a sword andother weapons, and the hero se ized them and kissed them en~

thusias tically. The Greeks were afraid, and said, This mu s tbe a fierce man, s ince he despises weal th and accepts a swordfor tribute.” H appily the veryminu te account ofLeo the Deaconappears both exact and impartial, and we are enabled to fol lowthis campaign,where a chief of infan t Rus s ia crosses that Danubewhich the Russ ian armies are not agai n to see ti l l the re ign of

Cathe ri ne I I . and Nicholas . The Greek Emperor N icephorusPhocas, i n order to avenge himse l f on Pete r the Tzar of Bu lgari a,had recou rse to the dangerou s expedien t so frequen t i n Byzantinepo licy. He ca l led i n the barbarians . A ce rtai n Kalokyr was

atoslaf wi th a sufi cient sum of money to allow1d. It Wes thus tha t these two Slav races

54 H IS TOR Y 0’ R USS IA .

who owned thei r consti tu t ions, one to the Varangian droufi’

na .

of Rurik, the othe r to the Tu ran ian drjouj ifl a of As paruch—wereu rged to conflict by Greek diplomac Sviatoslaf descended onBulgaria wi th a thoroughly-equippe fleet, reas su red the Byzantines b bringing men to their as s is tance , took Pereiaslaf,the Eu rian capital, and al l the i r fortresses .

The zar Peter yie lded to his evi l des tiny at the momen t thePatzinaks were bes ieging Kief. This les son was, however, los tonSviatoslaf. He was everjoyed a t his conques t, and wished totransport his capital to Pereiaslaf on the Danube, a ci ty d is tinctfrom Pereiaslaf or Prislaf, the mode rn Eski-Starnboul, which wasthe capital of the Bu lgarians i n the 1 0th century. This place,

”

he said to his mother, is the cen tral poi n t of my possess ions,and abounds inweal th . Frorn Greece come precious s tuffs ,wine,gold, and al l k inds of fru it from the country of the Tchequesand H ungari ans , horses and s i lver ; from Russ ia, furs, money,wax

,and s l aves .

” This resolu t ion of Sviatoslatwas fraugh t wi thimmense danger to the Greek Em i re . I f Byzantium feared theneighborhood of an enfeebled Eu garia, how was she to res is t apower that extended from the Bal tic to the Balkans, and wh ichcou ld add to the Bu lgarian legions , discipl ined afte r the Romanfash ion by the Tzar Simeon, the Varangians of Scandinav ia,the Ru ss ian Slavs , the Finnish hordes of the Vesse s, T chouds,and Merians, and even the l ight caval ry of the PatzinaksThe formation of a great S lav Empire so close to Cons tant i

nople wou ld have been rendered more formidable by the ethnographical cons t i tu t ion of the peninsu la. Ancien t Thrace and

ancren t Macedon were peopled by Slav tribes, some of whomwere ofi shoets from the Ru ss ian tribes ; for example, Dregovitches and Smolenes were to be found there asmuch as at Minskand Smolensk . Thessaly, Att ica, and the Peloponnesus werei nvaded by these emigrants, who became the subjects of theGreek Empire . The famous mountain T aygetus, in Laconia,was i nhabited by two Slav t ribes

, s t i l l u ns ubdued—the Milingiansand the Ezerites. We mus t not forge t that Bu lgaria ex tendedas far as the Ochrid

,and that the ancien t provinces u nder the

names of Croatia, Se rvi a, and Dalmatia, had become almos tent irely Slav. This great race extended then almos t u nbrokenfrom the Peloponnesus , al ready cal led by the Slav name of Morea,to Novgorod. Thus

,if the town of Pereiaslaf on the Danube

had real ly become the cen tre of the Russ ian domin ions, according to the wish of Sviatoslat, the Greek race and the Romandomi nation i n the Balkan pen insu l a wou ld 3 edily have cometo an end. The Greek emperors had been ehlite to res is t Askold,Oleg, and Igor. The Rus sians of thei l ived far fromthe Empire, and were obl iged to go

HISTORY’ OF R USS IA . 55

number of thei r armies . With their canoes hol lowedt runks of trees , such as are now to be seen in the

Russ ian vi l l ages , they had to descend the Dniepe r, disemk ateach of the seven cataracts, carry canoes (monoxyles) t i ll theycou ld te-ernbark further on, and al l the while gave battle to thePatzinaks, who were i n ambush behind the rocks . Afte r theyhad escaped these perils, they had to brave wi th thei r frai l barksthe tempes ts ot the Black Sea, the powe rfu l Roman gal leysmanned by the bes t s ai lors of the Eas t, and themys terious Greekfire which filled them wi th terror. Few reached the wal ls ofCons tantinople, and thei r defeat was certain . N ow

, on the cont rar mas te rs of the Danube, mas ters of the land-rou te,con (1 precipitate on Cons tantinople all the hordes of Scyth ia.Fortunately for the Greek Empire, i t then chanced to be te

newing its you th . A series of great captains s ucceeded eachother on th is totte ring throne . In JohnZimisces the Russ ianpri nce was to find an adversary worthy of him. Sviatoslaf, re

cal led to Bu lgaria, had been obl iged to reconquer it. I t was atthis moment that Zimisces summoned him to execu te the condiot ions of the treaty concluded with his predecessor ; that is, toevacuate the count Sviatoslaf,who had

'

ust taken Ph ilippopolisand exterminated e inhabitants, repl ied aughtily that he hopedsoon to be at Cons tan t inople . Zimisces then began his preparat ions . In the beginn ing of March 972 , he despatched a fleet tothe north of the Danube , and himse lf marched to Adrianople .He su rprised the Rus s ians , who had not expected him so soon

,

i n the dehles of the Balkans ; appeared suddenly u nder thewal lsof Pereias laf, defeated a body of many thousand Ru ss i ans, andobl iged them to re tire wi thi n the wal ls ; then he gave the orderfor the as sau l t, and took the town by escalade . Eight thousandRus s ians shut up in the royal cas tle made a fran tic res is tance,refu sed to capitulate, and perished in the flames .When the news of th is disas te r reached Sviatoslaf, he advanced

wi th the reaterpa rt o f his army to mee t the Emperor, and cameup wi th im near Doros tol (Silistria). The Greek his toriansmake the Ru s s ian army to have cons is ted of at leas tmen ;Nes tor only reckons H ere a bloody battle tookplace

,and twelve t imes victory appeared to shift from 0ne s ide

to the othe r. The sol idity of the Rus s ian infan try defied the

charges of the cavalry the I rons ide ”

A t las t they gave wa under a desperate charge, and fel l back on

Doros tolfi There t ey were bes ieged by the Emperor, and displayed a wild cou rage in the ir sal l ies . Even their women, l ikethe ancient Amazons, or the heroines of the Scandinavian saga:or Ru s s ian songs , took part in the ladle. The Ru ss ians slewthemse lves rather than ask for mercy. The night fol lowing on

56y or RUSS IA

an action, they were seen to leave the town by moonligh t to burnthei r dead. Oh the ir as hes they sacrifi ced prisoners of war, anddrowned i n the Danube cocks and litt le children . Provis ionsfai led

,and Svia toslaf s tole out one s tormy n ight wi th canoes

manned by 2000 warriors , rowed round the Greek fleet, col lectedmi l le t and corn i n the nei hhoring vil lages , and, fal l ing sudden lyon the Greeks, re-enteregthe town Victorious ly. Zimisces thentook measures to prevent any boat from getting out. This epics iege was s ignal ized by some s t range combats. One of thebraves t of the Rus sian chiefs was s lain by Apemas , a baptizedArab

, son of an Emi r of Crete, .and himsel f one of the guards ofZimisces .

Sviatoslaf resolved to make one las t effort, and issued fromthe town wi th al l his forces . Before the battle Zimisces proposedto Sviatoslaf to te rminate the war by a duel between themselves .

I t was the barbarian who refused : I know be tter than myenemy what I have to do,

”said Sviatoslaf. If he is weary of

l i fe,there are a thousandmeans by which he can end his days .

”

This battle was as obs tinate and bloody as the former. Sviatoslafcame near being s lain by A pemas . A t l as t the Russ ians gaveway, leaving on the battlefield, says Leo the Deacon, x5,goo deadand shields . The surv ivors retired into the town . Th

were forced to treat. Zimisces al lowed them to ret ire from 1337.ga ria

,and they swore by ”Perun and Volos s neveragain to invade

the empire, but to heip to defend i t agains t al l enemies. I f theybroke thei r vows,migh t they “become as yellowas gold, and peris hby thei r own arms . Nes tor gives us the text of th is conven tion,which was really a capi tu lat ion, and confirms the accoun t of theC reek his torians rather than his own. These re late thatZimiscessent depu ties to the Patzinaks to beg them to gran t a free passageto the remnant of the Rus s ian army. I t is ce rtai n that the barbariaas awaited the Russ ians at the Cataracts , orporog: of the Dnieper. They ki l led Sviatoslaf, cut off his head, and his sku l l wasu sed by thei r Pr ince Kouria as a drinking-cup. Sviatoslaf was , ins pite of his Slav name, the very type of a Varangian prince ofthe intrepid, wily, and ambi tiou s Northmen . Nes tor boas ts hisgood faith . When he wished tomake waron a people, he sent towarn them. I march agains t you,

” he said .

After the su rrender of Doros tol, he had an interviewwi th hisenemy Zimisces . Lea the Deacon profits by the occas ion togive us his portrai t. The Emperor be ing on horseback by theshore, Sviatoslat approached him by boat, handling the oar l ikehis companions . H e was of middle height

, but ve ry robus t hehad a wide ches t, a th ick neck, blue eyes, th ick eyebrows, a datnose, long mus taches , a thin beard, and a tu ft of hair on hisshaven head as a mark of his nobi l ity. He wore a gold ring in

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‘3HIS TOR Y ar Rwy .

CHAPTER V.

THE cwvss AN D CHAR LEMAGNE orTH E R USS IA N S : SA INT VLAD IMIRA N D IAROSLAF THE OKRAT 972-1 054.

Vladinfir‘597

b tors—Convers ion of the R uss ians—Iaros laf the Great ( 101 6

1 054 nion of R uss ia- Spiendorof Kicf—Varangian~Rnssian society at

the time of Iaroslaf—Progress of Chris tianity—Social, political, literary,and artis tic results .

vmnmm (972-1 0 15) —CONVERS ION orTHE RUSS iAN S.

T HE Slav tribes owe the ir organ izat ion to a twofold conques ta mi l itary conques t which came from the North, and an eccles iast ical conques t which came from the Sou th . The Varangianssent them chiefs of war, who welded thei r scattered tribesi nto a nation ; the Byzantines sent miss ionaries, who un i ted theSlavs among themselves and to their civilized neighbors by thebonds of a common rel igion .

The man des t ined to conclude the work of propagandism begun by Olga did not at first seemfi tted for th is great task . Vladimir, l ike Clovis, was at first nothing bu t a barbarian—wi ly,voluptuous

,and bloody. Only while Clovis after his baptism 15

not perceptibly better than he was before, and becomes theas sas s i n of his royal Frank ish relations , the Russ i an annal is tseems to wish to es tabl ish a contras t be tween the l ife led byVladimi r prior to his convers ion and the l ife he led after it.Sviatoslaf left three sons : Iaropolk at Kief, Oleg ru le r of theDrevlians, Vladimi r a t Novgorod. I n the civi l wars whichfollowed, and which recal l the bloody Merovingian anarchy, I aropolk s lew Oleg, and i n his tu rn died by the hand of Vladimi r.He fel l i n love wi th R ogneda, Iaropolk

’s betrothed, and demand

ed her inmarri age from the Varangian R ogvolod, who ruled overPolotsk . The princess answered, th at she wou ld never marrythe son of a s lave, in al lu s ion to Vladimi r

’s mothe r having been

a servant, though he himself had always been treated by hisfathe r as his brother’s equal . Maddened by this i nsu l t, Vladimirsacked Polotsk, ki l led R ogvolod and his two sons, and forced Rogneda tomarry him. After the murder of IarOpolk, Vladimi r alsotook the wife whom Iaropolk had left m dfl le, a beau ti fu l Greeknun,captured in anexpeditionagains t Byzantium. These two wo

HIS TOR Y OFRUS S IA . 59

men he had deprived, one of her husband, the otherof her fatherand brothers. He had, bes ides, a Bohemian and a Bu lgarianwife, and another, allof whom bore him sons. Finally th is hastard

,this son of a s lave,

” was so abandoned in his profligacy,that he kept 3cc concubines at Vychegorod, 3000 at Bie

'

lgorod,near Kief

,and zoo at Berestof. Lus ting no less after warand

plunder, he reconquered Red Russ ia from the Poles, quel led arevol t of the Viatitches and R adimitches, and exacted tribu tefrom the Li thu anian Iatvaguians, and Livon ian tribes of Lettsor Finns.The sou l of the sensual and passionate barbarian was troue

bled,notwi ths tanding, by religious aspirations . A t first he

turned to the Slav gods, and his reign was i naugu rated by a newgrowth of paganism. On the h igh sandy cl iffs of Kief, whichtower above the Dnieper, he erected idols ; among them one ofPerun, wi th a head of s i lver and a heard of gold. Two Varanogians

,fathe r and son, both Chris tians, were s tabbed at the fee t

of Perun. But the day of the ancien t gods was pass ed ;Vladimir was undergoing the re l igious cris is in which al l Rus s ialabored. He fe l t other fai ths were necessary to him; ao, ao~cording to the tes timony of Nes tor, he took i t in to his head, likethe Japanese of to-day, to ins t i tu te a search after the bes t teligion. His ambas sadors forthwi th vis i ted Mussulmans , Jews,and Cathol ics : the first represented by the Bu lgarians of theVolga, the second probably by the Khazars or the Jewis h Kharai tes, the th ird by the Poles and Germans . Vladimi r decl inedIslamisrn, which prescribed circumcis ion and forbade the wine

,

which was dear to the Russ ians ;” Judaism,

whose discipleswandered through the earth ; and Cathol icism,

whose cerenionies appeared wanting in magnificence. The depu ties thathe sent to Cons tantinople, on the contrary, retu rned awe

s tricken. The splendors of Sain t Sophia, the bri l l ian cy of thesacerdotal ves tments , the magnifi cence of the ceremonies ,heigh tened by the presence of the Emperor and his Cou rt, thepatriarch and the numerous clergy, the incense, the re l igioussongs , had powerfu l ly appealed to the imaginat ion of the barbarians. One final argumen t triumphed over the scruples ofVladimir. “ If the Greek rel igion had not been the bes t, our

grandmother Olga, the wises t of mortals , wou ld not aveadopted it,

”sa id the boyards. The proud Vladimi r did not ih

tend to beg for baptism at the hands of the Greeks—he wou ldconqu er it by his own arms, and ravish i t l ike a prey. He de~scended into the Taurid and bes ieged Cherson, the las t ci ty ofthis region that remained subject to the Emperors . A certainAnas tas ius, pos s ibly from re ligious motives, betrayed his country. R endered prouder than ever by th is importan t conquest,

5° HIS TOR y OF R USS IA .

Vl adimi r sen t an embas sy to the Greek Emperors Basil andCons tantine, denianding the i r s ister Anne in marriage, and

threaten ing, i n case of refusal , to march on Cons tan tinople; I twas not the fi rs t time the barbarians had made this proposal tothe Greek Caesars, and Cons tant ine Porphyrogeni tus h imse lfteaches his succes sors how to ge t rid of thes e inconven ient demands . But on this occas ion the Emperors, who were occupiedwi th revol ts i n the interior, though t themse lves driven to consen t, on condit ion that Vladimi r was bapt ized . I t was i n Cher~son that the Rus s ian prince rece ived baptism, and celebratedhis marriage wi th the hei ress of the Empe rors of Rome . T he

pries ts he brough t to Kief were his capt ives ; the sacred ornaments , the holy rel ics wi th which he en riched and sanctified hiscapi tal

,were his booty. When he re tu rned to Kief i t was as an

Apos tle (Isaposfolos), but as an armed Apos tle that he cate~ch ized his peopl e . The idols we re pul led down amid the tearsand fright of the people . Peru n was flogged and thrown in tothe Dnieper. The s ti l l show on the side of the Kievan cliffsthe rock cal led he Devil ’s Leap ; and fu rther away, thethe place where Peru n was thrown up by the waters on theshore . The people i ns tan tly rushed to worship him, but thesoldiers of Vladimi r cas t him back in to the rive r. Then, byVladimi r’s order, al l the Kievans , men and women , mas ters and

s laves, old people and l i ttle children , plunged naked in to theconsecrated wate rs of the old pagan stream,

while the Greekpries ts s tanding on the bank wi th Vladimi r read the baptismalservice. Afte r a s tu rdy res is tance, the N ovgorodians were inl ike manner forced to hu rl Peru n into the Volkhofi

,and enter i t

themse lves .

We have already seen that the Russ ians had not los t allrecol lections of the ir ancien t gods , and that nature was s ti l l thehome of a wbele world of de i ties . A long t ime had to pas sbefore Christ iani ty cou ld pene trate in to the i r hearts and cu s

toms. M . Eouslaef as sures us that, even in the 1 2 th cen tu ry,Chris tian ri tes we re only practised by the higher cl as ses . The

peasants kept t hei r old pagan ceremonies , and con ti nued tocontract the i r marriages

“ around the bush of broom.

” Theypreserved even longer thei r fai th i n magicians and sorcerers,who were often of more au thori ty than the pries ts . Vladimi r, atany rate, wished to prepa re the trans formation . I t does notappear th at he persecu ted the idolaters, but he occupied himse lf i n adorning the churches of his capital, wh ich he had shomof its idols . Ou the spot where Perun stood he bu i l t the chu rchof S aint Bas il, the Greek name which he had taken at his baptism. Ou the place where the two Varan ianmartyrs had beensl ain by his orders he raised the church theM fim or the

HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA . a

Dime, embel l ished and ornamented with Greek inscriptions byartis ts who came from the Sou th . He founded schools, wherehe 3 s tudied the holy books t rans lated into Slavonic, but he wasoh iged to compe l the attendance of the children, whose paren ts,convinced that writ ingwas a dangerous kind of magic, shed tearsof despa i r. Nes tor cannot suffi ciently praise the reformation ofVladimi r after his baptism. He was fai thfu l to his Greek wife,he no longer loved war

,he dis tribu ted his revenues to the

chu rches and to the poor,and, i n spite of the increase of crime,

hes i ta ted to inflict capita l puhishment. I fear to s in,” he re

plied to his council lors . I t was the bishops who had to recal lto him the fact that criminals mus t be chas tised, though withdiscretion, and that the coun try mus t not be left a prey to thePatzinaks . Vladimi r, who remi nded u s formerly of a Northmanof the type of Robert the Devi l, sudden ly becomes the goodKing Robert of Russ i a.His wars with the Pa tzinaks are recorded by Nes tor wi th al l

kinds of episodes borrowed from the epic poe try. There is theRuss ian champion who tears i n pieces the furious bu l l, or s tiflesa Patzinak gian t i n his arms ; there are the inhabitants of Bielgorod, who, having been reduced to famine by the barbarians,le t down in to we lls two l arge caldrons , one fu l l of hydrome l andthe other of meal

,tomake the Patzinak s bel ieve these were nat

u ral productions of the soi l . We see in the popu l ar songs ofwhat a marvel lous cycl e of legends Vladimi r has become thecentre ;but i n these éy/ina s he is neither Vladimi r, the Bapt is t,nor the Saint Vladimi r of the orthodox Chu rch , but a solarhero, succes sor of the divini ties whom be des troyed. To thepeople, s ti l l pagans at heart, Vladimi r is always the BeautifulS un of Kief.

m om s THE GREAT (rozG—rog4)—rmrou or R U SSIA—SPLENDOR owmar.

Vladimi r died in ror5, leaving a large number of he irs byhis numerou s wives . The part it ion that he made between themof his s tates te l ls u s what was the exten t of Rus s i a at that epoch .

To Iaroslat he gave Novgorod to Isiaslaf, sonof R ogneda, andgrandson of the Varangian R ogvolod, Polotsk to Boris, R ostofto Gleb, Mourom (the se two principal i ties were in the Fi nncount to Sviatoslat

’

,the Drevlians ; to Vsevolod, Vladimir

i n Vol yh ia ; to M stislaf, Tmoutorakan, the T amatarchia of theGreeks ; heal ly, to his nephew SviatOpolk, the sonof his brotherand vict im IarOpolk, the principal ity of Tourof, in the countryof M ins k

,founded by a Varangian named Tour, who did not be

6g HIS TOR Y OF R USSIA

long to the “blood of princes any more than Askold and Dir.The his tory of Vladimi r’s successors recal ls that of the he irs ofClovis. The murder of the sons of Clodomir is paral le led bythe assass inat ion of Boris and Gleb, sons of [saposloloa by theorder of Sviatopolk, who u s u rped the throne of Kief. His two

victims were canon ized, and henceforth became inseparable. andare

,as i t were , the Dioscu ri of or thodoxy. The prince of the

Drevlians peris hed by the same hand. Iaroslaf resolved toavenge his brothers and to save h imse lf. A t th is momen t, however, he had al ienated his N ovgorodian subjects, having en

ticed-the principal citizens i n to his cas t le, and then treacherously s l ain them. When he learn t the crimes of Sviatopolk, hetrembled fot h ia own l ife, and th rew h imself on the generos i tyof those he had so cruel ly ou traged. Hewept for his s ins before them,

and besought thei r help. Prince ,” replied the

Novgorodians , with one voice, you have des tro cd ourbre thren, but we are ready to fight for you .

” After a loody war, in

which Boleslas the Brave , king of Poland took part, the usu rpe rfled, and died mis erab lyin exi le. Iaroslaf had s till to defendh imself aga ins t the Prince of Polotsk and M stislaf of Tmouterakan . The latter had acqu ired great fame from his warswi th the Khazars, whom, wi th the aid of the Greek Emperor

,

Bas i l I I ., he finally ann ihi lated, and wi th the Tcherkess, whosech ief, a gian t named R hededia, he s lew in s ingle combat. A t

l as t, Iaroslaf remained the sole mas ter of Russ ia, and reignedglorious ly at Kief. He recal l s Charles the Great by some successful wars, but part icul arly by his code of laws, his tas te forbu ilding, and his love of le tters i n a barbarous age . H e owespart of his repu tation to the anarchy which fol lowed his death,and which cau sed his re ign to be regretted as the cl imax ofKievian greatness.I n Poland Iaroslaf revenged on the son of Boleslas the

Brave the invas ions of his fa ther, and took fromhim the townsof Red Russ ia. He fought a bloody battl e wi th the Patzinaksunder the walls of Kief

,and in the ir flight

‘

part of the vanquished barbarians were drowned in crossing the rivers . I t wasas fatal a blow to the Patzinaks as that s truck by Sviatoslaf atthe Khazars : they never recovered it. But i n the s ame manneras the defeat of the Khazars Opened the way to the Patzinaks

, the ru in of the Patzinaks opened the way to the Polovtsi.The s teppes of the Donwere inces s antly filled by new hordesfromAs ia. Iaroslaf also fough t aga ins t the Finnish and Lithuanian tribes. I n the coun try of the Tchouds he founded Iourief(Saint George) on the Embach, near the Peipus (the Germanscal led i t Dorpat) ; in the countr

figtf

iuthe Merians, he founded

laros lavlon the Upper Volga. his reign was marked

Hmmm' or km 53

iv

ya new warwi th Greece, brough t on bymercantile dis pu tes.is son Vladimi r, leader of the expedi tion, rejected proudly thepropos itions of the Emperor Cons tantine M onomachus. Anava l ba tt le was fought in the Bos phorus ;Greek fire and thetempes ts of the Black Sea dis persed the Russ ian armamen t.P art of the army, a body of 8000 men, which was retreatin

into Ru ssia by land, was attacked and exterminated b a Greeforce : 800 pris oners were sen t to Cons tan tinop wle, ere the ireyes were pu t ou t. Notwi ths tanding the bonds of rel igion whichhad been riveted between the Byzantines and the i r neophyteson the Dnieper, the Russ ians were always dreaded by Cons tantinOple. An inscription h idden -ia the boot of one of the equestrian s tatues of Byzantium announced that the day would comewhen the capital of the empire wou l d fall a prey to the men ofthe North . The decay of Kievian Russ ia after the death ofIaroslaf, adjou rned or nullified the fu lfilment of th is prophecy.

The legis l ation of the Russ ian Charlemagne 1s comprised 1 11the Code enti t led R omrkai

'

a P ravda the R ussian nigh t or vma .

This Code s trange ly recal ls that of Scandinavia. I t consecratesprivate revenge

,and the pu rsu i t of an assass i n by all the rela

tiyes of the dead ; i t fixes the wergdd for differen t crimes, a s

wel l as the fine paid into the royal treasury i t al lows the jud icial duel ; the ordeal by red-hot i ron and boi l ing water ; theoa th corroborated by those of the ( ampurgalorer, it also es tablished by the s ide of the judges nominated by the Prince, a ju ryof twelve ci t izens . In the “ R ousska

'

ia Pravda,” there 13 not,

properly speak ing, any criminal law. Capital pun ishment, deathby refinements of cruel ty

,corporal chas t isemen t, tor tu re to

wring out confes s ions,even a publ ic prison , were al l unknown.

These are Scandinavian and German principles in al l the irpu rity. A t th is period Russ ia had almos t the same laws as theWes t.

Iaroslaf occupied a gloriou s place among the princes of histime . H is s ister Mary was married to Cas imir, kin

fiof Poland ;

his daughters also became the wives of kings l izabet h, ofH arold the Brave, king of Norway ; Anne, of H en ry I ., king ofFrance ; Anas tasia, of Andrew I .,

k ing of Hungary. Of hissons, Vlad imir, the eldes t, is said to have married Githa, daughterof H arold, king of England ; Isiaslaf, a daugh ter of M icislasIL, king of Poland ;Vseslaf, a Greek princes s, daughter ofCons tan tine Monomachus ;Viatcheslaf and Igor, two Germanprincess es . Iaroslaf gave an asylum to the proscribed princes ,Sain t Olaf, king of N orway, and his two sons a prince of

Sweden ; Edwin and Edward, sons of Edmu nd Irons ide, king oi

England, expel led from the ir country by Knut the Great. The

Varangian dynas ty was thus mingled wi th the families of the

54 3 1 371019? or RUSSIA .

Christian princes, and we may say of the Russia of the n thcentu ry, what we can no longer say of the Russ ia of the 1 6th

cen tu ry, that she was a European State.To Kief was des t ined the lot of Anchen, the capi tal of

Charles the Great, which, glorious i n his l ife, after his death fe llin to decay. Under Iaroslaf, kief reached the highes t pinnacleof splendor. He wished to make his capital the rival of Cons tantinOple l ike Byzantium, she had her ca thedral and herGolden Gate . The Grand Prince also founded the monas teryof Sain t Irene, of wh ich only a few ru ins now remain, and thoseof Sai n t George and the Catacombs, the latter made i l lus triousby the virtues of its first superiors , Sain t Theodos ius and Sain tAntony. He repai red the church of the Dime, and su rroundedthe ci ty wi th ramparts . The popu lat ion began to increas e

,and

the lower town to grow at the fee t of the upper. Kief, s i tuatedon the Dnieper, the great road to Byzantium, seemed to be partof Greece . Adamof Bremen cal ls heramula mepm

’

Comtarm'

no

polz‘

tam'

ct clarissimum dea ls Gra de , She was the rendezvousof the merchants fromHolland, Hungary, Germany, and Scandinavia, who l ived in separate quarters of the town . She hadeight markets , and the Dniepe r was cons tantly covered withme rchant-sh ips. Iaroslaf had not enough Greek artis ts to dec~orate al l the churches, nor enough pries ts to se rve them, forKief was at that t ime the ci ty of 400 chu rches ,

”so much ado

mired by the writers of the Wes t. What she was then we maypart ly real ize by see ing what she is s ti ll a t ce rta i n seasons ofthe year. The Monas te ry of the Catacombs, with the . i ncorruptible bodies of its asce tics and thaumaturges, some of whombricked themselves up whi le l ivi ng, i n the ce l l which was to bethe irsepu l chre, draws annually, and especial ly at the A ssumpt ion, pi lgrims. Sain t Sophia was the pride of Kief themos aics of the time of Iaroslaf s till exis t, and the travel ler mayadmi re on the indes tructible wal l the colossal image of theMother of God, the Las t Suppe r, wi th a double appari tion ofChris t, presenting to six of His disciples His body, and to six

others H is blood,the images of Sain ts and Doctors , the Angel

of the Annunciat ion of the Virgin. The frescoes which havebeen prese rved or carefu l ly res tored are s ti l l numerous, andeverywhere cover the pil lars, the wal ls, and the vau lts flooredwi th gold. The inscriptions are not in Slavon ic, bu t in Greek.Iaroslat did not forge t Novgorod, his first res idence, and therehe bu i l t another Sai nt Sophia, one of the mos t precious monuments of the Russ ian pas t. Like Charles the Great, he set upschools. Vladimir had founded one at Kief Iaroslaf ins t itu tedthat of Novgorod for 00 boys . He sen t for Greek s ingers fromByzantium

,who taug t the Russ ian clergy. Coins were s truck

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66 H IS TOR Y OF RUSS IA .

drouymmiéi. I t was this that prevented Sviatoslaf from listeningto the exhortations of Olga ;he said that his drouj ina woul

mock him it he became a Chris t ian .The adminis t ration of the Varangian princes was very elemen

tary. Le t us see what the Arab wr1 ter Ibn-Dos t says of the waythey dis tribu ted jus t ice When a Ru s s ian has a grievancewi th another, he summons him before the t ribunal of the prince ,where both presen t themse lves . When the prince has givensentence, his orders are execu ted if both parties are displeasedby the judgment, the affair mu s t be decided b y arms . I-Ie

whose sword cu ts sharpe s t gains his cau se. A t the moment ofthe combat the rel ations of the two adversaries appear armed,and su rround the space shu t off . The combatan ts then cometo blows, and the victor may impos e any conditions he pleases .

”

After jus tice, the mos t importan t of the prince ly functionswas the collection of the tribu tes . The amount was fixed by theprince h imsel f. Oleg imposed on the Drevlians a tax of amarte n’s skin for eve ry hou se . The rais ing of t axes was alwaysvery arbitrary. Nes tor’s accoun t of the death of Igor is a l ivelypictu re of the poli tical cus toms of the t ime ;we might imag ineou rs elves reading a page of Gregory of Tou rs abou t the sons ofClovis, for example the expedit ion of Thierry inArvernia. In

the year 945 the drouj ifl a of Igor s aid to him,

‘The men ofSveneld are richly provided wi th weapons and garments , wh ilewe go naked ;lead u s, prince, to collect the tribu te, so that thouand we may become rich .

’ Igor consen ted,and conducted them

to the Drevlians to raise the tribu te . He i ncreased the firstimpos ts , and did them violence, he and his men after havingtaken allhe wanted, he re tu rned to his city. While on the roadhe bethought h imself and s aid to his drouj ma . Go. on wi th thetribu te ; I wi l l go back to try and get some more out of them.

’

Leaving the greater part of his men to go on thei r way, he returned wi th only a few, to the end that he might i ncrease hisriches . The Drevlians, when they learn t that Igor wastu rni ng, hel d counci l with Mal their prince . ‘When the wolfenters the sheepfold he s l ays the whole flock, if the shepherddoes not s lay him. Thus i t is with us and Igor ;i f we do notdes troy him,

we are los t. ’ Then they s en t depu ties and said tohim, Why dos t thou come anew unto u s ? H as t thou not collected al l the tribu te But Igor would not hear them, so theDrevlians came out of the town of Korosthenes, and s lew Igorand his men, for they were but a few.

”

Fix the governmen t and defence of the country the pri nce

es tab ished the chief of his droufi nm’

é i in different towns, sup

ported by adequate forces . Thu s Rurik dis t ributed the townsof his appanage ;he gave to one of his men Polotsk, to another

HIS TOR Y OF R U SS IA . 67R os tof, to a third Bielozersk . A principal i ty was in some sortdivided i nto fiefs, but the fiefs were only temporary, and alwaysrevokable. For the defence of the front iers new towns we 1 ebu il t

, where native soldie rs kept watch.Soci al condit ions from the 9th to the 1 2 th cen tu ry were as

unequa l as i n the Wes t. The drouj z’

rza of the prince, whichspeedily absorbed al l the Slav and Firm ch iefs, cons tituted anaris tocracy. Stil l we mus t dis tingu ish in i t those who were onlys imple guards or gridi (gira

’z'

rz among the Scandinavians), themouger or men (air i n La t in, baron i n French), and thewho were the mos t i l lus trious of al l . The freemen of the R uss ian soilwere the people or [rhudzl The gosti or merchantswere not at th is period a clas s apart ;i t was i n fact the warriorsor the princes who pu rsued commerce wi th arms in the ir hands .Oleg was disgu ised as a merch ant when he su rprised Kief ands lew Askold and Dir ;the Byzantines mis t rus ted these terriblegues ts, and as s igned them a separate quarter, close ly watched,of Constantinople.The rural popu lat ion

,on whom the weight of the growing

Sta te was beginning to res t, was al ready less free than i n prim1t ive times . The peas an t was called sw ab (perhaps derived fromm erdziel, to s t ink), or mougié , insu l ting diminu t ive ofmouge, man.Later he became the C/m

'

m’

an par exce l lence, krertz’

am'

ne.

Be low the peas ant, whos e s i tuation recal ls that of the Romancolorms, were the s l aves properly so cal led, rabi or klmlopy . Thes l ave migh t have been taken in war, he ht i n a marke t, born i nthe house of his mas ter

,or have los t his iberty by the mere fact

of fulfilling certain cfiices, s uch as that of house-s teward. Warwas , howeve r, the principal source of s lave ry. Ibn-Dos t relatesthat the Russ ians, when they marched agains t another people,did not depart wi thou t having des troyed everything ;they ca rriedoff the women

,and reduced the men to s lavery. They main

tained a great s lave-trade wi th foreign nations. FromRus s ia,”

s aid Svia toslaf, the conqueror of Bulgana, will be broughtskins, wax, honey, and slaw .

”

PROGRESS OF CHR ISTIAN ITY—SOCIAL, POLIT ICA L, LITERARY, AN D

A RT IST IC R ESU LTS .

Rus s i a had become Chris tian : i t is the ch ief event i n herprimi t ive his tory. An importan t fact is that her Chris ti an i tywas rece ived not from Rome, l ike that of the Poles and otherWes te rn Slavs, but from Cons tantinople. Although the separa~t ion between the Chu rches of the Eas t and Wes t was not ye tfu l ly consummated, itwas evident th at Russ ia wou ld be engaged

53 1 1 1 3roleit or R USS IA .

in wha t the La tins called the sch ism. I t is usua lly cons ideredin the Wes t that th is fact exerc is ed an evil influence on Russ ia.

N ow let a s see the opinion of a Russ ian his torian, M . BestoujefR ioumine, on the subject. “What is no less importan t is tha tChristian i ty came to na from Byzantium,

where the Church pu tforth no pre tens ions of govern ing the Sta te, a circumstance whichprese rved u s from s truggl es be twee n the secu l ar, a nat iona l, andthe spi ri tual, a foreign power. Excluded from the rel igiousuni ty of the Romano—Germanic world, we have perhaps gainedmore than we have los t. The Roman Church made her appearance with Ge rman mis s ionaries i n Slavonic lands and if shedid not everywhere bri ng with he r materia l se rvi tude, she at le as ti ntroduced an intel lectu al slave ry by forcing men to support fore iga in teres ts , by bringi ng among them foreign e lements, and byes tabl ish ing in al l parts a s ha rp divis ion between the h igherclasses who wrote and spoke i n Latin, and the lowe r cl as seswho s poke the national tongue and were withou t li terature.”

No doubt an eccles ias tical language wh ich, thanks to Cyriland Methodius

,mingled wi th the national langu age, and be came

intel ligible to al l class es of soc iety ;a purely nat ional Church,which was s ubject to no foreign sway ;the absolu te i ndependenceof the civi l power and of national developmen t, were the inest imable advantages th at Byzan tine Chris tian ity brough t i ntoRuss i a. But if the Rus s ian State was free from all obligationsto Rome, she had nothing to hOpe for from her. She cou ld notreckon i n her days of pe ril on the he lp that Spain rece ived whenshe grappled wi th the Moors ; Germany

‘

in hercrus ades againstthe Slavs and Finns ; H ungary in her n ational war wi th t heTu rks . Separa ted from the Wes t by difi erence of fa i th, Ru ss iai n the t ime of the Mongols , like Greece at the epoch of the Ottoman invas ion , s aw no Europe arming in her defence.Herprinces were ne ithe r laid under the pontifi cal interdicts,

like Robert of France,nor reduced to implore pardon at the feet

of a Gregory VIL, l ike H enry IV. of Germany ; humiliat ionsalways fol lowed b a swif t revenge, as on the day when Barbarossa expelledA exander

_III. from I taly, and Philip the Hand

some caus ed Bon iface to be arres ted in Anagn i. Humi l iationss ti l lmore crue l awaited the Russ i ans at the court of the Mongols.Another mis fortune attending the entrance of the Russ ians i ntothe Greek Church is

,t hat they found themselves separated by

rel igion from the races to whom they were bound by a commonorigi n, and who spoke almos t their own tongue . I t was the

difference of rel igionwhich inflamed thei r long rivalry with thePoles, and which at presen t deprives them of much influenceover pa rt of the Slavs. This same difference of rel igiondelayed(or them the benefits of civiliza tion result ing from the Renais

HIS TOR Y OF R058 1 4 . 69

sance of the West, but i t spared them the terrible cris is of thewars of the Reformat ion.

Oriental Chris tian i ty, wi th the Byzantine civi lization that wasins eparable from it, produced i n t ime a cons iderable t rans formation i n Russ ia. The first efi

'

ect of Chris t ian ity was to reformsocie ty, and draw close r fami ly t ies . I t condemned polygamy,and forbade equal divi s ions be tween the children of a s lave andthose of the l awfu l wife . Socie ty res is ted this new princi le forsome time. Sain t Vladimi r, even after his convers ion, d

livided

his possess ions equally among the children the Chu rch regardedas natu ral and those she cons idered legitimate. In the longrun Chris tiani ty prevai led, and by the aboli tion of polygamy theRus s ian fami ly ceased to be As iat ic, and became Eu ropean .Chris ti ani ty prescribed new vi rtu es, and gave the ancien t

barbaric vi rtues of hospital i ty and benevolence a more elevatedcharacter.Vladimi r Monomachus charged his ch i ldren to rece ive s tran

gers hospitably, because, says he, they have i t in their power togive oi1 a good or evilrepu tat ion . The hospi tal i ty of primi t ivepe0p es may often be explained b the ir need of merchants andfore igners . Pagan Slavs were on y obl iged to hel p those of thes ame as sociation ;warriors , the members of the same droaiina ;peas ants, those of the same commune; merchants or art is ans ,those of the same arid . Christi an i ty enjoined benevolence toall the world, wi thou t hepe of reward i n this l ife. I t renderedhonorable,weakness, poverty, manual l abor. I f it prescribedexcess ive humi l i ty, i t was u sefu l at leas t as a reaction agains t thebru tal i ty of overween ing pride. Between these two societies,aris tocratic and re l igious, which res t on oppos i te and equal lyexaggerated principles, there would one day be room for lay andcivi l societ

f

-

y.

The in uence of Chris t ian principles was rather s low amongthese exci table and arden t natu res, but at l as t we see in Rus sia,as in the Wes t, princes ab

'

ure thei r pride and seek the peace ofthe clois ter, l ike the good ing Robert, or Sain t Hen ry. I n theend i t became an es tab l ished cus tomwi th the Russ ian sovereignsthat, on the approach of death, they shou ld be tonsured, changethei r worldly for a monkis h name

,and so die i n the garb of one

of the re l igious orders .

From a pol it ica l poin t of view,the influence of Byzantine

Chris tianity was -bound in the long run to cause a completerevolu t ion . For what was a Russ ian prince, after all, bu t thehead of a band

, su rrounded by the men of his drouj z’

na, and in a

sense a fore igner to the l and he ovemed and onwh i ch he leviedtribu te Properly speaking, a

'

us sian pri nce had no subjects .

1 ° HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

The natives might always expe l him—his drou/mm'

bj werealways free to forsake him.

The pri nces of Kiet we re no more sovere igns i n the modemor Roman sense of the term, than Merwig or Clodowig the long!haired. Bu t the pries ts who came from Cons tan ti nople broughtwith them an ideal of government ; i n a li tt l e while i t was thatof the Ru s s ians who en tered the ranks of the clergy. ThisGreek ideal was the Emperor, the Thar of Constantinople, he i rof Augus tus and Cons tantine the Great, Vicar of God upon earth,the typica l monarch on whom t he eyes of the ba rbarians of Gau las well as those of Scythia were fixed. He was a s ove re ign inthe fulles t

‘

sense of the word, as , by a lega l fiction, the people bythe L ax c z

'

a was supposed to have yielded its powe r to theirnpcrator. He had subjec ts , and subjects only. Alone he madethe law he was the law. He had ne ither drouj inmiéz

'

nor cuirum

'

om' that he pl aced in such and such a town, but an hos t ofmovable function aries, the inviolate Roman h ierarchy, by meansof whom his al l-powerfu l wi ll penetrated to the remotes t parts ofhis dominions. He was not the leader of a band of exactingsoldiers , free to qu i t his se rvice for tha t of another

, bu t mas te rof a s tanding army, to gua rd both frontie rs and capi tal . He didnot con s ider his s tates as a patrimony to be divided be tween his?ch i ldren, but transmi tted to his successor the Roman Empire i nits in tegri ty. He i nheri ted his power, not only from his people,but fromGod. H is imperial ornaments had, l ike his person , asacred characte r : and whenever the barbarian kings demandedone of them a t Constantmople, whether i t was a crown enrichedwith prec iou s s tones, the pu rple mantle, the sceptre or the brad:s

qu iz : (leggings), they were answered, that when God gave theEmpire to Constantmople, He sen t these vestmen ts by a holyangel ; that they were not the work of man, and that they werelaid on the al tar, and only worn, even by the Emperor, on

solemn occas ions. Leo the Khazar was s aid to have been smi tten wi th a fatal ulcer for having pu t on the crown wi thou t permis s ion of the patriarch .

A n empire one and indivis ible, resting on a s tanding army,a hierarchy of functionaries , a na tiona l clergy, and a body of

°

ur

isconsults, -such was the‘

R oman Empire, and such i t revive in

the monarchies of the ryth cen tu ry. This was the conception ofthe State, u nknown to both Slavs and Varangians , that the Greekpries ts brough t to Russia. For a long wh ile the real i ty answeredl it tle to the ideal ; the princes continued in their wi l ls to div idethe i r sold iers and the ir lands among their children ;but the ideadid not perish, and if i t was never real ized i n Kievian Russ ia, i tfound a more propitious soi l i n Muscovite Russ ia. Legis l ationlikewise fel t the influence of Chris t ianity. Theft, murder, and

1973701?Y 017R ussia . 7

as sas s ina tion were not looked upon by the Church as privateoffence s for wh ich the aggrieved persons cou ld take reprtsals oraccept a wergzla’. They were crimes to be punished by humanjus tice in the name of God.For private revenge Byzantine influence subs t i tu ted a publ ic

penalty ; for the hue it subs ti tu ted corporal punishment, repugnant to the free barbarian, and to the in s tinct ive sentiment ofhuman digni ty. Imprisonment, convict labor, flogging

,torture,

mu t i lation, death i tse l f, i nfl icted by more or less cruel means ;such was the penal code of the Byzant ines .

The Greek bishops of the time of S t. Vladimi r had wishedthat brigands should be put to death, bu t the cus tom was , andlong remained, agains t it. Vladimi r, afte r having employed this

means of repress ion, returned to the sys tem of the wareh bes ides helped to fill the treasu ry. The Byzantine

mode of procedure l ikewise rejected the judicial duel , the judgmen t of God and the rompergatorerlong defended abi t. But,as in Gau l Roman law exis ted for Church ofiicers partnat ives

, s ide by s ide wi th the Frank or Burgundian law, so inRu ss i a the Byza nt ine codes of Jus t inian and Bas i l the Macedon ian,were es tabl ished at the s ide of the Scandinavian code of Iaroslat.During many cen turies the two sys tems of legis lat ion exis ted

toge ther,each being s lightly influenced by the othe r, to the

t ime when they were mingled i n a new code, the Oulojenie ofIvan the Great, and the Soudebnik of Ivan the Te rrible .The Byzantine l iteratu re which found its way i nto Ru ss i a

cons is ted not only of the s acred books , but also of the Fathersof the Church, among whom we may reckon some wri ters ofthe first order, l ike Saint Bas i l and Sain t John Chrysos toml ives of the s ain ts, the inexhaus t ible sou rce of new poe try ;chronicles des tined to se rve as models to the Russ ian annal is ts ;philosophical and scientific books ; even romances such as

Barlaam and Josaphat,’ Salomon and Kitovras ,

’&c. Though

th is l iterature was partly the fru i t of Byzantine decay, we mayperce ive how i t implanted fresh ideas i n the mind of a youngnation, and wou ld largely influence the moral l ife of the ind ividual

, and publ ic and fami ly l ife. We s hall see up to what pointRuss i an socie ty of the M iddle Ages was model led on the examples afforded by this l i teratu re . Finally, i tmus t not be forgotte nthat Chris tihnity brough t mus i c i n its t rain to a people whosemus ic was h ighly primi t ive, and arch itecture to a people who hadabsolu te ly none . It was she who, to use a Wes tern express ion,illumina ted the Russ ian cit ies wi thmagnificent chu rches, and her

golden.cupolas towered above

,the ramparts of mud tha t begin

CltleS.

FIS TOR Y OF R USSIA .

CHAPTER VI.

svssm D IVIDED IN TO PR IN CIPA LITIES . SU PR EMACY AND FALLOF KIEF, 1 054

- 1 1 69.

Distribu tion of R us s ia into principalities—U nit in divis ion—The successor!of Iaroslaf the Great—Wars about the ri

itt of headship of the royal

tamimand the throne of Kief—Vladimir onomachas—Wau betweenthe he 1n of VladxmirMouomachus—Fall of I( ief.

DISTR IBUTION OF R U SS IA IN TO ramcrpu tnns—tmm IN

D IVISION .

Tm: period that extends from 1 054, the year of Iaroslaf’s

death, to 1 2 24, the year of the firs t appearance of the Tatars ,or to take the French chronology, from the re ign of Henry I.to the death of Phil ip Augus tus , is one of the mos tconfused and

troubled i n Russ ian h is tory. A s the barbarian cu s tom of divLs 1on continued to prevai l over the Byzantine ideas of pol i t icalun i ty, the national territory was cease less ly parti tioned.The prince ly anarchy of Eas te rn Europe has its paral le l in

the feudal anarchy of the Wes t. M . Pogodine reckons du ringth is period, s ix ty-tou r principal i ties which had an exis tence moreor less prolonged, 293 princes who dispu ted the th rone of Kietand other domains, and eighty-th ree civilwars , in some of whichthe whole country was engaged. There were bes ides fore ignwars to augment this immense heap of his torical facts . Agains tthe Polovtsi alone the chron iclers men tion eighteen campaigns ,while these barbarians made no less than forty-six i nvas ions ofRuss i a.

”

It is imposs ible to fol low the national chron iclers inthe minu te details of their annals ;we wi l l only t reat of theprincipal i ties wh ich las ted some time, and the facts which werethe mos t importa n t.The ancien t names of the Slav tribes have everywhere dis~

appeared,or on ly remai n in the names of some of the towns,

for example that of the Polotchanes i n Polotsk, and that of theSeverians i n Novgorod Severski. The elements of wh ich Russiawas now composed were no longer tribes, but principa l it ies.We hear no more of the Krivitches or the Drevlians, but of the

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74 ills y or R USS IA .

a pri nce of Severski whose exploi ts aga ins t these barbariansformed the s ubject of a sort of dzamon dcga te, the 5071n Igor,or the A x omzt qf Me E xpeditzbn of Igor (Slow opolkou

4, Another principal i ty, whose very ex is tence cons is ted inendles s war agains t the nomads , was the double principal i ty ofR iazan and M ourom. Her principal towns were Riazan

, Mou

rom, Peréiaslavl-R iazanski, s ituated on the Oka, Kolomna atthe junct ion of the Moskowa wi th the Oka, and the Pronsk

_

Ou

the Prona . The Uppe r Don formed its wes tern boundary.This pri ncipal i ty was placed in the very heart of the Mouromiansand M echtcheraks, Finn is h tribes . The repu tation of her ihhabitants, who were reckoned warl ike in character, and roughand bru tal in manners, was no doubt partly the res u lt of themix tu re of the Russ ian race with the ancien t inhabi tants of thecountry, and of their pe rpe tual and bloody s truggle wi th the

nomad tribes .

5. The double principal i ties of S aasa’al, wi th their towns ofSouzdal, R os tof, Iourief

-Polsk i on the Kolocha, Vladimi r on theKliazma, Iaros l avl, and Peréiaslavl-Zaliesski, were s i tu ated onthe Volga and the Oka amongs t the th ickes t of northern fores ts ,and in the middle of the Finnish t ribes of Mouromians , Merians ,Ves ses, and Tcheremis ses . Although pl aced at the fu rthes t extremity of the Rus s ian world, Souzdal exercised an importan tinfluence overit. We shall find her princes now establishinga certai n pol i tical authori ty over Novgorod and the Russ ia ofthe Lakes , the resu l t of a double economic dependence ;nowi nterven ing Victorious ly i n the quarrels of the Ru ss ia of theDneiper. The Souzdalians were rough and warl ike, l ike theRiazanese . Already we can dis tingu ish among these two peoples the characteris tics of a new national i ty. That which dividesthem from the Kievians and the men of Novgorod-Severski, ccwpied l ike themselves in the great warwi th the barbarians , isthe fact that the Rus s ians of the Dnieper somet imes mingledtheir blood with that of their enemies , and became fused wi ththe nomad, essentiallymobile Tu rkish races , whils t the Russ iansof the Oka and the Volga united wi th the Finnish tribes, agricul tu ral and essential ly sedentary. This dis t inction between thetwo foreign e lements that entered the Slav blood

,had doubtless

contribu ted to the difference in the characters of the two

branches of the Russ ian race. From the rxth to the 1 3th century, i n pas s ing from the bas in of the Dneiper to the bas in ofthe Volga, we can already watch the format ion of Great andLi ttle Ru ss ia.6. The principal i ties of Kief, Tchernigof, N ovgorod-S everski,

Riazan, Mourom. and Souzdal, situated on the s ide of the

HIS TORY OR 75

steppe wi th its devastatin hordes, for1ned the fron tier States,the M amie: of Russ i a. T e same 75113, on the north-wes t Oppos i te the Li thuan ians , Letts , and T chouds, fe l l to the principal i tyof P olofsk, which occupied the bas in of the Dwina ; and to therepubl ican principali ties of N ovgorod and P séof on the lakesI lmen and Peipus . To the principa l ity of Polotsk, that ofmm was attached, which lay i n the bas in of the Dnie pe r. The

gos ses sion of Minsk, thanks to its s i tuat ion, was often dispu tedy the Grand Princes of Kief. To Novgorod be longed the

towns of T orjok, Volok-Lamski, Izborsk , and Vel iki-Louki,which were at t imes capi tals of particu lar States .Sou th-eas t Russ i a comprehended—r. Volleym

'

a i n the fans haped dis tribu t ion of rivers formed by the Pripe t and its tributaries , wi th Vladimir-ih-Volh i a

, Lou tsk, Tourof, Bres t, andeven Lubl in, which is ce rtain y Pol ish . 2 . Galh

'

a'

a proper, orRed Ru ss i a, i n the basin of the S an, the Dnies ter, and thePripe t, whose ancien t inhabitan ts the White Croats seemed tohave sprung from the s tock of the Danubia n Slavs . I-Ier chieftowns were Galitch, founded byVladimirko abou t 1 x44, Peremysl,Terebovl

,and Zven igorod. The neighborhood of H ungary and

Poland gave a special character to the se principal i t ies , as wellas a more advanced civi l ization . The epic songs speak of C all icia, the native land of the hero Diouk S tepanovitch, as a

fabu lous ly-rich country. The Tale q/Me E xpeditionof Igorgivesu s a h igh idea of the power of these princes .

“ laroslat Osmomysl of Gallicia l cried the poet to one of them, thou artseated very high on thy throne of wrought gold ;with thy regiments of iron thou sus tainest the Carpathians ; thou closes t thegates of the Danube ; thou barrest the way to the k ing of Hun

gary ; thou openes t a t thy wi l l the gates of Kief, and wi thth ine arrows thou strikest from afar lThe dispos i t ion of these fi fteen or s ixteen principal i ties con

firms al l that we have said abou t the essential un i ty of the configuration of the Russ ian soil. N ot one of the river-basins formsan isolated and closed region . There is no l ine of heights toes tabl ish barrie rs between them or pol it ical fron tiers . Theeater number of the Russ ian principal i ties belong to theas i n of the Dneiper, but extend everywhere be end its l imi ts .The principal i ty of Kief

, wi th Peréiaslavl, is near y the only onecompletely confined wi thi n it;but Volhynia pu ts the bas i n ofthe Dn iepe r i n commu nication wi th those of the Bug and theVis tu la, Polotsk wi th the bas ins of the Dnieper and the Dwi na,Novgorod-Severski with the bas i n of the Don, T chemigof andSmolensk wi th the bas i n of the Volga. Water-cou rses eyerywhere es tabl ished communications be tween the principalmes

76 HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

Already Rus s i a, though broken up in to appanages, had the

ge rms of a great un i ted empire . The s l igh t cohesxon of nearlyal l the States, and their frequen t dismembe rments, preventedthem from ever becoming the homes of real nationali t ies. Theprincipal it ies of Smolensk , T chernigof, and Riazan have neverpossessed as definite an his toric ex is tence as the duchy of Bretagne or the county of Tou louse i n France, or the duchies oiSaxony

,S uabia

,and Bavari a i n Germany.

The in teres ts of the princes , the ir des ire to create appanagesfor each of the ir children, caused a fresh divis ion of the Rus s iante rri tory at the death of every sovereign. There was , however,a certa mcohes ion in the mids t of al l these viciss i tudes . Therewas a uni of race and language, the more sens ible, notwiths ta nding a l dialect ic diffe rences, because the Russ ian peoplewas s urrounded everywhere, except at the south-west, by en tirelys trange race s, Li thuanian s, T chouds, Finns, Turks , Magyars .

There was a uni ty of ' re l igion ; the Russ ians differed fromnearly al l their neighbors

,for in contras t with the Western

Slavs, Poles , T cheques, and Moravians, they represented a

particu l ar form of Chris t iani ty,not owning any t ie to Rome, and

reject ing Latin as the language of the Church . There was theunity of h is torical developmen t, as up to that t ime the Rus soSlavs had al l followed the same road, had accepted Greek civi l ization, submi tted to the Varangians , pursued ce rtain great enoterprises i n common—such as the expeditions again s t Byzantiumand the warwi th the nomads . Finally, there was pol i t ical un ity,s ince afte r al l i n Gallicia as i n Novgorod

,on the Dniepe r as in

the fores ts of Souzdal, i t was the same family that filled al l thethrones . Al l these princes descended from Ru rik , Sain t Vladimir

, and Iaroslaf the Great. The fact that the wars that laidwas te the country were civil wars, was a new proof of th is un i ty.The differen t parts of Russ ia cou ld not cons ider themselvess trangers one to the other, when they saw the princes of Tchern igoi and Souzdal tak ing up arms to prove which of them was

the dried , and which consequently had mos t right to the t itleof Grand Prince and the throne of Kief. There were descendants of Ru rik who governed su ccess ively the remotes t States ofRuss ia, and who, after having re igned at Tmoutorakan on theStrai ts of Ienikale, at Novgorod the Great, at Toropetz in thecountry of Smolensk, ended by e s tabl ishing thei r right to reign atKief. I n spi te of the divis ion in to appanages, Kief continued tobe the centre of Russ ia. I t was there that Oleg and Igor hadreigned, that Vladimi r had baptized his people, and Iarosla

‘

ha es tabl ished the metropol is of the fai th , of arts, and of na

tional civil ization. I t is not su rpris ing tha t she shou l d have

HISTOR Y OF RUS S IA . 77

been more fiercely disputed than al l the othe r Russ ian ci t ies.Rus s i a had manypn

'

ncar; but she had only one Grand'

(Ve1:iti—b u’

a z) —the one who reigned a t Kief. He had a recognized supremacy over the others which he owed not only tothe importance of his capital , but to his pos i t ion as eldest of theroyal fami ly. Kief, the mothe r of Russ ian ci t ies, was always tobe long to the eldest of the desce ndants of Rurik ; th is was theconsequence of the patriarchal sys tem of the Slavs, as was thecus tom of divi s ion . When the Grand Prince of Kief d ied, hisson was not his righ tfu l he ir ;but his uncle or brother, or whichever of the princes was the eldest. Then the whole of Ru ss ia,from the Ba l tic to the Black Sea, held i tse l f i n readiness to support the claims of this or that candidate . I t was the same withthe other principal i ties , where the posse ssors of difi erent ap

panages aspired to reign i n the metropol is of the region . Thecivi l wars , then, themselves s trengthened the sent iments ofRu ss ian un ity. What were they

,afte r al l

, bu t fami ly quarrels ?

THE SU CCESSOR S OF IAROS LAF THE GR EAT -“ WAR S FOR THE

R IGHTS OF ELD ER SHIP AN D THE THR ON E OF I( IEF—VLA DIM IR MONOMACHU S.

The pers is ten t conflict between the Byzantine law, by whichthe son i nherited the possess ions of the father, and the old national law of the Slavs which caused them to pass to the eldes tof all the family

,was an inexhaus t ible source of civi l wars .

Even had the law been perfectly clear, the princes were notalways disposed to recognize it. Thu s, although the e ldes t ofIaroslaf

’

s sons had in his favor the formal wi l l of his father, giving him the throne of Kief, and though Iaroslaf on his deathbedhad des i red his ether sons to respect the ir elder brother as theyhad done their paren t

,and look on him a s the ir father, Is 1 aslaf

at once found his brother Sviatoslat read to take up arms andovertu rn his throne He was oh iged to seek refuge atthe Cou rt of Hen ry IV. of Germany, who sen t an embassy toKief, commanding Sviatoslat to res tore the throne of Isiaslaf.Sviatoslat rece ived the German envoys wi th such courtesy, madethem such a display of his t reasu res and riches , that, dazz led bythe gold, they adopted a pacific pol icy. Henry IV. himsel f,disarmed by the l iberal ities of the Ru ss ian prince, Spoke no

more of chas t is ing the usu rpe r. Isiaslaf did not re tu rn to Kieft ill after the death of his riva lWhen his own death took place (r078), his son Sviatopolk

did not succeed him immediately. I t was necessary that all the

78 1 1 1 s Y OF RUSSIA.

he i rs of Iaroslof shou ld be exhau s ted. Vsevolod, a brother ofIsiaslai, whose daughter married the Emperor Henry IV.,

orHen ry V.

-it is not qui te ce rtain which—reigned for fifteenyears ( 1 078 I n accordance wi th the same principle

,i t

was not the son of Vsevolod, Vladimi r Monomachus,who suc~

ceeded his father ; but afte r the crown had been worn by a newgenerat ion of princes , i t retu rned to the blood of I siaslaf. VladimirMonomachus made no oppos i t ion to the claims of SviatopolkIsiaslavitch. His father was older than mine,

” he s aid, andreigned firs t in Kief,

”so he qu i tted the principal i ty which he

had governed wi th his father, and val iantly defended agains tthe barbarians . But everyone was not so respectfu l to the national law as Vladim1rMonomachus.Two terrible civil wars desolated Russ i a in the reign of the

Grand Prince Sviatopolk ( 1 093 one abou t the principality oiTchernigot, the other abou t Volhynia and Red Rus s i a.Sviatoslaf had enjoyed T chernigof as his share, to whichTmoutoraken i n the Taurid, Mourom and Riazan in the Finncountry

,were annexed. Isiaslaf and Vsevolod, Grand Princes

of Kief,had despoiled the sons of Sviatoslaf, their brother, de

priving themof the rich terri tory of Tchernigof, and on] leav ingthem Tmoutorakan and the Finnish country. Even ladimirMonomachus, whomwe have seen so dis in teres ted, had accepteda share of the spoi l . The injured pri nces were not people tobear th is meekly, especially the eldest, Oleg Sviatoslavitch, oneof the mos t energetic men of the 1 1 th cen tu ry. He cal led theterrible Polovtsi to his aid, and subjected Russ ia to frightfu lravages . Vladimir Monomachu s was moved by these mistertunes ; he wrote a tou ch ing lette r to Oleg, expres s ing his sorrowfor having accepted T chernigof. A t his i ns t igation a Congressof Princes met at Loubetch, on the Dnieper Seated onthe same carpet, they resolved to put an end to the civil warsthat handed the country as a prey to the barbarians . Oleg xc

covered Tchernigof, and promis ed to un ite wi th the GrandPrince of Kief and Vladimi r Monomachus agains t the Polovtsi.T he treaty was ratified by the oath of each prince, who kis sedthe cross and swore,

“ That henceforth the Rus s ian land shallbe con s idered as the country of u s al l ; and whoso shal l dareto arm himsel f again s t his brothe r becomes our commonenemy.”

In Volhynia, the prince, David, was at warwith his ne hews,Vas silko and Volodar. The Congress of Loubetch had dividedthe dispu ted terri tories between them, but scarcely was the treatyratified when David went to the Grand Prince Sviato lk andpersuaded him tha t Vas silko had a des ign on his life. ith the

marrow) Y ‘

or R 0551 4. 7,

ligh t fai th habi tual to the men of that date, the Grand Princejoined David in framing a plot to attract Vas sillco to Kief on theoccasion of a re l igious féte. When he arrived he was loadedwi th chains , and the Grand Prince convoked the boyards andci tizens of Kief, to denounce to them the pretended projects ofVassilko. Prince,

” repl ied the boyards, much embarrass ed,“ thy tranquil l i is clear to us . Vas silko meri ts death, i f it ist rue that he is t

°

ne enemy ;but i f he is calumniated b David,

God wi l l avenge on David the blood of the i nnocent. hereonthe Grand Prince del ivered Vassilko to his enem David

,who

put out his eyes . The other descendants of Iaros at I . were in»

dignant at th is crime . Vladimi r Monomachus un ited wi th Olegof Tchernigof, his ancien t enemy, and marched against Sviatopolk . The people and clergy oi Kief succeeded i n preventing aciyilwarbetween the Grand Prince and the confederates of Loubetch . SviatOpolk was forced to disavow David, and swear tojoi n the avengers of Vassilko. David defended himself withvigor, and summoned to his help, first the Poles , and then theHungarians . A t las t a new congress was as sembled at Vi titchevo (r on the left bank of the Dnieper, a town of whicha deserted goroa

’ir/zldzé is al l that now remains . A s a punish

ment for his crime, David was deprived of his principal ity ofVladimi r in Volhynia, and had to conten t himsel f wi th four smal ltowns . After the new settlemen t of this affai r, Monomachu sled the other princes agains t the Polovts i, and inflicted on thema bloody defeat ; seventeen of their khans remained on the fieldof battle. One khan who was made prisoner otiered a ransomto Monomachu s ; but the prince showed how deeply he fel t theinju ries of the Chris tians—he refused the gold, and cu t the

brigand chief in pieces .

When SviatOpolk died, the Kievians unan imous ly declaredthey wou ld have no Grand Prince but Vladimi r M onomachus .Vladimi r decl ined the honor, allegin the claims of Oleg andhis brothe rs to the throne of Kief. !uring these negotiat ions ,a sedi tion broke out i n the ci ty, and the j ews , whom SviatOpolk

had made the i ns truments of his fi scal exactions, were pi llaged.

Monomachus was forced to ield to the prayers of the ci tizens .During his reign ( 1 1 13- 1 1 25 he obtained great successes agains tthe Polovtsi, the Patzinak s , the Torques, the T cherkess es , andother nomads, He gave an asylum to the remains of the Khazars , who bu i l t on the Os ter, not far from Tchernigof, the townof Belovega. The ru i ns of th is city that remain to-day provethat this Finnish people, eminently perfectible, and alread civilized by the Greeks , were fu rther advanced in the arts 0 cons truct ion and fortification than even the Rus s ians themselves.

8° H IS YU R Y op R USS IA .

