NOTES ABOUT MOSCOW

Lithuania is closest to Muscovy. I mean here not just one (Lithuanian) region, but also the countries adjacent to it, which are understood under the general name of Lithuania ( NG The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and its principalities border on Muscovite lands.) . It stretches in a long strip from the city of Cherkassy, ​​located near Borysthenes ( NG below Kyiv), all the way to Livonia ( NG which begins at Dunaburg on the Dune, called by the Russians the Dvina.). The Cherkassy (Circassi) who live along Borysthenes are Russian and are different from those about whom I said above that they live in the mountains near Pontus. In our time, they were commanded by Eustachius Dashkevich [who, as I mentioned, went to Muscovy with Tsar Muhammad-Girey], a man very experienced in military affairs and exceptional cunning. Although he repeatedly entered into relations with the Tatars, he beat them even more often; Moreover, he more than once posed a considerable danger to the Muscovite himself, who had once been his prisoner ( NG there is a not entirely clear phrase here, omitted in all modern translations: So ist er auch bey dem Moscowiter gewest, die alle auch seinen herrn Khuenig offt uberfueert; it can be understood approximately like this: this is how he behaved with the Muscovite ( or maybe: he also visited the Muscovite), who, in turn, often deceived his king ( i.e. we mean the following story about Dashkovich’s deceit) ). That year, when we were in Moscow, he [inflicted defeat on the Muscovites with the help of an extraordinary trick. This story, it seems to me, is worthy of being presented here. He] led certain Tatars into Muscovy, dressed in Lithuanian dress, being confident that the Muscovites would attack them without fear, mistaking them for Lithuanians. He himself set up an ambush in a convenient place, awaiting revenge from the Muscovites. Having devastated part of the Seversk region, the Tatars headed towards Lithuania. When the Muscovites realized that they had turned and moved towards Lithuania, they thought that they were Lithuanians, and soon, burning with a thirst for revenge, they quickly invaded Lithuania. When, having fought it, they returned burdened with booty, Eustachius, (emerging) from an ambush, surrounded them and killed every single one. Having learned about this, the Muscovite sent ambassadors to the Polish king with a complaint about the damage done to him ( NG despite the truce) offense. The king answered them that his (subjects) did not offend, but (on the contrary) took revenge for the offense. Thus, the Muscovite, twice ridiculed, was forced to endure both damage and dishonor.

Below ( NG Russians) Cherkassy there are no Christian settlements. At the mouth of the Borysthenes, forty miles from Cherkassy ( NG on the shore closest to Wallachia,), there is a fortress and the city of Ochakov, which was owned by the king of Taurida, having taken it not so long ago from Polish king(NG Grand Duchy of Lithuania.). Nowadays it is owned by the Turks. From Ochakov to Alba, whose old name is Monkastro, near the mouth of Tiras, fourteen miles ( NG it is also owned by the Turks), from Ochakov to Perekop fourteen(NG forty ) miles. From Cherkassy, ​​near Borysthenes, to Perekop is forty miles. Seven miles above Cherkassy along the Borysthenes we will meet the city of Kanev, eighteen miles from which ( NG upriver) is Kyiv, the ancient capital of Russia. The splendor and truly royal grandeur of this city are evident in its ruins and the ruins of its monuments. To this day, the remains of abandoned temples and monasteries are still visible on the neighboring mountains, and in addition, there are many caves and in them very ancient tombs with bodies untouched by decay. I have heard from trustworthy people that girls there rarely remain chaste after the age of seven. Various reasons have been given for this, but none of them satisfies me; Merchants are allowed to abuse girls, but they are by no means allowed to take them away. If anyone is caught taking a girl away, he will lose both life and property [unless he is saved by the mercy of the sovereign]. There is also a law according to which the property of foreign merchants, if they happen to die there, passes to to the king or his deputy(NG authorities (Herrschafften)); The same is observed among the Tatars and Turks in relation to the people of Kiev who died among them. Near Kyiv there is one hill through which a not very convenient road has been laid for merchants. If, while climbing along it, any part of the cart breaks, then the property that was on the cart is taken to the treasury. All this was told to me by Albert Gashtold, voivode of Vilnius, viceregens (-) of the king in Lithuania. Thirty miles from Kyiv up the Borysthenes we meet Mozyr (Mosier) on the Pripyat River, which flows into the Borysthenes twelve miles above Kyiv. The fish river Tur (?) (Thur) flows into Pripyat, and from Mozyr to Bobruisk (Bobranzko) it is thirty (miles). Climbing