According to one tradi t ion , Monomachus also madewaron theEmperor Alexis Comnenus , a Russ ian army invaded Thrace. andthe Bishop of Ephesus is said to have brough t gifts to Kid ,

among others a cup of cornel ian that had belonged to Augus tus,bes ides a crown and a throne, s t i l l prese rved i n the Museum atMoscow under the name of the crown and throne of Monomechus. I t is a t presen t ascertained that they never belonged toVladimi r, but i t was the policy of his descendan ts , the Tzars ofMoscow, to prepaga te th is legend. I t was of consequence tothem to prove that these ens igns of the ir power were traceableto thei r Kievian ances tor, and that the Rus s ian Monomachus ,grandson of the Greek Monomachu s , had been solemnly crownedby the Bishop of Ephesu s as sovereign of Rus s ia.The Grand Prince made his au thori ty fel t i n o the r parts of

Russ ia. A Prince of M insk who had the temeri ty to k indle ac ivi l war

,was promptly dethroned, and died in captivity a t Kie

‘

f.The Novgorodians s awmany of their boyards kept as hos tages,or exiled. The Pri nce of Vladimir i n Volhynia was deposed,and his s tates given to a son of the Grand Prince .

Monomachu s has left a s a cu riou s paper of ins tru ctions thathe compiled for his son s , and i n wh ich he gives themmuch goodadvice, enforced by examples drawn from his own life. I t isneither fas ting, nor sol itude, nor the monas tic l i fe, that wi l l procure you the l i fe e ternal—it is wel l-doing. Do not forget thepoor, but nourish them. Do not bu ry you r riches i n the bosomof the earth

,for tha t is contrary to the precepts of Chris tianity.

“

Be a father to orphans, judge the cause of widows yourse lf.Pu t to death no one, be lie r

’

nfl omzf orguilgf, for noth ing is moresacred than the sou l of a Chris t ian . Love you r wives,but beware le s t they get the power over you . When you havelearn t anyth ing u sefu l

,t ry to prese rve i t i n you r memory and

s t rive ceaseless ly to ge t knowledge . Withou t ever leaving hispalace, my fathe r Spoke five languages, orMing Mal

admire inm. I have made al together twenty-three campaignswi thou t counting those of minor importance. I have concludednineteen treaties of peace wi th the Polovtsi, taken a t leas t 1 00of thei r princes prisoners , and afte rwards res tored themto l iberty ;bes ides more than 200 whom I threw in to the rivers . No onehas t ravel led more rapidly than I. I f I left T chernigof veryearly i n the morni ng, I amved at Kief before vespers . Some

To bu riches in the earth is the cus tomwith which the EmperorMamrice repro es the Slavs of his time, and which is to this day characteristicof the R ussian peasants . Often the head of the family dies , without havingrevealed the hiding-place to his children. Treasure rrove is frequent in

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33 171 8 k OF R USSIA .

of Monomachus, they respected his son and his grandson equally.We are re ady

,

" they said to Isiaslaf, we and ourchildren, to

make waron the sons of.

Oleg. But George is your uncle, andcan we dare to raise ourhands aga i ns t the sonofMonomachus ?After the war had l as ted some t ime, a decis ive dattle was fough t.A t the battle of Peréiaslavl, Isiaslat was comple te ly defeated,and took refuge

,wi th two attendan ts, i n Kief. The inhabitants,

who had los t many cit izens i n this war, declared they were unable to s tand a s iege . The Grand Prince then abandoned hiscapital to George Dolgoroukiandre tired to Vladimir i nVolhynia,whence he demanded help from his brother—in-law, the King ofH ungary

,and the kings of Poland and Bohemia. With these

re inforcements he surprised Kief, and nearly made his uncleprisoner. Unders tanding that the national law was agains t him,

he opposed eldes t wit}: ( Ida ! and declared himsel f the partisanof ano ther son of Monomachu s , the old Viatcheslaf, Prince ofT ournf. He was proclaimed Grand Prince of Kief ( 1 1 50adopted his nephew Isiaslat as his heir, and gave splendid fétesto the Rus s ians and Hungarians . George retu rned to the charge,and was beaten under the wal ls of Kief. Each of these prin ceshad taken barbarians into his pay George, the Polovtsi;Isiaslafthe B laze Caps, tha t is the Torques , the Patzinaks, and the

Berendians .

The obs t inate Prince of Souzdal did not al low h imsel f to bediscouraged by this check . The oldViatcheslaf, who only des iredpeace and qu ie t, i n vain addressed him le tte rs, se tt ing forth hisrights as elder. I had already a heard when you entered theworld,

” he said. George proved himself in t ractable, and wentin to Gallicia to effect a junct ion wi th his al ly,Vladimirko, Princeof Galitch. This Vladimirko had violated the oath he had takenand confirmed by kiss ing the cros s . When they reproached him,

he said, wi th a snee r, I t was such a l i tt le cross .

” To preventth is dangerous co-Operat ion

, Isiaslaf, wi thou twaiting the expectedarrival of the Hungarians, began the pursu i t of George, andcame up wi th him on the borders of the Rou t, a smal l tribu taof the Dnieper. A bloody battle was fought, where he bimse twas wounded and th rown from his horse, but the Sou zdaliansand thei r al l ies the Polovtsiwere comple tely defeatedIsias laf survived th is victory only three years . After his deathand tha t of Viatcheslaf

,Kief passed fromhand to hand . George

ended by reach ing the supreme object of his des i res . Hemadehis entry in to the capi tal in 1 1 55, and had the consolation of

dying Grand Prince of Kiet at the moment tha t a league wasbe ing formed for his expu ls ion (r I th ank Thee, greatGod,

” cried one of the confederates on learning the news , for

HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA. 83

having spared us, by the sudden death of ourenemy, the obligawt ion of sheddi ng his blood !The confederates en tered the town ;one of them as sumed

the t it le of Grand Prince, the others divided his te rr i tories .

H enceforth there ex is ted no Grand Principal i ty, properly speaking, and with the growing power of Souzdal, Kief ceas ed to bethe capital of Ru ss ia. A final disas te r was s t i l l rese rved for he r.I n 1 1 69, Andrew Bogolioubski, son of George Dolgorouki

and Prince of Souzdal, be ing disaffected to M s tis laf, Prince ofKief, formed agains t him a coalit ion of eleven princes . He confided to his son M stis laf and his voi

‘

evode Boris an imme nsearmy of R ostovians, Vladimiris , and Souzdalians to marchagains t Kief. This time the Ru ss ia of the fores ts triumphedover Rus s ia of the s teppes , and after a three days

’s iege Kiet

was t aken by assau l t. “ This mother of Ru ss ian ci t ies,”says

Karamsin, had been many times be s ieged and oppres sed.

She had often opened her Golden Gate to her enemies, but nonehad ever yet en tered by force. To thei r e ternal shame, thevictors forgot that they too were Russ ians l Duri ng threedays not only the houses, but the monas teries, churches , andeven the temples of Saint Sophia and the Dime, were given overto pil lage . The precious images, the sacerdotal ornaments, thebooks, and the bel ls , al l were take n away.

”

From th is t ime the lot of the capital of Sain t Vl adimi r, pi llaged and dishonored by his descendants , ceases to have a general i nteres t for Russ ia. Like Other parts of Slavonia, she hasher princes

,but the heads of the re ign ing fami lies of Smolensk,

T chernigof, and Galitch assume the t i tle, formerly unique, ofGrand Prince . The centre of Russ i a is changed. I t is now i nthe bas in of the Volga, at Souzdal. Many causes conspired torender the disas terot r1 69 i rremediable. The chron ic civi l warsof th is part of Rus s i a, and the mult i tudes and growing power ofnomad hordes, rendered the banks of the Dniepe r uninhabi table.I n 1 203Kief was again sacked by the Polovtsi, whom the Olgovitches of T chernigot had taken into their pay. On th is 501 1, incessantly the prey of war and invas ion, i t was imposs ible to founda las ting order of things ; i t wa s imposs ible that a regu l ar sys temof government shou ld be es tabl ished—th at civi l ization shou lddeve lop andmain tain itsel f. Less rich ly endowed by natu re, andless civi l i zed, the Russ i a of the fores ts was at leas t more tranqu i l . I t was there that a grand principal ity was formed, cal ledto tu lhi h igh des t in ies, but wh ich u nhappi ly was to be separatedfor three hundred years , by the sou thern s teppe s and the nomadswho dwel t there

,from the Black Sea ; that is, from Byzantine

andOccidental c ivi l ization.

I USSIA A FTER THE FA LL OF KIEF. POWER OF SOUZDAL AND

GALL ICIA , 1 1 69- 1 2 24.

Andrew Bogolioubski of Souzdal ( 1 1 57 and the first attempt at autoeracy- George II. ( 1 2 1 2-1 238 l—Wars with N ov orod—Battle of Lipetsk( 1 2 1 6 )—Foundationof N ijui-N ovgorod ( 1 220) man ( 1 1 88-3205) and bil

D aniel ( 1 205- 1 264) inGallicxa .

A NDREW Bocou onns xror 501 121 1 111 1 . ( 1 1 57- 1 174) AND THE

rrasr A TT EM PT AT aurocaacr.

AFTER the fal l of the grand prin cipal i ty of Kief, Russiaceas ed to have a centre round which he r whole mass cou ldgravi tate. Her l ife seemed to bewithdrawn to her extremiti es ;and during the fif ty four years wh ich preceded the arriva l ofthe Mongols , al l the interes t of Ru ss ian h is tory is concentratedon the principal ity of Souzdal, on that of Galitch, and on thetwo republ ics of Novgorod and Pskof.George Dolgoroukiwas the founder of Souzdal, bu t we have

seen him expend al l his energy i n secu ring pos sess ion of thethrone of Kief. His sonAndrew Bogolioubskiwas , on the contrary, a t ru e prince of Souzdal. From him are descended the

Tzars of Moscow;wi th him there appears i n Rus s ian h is toryqu i te a new type of prince. I t is no longer the chival rou s ligh thearted care less km

'

az, in turn a prey to al l k inds of oppos ingpass ions , the joyous emits of the happy land of Kief—but anambit ious , res tles s , pol it ic, and impe rious sovereign, goings traigh t to his goal wi thou t s cruple and wi thou t pi ty. Andrewhad taken an avers ion to the tu rbu lent ci ties of the Dniepe r,where the assemblies of ci tizens some times held the power ofthe prince i n check. I n Souzdal, at leas t, he found h imself inthe centre of colon is ts plan ted by the prince, who never dreamedof con tes t ing his au thori ty : he reigned over towns which for themos t part owed thei r exis tence to his ances tors or h imself.Du ring the l ifetime of his father George, he had qu i tted the

D n iepe r and his alace at Vychegorod, had es tabl ished h imselfon the Kliazma, ringing wi th him a Greek image of the motherof God, had enlarged and fortified Vladimi r, and founded a

quartertha t he called Bogolioubovo.

171 s ? or 35

When af ter the death of George the grand principali ty hecame vacan t, he al lowed the princes of the sou th to dispu te i tamong themse lves . He only wis hed to mix with the ir quarre lsas far as wou ld suffice for the recogn ition of his au thority, not atKief

,but at Novgorod the Great, then bound by the closes t ties

to Souzdal. He es tablished one of his nephews as his lieuteno

ant at Novgorod. A glorious campaign aga ins t the Bu lgariansincreased his repu tation i n Rus s i a. He deserved more th

anyone to be Grand Prince of Kief, bu t we have seen that heprefe rred to pi l lage ir—that he prefe rred a sacri legious spoi l tothe throne of Monomachu s .

After having des troyed the splendor and power of Kief,and guided by the sure ins tinct that afterwards led Ivan the Greatand Ivan the Terrible agains t Novgorod ,

he longed to subduethe great republ ic to a narrower dependence . The fal l ofKief,

”says Karamsin, seemed to presage the los s of blovgorod

l ibe rty ; i t was the s ame army, and it was the same prince(M stislaf A ndreievitch) who commanded ir. But the Kievians ,accus tomed to change the ir mas ters—to sacrifice the vanqu ishedto the victors -only fought for the honor of thei r prince s, whi lethe Nov orodians were to shed thei r blood for the defen ce of thel aws ang ins ti tu tion s e s tabl ished by their ances tors .

" M stis~l af, who had forced the princes oi Smolensk, Riazan, Mourom,

and Polotsk to join him, put the te rritories of the republic to

fire and sword, but only succeeded in exas perating the courageous citizens . When fighting began under the wal ls of the town ,the N ovgorodians , to inflame themse lves for the combat, te

minded each other of the pil lage and the sacri lege wi th whichthei r adversaries had pol lu ted the ,

holy ci ty of Kief. All sworeto d ie for S t. Sophia of Novgorod their a rchbishop, Ivan, tookthe image of the Mother of God and paraded i t wi th grea t mpround the wal ls . I t is said that an arrow shot by a Sou aliansoldier having s truck the image of the Virgin, her face tu rnedtowards the ci ty, and inundated the ves tments of the archbishopwi th miracu lous tears . Ins tantly a panic se ized the bes iegers .

The victory of the N ovgorodians was complete ; they s lew amu l t itude of the ir enemies, and made so many pris oners, tha taccording to the contemptuous expres s ion of their chronicler,You could get six Souzdalians for a grivna The irdependence on Souzdal for corn soon forced them to makeace. They abandoned none of the ancien t rights of the repubic, but of the i r own free wi l l,

”according to the con secra ted

express ion, they accepted as sovere ign the prince nomi nated for

them by Andrew of Souzdal.Andrew abou t th is time los t his only son, his he ir, Mstislaf.

86 H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

T he knowl edge that in fu ture he wou l d be working for his 00!lateral re lat ives no whi t dimin ished his ambi tion or his arrogance. The princes of Smolensk, David, Rurik, and M s tislafthe Brave

,cou ld not endure his de5potic ‘ways, and, in Spi te of

his threats , took Kief. The Olgovitches of Tchernigof, del ightedto see discord k i ndled between the descendan ts of Monomachus,inci ted Andrew to revenge th is injury. 80 he sent a herald tothe princes of Smolensk, to say to them, You are rebels ;the

principal i ty of Kiet is mine . I order Rurik to retu rn to hispatrimony of Smolensk, and David to ret ire to Berlad ;I can nolongerbearhis presence in Ru ss ia, nor the presence of M s tislaf,the mos t gu i l ty of you al l.

”

M stis lat the Brave, s ay the chron iclers,“ feared none but

God.

” When he rece ived Andrew’s message, he shaved the

beard and hair of the messenger, and answered him Go, and

repeat these words unto you r prince U p to this t ime we haverespected you l ike a father, but s ince you do not blush to treatus as your vas sals and common people, s i nce you have forgottenthat you speak to princes , we mock at your menace s . Ex ecu tethem—we appeal to the judgmen t of God.

’ The judgment ofGod was an encounter under the wal ls of Vychegorod, bes iegedby more than twenty prince s

,al l ies or vas sals of Andrew of

Souzdal. M s tislaf succeeded i n dividing the assailants , andcomple ted their defeat by a victorious sortie, 1 173.

When Andrew came to es tabl ish himself in the land of

Souzdal, the inhabitants themse lves elected him thei r prince, tothe exclus ion of othe r members of the fami ly. But this enemyof municipal l iberty had no inten tion of fixing his res idenceeither at R ostof or Souzdal, the two most ancien t ci ties of theprincipa l i ty, which had thei r assembly of cit izens , thei r 215tFrom the beginning he conce ived the project of rais ing abovethem a new town, Vladimi r on the Kliazma, cons idered byR os tof and Souzdalmerely a subject borough. To give a pl ausible pretext to th is resolut ion be had his ten t pitched on the

road to Souzdal ten vers ts fromVladimi r, and installed h imselfthere wi th his mi racu lou s image of the Virgi n which came fromCons tantinople, and was, we are as sured, the work of S t. Luke.The next day he announced that the Mother of God had apappeared to him i n a dream, and had commanded him to placeher image, not at R ostof, but at Vladimi r. He was l ikewise tobu ild a chu rch and a monas tery to the Virgin on the Spot whereshe made hersel f manifes t ;th is was the origi n of the vi l lage of

Bogolioubovo. Andrew prefe rred Vladimi r to the old ci ties , buti t was i n his house at Bogolioubovo that he bes t l iked to l ive.He tried tomake of Vladimira new Kief, as Kiet herself was a

1 1 1 s ror xvssu . s,

new Byzantium. There were at Vladimir a Golden Gate, 8Chu rch of the Dime consecrated to the zVirgin, and numerous monas teries bu i l t by the artis ts summoned by Andrew fromthe Wes t.Andrew sought the friendsh ip of the pries ts, whom he fel t to

be one of the great forces of the fu tu re . He posed a s a piousprince, rose often by nigh t to bu rn tapers i n the chu rches, andpubl iclydis tribu ted aims i n abundance. After a vi ctory over theBulganans of the Volga, he obtained leave from the Patriarchof Cons tan tinople to es tabl ish a commemorative feas t. I thappened that on the same day that Andrew triumphed over theBu lgari ans, thanks to the image of the Vi ih , the Emperor Manuel had won a victory over the Saracens y means of the t ruecros s and the image of Chris t represented on his s tandard. Oneann ivers ary served for both victories of orthodoxy, and Vladimirwas in harmony with Byzantium. Andrew was anx ious to makeVladimi r a metropolitan city. A t the same t ime that he robbedKief of the grand principal ity, he wou ld have deprived her atthe rel igious supremacy of Russ i a, and en his new ci ty the

Spiri tu al as wel l as the temporal power. This time the patriarchrefu sed, but the at tempt was one day to be renewed by the

princes of Moscow.

What more particu l arly proves this prince—who had risenfrom the conception of appanages to that of the indivisiblnmodern s tate—to have been superior to his cen tury, to have hadsu re ins tincts as to the fu ture, is that he decl ined to share hisdominions wi th his brothers and nephews. In Spi te of the testamentary directions of George, he expe l led his three brothersfrom Souzdal, and they retired wi th their mothe r, a Greekprincess , to the cou rt of the Emperor Manuel . I t appears thatthis meas u re was advi sed by themen of Souzdal. The subjectsthen had the same ins t inct of unity as the prince. I f he brokewith the patriarchal cu s tom of appanages , and wished to re ignalone i n Vladimir, he broke equally with the Varang ian traditionof the droufina ;he t reated his men, his boyards, not as cornpanions , but as subjects . Those who refused to bow to his willhad to leave the coun try. We may say that Andrew Bogolioubski created au tocracy 300 years before its t ime . He indica tedin the 1 2 th century al l that the Grand Princes of Moscow had

to do in the 1 5th and 1 6th centu ries, to attain absolute power.His mis trus t of municipal l iberty, his despotic treatment of theboyards, his efforts to suppress the appanages, his proudatt1 tude towards the other Russ ian princes, his al l iance wi th theclergy, and his project of transporting to the bas in of the Okathe re ligious metropol is of all the Russ ias, are the indications ol

88 HIS TOR Y OF R0551 4 .

a pol i tical programme that ten generations of princes did not

sufiice to carry out. The momen t was not ye t come Andrewhad not e nough power, nor Souzdal resou rces enough to sub‘

ugate the res t of Russ ia. Andrew succeeded against Kief, bute endured a double check from Novgorod the Great, and fromM stislaf the Brave, and the princes of the sou th . His despotismmade him terrible enemies . H is boyards

,whom he t ried to

reduce to obedience, as sas sinated him i n his favori te res idenceof Bogolioubovo ( 1

amas s 1 1 . 2 1 2-1 238) WARS wrrn novconon—Bam a or

Ltem x 2 1 6) -N IJN I-NOVGOROD 11001 1 1 1 11 1)

The death of th is remarkable man was fol lowed by greattroubles . The common people attacked the houses of rich menand magis trates , gave them up to pil lage, and commi t ted so

many murders that to es tabl ish qu ie t the clergy were forced tohave a process ion of images . The unpunished mu rders showhow premature was the au tocratic attempt of Andrew. Hissuccess ion was disputed be tween his nephews and his two

brothers Michael and Vsevolod, who had retu rned fromGreece.The nephews were supported by the old cities of Ros tet andSouzdal, which were an imated by a violent hatred of theparvmueci ty of Vladimir

,that had torn from them the t i tle of capital,

and had taken up the cause of Michae l and Vsevolod. The

Vladimirians,”said the R ostovians , are ours laves, ourmasons ;

le t us bu rn their town, and set up there a governor of ourown.

”

The Vladimirians had the advantage i n the firs t war, and cau sedMichael, the elder of Andrew

’

s brothers, to be recognized GrandPrince of Souzdal. A t his death the R ostovians refused to tecognize the other brother Vsevolod, su rnamed the B ig-N es f, onaccoun t of his numerous pos teri ty. They res isted all proposalsof compromise, declaring that the i r arms a lone shou ld do

them right on the vile popu lace ofVl adimi r.” I t was , on the

contrary, the vi le popu lace of Vladimi r who put the boyards ofRos tet in chains . The two ancien t cities were forced to submi t;Vladimi r remained the capital of Souzdal. Vsevolod ( 1 1761 2 1 2 ) managed to secure himse l f on the throne by defeat ing theprinces of Riazan and T chernigof. He extended his influenceto the dis tan t Galitch, and contractedmatrimonial al l iances wi ththe princes of Kiet and Smolensk. He reduced the Novgorodiansto beg for one of his sons as the i r prince. Lord and GrandPrince,

”said the envoys of the republ ic to him,

ourcoun try isyour patrimony ;we en treat you to send na the grandson of

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9°HIS TOR Y OF R USSIA.

part i tion of Russ ia. But the troops of Novgorod, Pskof, andSmolensk attacked them wi th such fu ry that those of Souzdaland Mourom gave way, and i t was the soldiers of M s tislaf who

i n thei r tu rn gave no qu arter. N ine thousand men we re kil ledand only sixty prisoners taken . George threw off his royalc lothes, wore ou t the s trength of three horses , and wi th thefourth jus t managed to reach Vladimir. (Battle of Lipetsk, nearPeréiaslavl~Zalies ski, Cons tantine then became GrandPrince of Vladimi r, and ceded Souzdal to his brother George .Iaroslaf was obl iged to renou nce Novgorod, and release the capt ive ci tizens .

A t the death of Cons tantine ( 1 2 17) George regained the

throne 0! Vladimir. Under him the expeditions aga ins t theBulgarians of the Volga and the Mordvians were continued.These expeditions were organ ized both by land and water ; theinfantry descended the Oka and the Volga in boats, the caval rymarched along the banks . They attacked and burn t the woodenforts of the Bu lgars , and des troyed the popu lation .

Du ring a campaign, conducted by George in person alongthe whole length of the Volga, he noticed a smal l hi l l on its rightbank, near its junction wi th the Oka . H ere, in the mids t of theMordvian tribes , he founded Nij ni-Novgorod A Mordvian tradit ion gives its own accoun t of th is importan t event.The prince of the Russ ians sailed down the Volga ; on themountai n he perceived the Mordva in a long wh ite coat, adoringher god and he said to his warrors , What 1 8 that white birch thatbends and sways up there, above its nurse the earth, anti incl inestowards the eas t ? ’ He sen t his men to look nearer, and theycame back and said, I t is not a birch that bends and sways, i tis the Mordva adoring her god. In the ir vessels they have adel icious bee r, pancakes hang on s t icks , and thei r pries ts cookthei r meat in caldrons .

’ The elders of the Mordva, hearing of theRus s ian prince, sen t young men wi th gifts of meat and beer.But on the road the young men ate the meat and drank the beer,and only brough t the Ru ss ian prince earth and wate r. Theprince was rejoiced at this present

,wh ich he cons idered as a

mark of submis s ion of the Mordva. He continued to descendthe Volga : where he threw a handfu l of th is e arth on the bank,a town sprang up : where he threw a pinch of this earth, a villagewas born. I t wa s thus that the Mordvian land became subjectto the Russians."

1 1 15703 ? OF R US SIA. 9.

ROMAN ( 1 1 88-1 205) AND ms son DANIEL (rzos-ta64) atcu rrent .

Galitch ofiers a remarkable con tras t to Souzdal peopled byKhorvates or White Croats , she had prese rved a pu re ly Slavoniccharacter in spi te of her conques t by Varangian princes . The

prince,”says M . Kostomarof

,was a prince of the old Slavon ic

type. He was elected by a popu lar as sembly,and kept his

crown by its consen t.”

The assembly itself was governed by the riches t men of thecountry, the boyards . Under the influence of Pol ish and H an

garian ideas the be ards had raised themse lves above the mas sof the people, an formed a s trong aristocracy which real lyruled the country. When Iaroslaf Osmomysl (glorified i n theSong

‘

of Igor) neglected his lawfu l wife Olga for his mis tressAnas tas ia, the nobles rose, bu rn t Anas tas i a al ive, and obl igedthe prince to send away his natu ral son, and to recognize hislegi timate sonVladimi r as his hei r.When Vl adimi r became prince

,he lost no time in i ncurring

the ir hatred. He was accu sed of abandoning himsel f to viceand drunkenness, of despis ing the councils of wise men, of dishonoring the wives and daughters of the nobles, and ofmarried as his second wi fe the widow of a pries t. I t d id notneed al l this to exhaus t the patience of the Gallicians . Theysummoned Vladimi r to give up the woman that theymigh t pun ishher. Vladimi r took fright, and fled to H ungary wi th his fami lyand his t reasu res . This was all the boyards des ired, and theyoffered the throne to Roman, prince of Volhynia (x 1 88) . But

Bel a,k ing of Hungary

,brough t back the fugi t ive prince wi th an

army, and entered Galitch. There he suddenly changed hismind

,and coveted this beau t ifu l country, rich in

'

salt and mine r.als, for h imse l f. He th rew hisprotc

’g! Vladimi r in to prison, and

proclaimed his own son Andrew. The Hungari an yoke seemednatural ly more heavy to the Gallicians than the authori ty of theireasy-going princes. They expel led the s t rangers, and recalledVladimi r, who had fou nd means to escape, and had taken refugewi th Frederick Barbaros sa. When Vladimi r d ied, Roman ofVolhynia resolved at all hazards to enter Galitch. His rival hadprevious ly appealed to the Hungarians , so he applied to thePoles

,and, wi th an auxil iary army given him by Cas imi r the

ust, he reconquered Galitch. The turbu len t boyards had atast found thei rmas ter.This t ime Roman held the crown, not by election , but by con

ques t. He resolved to subdue the proud aris tocracy. The.

Po~

lish BishopKadloubek, a contemporarywri ter,who sympathsrzed

93HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

wi th the ol igarchs , draws a frightfu l picture of the vengeanceexercised by Roman on his enemies . They were quartered

,

buried al ive, riddled Wi th arrows , del ivered over to horrible tortu res . He had promised pardon to those who had fled; butwhe n they returned, be accused them of conspiracy, condemnedthem to death , and confiscated their goods . To eat a drop ofhoney i n peace,

” he said cynically, you mu s t firs t kil l the bees .

”

The Ru s s ian chron iclers,on the contrary, praise himhi

ihly. H e

was anothe r Monomachu s,an invincible and redoubta le hero

,

who walked i n the ways of God, exterminated the heathen, flunghimsel f l ike a l ion upon the infidels,was savage as awildcat, deadlyas a crocodile, swooped on his prey l ike an eagle .

” More thanonce he vanqu ished the Li thuanian tribe s and the Polovtsi; i nthe civi l wars of Rus s ia he was l ikewise victorious, and gave toone of his re lations the throne of Kief. He attracted the attent ion of the great Pope , Innocen t IIL , who sen t mis s ionaries toconvert him to the Catholic fai th , promis ing tomake him a greatk ing by the sword of Sa in t Peter. Drawing his own sword,Roman proudly an swered the envoys of Innoce nt : Has thePope one l ike mine ? While I wear i t a t my s ide , I have no needof another's blade.” In 1 205, when he was engaged in a warwi th Poland, he imprudently ventured too far from his army onthe banks of the Vis tu la, and perished i n an unequal combat.H is exploits were long remembered in Rus s i a, and the Chroni

cle of Volhynia' gives him the su rn ame of the Great

,

” andthe Au tocrat of al l the °Russias .

”A hi s torian of Li thuania te

lates that, after his victories over the barbarous i nhabitants ofthat coun try, he harnessed the prisoners to the plough . Hencethe popu lar saying

,Thou art te rrible, Roman ; the L ithuan

i an s are thy laboring oxen .

” Roman of Volhynia is a worthy

gor

iltemporary of the au tocrat of the north-wes t, Andrewof SonzoaRoman left two sons, minors . Daniel the elder was pro»

claimed pri nce of Galitch (1 205 bu t i n such a tu rbu len tcountry, ren t as i t was by factions , i t was impos s ible for a ch ildto reign u nder the guardianship of his mother. Red Ru ss i a fel la prey to a series of civi l wars , compl icated by the i nte rvent ionof Pole s and H ungarians . The feroci ty s hown by the Galliciansin the i r in test ine s truggles has gained for them the name ofdr/za

’

rl i n the Kievian Chronicles . The princes of the blood ofSa in t Vladimi r were tortured and hung by the boyards . Danielwas first replaced on the throne

,then expel led, then again te

ca lled. H is infancy was the toy of intriguin factions . Ms ti5n

laf the Bold also came h ither i n search 0 adventu res . He

chased the Hungarians from Galitch, took the title of Prince.

,.a

HIS TOR Y or R N A . 93

andmarried his d aughter to Daniel. Both were immediatelyobl iged to turn thei r arms agains t the Poles . Daniel

,whose

character had been formed in such a rough school , displayed rcmarkable energy and cou rage in these campaigns . T he aid of

the Polovtsi had to be sough t agains t these enemies from thewes t, the Hungari ans and the Poles -now rivals, now al l ies .

A t the dea th of M stislat the Bold Daniel, who five yearsprevious ly had taken part i n the battle of Kalka agains t the Tatars , became prince of Galitch. Towards the boyards, whosetu rbu lence had ru ined the cou ntry, he acted wi th the salu tarypol icy of Roman

,though wi thou t employing the s ame severi ty.

The great Mongol invas ion once more expel led him fromGalitch, which i t covered wi th ru ins . Daniel , who had fled toHunga did his bes t to help his unhappy country. To fi llupthe vol made by the Mongols in the popu lation

,he invited

Germans, Armen ians, and Jews , whom he loaded wi th privile es .

The economic consequence of this meas ure was a rapid deve opment of commerce and indus try ; the e thnograph ic consequencewas the i ntrodu ct ion into Gallicia of a Jewish elemen t, verytenacious and very pers is tent, but al ie n to the domi nan t national ity, and forming a separate people i n the mids t of the R u ss ia ns . Danie l was one of the l as t princes to make his submiss ion to the horde. “You have done wel l to come at las t,

"said

the khan of the Mongol s . Bat i t reated himwi th d is t inction, allowed him to escape the ordinary humi l iations , and, s eeing thatthe fermented milk of the Tatars was not to his tas te, gave hima cup of wine. Daniel

,however

,bore wi th impatience the yoke

of these barbarians .Fee l ing himse lf insol ated in the general abasement of the

orthodox world, the prince of Galitch tu rned towards Rome,and promised to do his bes t for the un ion of the two Churchesand to add his contingent to the cru sade preached i n EurOpeagains t the Mongols . Innocent IV

,cal led him his clear son, ao~

corded him the title of k ing, and sent him a crown and sceptre .

Danie l was solemnly crowned at Droguitchine by the abbot ofMes s ina, Legate of the Pope Both the crusade agains tthe As iat ics and the reconcil iation be tween the two Chu rchescame to nothing. Daniel braved the reproaches and threats ofAlexander IV., but kept the t i tle of k ing. He took part in theRumpeanwars wi th great success . The Hungarians,

”says

a chronicler, admi red the order that rei cd among his troops,the ir Tatar weapons, the magnificence o the prince, his Greekhabi t embroidered wi th gold

,his sabre and his arrows , his sad

dles enriched wi th jewels and precious metal s richly chased.

”

Encouraged by the Hungarians and the Poles, he tried to shake

94ms TOR y or RUSSIA.

off the yoke of the Mongol s, and expel led them from a fewplaces ; but he was soon obliged to bow to superior force

,and

dismantle his fort res ses . No prince bette r dese rved to freeSouthern Russ ia, but his activi ty and talen ts s truggled i n vainagains t the fate of his country. He terminated i n 1 2 64 one ofthe mos t memorable and mos t checkered careers i n the h is toryof Rus s i a . The civi l wars of his you th, the Tatar i nvas ion i nhis ripe age, the negotiations and wars wi th Wes tern EurOpe,le ft him no repose. Afte r him, Ru ss ian Galitch passed to dif~fetch t princes of his fami ly. In the r4th centu ry, she was

absorbed in to the kingdom of Poland. She was los t to R ussia.

HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA. 95

CHAPTER VI II.

m RUSSIAN R zPU Bu cs : novoonon, psxor, A N D warm , UP TO

1 2 24.

the Great- Hers trng les with the princes—N ov orodian ins tituCommcrcen -N ational hurch—Litera ture—Psko and Y itaha.

NOVGOROD THE GR EAT—STR U GGLES WITH THE PR INCES.

N OVGOROD has been, from the mos t remote antiqu i ty, thepol i tical centre of the R ussia of the North-wes t. The origin of theSlavs of the I lmen

,who l aid her foundations

,is s ti ll uncertain .

Some learned Rus s ians, such a s M . Kos tomarof, s uppose themto be long to the Slavs of the Sou th, others to the Slavs of theBal tic ; others , again, l ike M . Bielaef and M . Ilovaiski, makethem a branch of the Krivitch or Smolensk Slavs . We hnd theNovgorodians, at the Opening of Ru s s ian h is tory, at the head ofthe confederation of

O

tribes wh ich first expe l led and then recal ledthe Varangians to reign over Russ ia.Novgorod, from very ancien t t imes, was divided into two

parts,separated by the cou rse of the Volkhof, which rises i n lake

I lmen and fal ls i n to the Ladoga. Oh the right bank was theride qf S a int Sop/iia , where Iaroslaf the Greatbuilthis celebratedcathedral ;where the Novgorod kreml in was s ituated, enclos ingboth the palaces of the Archbishop and the prince ; and wherethe famou s Russ ian monument was consecratedm 1 862 . Outhe left bank, the ride of commerce, wi th its Court qf f arorlaf ,

the bridge which j oins the two halves of the ci ty is ce lebrated tnthe annals of Novgorod. The s ide of Saint Sophia includes theNerevxan quarter a s wel l as those of beyond the city, and ofthe potters (N ermski

,Zagorodni, Gonfc/mrm ). The s ide of com

merce comprised the quarters of the carpenter: and S law . An

cient documents also speak of a Prussian (Lithuanian) quarter.Some of these names seem to indicate that many races haveconcu rred, as i n ancien t Rome, to form the ci ty of Novgorod.

Gilbe rt of Lannoy, who vis i ted the republ ic about 1 413, has left

96HIS TOR Y OFRUSSIA.

us this descriptionof ir: Novgorod is a prodigious ly l arge towns i tuated in a beautiful plain, in the mids t of vas t fore s ts . The

low, sub‘

eet to inundations, marshy in places. The townis surrounded y imperfect ramparts , formed of gabions ; thetowe rs are of s tone .

” Port ions of these ramparts s til l exis t, andal low us to form an idea of the immens e extent of the ancientci ty. The kreml i n forms its acropolis . The cathedral has prese rved its frescoes of the 1 2 th centu ry, the pi llars painted wi thimages of saints on a golden grou nd, the impos ing figure ofChris t on the cupola, the banner of the Virgin, wh ich was to tevive the cou rage of the be s ieged 01 1 the ramparts : the tombs ofSain t Vladimi r Iaros lavitcb, of the Archbishop Nikita, by whose

prayers a fire was extingu ished, ot M stislaf the Brave, the devoted defender of Novgorod, and of many other saints and il lustrions people . Withou t counti ng the t ribu tary ci ties of N ovgorod,such as P skof, Ladoga, I zborsk, Vel ik i Louki, S taraia Rous sa.(Old Ru ss ia), Torjok, Biejitchi, her primi tive terri tory (theager Romanus of the republ ic) was divided in to fivefif tfi:

the Vodska z‘

a,the Cfieloru kaia, the Obang

'

s kaia theB izj d ska i

'

d, and the D ara 'tkmia

,which included the land to the

south of the lakes Ladoga and Onega. Her conques ts formedfive bai l iwicks or valor“occupying thewhole of Northern Russ i a

,

and extending as far as Siberi a. These bail iwicks were the Zara»

Iok bie’

between the Omega and the Mezen the Tre’, or Rus s ianLapland ;P ermz

'

a , 011 the Upper Kama P d dwra , on the river ofthe same name ; and Jougn

'

e,on the other s ide of the Ou ral

mountains . To these we mus t add Ingria, Care l ia, and part ofLivonia and Es thonia.

Novgorod, wh ich had summoned the Varangian princes, wastoo powerfu l, with her inhabitants and subjects,to al low hersel f to be tyrannized over. An ancien t tradit ionspeaks vaguely of a revol t agains t Ru rik the Old under the heroVadim. Sviatoslaf, the conqueror of the Bu lgari a of the Damnbe, undertook to govern her by rnere agents , but Novgorod ins is ted on having one of his sons for her prince . I f you do notcome to reign over u s,

”said the ci t izens, we shal l know how

to find ou rselves other princes ” Iaroslat the Great, as a te

ward for the i r devotion, accorded them immense privi leges, ofwh ich no record can be found

,bu t wh ich are constantly ih

yoked by the N ovgorodians, as were the true or false chartersof Charles the Great by the German ci ties. These republicanscould not exis t wi thou t a prince

, but they rarely kept one lonThe as sembly of the cit izens, the vdc/i/n convoked by the bein the Cou rt of Iaroslat

'

,was the real sovereign . The republic

cal led herse lf My Lord N ovgorod M4 Great”

(Gospodine Vel

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98IIIS TOR y OF Rvssu .

some were occupied i n trade wi th the Volga and the Eas t, otherswi th the Dniepe r and Greece. The former natural ly sough t theal l iance of the pri nces of Souzdal, mas ters of the great Orientalarte ry ; the l atter that of the princes of Kie f or Tchernigof,mas ters of the road to the sou th . Each of the two part ies t riedto es tabl ish a prince of the fami ly whose protection they sough t.If he fe l l, ye t succeeded i n escaping from the town , he tried to

"

regai n his throne by the arms of his fami ly, or to ins tal himse l fand his drouj z

’

na e i ther at P skot, l ike Vsevolod-Gabriel, who became prince of that town, or at Torjok, l ike Iaroslat of Souzdal,and thence blockaded and s tarved the great c i ty. The princeof Souzdalwas soon the mos t formidable neighbor of Novgorod.

We have seen that Andrew Bogolioubski sen t an army agains t

ir, then that his nephew ‘Iaroslaf bes ieged his ancient su jectstill M stislaf the Bold freed them by the battle of Lipe tskHe was the son of M s tis laf the Brave, who had defended themagains t Vsevolod Big-Nes t, and agains t Souzdal and theT chouds . The remains of the Brave res t at Saint SOphia, ina bronze s arcophagu s . H is son

,the Bold

,

”was of far too

res tles s a natu re to leave his bones also at Novgorod. He

duced the principal i ty to order, and then as sembled the ci tizensi n the Court of Iaroslaf, and s aid to them, I salu te Saint Sophia

,the tomb of my father, and you . N ovgorodians , I am

going to reconquer Galitch from the s trangers , but I shal l neverorge t you . I hope I may l ie by the tomb of my father, i n SaintSophia.” The N ovgorodians i n vai n entreated him to s tay

We have seen him use his l as t armies in the troublesof the Sou the as t, and die Prince of Galitch.

After his departure, the republic summoned his nephew,Sviatoslaf, to the throne but he cou ld not come to te rms wi thmagistrates and a popu lace equa l! turbu lent. T he posradm

'

k,

T verdislaf, cau sed one of the boyani'

s of Novgorod to be arrested .

This was the s ignal for a general ris ing; some took the part ofthe boyard

,others that of the possadnik . During eight days the

bel l of the kreml in sounded. Final ly both factions buck led onthei r cu irasses and drew their swords . Tverdislaf raised hiseyes to Sain t Sophi a, and cried, I s hall fa l l firs t in

'

the battle,or God willjus tify me by giving the victo to my brothers .

Ten men only perished 1n this ski rmish, angthen peace was rees tabl ished. The prince

, who accused Tverdislaf of be ing thecause of the troub le, demanded that he shou ld be deposed.

The tlc i nqu ired what crime he had committed. “ None,"

repl ied the prince, but it is my wi l l .” I am s atisfied,

”ex

claimed the possadni as they do not accuse me of any fau l tas to you, my brothers, you can dispose al ike of possadniks anci

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H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

himself to observe the laws and privileges of Iaroslaf the Great.This cons titu tion, like the pat io of Poland, signifieddis trus t, and was in tended to l imi t the power of the prince andhis men. The revenues to which he had a right, and whichformed his civi l l is t, were careful ly limi ted, as also were his judicial and pol i tical funct ions . He levied tribu te on ce rtain w ind s,and was ent itled to the aim (Ge rman Wergdzl) as wel l as tocertain hues. In some bail iwicks he had his own l ieutenan t,and Novgorod had hers . He cou ld not execu te jus tice withou thelp of the pos sadnik, nor upse t any judgment nor, above all,take the su i t beyond Novgorod. This was what the N ovgorodi ans feared mos t, and wi th reason . The day when the peopleof Novgorod be thought themse lves of appealing to the t ribunalof the Grand Prince of Moscow, was fatal to the independenpeof the republ ic. I n the conflicts be tween the men of the princeand those of the ci ty, a mixed court del ivered judgment. Theprince

,no more than his men, cou ld acqu ire vil lages i n the ter

ritory of Novgorod, nor create colonies. He was forbidden tohunt in the woods of Starata Rouss a except in the au tumn, andhad to reap his harves ts at a specified seas on . Thou h theythus mis tru s ted thei r prince

, the N ovgorodians had neef of himto moderate the ancient Slav anarchy. A s i n the days of Rurik,fami ly armed i tself agains t fami ly, and there was no jus t ice .

”

I n Novgorod the addu/had more extens ive powers , and actedmore regu larly th an in the other Russia n ci t ies . I t was thevdfl ic’ which nominated and expe lled princes, imprisoned themin the archiepisw pal palace, and forma l ly accused them;electedand deposed the a rchbishops

,decided peace and war, judged

the State criminals . According to the old Slav cu s tom (preserved in Poland ti l l the fal l of the republic), the decis ions werealways made, not by a majori ty, but by unan imi ty of voices . I twas a kind of libcmm veto. The majori ty had the resource ofdrowning the minori ty in the Volkhof. The prince as wel l asthe pos s adnik, the boyards as wel l as the people, had the rightof convoking the vetdu’. I t met sometimes in the Cou rt ofIaroslaf, sometimes in Sai nt Sophia

’s . A s Poland had her con~

federations , her “die ts under the shield,” Novgorod occaswn

ally saw on the banks of tke Volkhof two rival and hos t i l e w ic/n’s ,which often came to blows 011 the bridge . Before be ing sub

mitted to the general as sembly, the ques tions were sometimesdel iberated i n a smaller counci l, composed of notable citizens ,of acting or pas t magis trates.The chief N ovgorodianmagis t rates were : 1 . Theporsadaik

called by contemporary German wri ters the burgomasfer, whowas changed nearly a s often as the prince. The possadnik waschosen from some of the influential famil ies, one of which a lone

m m ? or 1 9;

gm a dam possadniks to Novgorod. The first magistratewas cha rged to defend civi c privileges , and shared with the

prince the judicial power and the right of dis tributing the

taxes . He gove rned the ci ty, commanded her arm directedher diplomacy, sea led the acts with her seal. 2 . e tyra nt}(from tymtdz, thou sand) bea rs in German documents the title ofdux or Am g ; he was therefore a mili tary chief, a chiliarch whohad the centurions of the town militia under his orde rs . He hada s ial tribuna l, and seems to have been special ly entrus tedwith

e

t

c

he defence of the righ ts of the people, thus recal l ing the

Roman tribunes . 3. Bes ides the fmtm'

z‘

ons there was a d arost,a sort of d is trict mayor, for each quarter of the town.

The chief document of the N ovgorodian law is the L etter ofj ustice (Soudnai

‘

a Gramola), of wh ich the definite publ ica tionmay be placed at 1 471 . I t con tains the s ame principles as theR ousseau: Pravda of Iaroslaf the Grea t. A s i n al l the earlyGe rmanic and Scandinavian laws

,we fi nd the right of private

revenge, the fixed price of blood, the boot or fine for injuryinflicced , the oath admi tted as evidence, the

'

udgn1ent of God,the judicial due l

,which was s t i l l resorted to y Novgorod even

after her decadence, in the 1 6th cen tu ry. We also find recordsof corporal punishments . The thief was to be branded ;on thesecond relaps e into crime, he was to be hung. Terri torial property acqu ires a greate r importance , and, a sure evidence of

Mu'

scovi te influence, a second cou rt of appe al is admitted—theappeal to the tribunal of the Grand Prince .

From a social point of view, the cons t i tution of Novgorodpresents other analogies wit h the cons t itu t ion of Poland.Great inequa l ity then exis ted be tween the ditterent classes ofsocie ty. An aris tocracy of boyards had u l timately formed itself,whose intes tine quarrel s agitated the town . Below the boyardscame the (fid i baya rrki

’

c’,a kind of inferior nobil i ty ; the n the

different clas ses of ci tizen s, the merchantmen , the black people,

and the m anic“: or peasants . The merchants formed an as50c

ciation of their own, a sort of guild, round the Church of SaintJohn . Military socie ties also exis ted, bands of independen t adventu rers or drouj fnar of some boyard who, impe l led by hungeror a res tle ss spiri t, sought adventures afar on the grea t riversof Northern Rus sia

, pi l laging al ike friends and enemies, or estalfl

éshing mi litary co lonies i n the midst of Tchoud or Finnishtr! 8 .

The soi l of Novgorod was sandy, marshy, and unproductivehence the famine s and pes tile nces that so often depwulated}hecountry. Novgorod was forced to extend itse lf in order to hye ;she became therefore a commercial and coloniz ing ci ty. In the

goz HIS TOR Y OF R US S IA .

roth century, Cons tantine relates how the Slavs left Nm ogard

(Novgorod), descended the Dnieper by M'

lim’

rm (Smolensk),I klz

'

ou tsa (Loubetch) , T chernigof, Vychegord, Kief and Vititchevo ; crossed the cataracts ot the Dniepe r, pas sed the navals tations of Saint Gregory and Sain t Etherius , at the mou th ofthe river

,and spread themse lves over al l the shores of the

Greek empire. The Oriental coins and jewels found in thebourgrmrof the I lmen show that the Novgorodians had an earlyand extens ive commerce wi th the Eas t. We see them exchangei ron and weapons for the precious me tals found by the Iougriansi n the mines of the Ourals . They traded wi th the Balt ic Slavs ;and when the l atter los t the ir independence, and a flourishingcentre, Wisby, was formed i n the I s le of Gothland, Novgorodtu rned to this s ide also. In the rath century there was 3

Goth ic trading dtffifif and a Varangian Church at Novgorod, anda N ovgorodian Church in Gothland. When the Germans beganto dispu te the commerce of the Bal tic wi th the Scandinavians,Novgorod became the seat of a German defpéi, which ended byabsorbing the Gothic one . When the Hanseatic League hecame the mis tres s of the North , we hnd the Germans e s tabl ishednot

“ only at Novgorod,but at Pskof and Ladoga, at al l the

mou ths of the network of N ovgorodian l akes . There they ohtained cons iderable privi leges, even the right to acqu ire pas tureland. They were mas ters, and at home in thei r fortified dc

’

pé/s,in their s tockade of th ick planks , where no Russ ian had theright to pene trate wi thou t the ir leave . This German tradingcompany was governed by the mos t narrow and exclus ive ideas .

N0 Rus s ian was allowed to be long to the company, nor to carrythe wares of a German , an Englishman, a Wal loon or a Fleming.The company only authorized a wholesale commerce, and, tomaintain hergoods at a h igh price, she forbade imports beyonda certain amoun t. I n a word,

”s ays a German wri ter

,

“ dur

i ng three centu ries the Hanseat ic League concentrated in herown hands all the ex te rnal commerce of Northern Russ ia. I fwe inqu i re what profit or 1055 she has brough t th is coun try, wemus t recognize that, thanks to her, Novgorod and Pslcof weredeprived of a tree commerce with the Wes t. Russ ia, in orderto satis fy the first wants of civilization, tell into a comple te indeendence. She was abandoned to the good pleasure and piti‘ess egotism of the Ge rman merchants .

”

(Riesenkampf, Derdeu tscheThe eccles ias t ical cons ti tu tion of Rus s ia presen ts a special

charac ter. I n the res t of Russ ia the clergy was Russ ian-ortho'

dox. A t Novgorod i t was N ovgorodian before everyth ing. I twas on ly i n the 1 2 th centu ry that the Slavs of I lmen, who had

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m,1 1 151 011 1 1 or

actu al life. They are the his torians potmerely of the princesand boyards, bu t of the whole city. The lives of the sa i nts arethe l ives of N ovgorodian saints ; the miracles the relate are to

the glory of the city. They tell you , for em tha t Chris tappea red to the artis t cha rged wi th the paintings under the domeof Sain t Sophia, and said to him ‘Do not represent me wi thmy hand ex tended for bless ing, bu t with my hand clos ed because i n i t I hold Novgorod; and when i t is opened it will hethe end of. the ci ty.

’ The ta le of the panic ex cited among thesoldiers of Andrew Bogolioubski by the image of the Vi rginwou nded by a Souzdalian arrow, was spread abroad. Novgorodhas herown cycle of epic songs, of bylina s . Her heroes are not

those of the Kievian epopee. There is Vass i li Bou slaévitch,the bold boyard, who wi th his fai thful drou jina s tood up to hisknees i n blood on the bridge of the Vulkhof, holding in checkall the mougiks of Novgorod, whom he had defi ed to combat.Vas s i l i Bouslaévitch is the t rue type of these proud edvehturers, who knew ne ither friend 11 01 enemy— a t rue Novgorodianol igarch , a hero of civilwar. Still more popu lar was Sadho,the rich me rchant, a kind of N ovgorodian Sindbad or U lys ses ,a worthy represen tative of a people of me rchants and edvehtu rets, who t his fortunes on the waves . A tempest rose,and men drew ots to decide who shou ld be sacrificed to the

wrath of the gods . Sadho threw a l i ttle wooden ring into thewater, the others flung in iron rings : 0 prodigy ! the othersswam, his sank. H e obeyed his des tiny, and threw himself intothe waves, but he was rece ived in the palace of the k i ng of thesea , who tes ted him in various ways, and wished him to marryhis daugh ter. Then sudden ly Sadko fouud h imse lf on the shorewi th great t reasures, bu t what were these compared to the treasures of the ci ty ? “They see th at I am a rich merchant of

Novgorod, hu t N ovgorod is s tillmore rich than

Oi al l the towns subject to N ovgmod,Pskofwas the‘

most import an t. On the point formed by the junction of the Pskovaand the Velika

’

ia u ses herkreml in, wi th its crumbling ramparts ,

its mined gates and towers . These once famous wal ls are today a mas s of ruins, and the s tree t-boys amuse thems e lves bythrowing s tones i n the Pslrova to frighten the lau ndresses.Psltot

'

is only a poor litt le place with souls . There only

”1 57101 1 11 or R USS IA . 1 03

remains of her pas t splendor the ca thedral of the Trini ty at oneend of the kreml i n . There res t i n metalcofiins the bones of thebes t-loved princes, Vsevolod—Gabrie l and Dovmont, a convertedLithuan ian who came i n the 1 3th cen tury to defend the republ icagains t his own compatriots . This old town has preservedmany churches and monas teries . The dis tan t view of P skot isbeau tifu l, and 611 téteo da s the dead ci seems to awake at thech imes of her innumera le be l ls;whic sound as loudly as inthe days of her glorious pas t.Nes tor makes Pskof the native land of Sain t Olga . T he

sum of his his tory is noth ing more than these two facts : first,the s truggle aga 1nst the T chouds , and, l ater, agains t the Germans of Livon ia ; second, the eliotts of Novgorod to secu re herfreedom. The independence of the ci ty was u l timately securedby her weal th and her commerce . The first prince who ru ledher as a separate s tate, Vsevolod-Gabriel, was expe l led by hissubjects

,and therefore wa s welcomed with the greater eager

nes s by the Pskovians . When the Souzdalian party ruled atNovgorod, i t was general] the contrary party that triumphed inPskof. Abou t 1 2 1 4 the li t tle republic contracted an ofi

'

ensiveand defens ive al l iance with the Germans ; she u ndertook to

help them agains t the Li thuan ians, and they were to supportheragainst Novgorod. This was playing rather a dangerousgame . I n 1 2 40, one Tverdillo del ivered up Pskof to the Livon ian kn igh ts ; she did not free herself ti l l 1 242 . From this momen t Pskof ceased to mix i n the civil wars of Novgorod. Shehad enough to do wi th her own affairs and her s t ruggle agains tthe Germans, Swedes, and Lithu an ians . She also called herself My Lord Pskof the Great ;

” but i t was only in 1 348 thatthe N ovgorodians , needing her help agains t Magnus , king ofSweden

,fo rmal ly reco ized her independence

,by the treaty of

Bolstof, and conclude with her a bond of fraternal friendship.

Novgorod became the elder s is ter, and Pskot the younger. Theorganization of P skof is almos t that of her ancien t metropol is .We again find the prince, the the d ivis ion in to quarters ,up to the number of six, each one having its starost.In the 1 2 th cen tu ry a new N ovgorodian colony was formed

be tween the Kama and the Viatka, wh ich remained a republ ict il l the end of the 1 5th centu This dis tan t country,

”says M .

Bestoujef-R ioumine, is s t i l qu ite N ovgorodian. When the

trave l ler has passed the Viatlt a, he meets wi th a pecu l iar modeof con s truct ing the hu ts . There are no longe r whole l ines of11160: joined one to the other

,as on this s ide of the river, but

there is a high house, where the court, rooms , and ofiices are

surrounded by a rampart of pales, and uni ted under the same

1 06 HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

roof; in a word, it was a N ovgorodian house. You hearthe N ovgorodian patois , you see the N ovgorodian cap. I t isthe Novgorod colonization s til l l iving.

” I n 1 174adventu rers from the Great Republ ic came from t he Kamato the Viatlra, and advanced from east to wes t, and fou ndeda colony on th is river, which is to-day the vi l lage of Nikonlitsyne. Another hand defeated the Tcheremisses , and on

the ir terri tory raised Kochkarof, at present cal led Kotelnitch.

Then the two bands reun ited, and penetrated into the Vot ia kcountry. On the righ t bank of the Viatka, on the summi t of ah igh mountain

,they perce ived a ci ty su rrounded by a rampa rt

and a di tch, which contained one of the sanctuaries of the pe0o

ple . A s pious as the compan ions of Cortez and Pizarro, theRus s ian adventu rers prepared themselves for the as sault by afas t of several days , then invoked Saints Boris and Gleb, andcaptu red the town . Next, at the mou th of the Khlynovitsa, inthe Viatka

,not very far ofi

,the bu i l t the city of Khlynof,

which became,under the name of V

yiatka, the capi tal of all their

colon ies . She had no wal ls, but the houses, bu i l t close toge the r,formed an unbroken rampart agains t the enemy, a wall and defence. A rthe news of th is success , other colonis ts flocked fromNovgorod and the fores ts of the north, and founded othe r centres of popu lat ion . These bold pioneers had more than onceto te-un ite, sometimes again s t the aboriginal Finn s or the Tatari nvaders, sometimes agains t the pretens ions of Novgorod, orthe Grand Prince of Moscow. We find among them, as in the

me tropolis , boyards, merchants , and cit izens . They had voi'

eyodos or a famam for thei r mi l i tary ch iefs . Their spirit of religiou s independence equalled their pol it ica l independence.

Jonas, metropol i tan of M os cow,wri tes angri ly abou t the indo

cility of the ir clergy, and avenges himsel f by blaming theirmorals . You r spiri tu al sons,

” he wrote to the pries ts ofViatka,

“ l ive con trary to the law. They have five, six, orevensevenwives. And you dare to bless these marriages l

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108 HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

at U exltiill, and a fortress round the chu rch From th isfatal day these brave tribes los t the ir l ands and their l ibe’rty.The Livon ians soon saw to what this miss ion tended . They roseagains t the miss ionaries, and i n 1 1 98 the second bishop ofLivon ia pe rished in battle. The natives re tu rned to thei r gods

,

and plunged in the Dwina to wash OE the baptism they had te~

ceived, and to send it back to Ge rmany. Then Innocen t I I I .reached a cru sade ainst them, and Albert of Buxhcewden

(3

1 1 98 their thir bishop and the true founder of the German ru le i n Livonia, entered the Dwin a wi th a flee t of twentythree ships, and bu i l t the town of Riga, wh ich he made hiscapi tal The following year he ins tal led the Order ofthe Brot ers of the Army of Chris t, or the Sword-bearers , towhom the Pope gave the s tatu tes of the Templars . They worea whi te mantle, wi th a red cros s on the shoulders . The greaternumbe r were nat ives of Wes tphal ia and Saxony. Vinno deRohrbach was the ir first grand mas ter. The Livon ians , af terhaving implored the help of the princes of Polotsk, marched onRiga, and suffered an ent i re defeat The prince of P0lotsk in his turn bes ieged the city du ri ng the absence of thebishop, but i t was saved by the arrival of a German flotilla .

Three causes were part icu larly favorable to the success ofthe knights of the sword, namely the weakness of the princesof Polotslc, the in tes t ine qu arrels of Novgorod, which preventedher from watching over Russ i an interes ts

,and the divis ions

among the nat ives who had not yet been able to rais e the irminds from the conception of the tribe to that of the nation.

The knights were l ikewise far supe rior in thei r arms and tact ics .

T he German fortresses were sol idly bu i l t i n cemented s tone,

wh ile those of the natives were ramparts of earth, wood, or looses tones . In vain they tried to drag down wi th ropes the pali~sades of the German ramparts . The Swo'd-bearers afterwardsundertook a series of campaigns agains t the Livonians and theSemigalli of the Dwina, and agains t the Tchouds of the northand the Letts of the sou th-eas t. I f a tribe decl ined bapt ismand obedience, i t was delive d a prey to fire and swo rd wheni t s ubmitted, hos tages were t

r

ilten, and cas tles bu i l t on its te rritory, these being of ten merely German recons t ructions of theancien t native fortresses .

I t was i n th is manner that Riga,Kirchholm

,Uexku l l. Len

newarden, A scheraden, andKrehzburg we re builton the Dwi n a ;Neuhausen , near the Peipus, Wolmar, Wenden, Segevold, andKremon on the A a ; Fel l in and Weissenstein among the

Northern Tchouds. The strangers managed to take Kokenhausen and Gersike from the princes of Polotsk, Odenpaeh and

171 s 1 1 or 1 1 11531 4 . 1 0,

Dorpat from the N ovgorodians ; Pslrof was threatened. In thenorth Kolyvan was bough t from the k ing of Denmark, afterthe fiercest dispu tes . Under its rock lies Kolyvan, a T itan

hero of Finnish mythology. The town is now call ed Revel .The conquered country was divided in to fiefs, some of which

belonged to the Order by whom they were dis tribu ted amongthe knights , the res t were at the diSposal of the archbishop, whoenfeoffed his ownmen. The new towns rece ived the constitu

t ion of the merchan t ci ties of Lubeclc, Bremen , or H amburg.

Riga was themost powerfu l of them. The archbishop of Riga,the chapter, the town and the grand mas ter of the Order, oftenquarrel led ove r thei r respect ive rights . Their divis ions wereone day to bring abou t the decl ine of the ins t i tu tion .

Abou t 1 2 25 another mi l itary fratern ity was es tabl ishedamong the Pruss ian Lithuanians , the T( IIfOfl IC Order, wh ich , onthe remains of t he subject pagan t ribes, raised Thorn, Marien.be rg, Elbing and Kcenigsberg. The Teu tons of Pru s s ia andthe kn ights of Livonia were certa in to be friendly ; the blackcross frate rn ized wi th the red, and, i n 1 237, the two orders unitedi nto one association . The Teu ton ic landma

'

rfcr, Hermann deBa lk

,became landma

’

sfer of Livonia. The grand mas te r of theTeu ton ic Order took precedence of al l the landme is ters.Strengthened by th is al l iance, the “ brothers of the army ofChris t were able to impose the mos t c rue l servi tude on theaborigi nal Le tts , Livonians, and Finns . These brave barbarianssoon became peasants attached to the glebe . The German nobility res tored them thei r l iberty at the begi nning of this cen

tu ry, but i t did not res tore them the ir lands .

The conquering and conquered races are always separate.To the T choud, the word S ax a (Saxon, German) always s ignifiesthe mast” . A song of the Tchoud country of Pskof, cal led T/zeday: qf S lm'cry, deplores the time when the banners of thes t rangers waved, when the in truders made u s s laves , enchainedu s as the serfs of tyrants , forced us to be the i r servants .

Brother, what can I“

s ing ? Sadly sounds the son of tears .

The lot of the s lave is too hard.

” Another song 0 Wies land

(Es thonia) is en titled Tfie D ay: of flu P art. The pas t,that

was the time of massacre, a long time of suffering De s troying hends were unchained aga ins t u s . The pries ts s trangled os

wi th thei r rosaries, the greedy knights plundered u s,t roops of

brigands ravaged us,armed murdere rs cut us i n pieces . The

atlwr of t/zem m s tole our riches , s tole the treasu re from the

iding-place, attacked the tree, the s acred tree, pollu ted thewaters and the fountai n of salvation. T he axe smote on the

1 1 0 E IS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

oak of Tara1 the wofu l hatche t on the tree of Kero.

”(Richter,

‘Geschich te der deutschenI n the Kalcvypoeg , or the son of Kalev,

”the national poem

of the T choud-Es thonians , the hero, who is the personification ofthe race, displays in his various adventu res a wonderfu l Tiranicforce. He swam the Gul f of Finland, he rooted up oak-trees tomake his clubs ; wi th his horse and his coloss al barrow heploughed up the land of Es thon ia ; he exterminated the bearsand the beas ts of prey ;be conquered the mag ician of Fin land,and the geni i of the caves ; he descended into hel l and fough twi th Sarvig the horned he sailed away to explore the u tmos tl imits of the world, and when the hot breath of the spiri ts of thenorth bu rn t up his wooden vesse l, he disembarked in a ves se lof s i lve r wi th fi ttings of metal . He braved whirlwinds at sea ;discovered the is le of flame (which is perhaps Iceland, wherethe three volcanoe s vomi t forth fire), of smoke, and boi l ingwate r ; he encountered a gigantic woman who plucked up sev

eral sa i lors wi th the grass for the kine, a s if the men had beeninsects ; he ral l ied the courage of his pilot, horror-s tricken bythe flames wi th which the spiri ts of the north filled heaven , andsa id to him,

“ Let them send the ir darts of fire, they wil l onlyl ighten us on ourway, s ince the dayl ight wou ld not accompanu s , and the sun has long s ince gone to re s t.” He fough t witmenwhose bodies were l ike dogs (pos s ibly the Esqu imaux ofGreenland), and only retraced his s teps because a magician assured him that the wallof the world ’s end was s ti l l far off .”

I t is at the close of the poem, when he is told that the men ofiron (raudamr/rtd in Tchoud) have landed, that his unconquerable heart is troubled. The iron cannot penetrate their armor;nor them e break it. In vain he seeks counsel at the tomb ofhis father ; the tomb is s i len t, the leaves murmu r plaint ively,the winds s igh dreari ly, the dew i tself is troubled, the eye of theclouds is wet; al l Es thon ian natu re shares i n the s in is te r forebodings of the national hero. He raised, however, the battlecry, and his warriors assembled on the Embach . Bloody is thebattle ! The Es thonians gai n the victory, bu t what a v ictory !The braves t of them are dead

,the two brothers of Kalevy-poeg

perish , his charger is s truck down by the axe of a s tranger. Theend of Es thonia, the age of s l avery has arrived ; i t is t ime thatKalevy

-poeg, the represen tative of the heroic age, shou ld dis

appear ; he who had vanquished the demon Sarvig, the sorcero

u s of Finland, and the spiri ts of the po le, cou ld not subdu ethese menwhoman unknown , irres is tible force sus tained, superiorto that of the gods . Behold him, the captive of Mana, god ofdeath, his wris t held fas t in a rock, which is the gate of hell.

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1 1 01 ? R UM

CHAPTER X.

THE TATA R MON GOLS . EN SLAVEMENT OF R USS IA .

Origin and manners of the Mongols—Battles of the Kalka , of R i ofIxolornna, and of the S it- Con nes t of R uss ia—A lexander N evski he

Mongolyoke—Influence of the atars on the R us sian development.

OR IGIN AN D MAN N ERS 0? THE MONGOLS .

U P to this t ime the des tinies of Russ i a had presented someanalogy with those of the We s t. Slavonia, l ike Gaul , had te

ceived Roman civi l ization and Chris tian i ty from the Sou th . TheNorthmen had brought her an organizat ion which recal ls that ofthe Germans ; and u nder Iaroslaf, like the We s t u nder Charlesthe Great

, she had enjoyed a cert ain semblat cc of uni ty, whi leshe was afterwards dismembered and divided l ike France infeudal times . But i n the 1 3th centu ry, R uss i a suffered an nu

heard-otmisfortune—she was i nvaded and subjugated by As iatichordes . This fatal event contribu ted qu i te as 11 uch as the disadvantage of the soil and the cl imate to re tard ht rdevelopmen tby many cen turies . Natu re,

”as M . Solovief says, has been

a s tep mother to Russ i a ;” fate was another s tep-mother.

In those t imes,”say the Russ ian chron iclers, there came

upon us forours ins,u nknown nations. No one cou ld te l l thei r

origin, whence they came, what re ligion they profe ssed . Godalone know who they were, God and perhaps wise men learnedi n books .

” When we th ink of the horror of the whole of Eu ropeat the arrival of the Mongols , and the angu ish of a Frederick , ofa Saint Louis , an Innocen t IV., we may imagine the terror ofthe Russ ians . They bore the firs t shock of those mys teriousfoemen, who were, so the people whispered, Gog and Magog,who were to come at the end of the world

,when Antichri s t is

to des troy eve rything.

”

(j oinvi lle )The Ta-ta or Ta lar: seem to have been a t ribe of the great

Mongol race, l iving at the foot of the Al tai, who i n spi te of theirlong-continued discords frequently found means to l ay was teChina by the ir invas ions . The portrai t drawn of themrecalls ir

HIS TOR Y OF R US SIA. 1 13,

many ways those already traced by Chinese, Latin, and Greekau thors, of the Huns , the Avars, and othe r nomad peoples offormer invasions . The Ta-tsx

’

s or the D ar,

”says a Chinese

writer of the 1 3th century,“ occupy themse lves exclus ively wi th

their flocks ; they go wandering ceaseless ly from pas tu re topas tu re, from river to river. They are ignoran t of the natu re ofa town or a wal l. They are unacquainted wi th wri ting andbooks ; the ir treaties are concluded oral ly. From infancy theyare accu s tomed to ride, to aim thei r arrows at rats and birds,and thu s acqu i re the courage essent ial to their life of wars andrapine. They have nei ther re l igious ceremonies nor judicial institu tions . From the prince to the lowes t among the people allare nou ri shed by the flesh of the an imals whos e skin they usefor cloth ing. The s tronges t among them have the larges t andfattes t morsels at feas ts ; the old men are put off wi th the fragmen ts tha t are left. They respect nothing but s trength andbravery ; age and weakness are condemned . When the fathe rdies, the sonmarries his younges t wives .

”A Mussu lman wri ter

adds, that they adore the sun, and practice polygamy and thecommun i ty of wives. Th is pas toral people did not take an interest in any phenomenon of natu re except the growth of grass .The names they gave to thei r mon ths were sugges ted by thedifferen t a spects of the prairie . Born horsemen , they had no

i nfantry inwar. Theywere ignorant of the art of sieges . Bu t,”

says a Ch inese au thor, when they wish to take a town , theyfall on the suburban vil l ages . Each leader seizes ten men, andevery prisoner is forced to carry a certain quant ity of wood,s tones , andother materials . They use these for filling up tosses,or digging trenches . ‘In the capture of a town, the los s ofmen was thought nothing. N o place cou ld res is t them. Aftera s iege, al l the popu lat ion was mass acred, wi thou t dis t inction ofold or young

,rich or poor

,beaut ifu l or ugly, those who res is ted

or those who yie lded no dis t ingu ished pe rson escaped death , ifa defence was a ttempted .

”

I t was these rough tribes that Temoutchine or Genghis Khan

( 1 1 54- 1 2 27) succeeded i n u niting into one nation a fter otty yearsof obs cu re s t rugg les . Then in a general congress of the ir princeshe proclaimed himself emperor, and declared that, as there wasonly one sun in heaven

,there ought only to be one emperor on

the earth . A t the head of the ir forces he conquered M antchouria,the kingdom of Tangou t, Northern China, Tu rkes tan, and GreatBokhara, which never recovered this disas ter, and the plains ofWestern As ia as far as the Crimea. When he died, he left tobediv

‘

i

ided between his four sons the larges t empire tha t ever

existe

1 1 4 1 1 1 3701?Y or R US S IA .

I t was duriné’

his'

conquestfl

of Bokhara that his l ieu tenantsTchepe and Souboudai—bagadour subdued in thei r pass age a

mu l titude of Tu rk ish peoples, pas sed the Ca5pian by its southeshore, i nvaded Georgi a and the Caucasus , and i n the sou therns teppes of Russ ia came in. cos ta e t-“éth the Polovtsi.

‘5

5~0

nam es orm e KALKA , or 11 1 1 21 1 1 , or KOLOMNA, AN D or'

1 1 1 1:

S IT—CON QU EST on 11 1 1551 1 1 .

The hereditary enemies of the Russ ians proper, the Polovs ti,asked the Chris tian princes for help agains t these Mongols andTurks , who were thei r brothers by a common origin . Theyhave taken ourcountry,

”said they to the descendants of Sain t

Vladimi r to-morrow they wi l l take ou rs .” M stislaf theBold, then pri nce of Galitch, pe rsuade al l the d nas ties ofSou thern Russ ia to take up arms agains t the Tatars : his nephewDenial, prince of Volhynia, M stis lat R omanovitch, Grand Princeof Kief, Oleg of Koursk, M s tislaf of Tchernigof, Vladimi r ofSmolensk, Vsevolod for a short t ime prince of Novgorod, re

sponded to his appeal. To cement his all iance wi th the Russ ians ,Bas ti

,khan of the Polovs ti, embraced orthodoxy. The Ru ss ia n

army had al ready arrived on the Lowe r Dnieper,when the Tatar

ambassadors made the ir appearance . We have come by God’scommand agains t our s l aves and grooms , the accursed Polovtsi.Be at peace wi th u s ;we have no quarrel wi th you.

” The R ussians, with the prompti tude and thoughtlessness tha t characterized the men of that time, pu t the ambassadors to death . Theythen wen t further in to the s teppe, and encountered the As iat ichordes on the Kalka, a smal l river ru nning in to the Sea of Azof.The Russian chival ry on this memorable day showed the samedisordered, and the same ill-advised eagernes s as the Frenchchival ry at the Opening of the Engl is h wars . M stislaf the Bold,Daniel of Galitch, and Oleg of Koursk were the first to rushinto the mids t of the infidels , wi thou t wai t ing for the princesof Kief, and even wi thou t giving them warn ing, i n order togain for themse lves the honors of victory. I n the middle ofthe combat, the Polovstiwere seized wi th a panic and fel l backon the Ru ss ian ranks , thu s throwing them i n to disorder. Therou t became general

, and the leaders Spurred on their s teeds inhopes of reaching the Dnieper.Six princes and seventy oi the ch ief boyards or voievodes re

mained on the field of battle. I t was the Crecy and Poictiers oithe Russ ian ch ivalry. Hardly a tenth of the army escaped ;theKievians alone left dead. The Grand Prince of Kief,

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31 6 ”IS N R Y OF R USSIA .

son from the window of the term . Oleg the Handsome, founds till alive on the battle-field, repelled the caresses ,and re l igion of the Khan, and was cut in pieces . R i azan wasimmediately taken by as saul t, sacked, and burned. Al l thetowns of the principal i ty sutfered the same fate .I t was now the turn of the Grand Prince, for the Russ ia of the

North-eas t had not even the honor of fal l i ng in a great battle likethe Russ i a of the South-wes t, u n ited for once agains t the commonenemy. The Souzdalian army, oommanded b a son of GeorgeI I ., was beatenon the day of Kolomna, on the ka. T he Tatarsburned Moscow, then beseiged Vladimi r on the Kliazma, whichGeorge I I . had abandoned to seek for he lp i n the North . His

two sons were charged wi th the defence of the capital . Pri ncesand boyards, feel ing there was no alternative bu t death or se rvitude, prepa red to die . The prince ss es and al l the nobles prayedBishop Metrophanes to give them t he ton su re ; and when theTatars rushed into the town by al l its gates , the vanqu ished te

t ired into the cathedral , where they perished, men and women ,i n a general confi agration. Souzdal, R ostof, Iaros lavl, fourteentowns, a mu l ti tude of vi l lages in the Grand Principal ity, were allgiven ove r to the hames The Tatars then wen t to seekthe Grand Prince, who was encamped on the Si t, almos t on thefron tier of the possess ions of N ovgorod. George I I . cou ldnei ther avenge his people nor his fami ly. After the battle, thebishop of R os tot found his headless corpse His nephew,Vas silko, who was taken prisoner, was s tabbed for refus ing tose rve Bati. The immense Tatar army

,after having s acked Tver,

took T orjok ; there“ the Ru ss ian heads fe l l beneath the sword

of the Tatars as gra s s beneath the scythe.” The terri tory ofNovgorod was invaded ; the great republic t rembled, but, thedeep fores ts and the swolle n rivers delayed Bati. The invadinghood reached the Cross of Ignatius, abou t fiftymiles from Novgorod, then retu rned to the Sou th-eas t. On the way the smalltown of Kozelsk (near Kalouga) checked the Tatars for so long,and inflicted on them so much los s, that i t was cal led by themthe 10121 1 1311 foam. Its popu lat ion was exterminated, and the princeVas s i l i, s ti l l a ch i ld, was drowned in blood.

”

The two fol lowing years ( 1 239—1 240)were spen t bythe Tatarsi n ravaging Sou thern Russ ia. They bu rnt Pereias laf, and

T chernigot, defended wi th desperation by its princes. NextMangou , grandson of Genghis Khan,marched agains t the famou stown of Kief

, whose name resounded through the Eas t, and inthe books of the Arab wri ters . From the left bank of the Dnieper,the barbarian admired the great ci ty on the he ights of the rightbank, towering over the wide river wi th her white wa l ls and

HIS TOR Y OFRUSSIA. I l?

towers adorned by Byzantine artis ts , and innumerable churcheswi th cupolas of gold and s i lver. Mangou proposed a capi tu lat ion to the Kievians ; the fate of Riazan , of T chernigof, of Vladimir, the capi tals of powerfu l s tates, announced to them the lotthat awai ted them i n cas e of refusal , yet the, Kievians dared tomassacre the envoys of theKhan . Michael, their Grand Prince,fled ;his rival, Danie l of Galitch, did not c are to remain . Onhearing the report of Mangou, Bati came to as sau l t Kief wi ththe bu l k of his army. The grinding of the wooden chariots , thebellowings of the buffaloes , the cries of the camels, the neighing oithe horses , the howl ings of the Tatars, rendered i t impossible, saysthe annal is t, to hear your ownvoice in the town . The Tatars assailed the Pol ishGate, and knocked down the wal ls wi th a batte ring—ram. The Kievians, supported by the brave Dmi t ri , a Gal lician boyard, defended the fal len ramparts t i l l the end of the day,then re treated to theChurch of the Dime, wh ich they su rroundedby a palis ade. The las t defenders of Kiel found themselves groupcd arou nd the tomb of Iaroslaf. Next day they pe rished. The

K han gave the boyard his l ife, but, the Mother of Russ ian citieswas sacked. This th ird pi llage was the mos t terrible, Eventhe tombs were not respected. All tha t remains of the Churchof the Dime is only a few fragments of mosaic i n the Museumat Kief. Saint Sophia

,and the Monas te ry of the Catacombs,

were del ivered up to be plunderedVolhynia and Gallicia s t il l remained, but their pri nces cou ld

not defend them,and Ru ss ia found hersel f

,wi th the exception

of N ovgorod and the north-wes t cou ntry, under the Tatar yoke .The princes had fled or were dead ; hundreds of thousands ofRuss ians were dragged into captivi ty. Men s aw the wives ofboyards, who had neve r known work, who a short time agohad been clothed i n rich garments , adorned wi th jewels and

col lars of gold, surrounded wi th s laves. now reduced to be themse lves the s l aves of barbarians and their wives, turn ing the

whee l of the mi l l, and preparing thei r coarse food.

”

I f we look for the causes which rendered the defeat of thebrave Russ ian nation so complete, we may, wi th Karamsin, in

the fol lowing—r. Though the Tata rs were not more ad

vanced, from a mi l itary poin t of v iew, than the R u ss ians, whohad made war in Greece and in the Wes t agains t the most warl ike and civi l ized people of Eu rope , ye t they had an enormoussupe riori ty of numbers . Bati probably had wi th himwarriors . 2 . This immense army moved l ike oneman; i t couldsucces s ive ly annihilate the drouj x

'

na: of the princes , or t he mi l i t iaof the towns, which only presented themse lves success ively to itsblows . The Tatars had found Russ ia divided agains t herself.

13 5 157103 ? or truss” .

3. Even though Russia had wished to form a confederation, thesudden irruptions of an army entirely composed of horsemendid not leave her time . 4. I n the tribes ru led by Ba ti, everymanwas a soldier ; in Russ ia the nobles and ci tizens alone borearms : the peasants, who formed the bu lk of the popu lation,allowed themselves to be s tabbed or bound without res is tance.5. I t was not by a weak nation tha t Russia was conquered.The Tatar-Mongols, under Genghis Khan, had filled the Eas twith the glory of thei r name, and subdued nearly al l As i a.They arrived, proud of their exploi ts , animated by the recollection of a hundred victories, and reinforced by numerous peopleswhom they had vanqu ished, and hu rried with them to the Wes t.When the princes of Galitch, of Volhynia, and of Kief ar

rived as fugitives i n Poland and H ungary, Europe was terrorstricken . The Pope , whose support had been claimed by thePrince of Galitch, summoned Christendom to arms . Lou is IX.

prepared for a crusade . Frederie IL , as Eruperor, wrote to thesovere igns of the Wes t This is themomen t to Open the eyesof body and sou l, now that the brave princes on whom we reckoned are dead or in s l avery.” The Tatars invaded H ungary,gave batt le to the Poles i n Liegnitz i n S i lesi a, had their progress a long while arres ted by the courageous defence of Olmiitzin Moravia, by the T cheque voievode Iaros laf, and s toppedfinally, learning that a large army, c ommanded by the King ofBohemia and the dukes of Aus tria and Carinthia, was approaching. The news of the death of Okta‘

i, second Empe ror of allthe Tatars , i n China, recal led Bati from the Wes t, and du ringthe long march from Germany his army neces sarily dimin ishedin number. The Ta tars were no longer in the vas t plains ofAs ia and Eas tern Eu rope, bu t in a broken hi l ly country, bristl i ngwi th fortresses , defended by a popu l ation more dense and a

l ry more numerous than those i n Russ ia. To sum up, all

the fury of the Mongol tempes t spent i tse lf on the Slavonicrace.I t was the Russ ians who fough t at the Kalka, at Kolomna, at

the Si t ; the Poles and Siles ians at Liegnitz ; the Bohemiansand Moravians at Olmiitz. The Germans suffe red nothing fromthe i nvas ion of the Mongols but the fear of it.

‘It ex haus ted it

sel f principal ly on those plains of Russia wh ich seem a continuation of the s teppes of As ia. On] i n Russ ian h is tory did the

invas ion produce great resul ts . A out the same time Batibu ilton one of the arms of the Lower Volga a city cal led Sarai (theCas tle), which became the capi tal of a powerfu l Tatar Empire,the GoldenHorde, extending from the Ou ral and Caspian to themou th of the Danube . The Golden Horde was formed not onlyof Tatar-Mongols or Nogais, who even now survive in the

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HB TOR Y OF RUSSIA.n o

him 6!h ting with all the enemies of Novgorod, Livonian knights

and chonds, Swedes and Finns . T he N ovgorodians foundthemse lves at iss ue with the Scand ina vians on the s ubject ofthe ir possess ions on the Neva and the Gulf of Finland . A s theyhad helped the natives to res is t the La tin fai th, King John obtain.

cd the promise of Gregory IX . tha t a crusade, wi th plenary ihdulgences , should be preached agains t the Great R epubl ic andhe r M 315, the pagans of the Baltic. H is son-in-law, Birger,wi th an army of Scandinavians, Firms, and Wes tern Crusaders ,took the command of the forces, and sent word to the Prince ofNovgorod

, Defend ourse lf if you can know that I am alreadyin your provinces.” he Rus s ians on the ir side, feel ing they werefighting for othodoxy, Oppos ed the Latin crusade wi th a Greekone. Alex ander humbled himself in Sa in t Soph ia, received thebened iction of the Archbishop Spiridion, and addressed an ene rgetic harangu e to his warriors . He had no time to await re inforcements from Souzdal. He attacked the Swedis h camp, wh ichwas situated on the Ijora, one of the southern afiinents ofNeva, which has given its name to I ngria. Alexander won abril l iant victory, which gained him his surname of Nevski, andthe honor of becoming under Peter the Great, the secondconqueror of the Swedes , one of the patrons of S t. Petersbu rg.By the orders of his great success or his bones repose in the

Monas te ry of A lexander Nevski. The battle of the Neva waspreserved in a dramatic legend, An Ingrian ch ief told Alexander how, in the eve of the comba t, he had seen a mysts~rious bark, manned by two warriors wi th shining brows, glidethrough the n ight. They were Boris and Gleb, who cameto the rescue of thei r young ki nsman . Other accounts

.

haveprese rved to us the ind ividual exploi ts of the Rus s i an he roesGabriel , Skylaf of Novgorod, James of Polotsk, Sabas , who threwdown the ten t of Bi rger, andAlexander Nevski h imself,who wi tha s troke of the lautre imprinted his seal on his face”

Notwithstanding the t riumph of su ch a se rvice, Alexander andthe N ovgorodians cou ld not agree ; a short time afte r, he re tiredto Peréiaslavl-Zaliesski. The proud republ icans soon had reason toregret the exile of th is second Camillus . The Order of theSword-be are rs

,the indefatigable enemy of orthodoxy, took Fshet,

thei r al ly the Germans irnposed tr ibu te on the Vojans, vassa lsof Novgorod, constructed the fortres s of Koporié on her territoryof the Neva, took the Russ ian town of Tessof in Esthonia , andpil l aged the merchants of Novgorod within seven teenmi les ofthe ir rampa rts. Du ring this t ime the Tchouds and the Lithuanians captu red the peas antsf and the cattle of the ci tizens. At

las t A lexander a llowed himself to be to'

uched by the prayers Oi

HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA. 1 2 1

and the ple, assembled an army, expe l led theGermans from Kopori and next from Pakot, hung as trai torsthe captive Voj ans and Tchouds, and put to death six kn ightswho fe l l i n to his hands . This war between the two races andtwo rel igious was crue l and pi tiles s . The rights of nations werehardly recognized. More than once Germans and Ru ss ians s lewthe ambassadors of the other s ide . Alexander Nevsk i finallygave battle to the Livonian knights on the ice of Lake Peipus,k il led 400 of them,

took 50 prisoners , and ex terminated a mu l titude of T chouds . Such was the B attle of flw Ire Here tu rned in triumph to Novgorod, dragging with himhis prisonersi n armor of iron . The Grand Mas ter expected to see Alexanderat the gates of Riga, and implored help of Denmark . The Pri nceof Novgorod, satisfied wi th having del ivered Pskof, concluded

peace, recovered certain dis tri cts , and consented to the exchangeof prisoners . A t this time Innocen t IV., deceived by false ih

format ion, addressed a bu l l to Alexander, as a devoted son ofthe Church, as su ring him that his father Iaroslaf, while dyingamong the Horde, had des i red to submi t h imse lf to the th roneof Sr. Peter. Two cardinals brough t him this le tter from thePopeI t ts this hero of the Neva and Lake Peipus , th is vanqu isher

of the Scandinavians and Livon ian kn ights,that we are presently

to see grovellin at the fee t of a barbarian. Alexander Nevsk ihad understoog that

,i n presence of th is immens e and bru tal

force of the Mongols, al l res is tance was madness, al l pride ru in .

To brave themwas to complete the overthrowof-Russ ia. H is condu ct may not have been chivalrous , bu t i t was wis e and humane.Alexander d isdained to play the hero at the expense of his people, l ike his brother Andrew ot

'

Souzdal, who was immediatelyobl iged to fly, abandoning his coun try to the vengeance of theTatars . The Prince of Novgorod was the only prince inRuss iawho had kept his independence

,bu t he knew Bati ’s hands cou ld

extend as far as the I lmen . God has sub'

ectedmany peoplesto me,

” wrote the barbarian to him : wi ll1you alone refuse to

recognize my powe r ? If you wi sh to keep you r land, come tome ;you wi l l see the Splendor and the glory of my sway.

” ThenAlexander wen t to Saraiwi th his brother Andrew, who dispu tedthe Grand Principal ity of Vl adimi r wi th his u ncle Sviatoslaf.Bati declared that fame had not exaggerated the meri t ofAlexa nder, that he far exce l led the common run of Ru ss i an

He enjoined the two brothers to show themse lves ,fathe r Iaroslaf, at the Great Horde they re tu rned from

, it in 1 257. Kouroulrhad confirmed the one in the possess ion of

Von. 1

1 2 2 H IS TOR Y OF R US S IA .

Vladimi r, and the other in that of Novgorod, adding to it allSou th Rus s ia and Kief.The year 1 260 put the pat ience of Alexander and his pol i tic

obedience to the Tatars to the proof. Oulavtchi, to whom theKhan Berkai' had ’

confided the affairs of Ru ss ia, demanded thatNovgorod shou ld submi t to the cens us and pay tribu te. I t wasthe hero of the Neva that was charged with the humi l iat ing anddangerous miss ion of pe rsu ading Novgorod. When the possadnik uttered in the wick! the doctrine that i t was necessary tosubmi t to the s trongest, the people raised a terrible cry andmu rdered the possadnik . Vass i l i h imsel f, the son of Alexander,declared agains t a father who brought se rvi tude to free menand retired to the Pskovians. I t needed a sou l of i ron temperto res is t the universal disapprobation, and counsel the N ovgorodians to the commis s ion of the cowardl though necessary act.Alexander arres ted his son, and punishe the boyards who hadled him i n to the revol t wi th death or mu ti lation. The wtc/n’ haddecided to refuse the tribu te, and send back the Mongolambas sadors wi th presents . However

,on the rumor of the approach

‘

of the Tatars , they repented, and Alexander could annou nce tothe enemy that Novgorod submi tted to the census . But whenthey saw the officers of the Khan at work, the popu l at ion te

volted again, and the prince was obl iged to keep guard on theofiicers n ight and day. In vain the boyards advised the citizensto g ive in as sembled around St. Sophia

, the people declaredthey wou ld die for libert and honor. Alexander then threatencd to qu i t the ci tywith ismen, and abandon i t to the vengeanceof the Khan . Th is menace conquered the pride of the N ovgorodians . The Mongols and the i r agents might go, regis te r i nhand, from house to hou se i n the humi l iated and s i len t city tomake the l is t of the i nhabitants . The boyards

,

”s ays Karam

sin, might ye t be vain of their rank and the ir riches , but thes imple Citizens had los t wi th their national honor their mos tprecious pos sess ionI n Souzdal also Alexander found h imsel f i n the presence of

insolen t victors and exasperated subjects . I n 1 2 62 the inhab~itants of Vladimi r, of Souzdal, of R ostot

’

,rose agains t the col lee

tors of the Tatar impos t. The people of Iaros lavl s lew a renegade named Zozimu s , a former monk, who had become a Mos

lem fanat ic. Terrible repri sals were sure to fol low. Alexanderset ou t wi th presen ts for the Horde at

“ the risk of leaving hishead there . He had l ikewis e to excuse himself for having te

fused a body of aux iliary Rus s ian s to the Mongols, wish ing atleas t to spare the blood and rel igiou s scruples of his subjects .

It is a remarkable fact, that, over the mos t profound humiliac

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H IS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

1 . The Russ ian princes were forced to vis i t the Horde,ei ther as evidence of the i r submiss ion, or to give the Khan opportunity of jud ing thei r disputes . We have seen how theyhad to go not on y to the Khan of the Golden Horde, but oftenalso to the Grand Khan at the extremi ty of As ia, on the bordersof the Sakhalian or Amou r. They met there the chiefs of theMongol , Tatar, T hibetian and Bokharian hordes, and some timesthe ambas sador of the Caliph of Bagdad, of the Pope, or of theKing of France . The Grand Khans t ried to play ofi againsteach other these ambas sadors , who were as tonished to mee t athis cou rt. Mangou Khan des ired Saint Lou is to recognize himas the mas ter of the world,

“ for, s aid he, when the un iversehas saluted me a s sovereign , a happy tranqu ill ity wi l l reign on

the earth .

” I n the case of refu sal, “ neither deep s eas nor inaccessib le mountains ” woul d place the King of France beyondthe power of his wrath. To the princes of As ia and Russia hed isplayed the presents of the King of France, affecting to consider them as tributes and signs of submis sion . We wil l sendto seek him to confound you,

” he s aid to them, and Joinville ass ures us that this threat

,and the fear of the King of France,

”

decided many to throw themselves on his mercy. Th is jou rneyto the Grand Horde was terrible. The road wen t through deserts, or countries once rich, but changed by the Tatars i n to vas twas tes . Few who wen t retu rned. Planu s Carpinus , envoy ofInnocen t IV., saw in the s teppes of the Kirghiz the dry bonesof the boyards of the unhappy Iaroslaf, who had died of th irs tin the s and. Planu s Carpinus thus describes the Cou rt of Bat ion the Volga I t is crowded and bri l l ian t. His army cons is ts of men, of whom are Tatars, ands trangers;Chris tians as well as infidels. Ou Good Friday wewere conducted to his ten t, between two fires , becau se the Tatars pre tend that a fire purifies everyth ing, and robs even po isonof its danger. We had to make many prostrations, and enterthe ten t wi thou t touching the threshold. Bati was on his thronewi th one of his wives ;his brothers, his children, and the Tatarlords were seated on benches ; the res t of the as sembly were onthe ground, the men on the righ t, the women on the left.The Khan and the lords of the Cou rt emptied from t ime to t imecups of gold and s i lver

, whi le the mus icians made the air ringwi th their melodies . Bati has a brigh t complexion ; he is affable wi th his men, but i nspires general terror.

” The Cou rt ofthe Grand Khan was s t i l l more magnificent. Planus Carpinusfound there a Rus s ian named Koum,

who was the favorite andSpecial goldsmi th of Gaiouk or Koui

‘

ouk, and R ubruquis discovered a Paris iangoldsmith, named Guillaume. Much money was

3 137123 ? or R USS IA . 1 25

needed for success, either at the Cou rt of the Grand Khan or ofBati. Presents had to be dis t ribu ted. to the Tatar princes, tothe favori tes ; above al l to the wives and the mother of theKhan . A t th is terrible tribuna l the Rus s ian princes had to

s t ruggle with in trigues and corruption the heads of the pleaderswere often the s takes of these dreadfu l trials . The mos t dangerous enemies they encountered at the Tatar Cou rt were notthe barbarians, but the Rus s ians, the ir rivals . The h is tory ofthe Russ ian princes at the Horde is very tragic. Thus Michaelof Tchernigof perished at the Horde of Sara! i n 1 246 , and Michael of Tver in 1 31 9, the one as sassinated by the renegadeDoman , the other by the renegade R omanetz, at the ins tigationand u nder the eyes of the Grand Prince of Moscow.

2 . The conquered people were obliged to pay a capitationtax, wh ich weighed as heavily on the poor as on the rich . The

tr ibu te was pa id e i ther in money or in furs ; those who wereunable to furn ish i t became s laves . The Khans had for somet ime farmed out this revenue to some Kh iva merchants , whocollected i t wi th the u tmos t rigor, and whom they protected byappointing supe rior agents cal led baskaks , wi th s trong gua rds tosupport them. The exce sses of these tax-gatherers exci tedmany revol ts : in 1 262 , that of Souzdal;i n 1 2 84, th at of Koursk ;i n 1 31 8, that of Kolomna i n 1 327, that of Tver, where the ihhabitan ts s lew the baskak Chevkal, and brought down on themse lves frightful reprisals . Later, the princes of Moscow themse lves farmed not only the tax from the ir own subjects

,but alsc

from ne ighbori ng countries . They became the farmers-generalof the invaders . This was the origin of their riches and theirpower.3. Bes ides the tribu te

,the Russ ians had to fu rn ish to their

mas ter the blood-tax,a mi litary contingen t. Already at the

time of the Huns and Avars, we have seen Slavs and Gothsaccompany the As iat ic hordes, form their vanguards , and be asi t were the hounds of Baian. In the 1 3th centu ry, the Rus s ian

princes furn ished to the Tatars se lec t tr00ps , especially a solidInfan try, and marched in their armies at the head of their drawfirms . I t was thus that in 1 276 Boris of Rostof, Gleb of Biélotersk, Feodor of I aros l avl, and Andrew of Gorodetz fol lowedMangou Khan in a war agains t the tribes of the Caucasu s, andsacked Dediakof in Daghe s tan, the capital of the Iasses . TheMongols scrupu lous ly rese rved to them thei r part of the booty.The s ame Russ ian princes took part in an expedition agains tan adventurer named Lachan by the Greek h is torians , fo rmerlya keeper oi pigs , who had raised Bul aria. The descendantsofMonomachus behaved s tillmore dis onorably in the troubles

H IS TOR Y OF R USSIA .

in the interior of Russ i a. They exci ted the Mongols aga instthei r countrymen and aided the i nvaders . Pri nce Andrew, son

of Alexande r Nevski, pil laged in 1 2 8 1 , i n conce rt wi th theTa tars ,

'

the provinces of Vladimi r, Souzdal, M ourom,Moscow

,

and Peréiaslavl, which he was dispu t ing wi th Dmi tri , his elderbrother. H e helped the barbarians to profane chu rches andconven ts . I n 1 327i t was the princes of Moscow and Souzdalwho directed the mi l i tary execu tion agains t Tver. I n 1 284, twoOlgovitches reigned in the land of Koursk one of them

, Oleg,put the other to death i n the name of the Khan . Servi tude hadso much abased al l characters, that even the annalis ts share thegeneral degradation . They blame, notOleg the murderer, butSviatoslaf the victim. Was i t not his unbridled conduct tha tcaused the anger of the Khan

4. No pri nce cou ld ascend the throne withou t having rece ivedthe inves t i ture and the iarlié/i, or le tters patent, from the Khan .

The proud Novgorodians themselves rejected Michael , thei rprince, saying, I t is true we have chosen Michael, but on thecondi tion that he shou ld show us the iarlz

‘

kfi .

”

4. No Russian State dared to make war wi thou t be ingau thorized to do so. I n 1 269 the N ovgorodians asked leave tomarch agains t Revel . I n 1 303, i n an as sembly of princes, andin the presence of the M etmpolitan Maximus , a decree of theKhan Tokhta was read, enjoin ing the princes to put an end tothe ir dis sens ions, and to conten t themse lves wi th the ir appanages

,i t bein the wi l l of the Grand Khan that the Grand Princi

ality shou l enjoy peace . When the Mongol ambas sadorsrough t a le tter from thei r sovereign, the Ru ss i an princes wereobliged to mee t them on foot, pros trate themse lves, spreadprecious carpets under their fee t, present themwi th a cup fi l ledwit}

;

gold pieces , and l is ten, kneel ing, while the iarlz'

k/i was

rea

Even wh ile the Tatars conquered the Russ ians, they respectedtheir bravery. Matrimonial al l iances were con tracted be tweenthe ir princes . Abou t 1 272 , Gleb, prince of Biélozersk , took awife out the Khan’s fami ly, which already profes sed Chris tian ity,and Feodor of Riazan became the son-ih-law of the Khan of theNogais, who as signed to the young couple a palace in Sarai. In1 31 8 the Grand Prince George married Kontchaka, s is ter ofU zbeck Khan , who was baptized by the name of Ag atha. Towards the end of the 1 4th centu ry, the Tatars were no longerthe rude shepherds oi the s teppes . Mingled wi th sedentaryandmore cu l t ivated races, they rebu i l t freéh cit ies on the ru insof those they had destroyed Krym i n the Crimea

,Kazan,

As trakhan, and Sarai. They had acquired a tas te for luxu ry and

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1 28 HIS TOR Y OF R US S IA .

women was cu s tomary in ancient Russ ia, moulded by Greekmiss ionaries, and the Russian term proceeds more certainfromthe Hellenic gam ma: than from the Orien tal Izarem;the more becaus e the Tatar women, before the convers ion of theMongols to Is lamism

,do not appear to have been secluded . It

the Rus s ians of the ryth centu ry seem s trange to us in theirlong robes and Orien tal fash ion s, we mus t remember that the

French and I tal ians of the 1 5th centu ry, dressed by Venet ianmerchants, displayed the same tas te. Only i n France fas hionsmade advances, whi le i n Rus s ia, isolated from the res t of Eumpethey remained s tationary.

Fmm a social po int of view, two Russ i an expressions seemto date from the Ta tar invas ion {damnor the blackpeople, todes ignate the lower orders ; and kra fianine, s igni fying the peasan t

,that is, the Christian par ex celk fl ce

,who was always a

stranger to the Mongol customs adopted for a short time by thea ris tocracy. A s to the amoun t of Mongol or Tatar blood mixedwith the b lood of the Russians , i t mus t h ave been very small:the aris tocracy of the two countries may have contracted manriages, a ce rtain number ofm ama: may have become Russ ianprinces by thei r conve rs ion to orthodoxy

,but the two races, as a

whole, remained s trangers . Even tod ay, whi le the au tochtbo

nous Finns continue to be R us sified, the Tatar cantons, eventhou h converted to Chris tian ity, are s ti l l Tatar.I the Mongol yoke has influenced the Ru ss ian deve lopment,

it is very indirectly. 1 . In separati ng Rus s ia from the Wes t, i nmaking her a po lit ical dependency of As i a

,i t perpe tu ated in the

country that Byzan tine half civi l ization whose infe riori ty toEuropean civi l ization became daily more obvious . I f the R uss ians of the 17th cen tury diffe r somuch fromWes tern nat ions, i tis above al l because they have remained at the point whence al lset out. 2 . The Tatar conques t also favored indi rect ly the establishment of abs olute power. The Muscovi te princes, responsible to the Khan for the public tranqu i l l i ty and the col lection ofthe tax , being al l the while watched and supported by the baskakr,cou ld the more eas i ly annihi late the independence of the towns,the res istance of the second order of princes, the turbu lence ofthe boyards, and the privileges of the free peas an ts . The

Grand Prince of Moscow had no cons ideration for his subjectsbecause no man had any cons ideration for him,

and becau se his life was always at s take . The Mongol tyranny borewith a frightful weight on al l the Ru s s ian h ierarchy, and sub

jected more closely the nobles to the princes, and the peasants tothe nobles .

“The rinces of Moscow,

”s ays Karamsin

,took

the humble title otpservants of the khans , and it was by this

iv1 s Y OF R USS IA . 1 29

means that they became powerfu l monarchs .

” No doubt theRu ss ian principal it ies wou ld always have ended by los ing themse lves i n the same domin ion, but Rus s ian u nity would have beenmade

,l ike French unity, wi thou t the entire des truct ion of local

au tonomies, the privi leges of the towns, and the rights of thesubjects . I t was the cru shing weight of the Mongol dominat ionthat s tifled al l the genu s of pol i tical l iberty. We may say wi thMr. Wallace, that the first Tzars of Muscovy were the pol i ticaldescendants, not of the Rus s ian prince s , bu t of the Tatar khans .

”

3. A thi rd indirect resu l t of the conques t was the growth of thepower and riches of the Chu rch. I n spi te of the saintly legendsabou t the martyrdom of ce rtain princes , the Tatars were a toleran t nation . R ubruquis saw i n the pre sence of the Grand KhanMangou, Nes torians, Mussu lmans

,and Shamans celebrating

their own particu lar worships .

Koulouk had a Chris tian chape l near his palace Khoubilalregu l arly took part in the feas t of Eas ter. In 1 26 1 the Khan ofSara! au thorized the erection of a church and orthodox bis hoprici n his capital. The Mongols had no sectarian hatred agains tbishops and pries ts . With a sure pol i tical ins tinct, the Tatars,l ike the Sul tans of Stambou l, unders tood that these men cou ldagitate or calm the people. Afte r the first fu ry of the conques twas pas sed, they appl ied themselves to ga in ing them over.They excepted pries ts and monks from the capitat ion-tax ; theyrece ived themwell at the Horde

,and gave ardons at their ih

tercession. They settled dispu tes of orth ox pre lates , and es

tablished the peace i n the Church that they imposed on the

State I n 1 31 3 the Khan U zbeck, at the prayer of Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow, continu ed the privil

'

e es of the Churchand forbade her being deprived of her goo s

,for

,

”says the

edict, “ these possess ions are sacred, because they belong tomenwhose prayers preserve ourl ives and s trengthen ourarmies .

”

The righ t of jus tice in the Church was formal ly recognized.

Sacrilege was pu nished by death .

The convents also increased in numbers and riches . Theyfilled enormou s ly :were they not the safes t asylums The ir peasants an d servants mu l t ipl ied was not the protection of the Churchthe sures t ? Gifts of land were showered on them,

as i n France inthe year 1 000. I t was thus that the great eccles ias tical patrimony of Russ i a, a wealthy rese rvoi r of revenues and capi tal,was cons t i tu ted, on wh ich more than once in national crises theRu s s ian sovere igns were glad to draw. The Chu rch, which ,even in he r weakness, had s teadily tended to unity and antoerac was to place at the service of the crown a power wh ichha become enormou s . The Metropol i tans of Moscow werenearly always the faithful

’

allies of the Grand Princes.

23a w sma y or 30331 4 .

CHAPTER XI.

m1: e vanrw s : conounsr orWEST ERN auss 14 ( 1 24o-1 430)

The Lithuanians—Conques ts of Mindvog ( 1 24o of Gedimin ( 1315and oi

'

Olgerd ( 1345- 1377)- Jagellon—U nion of Lithuania with P0

land ( 1386)—Thc Grand Prince Vitovt ( 1392-t43o)—Battles ot the Vorsklaand of Tannenberg

THE L IT IlU A N IAN S—CON Q U EST S or M tnnvoc ( 1 240

csnmm ( 1 31 5 AN D or OLGER D ( 1 345

T HE Lithuanian tribes had al ready been great] broken upby the German conques t. Russ ians , Kors i, Semigal i, and Le ttshad been brought into subjection e ithe r by the Teu tonicLivonian knights . Two among the t ribes , the Jmouds and theLi thuan ians properly so cal led, had preserved i n the deep fores tsand marshes of the Niemen the i r proud independence, thei r ferocity, and their ancient gods . A Ru s s ian traditionaflirms thatthey formerly had paid the Russ ians the only tribu te their povertycou ld afiord—bark and brooms Jmouds and Li thuanians weredivided, l ike the ancien t Slavs , into rival and jealous tribes . A l

though more than once theymarched from their fores ts, blowinglong trumpets, caree ring on rough ponies—though they hadmade ma

nyi ncurs ions in to the Ru ss ian te rri tory—they were

not rea l ly angerous . This old Aryan people, whom Europeaninfluences had never modified, had preserved from the time theydwel t in As ia a powe rfu l sacerdotal cas te,—the mi

’

dd ola abovewhomwe re the M ailer, whose chief, the kn

’

ac-kriveito, was h ighpries t of the nat ion . Their principal divinity was Perkun, thegod of thunde r, analogou s to the Peru n of the Rus s ians . T he

sacred fire, the M imi, burned cons tan tly before this idol . Theyhad also

fines tesses

,the wi ld Velledas , like that Birouta who,

captured y Kes tout, became the mother of the great Vitovt.The t ime had come when the Lithuanians mus t perish l ike thePru s s ians or Letts, if they did not su cceed in uni ting agains tGermany. The emi ants from the coun tries al ready conqueredwould doubt less le themnew s trength and energy. A wily

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I3, HIS TOR y op R USS IA .

however, destined to remain for 400 years—eup to the time 0!Alexis R omanof—ia the hands of s trangers . The Russ ian populations wi l l ingly rece ived this new mas ter, who wou ld freethem from the heavy yoke of the Mongols and the unceas i ngcivi l wars. A s be respected their inte rnal cons ti tu t ion and therigh ts of the orthodox clergy, i t appears that many towns readilyopened their gates to him. Gedirnin sought to legal ize his conque s ts by contracting al liances wi th the house of Sr. Vladimi r,al lowed his sons to embrace the orthodox fai th

,and au thorized

the cons t ruction of Greek churches i n his residences at Wilnaand Novogrodek . In the North he had a pe rpetual s le tosus tain aga ins t the deadly enemies of his race, the m

’

i talymonks of Pruss ia and Livon ia. Like M indvog, he addressedhirnself to the Pope, j ohn XXII ., and i nformed him that hewished to preserve his i ndependence, that he only asked protection for his rel igion , that he was surrounded by Fran.ciscans and Domi nicans to whom he gave fu l l l ibe rty toteach the ir doctrine , and that he was ready to recogn ize thePope as supreme head of the Church , if he wou ld arres t the depredations of the Germans . The French Pepe sen t him Bartholomew, Bishop of Alais, and Bernard, Abbot of Puy. In thei nte rval he had been exasperated by renewed at tacks of theTeu tonic knights

,and forced the two legates to fly. He had

transferred his capital to Wilna on the Wil ia, and the ru i ns ofhis cas tle may s t i ll be perceived on the height which overlooksthe citadel . He drew thi ther by immuni ties German art is ts andartis ans , and granted them the rights of Riga and the

H anseatic towns . A Russ ian quarter was also formed inhis capital . He died and was bu ried according to the paganrite : his body was bu rned in a caldron wi th his war-horse andhis favori te groom.

After his death his sonsOlgerd ( 1 345—1 377) and Kestout deprived two of their brothers of their appanages , and togethergoverned Li thuania, now te-un ited into a single State . Olgerdhumi l iated Novgorod the Great, wh ich had received another ofhis fugitive brothers , ravaged her te rritory, and forced her topu t to death the pos sadnik who had been the cau se of the war.He extended his pos ses s ions to the eas t and sou th , and conqueredVitepsk , Mohilef, Briansk , Novgorod-Severski, Karnenetz .

and Podol ia ; thus rendering himsel f mas ter of nearly al l thebas i n of the Dnieper, and obtain ing a footing on the coast 0!the Black Sea, between the mou ths of the Dnieper and the

Dnies te r. With the republic of Pskof he main tained relationssometimes friendly, sometimes hos ti le ;gave her help againstthe Germans, and sen t his 5011 Andrew to govern her, and 00

wsmx y at R oss“ .

33

casionally arres ted her merchants and laid waste her territory.

The Poles dispu ted Volhynia with him, oppres sed the orthodoxfai th;and changed the Greek in to Latin churches . Olgerd thenmade advances to Simeon the Proud, Grand Prince of Moscow,and

,though a pagan, married Ju l i ana, princess of Tver. Under

Simeon ’s successors the Lithuan ian army three times took theroad to Moscow,

and,withou t the check imposed on him by the

Poles and the two Ge rman orders , Olgerd might have made thet onquest of Eas tern Russ i a. In 1368 he had ann ih ilated theMongol hordes which infested the Lower Dnieper, and , moredes tru ctive than even these barbarians, comple ted the ru i n ofCherson in the Crimea.

JAGELLON—UN ION or LITHUAN IA AN D POLAND

Although Olgerd had recons titu ted the Lithuan ian unity, hefel l back into the old error, and divided his States be tween hissons and his brother, the brave Kes tou t,who had been his fai thful associate . One of his sons , faga

‘

da or j agel/afl ( 1377- 1 434cruel ly repaired the fau l t of his father. He made his unc eKes tout prisone r by treachery, and caused him to be put to

death . H is brothe rs and cous ins escaped a s imilar fate by flyi ng to neighboring s tates . I n spite of th is the bloody paganwas the Apos tle of Lithuani a. For a long whi le Christiani tyhad sought to penetrate by two differen t channels, —under theLa t in form from Poland, and unde r the Greek form fromRus s ia.The fierce warsus tained by the Lithuan ians agains t the mil itarymonks of the North had rendered Cathol icism particu l arly hatesful to them. Under Olgerd the people of Wilna had risen, andfou rteen Franciscans were s lain. On the other s ide the large r ,

part of the Lithuani an conquests was composed of Rus s ian territory, and Lithuan ia underwent the influence of the Rus s ianrelig ion as wel l as of the Rus s ian l anguage . Russ ian becamethe offi cial tongu e ; i t even seemed as it orthodoxy was to become the ru l ing fai th , and the victors were to be absorbed bythe vanqu ished, and R ussified by thei r conques t. An unexpectedevent turned the natu ral course of h is tory. The Angevin andFrench dynas ty in Poland had late ly been extingu ished in the

person of Lou is of H unga . whos e only hei r was his daughterH edwiga. The Pol ish nohies fel t that the bes t way of pu ttinga s top to the eternal warfare wi th the Li thuanians was by marryi ng their queen to the powerfu l Prince of Wi lna. The heart ofHedwiga is said to have been elsewhere engaged ; but the

Ca thol ic clergy set forth her consent to th is union as a duty, the

334 FIS YU R Y OF R USSIA .

fulfilment of which was to ins ure i n Lithuan ia properthe t riumphof the Latin faith, and thus to separate i t from the Lithu anianRuss ian provinces which s ti l l remained orthodox.

I n 1386 Jagel lon went to Cracow and rece ived baptism andthe crown of Poland.

The conversion of the Li thuanians was then conducted aftera fashionas summary as that of the Russ ians in the t ime of Vladimir. They were d ivided into groups

,and the pries t then sprin

kled them wi th holy water, pronouncing, as he did so, a nameof the Latin Calendar. To one group he gave the name ofPeter, to another that of Pau l or John . Jagel lon overthrew theidol Perkun, extingu ished the sacred fire that burned in the cas tleof Wilna, kil led the holy serpen ts , and cut down the magicwoods . T he people , however, worsh ipped their gods for somet ime longer ; l ike the Northmen who were converted by theCarol ingians, many Lithuanians presented themselves more thanonce to be baptized

,in order to rece ive agai n and again the

white tunic of the neophyte . By t rans ferring his capi tal toCracow, i n deference to his new subjects , J agel lon necessa ri lyi rri tated -his old subjects. To the determined pagans the orthodox al l ied themse lves, provoked by the k ing

’

s propaganda infavor of Cathol icism. Lithuania bel ieved that by her unionwi thPoland she had forfe i ted her independence.

m s cmnp pars es vrrovr ( 1392- t43o) —sarrr.s s or run

VORSKLA AN D or TANN EN BER G

Vitovt, son of the hero Kestout and the pries tess Birouta,put himsel f at the head of the malcontents . He al lied himselfwi th the Teu tonic knights, and twice bes ieged the Pol ish garrison i n the Cas tle of Wilna. Weary of war, Jagel lon ended byceding him Lithuania wi th the ti tle of Grand PrinceVitovt ( 1 392 brothe r-ih-law of the Grand Prince of

Moscow (Vas s i l i Dmitriévitch), took up the pl ans of Olgerd forthe s ubjugat ion of the north-e as t of Russ ia. Sviatoslaf, the las tprince bu t one of Smolensk , had made h imse lf hated, even i nthat i ron cen tury, by his cruelties . Fighting i n the Ru ss ian territory, he took pleasure i n impal ing and bu rnin al ive womenand children . He was ki l led i n 1 387i n a batt e agains t theLi thuanians , and his son Ioury was only the shadow of a GrandPrince of Smolensk, unde r the guardianship of Vitovt. Thelatte r

,who combined perfidy wi th the cou rage and energy of his

father,made himsel f mas ter of the town by a s tratagem worthy

of Ce sar Borgia. He contrived to induce the prince and his

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136 H IS TOR Y or R USS IA .

his frontiers. But he was sti l l formidable, and the Grand Princeof Mos cow, afte r having tried to attack him,

judged it morepruden t to make peace .When Vitovt began to recover fromhis disas te r, he directed

a s t il l more famous expedition agains t the Teu tonic kn ights.The Grand Prince of Lithuan ia had more than

" once foundh imse lf at issue wi th the two German orders . Abou t this t imethe Teu tonic kn ights had los t the ir early energy, thanks to thedevelopmen t of the system of fiefs , and to the progress of thecommercial towns . In 1 409 the Jrnouds and Orienta l Prus s ia,after having protes ted agains t the severi ty of the yoke imposedon them

,revol ted

,coun ting on Vitovt to s upport them. A new

Grand Mas te r, the warl ike Ulrich of Jungingen,refused the

mediation of Vitovt’s suzerain, the King of Poland. Upon th isthe united forces of Poland and Lithuania, wi th Tatarsand Bohemian

,Hungarian

,Moravian and Si les ian mer

cenaries , mak ing a total of infantry, caval ry, and60 cannons , entered Prus s ia. The Grand Mas ter had only 57,000 i nfantry and caval ry

, wi th which to oppose them.

The battle of Tannenberg gained chicfly by Vitovt, whobroke the German centre and left wing, was a blow from wh ichthe power of the Teu tonic Orde r never recovered. The GrandM as te r and nearly all the high digni taries, 200 Knights of theOrder, and 400 fore ign knights, bes ides 4000 soldiers, werek il led. Nearly al l the princes of Wes tern Russ ia took part inthe combat

,and the contingen t of Smolensk especial ly dis tin

gu ished itsel f. The Jmoud country was freed from the Teutonicru l e and united to Li thuania.

Three years afterwards ( 1 413) the Congress of Horodlo onthe Bug, be tween Jagel lon, accompanied by the Polishpam

'

, andVitovt, accompanied by his Li thuanian chiefs , took place. I twas settled that the Li thuanian Cathol ics should receive the

rights and privi leges of the Pol ish milz‘

ac/zla ; and that therepresentatives of the two countries shou ld uni te i n a commondiet to elect the Kings of Poland and the Grand Dukes ofLi thuan ia. and decide importan t affai rs . Vitovt soon had difterences wi th his own subjects : the Jmouds, so refractory u nderthe Teu tonic ru le, were pagan s and Lithuan ians at heart . Theyha ted Catholic ism and the Pol ish domination. They rose andexpel led the monks . Vitovt cou ld only govern them by force .The Russ ian provinces of Li thuan ia were orthodox , and de

pended upon the Metropol itan of Moscow. Vitovt wished toshake ofi his rel igious supremacy, and demanded of the Patriarchof Cons tan tinople a special metropol itan for Wes te rn Rus s ia.In spite of the Patriarch’s refusal, he convoked a counci l of

HI S TOR Y OF R USS IA . , 3,

orthodox prelates : a learned Bulgarian monk, Gregory T sarn

blak, was elected Metropol itan oi Kief. Thus Rus sia had twore l igious ch iefs , as she had two Grand Princes—the Metropol itanof Eastern Russ ia, and the Metropol i tan of Wes tern Russ ia ;one at Moscow, the other at Kief. Vitovt also wished to freeh imself on the wes tern s ide, and deprive Poland of her supremacy over Lithuania. I n 1 429 he had an interview wi th the

Emperor Sigismond, who promised to create him King ofVitovt, then e ighty years of age, was at the he ight

of his power. We see himat the fates of Trok i and Wilna, a t

tended by his grandson Vass i l i Va s siliévitch, Grand Prince ofMoscow,who was accompanied by the Muscovite Metropol iPhotius , the Princes of Tver and Riazan , Jagel lon, king of Poland,the Khan of the Crimea, the exi led Hospodar of Wallachia, the

Grand Mas ter of Pru ss ia, the Landmeis te r of Livon ia, and theambas sadors of the Emperor of the Eas t. Dail were 700 oxen,1 400 sheep, and game in proport ion, consume I n the mids tof these fétes the ambit ious old man had to swal low a bit terdraught. The Poles had int rigued wi th the Pope, and he wasforbidden to dream of royal ty. The amba ss adors of Sigismond

were bring i ng him the sceptre and the

crown. Vitovt fel l ill, and died of disappoin tmentAfter this Lithu ania ceas ed to be formidable. We find i t in

turns governed by a Grand Duke of its own, uni ted to Polandunde r Vladis las

, separated again, the n definitely placed underthe Polish s ceptre from 1 50 1 . Though henceforward it always

the same sovereign as Poland, i t remai ned a State apa rtthe Grand Principa l i ty or Grand Duchy of Li thuan ia . Her

Lithuanian and Rus s ian provinces became steadi ly Pol ish, andthe princely descendants of Rurik and S t. Vladimir, or ofMindvog and Gedimin, assumed the manne rs and l anguage of

the Polish aristocracy.

1

1 38 1 1 1 s ? or 190331 4 .

e HAPTER XII.

GRAND PRINCES OF MOSCOW : ORGAN IZATION 0? mR U SS IA ( 1 303

ginofMos cow—Daniel- George D anielovitch ( 1303- 1325) and IvanKalita

( 1328-134 1 )—Contes t with the house of Tver—S imeon the Proud andIvan the Débonnaire ( 1341 -1359)

—Dmitri -1 389)—Battle 05Koulikovo—Vass iliDmitriévxtch and Vass ili the Blin ( 1389

ORIGIN OF MOSCOW—DAN IEL.

WHILST Wes tern Rus s i a grouped herself around the Lithuanian State , which had given the conquered Russ ian provincesa new capi tal i n Wilna, and soon i nvolved them i n her own

union wi th Poland , Eas te rn Ru s s i a grouped hersel f aroundMoscow. When th is double concentration on the Moskowa

and on the Wilna shou ld be accompl ished, Great Russ ia, proudof her nat ional and re ligiou s u ni ty, and Li thuan ian Ru ss i a (orrather a foreign State composed of the Russ ian , Lithuanian, andPol ish races , and of three rel igions, the Greek , Roman, andProtes tan t, bes ides the Jewish), would find themse lves face toface . The contest of these two s is ter-enemies wi l l fi ll manycen tu ries of the h is tory of the North . To other sovereigns, ino ther centu ries, wi ll fal l the task of recons titu t ing the Russ ianu ni ty i n its ful les t exten t. The honor of the princes of Mos~cow is to have created the l iving germ wh ich became GreatRuss ia.Around Moscow, u nder the Mongol yoke, a race was formed,

pat ient and resigned, ye t energeti c and enterpris ing, born toendure bad fortune and profit by good, which in the long run

was to ge t the upper hand over Wes tern Ru ss i a and Lithu ania.There a dynas ty of princes grew,

pol it ic and perseve ring, prudent and piti less

,of gloomy and terrible mien

,whose foreheads

were marked by the seal of fatal i ty. They were the founde rs ofthe Rus s ian empire, as the Capetians were of the French monarchTyne means used by the sovereigns of Russ ia were very

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1 4° msmzw op R USS IA .

oa the space now covered by an immense capital. During thecentu ry fol lowing its foundation, Moscow rema i ned an obscureand insignificant vi l lage of Souzdal. The chronic le rs do notallude to it except to mention tha t i t was bu rned by the Tatars

or th at a brothe r of Alexander Nevski, Michae l of Moancow,

was k i lled there i n a battle with the Lithuanians . The realfou nde r of the principal ity of the name was Dan ie l

,a son of

Alexande r Nevski , who had rece ived this‘

sma l l town and a fewvill ages as his appanage. He i ncreased his State by an impor

Peréiaslavl-Zaliesski, that belonged to one of his

nephews , and by the addit ion of Kolomna, wh ich he took fromthe R iazanese . A t his dea th i n 1 303 he was ”

the firs t to bebu ried i n the church of Sa in t Michae l the Archangel, wh ichtil l the time of Peter the Great remained the bu rying-place oithe Rus s ian princes . He was fol lowed, in due course, by hisbrothers George and I van .

s t ones namsnovrrcn ( 1 303- 1 325) AND IVAN 11 4 1 1 1 4 03281341 ) -srnuoct s wrra m HOUSE or m

The first act of George Danielovitch (1 303- 1 325) was to capeure Moja

'

isk from the Prince of Smolensk, and to take the l at ter

prisoner. Almos t at the same time began the bloody s t rugglewith the house of Tver, which, transmitted from father to son,

las ted for eighty years. When Andrew A lexandrovitch, GrandPrince of Souzdal, died in 1 304, two compe titors presentedthemselves—Michael of Tver, cous i n-german of the deceased,and his nephew George of Moscow. The claim of M ichae l wasincontestable was he not the eldest of the fami ly ? The boya rdsof Vlad imi r and the citizens of Novgorod did not hes i tate toacknowledge him as Grand Prince ; at Sara

'

i Tokhta the khandecl ared inhis favor, and ordered him to be ins tal led . M ichael,who had on his s ide the national law and the sovereign wi l l ofthe Mongols, cou ld also u se force ; be twice besieged Moscow,

and obliged the son of Daniel to leave him i n peace . I n thisyoung man he had an implacable enemy. The chron icles , iadignant at the revol t of George agains t the old hered i tary cus

tom, unanimous ly pronounced agains t him. While making dueal lowance for the i r efforts to blacken his characte r, we cannothe lp seeing that he was not a man to s hri nk from any crime .His father had taken the Prince of Riazan prisone r. H e had

him ass as s inated in his dungeon , and wou ld h ave taken pos session of his te rri tories, i f the Khan had not orde red the rights of

the young heirto be respected. ThenGeorge eansed himselt to

‘HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA . 1 4.

be recognized as Prince of Novgorod, to the pre'

udice ofMichael

, but the army of Tver and Vladimi r defeate that furh ished him by the republ ic. An unexpected event suddenlychanged the face of th ings . The Khan Tokhta died ;Georgemanaged to gain the good graces of his s ucces sor U zbeck, sothat the latte r gave him his s is ter Lontchaka in marriage, and,revers ing the decis ion of Tokhta, adjudged him the grand principality. The son of Danie l retu rned to Russ i a wi th a Mongolarmy, commanded by the baskak Kavgadi. Michael consen ted

,

say the chronicles, to cede Vladimi r, if his hereditary appanagewere respected ;bu t George began to lay was te the country ofTver, and war was inevi table. Michael triumphed completely.The Tatarwi fe of George, his brother Boris , the Mongol genera lKavgadi, and nearly al l the offi cers of the Khan, fe ll i nto hishands. Michae l covered his prisoners wi th attentions dictatedby prudence. Kavgadi, re leased wi th honor, swore to be hisfriend, but, as the sis ter of the Khan died, the enemies of thePrince of Tver set on foot a report that he had poisoned her.The cause of the two princes was carried before the tribunal ofthe Khan . Whils t the i ndefatigable Muscovite went i n person,wi th his hands fu l l of presents, to the Horde, Michae l had theimprudcnce to send his son, a boy of twelve years old, in hisplace. Finding George was occupied in accus ing, i n trigu ing,and corrupting, Michael at las t made up his mi nd to fol low him.

Not unprepared for the lot that awaited him,he made his wil l

,

and dis tribu ted appanages among his chi ldren. He was accusedof having drawn his sword agains t a basket , envoy of the Khan,and of havin poisoned Kontchaka. These accusa t ions were somanifes tly a surd

,that U zbeck deferred

‘

udgment. This , however, did not mee t George

’

s views , and, y means of in trigues,he ob tained the arres t of his kinsman . T he Khan now set out

for some months’ hunting in the Caucasus . Michae l was draggedin the train of the cou rt, loaded wi th irons , from the Sarai toDediakof i n Daghes tan . One day he was pu t i n the pil lory inthe market of a th ickly-popu lated town, and the spectatorscrowded to see him, saying, This prisoner was , a short t ime ago,a powerfu l prince i n his own country.” The boyards of Michaelhad told him to escape ; he refused, not wish ing his ople tosui’ferforhim. George was so energe tic, and scattere abou t somuch money, that, finally, the death-warran t was signed . Oneof Michael ’s pages entered the ten t wh ich served him as a prison, i n great alarm,

to tel l him that George and Kavgadiwereapproaching, fol lowed by a mul ti tude of people. I know thereason,

” replied the pri nce and he sen t his young sonCons tantine to one of the Khan’s wives, who had promised to take him

1 43 HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

under herprotection. His two enemies took thei r s tand near

his ten t, dismissed the boyards of Tve r, and sent the ir hiredruflians to as s as s inate the prince . They threw him down, andtrampled him u nder thei r feet. A s in the case of Michael ofT chemigof, i t was not a Mongol that s tabbed him and tore outhis heart, but a renegade named R omanetz. When George andKavgadi entered and contemplated the naked corpse, What

,

”

said the Tatar, wi l l you allow the body of you r uncle to be ou t

raged ?” One of George's se rvants threw a mantle over the

victim Michae l was bewailed by the Tverians . Hisbody

,incorruptible as that of a martyr, was afterwards depos i ted

in a s i lver bier in the cathedral of Tver. He became a sain t,and the patron of his ci ty. Oh the walls of the cathedral

,

ancien t andmodern pictu res recal l his martyrdom,and condemn

the crime of the Mus covi te. Al l the contempora ry chronicleswarmly take his part agains t the as sass in . Karamsin has madehimse lf the echo of their apologies and curses . But at the samet ime that Michae l became a saint, George became the all-powerful sovereign of Moscow, Souzdal, and Novgorod. The tragicfate of Michae l fore told the ru in of Tver.Some years afte rwards , th ings were reversed at the Horde .

Dmi tri of Me terrible eyes, son of the u nhappy Michael, obtainedthe ti tle of Grand Prince, and the baskak Seventch Bonga wascharged to place him on the throne of Vladimir. George fou ndh imself obl iged to go again to Sarai ;there the two rivals , Dmitriof Tver and George of Moscow, met. Dmi tri had his father toavenge ;his sword leaped from the s cabbard, and the Prince ofMoscow fel l mortally wou nded (r32 Al l that his friendscou ld ob tai n was that Dmi tri s hou ld be put to death . The

hatter was succeeded in Vladimi r by his brother Alexaner.

Unluckily for the house of Tver, the fol lowing year the Tverians, ea perated by the baskak Chevkal, rose in rebe l l ion andmurdered him and al l his su i te. Alexander, ins tead of imitatingthe firm prudence of his Muscovi te neighbors , al lowed himseltto be carried away by the popu lar pas s ion . I t was he who as

s aulted the palace of the baskak, and l ighted the fire. Aftersuch an action, he had no pity to expect from the Khan ;and ifUl beek cou ld have forgotten the insu l t to his majes ty, the princesof Moscowwou ld have kept him i n mi nd of it. The brother ofGeorge, I van Kal i ta, offered to comple te the ru in of Tver. U z

beck promised him the t itle of Grand Prince, and gave him anarmy of Tatars, to whom were joined the eontingents of

Mos cow and Souzdal. Alexander,who had not had the wisdomto resist his people, had likewise not the courage to defend them

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x44 H IS TOR Y OF R USSIA .

the afi airs of Tver, married one of his daughters to Vladimir ofIaroslavl and anothe r to Cons tantine o f R ostof, brother of theban ished prince . The return of Alexander gave a chief to thosewho were discontented wi th Ivan . I ns tead of declaring war

,

Ivan prefe rred to resort to his ordina means. He flew to the

Horde, and there represen ted Alexa r as the mos t dangerousenemy of the Mongols . I n consequence of these ins inuat ions ,Alexanderwas summoned before the Khan ; this t ime he wasbeheaded

,wi th his son Feodor. The rival ry with Mos cow had

a lready cos t four princes of the hou se of Tver thei r l ives. U z

beck,who had onl confidence in Moscow, and who wished to

govern the res t 0 Russ ia by terror, abou t this time put thePri nce of S tarodoub to death . The pri nces Constantine and

Vas s i l i of Tver, sons, brothe rs , and unc les of the victims,felt

that they cou ld only mai n tain themse lves by obedience to theirterrible father-ih-law. A s a proof of submis s ion they sen t toKal i ta the great hel l of the cathedral of Tver. The princes of

Riazan and Souzdalwere also obliged to fight under his s tandards . Novgorod

,threatened by him

,began the cou rs e which

afte rwards proved so fatal to he r, and migh t have proved the

ru i n of Rus s ia ; she al l ied herself with Li thuan ia, accepted as

prince, N arimond, a son of Gedimin, and gave him the N ovgo

rodian posses sions i n Ingria and Carel ia, as hereditary appanages .She tried also to make fr iends wi th the Grand Prince of Mos

cow, but Ivan only des i red to res tri ct her l ibe rtie s, and exacted,in the name of the Khan , a double capitatiomtax .

This unwarl ike prince,at the same time as he s trengthened

his supremacy, acqu i red b purchase the towns of Ouglitch,Galitch, Biélozersk , and lan s i n the neighborhoods of Kos troma,Vladimi r, and R os tot. He was at once Prince of Moscow and

Grand Prince of Vladimir ;but Moscowwas his i nhe ri tance, ofwhich he cou ld not legally be despoiled by the Khan, wh ileVladimi r could be

“

ven to another hou se . I t was thu s that inGe rmany the archghchy of Aus tria was heredi tary, whi ls timpe rial crown migh t legally pas s to another fami ly. I t maytherefore bg imagined how Kalita chose to sacrifice Vladimi r toMoscow, a s the Hapsbu rgs sacrificed Frankfort to Vienna.His Tverian rivals , the two grand princes , his predecess ors, hadacted in the same way. Michael and Dmi t ri of Tver had hardlappeared at Vladimir, except to be crowned in the cathedThey l ived habitu al ly in the i r appanage towns , one at Tver, theothe r at Peréiaslavl. Under Kal ita, Vladimi r remained the

legal capi tal of Rus s ia ;Moscowwas the real capi ta l , and Kalitawas working to make her the capital dej ure as wel l as dej umThe Metropol i tan of Vladimir, Peter.who had an affection to:

m mzey or 30331 4. “5

Moscow, often resided there. His successor, Theognostus,established hims elf there comple te ly. Then the rel igiou s eu

premacy which had first belonged to Kief, and nex t to Vladimir,pas sed to Moscow. Kal ita did his bes t to give it the prest igeof a metropol is . He buil tmagnificent churches i n the Kremlin,among others tha t of the Assumpt ion, the Ourpimrki sober.

The first Me tropol itans of Moscow, thanks to him and his suo

cessors, were beatified. S t. Alexis and St. Peter are reckonedamong the patron-saints of Russ ia. I t is related that theMetropolitan Pe ter himself marked ou t the place of his tomb inthe new church, and that he said to Ivan, God wi l l b les s thee,and e levate thee above al l the other princes, and raise this townabove all other towns . Thy race wi llre ign in this place duringmany centuries ; their hands wil l conquer al l thei r enemies ; thesaints wil l make their dwel l ing here, and here shal l my bonesreposef

’

What made the chief glory of ”Kiet’

the ancient metropol iswas the famous Petcherskimonas tery, wi th its holy catacombsand the tombs of so many asce tics and wonder-workers . Mos

cow had also her he ritage of virtues and gloriou s austeri ty.Under Kalita

’s succe ssor, no t far from the capital, in a deep

fores t,where he had at first no companion but a bear, on water

courses which were haun ted only by the beavers, St. Sergiusfou nded the Troi

’

ts a monastery (the which became oneof the riches t and mos t venerated of Eas te rn Rus s ia. Ou its

i ncrease of wealth, it was obl iged to be surrounded wi thparts ; and its th ick brick wal ls wi th a triple row of embrasu res,its nine war-towers, and its s til l exis ting fortifica tions , wereafterwards des tined to brave the assau l ts of Catholics and infi

dels. The princes of Moscow, i n spite of their perfidious and

pit i less pol icy, were as piou s as good King Robert—dc’w ts,a lms-give rs , indefat igable in bu i lding chu rches and monas teries,i n honoring the cle rgy, and in helping the poor. The su rnameof Kalx

'

ta given to Ivan comes from the kalz‘

fa or alms-bag hewore always at his girdle. This kalita may a lso have been Shylock’s pu rse—the bag of a prince who was farmer-general andu surer who demanded from Novgorod double what he in tendedto pay on her behal f to U zbeck . Ivan l iked to converse wi ththe monks i n his Conven t of the Transfiguration. Like al l theother pri nces of the house, he took care, whe n at the point ofdeath

, to be tonsu red and adopt the rel igious dress and a newname .

If the princes of Moscow l abored wi th fierce energy to bindtogether the Rus s i an soil, they continued to divide i t in to ap

pageges among their s ons. Many causes contributed topney

entOL. 1

1 46 msrom’ or R USSJA .

the return of the former anarchy. These princes, as a rule, hadfew sons ; they gradually got in to the way of giving only veryweak appanages to the younger ones , and these on condit ion ofan abso lu te dependence on the eldes t. Ivan, for example, hadonly three sons ; he gave by far the larger share (Mojaisk andKolomna) to Simeon, and forbade Moscow to be divided. The

idea of the State as one and indivis ible was ce rtain to end bygain ing the day.

smsox m a pnovo AND IVAN m ns somu ms ( 1 341

Simeon the Proud 0341 - 1 353) and Ivan I I . ( 1 3 3- 1 359)succeeded one after the other their father Kali ta. T ey wereal l three contemporaries of the early Valois. A t the news ofthe death of Ivan, many princes at once dispu ted the throne ofVladimi r wi th his sons. Cons tantine of Tver

,and Cons tan tine

of Souzdal, especial ly, were supported by the other princes whodid not des ire the ti t le of Grand Prince to be

dperpetuated in

the house of Moscow. They wen t to the Hor e at the sametime as Simeon and his two sons travel led thi the r. Simeonowed his success neither to his e loquence nor his arguments , butto the treasure of his father, which won over the infidels . Afterbe ing crowned i n the Cathedra l of Vladimir, he swore to l ive i nharmony wi th his two brothers , and exacted from them the sameoath . While pushi ng his submission to the Khan to the vergeofrbaseness, he dominee red ove r the Russ ian princes wi th ahaughtiness tha t gained for him the surname of the Proud.”

H e forced Novgorod to pay him a contribu tion, and, in his

capacity of supreme head of Russ ia, confirmed the l iberties ofthe republ ic. He was the first who assumed the t i t le of GrandPrince of all the Russ ias ,

” which was l i ttle'

us tified

facts , as i n t341 Olgerd of Li thuan i a be s ieged e town

jaisk, Simeon’

s own appanage. The friendship of Sr. Alexis,thi rd Metropol itan of Moscow, gave him great moral aid. I nhis reign Boris , a Russ ian artis t, cas t be l ls for the cathedrals ofMoscow and Novgorod ; three chu rches of the Kreml in wereadorned wi th new paint ings—that of the A ssumption, by Greekart is ts ; that of SA M dzad ,

by the Cou rt painters ; that of theTramfigurahbn, by a foreigner named Goiten. Paper replacedparM ent : and i t was on pa per that Simeon’s wi l l was writ ten .

Russ ia then s ti l l maintained her old relations wi th Byzantium,and entered into new ones with Europe. Simeon died of thefamous “black death ” or black pes t i lence,

” which at thistime desolated the Wes t.Ivan IL. brother and successor of “the Proud. deserves,

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43 51 s ? or 1 80381 4 .

worthy of the Wes t. He proves that the Russian soul had beenonly repressed, not rendered depraved and se rvile by the Tataryoke, and that Slav ch ivalry only awai ted an opportunity toraise the cry of war. and make the ir swords flash like the f fmr&wah

’

er: of Lou is IX . or of John the Good. Dmi tr i had atonce to su s tain a series of wars agains t the ne

’

hboring princes ;notably agains t Dmit ri of Souzdal, Michae l 0 Tver, and Olegof Riazan . A s changes took place at the Horde, Dmi tri ofSouzdal obtained from the Khan M ourout a reversal of his firs tdecis ion, and re tu rned to Vladimi r. The Prince of Moscow,who feared th is feeble Khan no longer, did not hes i tate to takeup arms, and to expe l his rival from Vladimi r. A treaty wasagreed on between them. The Souzdalian appanage of NijniNovgorod having become vacan t

,Dmi tri suppor ted his ancien t

enemy agains t his competi tor Boris . Like his grandfatherKal ita, who had caused Novgorod to be excommunica ted,Dmi tri Ivanovi tch entreated S t. Sergius, the founder of theTroitsa Monas tery, to lay t ni-Novgorod u nder an i n terdict.Then Boris yie lded, and Dmit ri of Souzdal, now Prince of N ifniNovgorod, gave the Prince of Moscow his daughter Eudoxia i nmarri age, and henceforward remained his friend. Dmi tri I vanovitch deprived the rebel princes of S tarodoub and Galitch oftheir appanages, and forced Cons tantine Borissovitch to recogn ize his supremacy. He made, under the gu arantee of St.Alex is, a treaty wi th his cous in , Vladimir Andriévitch, by wh ichhe undertook to hand over to him the appanage that Kalita hadsecured to his father, and by which Vladimir engaged to ac

knowledge him as his father and his Grand Prince. Vladimi rkept his word, and was always the braves t l ieutenant and theright arm of Dmi tri.The s truggle now recommenced wi th the house of Tver.

Michael A lexandrovitch, whose father had been k illed at theHorde, dispu ted the throne wi th one of his uncles . The GrandPrince and the Metropol i tan of Moscow took the part of thel atte r. Michael paid no atten tion to this decis ion, took Tverwi th a Lithuanian army

,bes ieged his uncle i n Kachine, and

obl iged him to renounce his claims . He then took the title ofGrand Prince of Tver. I t was chicfly the a l l iance wi th Olgerd,the hus band of his s is ter Ju l iana, tha t rendered him formidable. Thrice—ia 1 368, i n 1 371 , and in 1 37z- Olgerd conductedhis brother-in-law, burnin and pil laging on his way, up to thewal ls of the Kreml in on gtoscow. Nei the r the Li thuan ian northe Muscovite army on any of these occas ions fought a decis ivebattle . The boyards of Dmi tri fel t that a los t battle would bethe min of Russia ;while Olgerd was too old and experienced to

HIS YU R Y OF RUSSIA. 1 49

stake all on a hazard. A t las t, in 1 375, after the dea th of hisfound himseit besieged inTver by the

uni ted forces of al l the vassa ls and allies of Dmi tri and of theN ovgorodians who had the sack of Torjok and the devas tationof their territory to avenge. Reduced to extremi ties , and abandoued by

‘

Lithuania,he was cons tra ined to s ign a trea ty by

which heyengaged to regard Dmitri as his

“ elder brother,”to

renounce all claim to N ovgorod and Vladimir, not to dis qu ie t thea ll ie s of Mos cow, and to imi tate Dmi tri

’

s conduct towards the

Tatars , whe ther he continued to pay tribute or he declared war.Another enemy, not les s dangerous , was Oleg of R i azan, who

had formerly braved Ivan the Debonnai re . In 1 371 , the M us

covites defeated Oieg, and ins talled a prince of Pronsk in hiscapital, who was not, howeve r, s trong enough to maintain hispos ition . Ii

'

Tver was sometimes supported by LithRiazan had often the Horde as an ally.

empire ofKiptchak was gradua llyly fallir’

r

lgilt0 pieces. Many

compe ti tors dispu ted the throne of SaraL e Tatars actedafter thei r k ind, and invaded the Russ ia n terr itory i n disarderly s tyle . I t 13 t rue i t was no longer a point of honor wi ththe Chris ti an princes to s ubmit to them. 01eg of R iazan himself united wi th the princes ot

'

Pronsk and Kozels k, and defiedthe mourad T agai, who had bu rn t Riazan . Dmi tri of Souzdal,pri nce of Nijni-Novgorod, had defeated Bonlat-Temi r, who onhis re turn to the Horde had been dis avowed and pu t to death.

I'mally, Dmitri of Mos cow had many t imes disobeyed the te rri~ble Mamat. He had, however, the cou rage to answer to thesummon s of the Khan, and the good fortune or the clevernes sto retu rn to Moscow safe and we ll In 1 376 Dmit risent a grea t expedition agains t Kazan b the Volga, and forcedtwo Tatar princes to pay t ribu te . Confl

ycts mu ltipl ied be tween

the Chris tians and the infidels. I n this manner the princes otSouzdal exterminated a band of Mordvians , and del ivered uptheir chiefs to be torn in pieces by the dogs of Novgorod ;return

,Ma1nai ordered the town to be bu rn t. I n 1 378, Dmit ri

of Moscow gained a brilhant victory over the l ieu tenant ofMama)?on the banks of the Voja 1 11 Riazan . In the first intoxication of vi ctory, he cried, T he i r time is pas t, and God iswith us The Khan , m his blind fu ry, caus ed his anger tofa ll on Oleg of Riazan, the rival of Dmi tri Ivanovi tch, who fled,abandoning his lands to the ravages of the enemy.I t took Mamat two years to mature his plans of vengeance,

and be ass embled m s i lence an immense hos t of Tatars, Tu rks,Polovtsi, T cherkesses, I as ses , and Bonrtanians or Caucasian

Jews . Even the Genoese otKafla, se t tled in the Crimea and

1 5°HIS TOR Y or R USS IA .

on the terri tory of the Khan, furnished a con tingent. In thesecrit ica l circumstances for Russ ia, Oleg ot Riazan, forge tting hisgrievances agains t the Tatars, and only remembe ring his mis t rus tand jealousy of Mos cow, be trayed the common cause. Whilekeeping on good terms wi th Dmi tri, even while warn ing him of

what was preparing, he secretly negotiated an alliance be tweenthe two mos t formidable enemies of Russ ia—Jagellon ot Li thoan ia and Mamai. The Grand Prince ’s army wou ld probably becrus hed be tween them ;but Dmi tri did not lose heart. Thedes i re of vengeance awakened in the Rus s ians wi th the force ofreligious enthusiasm. A t the ca ll of the Grand Prince, theprinces of R os tof, Biélozersk, I aros lavl, S tarodoub, and Kach ine,with their drouj ina: the boyards of Vladimi r, Nijni-Novgorod,Souzdal, Peréiaslavl-Zaliesski, Kos troma, M ourom

,Dmitrof,

Mojaisk , Zvenigorod, Ouglitch, and Se ukhof, at the head ofthe 1 r contingents, success ive ly made 1 ei r entrance i nto theKreml in, amid the acclarnations of the Muscovi tes. A t Kos tromaDmi triwas to be

°

oined by two Lithu anian princes—Andrewand Dmit ri- who rought him troops from Pskot and Briansk .

The grand Prince, wi th his cous in Vladimi r, went to the hermi tof Troitsa to ask the benediction of Sain t Sergius . The ‘r predicted that he wou ld gain the v ictory, but th at it wou ld

be a bloody fight. He sen t two of his monks, Alexander Peresvet and Osliaba, formerly a brave boyard of Briansk, to accompany Dmi t ri. On the ir cowls he made the s ign of the cross.Behold,

” he cried,a weapon wh ich faileth never.” The

Prince of Tver had taken good care not to send his con tingent,and the treason of the Prince of Riazan now became known.The hearts of the Russ ians beat with joy and enthus iasm at theth rought of revenge. In spite of private jealous ies, the princeswe 1 e animated by the same ardor as the Spanish kings whenthey marched agains t the Moors, or the compan ions of Godfreyof Bouil lon on the road for the Holy Land. Never had suchan army been seen . Dmi tri is said to have had men.They crossed the country of Riazan , then under a craven

prince, and reached the banks of the Don. The pri nces debated as to whether it was necessary to cross the river immediately ;but i t was u rgen t to dispose of the Mongols before bavinon their hands j agel lon , who had al ready arrived at Odoefifteen leagues 03. A le tter wh ich Dmi tri received from Sa intSergius

,recommending him to go forwards,

” decided the

matter. The Don was crossed, and they found themselves onthe plain of Koulikovo (MeField q/Woodcock ), watered by theN epriadva. The cen tre was occupied by the princes ot Lithu

o

ania and Smolensk. wi th the droaj ina of Dmitn the right was

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1 53M N R Y 0’ R USSIA .

cillors . Not knowing wha t to do, he left Moscow and went toassemble an army at Kost roma. Tokhtamych marched straigh ton the capital , and during three days tried to carry the walls ofthe Kreml in by assau l t. Then he had recou rse to a ruse, andaflected to enter i n a negotiati on . A t las t the Tatars su rprisedthe gates , and delivered up Moscow to fire and sword. Atolerab ly exact ca lcu lat ion proves that men peri shed,bepfile the precious documents and earl ies t arch ives of the prin

c1 tty.

Vlad imi r, Mojaisk, Ionrief, and other towns of Souzdal su£~

feted the same fate. When T okhtarnych had retired, Dmi tricameand wept over the ru i ns of his capital . “Ourfathers ,

" he cried,who neve r t riumphed over the Tatars , were less unhappy than

we. Bitter morrow of victory ! However, al though Rus s iahad to res ign herself to her Tatar col lectors , she fe l t that theHorde wou ld never recover its former power.Dmi tri longed at least to revenge h imse lf on the perfidious

Oleg. The latter escaped him, but Riazan, which was regardedas a harbor for t rai tors , was sacked . M ichaelot Tver meri tedthe same chas t isement ;he had refused to fight Mamal, and wasone of the firs t to fly to the Horde ot Tokhtamych. The warcontinued with Oleg of Riazan, who ravaged the terri tory ofKolomna. Saint Sergius again inte rvened

, entreated and threatened Oleg, and finally induced him to conclude a

“ perpetualpeace wi th Dmi tri, and to cemen t i t by the marriage of hisson Feodor with Sophia, daughter of Dmi tri .

T he Novgorod adventu rers , the“ Good Companions, had

abou t th is time commi tted many ravages on the terri tories ofthe Grand Principal i ties . They insu l ted Iaros lavl and Kos

troma in 1 37r, and Kos troma and N iju i-Novgorod in 1 375, pi ll aging as far as Sara! and As trakhan, Sparing ne i ther infidelsnor Christians . Novgorod continued to furnis h appanages tothe Lithu anian princes, to despise the po l it ical au thori ty of theGrand Prince

,and the rel igious supremacy of the Metropol itan .

marched agains t the republic wi th the cont ingents oftwenty-five provinces . Novgorod had to pay an indemni ty forthe glorious deeds of the Good Companions, and to engage tofurmsh a yearly tribu te .When Dmi tri d ied, the principa l i ty of Moscow was by far the

mos t cons iderable oi the States of the Northe as t, s ince i t extended on the sou th to Kalouga and Kasimof, and included onthe north-eas t Biélozersk and Galitch. A s to Vladimi r, Dmi tri,in his wi l l , cal ls i t his patrimony. He has been reproached forhavi ng l imi ted h imse lf to the sack of Tver and Riazan , wi thou thas tening the irfinal annexa t ion. If Dmi trigave appanages to

ms romror R USS IA . 353

his five younger sons , he at leas t es tablished the principle of iaheritance in a direc t li ne ins tead of the ancien t principle of coLlateral succes s ion . He had s igned a treaty wi th his cous inVladimir, by

which the latter renounced his rights as eldes t ofthe fami ly,

’ engaging to cons ider Vas sil i, eldes t son of Dmitri,as his e lder brother.” In the re ign of Donskot the monkStephen founded the first church in the coun try of the Permians ,confu ted thei r pries ts and sorce re rs , overthrew the idols otVots sel and the Old Golden Woman who held two infan ts in herarms, pu t a s top to the sacrifice of re indeer, bu ilt schools , anddied Bishop of Permia. A ce rtain Andrew

,probably a Genoese

by birth, s ett led on the Petchora. Rus s ia en tered into re lationswith the Wes t bymeans of the Genoese otKaffa and Azof coinsof s i lver and coppe r

,With the image of a knight, replaced the

kowza , or marten-skins . Abou t 1 389the firs t cannons appearedin the Rus s ian army. Moscow contlnued to adorn herse lf, and

Lhe

l

rnonas teries of the Miracle, of Andronii, and ot Simconwere1 1 1 t.

vass tu Dmmnmrca AN D 171 1351 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ( 1389

Vas s ili Dmitriévitch ( 1 389—1 42 the contemporary of CharlesVI . of France , succeeded his father wi thou t Oppos i t ion as

Grand Prince of Moscow and Vladimi r. The preponderanceof the firs t of these towns over the second became more andmore marked. The s i tuation of both was equally advan tageous ;the one on the Moskowa, the other on the Kliazma, atiiuentsof the Oka . Vladimi r

, like Mos cow,had its kremlin on a high

hi l l, commanding a vas t exten t of coun try. Bo th ci ties were incommunica tion wi th the great Russ ian artery, the Volga ;butwere far enough from it to escape the piracies of the Good Companions . Vladimir had been i n other respects as favored asMoscow. Andrew Boglioubski had ornamented the former, asIvan Kal ita had embe l lished the second. Vladimi r, to whichthe ti tle of Grand Principal i ty was attached, seemed evenbe tter fitted than Mos cow to be the capital of Rus s ia. I t wasalmos t an h is torical accident that decided i n favor of the latter.A t the presen t da Vladimi r is merely a simple seat of government wi th a popul

l

ation of wh1le Moscow is ametrOpoliswi th sou ls .

With regard to Novgorod, the Grand Prince of Moscow bec

gan to look upon i t from the poin t of view of a sovere ign, andcalled the city his patrimony. The N ovgorodians on their s ideappealed to the charter of Iaroslaf the Great, which formally com

354H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

ceded them the righ t to choose thei r princes . In the last reignsthey had been accus tomed to have recourse to a bargain . T he

republ icans recognized the sovere ign of Moscow as their pri nce,it the latter wou ld consen t to ce rtain condi tions,—the finalhoma rendered to the ancien t Slav freedom. Afte r the fal l of

ex anderof Tver no Ru ss ian prince cou ld compete wi ththe house of Moscow for the th rone of Novgorod. T he onlypos sible riva ls were the Grand Princes of Lithuania. N ow withLithuania i t was not on ly a compe ti tion of candidates , but i t wasa great national and rel igious ques tion . Moscow would preferto ru in Novgorod rather than al low her to pass i nto the handsof the mos t dangerous enemy of Rus s ian orthodoxy. We mays ay that after 1 328 Novgorod had no longer a special pri nce,b ut only a boyard of Moscow, who represented the Grand Prince.

The power of the latter was s ometimes exerted wi th vigor. In

1 393Novgorod having revol ted agains t Moscow, Vass i l i sent i nhis troops, and seventy inhabi tants of Torjok , accu sed of havingput to death one of his men, were cut to p 1eces .

Vas s i l i Dmitriévitch then, on his access ion to the throne,found his power cons iderably s trengthened, as Vladimir on theKliazma and Novgorod the Great, the objects of so many bloodycontes ts with the Rus s ian princes

,had i n some ways already

become integral parts of his domin ions. I f he went to the Hordein 1 392 , i t was less to obtain the confirmation of th is triple crownthan to acqu i re new te rri tories . From the Khan Tokhtamych hebought a z

’

arlx‘

b i, which put him i n possess ion of the three appanages of Mourom,

Nij ui' N ovgorod, and Souzdal. The boyardsof Mos cow and the ambas sador of the Khan be took themse lvesto Nij ni. Boris

,the las t ti tu lar prince of the two latte r appao

nages, was betrayed byhis men, who persuaded him to open thegates, and del ivered h1m up to the soldiers of the Grand P ri nce .Then, wi th the ri nging of al l the be lls i n the town , Vas siliofMoscowwas proclaimed Prince of Nijn i and Souzdal.This prince

,who l ived on such good terms wi th the Horde,

was wi tness , however, of two Tatar invas ions of Russ ia. Tamerl ane, conqueror of the Ottoman Tu rks at Anticyra, attacked hisold favori te T okhtamych, and pil laged the Golden Horde. He

con ti nued to move towa rds the Wes t, pu t ting the Ru ss ian territory to hte and sword. Moscow was threatened with an invas ion as te rrible as that of Bati . The famous Virgi n of Vladimir,brough t by Andrew Bogolioubski from Vychegorod, was takensolemn ly to Moscow. The Tatars reached Eletz on the Don,and made its princes prisoners . There they s topped, and sud

denly ret re ated . Accus tomed to the rich booty ot Bokhara andH indostan, and dreaming of ConstantinOple and Egypt, they

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1 56171 s f orRUSSIA.

other enemies to dispose of, to risk in one ba ttle the fortunes ofMos cow or Li thuania. I n 1 408 they s igned a treaty by whichthe Ougra was fixed on as the limit of the two Grand Princi

palities, leaving Smolensk to Vitovt, and res toring Kozelsk toRuss ia. Bes ides Mourom and Souzdal, Vas s il i had un ited tohis domains many appanages of the country of Tchernigof, suchas Torouss a, Novossil, Kozelsk, and Peremysl. I n the qu arre lswith Novgorod, general ly occas ioned by the exploits of the GoodCompanions or by commercial rival ry, he had appropriated vastterri tories on the Dwina ; among others, Vologda. I n an expedition agains t the repub li c of Viatka he had reduced i t to sub

miss ion, and made one of his brothers its prince . He had

imposed a treaty on Feodor Olgivitch, prince of Riaza n, bywhich the latter undertook to look on him as a father, and tomake no al liance to his hu rt. Vass i l i on his s ide ceded to himTou l a and the tit le of Grand Prince. The Oka formed the

boundary of the two States. He made, no doubt, a s imi l artreaty with Ivan

,prince of Tver. One of his daughters had

married the Emperor John Paizeologus .

The reign of Vas s i l i the Bl ind ( 1 425 contempora rywi th Charles VII. of France, marks a pause in the developmentof the Grand Principal ity. A civil war of twen ty years brokeou t i n the bosom of the family of D omko: One of his sons,George

,01 Iouri

,whom he had made Prmce of Roussa and

Zven igorod, attempted to revert to the ancien t national law, andi nvoked his righ t as eldes t agai ns t his nephew, Vas s i li Vassiliévitch. Vas s i l i ’s other uncles declared in favor of the youngpri nce. I n 1 431 i t was neces sary to on the dispute to theH orde . Ea ch of the two pa rt ies set forth is righ t to the KhanOulou~M akhmet. Vsevoloj ski, a boyard of the Prince of MOScow, found the bes t of arguments for his mas ter. My LordTzar,

” he said to Makhmet, le t me speak—me, the s l ave ofthe Grand Prince. My mas ter the Grand Prince prays for theth rone of the Grand Principal i ty

,which is thy property, havin

no othe r t i tle bu t thy prote ction , thy inves titu re, and thy iarliéThou art mas ter, and can dispose of i t according to thy goodpleasure . My lord the Prince Iouri Dmitriévitch, his u ncle

,

claims the Grand Principal ity by the act and the wi l l of hisfather, but not as a favor from the Al l-powe rfu l .” I n this cons

tes t of baseness the p rize was adjudged to the Prince ofMoscow.

The Khan ordered Iont i to lead his nephew’

s horse by thebridle. A T atar baréaé was presen t at the coronation of theGrand Pri nce, which took place, for the first time, not at Vladimir

,but at the As sumption in Moscow. From this t ime Vladi

mir los t herprivileges as the capital, a l though, i n the enumeration

M N R ? OF R USS IA‘. ‘S’

of their titles, the Grand Princes continued to inscribe the nameof Vladimir before tha t of Moscow.

Vassili owed his throne to the clever boya rd,He had promised to marry his daughter, but his ownmother

,

Sophi a, the prou d Lithuan ian, daughter of the great Vitovt,made him contract an a l l iance with the Princess M aria, granddaughter oi Vladimi r the Brave . The i rri tated boyard left Vassili ’s serv ice, and retired to his enemy, Iouri, whose res entme ntagains t his nephew he fanned. Another ci rcumstance exasperated Iouri; his two sons, Vass ili the Squ inting, and Chemiaka,as sis ted at the marriage of the Grand Prince . The PrincessSoph ia recogn ized round the wais t of Vas s ili the Squinting a

bel t of gold wh ich had be longed to Dmitri Donskoi. She hadthe imprudence, publ icly and with open s candal , to take i t from

son of Iouri. On this affront, the two princes at once leftbanque ti ng-hal

’

l, and retired to their father. The latte r instantly took up arms , and departed for Peréiaslavl. The Princeof Moscow cou ld hardly assemble any troops, and fel l into thehands of his u ncle at Kos troma, Vass i l i tried in vain tosoften him by his tears . The Squ in te r and Chemiaka wishedthei r prisone r to beput to dea th, bu t by the seKinteres ted counse lof the boya rd Morozof, Iouri al lowed his nephew to l ive, andgave him the appanage of Kos troma, wh i le he took for h imse l fthe Grand Pri ncipa lity. The afiecfion of the Mu scovites fortheir prince was so great

,that they abandoned the i r citym ma re

,

and crowded in to Kos troma. Iouri saw that his nephew wass till powerfu l , reproached Morozot for his perfidious advice, andhad him s tabbed by his two sons .

“Thou hast ru ined our

father,” they said. The usurperwas indeed unable to remain in

Moscow, and sent to tel l his nephew he migh t come and takeposs ession of it. The boyards pres sed arou nd Vas s il i on hisretu rn to his capi tal ,

“as bees pres s around thei r qu een . T he

war, however, con tinu ed : thanks to the cowardice of Vas sil i,Iouri again took the Kreml in, and made pris oners the wife and

mother of the Grand Prince, whi le the Squ inter and Chemiakaocc1 1pied Vladimi r, and marched on N ijnLN ov orod .

Iourihad hardly been recognized as Gran P rince of N ovgorod, when he died suddenly. His sons then made peace withVass i l i, bu t immediately took up arms again . In one of themany reve rses of th is Ctvil war, Vas s i li the Squ i n ting fell intothe hands of the Grand Prince, who had his eyes put out in an

ex cess of fu ry Then,by one of those changes com

mon to violen t and impuls ive natures, he pas s ed from anger todismay; and to atone for his crime agains t his cous in , set freeChemu lra. whom he had raade prisoner at the same time.

1 58 f1 1 s Y OF 1 1 11531 4 .

Chemiaka promised to serve him, but served him very badly.In a battle with the Tatars, his desertion caused the rou t of theRus s ian army (s iege of Biélet

’

,in Lithuan ia) . In 1 44 1 the was

began again be tween the Grand Prince and Chemiaka. The

latter,with some thousands of Free-l ances and Good Companions ,s uddenly u nde rtook the s iege of Moscow. Zenobiu s, supe riorof the Trottsa monas te ry, succeeded once more in reconcil ingthem. Chemiaka d is played his ordinar

’

y dupl ici ty on the occas ion of a mil i tary incu rs ion of the Tata rs of Kazan . The GrandPrince wai ted in vain for the succors that had been promisedhim,

and i t was with only 1 500 men that he finallyfook the field,

so much had the discords between the deseen nts of Dmi triDonskot weakened the Grand Pri ncipal ity, loosened the ties ofobedience among the vas sals, and degraded that Rus s i a wh ichhad armed 1 men agains t Mamat. Vass i l i, covered wi thfifteenwounris, fel l i nto the hands of the barbar ians, and wasled prisoner to Kazan.

Moscow was i n despair. The Prince of Tver insu l ted herterritory ; Chemiaka i nt rigued at the H orde to ge t himself nominated Grand Prince . A ll at once the Tzar of Kazan took i tinto his head to l iberate his prisoners for a smal l ransom.

Vass il i te-entered his capital amid the acclamations of hispeople . Chemiaka had done enough to fear thethe Grand Prince ; i n the interes ts of his own

mus t be overthrown. Fol lowing the example ofgrandfather, Vassi l i went to the Troitsa monas te ry to re tu rnthanks to Saint Se rgius for his del iverance. He had few companions and Chemiaka and his associates '

surprised the Kremlini n his absence, and captured his wi fe, his mother, and his treasu res . Then he flew to T roItsa , where his accompl ice, Ivan ofMojais k, discovered the Grand Prince, who was hidden in theprincipal chu rch near the tomb of Saint Sergius . He was

brought back to Mos cow,and ten years after the bl inding of

Vass ili the Squ i nt ing, Chemiaka avenged his brother by puttingout the eyes of the Grand PrinceDuring his short reign at Moscow, Chemiaka had made him

se lf hated by the people and the boyards, who were fai thful atbottom to thei r unhappy rince. . I n the popular language, a

judgmen t of Chemiaka became the synonym for a cryingwrong. Presently Vas s i l i’s part isans as sembled troops i nLi thuania, joined those of the two Tatar andmarched agains t the usurper. A t this period, Russ ia was intes ted by armed bands, the rel ics of the great Tatar andLi thuanian wars

,Li thuanian adventu rers

,fsarwitrfie: banished “

from the Horde, Novgorodian Good Companions, Free-l ances

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1 60 1 1 1 5'm or 1 1 0551 4 .

his reign; In 1 439, Pope Eugenius IV. assembled the Councilof Florence to discuss the u nion of the two Chu rches . The

Greek Emperor, John Palaeologu s , who hoped to obta i n the helpof the Pope

.

agains t the Ottomans, had sent the bishops ofhis communion ; Is idore, Metropol i tan of Moscow, was alsopresent

.

I t was i n vain that the Emperor of Cons tantinople,three vicars of the Patriarchs ot the Eas t, seven teen metropolitans , and a multi tude of bishops s igned the act ofunion. The Greek world lis tened to the energetic protes t ofMark

,the old bis hop of Ephesus , and te ectad the u nion wi th

Rome. Is idore announced at Kiet an Moscow that he hads igned the act of reconcil iat ion ; the appearance of the Lat incross at the Assumption in the Kreml in, the name of PopeEugen ius 1 1 1 the publ ic prayers, and the reading of the formaldocument, as tonished the Ru ss ians . Vas s i l i, who piqued himself on his theology, also raised his voice, began a polemicagains t Is idore, and so overwhe lmed himwith insu lts , that the“ false shepherd thought i t prudent to fly to Rome. Thischeck to the u nion heralded the fal l of the Greek empire. I n1 453, Mahomet I I . entered Cons tant inople . There was nolonger a Chris tian Tzar Moscow became the great metropolisof orthodoxy. She was heir of Cons tan tinople. Soon the

monks , the art is ts, the l i tera ry men of Cons tan tinople were tobring to her, as to the res t of Eu1 0pe, the Rena iss ance.

HIS TOR Y OF R USSIA . t

CHAPTER xm.

WAN THE GREAT,THE U N ITER OF THE R U SS IAN LAN D

( 1 462

S ubmiss ion of N ovgorod—Annexation of T ver,Koetoi. and Iaros lavl—Wars

with the Great Horde and Kazan- End of the T atar yoke—Wars with

Lithuania—Wes tem R us sia as faras the Soja reconquered—Marriage withSophia Paiz ologus

—G reeks and Italians at the Court of Moscow.

SU BMISS ION or NOVGOROD—A N N EXA TION or 1 11 1: PR IN CIPALIT IESOF TVER , ROSTOF, A N D IA ROS LAVL.

AT the death of Vas s i l i the Bl ind, Russ i a was al l but s tifledbetween the great Lithuanian empire and the vas t possess ionsof the Mongols . To the north

,she had two res tless neighbors,

the Livonian Order and Sweden . In spite of the labors of e igh tMuscovi te princes , the l i tt le Ru s s ian State cou ld not yet makeits unity a fact ; Riazan and Tver, though weakened, sti l l exis ted. Novgorod and Pskof hes i tated between the GrandPrinces of Moscow and Lithuania. The he irs of Kal i ta, byh eating new appanages , incessant ly des troyed the un ity af te rwh ich they toiled

, by means of a pi ti les s pol icy. Mu scmf

y,which touches on no sea, had only inte rmi t ten t relat ions withthe centres of European civi l ization. I t was , however, the timewhen the nations of the Wes t began to be o rganized. CharlesVI I . and Lou is KL in France, Ferdinand and Isabel la in Spain,the Tudors i n Engl and, Frederic I I I . and Maximil ian i n Aus tria,labored to bu ild up powerfu l States from the ru ins of feudalanarchy. Eu ropean civil izat ion made unheard-of s trides ; theRenaissance began , printing spread, Chris topherColumbus andVasco da Gama discovered new worlds. Was not Ru ss ia alsogoing to achieve he r uni ty, to take part i n the great Europeanmovement ? The man who was to res tore her to hersel f, to -freeher from the Mongol yoke

,to put her into re la tions wi th the

Wes t,—th is man was expected . It had al l been pred1cted.

When a son named Ivanwas born in 1 440 to Vas s il i the Bhnd,an old monk had a revelation about i t in Novgorod the Great.

1 63 HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

He came and sa id to his archbis hop Tru ly i t is tod ay thatthe Grand Prince triumphs God has g iven him an heir ; I behold th is child making h imse lf i l lus triou s by gloriou s deeds .

He wi l l subdue princes and peoples . But woe to Novgorod !Novgorod wi l l fal l a t his fee t, and never rise up aga i n .

”

Ivan I I I ., whose reign of forty-three years was to permi t himto real ize the expectations of Russ ia, was a cold, imperious , cabCulating prince, the very type of the Souzdalian and Muscoviteprinces. Dis l iking war, he al lowed doubts to be thrown uponhis courage . He was victorious in Lithuania, in Livoni a andSibe ri a, almos t wi thou t leaving the Kreml in . His father hadtaken long jou rneys, which led him in to many sad adven tures,but Stephen of Moldavia sa id of Ivan Ivan is a s trange man;he s tays qu ie tly at home and t riumphs over his enemies , whileI, though always on horseback, cannot defend my coun try.

”

I t was the verdict of Edward I I I . on Charles V. Ivan ex

hans ted his enemies by negotiations and delay, and never employed force ti l l i t was absolu tely neces sary. His devotion wasmixed wi th hypocrisy. He wept forhis rel atives whom he putto death , as Lou is XI . bewai led the Due de Gu ienne. Born 8

despot, he had,

”says Karamsin, “penetrated the secre t of au

tocracy, and became a formidable de i ty i n the eyes of the R uss ians .

”H is glance caus ed women to fain t. When he s lept

afte r his meals,i t was wonderfu l to see the frightened respect oi

the boyards for the s leep of the mas ter. He inflicted crue l punishments and tortures on al l rebels, even on those of the highestrank ; he mu ti l ated the counse l lors of his son, whipped Pri nceOukhtomski and the archimandrite of a powerful monastery,and burned al ive two Poles i n an iron cage on the Moskows , forhaving conspired agains t him. He had already won the sur

namle of “Terrible,”which his grandson was to bear even more

Jus t y.

Ivan ’s firs t efl'

ort was directed agains t Novgorod the Great.The republ ic of the I lmen was dying in the anarchy of the aristocracy, the dis sens ions of the people, the Chu rch, and especiallyof the boyards. . It is of th is epoch that M . Biélaef has sai

that parties in Novgorod had become so compl icated, thatoften i t is difiicult to perce ive fromwhat motive th is or that (action exci ted troubles and revol ts .

” They thought themselvesable to despise the au thori ty of a new pri nce, and had the imprudence to neglect the compl aints and sugges t ions made in a

tolerably moderate tone by Ivan I I I . He then signified to thePskovians that they wou ld have to second him i n an expeditionagains t the rebels . This the Pskovians did not wis h to do, foreseeing that the fal l of Novgorod would drag them down also ,

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i

1 64 1 1 157011 ? or 1 1 11551 4 .

in Novgorod. Great and smal l immediate ly crowded to his triobunal, to beg forjustice one against the other. Ivan saw how

much his own cause was s trengthened b thes e divisions . An

act of anthori that he tried, succeededycomple tely. M aria’s

second son,1 possadnilr, and many boyards were loaded

wi th chains, and sent to Mos cow. N o one dared to protes t.Ou his re tu rn to his capi tal, a mu l ti tude of com ainants

has tened afte r h 1n1 ; he forced them all to appear ore him.

Since Rurik, say the annal ists , such a violation of Novgorod

’

s

l iberty had neve r been known. Profi ting bya documentary

error made by the envoys ot'

the town, he dec ared himself rova t

'

g a (gocoudar) ot Novgorod, i ns tead of lord (gospodine) .N ow if this in terpretat ionwere accepted, the subject ion oi the

republ ic, which was only a matterof fact, wou l d become a matte rof law. The party of Maria made a las t effort to reject”am ; the friends of the Grand Prince were mas sacred Ivandeclared that the N ovgorodians , after having accorded h1m the

title of gofoudar, h ad the effronte ry to deny ir. Then the Met

ropolitan, the bishops, the boyards, al l Moscow, advised him tomake war. Accordingly i t was preached as a HolyWaragains tthe all ies of the Pope and Li thuania. All the forces of R uss iawere put inmotion, and many boyards of Novgorod appeared atthe camp of the Grand Prince. The city was blockaded, ands tarved out. I n vain the pa rtisans of Maria shouted the oldwar-cry : “Let us die for libe rty and Saint Sophia !

" Theywere forced to capi tu late. Ivan guaranteed to them their persons and pos sess ions, thei r 1 ancien t ju risdict ion,

and exemptionfrom the Muscovite service ; but the wail and the possadnikwere abol ished forevera The belfry was redu ced to s ilence .

The Republ ic of Novgorod had ceas ed to exis tMarta and the principa l oliga rchs were t ransported toMoscow,_

and their goods confiscated. Many times afte rwards , there werepa rty agi tations

, wh ich were quel led by Ivan I I I . and his suc

cesso r, by nume rous transportations . In 1 48 1 some boyardswe re tortured and put to death . Eight thousand Novgorodianswere transplan ted to the towns of Souzdal. Ivan III. stru ckanother terrible blow at the prosperi ty of the city when , i n 1 495,after a qua rrel with the people of Revel, he caused themerchantsof forty-nine Hanseatic towns to be arres ted at Novgorod,pi l la cd the Ge rman marke t,

"and removed wares to the value

of to Moscow. The covetous Grand Prince doubtlessdid not see he was ki l l ing the hen wi th the golden eggs . A longwhile elapsed before the merchan ts of the Wes t madethe ir appearance in Novgorod. Pskof,more docile, h preservedherM M and herancient ins titu t ions.

H IS TOR Y OI RUSSIA. 1 65

Whils t he was des t roying the l ibe rty of Novgorod, I van deprived her of her colon ies, and u ndertook on his own accoun tconques t of Northern Russ ia. By this time Mus covy ex tendedas faras Finland, the White Sea and the Icy Ocean, and hadalready obtained a footi ng in As ia. Ivan had conquered Permiain 1 472 , by which means he became mas ter of the s i lver beyondthe Kama,

”which the N ovgorodians had hi therto got in the

course of trade . ‘ In 1 Viatka, which had fal len for a shortt ime into the power of t e Tatars of Kazan, was reconquered,and los t her republ ican organ ization. I n 1 499 the voievodes ofOustiougue, of the Dwina and of Viatka, advanced as far as thePetchora, and bu i l t a fortress on the banks of the river. I n thedepth of winter, i n s ledges drawn by dogs, they passed the dehlesof the Onrals, i n the teeth of the wind and snow, s lew 50 of theSamo edes, and captured 200 re indeer ; i nvaded the te rritory o

f.

the ogouls and Ongrians , the Finn is h bre thren of the Magyarsv.

took 40 enclosures of pal isades, made 50 princes prisoners , ant;retu rned to Moscow, after having reduced th is u nknowncosupposed by the geographers ot an tiqu i ty to be the homemany wonders and mons ters . Russ ia, like the mari time nat ionsof the Wes t, had discovered a new world.The cu l t ivated provinces of Central Russ ia were more im

portan t than the deserts of the North . Here there were no imo

mense te rri tories to be conquered, but only the terri tories of thesmal ler appanaged princes to be grafted on to the already unitedmas s

k lvan I I I . might have dethroned the young Prince ofRi azan, whomhis fatherhad brought to Moscow, but he preferredto give him the hand of his s is ter, Anne Vas silievna, and sendhim back to his terri tories The absorption of the principalities of Ri azan and Novgorod-Severskiwas rese rved for hissuccessor. He showed the same moderat ion abou t Tver, but in1 482 Prince M ichae l, who had only main tained his pos ition onsufierance, had the imprudence to al ly himself wi th Li thuania.Ivan hailed this pre text wi th joy, and marched i n person againstTver, accompa nied by the ce lebrated Aris totele Fioraventi ofBologna, rand mas te r of his artil lery. Michael took to hightand Ivan egan to organize his new subjects . A principal itywhich could fu rnish soldiers was uni ted to Moscowwi thou ta blow. In like manner he obtained pos sess ion of Vere ia andof Biélozersk, and deprived the princes of R ostof and Iaros l avlof the ir ancien t rights of sovereignty.

His father, by giving ap anages to his brothers , had preparedfor hima new and ungrate ui task, but Ivan undertook i t wi thou tScruple. When his brother Iouridied, he wept much for him,

but at once laid hands on his towns of Dmitrof, Mojalsk, and

55 1571 s Y or RUSSIA.

Serpoukhof, thereby caus ing his othe r brothe rs , who hoped to

share the s poil, great d iscontent Andrew was accusedof an understandin wi th Li thuania, and thrown into pris on,where he died ( 1 493 The Grand Prince convoked the Metropol itan and bishops to his palace , appeared before them wi thdowncas t eyes, his face sorrowfu l and bathed in tears, humblyaccused himself of having been too crue l to his unhappy brother,and submi tted to their pas toral admonitions ;but he confi scatedAndrew’

s appanage notwiths tanding, and that of his brother Boris,who died a short t ime after, thus reun iting all the domains of hisfather. He acqu i red the su rname of Binder of the Russ ianLand,

" a name which his eigh t predeces sors equal ly me ri ted. I twas owing to thei r earl ier l abors that Ivan was able to becomethe greates t andmos t powerful of these Binders .” He avoidedthe i r errors , and it l ate r he gave appanages to his own chi ldren ,i t was only on condi tion that they shou ld remain subjects of thei re ldes t brother, and that they s hou ld nei ther have the right tocoinmoney not to exercise a separate diplomacy.

WARS WITH THE GR EAT HORDE AND KAZAN—END OFTHE TATAR

YOKE.

Theempire of theHorde was at las t dissolved. The pri ncipalStates wh ich had risen fromits ti l were the Tazarate of Kazan

,

that of Sara! or As t rakhan, the Horde of the Nogais , and theKhanate of the Crimea. Kazan and the Crimea part icu larlypresented s trange e thnographical amalgamations . The Tzara teof Kazan had been founded i n the re ign of Vas sil i the Blind onthe ru ins of the ancien t Bu lgaria on the Volga, formerly so

flourishing and civi l ized, by a banished prince of the Horde . Itwas the s ame M akhmet who had tried to es tabl ish himself atBe lef, and had defeated Chemiaka. The Mongols had mixedwi th the ancien t Bu lgars , and recons t i tuted an important cen treof commerce and civi l ization . The ru le of the Tzarate extendedover the Finn ish tribes of the Mordvians

,the Tchouvaches, and

the T cheremisses , as wel l a s the Bachkirs and Metcheraks . TheKhanate of the Crimea had been founded almos t a t the samedate, by a descendan t of Genghis Khan, named Azi. A peasant

named Ch ire i having saved himfrom death , Azi added his benefactor’s name to his own, and henceforward the t itle be longed toall the khans of the Crimea. The Mongols, on arrivi ng at theninsnla, found i t occupied by the remains of the ancien t Tauric,ellenic, and Gothic races ; by Armen ians , Jews, and JewishKharaltes, who pretended to have settled 500 on the rocks

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gas 1 1 15TOR Y or R USS IA .

escape des tiny.

” Ivan desired, at leas t, to send his young sonIvan back to Moscow, but the prince heroically disobeyed.The Grand Prince finally decided to re turn to the arm blessedby his mother and the Metropol itan, who promise him the

Victory as to a David or to a Cons tant ine, remindi ng him thata geod shepherd wi l l l ay down his l i fe for his sheep. Ivan,

who did not fee l h imself made of the s tu ff of a Cons tantine, kepthis army immovable on the Oka and the Ougra ; the two forcescontent ing themse lves wi th sending arrows and insu lts acrossthe river. Ivan closed his ears to the warl ike counsel of hisboyards, and rather l is tened to the pruden t advice of his twofavorites fat and powerfu l lords,

”s ays the chronicle. How

ever,he refu sed the propos i tion of the Khan, who offered to

pardon him if he wou ld either come h imself or send one of hismen to k iss his s ti rrup. A t las t monks and wh i te-haired bishopslos t al l pat ience . Vassian addressed a bel l icose le tte r to theGrand Prince

,invoking the memories of Igor, Sviatoslaf, of

Vladimi r Monomachus , and DmitriDonskoI. Ivan as su red himth at th is le t te r fi lled his heart wi th joy, courage, and s trength ;bu t another fortnight pas sed in inaction . On the fifteenth daythe rivers were covered wi th ice ; the Grand Prince gave theorder to re treat. A h i nexplicable panic se ized the two armies—Rus s ians and Tatars both fled, when no man pursued . TheKhan never s topped ti l l he reached the Horde Suchwas the l ast invas ion of the horsemen of the Kiptchak. I t wasin th is unheroic way that Rus s ia broke at las t the Mongol yokeunder which she had groaned for three centu ries . Like Lou isXL

,Ivan III. had his battie of Montlhery ; but if he fought les s,

he gained far more . The H orde, attacked by the Khans of th eCrimea, survived its decay but a short time . Akhme t was putto death by one of his ownmen.

Hos ti l i ty increas ed between Kazan and Moscow. In 1 467and 1 469 Ivan I I I. had organized two expeditions aga ins t Bulgaria. I n 1 487, seven years after having shaken off the supremacy of t he Great Horde, the Muscovite voievodes marchedagains t the same Kazan, where the father of thei r Grand Princehad been held a captive . After a s iege of seven weeks the ci tywas taken, and the sovereign Alegammade prisoner. A tzar ofKazan was then seen a prisoner in Moscow Ivan I I I . addedthe t i tle of Prince of Bu lgaria to those he al ready bore but

feel ing that the Mus su lman city was not yet ripe for annexat ion ,he gave the crown to a nephew of his friend the Khan of theCrimea. The people were forced to take the oa th of fidelity tohim. The conques t of the l and of Arslr, i n Bulgaria itse l f, andthe establishment of a Rus sian garrison in the fortress , allowed

Hlsmk y or R USS IA . 1 69

him to wa tch from close by all that passed inKazan. TheKhanof the Crimea did not care to protes t agains t the captivi ty ofthe Tzar Alegam, his nephew

’

s enemy, but the princes of theChiban and the Nogais, who were related to him, and who hehe ld Is l amism humi l iated i n his person, despatched an embassyto the Grand Prince . The latte r refused to release his prisoner,but repl ied so gracious ly that the envoys cou ld hard! be angry.He sent to those zealous kinsmen clothes of P lan ers

,fishes

’

tee th,and gerfalcon s

,and did not forge t the wives of the mour

zas,whom he cal led his s is ters . A t the same t ime , wishing to

make these As iatics fee l that times had changed, he took carenever personal ly to compromise himsel f wi th the Nogat envoys,and only to communicate wi th them by means of treasurers,secretaries, and other oflicers of the second rank .

WAR S WITH Ltrnuw u - wesm u avssm UP TO THE SOJA RmCON Q U ERED .

Li thuania and Poland un i ted remained, after al l, Ivan’s

great enemy. Th is compos i te State plays the same part inRus s ian his tory as the Burgundy of Ph il ip the Good and Charlesthe Bold in that of France. Made up in a great degree of Russ ian as wel l as of Pol ish and Lithuan ian elements , i t was manytimes on the poin t of annihilat ing Rus s ia, i n the same way asBurgundy, composed of French , Ba tavian, and Ge rman provinces , had been on the poin t of annihi lating the French nation.Lithuania was i ncorporated wi th Poland in the same manner asthe States of Burgundy

, unfortunately for France, were incor

porated wi th Aus tri a.A t the beginn ing of Ivan ’s reign the King Cas imi r IV. was

sovereign of the two uni ted States , and neglected no means ofdisqu ie ting the Grand Prince . T he latter

,on his part, i nci ted

his al ly Mengli to invade the Li thu anian possess ions ; and theCrimean Tatars pil laged Kief and the Monas tery of the Catacombs When , ten years afte r, Cas imi r diedleaving Poland to his e ldes t son A lbe rt, and Lithuania to Alexander, the second son

, Ivan I I I . resolved to tu rn the d ivis ionto accou n t. He had obtained the friendship of the TurkishSu l tan Bajazet I I ., of Matth ias Corvinus , king of Hungary

,of

the active Stephen of Moldavia,the de termined enemy of the

Lithuanians ;but, above al l, he counted on Mengl i. Mengl i hadheld Lithuan ia in check wh ile Ivan had got rid of the Mongols ;now he was to play the same part with the Horde, while theGrand Prince se ttled old scores wi th Alexander, but wi thou t interf‘

ering1

wi th the Tatar incurs ions in the Ukraine. The8din

cn.

170 HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

covery at Moscowof a Polish plot agains t the life of the GrandPrince spread rumors of war. I n the same way that he hadbeen able to u ti l ize the Mongol refugees agains t the Horde, hefound the Li thuanian princes and other great personages entering into re lations wi th him I t was then that Belski , afte rwardsso famous, obtained a footing i n Rus s ia, that the Prince of Mazovi a sen t an embas sy to Ivan I I I ., and the princes of Viazma,Vorotinsk, Be lef, and Mel etsk did him homage.The warwas popu l ar i n Moscow, forits ob

'

ect was to breakthe yoke imposed by the Pol ish Cathol ics on t e orthodox R uss ian people. I n Whi te Russ ia the Muscovi tes were to awakeold national and rel igious sympath ies . Li thuan ia, said theambassadors of Ivan I I I . to the pleni po ten t iaries of Alexander,“ Li thuania has profited by the misfortunes of Russ ia to takeour te rri tory, bu t to day th ings have changed .

” Peace was madeafter a short war The frontie r of Muscovy was carriedto the Desna, and comprehended the appanages of the princeswho had taken service with Ivan

,wi th Ms tis l avl , Obolensk,

Kozelsk, Vorotinsk, Peremysl, &c.

The peace seemed to be cemented by the marriage of Alex~ander wi th Helena, daughter of Ivan I I I . ;but, on the contrary,th is union proved the ge rm of a new war. The sovere ign ofMoscow had s tipu lated that his daughter was u nder no circums tances to change her rel igion, that she was to have a Greekchape l i n the palace

,and an orthodox almoner. Ivan himsel f

gave his dati§hter the mos t pres s ing injunct ions never to appear

tn the Catho ic church, and gave her minu te directions as to hertoile t, her table, her mode of travel l ing, and her way of conducting herself towards her new subjects . A t herdepartu re hebes towed on her a col lection of various pious books . His pol icyagreed wi th his conviction i t was necessary that i n Li thuaniaorthodoxy shou ld ra ise her lowered head, and re ignwith hisdaughter. Soon afte rwards, he compl ained that H e lena wasforced to offend her con science, that she was made to wear thePol ish cos tume, that her domes tics and orthodox almoners weredismis sed

,and their places filled with Cathol ics—that the Greek

rel igion was persecu ted, that the as sass ination of the Metropol itan of Kief had remained unpunished, and that he was to hesucceeded by a man devoted to the Pope: Li thuan ia,beginn ing of the war, was fu rther enfeebled by new defections.The princes of Bielsk

,of M ossalsk , of Khotatof, the boyards

of Mtsensk and of Serpeisk , and finally the princes of T cherni

got and Starodoub, of Ryl sk and Novgorod-Severski, declaredfor the Grand Prince of Moscow. Al l the country be twee n theDesna and the Soja passed into the hands of the Rus s ians, to

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H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

conques t of Lithuania up to the Soj a, had doubled the exten t ofthe Grand Principal ity, even wi thou t reckon ing the immenseterri tory i t had gained on the north . An event not less important in its consequences was the marriage of Ivan I I I . wi th a

Byzantine pri ncess . Thomas Palaeologus , a brother of the l as tEmperor, had taken refuge at the cou rt of Rome. There hedied

,leaving a daughter named Sophia . The Pope wished to

find her a husband, and the Cardinal Bessarion, who belongedto the Eas te rn Ri te, advised Pau l I I . to offe r her h and to theGrand Prince of Ru ss ia. A Greek n amed Iouri, a nd the twoFriazini, relations of Friazine, minter of Ivan I I I ., were sen ton an embassy to Moscow. Ivan and his boyards accepted thepr0pos alwi th enthus iasm; i t was God, no doubt, who had givenhim so i l lus triou s a wi fe a branch of the impe rial tree wh ichformerly overshadowed al l orthodox Ch ris t ian ity.” Sophiadowered by the Pope , whose heart was always occupied wi thtwo th ings , the crusade agains t the Tu rks , and the re union ofthe two Churches—went from Rome to Liibeck , from Liibeckby sea to Revel, and was received i n triumph at Pskof, N ovgorod

,and the other towns subject to Moscow. This daughter of

emperors was des tined to have an enormous influence on IvamI t was she

, no doubt, who taught him to penetrate the secretof au tocracy.” She bore the Mongol yoke With less patiencethan the Russ ians, who were accus tomed to se rvi tude . She

i nci ted Ivan to shake i t off. How long am I to be the s laveof the Tatars ? she wou ld often ask . With Sophi a a mu l ti tudeof Greek emigran ts came to Moscow, not only fromRome, butfrom Cons tantinople and Greece ; among themwere DemetriosRalo, Theodore Lascaris , Demetrios Trakhaniotes . They gaveto Rus s i a s tatesmen , diplomatis ts , engineers , artis ts and theologians . They brough t her Greek books , the priceless inheritance of ancien t civi lization . These manuscripts were first beginn ings of the presen t Libra ry of the Patri archs .

”

Ivan I I I . was the heir of the Emperors of Byzantium andthe Roman Caesars . He took for the new arms of Russ ia thetwo-headed eagl e which in its archaic form is s til l to be foundi n the Palais a facettes of the Kreml in. Moscow succeededto Byzantium as Byzantium had succeeded to Rome . Havingbecome the only me tropol is of orthodox i t was incumben t onher to protect the Greek Chris tians of t e ent i re Eas t, and toprepare the revenge again s t Is l amism for the work of 1 453.

With the Greeks came I tal ians : Aris toteleFioraventiof Bologna,who was Ivan III.’s arch itect, mi l i ta ry engineer, and mas te r ofartillery ; M arco R uffo, his ambassador in Persia Pietro

HIS N R Y or k vssni. 173Antonio, who buil t his imperi al pa lace ; the metal-founder, PaulBossio, bes ides arch itects and arquebus ie rs.Ivan entered into re lations wi th Venice when Trevisani, eh

my of the republic, on his way to the Horde , tried to traverseincognito the States of the Grand Prince, and was arres ted andcondemned to death. The Senate in te rfered, and the imprudentdiplomatis t was set at l iberty. I van sen t in his tu rn a Russ ianambas sador, SimeonTolbouzine, charged to bind the two courttries i n fri endly t ies, and to bring ba ck some ski lfu l arch itectfrom I taly. He was fol lowed in 1 499 by Deme trius R alo andGolokhvas tof. Contarin i , the Venetian ambas sador, re tu rnedfromPers ia wi th a French eccles i as ti c named Louis , who cal ledhimself envoy of the Duke of Burgundy, and the Patriarch of .

Antioch . He s topped at Mos cow, and was k indly rece ived byIvan . He himselfwasmuch s truck by the Grand Prince . When

,

in Speak ing, I respectfu l ly stepped back,”relates Con tari ni,

“the Grand Prince always drew near, and gave particu lar attent ion to my remarks .

” Ivan I I I .—whether to secure himselfal l ies agains t Poland, or to obtain from Germany a rtis ts andhandicraftsmen ~ exchanged more than one embassy withFrederic I I I . and Maximil ian of A us tria, Matth ias of Hungary,and the Pope . When attacked by Sweden

,he nogotiated an

al l iance wi th Denmark . Plehtchéef was the first Russian ambas sador at Cons tan tinople under Bajazet II. From the Eas tcame envoys of Georgia and even of D jagatai (Turkes tan and

Tatar Sibe ria) .The prince who

,born vassa l of a nomad race, founded the

greatness of Russia, may be compared wi th one of the greates tof French k ings, Lou is XI . What the latter accomplished inthe case of appanaged feudalism, Ivan s ucceeded in doing inthat of appanaged principal it ies . He was pitiless towards thesmal ler Russ ian dynas t ies , a s the King of France was to Armagnacor Saint Pol . He detached a s l ice fromLithuania, as his Wes terncontemporary managed to dismember Bu rgu ndy. He put anend to the Mongol invas ions , as Lou is did to the Engl ish wars .

He repu lsed, Withou t s triking a blow,the las t incurs ion of the

khans , as Lou is XI . sweetly dismissed the l as t embarkation ofthe English u nder Edward IV. Both had the s ame tas te forfore igners , especial ly indus trious I tal ian s, and for usefu l arts.Both explored the metal l ic riches of thei r States . They eachcreated a diplomacy ; the one by means of Comynes, the otherby means of Greeks

,and Ru ss ians as supple as Greeks . They

s trengthened the national army, and gave i t a permanen t cha r

acter ; they both owed the success agai ns t the minor princes to

174 H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

their artil lery. Ivan I I I . had his brothers Bureau in Aris toteleFioraventi.Lou is XL ,

whowished to pu t an end to the anarchy of thelaw and to the thefts of chicane ry, med itated a real code, orgrand ( osfumtirr, wh ich wou ld put the old laws in harmony wi ththe new order of th ings . This is precisely what Ivan did in hisOulogmia In comparing i t wi th the R oun bam P ravda

of Iaroslaf, we are able to gauge the amount of change causedi n the national laws by the influence of Byzantium, the exampleof the Tatars

,and the progress of au tocracy. Corporal penal t ies

have notably increased : for homicide , death ; for theft, wh ippingin a publ ic place. Torture wasmak ing its way i n the procedure .The judicial duel was s ti l l admi tted, oh l now i t cou ld hardlybecome mortal ; each of the combatants ad a cu i rass, and wasarmed only wi th a short club. Women ,minors, and eccles i as ticswere represented by a champion . I n the same way as the endand aim of the pol icy of Ivan was the suppress ion of appanages ,that of his code was to cflace the privileges, the legal and judiccial pecu l iarities of the differen t provinces .

For three generations the throne had been inheri ted in thedirect l ine . When , however, Ivan , eldes t s on of Ivan I I I., died,the latter hes i tated long be tween his grandson Dmi tri Ivanovitch,and his second son

‘Vas sil i. His wife supported Vas s i l i ;hisdaughter-in~law H elena, Ivan

’s widow, her own son. The cou rt

was divided,and both part ies were absorbed in the ir i n t rigues .

Ivan I I I. at firs t proclaimed Dmi tri, threw Vas s il i i n prison ,and disgraced his wife. Then he changed his mind, impris onedhis daughter-ih -Iaw and his grandson in thei r tu rn, and proclaimed Vass i l i his hei r. The heredi tary righ t of the Wes t wasnot es tabl ished in R uss ia wi thou t many s truggles .

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w s rozcY or R US SIA . 1 25

CHAPTER XIV.

vassrtrrvw ovrrcn ( 1 505

Reunion of Pskof, R iazan, and N ovgorod-Severski—Vvara with Lithuania

—A c uisition of Smolensk—Wars with the T atars—D iploma tic relationswith urope.

REUN ION OF PSKOF, R IAZAN , AND NOVGOROD-SEVER SKI—WARSWITH LITHUA N IA—A CQ U ISITION OF SMOLEN SK.

T an re ign of Vass i l i Ivanovi tch may seem somewhat palebetween those of the two Ivans—the two -his

father and son. I t was l ikewise of shorter duration, las t ing onlytwen ty-e ight years 0505 but was the continuation of theone, and the preparation for the other : the movemen t whichwas bearing Rus s i a towards unity and au tocracy was not tetarded u nder Vas s i li Ivanovitch.There were s ti l l three States which had prese rved a ce rtain

independence—the Republ ic of Pskof, and the Principal ities ofRiaz an and Novgorod-Severski. The quarre ls s t i l l continued atPskof between the ci tizens and the peas ants, the aris tocracy andthe lower cl ass es . The whole of Pskof was in confl ict wi th hernama irtm

’

é , or the royal l ieu tenant. Vass i li came to hold hiscou rt at Novgorod, and summoned the mag is trates of Pskot toappear before him. When they arrived, he arres ted them. A

merchan t of Pskof, who was on his way to Novgorod, returnedwi th the mews to his compatriots . Ins tan tly the hel l of thetlc began to ri ng, and the cry was heard,

“Let us raise thes h ield agains t the Grand Prince . Le t u s shu t the gates of thetown .

” The more prudent t ried to res train the people . Whatcanwe do Ourbrothers, ourmagis trates, ourbo ards, and al lour chiefmen are in the hands of the Prince .” T e imprisonedP skovians sen t a messenger to implore the ir fe l low

-ci tizens notto attempt a use less res is tance, and to avoid the shedding ofblood . The l atter then despatched one of thei r number to theGrand Prince, and charged him to say, My lord, we are not

you r enemies. Afte r God, i t is you tha t have power over all

" 5 m a y or Rvssu .

your subjects .

” Vass i l i I vanovitch sen t them one of his (limb ,

or secretaries, who was admi tted into the as sembly of the cit izens, saluted them inthe name of the Grand Prince , and informedthem that his mas ter imposed on them two condit ions the first

was that the towns sub'

eet to Pskof should receive his mam?“m

’

ks the second was e suppress ion of the omit! and its bell.For a long whi le they cou ld give him no answer— thei r sobs andtears choked them. Arl as t they demanded twenty-four hoursto del iberate . The day and night pas sed i n l amentations.The infants at the breas t,

”says the annal is t, alone cou ld re

tra i n from tears. Next day the people met for the l ast time,and the first magis trate of the city thu s spoke to Dalmatof, diakof the Grand Prince I t is wri tten i n ourChronicles that our

ances tors took oaths to the Grand Prince . The Pskovians sworenever to rebe l ainst our lord who is at Moscow, never to al lythemselves wi th ithuania, wi th Poland, norwith the Germans ,otherwise the wrath of God wou ld be upon them,

bringing wi thi t famine

, fires, floods , and the invas ion of the infidels . It the_Grand Prince, on his part, did not obs erve his vow, he dared thesame consequences . N ow our town and our bel l are i n the

power of God and the prince . A s for u s,we have kept our

oath .

”Dalma tof had the great bell, symbol of the independence

of the republic, taken down, and ca rried to Novgorod, amid thegene ral des pair. Then Vas sil i I vanovi tch came to vis i t his pat

rimony ot Pskof. He i ns tal led his men and boyards in the

upper town, transpl anted 300 fami l ies of the aris tocracy into thecities of the inte rior, and es tabl is hed 300 Muscovite fami l ies inthe i r place . When he went away, he left a garrison of

'

sooodieh

’

boyarsh l, and 500 Novgorod artille men ( 1“Alas l

cries the annalis t, glorious city ofo f the reat,wherefore

th is l amentation and tears ? And the noble ci ty of Pskofrepl ies : Howcan I but weep and lamen t 2 A o e agle, a manywinged eagle, wi th claws l ike a l ion, has swooped down uponme. He has taken captive the three cedars ot Lebanon—mybeau ty, my riches, my chi ldren Our l and is a dese rt

, ourci tymi ned, our comme rce des troyed. Our brothers have been carried away to a place where our fathers never dwel t, nor our

grandfathe rs , nor ourgreat-grandfa the rs .

”

Ivan , prince of Riazan , was accused abou t I 2 1 of havingmade an al l iance wi th the Khan of the Crimea. e was summoned to Moscow, and imprisoned. He managed to escape in toLithu ania, where he died in obscuri ty. This fe rtile cou ntry,whose rich harves ts “ looked l ike waving fores ts , was un i ted tothe Grand Principal i ty. A ce rta i n number of R iazanese weretransported to Muscovite soil. Vass i li Chemiakine reigned at

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[78 Emma ? OFR USS ’J .

su ited A Glinsh .one ofplayed the t raitor. Cons tantine Ostrojski, whomtried to ga in over to the cause of orthodoxy, fled fromMoscowand itwas he who, in inflicted on the Rus s ian volevodes

the bloody defeat of Orcha. “The next day,"s ays Kammsin,

“he celebrated the victory tha t he had won over a people otthe s ame religion as himse lf, and i t was i n the Rus s ian tonguetha t he gave thanks to God for having des troyed the Russ ians .

”

Even the contempora ries fe l t vague ly that a s truggle betweenLi thuanian Rus sia and Moscow was a kind of civil war. Hadhot Vassili tried to un ite the two pri ncipa l i ties ?As in the time of Ivan I I I the due l of the two States made

i tse l f fe l t th roughou t Eu rope,and occas ioned a great diplo

mat icmovement. Now, Sigismond had the Tatars of the Crimeaon his s ide ;Vas s ili opposed them with the Tatars of As trakhan. Sigismond reckoned on Sweden . Vas s i l i negotia ted withDenmark. The King had gained over to his cause the DnieperCoss acks, whose name already began to be heard in history, andwho had been powerfu l ly organized by Dachkovitch. But Vas silisecured the friends hip of the Teu ton ic Order, who even con

sea ted to invade Pol ish Prus s ia of Maximi l ian of Aus tria, whos igned a treaty of partit ion of the Pol ish territo of the Hos

podar of Wallach ia; and finally of the Su l tan Se im,to whom he

sen t embas sy afte r embas sy. Negot iations were set on foo t inconsequence of the defeat of Constantine Ostroj ski beforeSmolensk, i n the battle of Opotchka. Maximi l ian of Austri aundertook the ofiice of mediator ; his ambass ador, Herbers tein ,the same who has left us the cu riou s book en titled RerumM oscovitarum Commentarn,

’ promised that Vass i li shou ld cedeSmolensk, and quoted to him the disinterestedness of KingPyrrhus and othe r great men of antiqu i ty. Pcpe Leo X. in tervened wi thou t greater s ucces s, though he counse l led Vass ili toleave Lithuania alone, and to turn his though ts to Cons tan tinople,the i nheritance of his mother, Sophia Pab ologus. A t l as t i n1 52 2 , the nego tiations opened and termi nated in the t ruce of

1 526 . Vass ili pronounced a discourse on the subject, i nhe express ed his fr iendship for his noble med iators, the Pope,the Emperor, and the Archduke of Aus tri a (Clement VII Cha rlesV. ,and Ferdinand), but Rus s i a kept Smolensk .

WAR S WITH THE TATARS—DIPLOMA T IC R ELATION S WITH EUR OPE.

The Tata rs were s t il l dangerous . Mengl i-Ghirei, the ancientallyot Ivan I I I ., had declared for Lithuan ia agains t Vas sili

1 1 1 s ? OF R US S IA . x79

Perhaps the old Khan might have los t the au thori ty pecessaryto restrain his sons and mourzas, who only wished to pil lage theRussian terri tory. Under his successor, Makhmet Ghirei, theCrimea became a deadly enemy of Russ ia. Kazan

,on expe ll ing

theprot/g/ of Ivan I I I., had elected a prince hos t ile to Moscow.

Two expeditions directed agains t the rebe l cityfai led completely.A t the death of the Tzar of Kazan, the principal ity became theapple of discord between the Khan ot the Crimea and theGrand Prince . The Russ ians, however, had succeeded, andins tal led their cl ien t, Schig—A le i, a Mussu lman bru tal ized by idleness and pleasures, whose enormous s tomach gave him a grotesque appearance but he was overthrown by the int rigues of theKhan of the Crimea, and a kinsman of the Chi re i was placed onthe throne . I n support of the ir candidate, the Tau rians prepared, i n 1 52 1 , a great i nvas ion of Ru ss ia. They cru shed theRuss ian volevodes on the banks of the Oka , ravaged the GrandPrincipal ity, looked on Moscow from the H i l l of Sparrows , andmade themselves drunk wi th hydrome l found in the ce l lars ofthe Grand Prince. A t the Kremlin there was a formidable arrayof art il lery, but no powder. H erberste in assu res us that thepowerfu l son of Ivan I I I. humi l iated h imself, as i n the t ime ofI van Ka l i ta, to save his capital, sent presents to the Khan, ands igned a treaty by which he professed himself his tributary but

that in his re treat, M akhmet Ghireiwas rece ived wi th cannonbal ls by the votevode of Riazan, who took fromhim the humiliati ng treaty. Though the Russian honor was sa ved by the cannonade of Riazan , this i nvas ion cos t Rus s ia dear. A ll the flatcountry was a prey to the flames . A mu l ti tude of people, aspecially women and children, had been carried off by the barbarians. Many perished on the jou rney ; the res t were sold i nwhole troops in the marke ts of Kaffa and As trakhan . Thefol lowing year Vass i l i as sembled on the Oka a formidab le army,wi th an impos ing art il lery

,and sen t a challenge to the Khan of the

Crimea summoning him to accept an honorable fight i n the opencountry. The Tatar answered that he knew the way to Russ ia,and never consu l ted his enemies as to when he was to fight. Ashort t ime after, Makhmet conquered the T zarate of As trakhan,but was assass inated by Mamat

,Pri nce of the Nogals .

The Tatars of the Crimea were,thanks to the vas t sou thern

s teppes , nearly beyond Russian enterprises ; but i t was s t i l lposs ible to attain Kazan . I n order to profi t by the dis sens ionsoi the Hordes of the Sou th, two new expedi tions were fitted out

in 1 523 and 1 524 agains t th is town , but both were u nsuccess fu lVass i lidiscovered a more certain way of m in ing his enemies—hees tabl ished a fair at Makat iet on t he Volga, and by th is mean

1 80 HIS TOR Y OFR USSIA .

destroyed that ot Kazan. Itwas this fair of Makariet that wasafterwards transported to Nijni-Novgorod, and draws more thanroo,ooo s trange rs fromEurope and Asia.Day by day Russ ia took a more important place in Europe.

Vass i li excha d embas sies with all the sovereigns of the West,except those 0 France and E land. He was the correspono

dent of Leo X. and Clemen t V L ; of Max imil ian and CharlesV. of Gus tavus Vasa, founder of a new (1 as ty ;of Sul tan Selim,

conqueror of pt ; and of Su leiman e Magnificent. In theEas t, the Great ogu l of India, Baber, descendan t of Tamerlane,sough t his friendship. Autocracy daily became stronger.Vass ili governed withou t consul ting his council of boyards .

“M oltcfi : ”nerd!” (Be silen t, rus tic !) he said one da to a

great lord, who dared to raise an object ion. Prince assil iKholmaski, who was married to one of his sis ters, was throwninto prison for indoc il i ty. The boyard Beklemychef havingcomplained that the Grand Prince decided all the quest ionsalone, shu t up, wi th two others , i n his bed-chamber,

" had hishead cut off. The Metropol itan Varlaamwas deposedished to a monas tery. H erbers te in asserts already, that no~European sovereign is obeyed l ike the Grand Prince of Moscow.

This growing power was man ifes ted ex ternal ly by the splendorof the court, which natural ] did not preclude the wors t barbarictas te . In the reception 0 his ambas sadors, Vass i l i displayedunheard-of luxury ;many hundreds of horsemen accompaniedhim when he hunted. The throne of the Prince was guardedby you ng nobles, the wi th thei r head—dresses of h igh capsof white fur, dres sed in long caftans of white satin, armed wi ths i lver hatchets . The l ists of his mas ters of the horse, his cupbearers , chamberlains , &c. , are~already very lon Strangerscontinued, though in smal l numbers, to come to Lfoscow. Themos t illus t rious of them was Maximus

, surnamed the Greek, amonk of Moun t Athos, and a native of Arta, i n Albania. I n hisyou th he had s tudied at Ven ice and at Florence , and been thefriend of Lascaris and Aldus Manu tius . He had remained thes incere admirer of Savonarola. Vass il i had sent for him wi thother Greeks to trans late the Greek books i n to Slavonic, andputhis l ibrary in order. Maximus is said to have beenas ton ishedto find in the Kreml in such a large number of ancien t manuscripts ; he vowed that neither Ita ly nor i n Greece was to befound such a rich collection . After having finished the translation of the Psal te r, he wished to re tu rn to Mount AthosVas s il i retained him, made him his favorite, and often grantedhim the lives of condemned boyards . His works, his science,as well as his favor, gained him the hatred ot ignorant and tan

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1 82 HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

CHAPTER XV.

mm THE rs aars t s ( 1 533- 1

Mxnorityof Ivan IV.- He takes the title of T zar ( 1547)- Conques t of Kazan

and of A s trakhan ( 1 554)—Contes ts with the LivomanOrder, Po

lan the T atars , w den, and the R ussian aris tocracy—The English inR ussia—Conques t of S iberia.

umoamrOFmm iv.—na TAKES m a TITLE orrm ( 1

T HE mile and the character of Ivan IV. have been and s ti l l areVery differen tly estimated by Russ ian h is torians . Karamsin, whohas not subjected to a crit icism sufficiently severe the narrat ivesand documents from which he has drawn his information, hasseen in him a prince who was born cruel and v icious , but wasmiracu lous l

ybrought back into the paths of virtue . Under the

gu idance 0 two excel len t min is ters he gave some years ofrepose to Russ ia ; then abandoning himse lf to his pass ionas tounded EurOpe and the empire wi th what the h is torian callsthe seven periods of mas sacres .

” M . Kostomarof supports theverdict of Karamsin. Anotherschool represented byM . Solovietand M . Zabiéline, has shownmoremis trus t of the partial accountsorKourbski, leader of the ol igarchic party, of Guagnini, courtierof the King of Poland, of Taube and Kruse , traitors to the sovcreigh whom they served. Above all , they have taken i nto cons ideration the t ime and the environment of Ivan the Terrible.This party concerns i tself less wi th his moral ity as an individual ,than with the part he layed as the agen t of the his torical develo

0pment of Rus si a. ia not the French h istorians for a whilerefu se to recogn ize the immense services rendered by Lou is XI.in the great work of consol idating the uni ty of France, and thetreation of a modern State ? He has been justified at las t byan atten t ive examination of documents and facts .

A t the time that Ivan IV. succeeded his father, the s truggleof the central power wi th the forces of the as t had changed itscharacter. The old Russ ian States which ad for so long heldin check the new power of Moscow—the principali ties of Tver,

HE N R Y or RUSSIA. $3

Riazan, Souzdal and Novgorod-Severski—and the republics ofN ovgorod, Pskot, and Viatka, had los t the ir independencetheir pos ses s ions had gone to swel l those of Moscow. Al l Northand Eas t Russ ia is now uni ted under the sceptre of the GrandPrince . To the perpe tual contes ts wi th Tver, Riazan, and Ncv

iomd succeed the great foreign wars ; the crusades aga ins tithuania, the Tatars, the Swedes, the Livonian knigh ts .

P recise ly because the work of Great Rus s ia n u n i ty was

accompl is hed, the in ternal res is tance to the au thori ty of thePrince became s tronger. The descendants of the princelylamllies wh ich had been dispossessed by money or force of arms,and the re tainers of these ancien t re igning houses, enl is ted inthe service of the mas ter of Moscow. The Court of the lat te rwas fu l l of uncrowned nobles

,Belskis , ChouIskis , Kourbskis ,

‘

Voretinskis, descendants of the appanaged princes, proud of the‘blood of Ru rik whi ch ran in the ir veins . Others sprang fromGedimin, the Lithuan ian, or from baptized Tatar w arm . Al lth ese, as wel l as the powe rfu l boyards ot Tver, Riazan, andNovgorod, became the boyards of the Grand Prince. Therewas oniy one Cou rt for al l to se rve— that of Moscow. WhenRus sia was d ivided in to s overeign States, d iscontented boyardswere free to change their mas te r, to pas s from the se rvice ofTchernigof to that of Kief, or from the se rvice of Souzdal to thatofNovgorod. N ow,

where cou ld they go ? Outs ide of Moscowthere was nothing bu t foreign sovereigns, the enemies of Russ ia.To make use of the ancien t right of chang ing yourmas te r, was topass over to the enem to be a trai tor. To change and be traybecame synonyms . rom the Russ ian word zhmé’ni(change) isderived theword z

'

zmie’nik (to bet ray). The Ru s s ian boyard cou ld

go ne ither to the Germans, to the Swedes, nor to the Tatars ; hecou ld on ly go to the Grand Duke of Li thuania, bu t that was exactly the wors t sort of dzange the blackes t of t reasons . ThePrince of Moscow knew wel l that the war wi th Li thuania —thatState which was Pol ish in the wes t, and exercised, by means ofits Rus sian provinces in the eas t, a dangerous fas cination on thesubjects of Moscow—was a s truggle for ex is tence . Lithuania,was an inte rnal as wel l as an external enemy,wi th l i nks and sym

pathies with the heart of the Rus s ian Sta te, even in the palaceof the Tzar hims elf, and her formidable ha nd is found in al l ihtrigues and conspiracies . The ex ternal s t ruggle wi th Lithuania,and the inte rnal s t ruggle with the Russ ian oligarchy, are difi

'

erent

phas es of the s ame con tes t, the heavies t and mos t perilous ofall sus tained by the Grand Princes of Moscow. T he dispossess ed princes , the boyards of the ancien. independent S tates,had renoimced the s trife with him on the battle-field. but they

1 84: HIS TOR Y or RUSSIA.

continued to combat his au thori ty in his own Cou rt . There areno more wars of States agai ns t State ; henceforth the war isi ntes tine, that of ol igarchy agai ns t autocracy. Res igned tobe ing sovereign princes no longer, the boyard princes of

Moscow were not ye t con ten t to be only subjects . The narrower area intensified the violence of the contes t. The Courtof Moscow was a fenced-ih field, from which none could goout wi thou t changing the Muscovi te for the Li thuanian mas ter—wi thou t betraying . H ence the pass ionate character of thes truggle between the two principles under Ivan IV. Bes ides ,the sovereigns of Moscow who had des troyed, after somanyefforts, the Rus s ian States that he ld Moscow in check, commi tred the s ame fau l t a s the Capetians or the early Valois . Inconsti tu t ing appanages for the oungerbranches , they bu i l t upwi th one hand what they pu l led ownwith the other ;to the sovereign princes of the n th century succeeded the princes of theblood the appanaged princes oi the 1 sth and 1 6th centuries.These also had their domain, &c., the ir boyards , the ir dim

’

boy

(rh emat-arms .) Theywere the brothers , uncles, cous ins ofthe Grand Prince, who became the chiefs of the vanquishedol igarchy and organized the coal i tion of the forces of the pastagains t him. They s tood to him as the Cape tians ot Burgundy,Berri

,Bourbon

,and Orleans, s tood to the Capetian kings,

Charles VIL, Lou is XI., and Charles VI I I.Vas s i li Ivanovi tch left two sons , Ivan and Iont i, u nder the

gu ardianship of his second wife, Helena Glin ski . She had comeinto Russ ia wi th a fami ly of Podol ian nobles, proscribed b Sigismond, and accu sed of having plotted agains t his l ife. elenaGlinski had s ubdued her old husband Vas s i l i, not only by herbeau ty, but by her free and attractive manners , an independenceof spiri t and character, and a varie ty of accompl ishmen ts not tebe found among the Russ ianwomen of that day

,condemned as

they were to seclu s ion . She was almos t a Wes tern. Vass i liwas able to leave her

,on his death-bed, with the guardianship

of her sons, and the care of s trengthen ing his work and tha t ofhis ances tors . This energetic woman knew how to put down allattempts of princely and ol igarchic reaction agains t the antoeracy of the Grand Prince. One of her husband’s brothers,Iouri Ivanovi tch, convicted of rebel l ion, was thrown into prison,where he died. H elena’s own u ncle, Michael Gl inski, an am

bitions and turbu len t Podol ian,after having enjoyed her confi

dence for some t ime,’

was l ikewise arres ted and died in confine~

ment. Andrew Ivanovitch, another brother of the late Tzart ried to escape i nto Poland to obtain the support of Sigismondhe was s topped on the way, and imprisoned. Lithuania atf

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1 86 HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA .

much, wi thou t method—the Bible, the Lives of the Sain ts , theByzantine Chroniclers trans lated into Slavonic—whatever camein his way. Above al l, he thought . He had imbibed from his

reading a high idea of what i t was to be a king, and knew wellthat he was the rightful mas ter. These very boyards , so insolent towards him i n private—did he not see them in public cer

emonials , at receptions of ambas sadors, rival each othe r i n at

t'

ected respect and servilit I t was he who, seated on histhrone, rece ived the complirnents of the foreign envoys ; hiss ignature was necessary to give the force of law to actions themos t contrary to his wi l l. These were no vain forms , but ihvolved real power. Ivan, however, diss embled. After theChris tmas fétes of 1 543, he suddenly summoned his boyardsfore him, addressed them i n a menacing tone, and reproachedthem s ternly for their manner of govern ing. There wereamong them,

” he added, “many gu i l ty ones ; but this t ime hewou ld conten t himself wi th making one example.” He thenordered his guards to seize Andrew Chouiski, the ch ief of thegovernmen t, and there and then had him torn to pieces byhounds . Some of the mos t tu rbu lent and the mos t comprowised we re ban ished to dis tan t towns . The au thor of th is ampd714 1 was th i rteen years old.

According to the invariable cus tom of Muscovite sovere igns,Ivan s urrounded h imself by his maternal rel ations, those on hisfather’s s ide be ing natu ral ly objects of suspicion. Then beganwhat was called a vremia that is a season of favor. The relatives ot the Prince;the men of the season theGlinskis, were charged to provide for the admin is trat ion of theempire . I n January 1 547, Ivan ordered the Metropoli tanM acarius to proceed with his coronation He as sumed at thece remony not only the t i tle of Grand Prince, but that of Tzar.The firs t t i tle no longer answered to the new power of theeigh of Moscow,

who counted among his domestics , princes andeven Grand Princes . The name of Tzar is that which the booksi n the Slavonic langu age , ordinarily read by Ivan, give to thekings of Judtea, As syria, Egypt, Babylon and to the emperors ofRome and Cons tan tinople . N ow, was not I van in some sortthe he ir of the Thar Nebuchadnezzar, the Tsar Pharaoh, theJhar Ahasuerus, and the Zhar David, s ince Russ ia was the s ixthempire spoken of in the Apocalypse ? Through his grandmotherSophia Palaeologus , he was connected wi th the fami ly of theTzar of Byzan tium through his ances tor Vladimi r Monomachus , he belonged to the Porphyrogeniti; and through Cons tantina the Great, to Cmsar. It Cons tan tinople had been thesecond, Moscow was the third Rome—living he ir of the Eternal

HIS TOR Y OFRUSSIA. 1 87

City. We may imagine what pres t ige was added to the digni tyof the Russ ian sovereign by this dazzl ing t itle, borrowed fromBibl ical antiqu i ty, from Roman majes ty, from the orthodox sove teigns ui Byzantium. I t recal led at the s ame t ime the recently

,

acqu i red freedom of Rus s ia the Slavon ic au thors l ikewisebes towed this augus t t i tle on the Mongol khans, suzerains of theMuscovite princes . N ow that fortune smi led upon Russ i a

,i t

wel l became her prince to call h imsel f Tzar. Shortly after,Ivan, whose deserted you th had been soiled by debauchery,confirmed his re tu rn to virtue by his marriage wi th Anas tas i a, ofthat fami lyof R omanof whose fu ture des tiny was to be so brill iant. Hrs Court was i ncreased by vre

’

mmc/zfz/ziki chosen fromthe relatives of the Tzarina.

The vanqu ished party natural ly wou ld not consent to be set

as ide wi thou t a s t ruggle for revenge . Fortune soon gave theman Opportun ity. For fou r years I van had governed absolutely,supported by his connections , the Glinskis and the R omanots,and i t was many years s ince Russ ia had been so tranqu i l . Sud

denly, i n 1 547, a terrible fi re broke out and des troyed a greatpart of Moscow, and 1700 people pe rished. The Tzar tookrefuge a t Vorobief, and thence contemplated with terror thedes truction of his capi tal . An inqu i ry was made, and the boya rds took advantage of i t to ins inuate to the people that i t wasthe Glinskis who had burnt Moscow. I t is the Princess AnneGlinski,

” repeated voices among the crowd, who, wi th her twosons , has made enchantments ; she has t aken human hearts ,and plunged them i n water, and with this water has sprinkledthe houses . This is the cau se of the des truction of Moscow.

The enraged mu l t itude burs t into the palace of the Glinskis .One of them, Iouri, was s tabbed in the porch of the Assumpt ion. Then the rioters proceeded to Vorobief, and demandedIvan’s uncle, the old Gl inski . The sovereign ’s own l ife was indanger i t was necess ary to use force to disperse the rebe ls .

The events which fol lowed are un inte ll igible from the dramatized recital of Karams i~ but very clear if we keep to thelogic facts . Ivan cou ld hardly be ignorant who had raisedthis revol t, and he was not the man to givr himself up to hisancien t gu ardians . But his ne rvous , impress ionable naturehad been grea y s t ruck by the spectacle under his eyes . Underthe influence of th is terror he examined his conscience, andresolved to amend l

'

s W e. He took the pries t Si lves te r, whohad dwe l t i n his palace for n ine years , and had a great repu tation for vi rtue, as his spiri tual director ; he ave him at thesame t ime the adminis tration of eccles ias tica affai rs . Alex isAdachef, one of the smaller nobil i ty, was charged with receiving

( 88 m a rOFKm .

supervis ion of the inte rior and of the war. Aonew favori tes confined themselves to theirwas t ranqui l . I t was the happies t period ot

of Ivan IV. The municipal admin is tration was rec

i n the i n terior A new code (Soudcbm’

k) wasand a counci l as sembled, whose hundred articl eswere occupied wi th Church reforms. In fore ign affairsnquered her ancien t mas te rs.

conquest or KAZAN AN D orW

The k in dom of Kazan continued to be dis t racted by twooppos ing i echoe s—that of R uss ia and that of the Khan of theCrimea. The latte r seemed the s tronger, and Safa-Chire i, cand ida te tor the Crimea, dis t ingu ished his access ion by ravagingthe Russ ia n terri tory ; the Kha n supported him i n these incurs ions by advancing with the whole Crimean horde as far as the

'ka. When Safa .clied, leaving a son who was a minor, theM uscovi te party took the upper hand i n Kazan and bes towedthe crown on Sebig-Ale i. He made h imse lf detested by his newsubjects, and things came to such a pass that the Kazaneseappeared to prefer the direct ru le of Mos cow to th is disguis edsubordination . A t the reques t of the inhabi tants Ivan reca l ledo‘

chig-Ale i, and sen t them a Viceroy, M ikoulinski. Suddenlyarumor was spread in Kazan that M ikoulinski was approach ingwi th Rus s ian troops with the object of exterminating the popu

lation . A rebel l ion broke out. The ates of Moscow were shu ton the Muscovites , and men deman cd a prince of the NogaiTa tars . Ediger-M akhment was procl aimed Tzar oi Kazan .

Ivan determined to make an end of th is Mus su lman city.

I n June 1 552 , the same year that Hen ry I I . obtained pos sess ionof the th ree bis hoprics, the Tzar took the field. He was atonce checked by the news that the Khan of the Crimea, wishingto save Kazan by a divers ion , had invaded Moscow. Ivan advanced agains t him as far as the Oka ; there he learn t that

.

the

barbarians, not be ing able to take Tou la, had has tilyretired.

Upon this , Ivan’

s i nfantry,wi th men and 1 50 pieces of

cannon, descended the Volga in boats , while the caval ry followeda long the banks

,and directed the i r cou rs e to Kazan . T he

creation of advanced pos ts had dimin ished the dis tance tha tseparated Kazan fromNijn i-Novgorod. His father had foundedMakarief and Vas silsoursk on the Volga ; and he himself hades tabl ished in 1 551 the warl ike colony of Sviajsk on the SviagtLater he founded those of Kosmodemianslt and Tcheboksarv.

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1 90 HIS TOR Y or RUSSIA.

strtrggle ot the Slavs agains t the Tatars—a struggle whieh hogan by the tota l subjugation of Russ ia by th e Mongolg bntwhich has con tinued to ourown day, and probably will only endwi th the cc nes t of the T atarraces by the Russ ian EmThe victory 0 Ivan the Terrible is the firs t grea t revenge thevanquished over the vanqu ishers , the firs t triumph at the ex

pense of the conquerors, the first s tage rea ched by Europeancivilization in taking the offens ive towards Asia. I n the Russian annals the ex ped ition of Kazan occupies the same loriousplace as the defeat of Abderahman i n the h is tory of the

'Tranks,or Las Navas da Tolosa in the chron icles of Spain . I t wasmore than a conques t—it was a crusade. Du ring the as saultIvan did not cease to dis play the standard of the holy faith.

I t was remarked that the day the ramparts fe ll the Tza r was atchu rch

,and the deacon read the following verse from the Gospel

torthe day “There shal l be one flock, one shepherd .

”It was

wi th the cry of God wi th us 1 that the Russ ians precipitatedthemse lves into the town. The triumph of Moscow mingledwi th that of Chris tian i ty and orthodoxy.

The pol i t ical consequences of the taking of Kazanwere coms iderable. The five Finnish or Mongol tribes who had beensubject to this royal e

l

i

gfl he Tcheremisses, the Mordvians, the

T chouvaches, whom Radlow cons ide rs the descendants ofthe Bulga rs of Bolgary, the Votiaks and the Bachkirs—after ares is tance of some years, were obliged to do homage to Moscow.

Ivan sen t themmis s ionaries at the s ame time as his voievodes.The [al l of the kingdom of As trakhan soon fol lowed that of

Kazan. This great crty was also divided between two parties.I n 1 554 Prince Iouri Pronski descended the Volga withmen. and es tabl ished Derbych, the proa’ga of Russ i a, on the

throne . Derbych, after a short time, was accused of having an

unders tanding wi th the Khan of the Crimea ; and As trakhanwas conquered a second time, and finally un ited to Russ ia. The

Nogais , who wandered over the ne ighboring s teppe s , wereforced to accept the Mus covi te protection . Thus the Volgathat famou s river whose banks sus ta in so many ru ined ci ties,I ti l capital of the Khazars , Bolga ry capital of the Bu lgars, Sara!capital of the Golden Horde—‘ that keep the memory of theancien t races who have van ished from his tory ;the Volga—thatgrand artery of Eas te rn commerce—nowflowed i n the whole of

ti

ts cou rse fromits source to its mou th through the land of thezars.Pers ian As ia was thrown open to Russian influence by means

of the Caspian ; and al ready the petty princes of the Caucasus.always fighting eitheramong themselves or with the Ta tars d

1 1 137703? or RUSSIA. 1 9:

the Crimea, sough t the al liance of the successors of the GreekCaes ars . I n order to keep a firmer hold on the Horde of theTau rid, Ivan took under his protection one of the two warl ikerepubl ics which had been formed i n the neighborhood of theCrimea : the Cossacks of the Don declared themse lves subjectsof Moscow, the Cossacks of the Dnieper remained Poles .

WARS wrrn THE LIVON IAN ORDER , POLAND , n u ns, SWEDEN , AND

a arsrocru mc R USSIA .

Russ ia, which fel t the growth of he r forces, fel t equal ly theneed of throwing Open the Bal tic at the same t ime as the BlackSea. The Bal t ic was even the more necessary to the Rus s ians ,as by i t only could they communicate with Wes te rn Europe, andreceive vessels, art i l lery, and engineers . Thence Muscovyawai ted the increase of power that civi l iz ation cou ld a lone giveher. Be tween Muscovy and the Bal tic laymore than one enemy :Sweden, the Livonian kn ights, Li thuania, and Poland. In 1 554a warbroke out abou t the rectification of the front iers be tweenIvan the Terrible and the great Gus tavus Vas a ; but as the

founder of the Swedish dynas ty was not supported by his neighbors, the warwas a short one. I t terminated by a commercialtreaty which opened India and China to the Swedish merchantsby wa of Rus s i a ; and to those of Russia, Flanders , England,and rance , by way of Sweden . Moscow cou ld not ye t communicate wi th the Wes t except through a jealous i n te rmedi" y

Ivan the Terrible, inspired by the same pol i t ical and civilizmg ideas as Peter the Great, wished to open a window ” i n toBumpe. For this pu rpose he coveted the ports of the Narva,Revel and Riga, then in the hands of the Livonian Order,agains t which Ivan had some grievances . Abou t 1 547Ivan hadsent the Saxon Schl i tte into Ge rmany to engage for him a cer~tain numbe r of en ineers and artizans , and Schl itte hadmanagedto col lect abou t a undred people . The jealousy of the Germansthe n awoke ; they feared that. as she became civi l ized, Russ iawould also become s trong. The Livonian Order demanded ofthe Emperor Charles VI . the ri ht to s top these s trangers onthei r road. None ever reached oscow. Ivan

,then occupied

wi th Kazan, was unable to avenge himsel f : butwhen in 1 554the envoys of the Order came to Moscow to sol icit a renewal ofthe truce, he summoned them to pay tribute for Iourief, theancient patrimony ot the Russ ian princes . Such a demandmeant war. I n 1558 the Russ ian a rmy took N arva, Neuhausen,

1 933 13703Y OF £ 0331 4 .

Dorpa t, and seventeenother places, The Grand M asterKettle:asked he lp of his neighbors . Poland alone responded to hisappeal, and Sigismond Augustus I I . concluded an ofiensivedefensive al l iance wi th the Livon ian Order.

A t this juncture an importan t revolu tion took place inaiace of the Tzar. I van’s re lations wi th his two counse l lorsilvester and Adache'f had s ingularly al tered. They had dis

agreed with respect to the warwi th Livonia ; they had des i redthat after the captu re of Kazan and As trakhan Ivan shou ld turninpreference to the th i rd M ussulman State, the Khanate of the

'

Crimea. M . Kostomarot gives excel len t reasons for th is pre~ference, but the reas ons in favor of the oppos i te opin ion arenot less cod. By conquering the Crimea the safety of the ernpire won (1 be secured, and the convers ion to Is lamism,

the complete Tatarization of the ancieM Taurian t ribes s t il l professingChris tianity, wou ld be prevented ; but by conqueri ng Livoniaan ancien t patrimony oithe Russ ian princes wou l d be recoveredand i t wou l d become possible to enter into direct re lations wi thcivi l ized Eu rope . T he chances of success were equal. T he

H orde was then decimated by an epidemic, but the LivonianOrder was i n the act of dissolution by the resu l t of the con tes tbetween Catho l icism and Protes tantism. The difficulties we reequal . In attacking Livon ia, Rus sia wou ld come i n contact withSweden

,Denmark , Poland, and Ge rmany but behi nd the Crimea

were the Turks, then at the height of the ir power, and much irritated b the conques t of 'Kazan and As trakhan . Peter theGreat did

,

not conquer Livonia ti ll after twen ty years hard fighting wi th the Powers of the North ; but howmany Ru s s i an expedirions agains t the Crimea have not been s topped by the distance, the difiiculty of commun ication , the sandy dese rts , and

the extreme temperatu re s ? Catherine the Great only conqueredthe Taurid i n the decadence of the Turk is h Empire

,and after

many campaigns , when she not only brough t into play her armiesof the Danube, but sen t a fleet to the Arch ipel ago . In real i tyboth enterpri ses were prematu re ;Russ i a had not ye t s trengthto carry them throu h. Neither the Tzar nor his cou nse l lorswere comple tely i n t e right

, but the obs ti nacy ot the latter hada fatal resu lt. To conten t everybody two wars were declared—which was to run the ce rtain risk of a double check .The misunderstandi be tween the Tzar and his twomin is

ters dated from further

n

gack Silves ter abused his spiri tu al influence wi th the Tzar to mu l tiply jobs of his own. He had

ended by leavin him no l iberty ; and when Ivan's favorite

son died, he tol him bru tal ly that i t was a chas tisement fromHeaven for his indocil i ty. He had entered into relations with

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1 94 w snmy or R N A .

adminis tration, a perfect army of cl ients. They had peopledthe Court, the governments, and the voievodies wi th their creaures , Their partis ans were ce rtain to agitate and plot for there tu rn of their ch iefs . Who knew how far these plots mightgo ? A short t ime after Adachet's disgrace, that Anastas iawhom he detes ted died suddenly. Ivan alleged that she was

poisoned. Since the publ icat ion of M Zabiéline’s careful

s tudies on the ‘Private Life of the Tzannas of Rus s ia,’ this

allegation and o thers like i t do not appear as inconce ivable asthey seemed to Karamsin. The intrigues ot the friends of

Adachef forced Ivan IV. many times to have recou rse to severi ty,but at this e h he was compara tively mercifu l .

When e treachery of tha t dog Alexis Adachef and his aocompl ices was discovered,

” Ivan afterwards wri tes , we le t ouranger be tempered wi th mercy ;we did not condemn the i ltyto capitalpunishments , but only banished them to ourd

'

ercu ttowns . Then we ut no one to death . Those who be~longed to the party of S

’

ves ter and Adachef we commanded toseparate from them, and no longer to recognize them as ch iefs .

T his promise we made them confirm b a vow, but the paid noheed to our injunct ion, and trampled t e ir oath under oo t. Notonly did they not separate from the t rai tors, but they aided themby all poss ible means , and schemed to render them back theirancient power

,and to set on foo t agains t us a perfidious plot.

Then only, see ing thei r wicked obs t inacy and unconquerableSpiri t of rebe l lion

,I inflicted on the gu i lty the penalty of the ir

fau l ts .

” Capital punishmen t was indeed rare at th is epoch .

Ivan usual ly conten ted himself wi th demanding a fres h oa th fromthose who were arres ted on the road to Li thuania, and exactedsure ty from them and thei r friends that they wou ld not seekagain to pass into Poland. Sometimes he condemned them to

the easy durance oi the monas te ries .

0

What final ly decided theTzar to bemore severe in his treatment was the detection of Pri nce Andrew Kourbski, who helonged to a family once royal, and descended from R unlt. He

had dis t ingu ished himself agains t the Tata rs on the Okaand at

Kazan,and

,being a zealous partizan of Adachef and Silvester,

he was deeply irri tated by thei r fal l . Nominated genera l-tuch ief of the army in Livonia, his care lessness al lowed the R us~

s ians to suffer a shamefu l defeat. Ru ss ians were beatenby 4000 Poles ; and even, if the POllSh h is torian Martin Belsktis to be bel ieved, Russ ians h t500 Poles. Kourbskt

had reason to fear the anger of the zar. He had been forsome time negot iating with the King of Poland, being desirousof obtaining in Lithuania a command. lands. and advantages‘

HIS TOR Y or RUSSIA. 1 95

equ al to those he wou ld lose . A t las t, abandoning his wife andch ildren to the vengeance of the Tzar, he left Wenden andcrossed in to the Polish camp. Thence he sen t to Ivan a le tterby his se rvan t Chipanof, whose foot, according to the tradi tion,I van nailed with his i ron stafi on to a s tep of thewhile the message was being read to him.

“Tzar formerly glorified by God ! wrote Kourbski, Tzarwho formerly shone l ike the torch of orthodoxy, but who, forours ins , art now revealed to us i n qu i te a differen t aspect, wi tha soiled and leprous conscience, such as we cou ld not find evenamong barbarian infidels ! Exposed to thy cruel persecu tion,wi th a heart filled with bitte rness , I wish notwiths tanding to saya fewwords to you . O Tzar, why has t thou put to death thes trong ones »of I s rael ? Why has t thou s lain the val iant voievodes given thee by God ? Why hast thou shed their victoriousblood, the ir only blood on the profaned pavemen t of the churchesof God, during the sacred ceremonies ? Why has t thou reddened the porch of the temple with the blood of the martyrs ?In what were they gu il ty towards thee, OTzar ? Was i t notthe i r valor which overthrew,

wh ich laid at thy fee t, thoseproud kingdoms of the Volga, before which thme ancestorswere s laves ? Is i t not thei r zeal, their i nte l l igence, to wh ich ,after God, thou owes t the s trong towns of the Germans ? Andbehold thy gra titude to these unhappy ones 1 Thou has t exterminated whole fami l ies amongs t us . Dos t thou thi nk thysel fthen immortal , OTzar ? or dos t thou th ink (seduced by somehe resy) that thou cans t escape the incorrupt ible Judge, JesusourGod ? No ;He wi l l judge the whole world, and chicfly suchproud persecu tors as thou art. M y blood, which has alreadflowed for thee l ike water, wi l l cry agains t thee to our LongGod sees all consciences l Kourbskithen invokes the victimsof Ivan

, and shows them s tanding before the throne of God, demanding jus tice agains t thei r execu t ioner. “ Is i t that in thyride thou t rus tes t i n thy legions to keep thee in this epheme ra life

,inventing agains t the human race new engines of tortu re

to tear and disfigure the body of man, the image of the angels ?Dos t thou reckon on thy servile fiatterers, on thy boon oom~

panions , on thy turbu len t boyards, who make thee lose thy sou land body

,ent ice thee to the debaucheries of Venu s , and sacrio

flee thei r children to the vi le ri tes worthy of Satu rn ? When mylas t day comes, I wish that th is let ter, watered wi th my tears ,shou ld be placed on my coffin.

” He ended by declari ng himsel f a subject of Sigismond Augus tus , my sovere ign, who, Ihope, wi l l load me with favors and consolations for my misfortunes .” Thus Kourbski spoke “ih the name of the strong er)“

1 96HIS TOR Y or 190551 4 .

of Israel, of the l iving and the dead,” that is , in the name of all

the friends of Adachef ; he made h imsel f the organ of the irwrath and complaints ; he formu lated the ir grievances, and ex.aggerated them; he demanded an account of the Tzar of hisconduct towards them,

threatening him wi th a higher t ribunal,and dared to ask i f he thought h imse lf immortal ; he refusedIvan al l part icipat ion i n the glory acqu ired at Kazan , i nsu l tedthe boyards who surrounded him, and boas ted of the crimewhich was the mos t unpardonable i n the eyes of the Tzar—the

recognition of the Pol ish sovereign ty.Kourbski

’

s letter was a manifes to. I t helped to i rritate thesuspicion s of the Tzar, already only too disposed to imagineplots . Ivan

, who thought h imse lf a man of le tters , and wasreal ly one of the mos t learned men i n his empire, conceived i tneces sary to answer the letter of Kourbskiwi th a long vindicao

tion, adorned wi th quotations from sacred and profane au thors.The Tzar and his rebel subject exchanged many epis tles of thiskind . Ivan

,who had begun by this t ime to j us tify his su rname

of Terrible,gave, be s ides , anothe r answer to Kourbski

’s mani

fes to—the pun ishment of his supposed accomplices .

Ivan fel t that he cou ld no longer govern wi th a Court, acounci l of s tate (douma) , and an admi nis trat ion which were filledwi th the friends of Adachef and Kourbski. Kourbski

’s conduct

shows to what depth s of treason thei r rancor cou ld bring them.

He was to re tu rn to devas tate Rus s i awi th a Polish army ! Was

the l ife of the Tzar safe in the mids t of such men? I n December 1 564 Ivan qu i tted Moscow wi th al l his friends , servants , andtreasu res , and reti red to the Slobode A lexandrof. He then wrotetwo letters to Moscow—one to the Archbishop, complainingof theplots and infidelity of the nobles , and the compl icity of the cle rgy,who, abus ing the nigh of intercession, prevented the sovereignfrom punishing the gu i l ty in the other he reassu red the ci t izensand people of Moscow, by informing them that they were notincluded in his censure. The terror of the capi tal was great ;the people trembled at the thought of fal l i ng again under thegovernmentot the ol igarchs ;the boyards feared what the peoplemight do to them. Nei ther the one nor the other cou ld res ignthemse lves to the anger of the sovereign . The boyards and theclergy resolved to as k pardon

,and, i f necessary, to

“ca their

heads ” to the Tzar. They wen t in process ion to ther

S

r

ihbodeAlexandrof, to beseech him to iecall his abdication . Ivan conesented to resume the crown, but on his own conditions . As hecould ne ither govern wi th the actual admin is tration nor des troyit, as he was forced to respect its ves ted interes ts, he made asort of parti tion of the monarchy. The greate r part of the

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r98HIS rowy or RUSSIA.

The principal episodes of th is au tocratic reign of te rror are :t . The depos i tion and perhaps the mu rder of Sr. Phil ip, Archbis hop of Moscow, gu ilty of having nobly interceded for the cowdemned, and of hating the opn

’mim'

h . 2 . The execu tion ofAlexandra, widow of Iroui and s is ter-in-law of Ivan ; of PrinceVladimi r and his mother, the ambi tious Euphrosyne, who thusexpiated the ir i ntrigues of 1 553. We mus t remark that Ivan,whatever Kourbski may say, spared Vladimi r

’

s children, andlargely provided for them. 3. The chas tisemen t of Novgorod,where the aris tocrat ic party had ente rtained, i t seemed to Ivan,the pro

'

ect o f Opening the gates to the King of Poland, andwhere t e Tzar, according to his own testimony, pu t to death1 505pe rsons. 4. The great execu tion in the Red Place in 1 571 ,where a ce rtain number of Mu scovites and N ovgorodians weres lain, and wheremany of Ivan

’s new favori tes, notably Viazemski

and the Basmanofs, underwen t the same penal ty as his oldenemies .

A cu rious memorial has been left us of the vengeance ofthe Terrible i t is the synod ical letter of the Monas tery ofS t. Cyril, i n wh ich Ivan asks for each of his victims by name theprayers of the Church. This l is t shows a total of 3470 victims,of whom 986 are men tioned by name. Many of these namesare followed by th is s inis ter s tatement, wi th his wife,

”wi th

his wife and children,” wi th his daughte rs

,

”with his sons.”

I t was this that Kourbski called the extermination of entirefamil ies ” (wiorozirzo) . The cons t i tu tion of the Russ ianat th is epoch was so s trong, that the death of the head neceinvolved that of the other members . Other collecti ve i ntions are not less significant. For example : Kazarine Doubrovski and his two sons, wi th ten menwho came to their help.

”

Twenty men of the vil lage of Kolmenskoé “ e ighty of Matveiché ;

” these were no doubt peasants and dx'

efi-boyarsk’

a who

tried to defend the ir mas te rs. There is this mention re lat ive toNov orod : Remember, Lord, the sou ls of thy servants, to thenum r of 1 505persons, N ovgorodiau s .

”H ad not Louis XI .

tender feel ings of this nature ? He prayed wi th fervor tor thesoul of his brother, the Duke de Be rri.Other records demons trate that I van the Terrible thought he

had se rious reasons to fear for his life. His cu rious correspondence with Queen El izabe th of England prove s this, as heobtains of her the formal promise that in case of misfortu ne heis t0

'

find in England a safe asylum and the free exercise of hisworship ( 1 There is bes ides his will of 1 572 , which contemplates the cas e of his be ing proscribed by his boyards andexpelled by themfromthe throne, and being obl iged to wander

HIS TU R Y OF RUSSIA. 1 99

from country to country,”and recommends to his sons to l ive

on good terms with each other after his death, to learn how tores t rain and reward their subjects, and above al l to be on thewatch agains t them.

During this terribl e in tes t ine s t rife, the war wi th Livon iaand her al ly the King of Poland continued. Notwithstandin

the help of the latter, the Knights were everywhere beaten, anthe ir fortresses taken by the Rus s ian troops .

A t l as t, ru ined by so man blows , th is famous Order dissolved . The Is le of (Ese l sol itse lf to Denmark ;Revel gaveitsel f to the Swedes ;Livonia was ceded by the Grand Mas terto Poland ;Kettler reserved to himself Courland and Semigallia,which were erected into a hereditary duchy. There were nomore Livonian knights , but Poland, as heir of the quarrels ofLivonia, became more than ever ardent iii the s truggle . TheRus s ians s us tained the ir new reputation . I n 1 63 Ivan theTerrible , wi th a numerous army and many guns, hesieged andtook Polotsk, a very important pos i tion from its proximi ty toLivonia and its situation on the Dwina, the grand commercialrou te to Riga. In spite of a victory at Orcha, the King of P0land demanded a truce (rIvan at this moment ofi

'

ered a s trange spectacle to Russ ia.To del iberate on the reques t of Sigismond he assembled a counsel, composed of the h igher clergy, the terri torial boyards on

the frontiers of Li thuania (and well acquainted wi th the localtopography), and finally the merchants of Moscow and Smolensk . This despot

,who founded au tocracy in blood, convoked

real States-general ; he made an appeal to their Opinion, as hehad many tunes before, when from the s tone tribune of Lobrwemidsto he haran cd the three orders . The Assembly decidedthat the King 0 Poland's condi tions cou ld not be accepted, andoffered men and money for the continu ation of the war. Thi swas prolonged for fou r years, and ended in a truce . The Tzar,who saw difficulties accumu lating in Livonia, conceived an ex

pedient to enable him to escape them. No lohger hoping to beable directly to un ite the Bal tic ports to his empire, he offeredthe t itle of King of Livonia to the Dan ish Prince Magnus, andmade himmarry a dau hterof the same Prince Vladimi r whomhe had put to death. agnus, nominal Kin of Livonia

, soonpereci tha t he was only an instrument 0 Muscovi te pol icy.He intrigued agains t the Tzar and was dethroned, Ivan theTerrible took Wenden in person, which M us had garrisoned,and massacred the German soldiers to the astman.

Unfortunate ly the war wi th Poland was compl icated by theraids of the Tatars of the Crimea. Sigismond did not cease to

HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

work upon the Khan, whowel l u nders tood that his cause wasa llied with that of Poland. The Tzar, however, overpoweredthe Khan, took Kief, and es tabl ished towns on the Dnieper.And what cou ld the Tatars gai n there, after all? H ad not Ivanoverthrown two Mongol kingdoms ? The Su l tan of Stambou l

,

Sel im IL , was ready to join in the Holy War for Kazan andAs t rakhan . I n 1 569, Turks , commanded by Kass imPacha, and Tatars, led by the Khan, bes ieged As t rakhan.The operations dragged on the Pacha wished to pass thewi nte r there, but a sedit ion broke out i n the army. He wasobl iged to raise the s iege, and los t many of his men i n the

s teppes of the desert . Two years after, the Khan Devle tCh ire i invaded Russ ia wi th men. Was he aided by thetreachery oi the vol

'

evodes He cros sed the Oka, and suddenlyappeared under the wal ls of Mos cow. He bu rned the faubourgsand the fire spread to the town, which , except the Kreml in, wascompletely reduced to ashes. A foreign au thor give s the evi~

dently exaggerated numberot victims . The Khan retiredwi th more than prisoners , and despatched the fol lowinginsolen t mess age to Ivan : I burn, I ravage ever thing becauseof Kazan and As trakhan. I came to you and I umt Moscow.

I wished to have you r crown and you r head, but you did notshow yoursel f you decl ined a battle, and you dare to cal l yonr~sel f a Tzar of Moscow. Wil l you l ive at peace wi th me ? Y ieldme up Kazan and As trakhan . If you have only money to offerme, i t wou ld be u seless , were i t the riches of the whole world.

What I want is Kazan and As trakhan. A s to the roads to yourempire, I have seen them—I know them. He returned thefol lowing year (r572 but Prince Michael Vorotinskimet him

gu

f

the banks of the 0pasnia, and inflicted on him a comple tee eat.The same year (that of the Mass acre of Sr. Bartholomew)

died Sigismond Au s tus I I ., king of Poland . H is re ig n wasespecially memorab e for the union of Lubl in (r i n vi rtue ofwhich Poland and Lithuania were henceforth to form only oneS tate under an elective prince . Thus Poland enfeebled royalpower at home, jus t when i t acqu i red in Russ i a an ex traordinarydegree of energy. A party of nobles was formed at Warsaw whowished to e lect the son of Ivan the Terrible as King of Poland.

This was to prepare for the reun ion of the two great Slav empires, separated less by language than rel igion , whose growingantagon ism cou ld only terminate in the ru i n of one of them,

tothe great advan tage of the German race . Ivan coveted thecrown, not for his son, but for himsel f. Let u s see him courtthe Pol ish ambass adors, and try to defend himse lf agains t the

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202 H IS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

of Iva n the Terrible—seemed read to annihilate the work of along re ign

,and to check the firs t e ort of Russ i a to escape from

a s tate of barbarism. The Swedes on the ir s ide, commandedb De la Gardie, took Kexholm i n Carel ia, and i nvadedthonia. Old Pskovian and Novgorodian Russia was invaded.

I n 1 58 1 Batory bes ieged Pskot, whils t De l a Gardie capturedNarva

,Ivangorod, Iam,

and Koporié. But Pskotmarked thel imi t of Ba tory ’s successes . This l i ttle town wa s defendedwi th so much energy by Ivan Chouiski, that, afte r a threemonths ’ s iege and many assau l ts, Poles and Hungarians had toconfes s themselves vanqu is hed .

Ivan had ceased to appear at the head of his tr00ps, th ink ingthat a prince who is not s u re of his peers wou ld be fool ish it herisked h imself in a batt le a conclus ion to wh ich Lou is XI . hadcome at Montlhery. There s til l remained diplomacy to direc t.Threatened by Batory

,he had recourse to an expedien t. He

implored the mediation of Pope Gregory X II I . be tween theCatholic king and himself. T he Pontifi sen t to Moscow theJe su i t Anton io Pos sevino,wi th orders at the same time to nego~tis te the union wi th the two Chu rches . The accoun t of Possevino shows us Ivan the Terrible i n his t rue colors ; almos t treethinking, curiou s , and some times humorous, wi th ideas of tol rance remarkable for his t ime. If the Pope

’

s envoy failed i therel igious part of his mis s ion , he at leas t succeeded in concludinga truce be tween the two sovere igns , by which Ivan had t cedePolotsk and al l Livonia. This bold ente rpris e for open.ng theBa l tic Sea, which preceded by 1 50 yea rs that of Peter the Grea .,

had fal len miserab ly to the ground. The fmit of th irty years‘

efforts and sa r rifices was los t

THE ENGLISH lN RU SSm—{ ON QUEST OF SIBER IA.

Writers hos t ile to Ivan love to contras t the end of his re ign-hispersona l govemment—wi th his early years, when Silves terand Adachet were in power. In the first period there was nothing but success Kaz an and As trakhan were conquered. Inthe second period the Rus s ians were vanqu ished by the Polesand Swedes ;were expelled from Livon ia ; they los t Polotsk,and sawMoscow bu rn t by the Khan of the Crimea. The meaning of these facts real ly is that the Rus s ian arms were iumphant in the Eas t agains t barbarians ignoran t of the mi l i tary art,and unfortu nate in the Wes t, where they had to contend wi ththe arti l lery, the tactics, the discipl ine, and the troo of Europe .Ivan needed more wit to be defeated as he was infivonia, than

HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA. 303

to win as he did i n Kazan . I t is no dishonor for the Russ i a ofthe 1 6th cen tury to have failed i n this great u ndertaking, s inoePeter, wi th all his genius, spent twenty-five years in the sametas k. This unlucky period of the reign of Ivan was not wi thou tfru i t for the grandeu r and civi l ization of Russ ia. The Germans

gl

e

osed to her the Bal tic, the English opened for her the Whitea.

Under Edward VI . a company of merchant venturers wasformed for the discovery of regions

,kingdoms

,is lands, and

places unknown and unvis i ted by the highway of the sea.

Sebas ti an Cabot, chief pi lot of England, was nominated governorfor l ife . Three vesse ls, under the command of SirH ugh Wi lloughby and Chance l lor, set sail towards the north-eas t, towardsthat s trange sea spoken of by Taci tus—“

a s luggish mere andmotionles s—which forms the girdle of the world, where youhear the sound of sun-ris ing ! That sea mus t lead, menthought, to China. On the coas ts of Scandinavia near Vardehuus, a frightfu l tempest arose and dispersed the squadron .Willoughby disappeared wi th the ‘Buona Speranza ’ and theBuona Confidenza.

’ Some fi shermen afte rwards found the twoships i n a bay of the White Sea, where they had been n ipped bythe ice, and all the sailors who manned them were dead ofcold and hunger. Chance l lor, with the ‘Edward Bonaventu ra,

’

succeede d in doubl ing Laponia and the Holy Cape, pene tratedfirst into an unknown sea, and then i nto the mou th of a river,near wh ich was a monas te ry. The sea was the Whi te Sea, theriver the Dwina, the monas tery that of St. N icholas . Chance llor learned wi th as ton ishment that he was on the territory of theTzar of Moscow; he had found Russ ia beneath the North Pole

Further off was the monas te ry of St. Michael, nearwhich was afterwards to be bu i l t in this dese rt, chiefly thanksto the Engl ish, the commercial city of Sr. Michael the Amha

l

'

lfel’

or, more shortly, Arkhange l . Chance l lor at once left for os

cow, and del ivered to Ivan the Terrible th le tters which Edward VI ., not knowin where his subjects migh t land, had ad

dressed vaguely to agll the pri nces and lords, to al l the judges

of the -arrh,to thei r officers, to whoever possesses any hi h

authori i n all the regions under the vas t sky.

" Ivan Itdmitte the Engl ish to see his majes ty and his eyes,

" feas tedthem in he Golden Palace, and gave them a letter for theirng, i n wh ich he au thorized the Engl ish to trade wi th his dominions , and made them promise to send ships to the Dwina .Mary Tudor succeeded her brother, and shared the throne With

her Span is h husband,Phil ip I I . They confirmed the privileges

of the company of merchan t ven turers , and i n 1 556 Chancel lor.

204 H IS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

accompanied by Richard Gray and George Kil l ingworth, againse t sail for the mou th of the Dwina, and arrived successfu l ly atMoscow. This t ime they obtained from the Tzar letters patentformal ] au thori z ing the members of the company to es tablishthemselves at Kholmogory and at Vologda, and to trade eas tand wes t . During th is t ime Stephen Bu rroughs , i n the Searchth ri ft, ’ navigated the eas t, gained the shores of the country ofthe Samoyedes , touched on the is l ands of Nova Zembla andVaigatz, and was only checked by the approach of the dark Pol ar win te r.Chancel lor’s two vessels- the Edward Bonaven tu ra ’ and

the Phi l ip and Mary —which had discovered the mis s i ng sh ipsof Wil loughby

,departed for Engl and. The former had on board

Os ip N epei, governor of Vologda, the firs t Rus s ian ambas sadorthat had been seen i n Engl and, accompanied by a su i te of six~teen Russ ians, and carrying a le tter and presents from IvanIV. A tempes t scattered the heet, sen t the Phi l ip and Mary

’

as far as the coas t of Norway, sunk the‘~Speranza ’ and the

Confidenza,’and threw the Bonaventura on the inhospi table

rocks of Inve rness . Chance llor succeeded i n saving the R u ss ian envoy, bu t perished himsel f with his son and nearly all thecrew. T he cargo and the presen ts of the Tzar were plunderedby the savage natives of the country.Twelve mi les from London Os ip N epei was rece ived by

e igh ty merchan ts of the company, mounted on magnificenthorses , and adorned wi th heavy chains of gold. He now he

came acquainted wi th al l the solid respectabil i ty of old England .

”His ( oric’ge was increas ed by new squadrons of mer

chan ts and gentlemen as they approached the town , and he madehis tr iumpha l e nt ry on February the a8th 1 557. Harangued bythe Lord Mayor, rece ived by the Queen and the King, feas tedby the corporation of drapers he departed for Rus s i a wi th le tterspaten t according to Russ ian merchants i n England a reciprocityof privi leges . England d id not bind herself down to much .

N epei th is t ime was accompan ied by j enkinson , an admirabletype of an English sailor

,—bold

,indefatigable

,ready for any

th ing ; a merchant, an admi n is trator, a diplomat at need, whohad al ready vis i ted al l the seas of Eu rope, and, in despa i r atEngland not be ing able to contes t the Medi te rranean wi th herVenetian rival , wished to secu re he r a new pas sage by Russ i a tothe Eas t. His open character and wide knowledge were wonderfuny seduct ive to Ivan . He obtained from the Tzar a letterof recommendation to the As iatic princes, descended the Volga,flew the first English flag on the Caspian, landed on the coas t ofTurkes tan ;plunged wi th camels loaded with merchandise into

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306 H IS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

of his project of marriage wi th Lady Mary H as tings , cous i n ofElizabe th . Notwi ths tanding his heaviness and want of tact,Bowes obtained great credi t with the Tzar, who somet imes s aidto him,

May i t ple ase God that my servants prove as fai thful !Bowes profited by his favor to ge t the privi leges of the Engl ishaugmen ted, but he made h imsel f many enemies at Court, andwas greatly mal treated duri ng the reaction that fol lowed the

death of Ivan. The relations we re renewed in Feodor’s re ignby Horsey, and above al l, by Fletcher, author of a cu rious ao

count of Ru ss ia.French merchants had also brough t to Ivan a le tter of

Henry I I I ., and had se ttled themse lves i n Moscow. Other envoys arrived from Hol land, Spain , and I taly, to t ry to rival theEngl is h ;but the latte r, who had been the firs t to reach Rus s i a,kept the pre eminence .I n 1 558 the Tzar had yielded to Gregory Strogonof n inety

two miles of desert land on the banks of the Kama. Here theS trogonofs created many centres of population, and began toexplore the mineral weal ths of the Ourals . Their colon is ts evenpassed the “mountain girdle,

” and came i n contact wi th thek ingdom of Siberi a. The S trogonofs , as audacious as theSpaniards, dreamed of the conques t of th is vas t empire, and teques ted au thori ty of the Tzar to take the offens ive agains t theTatars. To fight, an army was necessary. Russ ia was so fu llof vigor

,that the mos t impure e lemen ts often became the agents

of her secu ri ty and progres s . The Good Companions of the Donhad more than once excited the an erof the Tzar by pi llagingthe t ravel le rs and boats on the roya?road of the Volga. Theyhad not always respected the pos ses s ions of the Crown . Oneof these brigand ch ie fs , the Coss ack Irmak T imoféevitch, obtainedthe pardon of the Tzar, and took serv ice wi th the S trogonofsA t the head of 850 men—Russ ians , Cossacks, Tatars , German,and Pol is h prisoners of war—he crossed the Ourals

,terrified

the natives by the‘

novel ty of fire-arms, traversed the immenseuntrodden fores ts of Tobol, defeated the Khan Kou tchoum i nmany battles , took Sibir, his capi tal , andmade his cous in Mame t~koul pris oner. Then he subjugated the banks of the Irtychand the Obi

,and consoled the l as t years of the Tzar b the

news that he had conquered him a new kingdom,and ad cd to

al l his other crowns that of Siberia . Ivan also sent bishops andpries ts i nto his new domin ions. I rmak, afte r having finished hisconques t and thrown open the communications wi th the richBokhara, only su rvived Ivan a short time . One day he al lowedhimself to be surprised by his enemies, and sank in trying to

swim the Irtych, from the weight of the cu i rass given him by the

H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA . 307

T zar T h is rival of Pizarro and Cortez, the conqm’

d ador

of a new world, was reckoned a hero by the people, and ishonored as a sain t by the Church . Miracles were accompl ishedat his tomb ; epic songs celebrated his exploits . The Tatarshave composed a whole legend abou t him.

It A dachef had given to Russ ia i n 1 551 her first mun icipa ll ibe rties, Ivan had assembled in I556 the first States-general,composed of the three orders . The reformat ion of the Churchunder Silves ter was completed by the Council of r573, whichforbade rich convents to acqu ire new lands ; and, by the Councilof 1 580, extending the prohibition to al l conven ts . The Chu rchcould no longer acquire pro

iaerty. Ivan the Terrible res trained

an abuse wh ich troubled a i the publ ic ceremonies, and morethan once impe ril led the s ucce ss of battles . We know how

powe rfu l, i n the Russ ia of the 1 6th centu ry, was the cons titu tionof the family. When a noble rose or fel l, his whole fami ly roseor fel l wi th him; eve n the memory of his ances tors and thefu ture of his younges t nephews were concerned. Th is is thereason why a Rus sian noble never consented to occupy an inferiorplace, i f no preceden ts on the subject exis ted . Cou rt andcampwere cons tan tly dis turbed by the quarrels ot precedence

Ne i ther the knou t nor the execu t ioner’s axe

cou ld subdue the i r res is tance. They wou ld rather die than dishonor thei r ances tors . The Books of Rank were consu l ted onal l occas ions, to know the respective precedence of the difierentfami l ies . I van IV. forbade al l d ispu tes of rank to any noblewho was not the head of his fami ly. Th is was only to res tra inthe evi l ; i t had ye t to be exti rpated.

Ivan the Terrible may be cons idered as the founder of theNational Guard of the rfrelfl i or straws , who during two hundredyears rendered great services to the empire .

—He also organized,on the frontiers threatened b the Tatars , a series of pos ts andcamps where the soldiers of the country migh t be exercised .

He gathered s trangers abou t him. He authorized themi n iste rWettermann

,of Dorpat

,to preach at Moscow, l is tened to Eber

feld, and refused a discus s ion wi th Rosvita, saying that he wou ldnot cas t pearls before swine .” He permi tted the erect ion ofthe first Calvin is t and Lu theran chu rches at Moscow, thus ah

ticipating the tolerat ion of the 1 8th centu ry ; but, on see ing thepeople ’s dis l ike to them,

he had them removed two vers ts fromthe capital .Ivan ’s character was a s trange compound of greatness and

barbarism. Cruel, dissolute, supers ti t iou s , we see him by tu rnsyielding himsel f, with his favori tes , to the mos t shamefu l excesses , or, covered with a monkish garment, heading them i n

308 1 1 15TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

rosessions and other pious exercises . Like Henry VI II bead man wives. After Anas tas ia R omanof he married a bar.

barian, t e Tcherkess Maria ; next, two legi timate wives ; thentwo more whose u nion the Church refused to sanct ion. By hisseventh wife

,Maria Nagoi he had a son, another Dmi tri. A t

the close of his days we see him seeking an al l iance wi thfore igners, and asking first the s is ter of the King of Poland, andthen a cous i n of Elizabe th of England

,in marriage. H is brutal

habi ts and the facil i ty wi th which he u sed his iron s tafi , had atragic conclus ion . I n an al tercat ion wi th his son Ivan he s truckhim, and the blow was mortal. Great and fierce was the sorrowof the Tzar. I n s laying his beloved son, he had s lain his ownwork. He had no longer a successor, s i nce Feodor, the e lderof his remain ing sons , was feeble in body and mind ; and thesecond Dmi tri was only an infant. I t was for foreignsuccessors—for one of the detes ted boyards—that, at the price of somuch blood and so many peri ls

,he had founded au tocracy. He

only su rvived his son three years , and died in 1 584. Withou tallowing himself to be b ias sed by Ivan

’

s numerous cruel ties , thehis torian ought fairly to compare himwith men of his own time.He ought not to forge t that the 1 6th centu ry is the centu ry ofHenry VI I I . , of Ferdinand the Cathol ic, of Catherine de Medici,of the Inqu is i t ion, of Sain t Bartholomew,

and of rfrapador. Was

the Europe of th is era indeed so far advanced beyond As iat icRus s ia, newly escaped from the Mongol yoke ? Ivan the Terrible,i n decimating, i n suppres s ing, in tyrannizing over the aris tocracy,at leas t put i t out of their powe r to es tabl ish after him thatanarch ic noblesse, the hidden danger of Slav nations, which inPoland, u nder the name ofpogflolite, began by enfeebling royalty,and ended by enfeebling the na tion.

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2 I 0 HIS TOR Y OF R (158 1 4 .

be chas tised ;bidme to speak a word.

” Men approached the Tzari n fear and trembl ing ; the people pros trated themse lves beforethat te rrible i ron s tafi wi th which Ivan was always armed. He considered the empire as his private property ; he admin is tered itwith his own people,

”who had succeeded to the drou/irza of

former princes ; be gove rned i t by the help of his own re lationsor those of his wi fe. The sons of the greates t lords gloried inse rving him i n the capacity of spalm

‘

éi or gentlemen of thebedchamber

,and slo/m

‘

éi or waiters at the royal table. Thesedomes t ic function s led to the rank of boyards or okolm

'

fcin'

! (surrounders of the prince.) The principal boyards formed the doumaor council of the empire, as sembled in the chamber of the prince,and were pres ided over by him. Ou solemn occas ions the sobororgeneral assembly was convoked, which was composed of depu ti esfrom all the orders

,and was a sort of S tates general of ancient

Rus s ia. T he proud Rus s ian aris tocracy did not al low i tse lf tamelyto be reduced to this s tate of i ndependence ; but the kni

‘

azer

scattered as provincial or municipal governors through Siberia,Kazan, or As trakhan, or subjected in the capital to rigorou ssu rvei l lance, had become powerless. To ensu re the resu l ts ofthei r cruel pol icy, the successors of Ivan IV. forbade thebeare rs of ce rtai n too i llustrious names to marry.When the Tzar des i red to marry, he addres sed a circu l ar to

the governors of the towns and provinces , commanding them tosend -to Moscow the mos t beau tifu l maidens of the empire, orat al l even ts those of noble birth . Like Ahasueru s in the Bible,l ike the Emperor Theophilus in the chronicles of Byzantium,

l ike Lou is the Débonnaire in the narrative of the As tronomer,’

he made his selection out of al l these beau ties . Fifteen hundredyoung g i rls were as sembled for Vas sil i Ivanovitch to choose from3after the first meet ing, 500 of these we re sent to Moscow. TheGrand Prince then made a fresh select ion of 300, then of 200,then of 1 00, then of 1 0, who we re examined by the doctors andmidwives . The mos t beau t ifu l and the heal thiest became theTzarina ; she took a new name, as a s ign that she was going tobegin a new exis tence . Her father, on becoming father-in lawof the Tzar, a lso changed his name ; her relations became theneares t relations (pror/zer) of the prince, cons t i tu ted his compan.

ions, unde rtook the care of eve rything, and governed the empirel ike the house of thei r imperi al relative. The dispossessed min iste rs and friends tried in secre t to reconquer their los t powe r byput t ing the new sovereign to death , and did not hes i tate to haverecourse to magi c and poison . Man of these imperi al bridesneve r survived their triumphs, anti suddenly attacked bymys terious maladies, died before theircoronationday. All the

HIS TOR Y OF R USSIA . 3 1 !

successors of Vas s i l i Ivanovi tch , even including Alex is Mikhallovitch, i ns ti tuted these as semblages of beau ty for the choice ofthe irwives . I t was the privilege of the sovereigns of Moscowand of the princes of thei r blood .

The menof the drouj ina or of the s urrounding of the princethough t i t beneath thei r digni ty or above the ir power to servehim otherwise than in war or just ice. The work of the pen hadto be confided to the sons of the pries ts andmerchants—the diahwhose beginn ings were as humble as those of the Capetian law

yers, seated at the fee t of the peers of France ; l ike them, theyended by taking the place of the great lords . The admin is trationof the State was entrus ted to twenty or thirtypn

'

éazer or bu reaux,

whose numbers and functions varied at different t imes . Therewas notably thepn

’

kaz of provis ions , that of drinks, and that ofthe pantry, wh ich were al l concerned wi th the commiss ariat ofthe Court. The du ties were ve ry heavy, as not only the Tzar,the Tzarina

,and the princes of the blood kept an open table,

but, in accordance wi th patriarchal and fami ly ideas , the princewas supposed to feed from his own table the nobles and function~a ries lodged beyond the palace . He was obl iged to send themdaily

,cooked meats, wines , and fru i ts . There was the pril’az ot

the gold and s i lver cup, that of the wardrobe, of pharmacy, ofhorses, of the falconry, of games, to wh ich belonged comediansbuffoons, dwarfs, fools, keepers of bears and dogs ready tofightwith the bears, the menagerie of rare animals, chess, cards ,and in general everyth ing that served to amuse the Tzar.The pn

’

éaz kam nyr’

, or of the crown , had under its cont rol the manufactures fabricating the golden and s i lken s tuffs,of wh ich the prince had a monopoly, and the depot of the preciou s Siberian fu rs . I t fu rn ished the presents to be dis tribu tedamong the clergy, the boyards, the ambas sadors of foreign powers,and the .

Greek monks who came fromByzantiumor Moun t Athos,to a sk for alms . Thepriéaze: of the great palace, of the guarter,of the revenue, and ot the tax on l iquors, were concerned wi ththe finances . There were also those of the imperial family, ofsecre t affairs, of petitions, pos ts , and police ;of the bu i ldings ofthe Tzar, s l aves , monas teries, s trel tsi, embass ies, and arti l le ry.The priéasa of Oustiougue, of Kazan, of Galitch, ot Kos troma,of Li ttle Ru ss i a, and Sibe ri a, had a terri torial compe tence .Usu al ly the expenses of such and such a bu reau were defrayedby the produce of taxes on a given town or province.

The State revenues were composed : 1 . Of that of the demesne, i ncluding thi rty-six towns and thei r terri tory, the inhabitants of wh ich paid their dues ei ther i n ki nd or inmoney. 2 .

Of the lagla, an annual immst on every 60 meas ures of 00m.

2 I 2 HIS TOR Y OF R USSIA .

3. Of the M , a fixed tax on eve ry dbor or fire. 4. Theproduce of the cus tom-hous es, and of the excess of the mun icipaldues . 5. The tax on the publ ic baths . 6 . The farming-out oithe Crown tave rns . 7. The fines and expenses of jus t ice, theconfiscations pronou nce d by the “ t ribunal of the brigands .

”

Fletcher, who v is i ted Russ ia in the t ime of Boris Godounof,va lued the whole of these revenues at roubles of the irmoney. The Tzar annual ly rece ived bes ides, furs and otherth ings from Siberi a, Permia, and the Petchora ; he exchangedthem himself wi th the Tu rkish, Pers ian, Armenian , Bokharian,or Wes tern merchan ts , who came to the fai rs or landed at theports of the empire. Further, the Crown, after having allowedthe officers to gorge themselves some time at the expense of the

people, reserved to i tself the power of cal l ing them to jus t ice,and ot depriving them of part, or the whole, of their booty. TheTzar

,who, l ike the ancien t despots of Egypt and the Ea s t, had

already monopol ized ce rtain branches of commerce, kept up an

undignified rival ry wi th his ownsubjects . He sent agents intos pecial provi nces

,who seized on al l the productions of the coun try,

fu rs, wax , and honey ; forced the proprie tors to sel l them tot hem at a low price, and then obl iged the Engl ish of Arkhangelor the merchants of As ia to buy them at a hi h rate ;he even l aidhands on the goods brough t b these merchan ts, and made theRuss ian t radesmen pay clear or them,

forbidding them to purchase from othe rs til l the warehous es of the Tzar were emptied.

Fletcher exposes many othe r means of extort ion, to wh ich theT zarian gove rnmen t pe riod ical ly had recourse .

The grades of courts of civi l jus tice were three 1 . The tribunais of the s taros t of the dis trict, and of the hundred men,a mag is trate es tablished for eve ry hundred ploughs . 2 . The

tribunal of the volevode, in the head-city of each province .3. The Supreme Cou rt of Moscow. In spi te of the Codes ofIvan I I I. and Ivan IV., the law was so confus ed and uncertainthat Fletcher s aid of it,

“There is no wri tten law i n Russ ia.”

The mode of procedure was that of the Carol ingian age ; i f aman cou ld ne i ther produ ce wi tnesses nor wri t ten proofs, thejudge cou ld take the oa th of one of the parties . Ofte n the valueof an oath was confirmed by a jud icial due l . The champions ,says Herbers te in

,loaded themselves wi th arms and heavy

armor. They were so embarras sed by all th is we igh t of iron ,that a Rus s ian was i nvariably overcome by a fore igner, and IvanI I I . forbade foreigners to fight wi th his sub

'

ects . Often thepart ies had thems elves represented by h ire champions, andthen the combat became a comedy, the mercenaries only thinlying how to spare themselves .

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334 HE N RY OF R USSI A‘.

nobles , who there led a gay and noisylife, like the Frank noblesof other days in the Clois ters of the Merovi ngian chu rches.Del icate meats were sent them from the table of the Tzar—s turgeons, s terle ts , figs , dry rais ins , oranges, peppe r, and saffron .

I n a le tter to the monks of St. Cyri l on the White Lake, IvanIV. blames wi th a mix tu re of seve ri ty and i rony the i r len i tytowards the imprisoned boyards . I n my you th,

” he wri tes,when we were at Sr. Cyril , if dinner happened to be late , and

if the intendant asked a s terle t or any othe r fi sh of the cel larer.he wou ld reply, I have no orders abou t it;I have only preparedwhat I was ordered. Now i t is n ight, and I cangive you nothing :I fear the sovereign, bu t I fear God more.

’See,

” continuesIvan, what was the severity of the ru le . They fulfilled the wordof the prophe t : Speak the t ru th , and have no shame before theTzar. ’ To-day my boyard Cheremetief reigns i n his cel l l ike aTzar;my boyard Khabarot pays him vis i ts wi th the monksThey drink as if i n lay socie ty. Is i t a wedding ? is i t a bapt ismThe captive dis tributes pieces of iced fru its

, spiced bread, andswee tmeats . Beyond the monas tery there is a hou se filled wi thprovis ions . Some say that s trong drinks are gradual ly smuggled in to the cel l of Cheremetief. N ow i n monas te ries i t isagains t the rules to have foreign wines ; howmuch more, then,s trong waters ?The orthodox faith, deprived of the s timu lus of l iberty and

ins truction , tended to become mere rou t ine. Salvation was

gained by hearing long l i tu rgies, bymu l t iplyi ng Slavonic orisons,y making hundreds of pros trations and genuflexions, b tel l i nrosaries, and by frequenting shrines . The mos t celiebratecentres were the catacombs oi Kief, where s lept the incorruptible bodies of the saints, and where dwel l thei r successors wi thout ever see ing the l igh t of day ; the monas tery of St. Cyri l , onthe White Lake ; of Sr. Sergius , a t Troitsa ; and the ca thedralof Sr. Sophia, at Novgorod . Men pros t rated themse lves at thetombs of St. Pe ter and Sr. Alexis of Moscow; before the wonder-working virgi ns of Vladimi r, Smolensk, T ischvin, and Psltof.The mos t piou s jou rneyed as far as the s acred Moun t Athos ,and the ci ty of Cons tantinople, fu l l of blessed rel ics, though pollu ted by the presence of the Turk ; nay, further sti l l , to the tombof Chris t, to Golgotha, to Moun t Sinai, wherever orthodox communities dispu ted pos sess ionwi th Cathol ic commun i ties .

The national army was, l ike the Tatar army, chicflyposed of cavalry. The slolniéx

’

, spalm'

ki, and other young

tiers, formed an Imperial Guard of abou t 8000men. All the

gentlemen of the empire, dvm

‘

ane, or did i-boyarskz

’

l, were con~ned to the mounted ranks ; the revenues of their lands were

s roa rOF R USS IA . a 15

counted as pay for these mm q/rerm’

ce the ao

cient dis tinction be tween the m a?

(free al lods was almos t abolished. It

the fiefs o the West, or of

Th is noble cavalry cou ld reckon horsemen ;wi thlevy of free pe as an ts , i t mounted up to To this wemus t join the irregular caval ry, composed of the Cossacks oitheDon and the Terek, of Tatars and Bachkirs . The national infantry was constitutedm r

, by the datofc/im'

! lz'

oudi, peasants ofthe monas te ries, churches , and domains ;2 , by the streltsi, treearchers , or communal soldiers, organized in the time of Ivan IV.,

and who, in Moscow alone,formed a body of men. Then

came the arti l le ry, and the soldiers told off to the goulz‘

a i‘

gorod,the “ city tha t walks,

” movable ramparts of wood,which were

used both in s ieges and i n the open country, where the Russ iant1 00ps , it they were not p rotected, showed l i ttle firmness . In

the 15th century, fore ign mercenaries began to he enl is tedPoles , Hungarians, Greeks , Tu rks, Scotch, Scandinavians,armed and discipl ined after the Eu ropean fashion, and enrol ledunder the names of f itters

, sold'

ers, and dragoons . H is tory haspreserved the names 02 some of their leaders : Rosen the Ge tman, and Margere t the Frenchman, who has l eft u s some curiousmemoirs of the False Dmi t ri .The e uipment of the nationaltroops was completelyOriental .

They ha long robes, h igh saddles, short s tirrups, rich caparisons, scale or ring armor. The Tzar himself went i nto battlewith his lance, bow and qu iver. The army was always dividedinto five divis ions— the main army, the right and left wings, thevan and rear guards. Each was commanded by two voievodesof unequal rank, wi thou t counting the voievode of the art il leryorof the movable camp, and the atamam of the s tre l tsi and oi

the Cossacks . The grades of the regu lar army were those ofthe {ysa tréi or chi l iarch, the cen turion, the commander of fifty,and the dea

’

zmki,or commander of ten . Al l obeyed the grand

voievode, or general-ia-chief. Each soldier brought provis ionsfor fou r months, and the Tzar fu rn ished nothing, except 00casionally some corn . The menlived almos t enti re ly on biscu i t,dried fish or bacon, and proved ca able of enduri ng muchfatigue . The campaigns never las ted ong, and only pa rt of thearmywas permanen t.rom th is time Russ ia sought to en ter in to regu l ar relat ions

wi th foreign Powe rs . Her diplomatic tradi t ions were those ofthe Eas t or Byzan tium. Herfirst ambas sadors were the C reel:Dmitri Trakhaniotes, and the I tal ian Marco Ruffo, se n t intoPersia. They treated wi th most deference the neighboring

2 1 6 HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

States, not those which were mos t powerful. Whils t they senta s imple cou rier (gaud y) to the Em 1 01 , and the kings of France,Engl and, and Spain, they despa tc cd boyards

,accompanied by

draw, to Sweden, Denmark, and Poland. TheM ax of the emba s sies, which had under its orders fi fty trans lators and seven tyinterpreters of al l l angu ages , gave them their safe conduct

,de

ta iled instructions , le tters for the foreign sovereign, presents ,two years ’ pay, and a ce rtain number of fu rs of cos t ly materia lsfrom theprr

’

éa z of the Crown, wh ich they were to do the ir bes tto sel l at a high price . The Ru ss ian ambas sado r, l ike those of

the Greeks and Tatars , was also a commiss ion agen t for thebenefit of the Tzar. The envoys were recommended to avoidal l insolence, and to watch their men, but to dis play the greates tluxu ry, to exact due paymen t of all honors, and, at the pe ril ofthei r l ives , never to suffer the Tzar’s t i tles to be dimin ishedti tles which were rathe r compl icated, as he enume rated al l hissubject States . The mercan ti le preoccupat ions of the Rus s ianambas sadors, and thei r ete rnal quarre ls abou t e tiquette,renderedthem u nbearable at al l the Eu ropean Cou rts . On the ir re tu rnthey were summoned before the Tza r, gave him a detailed ac.

count of thei r miss ion, and handed over to him the journal oftheir tou r and the notes of al l that they had observed in the distant countries. From the 1 6th centu ry a shrewd and observan tSpi rit is noticeable i n thei r relation s

,wh ich is not unworthy of

the wisdom of the ir mas te rs , the Byzantines .

When foreign ambass adors arrived i n Russ ia, they weretreated wi th magnificence and dis t rus t. From the t ime theycrossed the fron tie r, they and thei r people were fed , hou sed, andprovided wi th carriages, bu t aprism] attached to the ir personswatched carefu l ly that they ob tained no interviews w ith thenatives, nor informat ion abou t the s tate of the coun try . Theywere taken through the richest and mos t popu lous provi nces ;the ci tizens were everywhere requ i red to mee t them on theirrou te, dressed in thei r cos tl iest clothes . ArMoscow a palace ofthe Tzar was ass igned them as a res idence, and they were fedfrom his table . Thei r firs t i n terview took placewi th great pompi n the Palace of Facets (Grandvitaia pala i

'

a ) . The wal ls of thehal l were hung wi th magnificent tapes t ries gold and s i lvervessels, of As iat ic form, shone on the dais . The Tzar

,crown on

head, sceptre in hand, seated on the throne of Solomon, supported by the mechanical l ions , which roared loudly, su rrou ndedby his ryndir i n long whi te cattans and armed with the greatsilve r axe, by his sumptuous ly-dres sed boyards, and by his cle rgyi n the ir s imple cos tume, rece ived the ir letters of credi t. He

asked the ambassador for news of his mas ter, and how he hadtravel led. It the Tzar were not contented wi th him, the am

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2 1 8 H IS TOIt’ Y OF R USS IA .

0

viewof the State, as of the proprietor, he tended more andmoreto become '

a beas t of burden, a product ive force to be used andabused at pleasu re .

T he Russ ian towns were composed first of a fortress orh em] , where at need a garrison of

“men of the service cou ldbe sen t, the wall s being general ly of wood nex t of faubou rgs or

porma’r,i nhabi ted by the cit izens or porma

’sl’ie. They were

governed by voievodes nominated by the prince, or by a starostor mayor who was elected by an as sembly of the inhabi tants,nobles

,pries ts, or cit izens, but was always a gen tleman . The

s taros t governed the town and the dis trict depending on ir. A s

the ci tizens paid the heavies t taxes, they were forbidden tothe town; they were, as during the las t days of the Roman Empire, bound to the c ity glebe . Alexis Mikhallovitch was afterwards to at tach the pain of death to this prohib i t ion . To assessthe impos t, the s taros t

°

convoked at once both the depu ties ofthe town and those of the ru ral communes . The impos t of theIugla was paid by the town col lectively, in proportion to thenumber of fires , and al l the people were col lectively respons iblefor each other to the State.I n the burgess class may be counted the merchan ts, whose

Russ ian name of gorlz’

(gues ts and s trangers) shows how farcommerce s t il l was from be ing acclimatized in this land andu nder th is r/gz

’

me. Muscovy produced in abundance leatherfrom oxen ; furs from the blue and black fox, the z ibel ine, thebeave r

,and the ermine ;wax , honey, hemp, tal low, oil from the

seal, and dried fish. From China, Bokhara , and Pers ia, she te

ceived s ilks , tea, and Spices . The Russ ian people are natu ral lyin te l l igent and indus trious, but s t il l commerce langu is hed.

Fletcher, the Englishman, has ass igned as the reason for thisdecay, the insecu ri ty created by anarchy and despot ism. Themougik did not care e ither to s ave or to lay by. He pretendedto be

“

poor and miserable, to escape the exactions of the princeand the plunde r of his agents . I f he had money, he bu ried it,as one in fear of an invas ion . Often ,

”says the Engl ish

wri ter, you wil l see them trembl ing wi th fear, les t a boyardshou ld know what they have to se ll. I have seen themat t imes,when they had spread out the i r wares so that you migh t make abe tte r choice

,look al l round them,

as i f they feared an enemywou ld su rprise them and lay hards on them. I f I asked themthe cause, they wou ld say to me, I was afraid there might be anoble or one of the sons of boyards here ; they wou ld takeaway my merchandise by force )

” The merchan ts and thecitizens,

”says M . Leroy-Beau l ieu, cou ld wi th difficu lty become

a powerful class in a country cut 06 from Europe and the sea,

HIS TOR Y OF R USSL‘. 2 19

and cut ofi , too, from al l great commercial rou tes by the Lithuanians , the Teuton icOrder, and the Tatars .

” The ci t izen,l ike the

i nhabi tant of the French towns of the 1 4th centu ry, was only asort of vil lain ; he wore the cos tume of a peasant, and l ivedalmos t l ike him. The merchants were really what they werecal led by Ivan the Terrible—the mougiks of commerce.

DOMEST IC SLAVERY—THE SECLU SION OF WOMEN .

Only two more facts were needed to give to Rus s i an societythe same As iatic character which we noted already in the desporism of the Tzars and the communismof the people : domes t ics lavery, and the seclus ion of women .

Bes ides the peas ants more or less attached to the glebe , al lRussian proprie tors kept in their cas t les

,or in the ir town-hou ses

at Moscow,a mu l ti tu de of se rvants l ike thos e who encumbered

the senators ’ palaces in imperial Rome. A great lord alwaysgathered round him many hundreds of these bo th menand women, bought or born in the house:whom he neve r paid,whom be fed badly, and who se rved him badly in return, butwhose numbers se rved to give an idea of the wealth of thei rmas ter. The ( oricfgc of a nob le on his way to the Kreml i n maybe compared to that of a Japanese daimio. A long file ofs ledges or chariots

,a hundred horses , ou triders who made the

people s tand back by b lows wi th thei r whips a crowd of armedmen

,who escorted the noble and behind a hos t of dvorom

’

z’

,

oftenwi th naked fee t beneath the ir magnificent liveries , hi ladwi th their s t i r and noise the s tree ts ofB fibfi-gororl. These dom~estic slaves were subjected

,wi thou t dis t inction of sex, to the

mos t severe discipl ine, and were forced to submi t to al l the cruelor voluptuous caprices of thei r mas ters, and, like the s laves ofant iqu i ty, were exposed to the mos t frightfu l chas tisements .

Whi ls t the regis tered colon was attached to the land, the k/zo/opycou ld be sold, ei the r by heads or by famil ies, withou t compunotion . Wives were separated fromtheir husbands, and chi ldrenfrom the i r parents .

The cus tom of secluding women is older than the Tatarinvas ion. The Russ ian Slavs were As ia tics , even before theywere subdued by the Mongol s . Byzantium had l ikewise farmore influence than Kazan on Rus s ian manners . N ow, inancien t Athens , and in the Cons tant inople of the Middle Ages,t he matron and the young girl were al ike obliged to remainin the gyne rcwn, which became in Moscow the term or wrkb

(upper apartment) . I n Russia, as in the Rome ot the Twe lve

320 ms roa y ap R USSIA .

Tables , the woman was always a minor. This was one con

sequence of the patri archal organ ization of the fami ly. She

alwa s remained under the guardiansh ip of herfather, herhusban ’

s father, an u ncle, an elder brother, or a grandfather. The

Russ ian monks t rans lated for her u se the sermons of the monksoi the Lower Empire, which enjoined the wi fe to obey herhusband as the s lave obeys his mas te r to cons ider hersel fonly as the property of the man never to al low herself tobe cal led gospoj a , or mis tre ss , but to look on her husband as her

gospodine or lord . The father of the fami ly had the right tocorrect her, l ike one of his ch ildren or s laves . The pries t Si lves te r, i n his Domos tro

’

i,

’ only advises him not to employ toothick s ticks

,ors taffs t ipped wi th iron nor humi l iate her u nduly

by whipping herbefore his men, but,wi thou t anger or violence,to correct her moderately in private. No woman dared to oh

ject to th is cha‘s tisemen t the mos t robus t would allow herselfcalmly to be beaten by a feeble husband.

T he Russ ian proverb says , I love thee l ike my sou l , and Idus t thee like my j acke t.

”Herbe rs te in mentions a Muscovite

womanwho, havmg married a foreigner, did not be l ieve hers elfloved, as he never beat her. A t home the Rus s ian woman wash id behind the cu rt ains of the term in the s treet, by those ofher l i tte r. Over her face fel l thef ate , a sort of nun ’s veil. I twas an ou trage even to raise the eyes to the wi fe of a noble,and high treason to see the face of the wife of the Tzar. As tranger might have thought h imsel f at Stambou l or Ispahan . I tappeared so highly neces sary that th is fragile be ing shou ld te

main at home, that she was al lowed to dispense even wi th goingto church . Her chu rch was her own hous e

,where she had to

occupy herself with prayers, pious reading, pros trat ions, genu~flexions

, and alms, and was su rrounded by beggars, monk s, andnuns . The pries t Silves ter also wished her to superin tend herhouse, he the first to rise, to watch over her men and maidse rvants , to dis t ribu te their tasks , and work herself wi th herown hands

,l ike Lucrece of old, or the wise women of the

Proverbs. I n real i ty she had many other ways of occupyingher time The toilet te of the Russ ian boyarines was very compl icated. They pain t themselves al l colors ,

”s ays Petrei ;

not only thei r faces , but the i r eyes, neck, and hands. They layonwh ite, red, blue, and black . Black eyelashes they t in t white, andwhi te ones black, or some dark color, but they put on the paintso badly that i t is vis ible to eve ry one . Arthe t ime of my vis i tto Moscow the wi fe of an i l lus trious boyard, who was exceedingly beau t ifu l, decl ined to pain t herself, but she was an objectof scorn to all the other women. She despises our cus toms,

’

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223 HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

does not answer, He foams, he s tinks , he grun ts like a brute.Think of his poor sou l wh ich grows fou l i n its vile bodv, wh ichis its prison . Drunkenness sends our guardian angelsand makes the devi l merry. To be drunk, is to pe rform sacrihees to Satan . The devi l rejoices , and says, No ; the sacrihoes oi the pagans neve r caused me half so much joy and happines s as the i ntoxication of a Chris tian .

’ Fly, then , my brothe rs,the curse of dru nkenness . To drink is l awfu l, and is to theglory of God

,who has given u s wine to make u s rejoice . T he

Fathers were far from forbidding wine, but we mus t never dri nkourse lves drunk .

”

Their only divers ions were, i n spi te of the Domostroi,’ the

jes ts of the bufioons, who, l ike the wri ters of the French f asb/iaux ,

neve r spared Churchmen the coars e pleas an tries of cou r tfools andfolk s , who were the inseparable compan ions of the great,andwere to be found even i n themonas teries ;hunts wi th falconsand bounds, and bear fights . Al l these fes t ivi ties were aecompanied wi th mus i c, and somet imes a bl ind s inger wou ld comeand ce lebrate the éogaéyrrof Old Rus s ia. The rich never wi llingly wen t to s leep wi thou t be ing lu l led by tales told by somepopu lar s tory-te l ler. Ivan the Terrible always had three, whosucceeded each other at his beds ide . Soon, under AlexisM ikhatlovitch, theatrical representat ions in imi tation of Eur0pewere to begin .

AllWes te rn s upers t it ions were cu rrent in Russ ia, which alsoadded fol l ies of her own. The people be l ieved in horoscopes,diviners, sorce ry, magic, the miraculous vi rtues of ce rtain herbsor ce rtain formu lae, the evils produced by l ift ing the footmarks ” of an enemy, i n bewi tched swords , i n love phil tres , i nwere-wolves , ghos ts and vampires ,which play such a terrible partin the popu la r tales of Ru s s ia. Their terror of sorcerers isshown by the horrible deaths they made them die . The mos tenl ightened Tzars shared this weakness , and Boris Godounof

made al l his servan ts swear never to have recou rse to magieiaus , male or female, or to any othe r means of hu rti ng the

Tzar, the Tzarina, or thei r ch ildren ; never to cas t spel ls by thetraces of thei r feet or of their carriages .

” They had more confidence i n the receipts of a wise woman, in holy water in whichthe rel ics had been dipped, than in doctors, whom they only tegarded as another variety of sorcerers . N oth ing was moredifficult and dangerous than the earlyexercise of this profess ion .

It the doctor did not s ucceed in cu ring his patien t, he was punished as a mal icious magician . One of these unfortu natele, a Jew, was execu ted u nde r I van I I I . i n a publ ic pl ace forving al lowed a Tzarevi tch to d ie . Anthony, anothe r, a Gen

ws roa y 01 ? x’

v as3

man by nation, was accused of having put a Tatarprince to

dea th, and delivered to his relatives to sufferby the Iex taliom'

r.

He was s tabbed. T owards the end of the 1 6th centu thes itua t ion of doctors was somewhat ameliora ted ;but w eh a

to be attended,whose face theywerewhose pu lse they might only touch

through a muslin covering, what propermeans had'

they of taking a diagnosis ?Su ch was ancient R ussia- that European China discovered

and described by the Eurogan travellers ot the i6th and~17th

centuries, by Herbers tein, ayerberg, Cobenzel, envoys of Ann»

tria ; Chancellor, Jenkinson, and Fletcher, enyo of Eu land ;the Venetians Contarini and M arco Foscari the omanmerchant Barberini; U lfeld the Dane ; Pe tre! the Swede ;theGermans Heidens tein, Erie Lassota, Olearius ;Pos sevino the

j es ui t ; the Ftench captain Jacques . the Engl ish dootorCollins, &c. It now remains to literature and the

nm s—moscow 1 1 : rue 1 6th CENTURY.

Ecclesias tical lite ra tu re was chicfly composed of a collectionof ideas borrowed from the Fathers of R eadings forDay in the Year,

’ called ‘Waves of Gold,’ Months of

Emera lds ,’

orof col lections of Lives of the Saints ot theGreek orR ussianChurches. Themos t considerable monumentbelonging to this las t group is the " Tchetiminei,

'a vas t compil

ation of the Me tropolitanMaw ius, one of the directors of theconscience of Ivan the Terrible. The chronicles are s tillproduced, among others the S tepennyta kn

‘

i,’a his tory of the

Russian princes afterVladimir. Bes ides'

e great legal collect ion of the ‘Code ’

and ot the ‘S laf,’ we must mention the

‘Domos tro!’ of the .P0pe Silves ter,’

nis terof Ivan IV. This isa collectionof precepts ins tructing readers in the arts of keeping house and secu ring salvation. It enumerates the days onwhich swans , cranes, capons, egg-pas ties, and cheese are to beeaten. It gives rece ipts formaking hydromel, kvass, beergruel,and sweetmeats'. It

°

ves bil ls of fare, and at the same tith eteaches the mas ter 0 the house howhe ought towife, his children, and his servants ; avoid the sin ofversa tion; please God, honorthe T zar, the rinces, and ally

er

sons of rank ;how he shou ld conduct bimse twell at table,‘to

blow his nose, and to spit without noise. taking care to turn

HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

away from the compa ny, and pu t his foot ove r the place . TheDomos tro

’ give s the characte ristics of the Rus s ian civiliza tion,as the D e R e R u thie of the elder Cato gives thos e of the an

cien t Roman civi l izat ion . From Cato to Si lves ter there is an

eviden t progress . Whils t t he Roman advises that the old oxen,the old i ron, and the ol d s laves shou ld be sold, the Pope Silvesterenjoins that the old se rvants who are no longer good foranything, be fed and clothed, i n cons iderat ion of the ir formerse rv ices : this minis te rs to the s alvation of the sou l, and wemus tfear the anger of God.

” Mas ters ,” he says again,

“ough t tobe benevolen t towards the i r servants , and give them to eat anddrink, and warm them properly;

for,if they keep the ir dvorom

'

éby force arou nd them

,and 0 not nou rish them suffi ciently,

they tu rn them i nto bad se rvants , who l ie, s teal , are d iss ipated,spoil eve rything, and get drunk at the tave rn . These fool ishmas ters sin agai ns t God, are despised by the ir s laves, and contemned by the i r neighbors .

”

“When a man s ends his se rvan t to hones t people, he shou ldknock softly at the great door ;when the s lave comes to askhim what he wan ts , he shou ld reply, I have nothing to do wi ththee, but wi th him to whom I am sent.’ He should only sayfrom whom he comes , s o that the other may tel l his mas ter. Outhe threshold of the chambe r he wi l l wipe his fee t in the straw;before entering he wil l blow his nose, spi t, and say a prayer. I fno one says amen to him, he wi l l say a second prayer ; it theys til l keep s ilence, a third prayer, i n a louder voice than the preceding ones . I f they s t i l l do not Speak, he wi l l knock at thedoor. Oh entering, he mus t bow before the hol images ; thenhe wi l l explain his mis s ion to the mas ter, and timing th i s t imehe mus t take care not to touch his nose

,nor to cough

,nor spi t ;

he mus t conduct himse lf with proprie ty, wi thou t look ing to the

righ t or the left. I f he is left alone , he mus t examine nothingbelonging to the mas ter of the hou se and touch nothingne ither to eat nor drink. I f he is sent to carry anything, hemus t no t look to see what i t is ; and if i t shou ld be eatable,ne i ther his tongue norhis hugers are to know it.

”

A t the head of the l iterary movement of the time, Ivan theTerrible and his enemy Kourbski occupy a place of honor.They exchanged many letters

, in wh ich the one displayed a greatknowledge of sacred and profane l iteratu re, close reasoning, andbit ter irony ; the other an indignant and tragic eloquence .Bes ides these le tters , Ivan addressed an admoni tion to the monksof S t. Cyril, fu l l of v igor and mock ing gravi ty. The s ameKourbskihas wri tten , i n eigh t books, a pass ionate his tory of theTzar who pe rsecu ted the strong ones of Israel, the high-bon

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326 HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

Circe of the Russ ian epopee ;Maria the White Swan, whobe longs to the cycle of bird-wornen and Vas silis sa, who pas sedherse lf 03 as a bogatyr, and beat all the athle tes of Vladimir.Such we re the heroes of Kief and Novgorod.

H istorical heroes belong to the cycle of Moscow : Dmi tri,the vanqu isher of the Tatars ;Michael of Tchernigof, AlexanderNevski, and Ivan the Terrible, around whom are grouped thesongs of the tak ing of Kazan, the con ne s t of Siberi a, and the

famous by-l ines enti tled The Tzar wis es to k i l l his Son ,’ The

Tzar sends the Tzarina to a Convent,’ and How Treason was

introduced into Russ ia.’ This epic cu rren t flows on up to the1 9th cen tu ry ; and othe rs, born of the shock of events on thepopu lar imagination, celebrate the deeds of Skopine Choulski,the wars of Peter the Great, the victories of El izabe th andCathe ri ne I I., the campaigns of Souvorof, and even the invas ionof Russia by the Ki ng Napoleon.

”

Narratives , sometimes i n prose and sometimes in poetry,

glorify the heroes of the Eas tern epopee : Akir of NineveSolomon the Wise, Alexander of Macedon, and R ous slan

L a zarévitch . Wonderfu l s tories are told by the peas ants ofH e len the Fair, of the Tzar of the Sea, and of Vassilissa theWise of the Seve n S imeons ; of the adventu res of Ivan, Son ofthe King, and of the lovely Nas tas i a ; of the Baba-Y aga, and ofthe King of the Se rpents . There were re l igious vers es , wh ichwere carried by the bl ind ka lz

’

ééx’

, who sang the praises of the

Russ ian saints from village to vi l lage—S t. George the Brave,and S t. Dmi tri of Solun, vanquishers of dragons and infidels ;Boris and Gleb, sons of Vladimir the Baptis t S t. Theodosius ,founder of the catacombs of Kief ; Daniel the Pilgrim,

who

vis i ted Jerusalem and others who belong almos t as much to theSlav mythology as to the Chris tian hagiography. Las t ly, thereare satirical tales

,l ight and bi ting as French fables, turn ing into

ridicu le the greed of the popes, and the i nteres ted calcu lat ionsof their wi ves .Thanks to the Greeks who hed from Cons tan tinople, and

the ir pupils the I tal ians,Rus s ia had a sort of artis t ic Renaissance

from the 1 sth to the 17th centu ry, under the s ame influences asthe Wes t. The revolu t ion was, however, less comple te i n Mus

covy than i n Russ ia ;there was no need to subs ti tu te the roundfor the po inted arch, s ince Russ ia had no Goth ic churches , andthe Roman Byzantine s tyle, borrowed in the n th cen tu ry by St.Soph ia at Novgorod and S t. Soph ia at Kief from St. Sophia at

Cons tan tinople, was perpetuated, under the influence of relig iousideas and unbroken traditions, as a legacy from Byzant ium.

There was no sort of change in painting ;and even in the

HIS TORY OF30851 4 . 32 1

presen t day, in the Russ ian convents , the hierat ic us age causesthe sa i nts and the Mother of God to be painted as they mighthave been painted by Pansélinos i n the roth centu ry in thechurches of Moun t Athos . The Renaissance chicfly manifes tsi tsel f by the number and magnificence of the orthodox chu rcheswi th which I talian art is ts then i l lumi nated Old Russ ia, andby the greater . rfection of the irmodes of bu i lding. I t was thenthat Moscow bggame worthy by her new monumental splendorsto be the capital of a great empire ;i t was then that she becamethe Holy City,

”wi th forty times forty chu rches , wi th innumer

able cupolas of gold, of s i lve r, and of blue, which the Russ ianpi lgrim,

knee l ing on the H ill of Pros trations , sa lu tes from afaroft.

Moscow was at that time composed : 1 . Of the Krzml orKreml in, a fortified enclosure i n the form of a triangle, of whichthe smal les t s ide res ts on the Moskowa, and the apex is turnedtowards the north. 2 . Of the K:?azlgorod, not, as so manytravel lers tran s late ir, the China City, but perhaps derived fromKital—gorod in Podol ia

, the birthplace of H elena, mother of IvanIV., fou ndress of the Kita

’

i-gorod of Moscow, which enclose sthe bazaars and the palaces of the nobles , and is s eparated fromthe Kreml in by a vas t space that they cal l the Red Place orBeaut ifu l Place. 3. Of the B z

'

eb ulgomd, or White Ci ty, wh ichsu rrounds th is double centre of the Kreml in and the Ki tai—gorodas the ou ter skin of an almond encloses the two cotyledons .

4. Of the Zemlz’

arzyzigoroa

'

,or Ci ty of the Earthen Ramparts ,

enveloping in its tu rn the White C ity, e nclos ing the faubourgs ,ardens , woods , lakes, and vas t unbuil t-on spaces , then occupiedy the 5105011“ of the 5. On the oute r circle of Moscow,l ike detached forts, s tood the fortified convents wi th whi te wal ls,which more than once sus tained the as sau l t of the Poles and theTatars . This huge As iatic town was a city of contras ts . Thebu i ldings grouped themselves almos t by accident along thewide, marshy, tortuous , ha rdly marked-out s t reets. [slurs ofpine, l ike those of the Rus s ian vi l l ages , s tood by the s ide of thepalaces of the nobles . The people e ither chose them readymade from the yards

,or ordered them according to the ir meas~

ure. The carpe nters bu i l t them i n two days on the place pointedout they only cos t a few roubles .Moscow is s i tuated in that part of Russ ia which is total ly

lacking in s tone, and where the fores ts were formerly th ickes t.In poin t of fact, i t is a city of wood, wh ich a spark might set onfire. I t had been burned almos t en tire ly under Dmitri D onskot,and twice u nder Ivan the Terrible ; i t was to burn aga i n du ringthe Polish i nvasion of 1 6 1 2 , and the French invas ion of 1 8 1 2.

328 HISTOR Y OFRUSSIA.

The oukazes of the Tzafi

rs ordered certa i n precau tions underthe mos t severe penal t ies : all the fires had to be put out atnigh tfal l ; in summer i t was absolu tely forbidden to have l igh tsi n the houses , and cook ing had to be done in the open ai r.There were no means of extinguish ing the fires , and, when onebroke ou t, the Muscovites showed themse lves as pass ively fatalis tic as the people of the Eas t.I t was chicfly~the Kreml i n that profited by the embel l ish

ments undertaken by the two Ivans and the ir successors. Theenclosu re- of wood before the burning of Tokhtamych—wasnow of sol id white s tones, cut in face ts (thence was de rived the

poe tical name of Holymother MoscowWith.

the white wallsit was su rmounted by high and narrow battlemen ts i n the formof tee th . Eighteen towers protected it, and five gates led in tothe inte rior. These five gates presen t much original ity andvariety. That of the Saviou r was bu i l t in 1 49: by Pie tro Selario of Mi lan . I t is the sacred gate, that cannot be enteredcovered ; formerly obs t inate people were forced to knee l downbefore i t fi fty times. Criminals were al lowed to make their las tprayer before the image of the Saviou r, and the new Emperora lways made his entrance through i t on his way to his coronat ion at the Assumption . Anothe r I tal ian built ‘

at the s ame datethe gate of S t. N icholas of Mojalsk, avenger of perjury, beforewhose image the suitors made oath . That of the Trini ty wasbu i l t i n the ryth centu ry by Chris topher Gal loway.The wal l of the Kreml in, l ike that of the old imperial pal ace

of Byzan tium, encloses a quan tity of churches, pa l aces, andmonas teries . The mos t ce lebrated of these churches is the

Oavz'

emkz’

Sober, or the Cathedral of the As sumption, in wh ichs ince the 15th centu ry the Tzars have always made a poin t ofbeing crowned I t is the i r Cathedral of Rheims . Its architectwas Aris tote le Fioraventi, who had al ready worked for Cosmode Medici, Francis L , Gian Galeazzo of Milan, Matthi as Corvinns, and the Pope Six tus IV.,

and whom Tolbousine, ambassadorof Ivan I I I ., met at Venice, and engaged for the ser~vice of the Tzar. One can hardly be lieve that the Assumptionis of the same date as the luminous chu rches of the Ren ais s ance.The architect, or those who inspired him, has here tried to teproduce the mys terious obscuri ty of the old temples of Egyptand the Eas t . The cathedral has no windows , but only closebarred shot-holes in the wal ls, which admi t i n to the in terior adoubtfu l ligh t, l ike that which filters through the hole of a dungeon . This pale glow touches the mass ive illars covered witha tawny gold ; on the tarn ished backgroun s tand ou t, severeand grave, the faces of the saints and doctors ; it f dwells here

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230 H IS TOR Y or RUSSIA.

in 1 597wi th another clock , where l i ttle figures played on trumpets . Jews

' harps, and tambou rines each time the hour s truck.

The mos t curious edifice 1n Moscow 15 perhaps the Churchof Vass i l i the Bles sed, on the Red Place . I t was bu i l t by Ivanthe Terrible m 1 554, i n memory of the tak ing of Kazan, and isthe work of an I talian a rtis t. The legend ins is ts that Ivan putou t the eyes of the artis t, to preven t his bu i lding a s imi lar marve l for others . We mus t i111 ne a chu rch s u rmoun ted by sixor eigh t round cupol as , all of ifierent he ights and forms, somebeaten into facets

,others cut;these carved in to diamond poin ts ,

l ike the ananas , those i n spirals others , again, marked wi thscales, lozenge-shaped, or ce l led l ike a hone comb . A power~ful imagination has defied al l symmetry. rom the base to thesummitthe chu rch 15 covered wi th colors, wh ich are glaring, andeven crude . This many-colored mons te r has the gift of stupefying the mos t bias ! t ravel le r. You might take it, says Hax

thansen, for an immense dragon, wi th shin ing s cales, crouching and s leeping. Conce ive the mos t bri l l ian t bird of tropicalfores ts suddenly tak ing the shape of a cathedral, and you have

I t was not only archi tects that Russ i a owed to I taly. Aristotele Fioraventi coined money for Ivan I I I ., bu i l t him a bridgeof boats over the Volkhof during the expedition to Novgorod,cas t the cannons which thundered agains t Kazan, and organizedhis art i l le ry. Paolo Bossio of Genoa cas t for him the Tzar

pom'fika , the k ing of guns, the gian t piece of the Kreml in . Pietro

of Mil an made him arquebu ses . The art of the founder shedits greates t b ri l l iancy under Boris Godonnof, whose eliigy adornsthe queen of bel ls (I bar-kolokol), subsequently te-cas t u nderAlexis and Anne Ivanovna, the bronze Titan whose weigh t of288,000 pounds cou ld be contained in no belfry, wh ich brokeevery scaffolding, and res ts voice les s l ike a pyramid of bronzeon its pedes tal of masonry, cons tructed in the beginning ofthis century by Montferrand .

Theophile Gautier, Voyage enR ussie. ’

M J TOR Y OF RUSSIA. 231

CHAPTER XVII.

ra t svccassons or IVAN THE T ER R IBLE : f sonon waxovrrcnA N D BOR IS oonovnor ( 1 584

Feodor Ivanovitch ( 1 584-398)—The peasant attached to the lebe—The

atriarcha te Boris G ounot ( 1598- 1 609 A ppearance the falsemitri.

THE GLEBE—THE PATR IARCHA TE.

FEODOR , son of Ivan IV. and of Anas tasia R omanof, resembled his father in nothing. He had nei ther his i ns t inct ive loveof cruel ty and debauche ry

,nor his l ively inte l l igence, nor his

iron wi l l . The throne of the Terrible was occupied b a sain ta monk . The power pas sed natu ral ly to the cham er of theboyards . Five among them had special influence over thegovemment—Prince Ivan M stislavski, a descendan t ofGedeminPrince Ivan Chouiski, a descendant of Ru rik, a member of afami ly disgraced in the early years of Ivan IV. , but h imse l f celebrated as the defender of Pskof ; and Prince Bogdan Belski ,another descendan t of Ru rik. A fter these three heads ofprincely fami l ie s came two chiefs of boyard famil ies . Both hecame sovere igns, and both owed thei r e levat ion to the ir wives .

The importance of Nik i ta R omanof came from his s is ter, thefirs t wife of I van IV. ; Boris Godounof owed his to his s is terI rene, wi fe of the Tzar Feodor. Minis te r of I van IV., brotherof the reigning Tzar

, Godounof was devoured by an insatiableambi tion . Sorcerers who had escaped from Ivan the Terribleare sa id to have prophesied that he shou ld become Tzar, butthat his re ign was only to las t for seven years . From that t imehis pol i cons is ted i n pu t t ing as ide all rivals—in overcomingall the o stacles that lay be tween him and the throne .The Tzar Feodor had a brother, Dmi tri, son of Ivan ’s

seventh wife . The a’ouma of boyards feared the intrigues of

wh ich this in fant might be made the centre, and, by the adviceof Godounof, sen t him to his appanage Ouglitch, wi th his

233 HIS TORY OR RUSSIA.

mother and her re lations, the Nagots . Belski, another de

scendant of Gedemin, an i ntel l igent. and ambi tious man, irrita ted the people, who bes ieged the Kreml in, and demanded hishead. Boris took advan tage of such a good Opportunity, anddespatched this rival to N ij u i-N ovgorocl. When Feodor at hiscoronation had placed on his head the crowns of Rus s i a, KazanAs trakhan, and Siberia, i t was his maternal uncle, Niki ta R omanot, who governed in his name but at his death the powerpas sed to the natural ch ief of a new rzr/mz

’

a, Boris Godounof.

There s t i l l remained i n the cou ncil two rivals to Boris . M stis~lavski al lowed h imse lf to be impl ica ted in a plo t, and was forcedto become a monk ; Prince Choulski, who had t ried to makehimse lf a party among the merchants, was accused of treason,arres ted wi th al l his fami ly, and al l were ban ished to differen tdi s tan t towns . The Metropol i tan Dionys iu s, who had takenhispart, was deposed, and replaced by Job, 9. man comple te ly atthe disposal of Godounof, who was now supreme. He inducedhis brother-in-law to grant him the t i tle of Al l ied Chief Boyard,the viceroyal ties of Kazan and As trakhan, and immense territories on the Dwi na and the Moskowa. His revenues wereenormous , and he is s aid to have been able to pu t a hundredthousand men i n the field. Nothing cou ld be obtained from thesovereign except through Boris more powerful than even Adaochef had been , he had an army of cl ien ts, Itwas he who repl iedto the ambassadors

,and who rece ived the presents of the Empe~

ror, of the Queen of England, and of the Khan of the Crimea.His enemies were the enemies of the prince. He l acked nothing that is royal but the t i tle .I n foreign afi

'

airs, the regency of Godounof s trengthened thepres tige of Russ ia. Batory

,who had never ceased to threaten

revenge, died in 1 586. A new danger appeared in th is quarter.Sigismond, son of the King of Sweden, had schemed success fu l lyfor the suffrages oi the Polish electors . I t was to be feared thathe wou ld one day uni te under the same sceptre the two nationswhom Russia had mos t cause to dread in Eu rope. Rodolph ofAus tria, the other candidate, was less dangerous . Au s tria andRu ss ia had the s ame inte re s ts wi th regard to Turks and Tatars,and this ident i ty was one day to resu l t i n the almos t perpe tualal l iance be tween the two Powers. Boris put forward Feodor asa candidate for the crown of Poland

,and the idea of the u nion

of the two Slav monarchies u nder one prince . The Polesrefused to obey any prince who was not a Cathol ic; they fearedthat, ins tead of a fraternal u nion, the M us vite wou ld onlyjoin thei r monarchy to that of Moscow, l i e a s l eeve to a

coat.”The interes ts of cas te were added to nationa l and relig

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334 HIS TOR Y 017RUSS IA.

the lands of the smal ler proprie tors ran the ris k of bei ng depopulated for the benefit of the great lords ; if they los t theirlaborers , the value of the land became proport ionate ly deprec iated. N ow the class of smal l landowners was at th is periodalmos t the only mi l i tary class of Rus s ia ; the national cavalrywas recru i ted almost enti rely from i t alone. It the source oftheir revenues were cut off, where wou ld they get the money to

equ ip themselves, to answer to the call of the Tzar, accordingto the text of the ordinances,

“mounted, armed, and aecom

panied 2 The ir i nteres t thus became confounded with that ofthe empire

,which was soon to become unable to support its

armies . Boris Godounof found means to save the r igh t s of theState, and gain for himself the grati tude of a numerous andpowerfu l clas s . The comfort oi the peas ant did not t roubleany one at th is epoch. He was an ins t rumen t of agricu l tu re, aforce—nothing more. An edict of Fcodor forbade the pe asantshenceforth to go from one es tate to another. The free Russ iankra fiam

’

ne was now attached to the glebe, l ike the Wes te rn serf.I n the name of the in teres t of the State and that of the mi l itarynobles, an immemorial right was ex t ingu ished. We mus t notth ink that these s i len t mas ses were insens ible . T he day of the“ S t. George,

”when the ancien t l aws permit ted the peasant to

pas s yearly from one domain to another, remained for centuriesa day of bit te r regret. He cursed for long the au thors of thisoukase, and even protes ted when he had the opportun i ty ; buthis protes tation took more the form of flight than of revolt.The deve lopment of Cos sack l ife has a close relation to thechange in the ru ral r/gime; and the more men sought to bindthe peasant to the soil, the more his spiri t revolted, and themore the camps of the Don and the Dnies ter were filled. TheRuss ian peas an t never al lowed the prescription of th is new

form of s lavery to be es tabl ished ; i n one way or another he hascons tantly res is ted it. Boris Godounof afte rwards partial lyrepealed th is oukase while s ti l l forbidding them to pas s fromthe s ervice of the smal l to the great proprietor, they wereal lowed to change the mas tersh ip of one small l andowner forthat of another. The fee l ing of the time was not i n favBr ofl iberty ; the more Russ ia tended to become a modern State, themore her expenses increased, and the more the Government wasconscious of the need of as suring the revenues by fixing to thesoi l the popu lationwhich was subjec t to the tax and corrr/e. Itwas the crushed peas ant who bore the weigh t of the reform,

await ing the day, s ti llvery dis tan t, when he also wou ld profit bythe progress accomplished.

The other innovat ionmade in the name of Feodor was the

H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA‘. 335

establishmen t of the pa triarchate . The Russ ian eccles ias t icscomplained with reason of having to obey patriarch s who werethemselves only s laves of the infidels . Ancient Rome was pollu ted by the Pope ; Cons tan t inople, the second Rome, was protaned by the Tu rk : had not Moscow, the th ird Rome, a tightat leas t to independence ? Boris encouraged these murmu rsi t was his interest that a t the death of the Tzar there shou ld bea great eccles ias tical au thority s tanding alone, and that thisgreat au thori ty shou ld owe all to him. He profited by the arrival at Moscow of Jeremiah, Patri arch of Cons tan tinople, to inoduce him to found the Russ ian patriarchate and consecrateArchbishop Job, who was a tool of Boris . The latter had nowa powerfu l friend.

Boris had need to create for h imsel f a s trong party. Manyeyes began to tu rn towards Ivan ’s second son, Dmi t ri . H is

mother’s kindred, the Nagots , from the ir exile at Ouglitch,watched carefu l ly al l the variations in the health of the Tzar,and the movements of Boris . The death of Feodorwou ld givethe th rone to Dmi t ri

,and power to his re latives—power to avenge

themse lves for all. I t would del iver Boris up to the repris als ofhis enemies . He knew th is only too wel l . In 1 591 , i t was suddenly announced that the young Dmi tri had been s lain . Thepubl ic voice denounced Boris . To s tifle suspicion he orderedan inques t, and his emissaries had the audaci ty to decl are thatthe young prince cut his own throat in a fit of madness , andthat the Nagots and the people of Ouglitch had pu t to death innocen t men as mu rderers . The resu l t of the inqu i ry was theextermination of the N agoi

'

s and the depopu l at ion of Ouglitcb.

Seven years after, the piou s Feodor died, and in the person ofth is vague and virtuou s sove reign the race of bloody and vicolent men of prey who had created Ru ss i a was exti ngu ished.

The dynas ty of Andrew Bogolioubski had accomplished its miss ion—it had founded the Russ ian unity. The task of obtain ingthe entrance of this semi-As iat ic State i n to the bosom of civilized Bumpe was rese rved for another dynas ty.

BORIS conomvoxr ( 1 598-1 605)—APPEARA N CE oxa m s mus :DM ITR I.

Bori s Godounof had reached the aim of his des i res- but atwhat a price ! The mu rder of Dmi tri, the las t offshoo t of S t.Vladimi r

,of Monomachus, of George and the Ivans, was no or

dinary crime . Ru ss i a had seen many horrors, bu t never onelike th is . The Tzar migh t have put t he Russian princes to

230a zs roxrOF RUSSIA.

death, but they were his enemies , they were often guilty, andthen he was the Tzar. N ow a s imp

le boyard sacrificed to his

own ambition the son of his benefactor, the he ir of his mas ter,the l as t descendant of the founders of Russ ia. I t was one ofthose crimes that ever deeply agi tate the people. Boris bel ievedvainly he had bu ried al l in the earth wi th the corpse of theTzarevi tch .

After the death of Feodor, his widow I rene entered theD ia /itflziMonastyr, and took

‘

the veil there,mou rning her s ter

ility, and lamenting that by her the sovereign race had perished.

” The nobles and the people took the oaths to her, sothat there shou ld be no interregnum. A woman had the crownat her disposal , and that woman was the s is ter of Godounof.A s she refused to govern , the douma had to discharge affairsunder the pres idency of the Patriarch Job, who owed everyth ing to Godounof. I t was imposs ible that the throne shou ldes cape Godounof yet i t seemed s trange that a s imple boyard,a creatu re of Ivan IV.

, shou ld take precedence of al l the princesdescended in direct l ine from Ru rik. Howeve r, the Patriarchand his clergy, the boyards and cit izens of Moscow, appearedbefore the in which Godounof was shu t upwi th his s is ter. Job en treated him to accept the crown . Go

dounof refused,apparent ly from an excess ofmodes ty—ih real ity,

because he wished to receive i t from the hands of the nat ion.The States-genera l were then as sembled ; the lesse r nobil i tyand the clergy, that is , the friends of Boris, formed the majority.A fte r the despotism of Ivan , i t was a s trange si ht to see thisa ssembly dispose of the crown . T he Ru s s ia 0 the Terriblehad, l ike Poland, her elect ive diet, but the lesson of obediencehad been s o wel l learn t

,that there was no fear of anarchy. They

were told that Ivan IV. on his death-bed had confided to Borishis family and his empire, and that Feodor had put around hisneck 3 chain of gold . Men made the mos t of the experience ofovernment that he had acqu i red under two re igns ; theyoasted of his ski lful deal ings wi th Sweden , Poland, and theCrimea. The national voice decreed to him the crown, and theStates sen t him a depu tation . He s t i l l fe igned to hold back,and cas t out “ the tempters ”; bu t his s ister “ bles sed him forthe throne,

” and thus consecrated the wish of the people.Boris reigned .

His re ign was not wi thou t glory. He took up the des igns ofhis mas te r, Ivan IV., on Livonia ; and as the Terrible had hispuppe t k ing Magnus, Boris sought first a Swedish prince Gus taf,and then a D anish prince John

,to play the part of King of

Livonia. Johnwas to marry Xenia, daughte r of the new Tzar,

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3383 1 5703 ? or R US S IA .

He gives i n his account many cu rious detai ls of the Cou rt ofEng land at this epoch—the mos t bri l l ian t of the reign of Elizabeth

,—qu i tted London i n May 1 60 1 , and arrived at Arkhangel

i n uiJThisnrw government of Boris gave confidence, and he con

tinned to be sough t by the Powers of the We s t, especial ly byAu s tria and England . Sweden and Poland cou ld do him no

hu rt . He s urrounded h imsel f wi th soldiers, learned men, andartis ts . With thei r help he raised monuments , bu il t the towerof Ivan the Great at the Kreml in

,and had the queen of be l ls”

cas t. I t wa s he who firs t sen t young Ru ss ians to L iibeck , England, France, and Au s t ria, to S tudy European arts . The fashionsot the Wes t penetrated to Moscow, and some of the noblesbegan to shave their beards .

This prosperi ty was al l un real. H is services—even his chari t ies— tu rned agains t him. He presented to the poor,

”says a

contemporary, in a vase of gold, the blood of the innocents .He fed themwi th unholy aims .

” The ol igarch ic party, ashamedof obeying a s imple boyard, began to agitate . After having pardoued his ancien t rival Belski, Boris was obliged to throw himi n to prison . He acted wi th severi ty towards the R omanots ,who were exiled, many of them having been previou s ly tortu red .

Feodor, t he eldes t, was forced to become amonk under the nameof Philarete, and his wi fe took the vei l under the name of Maria.Fmm the sonof th ismonk and this nun, emperors were to spring.

Feel ing himself surrounded by plots, Boris Godounot did no thes i tate before any means of secu ri ty, and rece ived the denunciations of s l aves agains t the ir mas ters . From 1 601 to 1 604 afrightfu l famine devas tated Russ ia, and was fol lowed by a pe s toilence. The famished peasants joined the servan ts of the disgraced noble s

,and formed themselves i n to bands of brigands

who infes ted the s ou thern provinces , and even i nsu l ted theenvirons of Moscow. I t was necessary to send a regu lar armyagains t them. To these calami t ies was added the universal presentimen t of others ye t greater. The term of seven yearsas sig ned by the as trologers to the reign of Boris was approaching. The crime of Ouglitch, s ti l l unexpiated, had left a s trangeuneas ines s throughou t Russ ia. Suddenly there arose a rumorthat the mu rdered Dmi tri was l iving, and wi th arms in his handswas making ready to reconquer the empire .A t the Monas te ry of the Miracle a young monk , Gregory Otre~

pief, had brough t h imsel f in to notice . After having for a longwhi le wandered from conven t to convent at his own pleasure, hefinally reached the Monas tery of the M iracle ; and the Pa triarchJob dis cerning his i ntel ligence,made him his secretary. In diSo

HA‘

TOR y OF £ 0551 4 . 339

charge of these tunctions , he became acquainted wi th more thanone State secret. Do you know,

” he u sed to s ay to the othermonks,

“ that I shal l be one day Tzar of Moscow ?” Theyspat i n his face, and the Tzar Boris Goduonof ordered him tobe confined i n the Monas tery of the White Lake . He succeededi n escaping ; again became a wandering monk, and, being wel lreceived at Novgorod-Severski, had the temeri ty to wri te to theinhabi tan ts : I am the Tzarevi tch Dmi tri , and I wil l no t forge tyou r k indnes s .

” Then he threw his frock to the wi nds, enrol ledh imse lf among the Zaporogues , and became a bold rider and abrave Coss ack. He passed into the se rvice of Adam Vichnevetski, a Polish part ; he fel l i l l, or feigned to do so

, summoned apries t, and revealed to him, u nder the seal of confess ion , that hewas the Tzarevi tch Dmi tri, who had e scaped from the hands otthe assas s ins at Ouglitch, by another chi ld being subs titu ted inhis place. He showed a cross, set wi th jewels, that hung roundhis neck, given him by M s tislavski, godfather of the Tzarevi tch .

The Jesu i t d id not dare to keep such a secret to h imse lf. Ottepiet was recogn ized by his mas ter, Vichnevetski, as the son ofthe Terrible . Mniszek, palatine of Sandomi r, promised him hissupport and the hand of his daughter, Marina, who consen tedwi th joy to be Tzarina of Moscow. The s trange news Spreadthroughou t the kingdom. The Pope 's nuncio took the Tzarevitchunder his protection, and presented him to King Sig ismond .

Were they real ly deceived ? I t is more probable that they sawi n him a formidable ins trumen t of agitation, which the kingflattered himself he wou ld be able to use agains t Russ ia, and theJesu i ts agains t orthodoxy. S igismond feared to take on himse lfthe

'

ruptu re of the t ruce he had concluded wi th Boris, and exposehimse lf to Russ i an vengeance . He t reated Otrépief as T zarevitch, but only i n private ; he refused to pu t the royal tr00ps athis dispos al, but be au thorized the nobles , who were touched bythe mis fortune of the pri nce, to help him i f they wished. The

fans did not need the royal au thori ty ;many of them;wi th theevity and love of adventu re which characterized the Pol ishnobi li ty, took up arms i n favor of the Tzarevi tch . Then Borisrecognized, sa

ys Leveque, that the weakes t enemy can make a

usu rpe r tremb e.

NO revolution, even if i t were the wises t and mos t necessary,cou ld be accompl ished wi thou t putt ing i n motion the dregs ofsocie ty- withou t the clash ing of a mas s of interes ts, and thecreation of a mu l ti tude who are ou tcas ts from al l cl asses . Thetransformation which was then taking place in Ru s s i a for theformation of the modern united State, had engendered al l theseelements of dis order. The peasant whom the l aws of Boris had

240 HIS TOR Y op R USS IA .

a t tached to the lebe, was everywhere su l len ly hos til e. Thesmal ler nobili ty, or whose profi t this law had been made, weres ca rcely able to l ive on the i r lands ; the service of the Tzar hadbecome ru inous, and many were incl ined to supplemen t the insuffi ciency of the ir revenues by brigandage. The boyards andthe great nobi l i ty were profoundly demoralized—they were readyfor any tre ason . The warl ike republ ics of the Cos s acks of theDon and the Dnieper, the ba nds of serfs , of fugi tive peas ants,who infested the Ru s s ian te rr itory, only wai ted foran Opportuni tyto lay was te the coun t ry. The ignorance of the mas ses was profou nd, and the ir minds greedy of wonders and chan no othernation has al lowed i tse lf to be deceived so

“

often y the sametable, the sudden appa ri tion of a pri nce whom al l be lieved dead.

Adventures l ike those of Otrépief the false Dmi tri, and of Pougatchef the false Peter I I I ., could not be reproduced in any otherEuropean coun try. These two adven turers rendered themse lvesparticu l arly famous , but the secre t arch ives show u s that inthe Russ ia of the 17th and 1 8th cen tu ries there we re hundredsof impos tors, of fals e Dmi tri

’

s , false Alexis , false Peters IL , andfalse Peters I I I. We might almos t think that the Ru ss ians

, themos t Asiatic of al l Eu ropean nations , had not renounced theOriental dogma of te-incarnations and avatars . The Government was powerless , in a country so utterly wi thou t commwnication, to put a stop to the mos t abs urd rumors . Bes ides, theignorantand supers ti tious masses were hos ti le to it, and del ightedto al low themse lves to be dece ived. So many elements of rebe llion only requ i red to be set in motion by the hand of a skil fu lag i tator. T he entrance of the impos tor into Ru ss ia was the

s ignal of dis solu tion .

A s lon

éoa s the power lay i n the hands of the clever and

energe tic donnot, he was able to maintain orde r, to res trainthe au thors of revol t, and to discou rage the false Dmi tri . The

Patriarch Job and Vas s i l i Chouiski, who had conducted theinques t at Ouglitch, made proclamations to the people afiirmo

ing that Dmi tri was real ly dead,and that the impos tor was

none othe r than Otrépief. Simi lar declarations were sent tothe King and the Die t of Poland. Finally, troops were put i nmarch ing order, and a l ine of commun icat ions es tabl ished withthe Wes te rn frontier. But al ready the towns of Severia revoltedat the approach of the tch

,and the boyards publ icly an.

nounced that i t was hard to bear arms aga inst your l awfu lsovereign .

”A t Moscow the health of the Tzar Dmi tri wa s

drunk at feas ts. I n Octobe r 1 604, the impos tor crossed the

fron tier wi th an army of Poles , of R ussians .banished i n the preceding re ign, and German mercenaries. Severia at once rose,

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201 £ 13704) Y or 30351 4 .

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE T IME or THE m onet ize ( 1 605

Murder of the false Dmitri—Vas siliChou '

iski—T he brigand of TouchinoVladislas of Poland—The Poles at the Kremlin- N ational rising

—M inineand Pojarski—E lection of Michael R omanof.

MURDER OF THE FALSE DM ITR I—VA SS ILI CHOUISKI—THE BR IGA N D OF TOUCH INO.

Tna event that had taken place in Russ ia is one of the mos tex traordinary in the annals of the world. A ru naway monken tered Moscow i n triumph as her Tzar

,among the joyfu l

tears of the people, who though t they beheld a descendan t ofthei r long line of princes . On ly one man had the cou rage toaffirm that he had seen Dmi tri assas s inated, and that the newTzar was an impos tor. This was Vass i l i Chou

’

iski, one of thosewho had directed the inques t at Ouglitch, and who had defeatedthe Pretender at the battle of Dobrynitchi. Denounced by Bas~rnanof, he wa s condemned to death by an assembly of the threeorders , and his head was actual ly on the block, when he rece iveda pardon from the Tzar. Men did no t recogn ize the son ofIvan the Terrible in this act of clemency, a nd Otré piet hagafte rwards cause to repent of it. Job

,the tool of Godouno

was repl aced in the patriarchate by a favorite of the new pri nce,the Greek Ignatius . The Tzar had an inte rview wit h his pretended mother, Maria Nagol, widow of Ivan IV. Whether becau se she wished to avenge her inju ries, or merely to recoverher honors , Maria recognized Otrépief as her son, and publ iclyembraced him. He loaded the Nagots , whom be regarded ashis maternal rel ations

,wi th favors ; the R omanofs were l ikewise

recal led from exile, and Philarete made Metropol itan of R ostof.The Tzar pres ided regu larly at the douma ,where the boyards

admired the clearness of his apprehens ion and the varie ty of hisknowledge. As amonk he was a man of le tters, and a s a pupi l ofthe Zaporogues an accompl ished hors eman, bold and skilfu l inall bodily exercises . He was fond of foreigners, and even spoke

HIS TOR Y OF R USSIA . $43

of sending the Russ ian nobles to be educated in the West. Thistas te for s trangers wen t hand i n hand with a certain contemptfor' the nationa l ignorance and gros sness . He ofiended the

boyards by his rai l le ry, and al ienated the people and the clergyby his disdain of Ru ss ian cus toms and rel igious ri tes. He ateveal

,never s lept after dinner, did not take baths, borrowed

money from the convents, tu rned the monks i n to ridicu le, foughtwith bears, vis ited jewe l le rs and fore ign artisans famil iarly, andtook no heed of the severe Cou rt e tiquette. He pointed cannonswi th his own hand ; organized sham fights be tween the nationaltroops and the foreign me rcenaries ;was pleased to see theRuss ians beaten by the Germans and surrounded himself by aEu ropean gu ard, wi th Margere t, Knu tsen, and Van Dennen atits head. On his e ntry i nto Moscow a s trugg le took placebetween the clergy and the papal legate, and two bishops wereexi led. He got no thanks for res is ting the legate and Polandfor decl ining to help the one to effect the union of the twoChurches , and refus ing to cede to the other an inch of Russ ianland. The arrival of his wi fe, the Cathol ic Marina, wi th a su i teof Pol ish gentlemen , who as sumed an insolen t demeanor towardsthe Russ ians, completed the i rri tation of the Muscovites . Lessthan th irty days afte r his entrance into the Kreml in, menwereripe for a revolut ion .

Vass i l i Choniski, pardoned by Otrépief, was the head of theconspirators . The extreme confidence of the Tzar was his ru i n .One n igh t the boyards attacked the Kreml in, which had beenleft unguarded. Otrépiet was thrown out of a window, ands tabbed in the cou rt of the palace ;Basmanof, who defended him,

being kil led by his s ide . They took the two corpses, put ribaldmasks on thei r faces, and exposed them on the place of executions between a flute and a bag-pipe . The widow of Otrepief,and the Pol ish envoys sen t to as s is t at the wedding, were spared,butkept prisoners by the boyards . The corpse of the sorcererwas burned

,and a cannon was charged wi th his ashes, which

we re blown to the windsI t was now necessary to elec t a new Tzar. Two candidates,

two ch iefs of princely fami l ies, presented themselves , Vass i l iChoui

'

ski and Vassil i Galitsyne. Chouiski had s ignal ized himsel f by his hatred of the usu rper, had defeated him i n batt le, hadbeen condemned by him to death, and had been foremos t i n thecons piracy. The boya rds wou ld have preferred assembl ing theStates-general , as i n 1 598 , but Vass il i would not awai t the irdecis ion . More impa tien t and less wise than Bo ris Godounof,he chose to owe his crown to the Muscovi tes alone, and not tothe delegates of the whole nation . I t was the original sin of the

244 HIS TOR Y OF

new admin is tration . Vass i l i had on his s ide nei ther hereditaryright, l ike the ancien t Tzars, nor the vote of the three orders,l ike Boris . His claim to the throne thus remained dubious i nt imes of the greates t dis turbance . The Patriarch Ignat ius , thenominee of the impos tor, was replaced by Hermogenes . Thus

,

a t each change in the governmen t, a corresponding change tookplace in the firs t digni ty of the Church .

On as cending the throne, Vas s i l i swore a solemn oath to putno boyard to death wi thou t t rial , not to confi scate the goods ofcrimi nals, and to chas tise calumniators . True Ru ss i ans fel t profound sorrow when they s aw the Tzar thus despoil h imself of hissovereign rights, and al ienate part of his au tocrat ic power for thebenefit of the boyards . He was entering, indeed, on the pathoi the pacfa ronwnla , which, at every new elect ion in Poland, deprived the k ing of some of his attribu tes, and led to the enfeebl ing of the crown, and the t riumph of the aris tocratic anarchyof the nobles .

The provinces were disconten ted at not be ing con su l ted i nthe nhoice ot

’

a sovereign . They learn t almos t at the samemoment that Dmi tri had regai ned the throne of his forefathers ;then that Dmi tri was an impos tor, who had u su rped the throneby the aid of the dev il ; finally, that a new Tzar reigned overRussia. They did not know what to bel ieve, or inwhom to trus tevery th ing seemed doubtful . The Rus s ian conscience was greatlytroubled

,and

,in the u n iversal demoralizat ion, adventu rers found

an easy road to success .

Vass i l i, who was fi fty years old, wanted both energy andpres t ige. He had special ly dis tingu ished himself by his talen tsfor i n trigue, and even his partisans reproached himwith avarice.The e lemen ts of disorder put i n motion by the l as t two revolu

t ions, were not ye t appeased. Neither ambi tious boyards , norfelonious nobles, nor insurgen t peasan ts, nor brigands, nor theCoss acks and Zaporogues , nor the t companies, nor the foreignmercenaries were satis fied. In such a s i tuation i t was i nevi tablethat a new impos tor shou ld take the place of the former, andagain furn ish the wors t pass ions wi th an ou tle t. Ins tead of one,t here were two Pretenders on one s ide a Cos sack of Terekgave h imsel f ou t to be the Tzarevi tch Peter, a pretended s on ofthe chas te Feodor ;on the other, i t was announced that Dmitrihad, for the second t ime, escaped his murderers . The sametransparen t fable was always received wi th the same credul i ty,real or feigned. A t Moscow the people recal led the fact thatthe face of the corpse exposed on the Red Place was coveredwi th a mask . Vas s i l i tried in vain to disabu se the people ;hewas notmore success fu l than Boris . Had not Boris overwhelmed

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246 ms rozey or R US S IA .

ot the Muscovites , who hardly seemed the Tzar of Russ ias tood the Tzar of Touchino. He, l ike his rival, had his Court,his army, his adminis tration . He dis tribu ted titles and dignities ; and—evidence of profound popul ar degradation—ah ambitious crowd was to be seen pas s i ng from one cou rt to theothe r

,fal l ing at the fee t of both Tzars , receiving double

and, loaded wi th honors by Vas s i l i, flying to Dmi tr i, to re tu rnagain to Vas s i li. A robriqud was i nven ted to des ignate theserefugees . They were cal led “ birds of passageWhils t Touchino menaced and braved Moscow, Polish re in

forcements flocked to the camp of the brigand, in spi te of thepromises and assu rances of the perfidiou s Sigismond . Thecelebrated votevode, John S apieha, came to join L issovski, andthey both tried to capture the Troitsa monastery. This famou sconvent tempted them b its riches . With its ramparts andtowers, i t was a s trong plhce of arms for the partis ans of theTzar ; its monks were convinced that they

'

knewhow the countrywas to be saved, and did not cease to cal l al l the neighboringci ties to take up arms for faith and the Tzar.” These warl ikemonks, who were l ike the

“ Chu rch mi l i tan t ” of the FrenchLeag ue—though they, to be sure, defended at once the nationaland the orthodox cause—repel led al l the assau l ts of the Cathol icadventu rers . After a s iege of s ixteen mon ths , S apieha had toacknowledge h imself beaten . Abraham Palitsyne, treasure r ofthe convent, has narrated the exploits of his bre thren . Souzdal

,

Vladimi r, Peréias laf, R os tof, and eighteen other northern towns,not being able to decide which was the legitimate sovereign,opened thei r gates to the Touchinists . Chouiski was s ti l l disl iked at Moscow,

but they knew what they had to expect fromthe second false Dmitri. Hones t people who did not look forward to the triumph of the brigand, and who saw no poss ibleTzar but Vass i l i, forced themse lves to support him. Whats aved the capi tal was the bad discipl ine that re igned in theenemy ’

s camp ; new rebel lions broke ou t agains t the rebe l.Serfs and mougiks threatened their mas ters and ravaged thecou ntry, and the brigand was forced to employ part of his forcesto suppress th is brigandage.Abou t this t ime the T zarChouIski tu rned tor help to

Sweden ; he ceded the town of Karela to Charles IX.,contracted

with him an offens ive and defens ive al l iance aga i ns t Poland,

and rece ived i n retu rn a body of 5000 Swedes, under the command of De la Gardie . With this re inforcement

, SkopineChouiski expel led the Touchinists from the ci ties of the North

,

advanced on Moscow, and obl iged the brigand to evacuateTouch ino. The perfidious pol i cy of the Pol ish government.

HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA. 247

which armed the impos tors agains t the Tzar and al lowed theirvoievodes to attack a friendly country, amply justified Chouiskiin seeking an al ly i n Sweden, But this fore ign inte rvent iongave rise to another : the King of Poland, affecting to th inkh imself endangered by the Tzar’s al l iance wi th his wors t enemy,decided to drop the mas k and Openly interfere. I t was thu sthat u nder the mos t fatal auspices the long r ival rybegan between these two Slav nations, whom s tatesmanship had oncetried to un ite under the same sceptre . Poland, governed by ani ns t rumen t of the Jesu i ts , infl icted on Ru ss ia a frightfu l wrong.

Sigismond dis loyally affected zeal for a pretender whom heknew to be an impos tor ; he violated treaties and al l the rightsof nation s ; allowing Rus s i a to be attacked by his armies , al l thewhi le that he was as se rt ing his peacefu l d ispos it ion . His i nvas ion of Russ ia filled up the meas u re of his i n iqu ities . Thisconduct necessarily left inefi aceable memories in the hearts ofthe Russ ians.

By taking up arms, Sigismond intended to as sure to his son

the throne of Rus s i a, and res tore to Poland the places she hadlos t in the 1 5th century. He bes ieged Smolensk, and wrote toannounce to the inhabitan ts that he did not come to shed theblood of the Ru s s ians , but, on the con trary, to protect them ;

and that he was prepared to guarantee to them the maintenanceof the ir worship and l iberties . The people of Smolensk, whoknew the ardor wi th which Sigismond persecu ted orthodoxy inhis own domin ions, repel led al l his advances, and the votevodeCheinmade ready to defend the town to the las t. Sigismondwrote from his camp at Smolensk to the Pol ish votevodes whowere serving under the impos tor, wi th orders to abandon him.

The Pol ish Touchinists obeyed wi th regre t, complain ing that theking wou ld appropri ate the reward of the i r toi ls ; the Russ ianT ouchinists, not knowing what to do, fol lowed their al l ies , and,al ready accus tomed to every sort of treason, made thei r submiss ion to the king, and offered to recognize his sonVladislas as

Tzar of Russ ia. A t the head of these refugees were the boyardMichael Soltykof and the currie r Andronof.Chouiski had now two enemies equal ly formidable—the King

of Poland and the false Dmi tri, who, himself threatened by theambit ion of his royal rival , had to retreat to the South . Vas s i l i ’snephew

, Sk0pine, who had saved him by his victories , and wonhim popu larity by his frank manners , died i n the mids t of hissuccesses . The people then revived their old dis l ike of theTzar

,and accused him of poisoning his nephew. Another of

the ChouIskis, the ambitious Dmi tri , was also involved in the

accusation . Dmi triChoutski, as unpopu lar with the army as he

248t

H IS TOR Y op RUSSIA.

was with the capi tal, was betrayed in battle h the fore ign regiments , and th is defeat completed the ru in of as s i li The people rose in Moscow ; a great assembly of the populace and theboyards was held in the plains of Serpoukhof. The Tzar washumbly reques ted to vacate the thron e, because he cau sedChris t ian blood to be shed, and was not success fu l i n his government. The sou thern frontier towns also refused to obeyhim.

Vas s i liChoutskiyielded, and abdicated ; a short t ime afte rwardshe was forced to become a monk .

VLAD ISLA S OF POLA N D—THE POLES AT THE KR EMLIN .

Everyone was obl iged to take an oath of obedience to thedouma of boyards, who natu rally seized the execu t ive powerdu ri ng the interval before the e lect ion of a new Tzar. Therewere two candidates for the vacan t throne—Vladislas, son ofthe King of Poland, and the false Dmitri. N ow the latter wasevidently an impos tor. He ruled the upper and middle classesby terror alone, and had only the popu lace on his s ide . A s theycou ld not at once ge t rid of both the Poles and the brigand ofTouchino, they chose the lesser of the two evil s .

A Pol ish army, under the hetman Zolkiewski, had arrived atMojaisk : the impos tor occupied Kolomenskoé . The boyardsi nvited Zolkiewski to approach Moscow, and they began to negotlate. The hetman promised in the name of the young prince tomaintain orthodoxy, the l ibe rties and privi leges of the orders, theparti t ion of legis lat ive powe r be tween the king and the douma . Noone was to be execu ted wi thou t a trial , nor deprived of hisdigni ties wi thou t a reason ; al l Muscovi tes migh t go, if theywished

,to be educated abroad . The Rus s ian s began to l ike the

Pol ish sys tem of thepad a rofl vm/d . The inhabi tan ts of Moscowvowed fealty to the Tzar Vladislas . One poin t s til l remained tobe decided—the Russ ians des ired that Vladislas shou ld embraceorthodoxy. Zolkiewski reserved the decis ion to the King ofPol and. He i nduced the boyards to send ambass adors to Sigismond, and Pri nce Vass i li Galitsyne and the Metropol itan Phi larete R omanot left immediately for the camp at Smolensk . Thisterrible cris is seemed at the poin t of disen tang l i ng i tse l f in a waythat was tolerably advantageous for Russ ia. She was to have afore ign sovere

‘

11,bu t one al ready acquain ted wi th Slav man

ners, and his ing a foreigner was even a gage for the partisans of reforms and Wes tern civi l ization . Poland and Russ ia,which m

'

ht have uni ted under Ivan and under Feodor, hadanother c ance of doing so under a Polish prince. Such was

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350 HIS TOR Y or R USS IA .

pers were heard in the s treets of Mos cow tha t it was necessaryto combine agains t the Li thuanians . Soltykot

'

and Andronof de‘nounced these generou s i ntentions to the enemy. The PatriarchH ermogenes , suspected of patriotism,

was th rown into prison,where he afterwards died of hunger. The provinces were agistated, and the inhabi tan ts of Smolensk and Moscow wrote to allthe towns en treating them not to accept the perfidious enemy oforthodoxy as thei r prince. The citizens d id their part, thedz

'

d’

ti-éoyarrkie'

made thei r preparat ions for war, and Lapounotcol lected an army at Riazan . A t his approach Mos cow began tofillwi th reinforcements, and the Poles fortified the rampart ofthe Kreml in. Suddenly a quarre l broke out between the peopleand the sold ie rs . In the firs t heat the Poles and Germans aresaid to have massacred 7000 men;bu t res is tance was organizedi n the s treets of the Biélyi-gorod, and the fore igners, repu lsed byPrince Pojarski, had to intrench themse lves i n the Kremlin andthe KitaI-gorod. To clear the ne ighborhood, the Poles set fire

30 the ne ighboring s treets . Moscow was almos t en tirely inames .

On hearing of the reparat ions of Lapounof and the revol tof Mos cow, S igisniond

pd the Muscovi te ambas sadors,

Galitsyne and Philarete, to be arres ted, and sent them prisonersto Marienbu rg, i n Pruss i a. A short time afterwards Smolensktel l, after a res is tance compared by the Poles themselves to thatof Saguntum, though the k ing was not ashamed to torture thebrave voievode Chein, who had dared to res is t him. He en teredWars aw i n triumph, and the u nha y Vass i l i Chouiski, a Tzarof Rus s ia, was dragged a prisoner t rough the streets in tr iumph.L apounot was now re inforced by Prince Troubetsko! and IvanZarou tski, at the head of the Cossacks of the Don . A hundredthousand men bes ieged the Poles, who were shut up i n the

Kreml in, but the elemen ts compos ing th is l arge army were tooconflicting and corrupt for the enterprise to succeed. The threeleaders were mutual ly jealous of each other. L apounof hadcommi tted more than one treason, Zaroutski had been one ofthe first to dec lare for Otrépief, and the others were hardly moreloyal . The soldiers of Lapounof hated the Cos sacks, who on

their part on ly sought occas ions for pil l age . The Poles mamaged to raise the men of the Don, by inventing a pretended lette rof L apounof, saying,

“Whereve r you take them, s lay them ordrown them.

”A revol t broke out in the camp : L apounot was

assass i nated, many of his adheren ts were murdered, and this

great artnywas mis erably d is persed .

R uss ia, a prey to civil war, as was France of the 1 6th cen

mry to the wars of religion. suffered, l ike her, from foreign irr

HlS IU R Y OF R USSIA . 251

terventibn. In France, Engl ish and Spaniards watched the tidesof party success, and profi ted by them al l to gain some place orsome province. Rus s ia became the theatre of warfor two rivalPowers, Cathol ic Poland and Lu theran Sweden . When Vladis~las was proclaimed Tzar, Sweden cons idered herself ofiended,and acted a s an enemy. De la Gardie took the ports of theBal tic ; and the boyards of Novgorod the Great, imi tating thoseof Moscow, Opened the gates to the foreigners . I t was underthe protection of Poland that the first two impos tors had ariseni n the we s t and sou th ; under the protection of Sweden a th irdfalse Dmi tri s tarted Up i n the country of Pskof. MarinaMniszek on her s ide, who after the death of Otrépief had th rownherself in to the arms of the brigand Touchino, acknowledgedthe Cossack Zaroutski a s guardian of her son.

N ATIONAL RISIN G -M IN IN E a N D POJARSKI—ELECTION 0?

M ICHA EL ROMANOF.

The s i tuation of Russ i a, l ike that of France during the Bugl ish wars , or the wars of the League, was frigh tfu l . The Tzarwas prisone r, the Patriarch capt ive, the Swedes at Novgorod theGreat, the Poles at the Kreml in, and the higher nobil i ty bough tby the s t rangers . Eve rywhere bands of brigands and highwaymeu pillaged towns, tortured peasants , and desecrated chu rches .

Famine increased : i n certai n dis tricts men were driven to eathuman flesh. This count ry, accus tomed to be governed au tocratically, had no longer any governmen t. I n her supreme need,who was to save Rus s i a ? I t was the people, by a movemen ts imil ar to that wh ich i n France produced Joan of Arc ; i t wasthe people, in the larges t acceptation of the word, including thehones t nobil i ty and the patriotic clergy. Already miracu lousrumors showed the exci temen t that possess ed all mi nds . A t

N iju i-N ovgorod, at Vladimi r, appari t ions were seen . Themonksof Troitsa

,wi th the hegumene Dionys ius and treas urer-h is torian

Palitsyne at the ir head, sent le tters to all the Russ ian c i t ies .

The citizens of Kazan raised the dis tant Rus s ia of the Kama.

When the despatches fromTroits a reached Nij n i, and the prot0p0pe read them to the assembled people, a ci tizen of the town ,the bu tcher Kouzma Min ine, rose . I f we wi sh

,

” he said tosave the Muscovite Empire, we mus t spare ne i ther our l ands norourgoods ; le t us sel l ourhouses , and put ourwives and ch ildrento se rvice ; le t u s seek a manwho wi l l fight for the orthodoxfai th

,and march under his banner.” To give up al l, and to arm

themselves, such was the word that was handed round. Min ine

25zHIS TOR y or R US S IA .

and others gave the th ird of thei r pos ses sions one womanwhohad roubles gave of them. Those who hesitatedto contribu te had to do i t by force. Minine only accepted the

Othee of t reasu rer of the insu rrecti on on condi tion that his fel~low—ci tizens shou ld place themse lves absolutely at his discre tion.

A chief was neces sary ; the people saw that he mu st be a noble.

N ow a t S tarodoub l ived Prince Dmi tri Pojarski, s tillweak fromwounds he had received i n the revol t of Mos cow. Min ine wen tto seek him, and besough t him to take the command of thearmy. Their preparations then began, and they fas ted andprayed . Rus s ia fel t herself in a s tate of sin she had taken and

vio ated so many oaths—to Godounot'

, to his son Feodor, toOtrépief, to Chouiski, to Wadisla s . Three days of fas t werecommanded. Everyone took part i n it, even the infants at thebreas t. With the money col lected they organ ized the streltsi,and equ ipped the dz

‘

ihlboyarskil ;but they refused to admi t thoseimpu re elements wh ich had impe ri l led the national cause . Theywou l d have none of the help of Margere t, the mercenary whohad perjured h imsel f so many times , nor of the pil lag ing andmu rdering Cossacks . They remembered the as sas s ination ofL apounot.

With the army marched the b ishops and monks ; the holyimages were borne at the head of the columns . This enthu s iasmdid not exclude pol it ical wisdom; they wished at leas t to securethe support of Sweden aga ins t Poland, so they amused de la Gar.die by negotiating for the election of a Swedis h pri nce. Whenthe troops had completely assembled at Iaros lavl, they marchedMoscow. The Cossacks of Zaroutski and T roubetskot were

s t i l l encamped u nde r its wal ls ; but these two armies, thoughfighting forthe same object, cou ld not act together. A n attemptto murder Pojarski had increased the mis tru s t of the men of theDon . When , howeve r, the hetman Chodkiewitz tried to throw adetachment into Moscow,

he was defeated on the left bank ofthe Moskowa by Pojarski, on the righ t bank by the Cos s acks.I t is t rue th at the latter, at the decis ive momen t, refu sed to

figh t ; i t needed the prayers of AbrahamPalitsyne to bring themin to l ine, and the in te rvent ion of M inine and his troops to dec ide the victory. The Pol is h garrison of

,the Kreml in were then

pressed so close that they were reduced to eat human flesh .

They capi tu lated, on condition that they were to have the ir l ives .They gave up their prisone rs , among whomwas young MichaelR omanof.The Kreml in and the KitaI-gorod had Opened thei r gates ,

when men le arned that Sigismond was advancing to the he lp of

the Pol is h garrison. It was too late. Ar the news of these

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z54 £ 15TOR Y 0p RUSSIA.

CHAPTER Xxx.

THE ROMANOFS : M ICHAEL FEODOROVI'

FCH AN D THE PATRM RCH

PHILA R ET E ( 1 6 13

R es torativemeasures—End of the Polish war—R elations with Europe- TheS ta tes-general.

R ESTORATIVE MEASU R ES—EN D OFTHE POLISH WAR .

R U SS IA had at l as t a sovereign, but she was in the s ituationi n which Henry IV. found France at his access ion . The greatcivi l and fore ignwarwas finished, but i t had left eve rywhere itsevi l traces . H enry IV.,

when he became k ing, had been obl igedto reconque r al l his kingdom, province by province , town bytown, half by arms and hal f by negotiations, to win i t fromchiefs of the bands , leaguers , great governors who had becomeindependen t

,and foreigners . In the s ame way, i n Rus s ia, Zar

outski, leader of the Don Cossacks, ru led i n As trakhan , wi thMarina and the son she had home to the brigand of Touchinothe Polish part isan L issovski ravaged the coun try of the sou th~wes t ;the Zaporogian Cos sacks i nfes ted the reg ion s of the Dwi nascarce a province bu t wa s a prey to some robber-band. No doubtthe Pole s had been expe l led from the Kreml i n as the Spaniardswere expel led from reconquered Paris , but an ofl

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ensive movement of the enemy migh t be expected ;moreover they s t i l lretained many places , notably the importan t town of Smolensk.

Sweden had profited by the s tate of Rus s i a to lay hands on thecities of Care l ia and on Novgorod the Great. I n the inte rior ofthe country, the towns and cities were i n ru i ns, the popu l ationdimin ished and impoverished

,and brigandage had become a

habi t. A t the Cou rt, the Ru ss ian lords had learned to disobey,and were not less turbu lent than the Leaguers who su rrou ndedHenry IV. What Ru s s ia needed was a reign of res tora tion.

Michae l R omanof had not the genius of the res torer ofFrance . He was almos t a ch ild, and the boyards turned his authority agains t h imself : the s i len t and bloody in t rigue s that IvanIV. had only res trained by capi tal pun ishmen t broke forth again,

771 57037OF RUSSIA. 255

find the ferocious depravity of the nobles was the shame of Rus s i a.Quie t men and foreigners regretted Ivan the Terrible. Ohtha t God woul d open the eyes of the Tzar as he opened thoseof Ivan I” wrote a Du tchman at this time, otherwis e Muscovyis los t.” H appily the good wil l of the nation was equal to eve ryemergency. The day of the coronat ion the men-at-arms presented a reques t for pay, as thei r devas tated fieis no longer gavethem any revenue. The Tzar and the clergy sen t letters to theRus s ian towns to entreat them to help the State to pay the troops ,and to aid her wi th men and money agains t the foes wi thin andwithou t. Zaroutskiwas the firstwho was attacked. The inhabitants of As trakhan, ou traged by his barbarit ies, had rebel ledand imprisoned him in the Kreml in

,whence he attempted to

escape at the approach of the Rus s ian votevodes . Hewas captured, and condemned to be impaled ; the son of the brigand ofTouch ino, in spi te of his you th,was hung, and his mother, Marinathe Pole, died in prison . By the advice of the clergy and theboyards, the Tzar tried to negotiate with Baloven, another brigand chief, who, by wa of answer, attacked Moscow, but wasdefeated and his ban des troyed. The people of the Dwinathemse lves ex ecu ted jus tice on the Zaporogu es . Lissovskiwas

eagerly pursued by Pojarski, but this clever part isan ou twi ttedall the efforts of the liberator. Peace wi th Poland had to beconcluded before he cou ld be qu ie ted.

In 1 6 1 5a Congres s as sembled beneath the wal ls of Smolenskunder the mediation of Erasmus Handelius , envoy of theEmperor of Germany. I t was imposs ible to come to an unders tanding : the Poles refused to admi t the e lection of Michae lR omanof, arid wished to recognize Vladislas as Tzar of Rus s ia.You mi ht as well,

”said H andelius,

“ t ry to reconci le fire andwater.” he negotiations were broken off. With Sweden, however, they were more successfu l ; here the mediators , Englandand Hol land, showed more zeal and energy than the house ofAus tria had done. The troubles and the impoverished s tate ofMuscovy reacted on their commerce. By pacifying the North,they hoped to re-open Russ ia to their merchants, and secure forthemselves greater advantages .

I n May 1 6 1 4, Ouchakof and Zaborovskihad been sent to askhelp from Holland in men and mone The Dutch gave thema thousand gu lden , but s aid that they had themselves onlyla te ly ended a great war

,that they cou ld give the Tzar no

subs tantial aid, but wou ld do the ir u tmos t to i nduce the King ofSweden to make peace . Alex is Ziousine had been despatchedto London in June 1 6 13; he was ordered to narrate all the exce sses committed by the Poles inMoseow, and to say to King

z56 H IS TOR Y op RUSSIA.

James, After the des truction of Moscow, the Li thuani ans se izedyou r merchants—Mark the Eng l ishman , and al l the otherstook away al l the ir wares, subjected them to a rigorous imprison~ment, and ended by mas sacring them.

” If by chance he discovered that the Engl ish were aware that i t was not the Poles,but the Coss acks and the lower class es who had put Mark todeath and se ized on the merchandise, he was to have other excu se s ready. The T zarentreated help inmoney to pay the menat-arms , and not i n soldiers

,a s he could g ive them no pay.

Theywou ld th ink themselves happy i f the King of England

won (I send the Tzar money, provis ions, powder, lead, su lphur,and other munit ions , to the value of abou t roubles ;butwould conten t themselves wi th roubles ’ worth, or in caseof absolute necess i ty wi th James received the envoyand his su i te cou rteou s ly, informed them that he was

'

aware ofthe wrongs the Poles and the Swedes had inflicted on them,

andordered them three times following to cover themselves . TheRus s ians decl ined to do th is. When we see thy fraternal loveand l ive ly friends hip for our sovereign, when we hear thy royalwords which glori fy ourprince, and contemplate thine eyes thu sclose at hand , how can we, M olopys as we are , put our hats onourheads at such a moment i In Augus t 1 6 1 4, the year fol lowi ng th is embas sy, there appeared at Moscow John Merrick, whohad for long traded wi th the holy city

, but who came th is t imeas ambassador from James L , qualified wi th fu l l powe rs , as

prince , kn ight, and gentleman of the bedchamber. In an interviewwi th Prince Ivan Kourakine he began by demanding, onthe part of the Engl ish merchants, a direct communication wi thIndia by the Obi, and wi th Pers ia by the Volga and A s trakhan .

Kourakine al leged that th is rou te was unsafe, that As trakhanhad only l ately been del ivered fromZaroutski, and that numerousbrigands s ti l l i nfes ted the Volga. When secu rity should bee s tabl ished, they wou ld open the ques tion wi th King James .They then pas sed to the subject of mediation . John Merrickdeclared that the King of England had assembled his Parl iamentto considert he bes t means of helping the Tzar, but that theParl iamen t had a s ye t decided noth ing, and that he had no ins tructions on this head . But

,

”said Kourakine, can you not

a ssu re u s that your sovereign wil l send us help i n the Spring ?How can I guarantee it ? The journey is long, and there is no

way save that by Sweden . I bel ieve,however, he wi l l give

you aid .

” Merrick, having contented h imsel f wi th caus ing theRuss ians to hope, re turned to commercial matters : l ibe rty oftrade by the Obi and the Volga, concess ions of iron and jetmines on the Soukhona, concessions of te rritory abou t Vologda.

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z58 HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

than a counse l lor—a col leagu e, and almos t a mas te r. Philaretewas i n some sort ass ociated wi th the throne. The empi re hadtwo chief nobles , two sovereigns, the Tzar of al l the Russ iasand the Patriarch of al l the Russ ias . They figured togetheri n al l publ ic acts, and together received the reports of the boyards and foreign ambassadors . I t was t ime that a mas te r wasg iven to the boyards . The Soltykofs , Michae l

'

s favorites,had

dis tribu ted the empire among thei r partisans , and plunderedthe treasury and the nat ion . They were charged wi th h avingfal sely accused Michael ’s firs t bride, who was expe l led from thepalace, and having poisoned the second. This was a common

practice wi th the nobles of Muscovy, those who were in favorfearing a new Tzarina above everything. They shrank from nomeans of removing her from the i r path and thei r repu tat ion onthis head was so firmly e s tabl ished that the King of Denmarkhad refused Michael the hand of his n iece

,because

,i n the

rei n of Boris Godounof, his brother,fi afl ce’

of the Princess Xenia,hagbeen

?oisoned ; and this wou ld also be the fate of this

young girl . Philarete made the boyards fee l the we ight of theTzar ’s hand, and exiled the mos t gu i l ty.

R ELAT ION S WITH EU ROPE—THE STATES-GEN ERAL.

Russ i a had begun at last to be a Eu ropean nation . Everywhere her politicalor commercial al l iance was songAdolphu s, who was making preparations to play his part as thechampion of Protes tantism i n Germany, wished to ass u re himse lf of the friendship of Russia agai ns t Poland. He representedto Michael , wi th much t ru th, that the Cathol ic League of thePope, the King of Poland, and the house of H apsburg were asdangerous to Ru ss ia as to Sweden ; that if Protestantism suc

cumbed itwould be the tu rn of orthodoxy, and that the Swedisharmy was the ou tpos t of Russ ian securi ty. When you r neighbor’s hou se is on hte,

” wri tes the King, you must bring waterand try to extingu ish it, to guarantee you r own safety.you r T zarian majes ty help you r neighbors to protect youThe terrible events of late years had only too wel l justifiedthese remarks . The in trigu es of the Jesu i ts wi th the falseDmi tri, and the bu rn ing of Moscow by the Poles , were alwayspresent to the memory of the Russ ians . A treaty of peace andcommerce was concluded wi th Sweden, and a Swedish ambassador appeared at the Court.England had rendered more than one service to Ru ss i a. In

her press ing need James I. had len t her zo,ooo roubles, and

HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA. z59

Bri t ish mediation had led to the Peace of Stolbovo. John Merer ick cons idered he had the righ t to demand that Rus s i a shou ldopen to Engl ish commerce the rou te to Persia by the Volga,and to H indos tan by Siberia. The Tzar consul ted the merchants of Moscow. They unan imous ly repl ied that such a conce ss ion wou ld be their ru in, for they cou ld never hope to rivalthe weal thier and more enterpris ing Engl ish. They were , however, ready to s acrifice the i r interes ts to those of the empire, i fthe dues paid b the foreigners were e ssential to the treasu ry.

iTJ

Ohn Merrick eclined to pay any dues, and the negotiation waswhen off. They paid him

,however

,the roubles

,a s he

as sured them the King had need of them for the help of his sonin-law, the Elector Palati ne .In 1 6 1 5 the Tzar sen t an envoy in to France, to announce to

Lou is XII I . his access ion to the throne, and to ask his aidagain s t Poland and Sweden . In 1 629 there appeared at Mos

cow the ambas sador Duguay Cormentn, who was commiss ionedto sol ici t for French commerce wha t had been refused to English trade—free passage in to Pers ia. He also spoke of a pol i t ical all iance . H is T zarian majes ty,

" he said, is the head ofEa s tern cou ntries and the orthodox faith ;Lou is , King of France,is the head of Southern countries ; and the Tzar, by contractinga friendship and al l iance wi th him

, wi l l ge t the better of hisenemies . A s the Emperor is close ly al l ied to the King of P0l and, the Tzar mus t be al lied to the King of France . These twoprinces are everywhere glorious ; they have no equ als ei ther i ns trength or power ; the i r subjects obey them bl indly, wh ile theEngl ish and Brabancons are only obedien t when they choose .

T he latter buy their wares i n Spain , and se ll them to the R u ss ians at a high price, but the French wi l l fu rn ish them witheverything at a reasonable rate .

" This negot iat ion for the firstFranco-Russ ian t reaty spoken of i n h is tory had no resu l t. A s

to the rou te to Pers ia, i t was refused by the boyards, who saidthat the French might buy the Pers ian merchandise from theRus s ians .

Another al ly agains t Poland offered i tse lf to Mus covy. The

Su l tanOsman sent to Moscow the Prince Thomas Cantacuzene,to annou nce that Tu rkey had already declared war again s t theking. The Russ ians asked no more than to help him

,and Phil

arete and Michael assembled the States-general . The deputiesbeat their foreheads ” to the s overeigns , beseeching them tohold themselves firm for the holy chu rches of God

,for thei r

T zarian honor, and for thei r own country agains t the enemy.The men-at-arms were ready to fight, and the merchants to givemoney.” The t1 00ps were already assembl ing when news was

360 H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

rece ived that Tu rkey had been defeated, and war was post

poned. The preparat ions had revealed certai n faults exis ting1 1 1 the nat ional army, and i t was decided to enl is t fore ign mercenaries, and ins t ruct the native soldiers i n Wes tern tactics.Orders were accordi ngly given to buy arms, and to att ract in toRu ss ia gunu founders and artil lerymen . The Rus s i a of Michae land Philarete al ready annou nced the Russ ia of Peter the Grea t ;the era of reform had begun . Each day Muscovy s trengthenedherself agains t her Eu ropean enemie s , by turn ing agains t themthe weapon of thei r own civi l ization .

She remained qu iet fo r eight years . In 1 632 Sigismond I I I .died

,and the Elective Die t assembled at Wars aw. Michael

was determi ned not to le t this opportu ni ty slip, and the secondwarwi th Poland began . I t did not tu rn out as wel l as had beenhoped . The vices of the old organization and ins ti tut ionsshowed themselves anew. The two votevodes commanding thearmy suddenly became possessed with the old mania of dispu teing precedence. The were deprived of the i r command

, andreplaced by Chcin an Ismailof, who crossed the fron tier with

men and 1 58 ns . Twenty-three towns surrendered to

the Muscovites , bu t molensk held out for e igh t months , and,i t showed s igns of capitu l ating, the Pol ish army u nderas, now King of Poland, made its appearance . On the

Tatar invas ion in the sou th, part of the Russ iannobles at once has tened to the defence of their own l ands, andChein

,thus enfeebled, was attacked by the king, and his com

munications cut. Famine obliged him to su rrender in the Openfield, and he obtained leave to re treat, though forced to abandonboth his baggage and his artil le ry. H is only fau l t l ay i n notu nders tanding as we l l as his Wes tern adversaries the s trategyof modern warfare . He was only gu il ty of be ing a Rus s i an ofu nreformed Russ ia. His enemies , however, accused him of trea'son i n a counci l of war, and he was condemned wi th his colleagu e to be beheaded. Philarete was no longer there to forcethe boyards to live a t peace wi th each other. He died i n 1 633.

Vladis as , succe ss fu l at Smolensk, was defeated at Bielaia, anda congres s was held on the Pol ianka. The conditions of thetruce of Devu lino were confirmed. The R ussians paidroubles, and Wadislas renounced al l claim to the throne of M05

cow, and recognized for the first time the T zarian ti tle .Shortly after there arose a new occas ion forwar. In Spite

of the treaties of peace concluded by Poland and Rus s i a wi thTu rkey

,the Cossacks of the Dnieper, who were subjects of P0

l and, and the Cos sacks of the Don,whowere subjects of Russ i a,stil l con ti nued to fight aga i ns t Islam. To them,

bes ides being

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tHZSFORT' OFHRbUSZJ .

lish, and Venetian artisans One European import did not

howeve r, find favor in R ussm—the usage of tobacco wa s forlhidden, and snufi -takers had thei r noses cu t off.Learned men were also ht from Eu rope. AdamOlea

rius ot H ols tein, a ce lebrate as tronomer, geographer, and

me ter, was i nvi ted to Moscow. Already the Academy of

cieuces of Pete r the Great was foreshadowed. A cosmographical treatise was trans lated from Latin i nto Russ ian . The Patriarch Philarete had es tabl ished at Mos cow an academy whereGreek and Latin , the languages of the Renaiss ance, were taui

ht.

The Archimandri te Dionys ius of Troitsa, who had dist ingu is cd

himself i n the s t ruggle wi th the Poles undertook to correct thetex t of the Slavonian books—a hazardous enterprise, wh ich cos tD ionys ius himse lf a short period of persecution . N ative b is torians conti nued to te-edi t thei r chronicles, and Abraham Palitsync, cel larer of T roitsa, narrated the famous s iege of the

convent.

HIS TOR Y op R USSIA . 303,

CHAPTER XX.

WESTERN R US S IA m THE 171 11 CEN TURY.

union of Lublin and the religious union ( 1595) -Comv

plaints of White R uss ia—R is ings in Little R us sia.

POLITICAL U N ION or LU BLLN AND THE RELIGIOUSUN ION

SPA IN i n the 1 6th century had taken a large share i n thetroubles of France France in the t7rh cen tu ry dismembered theSpanish Empire . I n l ike manner Poland expiated her part inthe civi l wars of Russ ia. After the reformi ng reign of Michae lR omanof, his son Alexis was to inaugu rate the era of reprisals .

Rus s i a had almos t fal len before Poland, like France before Burgundy or Aus tria, but she grew s trong at Poland’s expense, andon the ru ins of Poland founded her own greatness . A glance atthe cons t itu tion of the Pol ish Empire wi l l show u s what in te rn aldifficulties prepared the way for the exte rnal enemy- the M us

covite,the M ortal

, as he was called by the men of the Wes t.White Russ ia and Litt le Russ ia had been conquered by the

Lithuanians,and formed with them part of the Polo Lithuanian

State. They kept for a long wh ile Ru ss ianmanners and habits .

The Rus s ian language was used in the acts of legis lation t i llthe 1 6th, and even t i l l the 1 7th centu ry. For a short t ime,under the early Jagel lons , i t had even been the language of theCourt. Soon, however, Pol ish influence predominated i n theru l ing clas s . The Ru sso-Lithuan ian nobil i ty were divided, l ikethe Pol ish nobil i ty, i ntomagna les , who pos sessed large terri toriesand occupied the high ofiices , sclzlz

'

ac/zla: or lesse r nobles, whoformed the retainers and almos t the servan ts of the magnum.

The mi l i tary clas s assembled in the diet: and (irk’tirm . Theking’s ofl‘icers bore the t it les of w iewa

'a,mr/ellam

,and starostr.

The Russo-Lithuan ian towns , l ike those of Poland, rece ivedwhat was cal led the law of Magdeburg.

” They were gover nedby a wgt of the king, who admin is tered jus t ice, ass is ted by theburgomad er and by mI/mamzcr. The trading classes organ ized

2 64 ”1 5701 1 ? op R USS IA .

themse lves, afte r the German fashion, i nto zlcfie, tribes or corporations .

U p to that t ime Russo-Li thuan ia and Poland had formedtwo States , dis t inct in law; and at the exti nct ion of the Jagellons, who had always maintained them i n a pe rs onal un ion, i twas feared they wou ld again separate. Ivan IV. founded greathopes on th is expected separation, but the Poles i n the reignof Sigismond made a great effort to accompl ish a definite union .A die t was held at Lublin . The Rus so-Li thu an ian aris tocracywere much averse to the u nion ;difference of 1 eligion, nationalsel f-love

,and corporate i nteres ts created a barrier be tween them

and Poland. The Government shrank from no means of overcomi ng the ir res is tance . I t threatened not to defend Lithuaniaagains t the 1ncursions of the Tzar, and to resume the Crown landshe ld by the refractory noble$. N otwiths tandin , the Pol ishparty were almos t checkma ted ;rathe r than yie ld, t e Li thuaniandepu ties left the die t i n a body. A t las t the k ing contrived toga in two of the most influentialmembers—Cons tan tine Os trostro

yll

gkvoievode of Kief, and Alexande r Czartorysk i, votevode of

hynia. Nicholas Radziwil l, who had so long held the Polls!)tendencies in check, and who was the last represen tative of 1 1 1

dependent Li thuania, was dead . The king managed also to winover the Li ttle Rus s i an nobi l i ty, l ess hos tile to Catho l ic Polandthan the Protes tan t nobil i ty of Lithuan ia . The Union aj l ubb

'

a

provided that the two crowns s hould be uni ted on the samehead

,wi th equal rights ; that the re should be only one general

die t and one senate ; that they shou ld sit at Warsaw, a Mazovian town, which was to become the capital of the new S tate ;and that Poland and Li thuania shou ld preserve each its great dig~nitaries—chance l lor, vice-chancel lor, marshals, and hetmansthe i r own army and their laws . The Russ i an coun trie s , properly so called, u nderwent a fresh dismemberment. Li ttle Rus s iawas apeC1 ally u nited to Poland .

The natu ral res u l t of the Un ion of Lubl in was the growthof Pol ish influence 1 11 the Russ ian te rri tory. Ou one s ide, thePol ish nobles had obtained the right of acqu i ri ng lands andho lding ofiices i n Lithuania ;01 1 the other, the Russ ian nobi l ity,by mingl ing more comple te ly with the nobil ity of the ne ighbor[1 1g country, adopted its ide

yas, habits , fashions , and even its

language. I t began to be Poloniza f, thus widen ing the breachthat separated i t from the masses of the people , profound ly at

tached to their tongue and their national ity. The divis ion between the aristocracy and the people increased s till fu rther, whenthe Catholic propaganda pene trated

' among the nobil i ty of the

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2 66 Y OF R USS IA .

pen, their word and their influence, the fai th of thei r fathe rs, andtrans late

,compile

,and dis semi nate books i n fatiorof orthodoxy.

Li ttle by li tt le the nobles yielded to the influence of the Cou rti n the ir s truggle wi th the Roman rel igion , the people saw themselves abandoned almos t entirely by the i r natu ral ch iefs, andeven by their bishops . The king filled the Li thu anian seeswi th prelates who were great princes , wholly indifi etent to theological ques t ions, and proud of the ir immense riches, of the irnumerous vi l l ages , and the ir s trong cas tles bris tl ing wi th art il le ry.Sti l l the people did not give up all . h0pe . F10m Novgorod theGreat, from Pskof, from Germany, the principle of associationhad spread widely among the cit ies of Wes tern Ru ss ia. Societ ies were formed for mu tu al ass is tance, wh ich had the ir roots inthe mos t dis tan t S lavonic, German, or Scandi navian pas t { theywere at the same t ime re l igious contraternities , and took anenergetic part i n the s trife wi th the Jesu its . T hey had theirelected chiefs

,the ir common t reasu ry, and they began to found

schools, to set up printing-pres ses, and to dis semi nate polemica lor pious books . They entered in to mu tual relat ions , and formedties wi th the patriarchs of the Eas t ; to the royal bishop

’

s -theyopposed a democrat ic force

,watch ing them,

reprimanding them,

and denou ncing the carelessness of thei r rel igion or manners toorthodox Chris tendom. The mos t celebrated of these contraternities were those of Lemberg in Gallicia, of Wiln a in Lithuan ia, and of Loutslc i n Volhynia ; that of Kiet founded the greateccles ias t ical academy of Little Rus sia.Unde r the stimu lus of these popu l ar socie ties, the bishops

cou ld no longer remain i ndifferent. I t was necess ary to take upa pos i t ion at the head of the bel ievers, or pass over to the ranksof the enemy. The orthodox prelates were in a very difficultpos i t ion they were in disgrace wi th the Governmen t as the defenders of orthodoxy, and at the s ame time were haras sedlukewarm by the orthodox demagogy. Terletski, Bishop ofLoutsk, was i n th is trying s i tuation—the starost of Loutsk, aconvert to Catholicism,

directed a fierce pers ecu tion agains t hisancien t bishop. T erletski was taken, imprisoned, and s tarvedin his dungeon ; he complained, but an orthodox bishop couldexpect no jus tice. He s aw only one means of escaping fromth is humi l iat ion, to disarm the violence of the Cathol ic nobles ,and to en

’

oy in peace his episcopal revenues : this was to pas sover to t e Union . His nei hbor, Ignatius PorieI, Bishop of

Vladimi r in Volhynia, and hfichael Ragoza, Metropol i tan ofKief, Primate of Wes tern Rus s ia, who was dis con tented wi th thePatriarch of Cons tan tinople, fol lowed his example. Sig ismondI I I . rece ived these first defections wi th joy ;Terletslti and Potiet

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HIS TOR Y OF R USSIA .

COM PLA IN TS 01" WHITE RUSSlA—R ISINGS IN LIT TLE RUSSIA.

In the diets of Wars aw, the compl ain ts of the orthodoxclergy, and of the country people, more comple tely ens laved,more cruel ly Oppressed s ince they no longer held the re l igion ofthe ir mas te rs , did not remain w1 thout an echo. A depu ty fromVolhynia, Lawrence Drevninski, exclaimed at the Die t of 1 620-When your Majes ty makes waron Turkey, from whom do youobtain the greater part of you r troops ? Ftom the Rus s ian nat ion, which holds the orthodox fai th ;from that nation which , ifi t does not rece ive rel ief from its sufi

'

erings and an answer to itsprayers, can no longer continue tomake itse lf a rampart for you rk ingdom. How can you beg i t to sacrifice al l to secure for thecountry the bless i ngs of peace, when in its homes there is nopeace ? Everyone sees clearly the persecu t ions that the oldRuss ia n nation suffers for its re l igion . In the large towns our

chu rches are sealed up, and our goods are pi l laged ; frommonas te ries the monks have departed

,and cattle are shu t up in

them. Children die wi thou t bapt ism the as hes of the dead, deprived of the prayers of the Church, are carried out of the citylike dead beas ts ;men and women l ive together wi thou t the benediction of the pries t ;they die wi thou t confess ion, wi thou t communion. Is not th is to offend God- h imself, and wi l l not Godavenge His people ? A t Lemberg no one , not a Un iate, can l ivein the ci ty, trade freely, and en ter i nto the of artis ans .

For twenty years i n each dwine, i n each diet, we have asked forour rights and l iberties wi th bitter tears, and for twenty yearswe have not been able to obtain them. We shal l have to crywith the prophe t, O God, judge me, and judge my actions .

’

The s i tuation of the se rfs had become Special ly 1ntolerableto the Pol ish or Polon ized lord, to the La tin miss ionary, wasadded a thi rd scou rge, the Jew, whom the noble had made s teward of his lands , and to whom he had given the righ t of 1 iteand death over his subjects, and farmed ou t the fi shing and hunting, the roads and taverns, even the orthodox Chu rch, so com

pletely, tha t the peasant cou ld neither marry nor baptize hischild wi thou t having bough t from this miscrean t the access tothe sanctuary.The popu l at ions of White Russ ia had sufiered, and were

stil l to suffer long, wi thou t rebel l ion . I t was not the same wi ththe Little Rus51an popu lat ions of the Ukraine . They hadcolon ized the s teppes ot the sou th

,and reconque red the dese rt

from the Tatars . To att ract emigrants to fill the royal grants ,the Polish lords offered twenty or thirty years of absolu te lib

HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA. 369

erty. Thanks to this , the desert was peopled with unheard-oirapidity, and on th is virgi n soi l a nation was formed, ignoran t ofs lavery, that spoke not of thirty years

’ l iberty, but perpe tu alfreedom. The King of Poland favored this race of hardy

pioneers—these intrepid soldiers . The Ukraine was for him asort of mil i tary frontier, a strong rampart for Poland agains t theTatar and the Turk .

These warl ike papulations were organized in twenty pathof Cossack- those of Peréiaslaf, T cherkask, Mirgorod, Pultowa ,Etc. Each f olk had its polkovnik or colonel ; all obeyed onesupreme chief, the M m" : of Li ttle Rus s ia nominated by thek ing, who pres ided over the sfarrlzirza or counci l of elders . In

time the Cos sacks became formidable to Poland herse lf ; theyincessan t] embroi led her wi th her formidable neighbor, theOt toman pire . Batory was forced to punish wi th death morethan one Cos sack chief for having violated a truce or a treatyof peace, and he also l imi ted the number of the mil i tary population

,only recogniz ing as Cos sacks those who were inscribed on

the regis ter, to the numbe r of six thous and, condemning theothers to the cu l tivat ion of the soi l ;that is , to se rfage . But theCos sacks wou ld have nothing to do wi th the romée of thepans,nor admi t the l imi tations of the king. Notwi thstanding theregis ter, they remained i n arms, a formidable force , who i n therel ig ious s truggle were al l enl is ted on the s ide of orthodoxy

,

and who caused royal ty and the Uniate hierarchy and aris tocracyto tremble .Bes ides the Cossacks of the sedenta popu lations or the

Cossacks of the towns, there we re also thezaporogues “beyondthepof ogr or cataracts of the Dn ieper. They s tood in the samere lation to the Litt le Ru ss ian Cossacks as those did to the RussoLi thuanian popu lat ion ;they were the vanguard of the vanguard,the forlorn how of the Ru ss ian national i ty. Entrenched in theLarge Meadow, a fortified is l and of the Dnieper, they hadbu i l t a fort or sadza su rrounded by a pal isade . The recog‘nized no au thori ty ; l ike the Kni hts of Rhodes an Malta

,

they encamped on the land wres te from the Mussu lmans , andconti nued the holy war wi th Turk and Tatar

, when Chris‘tendom was at peace with him. They nei ther gave nor askedquarter, exis ted on the plunder of the infidel, cou rted dangersand martyrdom,

” and rece ived no women in thei r camp. They

The xlarcbina was composed of theM , the head of the bagdepartmcnt ; of the judge RE:s tandard-bearer; of the poliovm

’

h ; of the t fonikl , or cenmrions ; of theatamam . When the lri inves ted the M an, be handed to him the bawdckouk (orbanner), like a

‘s tall. the stick ormace, and the seal.

37° HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

were a race of warrior-rnonks , a Church militant, the Templ ateand H03pitallers of the Dnieper. More th an one Polis h nobleof high rank came to join them i n their life of adven ture andheron: poverty, and learn t from them lessons of cou rage andchiva l ry. All were equal, all brothers, and ate like the Spartansat a common table the ofi ces of the atom of the camp,

andot the ten alumna : of the tourma , were obtained by election.

I n close un ion wi th the Cos sacks of the Don, they were on landand sea the scou rge of Is lamism—the Barba ry Chris t ians ofthe Black Sea.The ill-feeling between the aris tocratic gove rnment of Poland

and the orthodox popu lation of Litt le Rus sia con tinued to ihWhen the Pol ish nobles wis hed to treat the tree hus

bandmen as se rfs, they dese rted in crowds to the countries ofthe Ukraine the boldes t went to reinforce the hordes of theD nieper Cossacks , or the sd cha of the Zaporogues, The Kobsar:

(blind bards) has tened from village to vi llage, s inging the songof the parwda (j us tice) In th is world there is no

‘

us tice,jus ti ce is not to be found here now jus tice l ives under e lawsof injus t ice. To-day jus ti ce is imprisoned by the nobles in°

us tice is seated at he r ease b the pans i n the hal l of honor.o-day jus tice s ta nds near the old, and injus tice is thronedwi th thepans , and hydrornel is poured out in to cups for injus t ice.

O jus tice 1 ourmother wi th the wings of an eagle, where s hal lwe find thee May God send themanwho wi l l pe rform jus tice—days of prospe ri ty. These wandering poe ts sang so persis tently, tha t the Vill ages were emptied for the benefit of theCossack camps , and jus tice ended by spreading her eagle ’swings ,

” and the men who were to perform ju s tice showedthemse lves openly.T he orthodox re ligion persecu ted by the Uniates , the threat

ened se rfage, the insolence of the nobles , the robberies of the

Jews, the regis ter and its limi tation, gave rise in the 1 6th and17th centu ries to a se ries of revol ts, in wh ich the Zapor s,

zealou s adherents of orthodoxy, in spite of the ir bngan age,played a great part. Special ly dis t inguished among the Cos sackchiefs were N alivalko, Pavlioulr, Ostranitsa, and many others,whose memory has been retained by the wandering s ingers ofthe Ukraine . The Governmen t wis hed afte r each victory togive satis fact ion to the Li ttle Russ ians , but their authonty was

not sufi cient to res train either the exigencies of the pan: or

the in tolerance of the Jesuits . To the horrible atroc i ties pets

petrated on the insurgen ts , the latter re tal iated at each insurrection by atrocities s til l greate r. Each time the Governmen twasvictonous, and aftereach defeat the yoke pressed more heavily

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”3 H IS TOR Y OF RUSSIA .

nm s urm mvncn ( 1 645-1 676) AND ms SON monon.

Burly ears of A lexis—Seditions—Khmelniu ki—Conques t of Smolenskthe as tern U kraine—S tenko R azine—Eccles ias ticalreforms of N ioonT6h

se t sora of Peterthe Great—R eign of Feodor A lexiévitch (t676

l 2

EARLY YEARS OFALKXlS—SED ITION S.

T HE reign of Alexis Mikhailovitch may be summed up inthree facts the react ion agains t Poland and the union wi th Li tt leRuss ia ; the s truggle be tween the empire and the Cossacks ; thefirst attempt at rel igious reform, and the growth of Europeaninfluence.

The new Tzar,the son of Michael and Eudox i a S trechnef,

was cod and easy,l ike his father. I n his mos t v iolen t rages,

say t e contemporary wri ters, he never al lowed h imse l f to gobeyond kicks and cuffs . Though his mi nd was qu icker than hisfather’s , he gave himse lf up to anyone who took the t rouble toinfluence him, even to the poin t of permi tt ing h imse lf to beru led entirely ; unl ike Ivan the Terrible, who, as we have seen,never long retained the s ame favorites . The extreme goodnature of the prince towards his relat ions had grave consequences,The people were oppressed with impun i ty

,and were al lowed to

make no complai n t. Alexis gave al l his confidence to the boyard Morozof

, who had taken charge of his education, and forthirty years had never left him. Morozof was proud, ambi tious,and unscrupu lous ;but learned, i ntel ligent, and ful l of fi nesse.He excelled above al l in disentangl ing the diplomatic compl ica~t ions bequeathed to him by the las t reign . When Alexis wasabou t to marry, Morozof did not dis turb h imse lf at seeing the

young bride, Maria IlinitchnaM iloslavski, arrivewi th a whole newdynas ty of re lations and men of the time .” Ins tead of conSpiring, as was u sua l, agains t the heal th or beau ty of the Tzarina,he preferred to associate her family wi th his power, and takefrom them a sure ty. He married a s is ter of Maria Ilinitchna,and became the brother-ih-law at his sovereign . He thus added

H IS TOR Y OF RUSSIA. 273

to the old title of favori te the new one of a kinsman by his wifeand was s trengthened in his power ins tead of be ing ejected fromit. H is influence wi th his mas te r was greater than Richel ieu ’swi th Lou is XIII., and he had the honor of beginning the revengefor the civi l wars—the warwi th Poland.

Affairs i n the in terior were always too compl icated for Alexisto be able to act very energe tical ly i n his re lations with foreignPowers . The Russ ian people i n the time of the troubles hadunlearn t the pas s ive and res igned obedience that had formerlyd is t ingu ished them; they knew no longer how to suffer uncowplainingly, and compl ai nt soon led to revol t. We must also recognize the fact that they

'

suflered more than formerly. Ru ss iahad come exhaus ted out of her civil wars , her agricu l tu re andcommerce were mined, and her popu lat ion dimin ished by emi

grations and fligh t i nto the Cossack country. The s tate, whichal ready began to fee l the heavy expenses of a modern empire,which had to keep up an army, foreign tr00ps , al l themach ineryof war, diplomacy, and an adminis tration, s aw itse lf forced to

increas e the taxes,which fel l more heavily than ever on the

th inned popu l ation . The Ru s s ian Governmen t united the vicesof the pas t wi th those of modern times ; the corruption of itsagen ts , the impuni ty of the favorites and their creatures , andthe defective organ ization of jus tice, t ried to the u tmos t thediminished patience of the people .The year 1 648 , wh ich saw the breaking-out of the Fronde in

France,wi tnessed a terrible revol t in Moscow. The Tzar, power

less to s tem the torren t, had to del iver the judge Plechtchéetover to the people, who deal t him summary ju s t ice . They thendemanded the okolnimiiz‘ Trakhaniotes , whowas l ikewise handedover to them huall the ir fu ry tu rned agains t Morozof, but theTzar aided his bro er-ih-law to escape and take refuge in theconven t of St. Cyri l, whence he emerged qu ie t ly, l ike anotherMazarin

,when the publ ic emotion was appeased. A t Pskof the

people rose on pretence that the Governmen t had given moneyand corn to the M

'

m tsi (Germans) —that is, the Swedes—ia ac~

cordance with the l as t t reaty with th is Power. N ummens , theSwede, was mal treated and imprisoned by the popu lace ; thevoievode and the Prince Volkonski, envoy of Moscow, expectedto be pu t to death, and Archbishop M acarius was twice put i nchains . From Pskof the revol t spread to Novgorod, where theDanish ambassador was attacked by the people, and left fordead in the s t reets . Archbishop N icon , who t ried to quel l the resbe l l ion by spiri tu al arms, was met by blows , and the streltsimadecommon cau se wi th the people . Novgorod only submitted at theapproa ch of Prince Khovanski at the head of his troops. These

1 1 13703 ? 01 ? RUSSIA.

troops were insufficient for the reduction of Pslrof, which, behind her tried ramparts, prepared to res is t the Muscovites , asshe had res is ted the Poles . The Pskovians made many successfu l sort ies, and only capitu l ated under the promise of a generalamnes ty. Khovanski

’s troofis were too few to enable him to

refu se thei r cond i tions, and i t was time to tu rn agains t externalenemies the spiri t of turbu lence that the civil warhad left inthe masses .

H appily forRuss ia, Poland was s ti l l more profoundly agitated, and a revol t more cons iderable than those of Moscow,

Pskof, or Novgorod, was to open to the Muscovi te armies theentrance i nto the Ukraine.

KHMELN ITSKI—CON Q U EST OF SMOLENSK AND THE EASTERN

UKRA IN E—STEN KO RAZ INE.

We have seen that Litt le Russ i a, aftermany pa rt ial ris ings,only awai ted a chief to break ou t i n to a general insurrect ion.

This chief was found in Bogdan Khmelnitski,—a brave, clever,energetic, and even educated Cos s ack. He was owner of Soubbotovo, near Tchigirine, and had been iII-t reated and imprisonedby one of his ne ighbors, the Pole Tchaplinski, who also se izedon Khmelnitski’s son, a boy of ten years , and had himwhippedin the publi c s tree ts by his men. Khmelnitski cou ld obtai n noredress

,e ither for himse l f or for his coun trymen, agains t the

Jews and the taxes . King Vladislas is said to have told himthat the senators wou ld not obey him, and, drawing a sword onpaper, he handed i t to Bogdan , observing, “ Th is is the signroyal : if you have arms at you r s ides , resis t those who i nsul tand rob you ; revenge your wrongs wi th you r swords, and whenthe t ime comes you wi l l help me agains t the pagans and therebels of my kingdom.

” I n the Polish anarchy of that date i t isqu i te poss ible that the k ing may have held this l angu age; andh ims elf placed the sword in the hands of those whom he cou ldnot protect. Vladislas acknowledged Bogdan ataman of theZaporogues , and in re turn Bogdan promised him the fol lowingyear a body of men.

Konetspolshi, the gonfalonier of the Crown, and Potocki,tried to ge t rid of Bogdan, but he fled to the Zaporogues , andthen passed over to the Khan of the Crimea, and re tu rned tothe heroes of the Dn ieper wi th a Mussu lman army. To Tatarsand Zaporogues were soon added al l the malcontents of Li ttleRuss ia. Cossacks and people we re al ike determined to hu is hwith it. Bogdan detested the Pol ish generals Potocki and

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376 1 1 1 37103? or RUSSIA.

Crimea to his aid, and marched to meet the Pol ish army, commanded by the king in person . John Cas itnir found h imse lf a tZborovo surrou nded by the innumerable caval ry of the enemy.I t wou ld have been all over with him had he not purchased thedetect ion of the Khan of the Crimea by a large sum, and thepromise of an annual tribu te. The Khan then re ti red, recomme nding his ally to the clemency of the k ing. Khmelnitskiwasdriven to treat ; the regis ter was ree s tablished, but the numberof Coss acks en rol led was raised to Bogdan was recognized he tman of Lit tle Ru ss ia, and the town of T chigirine as

s igned to him as a res idence . I t was agreed that there shou ldbe nei ther Crown tr00ps nor Jews i n the local i ties i nhabi ted bthe Cos sacks , and no Jesu i ts where orthodox schools ex is teThe Metropol itan of Kief was to have a seat in the senate of

Warsaw.

What B0 dan had foreseen when he refused to treat real lyhappened ; t e treaty cou ld not be execu ted. The number offighting menwho had taken part i n the elect ion exceeded—were those in excess to be relegated to the work of the fields,to the se ignorial ton e? ! The people had helped the Cossacks,were they then to be su rrendered to their pans ? Bogdan soonfound himsel f involved i n i nextricable difficulties : on one s idehe violated the treaty by enrol l ing more th an men i n hisregis te r ; on the other hand, if he execu ted it, he wou ld have tobegin by inflicting death on the rebels . He were out his pcpularity in pe rforming this ungratefu l task . He preferred to takeup arms, accus i ng the Poles of having broken ce rtain clauses ofthe treaty. Th is wartwas less successfu l than the first ;theKhan of the Crimea, who a second time came to the aid of theCos sacks , a second time be trayed them, and the Cos sacks werebeaten at Beres techtko. The condi tions of the Peace of theWhite Church (B elaz

‘

a c erkqf ) were more severe than those ofthe first peace . The number of regis te red Cos sacks was reducedto and more, thus finding themselves excludedfrom the army, were thrown back upon the people . The greaterpart chose rather

,to emigrate to Russ i an soil, to wander to the

Don , or to l ive b brigandage on the Volga.A peace sue as th is was only a truce, and the Coss acks

we re certai n to break i t as soon as they cou ld find an al ly.Bogdan wrote to entreat the Tzar to take Little Rus s ia u nderhis protection. The Governmen t of Alexis had sought for sometime a pre text for rumre wi th Poland . The Pol ish Governmen t,inwriting to the Tzar, had not used the fu l l royal ti tle . Moscownever

'

rnis sed an opportunity jor remons trance '

;Wars aw as su redthem that it was pure madvertenee.

“Then,”

said the

HIS TOR Y OFKW IA. 271

Russians, an example mus t be made of the guil ty.

” No exarnple was made, and the diminu tion of tit le was used at everyi nterchange of notes . The Cou rt of Russ i a kept up this cam:bellz

’

, wa i ting for a moment to profi t by i t this was found in theappeal of Khmelnitski. The Es tates were convoked, and tothemwere reported the repeated insu lts to his T zarianMajesty,and the persecuti on of the true faith i n Li tt le Russ ia. I t wasadded, that the Little Russ ian i f repu lsed by the Tzar, wouldhave to place themselves un er the protection of the Su l tan .

Oh th is occas ion the Es tates declared for war. Alexis sent theboyard Boutourline to rece ive the oath of the he tman, the army,and the people of Little Rus s ia.I t was t ime that the Tzar decided. Bogdan, betrayed a

third time by the Khan,had been defeated at Ivan

‘

etz on theDnies ter, but on the rece ipt of the news from Moscow he cal ledthe General As semb ly a t Peréiaslavl to announce to them the

fact. “Noble colonels ;a m ls , and centurions, and you armyof Zaporogues, and you orthodox Chris tians,

" cried the hetman,

“you see i t is no longer poss ible to l ive wi thou t a pri nce. N ow

we have four to choose from: the Su l tan of Turkey, the Khan ofthe Crimea, the King of Poland, and the Tzar of orthodoxGreat Ru ss ia, whom for six ars we have not ceased to entreatto become ourTzar and lor The Su l tan is a Mussulman ;weknow what our bre th ren the orthodox Greeks suffe red at hishands . The Khan is also a Mussulman , and our al liances wi thhim have brough t us nothing but trouble . It is needless toremind you of what the Pol ish pans have made us endure. But

the Christian and orthodox Tzar is of the same rel igion as

ourselves . We shal l not find a bette r support than his . Whoever th inks otherwise may go where he l ikes—the way is Open.

”

The air rang wi th applause,the oath demanded by Boutourline

was taken, and art embassy set ou t for Moscow, to a sk the maintenance of Ukran ian l ibe rties . The Tzar free ly granted allthe i r conditions : the army was to be raised pe rmanently to thenumber of the Cos sacks were to elect their hetman ;the rights of the scfilz

'

acfi fa and the towns were to bemain tainedthe admin is tration of the towns and the impos i t ion of taxeswere to be en trusted to the natives ; the hetman was to havethe righ t of rece iving fore ign ambassadors, but was to s ignifythe fact to the Tzar ; and he was forbidden, wi thou t specialleave

,to receive the envoys of Tu rkey and Poland

,

I n May 1 654 the Tzar Alexis solemnly announced in theOuspz

'

emh’

Sobor that he had resolved to march i n personagains t his enemy the King of Poland . He commanded thatin this campaign no occasion should be given for the generals

37s HIS TOR Y or RUSSIA.

to dis pute precedence. The Pol ish voievodes affirm that on thisoccas ion Moscowmade wari n qu i te a new way, and conqueredthe people by the clemency and gentleness of the Tzar.

” Thishumanity, so wel l t imed tn a war of del iverance, contributed

great ly to the success of the Muscovites . Polotsk, Mohilet, andal l the towns of White Russ i a Opened their gates one after theother, and Smolensk only res is ted five weeks Thefol lowing year the Pri nce Tcherka sski defeated the hetmanRadziwi l l and began the conques t of Lithuan ia prope r ;Wilna,the capital, Grodno, and Kobno, fel l success ive ly. Du ri ng thistime Khmelnitski and the Muscovites invaded Sou thern Polandand tookLublin. Al l the Eas t resounded wi th the Ru s s ianvictories i t was said at Moscow that the Greeks prayed for theTzar and refused obedience to any but an orthodox emperor, andthat the Hospodars of Wallachia and Moldavi a implored Alexisto take them under his protection .

Poland seemed reduced to the l as t ex tremi ty ; and therewas s t i ll a th ird enemy to fal l on her. Charles X.,

King ofSweden, arrived and captu red Posen, Warsaw, and Cracow, thethree Polish capitals . This conflict of ambitions was , however,the s a lvation of thepospolite; the Swede threatened the Ru ss ianconques ts , and claimed Lithuania. He entered into relationswith Khmelnitski, who forgot the oath he had taken ; i t wasCharles XII, and Mazeppa enacted half a cen tu ry before. TheTza r Alexis feared he had only shaken Poland to s trengthenSweden, and wou ld not risk the reunion of these two formidablemonarchies u nder the same sceptre . He has tened to negotiateWith the Poles , who promised to elect him after the death oftheir resent k in then he tu rned his arms agains t Sweden .

The atter was t e he ir on the Bal tic of the Livonian Order.Alexis t rod in the s teps of Ivan the Terrible ; l ike him,

his

successes were rapid, but they as rapidly evaporated in smoke.He took D iinaburg and Kokenhusen, two old cas tles of theKnigh ts ;but the Russ ians besieged Riga in vain, and succeededno better at Oréchek or Kexholm. The occupation of Dorpatte rminated the firs t campaign ( 1 656) afte r that

,hos ti l ities lan

guished, and Alexis concluded a truce of twenty years , whichsecured him Dorpat and a art of his conques ts . The affai rs ofPoland and Little Russ ia came

,however

,so terribl compl i

cated, that the t ruce became the Peace of Cardis, y whichAlex is abandoned al l LivoniaThe hetman Khmelnitski had more than once given his new

sovereign cause for discontent. In Spite of his oath, he hadnegotiated wi th Sweden and Poland In fact, now that he hadgot rid of his former master, he did not wan t to become the

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280 H IS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

bi tter complai n ts of the famine . A t Moscow a riot broke outagai ns t the M iloslavskis, the kinsmen of the Tzarina, and themu l ti tude marched to the palace of Kolomenskoé to drag themout by force . The soldiers had to fire on the rebe ls , and 7000of themwere kil led or taken .N othwiths tanding all this , neither the Poles nor the Rus s ians

wou ld lay down arms withou t be ing as sured the possess ion oiall tha t they had conquered wi th so many sacrifices . Polandwas now attacked by two new mis fortunes—the revol t of PrinceL ubornirski, who had some grievance agains t the queen, and thedeath of Teteria, whose successor, Dorochenko, wen t over tothe Su l tan , and by so doing involved the Government in a warwi th both Turks and Tatars. I t was neces s ary to treat wi thRu ss i a

,and a thi rteen years ' t ruce was concluded at Androus

sovo. Alexis renounced Li thuania, but kept Smolensk andKiet on the right bank of the Dnieper, and all the Li ttle Rus sianleft bankThe treaty wi th Poland did not give peace to Li t tle Rus s ia.

Neither the Dniepe r Coss acks nor the Don Cossacks couldexis t under the obedience and regu lari ty essent ial to a modernState. The more Rus s ia became civi lized and centralized

, the

more she became separated from the men of the Steppe ; thefurthe r the frontie r of th is civi l ized Ru ss ia advanced to theSouth

,the nearer approached the inevi table conflict. The re ign

of Alexis, t roubled a t first by the revol ts of the Muscovi te ci ties,was now vexed by the revolts of the Cossacks .

The hetman Brioukhovetski was a devoted adheren t of

Russ ia, but he was su rrounded by man malcontents . A s u sual,

the people had not got al l they had oped by the revolution ;he saw,

however,i n the absolute au thori ty of the Tzar, a bul~

wark agains t the Lit tle Russ ian ol igarchy of the starc/iimx andthe poléovm

'

ks , and ains t the turbulence of the Cossacks.God,

” he said to thfi atter, has del ivered us fromyou ;youcan no longer pillage and devas tate ourhouses .

” The Coss acksand the sfarrfiina , or in other words , the mi l i tary and aris tocraticparty, were s til l more displeased to see the Mus covite voievodeses tabl ish themselves i n the town s . The Republ ic of theZaporogues al ready feared that i t had given itself a mas ter.M ethodius , Metropol i tan of Kiel

”

,encouraged the resis tance of

a party of the clergy who wished to remain subject to the Patria rch of Cons tant inople

,and not to be transfe rred to the Patri

arch of Moscow. I t was Methodius who organized the rebel lion ;he made advances to the hetman, who 0 ned a negotiationW i th Dorochenko, the a taman of the righ t ank, who promisedto resign his offi ce and to recognis e as chief of Li ttle Russia the

HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA. 28 :

m'

anwho wou ld deliver her. The weak Brioukhovetslti allowedhimse lf to be pe rsu aded, and at the Assembly of Gadatoh, i n1 668 , i t was decided to revo l t aga ins t the Tzar, and to t ake theoath to the Su l tan , as the men of the righ t bank had alreadydone. Two votevodes and 1 20Muscovi tes were put to death . Ashort time afte r, Brioukhovetski was s l ai n by order of Dorochenko, who became hetman of both banks . But of the twoparties which divided Little Russ i a, the party of independenceor the Pol ish and Tu rkish Party, and the party of Moscow, thel atte r was predominan t on the left bank . I t did not hes i tate tomake terms with the Tzar, and , at the price of a few concess ions ,a second time submi tted to him entirely. Mnogogrechnyi, thenew hetman, took up his abode at Batourine.

The right bank had no reas on to pride itsel f on the pol icy towhich i t was commi tted by Dorochenko. I t became the theatreof a terrible war between Tu rkey and Poland

,and was cruel l

ravaged by Mahome t IV. Abandoned for amoment by the weaiKing Michae l Vichnevetski, i t was conquered by his energet icsucces sor

,John Sobieski. The left, or Muscovite bank

,had

less to sufi er, although the Su l tan claimed i t equ al ly as his own

possess ion , but the inhabitants had only to fight with the ir old‘

enemies the Tatars .

The Cos sacks of the Don at this period were, on the whole,tolerably qu ie t ; but one of the ir number, Stenico Razine, overturned al l Eas tern Russ ia. T he immigration of Cossacks ot theDnieper, expe l led from the ir native land by war, had created agreat famine i n these poor plains of the Don, S tenko assembled some of these s tarved adventu re rs , and formed a schemefor the capture of Azof but on be ing hindered by the starr/a

’

na

of the Dontsi{ he turned towards the Eas t, towards the Volgaand the J ail: (Ou ra l). His repu tation was wide-spread ;he!was said to be a magician, agains t whom nei ther sabre, bal ls ,nor bul lets cou ld prevail, and the brigands of all the countrycrowded to his banner. He swept the Caspian , and ravagedthe shores of Pers ia. The Rus s ian Government, powerless tocrush him, offered him a pardon if he wou ld su rrender his gu nsand boats s tolen from the Crown. He accepted the otter ;buthis exploi ts, his wealth acqu i red by pi l l age , and his princelyliberahry created himan immense party among the lower cl asses ,and among the Cossacks and even the streltsi of the towns . Thelands of the Volga were always ready for a social revolu tionhence the success of Raz i ne, and later of Pougatchef. Therebrigands were popu l ar and respected ; hones t merchants , corneto the Don for trading pu rposes , and learn ing that Stenko hadbegun the careerof a pirate, did not hes i tate to join him.

38: HIS TUR Y 01? £ 0551 4 .

I n 1 670, Stenlro having spen t all the money he had gainedby pil lage, went up the Don wi th an army of vagabonds, andt hence crossed to the Volga. Al l the country rose on the approach of a chief already so famous . The inhabitan ts of Tzaritsyne Opened thei r gates to him. A flot illa was s ent agains thim, but the s ai lors and the streltsi surrendered, and betrayedto him their commanders . As trakhan revol ted, and deliveredup its two votevodes , one of whom was thrown from the top of abe l l-towe r. Ascending the Volga, he took Saratof and Samara,and raised the country of Niju i-N ovgorod, T ambof, and Pensa.Everywhere in the Rus s ia of the Volga the se rfs revol tedagains t the ir mas te rs—the Tatars, Tchouvaches,Mordvians, andTcheremisses agai ns t the domination of Russia. I t was a fear.ful revolution. In 1 671 S tenko Razine was defeated

,near

Simbirsk, by George Baratinski. H is pres tige was los t ; he waspursued in to the s teppes, arres ted on the Don, and sen t to Mos

cow, where he was execu tedHis death did not imme iately check the rebellion . The

brigands s ti l l continued to hold the country. A t As trakhan,Vas s i l i Ouss governed despotical ly, and threw the archbishopfrom a be lfry. Finally

,however, al l these imi tators of Raz ine

were kil led or captured, the Volga freed, and the Donbecameas peacefu l as the Dn iepe r.

ECCLES IAST ICAL REFORMS OF N lCON—THE PRECU R SORS OF PETERTHE GR EAT .

It Alexis, father of Peter the Great, was not h imsel f a re

former, his whole reign was a preparation for reform. Who cantel l howmuch Peter owed to the example of his fathe r—and ofhis mother Natal ia, the pupil of M atvéef—to the ideas of Ni~con, Polotski and N achtchokine ? N icon was the son of as imple peas an t of the Government of Nij n i-Novgorod. TheChurch drew the young man from obscu ri ty, and gave himl i t tle by l ittle a place among those who were great. Apries t at Moscow, a recluse renowned for his piety on thebanks of the White Lake, and later an arch imandri te of theN ovorpa nh

'

M orza sfyr, he was at las t nominat ed Metropolitan otNovgorod, where we have seen him appeas e a sedition at theperi l of his l ife . The Tzar loved and admi red him,

and madehimPatriarch , and al lowed him to take the t itle of Chief Nobleand Sovereign, once borne by Philarete. A man who hadraised himse lf to such a height from such a depth was not capable of mas tering his ambition. P roud and imperious, he made

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384 H IS TOR Y 01" KUS IJ .

ulated after a s iege of e ight years . I t was then taken by assau lt, and the rebels hung.

A t the same t ime that Alex is enabled N icon to subdue hisre l igious foes, he del ivered him up to his pol i t ical enemies.The proud and impe rious character of the Patri arch had endedby rendering him insupportable to the Tzar. I t was a reproduction of the rivalry of the Pa t riarch Keroularios and the Em

peror Isaa c Comnenus i n the 1 1 th centu ry (Byzantine) . The

cou rtiers did the ir be s t to foment this misunders tanding. N icon,ins te ad of combati ng their arts, t reated them wi th disdain . A t

las t his enemies pu t upon him a publ ic insu l t, wh ich made himbes ide h imse lf. In the mids t of the tears of the people, hesolemnly placed his pontitical i ns igni a on the al tar, and retiredto a conven t he had founded near Moscow. Th is was to te l in

gu ish the field of battle to his adversaries . He expected thatthe Tzar wou ld beseech him to resume his othee , but the Tzard id not trouble himself abou t his old favori te. His voluntaryex i le lasted eight years ( 1 658 when a council was assembled on the occas ion of the arrival of the Patriarchs of Antiochand Alexandri a at Moscow. The counci l approved of N icon’sreforms and his corrections of the sacred books ;but for hisvoluntary desertion of the patriarchate, his audacious attacks onthe Tzar and the bishops, and the abuse of his powe r over theinferior clergy, he was condemned to be imprisoned in a monas tery on the Whi te Lake.

By the s ide of N icon among the re formers , we mus t mentionSimeon Polotski, tu tor of the sons of Alexis, who publis

agai ns t the ratéolnikr the ‘Rod of Government ;’ wro te l ight

Verses , panegyrics , sermons, dramat ic compos itions,maxims , andexamples drawn from the Scriptures, and never ceased to remindthe Tzar of a French k ing.

“There was once,” he wrote, a

King of France cal led Francis I. A s he loved l iterature andscience, though his ances tors hated them and l ived in ignorancel ike barbarians , the sons of i l lus trious fami l ies sought instru ction,i n orderto pleas e themonarch . Thus knowledge spread throughthe cou ntry, for i t is the cu s tom of subjects to imi tate the prince ;all love what he loves . H appy is the kingdomwhose k ing givesa good example to all I Simeon was a White Russ ian others ,like S lavinetskiand Satanovski

,who were charged byN iconwi th

the trans l ation of foreign books , were natives of Litt le Russ ia,of Kiet the learned . These two wes te rn divis ions of Russ iaserved as a l ink be tween Muscovy and Eu rope.

Two writers of this epoch meri t special men tion .

‘ GregoryKotochikhine, under-secretary of the m oy

'

Embarria ,was

obliged, in consequence of a quarrel with the volevode Da

" 1"

1 1 3703? OF R USS IA . 235

goronki, to fly first into Poland and then into Sweden , where hewrote a curiou s treatise, cal led Russ ia under the re ign of AlexisM ikhailovitch,

’which appeared abou t 1 666. He does not con

cern himse l f e i the r with the clergy or the inferior classes, butgives a frigh tfu l pictu re of the ignorance, sensual i ty, and bru tal i tyof the boyards and nobles . So graphic is i t that

, as Pole'

vot

remarks, we are forced involuntari ly to ask, In what s tate cou ldthe lowe r orders have been ?” He speaks wi th horror anddisgus t of the admi n is tration of jus tice, compares fore ign institu~tions wi th those of his own country to the advant e of theformer, and regre ts that his compatriots did not send t eir sonsto be educated abroad.

Iouri Krijanitch, a Servian by birth and a Cathol ic pries t,was one of those learned Slavs whonow came i nto Russ ia to seekemploymen t for thei r talents . He had preposed to h imself threeaims in coming to Moscow : 1 . To elevate the Slavonic tongueby compi l ing a grammar and a lexicon

,so that the Slavs migh t

learn to Speak and write correctly ; and to pl ace a larger numberof words and phrases at their disposal, so that they migh t beable to expres s al l the thoughts common to the human mind

,

and also pol it ical and general ideas . 2 . To wri te the h is toryof the Slavs, and to refu te the falsehoods and calumnies of theGermans . 3. To unmask the tricks and s phisms made use ofby foreign nations to deceive the Slavs . I n his work enti tledThe Russ ian Empire i n the middle of the 17th Cen tu ry, dediora ted to Alex is M ikhailovitch, and lately republ ished by M .

Bezsonof, he touches on al l points of manners and cus toms,pol it ics , and pol i tical economy. Like Kotochikhine

,he attacks

ignorance and barbarism, and advocates i ns t ruction, s tudy, and

givilization, as being the on ly remedies for the mis fortunes ofussra.

Krij anitch is the first of the Slavophiles, or the Pan-Slavis ts ,as they are at present cal led. He appeals to al l the Slav nations“ Borys themtes, or Li ttle Ru s s ian s, Poles , Li thuanians , and

Serbs . He advises the Russ ians to mis t rus t equally Germansand Greeks . I t was probably his phil ippics agains t the Greekclergy es tabl ished in Rus s ia tha t caused him i n 1 660 to be exiledto Tobolsk.

Ordine-N achtchokine, son of a gentleman of P skof, dis t inguished himsel f as a diplomatis t i n the negot iation s for the Peaceof Androussovo, wh ich gave Kief and Smolensk to Russ ia. Summoned to take part i n the counci l s of the Tzar

,he appl ied his

activi ty to al l branches of the admin is tration ; to the army, thatneeded reform; to commerce, that mu s t be freed from the ihterference of the voievodes ;to diplomacy, forwhit

‘

h men skilled

286 H IS TOR Y OF R US S IA .

i n langu ages , representatives worthy of the Court of R uss ia,mustbe found. His object was to make Muscovy the cen tre ofAs iatic and Eu ropean trade he i ns titu ted an Armen ian Compa nyfor the pu rch as e of Pers ian s i lks

,dreamed of a fleet on the

Caspian, cons tructed the firs t Russ ian vessel on the Oka, hadex tracts from foreign news le tters regu l arly trans l ated for theenlightenment of the sovereign , and thus founded, though fortheTzar’s benefit alone, the Ru ss ian press.

As he had necessari ly to prais e the u sages of foreign countries , and to find fau l t wi th those of Ru ss ia, N achtchokine couldnot but make h imsel f many enemies . H is moral ity was equalto his talent incorruptible, i ndefatigable, and mas te r of himse lf,he was the first great European that Ru ss ia had producedprais ing Eu rope he s t i l l remained a Russ ian. In his old agehe become a monk.

When N achtchokine had to leave his pos t, the boyardMatvéef, a famil iar friend of Alexis , was appoin ted his successor.One day, when the Tzar was dining wi th Matvéef, he noticed a

young girl who was serving at table, and who pleased himby hermodes t and in te ll igen t air. This was a motherless girl, NataliaN arychkine, to whom her uncle M atvéef had been a secondfather. ‘f I have found a husband for her,

”said the Tzar to

M atvéef some days after. This husband was the Tzar h imself.The marri age drew closer s tillthe ties that bound him to M atvéef.N ow the latter was , like Nachtchokine, fu ll of Eu ropean ideas .H is hous e was fu rnished and ornamented according to Westernnotions . His chosen gues ts did not give themselves up to theorgies au thorized by national cus tom; they behaved as cou rte.ously as i f they were in a French salon. H is ScotchH ami l ton by birth, was the only lady of the Court who did notpain t herself, and, ins tead of keeping o herself secluded i n herapartments, took part in the conversationof men. We may conceive the influence of the boyard and his wi fe on thei r adopteddaughter ; and is i t surpris ing that Natal ia was the firs t Ru ss ianprincess who drew back the cu rta ins of her l it ter, and al lowedher face to be seen by her subjects ? M atvéef protected foreigna rtis ts

,-“mas ters i n pers pect ive wri t ings,

”as they were called.

I n the German S/oéoa’e of Moscow he es tabl ished a sort ofdramat ic academy, where twenty-five merchants

’sons learnt

to act comedies. The Tzar acqu i red a tas te for theatrical en tertainments . Likatchof, his envoy at the Court of Florence,wroteto his sovereign enthus iasti c le tters ful l of the marvels which hehad seen at the opera—of palace s which came and went, of asea that ros e and fel l and fi l led i tse lf wi th fi sh, of menwho rodeonmons ters of the deep, or pu rsued each othe r in to the clouds.

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333 I IS TDR r or R uss” .

and began to fight us, but the Parliament was the st ronger.The Parl iament is composed of twopalacy (chambers) : in one ofthem sit the boyards, in the othe r the men elected by the commons—the 310i Iioudx

’

and the merchan ts . Five hundredmensit in the pa rl iament, and one orator speaks for all.These l o ur» in the English Cons titu tioncou ld not penetrate

the bra i n of the Russ ian envoy. He only recognized the king,and pers is ted, according to the text of his i nst ructions , i n tryingto deliver his le tters of credi t to the king himself. H as t thoua lette r from thy sovereign,

and a miss ion to the Parl iamentthey as ked him. He repl ied,

“ I have neither a let te r nor a

miss i on to the Parl iamen t. Let the Parl iamen t send me immediately be fore the k ing, and give me an escort, carri ages , andprovis ions . Le t the Parl iamen t present me to him—it is to himthat I wi l l spe ak .

” His demand was natu ral ly refus ed, and hewished ins tan tly to leave for H ol land, bu t this was not allowed.

The fol lowing year Charles I. was brough t a prisoner in toLondon. Doktourof i n s is ted on bein presented to him. His

reques t was ill-timed.“ You cannot { e brough t before him,

”

they said to him he no longer governs anything,” Doktourof

then refused a dinne r given to him by the Russ ian Company,and only yielded when the di nne r was served at his own house.

T he Parlm nt, however, did not wish to inte rrupt the friend lyre la tions wi th Russ ia .

Doktourot was summoned before the Hous e of L ords on the1 3th of June. A t his entrance al l the boyards

”took off the i r

hats , and Lord Manches ter, the“ ch ief boyard,

” rose. ThenDoktourof, to the general cons te rnation , made the fol lowingspeech -“ I am sen t by my sovereign to your k ing, CharlesKing of England. I have been sent as a courier s) toh e otiate important affairs of State, which offergreat van tagestohoth sovereigns and to allChris te ndom,

and may help toma intain peace and concord. I t is the 1 3th of une, and, since Iarrived in London on the a6th of November ast, I have neverceased to show you the letter of the Tzar and to beg you to

all owme to go before the king. You have kept me in Londonwi thou t permitti ng e ither to have an interviewwith the kingor to re tu rn to the Tzar ; and ye t i n al l the neighboring countries

tl

he route is free to al l ambas sadors

, envoys , and cou riers of thezar.

Manchester repl ied that they wou ld explain to the Tzar byle tter the ir reasons for acting thus . They gave him a cha ir, andthe Engl ish boyards likewise seated themse lves ; and he

began to look about the House, of which he gives a minu te description inhis report. He was then condncted to the B ouse et

289

Commons, and the dign itaries came to mee t him preceded bythe royal sceptre. He renewed his decla rations, and then te

t i red ceremonious ly. In June 1 646 he left England much discontented. Alexis cou ld unders tand no more of the Engl ishRevolution than his envoy. He mai n tained, l ike Catherine IL,the cause of kings agains t the l ibe rty of the subjects. I n May1 647he received at Moscow N awttn

'

gall, envoy of Charles L ,who denounced the captivi ty of the k ing, and said Charles wou ldsee wi th pleasu re the English Compa ny deprived of its privi leges,and everyone al lowed to trade freely wi th Russ i a. Alexisl is tened to his reques t, and granted him, as aid to the kingk/zefvertrof corn, out of the that were asked of him.

But the English merchants set tled in Russ i a accused N awtingallof impos tu re, sayi ng that the king

’s let ter was apocryphal, and

that the dog he had brough t as a present to Alexis had neverbeen bought by Charles I. N awtingallwas expel led in d isgrace,and avenged himse l f by accus ing his compatriots of a project ofattacking Arkhangel, and of pi l la ing the Russ ian merchants.His honors as ambassador were t en given back to him, but he

qu i tted Russ ia.

When Alexis heard of the execu t ion of Charles L , he publishedthe oukase of June 1 649, wh ich, a s a pu nis hmen t to the reg icides,forbade the Engl ish merchants to l ive in the ci tie s of the inte rior,and con fined them to Arkhangel . The Tzar fu rnished he lp inmoney and corn to Charles, Pri nce of Wales, who i n 1 660becameCharles IL , and resumed relations wi th himwhen he ascendedthe throne of the Stuarts.

A t the open ing of the war with Poland, i t occurred to Alex isto notify the fact to the s overe igns of the Wes t. I n 1 653 hesent to Lou is XIV. a certain M atchékine , who was also prepsen ted to nune of Aus tria. In 1 668 Peter Potemkine was ao

credited firs t to the Court of Spain,and then to that of Frauce.

I t was jus t af ter the Peace of A ix-la‘ Chapelle, and it was notdifficult for Ru ss ia to gues s tha t the war would soon recommence. The object of the embas sy was to induce Lou is XIV.

to en ter into regular relations with Rus sia, and to send Frenchvessels to Arkhangel . Potemkine had conferences wi th Colbertand the -six merchan t gu i lds of Paris . Bu t the resu l ts of thisembassy were hardly greate r than those of the preceding one.The accou n t of Potemkine contains some cu rious detai ls andquain t reflections on the Spain and Trance of the 17th centu ry,bu t is chiefly occupied with difficulties raised by him on questions of etiquette.

‘

Von. 1

m en or raonoa u m m rcn ( 1 676

Ou the death of Alex is, his eldes t son Feodor succeeded tothe crown . The Miloslavskis, Feodor

’s maternal relat ives

,prof

ited by his acces s ion to ru in their enemy, M atvéef who was ac

cused of mag ic, deprived of his property and his t i tle of boyard,and ban ished to Poustozersk . I n this re ign the Litt le Russ ianquestion rece ived a solu t ion . The hetman Samoilovitch andPrince R omodanoviski defeated Dorochenko

,and obl iged him

to res ign the oflice of ataman . They then had to fight the Tu rksand Tatars , who twice invaded the Ukraine and advanced toTchigirine.

The country, according to a contemporary accoun t, was cove red wi th ru ined towns and cas tles , and heaps of human bonesthat whitened i n the sun. Final ly the Sul tan concluded atBakhtchi-Serat a truce

“

of twenty years,wh ich ceded to Russ ia

Zaporogia and the Ukraine. I n 1 68 1 Feodor sent a new embas sy to Lou is XIV. his envoy being the son of the old Potemk ine, who managed, according to the diplomatic his torian Flass an s , to g ive by his ownwisdom and learning a favorable ideaof the nation which he represen ted.

I t was in th is reign that an as sembly was held of the h ighercle rgy and the boyards, to legis late on the ques t ion of precedence

which con tinued to be one of the plagues ofRuss ia. The as sembly commanded that there should be nomore dispu tes

,and in its presence and that of the Tzar the

Books of Rank were solemnly burn t. In fu ture whoever dis

pu tod was to be deprived of his nobil i ty and his weal th .

I n order to defend the orthodox Church agains t the heres iesof the Wes t, and to connect i t more closel with the Eas te rnChurch , Feodor founded the Slavo-Graeco atin Academy ofM oscow. Greek and La tin, Christ ian philosophy and theology,were taugh t there . The brothers Likhoudiwere brough t fromGreece to be professors there . This s chool , al though ecclesiastical

,was an advance on all other es tabl ishments of the kind

i n Russ ia, and produced some bril l iant pupi ls. Among themwe may men tion the mathematician Magnitski under Peter theGreat, and the his torian Bantych-Kamensk i and the Metropol itan Plato u nder Cathari ne I I . The schoolwas afterwards transferred to the Monas te ry of TroItsa.

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292HIS TOR Y OF RUSS IA.

Sophia, who was twenty-five. These six princesses saw themse lves condemned to the dreary des t iny of the Russ ian Izarewu;and were forced to renounce al l hopes of marriage, wi th norospects but to grow old i n the seclusion of the term , sub

'

ectedy law to the au thori ty of a s tepmother. Al l the ir you th ad tolook forward to was the Clois te r. They

,however, only breathed

in action ; and though imperial e t iquette and Byzan tine manoh ers , prejudices, and traditions forbade them to appear inpubl ic

,even Byzant ine tradi tions offered themmodels to fol low.

Had not Pu lcheria, daughter of an emperor, re igned at Cons tantin0ple i n the name of her brother, the incapable Theodos ius ?H ad she not contracted a nominal marriage with the braveMarcian

,who was her sword agains t the barbarians ? Here

was the ideal that Soph ia cou ld propose to herself; to be a

T zardiévits a, a woman-emperor. To emancipate he rself fromthe rigorous laws of the tcrcm, to force the twenty-seven locksof the song, to raise the j am tha t covered her face, to appear inpubl ic and mee t the looks of men, needed both energy, cunning,and patience that could wai t and be conten t to proceed by s ucces sive e fforts . Sophia’s firs t s tep was to appear a t Feodor ’sfuneral , though i t was not the cus tom for any but the widowandthe hei r to be present . There her l it ter encountered that ofNatal ia N arychkine, and her presence forced the T zarinao

Mother to retreat. She su rrounded hersel f wi th a cou rt of educated men, who publ icly pra ised her, encou raged and excitedher to action. Simeon Polotski and Silves ter Medviédef wroteverses i n her honor, recal led to her the example of Pu lcheriaand Olga, compared her to the virginQueen El izabeth of England, and even to Semi ramis ;we migh t think we were l is teningto Vol taire address ing Catherine I I . They played on her nameSoph ia (wisdom), and declared she had been endowed wi th thequal i ty as wel l as the ti tle. Polotski dedicated to he r theCrown of Faith,

’and Medviédef his Gifts of the H oly Spiri t. ’

The term ofi’

ered the s tranges t contras ts . There acted they the‘Malade Imagin ai re,

’ and the audience was composed of theheterogeneous as sembly of popes, monks, nuns, and old pensioners that formed the Cou rts of the ancien t Tzarinas . I nth is sh ifting crowd there were some us eful i ns truments of int rigue. T he old pens ioners, whi le tel l ing the ir rosaries, se rvedas emissaries between the palace and the town

,ca rried mes‘

sages and presents to the turbu len t slrelm'

,and arranged

matters between the T zarian ladies and the soldiets . Sinis ter rumors were skilfu l ly dissemi nated th rough MoscowFeodor

,the eldes t son of Alexis , had died, the wctim of con

Spirators ; the same l ot was doubtless reserved for Ivan. What

HIS IUR Y OF R USSIA .

H

393

to beoome of the poortzan‘mx'

, of the blood of kings ? Atit was publicly announced that a brother of Nataha Naryehhad seized the crown and seated him5e l£ on the throne,

and that I van had been strang .led Love and pity for the son

of Alexis, and the indignation exci ted by the news of the usurpation

,immediate ly caused the people ot

yMos cow to revol t

, andthe ri ngleaders cleverly directed the movement. The tocsinsounded from 400 churches of the holy Ci

?”

the regimentsof the streltsi took up a rms and marched ollowed by an immense crowd, to the Kremlin, with drums beat ing, matchesl ighted, and dragging cannon behind them. Natal ia N arychkinehad only to show herse lf on the Red Staircase, accompanied byher son Peter, and Ivan who was reported dead. Their mereappearance sufficed to contradict al l the calurnnies . Thestreltsi hes i tated, see ing they had been deceived. A clever harangue of M atvéef, who had formerly commanded them, and theexhortat ions of the Patriarch, shook them fu rther. The revol twas almos t appeased ; the Miloslavskis had missed thei r aim,

for they had not yet succeeded 1n put ting to death the people ofwhom they were alous. Suddenly Prince Michael Dolgorouki,chief of the M Z3 of the streltsi, began to insu l t the riotersin the mos t violen t langu age . This i l l-t ith ed harangue awokethei r fu ry they seized Dolgorouki, and flung him from the topof the Red Staircase on to the ir pikes . They s tabbed M atvéef,under the eyes of the Tza ri na ; then they s acked the palace,mu rde ri ng allwho fel l i nto the i r hands . Athanas ius N arych

~

kine, a brother of Natal ia, was thrown from a window on to thepoin ts of their lances . The fol lowing day the (m ic recomweneed ; they tore from the arms of the Tzarin a her fatherCyril, and her brother Ivan ; the latter was tortu red and sen tin to a monastery. H is torians show us SOphia i n terceded forthe victims on her k nees, bu t an unders tanding be tween therebe ls and the Tzarevna did exis t ; the streltsi obeyed orders.The fol lowing days were consecrated to the pu rifying of thepalace and the adminis tration, and the seventh day of the revoltthey sen t their commandant, the prince-boyard Khovanski, todeclare that they wou ld have two Tzars—Ivan at the head, andPeter as coadju tor ; and if th is were refused, they wou l d agai nrebe l. The boyards of the douma deliberatecion this pmpos al,and the greate r number of the boyards were opposed to ir. InRuss ia the absolute power had neve r been shared, bu t theorators of the term cited many ex amples both from sacred and

grofane his tory : Pharaoh and Joseph, Arcadius and Honorius,as i l I I . and Cons tan tine VI I I . and the best of all the argoments were the pikes of the streltsi

”4 17137011 ? or 1 10331 4 .

Sophia had triumphed she re igned in the name of her twobrothers, Ivan and Pe ter. She made a point of showing herse lfi n publ ic, at process ions , solemn services, and dedica t ions ofchurches . A t the p a

‘

embi Soéor,whi le her brothers occupied

the place of the Tzar, she filled that of the Tzari na ; on ly slitraised the cu rtains and boldly al lowed herself to be incensed bythe Patriarch . When the ra skolm

‘

ks chal lenged the heads of theorthodox Church to discus s ion, she wished to pres ide and holdthe mee ting in the open air

,at the Lobno! M iirto on the Red

Place . There was however so much oppos i t ion,that she was

forced to cal l the as sembly in the Palace of Face ts, and sat

behind the throne of her two brothers, present though invis ible.The double-seated throne u sed on those occas ions is s t i l l prese rved at Moscow; there is an opening i n the back, hidden bya vei l of s i lk, and behind this sat Sophia . Th is s ingu lar pieceof furni tu re is the symbol of a governmen t previous ly 1 1mknown to Russ ia

,composed of two vis ible Tzars and one ia

vis ible sovereign.T he streltsi

,however

,fel t thei r prejudices against female

sovereignty awaken . They shrank from the contempt heapedby the Tzarevna upon the ancientmanners . Sophia had alreadbecome in thei r eyes a “

scandalous person (f aww aZ lz'

tzo

Another cause of misunders tanding was the support she gave tothe State Church

,as reformed by N icon, wh ile the streltsi and

the greater pa rt of the people held to the “ old faith .

” Shehad arres ted certain “ old be l ievers, who at the discus s ion inthe Palace of Face ts, had challenged the patriarchs and orthodox prelates, and she had caused the ringleader to be

‘

execu ted. Khovanski, chief of the slrd lsi, whether from sympathywi th the mséol, or whether he wished to please his subord1

nates, afi ected to share the ir discontent. The Cou rt no longerfel t i tse lf s afe at Moscow. Sophia took refuge wi th the

Tzarina and the two young princes in the fortified monas tery ofTroitsa, and summoned. around her the gen tlemen-at-arms.Khovanskiwas i nvi ted to attend, was arres ted on the way, andput to death wi th his son. The streltsi attempted a new ris ing,but, wi th the usual ficklenes s of a popu l armi l i t ia, suddenly pas sedfromthe extreme of insolence to the extreme of humi l i ty. Themarched to Troi

‘

tsa, th is time in the gu ise of suppl iants, witcords round their necks

,carrying axes and blocks for the death

the expected . The Patriarch consented to intercede for them,

an Sophia conten ted hersel f wi th the sacrifice of the ringleaders .

SOphia, having got rid of her accompl ices, governed by aid ofhertwo favori tes—Chaklovity, the newcommandant of the streltsi,

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296mmwrY or 1 1m m.

i n anger,and retired to the village of Pre

fore ign policy of the Tzarevna was markedof weaknes s. By the Treaty of N ertchinsk,Chines e Empire the ferti le regions of the Amou r, which hadbeen conquered by a handfu l of Cossacks , and razed the fortressof Alb azine, where those adventu re rs had braved al l the forcesof the Eas t. 01 1 al l s ides Russ ia seemed to retrea t before the

barbarians .Meantime Peter was growing. His precocious facu l ties, his

quick intel l igence, and his s trong wi l l awakened alike the hopesof his pa rtisans and the fears ot his enemies . A s a ch i ld heonly loved drums, swords, and muskets . He learned his tory bymeans of colored prints brough t from Germany. Zotof, his

mas ter, whom he afte rwards made the archpope of fools,”

taught him to read . Among the heroes he ld up to himas examples,we are not su rpris ed to find Ivan the Terrible, whose characterand pos i tion offe r so much analogy to his own.

“ When theTzarevitch was tired of reading,

”says M . Zabiéline,

“ Zotot tookthe book from his hand, and, to amuse him,

would himself readthe great deeds of his father

,Alexis M ikhatlovitch, and those of

the Tzar Ivan Va ssiliévitch, their campaigns, the i r distant expeditions, thei r ba ttles and sk ges : how they endu red fatigues andprivations better than any common soldier ;what benefits theyhad con ferred on the empire, and how they extended the irontiers of Rus s i a.” Pete r also learn t Latin, Ge rman, and Du tch .

He read much and wide ly,and learn t a great deal , though with

out me thod . Like Ivan the Terrible , he was a se lf-tau t man.

He afte rwards complained of not ha ving been instructe according to ru le . This was pe rhaps a good thing. His education,l ike that of Ivan IV.

, was neglected, but at leas t he was not sub

jected to the enervating influence of the ferm—he was not cas tm th at dul l mould which turned out so many idiots i n the royalfamily. He roamed at large

,and wande red i n the s treets wi th

his comrades .

” The s treets of Moscow at that pe riod were,according to M . Zabiéline

,the wors t school of profligacy and

debauchery that can be imagined but they were,on the whole,

les s bad for Peter than the palace. He met there someth ingbe s ides mere jesters ; he encountered new elements wh ich ha

as ye t no place in the term,bu t contained the gem of the te

generati on of Russ ia. He came acros s Rus sians who, if un

scrupu lou s, were also unprejudiced, and who cou ld aid him‘

inhis bold reform of the ancien t society. He the re became ao

quainted wi th Swis s , Engl ish , and German adven tu rers—wi thLefort, wi th Gordon, and with Timmermann, who in i tiated him

HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA. 397

N arychkine, of Boris Galitsyne who had undertaken never toflatter him), of Andrew M atvéet (who had marked tas te foreverything European), and of Dolg

orouki, at whose house hefirs t saw an as trolabe . He playe at soldiers wi th his youngfriends and his grooms , and formed them in to the “battalion ofplaymates , who manceuvred after the European fashion, andbecame the kernel of the fu ture regu lar army. He learn t thee lements of geometry and fortification, and const ructed smallci tadels, wh ich he took or defended wi th his young warriors inthose herce battles which sometimes counted their wounded or

dead, and inwhich the Tzar of Ru ss ia was not always spared.An English boat s tranded on the shore of Y aousa caused him tosend for Franz Timme rmann, who t aught him to manageing boat, evenwi th a contrary wind . He who formerly, l ike atrue boyard of Moscow, had such a horror of the water that hecou ld not make up his mind to cros s a brid e, became a determined sailor : he gu ided his boat first ou t e Yaousa, then onthe lake of Peréias lavl. Brandt

, the Du tchman, bu i l t him a

whole flotilla ; and already, i n spite of the terrors of his mother,N atal ia, Peter dreamed of the sea.

The child is amu s ing h imse lf,” the cou rtiers of SOphia

affected to obse rve but these amusements disqu ieted her. Eachday added to the years of Pete r seemed to bring her nearerto theclois te r. I n vain she proudly cal led herself au tocrat she

s aw her s tepmother,he r rival

,l ifting up her head . Galitsyne

confined himself to regre tting that they had not known betterhow to profi t by the revolut1on of 1 68 2 , but Chaklovity, who

knew he mus t fal l wi th his mis tress , said aloud, I t wou ld bewiser to put the Tzarina to death than to be put to death byher.” Sophia could only save herself by seiz ing the throne—butwho wou ld helpher to take it i The streltsi ? Bu t the resu l tof thei r las t ris 1ng had chil led them con s iderably. Sophia hersel f, while trying to bind this formidable force, had brokenit,and the streltsi had not forgotten their ch iefs beheaded atTroitsa. N ow what did the emissaries of Soph ia propose tothem ? Again to attack the palace ; to put Leo N arychkine,Boris Galitsyne, and other part is ans of Peter to death to arres this mother, and to expe l the Pat riarch . The t rus ted that Peterand Natal i a wou ld perish in the tumul t. T e rfrdm’

remainedindifferen t when Sophia, affecting to think her life threate ned,fled to the M onas fyr, and sen t them le tters of en treaty.

I f thy days are in peri l ,” t ranqu il ly repl ied the sfrd m

'

, theremus t be an inqu i ry.” Chaklovity cou ld hardly col lect fou r hundred of them at the Kreml in.

The struggle began between Moscow and Preobrajenskoe.

293HIS TOR Y OF R US S IA .

the vi llage with the prophetical name (theRam ). Two streltsi warned Peter of the plots of his

sis ter, and, for the second t ime, he sought an asylum at Troitsa.I t was the n seen who was the true Tzar al l men has tened torange thems elves around him : his mothe r, his armed squ i res ,the battal ion of playmates ,

” the fore ign officers , and even thestreltsi of the regimen t of Sonkharef. The Patriarch also tookthe s ide of the Tzar, and brought him moral support, as the

fore ign soldiers had brough t himmate rial force. T he partisansof Sophia were cold and irresolu te the streltsi themse lves demanded tha t he r favorite Chaklovity shou ld be su rrendered to

the Tza r. She had to implore the mediation of the Pa triarch .

Chaklovitywas first put to the torture and made to confes s hisplot agains t the Tzar, and then decapi tated . M edviédet

'

was atfirs t on ly condemned to the knou t and banishmen t for heresy,but he acknowledged he had intended to take the place of thePa t riarch and to marry Soph ia he was dis honored b bei ng imprisoned with two sorce rers condemned to be bu rne al ive in acage, and was afterwards beheaded. Galitsyne was deprived ofhis pmperty, and exiled to Pous tozersk. Sophia

'

remained inthe D icm

’

fc/ziM onat tyr, subjected to a hard captivi ty. ThoughIvan continued to re ign conjoin tly wi th his brother, ye t Peter,who was then only seventeen, governed alone, surroundedhis mothe r, the N arychkines , the Dolgoroukis, and Boris Gasyne

Soph ia had freed he rse l f from the seclus ion of the term , as

Peter had emancipated himself from the seclu s ion of the palaceto roam the s treets and navigate rivers . Both had behaveds candalous ly, according to the ideas of the time—the one ha

rangning soldiers, presiding over councils , walk ing wi th her veilra ised the other us ing the axe l ike a carpenter, rowi ng like a.Cos sack, brawl ing wi th foreign adven tu rers , and fighting wi thhis grooms i n mimi c battles . But to the one her emancipationwa s only a means of obtain ing power to the other the emancipation of Russ ia, like the emancipa tion of h imself, was theend. He wished the nation to s hake 03 the old trammels fromwhich he had freed h imse l f. Sophi a remained a Byzantine,Peter as pired to be a European . I n the conflict between theTzarevna and the Tzar

, progress was not on the side of tho

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p . £1 15k or 1 10551 4 .

I t might even compromise , in the eyes of the people, the workof regeneration

A though Peter had followed the example of Galitsyne, andentered Moscow i n triumph, he fel t he needed revenge. He

sent for good offi cers from fore ign countries . Artil l erymenarrived fromHol land and Aus tria, engineers from Pruss i a, andAdmi ral Lima fromVen ice. Peter hu rried on the creat ion of afleet wi th feve rish impa t ience . He bu i l t of green wood twentytwo gal leys , a hundred rafts, and seventeen hundred boats or

barks . Al l the smal l ports of the Don were metamorphosedinto dockya rds ; twenty-s ix thousand workmen were as sembledthere from all parts of the empire. I t was l ike the camp ofBou logne. No misfortu ne—neither the desertion of the laborers,the burn ings of the dockyards , nor even his own il l ness—cou ldlessen his activity. Peter was able to write that, fol lowi ng theadvi ce God gave to Adam, he earned his bread by the sweat ofhis brow.

”A t l ast the marine caravan

,

” the Russ i an armada,descended the Don . From the s lopes of Azof he wrote to hiss is ter Natal ia ‘l I n obedience to thy counsel s , I do not go tomeet the shel ls and bal ls ; i t is theywho approach me, bu ttolerably cou rteou s ly. " Azof was blockaded by sea and l and, and a

breach was opened by the engineers . Preparations were be ingmade for a general as sau l t, whe n the place capi tu l ated. The

joy i n Russ ia was great, and the streltsi”:

“

ealousy of the successof foreign tact ics gave place to thei r ent usiasm as Chris tiansfor this victory over Is lamism, which recal led those of Kazanand As trakhan . The cheet produced on EurOpe was cons iderable. A t Warsaw the people shou ted, Long l ive the Tzar !”

The army entered Moscow under t riumphal arches, on wh ichwere represented Hercu les trampl ing a pacha and two Turksunder foot, and Mars throwi ng to the earth a m um and two

Tatars. Admi ral Lefort and Sche in the general iss imo tookpart i n the ( M 1 13 ; seated on magnificent s ledges ;whil s t Peter,promoted to the rank of Captain , fol lowed on foot. Jansen ,des t i ned to the gibbe t, marched among the prisone rs ( 1 676Peter wished to profit by this great succes s to toun the

naval powe r of Russ i a. By the decis ion of the (lemma threethousand fami l ies were es tabl ished at Azof, bes ides fourhundredKalmucks, and a garrison of Moscow strelts i. The Patri arch,the prelates , and the monas teries taxed themse lves for the cons truction of one vesse l to every eight thousand se rfs . T he

nobles,the offi cials, and the merchants were seized wi th the

feverof th is ho ly war, and brought thei r contribu tions towards

‘ Bh notherdied in tégg his brotherln n in tégfi

H IS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

the infant navy. I twas preposed to unite the Donand the Volgabymeans of a canal. A new appealwas made to the art is ansand sai lors of EurOpe. Fifty young nobles of the Cou rt weresent to Ven ice

,England, and the Low Coun tries, to learn sea

manship and shipbu ildi ng. But i t was neces sary that the Tza rhimself shou ld be able to judge of the science of his subjects ;he mus t counteract Russ ian indolence and prejudice by theforce of a great example ; and Peter, after having begun hiscaree r i n the n avy at the rank of skippe r,

” and in the army atthat of bombardier, was to become a carpenter of Saardarn.

He al lowed h imself, as a reward for his success at Azof

, the

much longed-for jou rney to the Wes t .I n 1 697Admi ral Lefort and Generals Go lovina and Vosnit

syne prepared to depart for the countries of the Wes t, under themle of the great ambas sadors of the Tzar.” Their sui te wascomposed of two hundred and seven ty pers ons—young nobles,sold iers , i nte rpreters , merchants , jes ters , and buffoons . I n themrte’ge was a you ng man who wen t by the name of Peter M ikhailof. This imogfl ifo would render the pos i tion of the Tzareas ie r, whether in his own personal s tudies or in del ica te negotiations . On the jou rney to Riga, Peter allowed himse lf to bei nsu l ted by the governor

,but laid up the recol lection for fu ture

u se . A t Kiinigsburg the Prus s ian Colone l Sternfeld del iveredto M . Peter M ikhailot

'

a formal breve t of mas ter of a rti l~l e ry. The g reat ambas sadors and thei r travel l ing companionwe re cordial ly rece ived by the Cou rts of Courland, H anover,and Brandenburg . Soph ia Charlotte of Hanover, afte rwardsQueen of Prus s ia

,has left os some cu rious notes abou t the Tzar,

then twen s even years of age . He as tonished her by thevivaci ty of is mind

,and the prompti tude and poin t of h 1s an

swers, not les s than by the grossness oi his manners , his badhabi ts at table, his wi ld timidi ty, l ike that of a badly brough t-upchild, his grimaces, and a frightfu l twi tching which at times convulsed his whole face . Peter had the n a beau ti fu l brown skin

,

wi th grea t piercing eyes,bu t his featu res al ready bore traces

of toi l and debau chery. “He mu s t have ve ry good and verybad points,

"said the young Electres s ; and in this he repre

sented contemporary Russ ia. If he had rece ived a be tte reducation

,

” adds the princess, he wou ld have been an accorrb

plished man.

” The sui te of the Tzar were not less su rpris ingthan the i r mas ter ; the Muscovites danced with the Cou rt l adies ,and took the s t iffening of the ir corsets for their bones . T he

bones of these Ge rmans are devi l is h hard !” s aid the Tzar.Leaving the great embas sy on the road, Peter travel led

quickly, and reached Saardam. The very day of his arrival he

302 HIS TOR Y ar RUSSIA.

took a lodgi ng at a blacksmi th’

s, procu red himse lf a complete

cos tume l ike those worn by D u tch workmen , and began to wieldthe axe. He bargained tora boat, bought ir, and drank the tra~ditional pin t of beer with its owner. He vis i ted cu tleries, rope‘walks, and other manufactories , and everywhere tried his handat the work : i n a paper manu factory he made some paper.However, in spite of the tradition, he only remained eight daysat Saardam. A t Ams terdam his eccentncities were no less as

tonishing. He ne ither took any res t h imse lf, nor al lowed othersto do so he exhaus ted allhis a

'

teram'

, always repeat ing, I mus ts ee it.

”He i nspected the mos t ce lebrated anatomical collec

t ions ; engaged art is ts, workmen , ofiicers , and engineers ; andbought models of ships , and col lect ions of naval laws and treat ies . He entered fami l iarly the hou ses of private individuals ,gai ned the good wi l l of the Du tch by his boniwmie, pene tratedinto the recesses of the shops and s tal ls, and remained los t inadmiration over a dentis t.

But, amids t al l these di s tractions, he never los t s igh t of hisaim. We labor

,

” he wrote to the Patriarch Adrian,i n order

thoroughly tomas ter the art of the sea ;so that, having once learn tit, we may re turn to Rus s ia and conquer the enemies of Chris t,and free by his grace the Chris tians who are oppres sed. This iswhat I shal l long for, to my las t breath .

”He was vexed at mak

ing so l i ttle progress i n shipbu ild ing, but i n Hol land everyonehad to learn by personal experience . A naval captain told himthat i n Eng l and inst ruct ion was based on principles , and thesehe cou ld learn in four mon ths ; so Peter crossed the sea, ands pen t three months i n London and the ne ighboring towns .

There he took into his se rvice goldsmi ths and gold-beaters,arch i tects and bombardiers . He then re tu rned to Hol land

,

and, his ship be in attacked by a violen t tempes t, he reassuredthose who tremble for his safety by the remark, Did you everhear of a Tzar of Russ i a who was drowned in the North SeaThough much occupied wi th his techn ical s tudies

,he had not

neglected policy ; he had conversed wi th Wil l iam I I I , but didnot vis i t France i n this tou r, for Lou is S t. Simon,“ had procu red the pos tponemen t of his vis i t ; the fact be ingthat his al l iance wi th the Emperor, and his wars wi th the Turks,were looked on wi th dis favor a t Versai lles . He wen t to Viennato s tudy the mi l i tary art, and dis suaded Leopold from mak ingpeace wi th the Su l tan . Peter wished to conquer Kertch in orderto secu re the Strai ts of Ienikale. H e was preparing to go to

Venice, when vexa t ious in te lligence reached him from Moscow.

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304H IS TOR y or RUSSIA.

I n the mids t of this universal disturbance, caused by the ahsence of Peter, there were ce rtai n symptoms pecu l iarly disqu ie t~ing. The Muscovite army ggrew more and more hos ti le to thenew order of th ings . I n 1 694 Peter had discovered a freshconspiracy, having for its object the del iverance of Sophia ;andat the very momen t of his departu re from Ru ss i a he had to putdown a plot of s treltsi and Cossacks

,headed by Colonel T sykler.

Those of the streltsi who had been sent to form the garrison ofAzof pined for the ir wives, the ir chi ldren , and the t rade s theyhad left in Moscow. When in the absence of the Tzar they weresent fromAzof to the fron tiers of Poland, they again began tomu rmu r. “What a fate

'

is ours ! I t is the boyards who do al lthe misch ief ;for three years they have kept us fromourhomes .

T wo hundred deserted and re tu rned to Moscow ;but the douma ,

fearing their presence in the already troubled capital, expe lledthem by force . They brough t back to their regiments a lette r ofSoph ia. You suffer,

”she wrote “ late r i t wi l l become worse.

March on Moscow. What 1 5 i t you wait for ? There is no newsof the Tzar. It was repeated through the army that the Tzarhad died in foreign lands, and that the boyards wished toput his son Alexis to death. I t was necessary to march on Mos

cow and exterminate the nobles . The mi l i tary sedition wascompl icated by the rel i ous fanaticismof the rarkolmé: and thedemagOgic pass ions of t e popu lar army Fou r regiments revol t‘cd and deserted. Generals Schei n and Gordon

,wi th thei r reg

u lar troops , has tened after them, came up with them on thebanks of the Iskra and tried to persuade them to re tu rn to theirdu ty. The strellri replied by a pe ti t ion setting forth al l theirgrievances : Many of them had died du ring the expedit ion toAzof, s ugges ted by Lefort, a German , a heretic ;they had enduredfat igu ing marches ove r burning pla ins

,the ir only food being bad

meat ;thei r s trength had been exhau s ted by severe tasks, andthey had been banished to dis tan t garrisons . Mos cow was nowa prey to al l sorts of horrors . Foreigners had introduced the

cus tom of shaving the beard and smoking tobacco. I t was saidthat these mk’mtsz

‘

meant to seize the town . Ou this rumor,the s frel/si had arrived

,and al so becau se R omodanovskiwished

to disperse and put them to the sword wi thou t anyone knowingwhy. A few cannon-shots were suflicient to scatter the rebels .

A large numbe r were arres ted ;tortu re, the gibbe t, and the dungeon awaited the captives .

When Peter has tened home fromVienna, he decided thathis generals and his a’ouma had been too lenient. He had oldgrievances agains t the streltsi they had been the army of Sophia,in Oppos ition to the army of the Tzar ;he remembered the i nva

HIS TOR Y OFRUSSIA. 305

s ion of the Kremlin, the mas sacre of his mother’s fami ly

,her

terrors inTroltsa, and the conspiracies which al l but dela ed his'

ourney to the Wes t. A t the ve time that he was t rave l ing inurope for the benefit of his pe0p e, these incorrigible mu tineersforced him to renounce his deares t pro

'

ects, and had s teppedhim on the road to Venice . He resolve to take advantage ofthe opportuni ty by cru shing his enemies en ma re

,and bymak

ing the Old Russ ia fee l the weigh t of a terror that wou ld recal lthe days of Ivan IV. The long beards had been the s tandard ofrevol t—they shou ld fall. Ou the 2 6th of Augus t he ordered allthe gentlemen of his Cou rt to shave themse lve s, and himéelt

'

appl ied the razor to his great lords . The same day the Red Placewas covered wi th g ibbets . The Patriarch Adrian tried in vain toappease the anger of the Tzar by presenting to him the wonderowork ing image of the Mother of God “Why has t thou broughtout the holy icon ? exclaimed the Tzar. “ Retire and res torei t to its place. Know that I venerate God and His Mother asmuch as thysel f, but know also that i t is my duty to protec t thepeople and pun ish the rebe ls .

”

Ou the 3oth of October there arrived at the Red Place thefirst i ns talmen t of 230 prisoners they came in carts, with l ightedtorches i n thei r hands, nearly al l already broken by torture, andfollowed by their wives and children, who ran behind chanting afuneral wail . Their sentence was read, and they were s lain, theTzar ordering several offi cers to help the execu tioner. JohnGeorge Korb, the Aus trian agen t, who as an eye-witness has leftus an au then tic accoun t of the execu t ions, heard that hye rebe lheads had been sent in to the dus t by blows from an axe wie ldedby the nobles t hand in Ru ss i a.” The terrible carpenter of Saardamworked and obliged his boyards to work at th is horribleemploymen t. Seven other days were employed in this way;athousand victims were pu t to death . Some were broken on thewhee l , and othe rs died by variousmodes of tortu re . The removalof the corpse s was forbidden for five months Moscow hadbefore its eyes the spectacle of the dead bodies hanging from thebattlements of the Kreml i n and the other ramparts ; and forfive months the streltsi suspended to the bars of Soph ia’s prisonpresented her the peti t ion by which they had en treated her toreign . Two of her confidants were bu ried al ive she hersel f, wi thEudoxi a L apoukhine, Peter

’s wife, who had been repudiated for

her obs tinate at tachment to the ancien t cu s toms,had their heads

shaved and were confined in monas te ries . After the revol t ofthe inhabi tants of As t rakhan , who put the ir voievode to death,the old mi l it ia was completely abol ished, and the way left clearfor the formation of new troops .

306HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA.

oonrnsrwmr rancossacxs : nsvom‘

orm a DON (1706)

The rfrdtrx’

was not the only mi l i tary force of ancien t Russ iawhose exis tence and privi leges had become incompatible withthe organizat ion of the modern State . The armies (voi

‘

séa)of Cos sacks— those republ ican 51 nd undiscipl ined warriors whohad been formerly the rampart of Russ ia, and were her ou tpos tsagains t the barbarians—had to undergo a trans formation . Theempire“ had numerous grievances agains t them the Cossacksof the Ukraine and those of the Don had g iven birth to the firstand the second of the false Dmi tris

,and from the army of the

Don had sprung the te rrible Stanko Raz ine.In 1706 the Cossacks of the Don revol ted agains t the Tzari an

governmen t,becau se they were forbidden to g ive an asylum to

the peasants who fled from the i r mas ters, or to those who tookrefuge from taxation in the camp .

The ataman Boulavine, andhis l ieu tenants N ekras sof, Frolof, and Dranyi, s ummoned themto arms . They mu rdered Prince George Dolgorouki, defeatedthe Rus s ians on the Liskovata, took Tcherkask, threatened Azof,al l the wh i le protes ting their fidelity to the Tzar, and accusingthe votevodes of having acted “wi thou t orders .” They soon,however, suffered defeat at the hands of Vass i l i Dolgorouki,brother of the dead man. Boulavine was s tabbed b his own

sold iers , and Nekrassof tied wi th two thousand men to the Kuban.

The rebe l camp was laid was te, and Dolgorouki was able towri te The ch ief mu t ineers and declared traitors have bee nhung ;of the others, one out of eve ry ten ;and al l these deadmalefactors have been laid on rafts and abandoned to the river,to s trike terror into the hearts of the Dontsi, and to cause themto repent .”

Since Samoilovitch had been removed,Mazeppa had been

the hetman of the Little Russ ian Coss acks of the U kraine . In

his you th a page of John Cas imi r,King of Poland, that adve

had befal len himwhich the poem of Lord Byron and the picturesofHorace Verne t have rendered famous . Loosed from the backof the unbroken horse wh ich had carried him i n to the so li tudesof the Ukraine

,he had entered the Cossack army, and, by he

traying all chiefs and part ies in tu rn , he had risen through al lthe grades of mi l i tary se rvice . He owed the cflice of hetmanto Galitsyne and Sephia, but was one of the firs t to embrace thecause of Peter. His elevat ion gained him many enemies, butthe Tzar

,who admired his i ntel l igence and bel ieved in his fidel

ity, delive red up to him his accusers . He execu ted the monk

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308 HIS TOR Y OF R USS IA .

of the Muscovite troops limi ted his power and augmented thebu rdens of his te rri tory, when the Tzar sent pres sing injunctionsfor the equ ipmen t of the arm

yin European s tyle, whenhe fel t

around him the spi ri t of rebe lion agains t Moscow, he wrote toLeszczinski, saying that he did not th ink the Pol ish army sufficiently s trong, but assu ring him of his goodwi l l . His confidan t, Orl ik,was i n the secre t of al l his iutri es . Some of his subordinates whohad pene trated his designs ma e ano the r attempt to denounce himto the Tzar among these were Pa let, celebrated in the songs of theUkraine Kotchoubey,whose daughter Mazeppa had taken andI skra. The information was very exact and revealed his secret conterences with the emissaries of the King and of Princes s DolskataI t fai led

,l ike former denuncia tions , through the bl ind confidence

of Peter : Pale! was sen t to Siberia Iskra and Kotchoubey weretortured, forced to confes s themse lves false wi tnesses , del iveredup to the hetman, and beheaded. Mazeppa was consciou s thatsuch extraordinary good fortune cou ld not l as t, and the malcontents u rged him to think of thei r common s afety. A t th is momentCharles XII. arrived i n the neighborhood of Li tt le Russ ia.The devi l has brought him,

” cried Mazeppa ; and he tried between the two powe rs to save the independence of his l i ttleState, wi thou t del ive ring himself over completely e ither toCharles XII. or Peter the Great. When the latte r invited himto join the army, be pretended that he was i l l, and even rece ivedextreme u nction . B ut M enchikof and Charles were approach'i ng—a choice mus t be made. Mazeppa left his bed, assembledhis mos t faithfu l Cos sack s, and cros sed the Desna to effect a

junction with the Swedish army. Then Peter the Great made aprocl amat ion denouncing the treason of Mazeppa, his a l l iancewi th the heretics

, his plot to res tore the Ukraine to Poland, andto fill the monas teries and temples of God wi th Uniates . He was

cu rsed in al l the chu rches of Russ i a. Batourine, his capi tal , wastaken byMenchikof, sacked and des troyed his aecompl1ces,whornhe had abandoned, died on thewheel and the gibbet ; he himsel ffled, afte r the battl e of Pultowa , to the Turkish terri tory, and perished miserably at Bender. A new hetman , Skoropadski, waselected i n his s tead ; the mass of the people and the Cossack arrnpronou nced loudly for theTzar, and the Swedes had to copewrtthe ris ing of the entire popu l ation of the Ukra ine. In spite ofthis , the independence of Litt le Rus s ia was pas t. The prmlegesof the Cossacks were over, and twe lve hundred of thernweresen t to work at the Canal of Ladoga. A Muscovi te ofhc1 alwasjoined to Skoropadski to govern in concert wi th the advice ofthe he tman .

” Muscovi te subjects were al lowed to hold landsmthe Ukrainebythe same title as the Li ttle Russ ians ;Mench1kof

HIS 7101?Y or RUSSIA. 309

and Chafirof were given large domains there by SkorOpadski,whose daughter married another Muscovi te

,T olstot, created commandan t of the f olk of N iéjme. In 172 2 Litt le Rus s ia, whoseafi

'

airs up to that time had been conducted by the departmen t ofFore ign Afl

'

airs, was governed hy a Special ofiice founded atMoscow under the name of Litt le Rus s ian Affairs . This wasclear proof that the Ukraine had ceased to be an au tonomou sState. When Skoropadskidied, Peter did not nominate a successor, declaring that the treasons of the preceding hetmansdid not al low a decis ion to be made l ight! i n th is grave matte rof e lection, and that he needed t ime to nd a man of assuredfidel ity.”

From th is time the ins ti tut ions of the Ukraine were modifiedat the wi ll of Peter the Great and his succes sors . The hetmannate was now abolished

, now res tored, t i ll the l as t manwho heldthe ti tle, 3. courtier of Catherine IL , abd icated i n 1789. Theaffai rs of the Ukraine were sometimes directed by the othee ofLi ttle Rus s ia, some times by the othee of Fore ign Affairs, t i llthe t ime when

,under Catheri ne I I . i t became an integral part

of the empire . A s to the Zaporogues , after thei r se’tclza hadbeen taken by Peter the Great, they emigrated to the Crimea,obtained thei r res toration to the Lower Dnieper from Anne

,

found the neighborin country already trans formed, and, a s

the i r exis tence seemeg incompatible wi th secu ri ty and colon ization, were finally expel led tn 1775.

From the year 1109we may s ay that there no longer ex is ted

in the empire a s ing e mi l i tary force that could oppose its pr ivileges to the willof the Tzar.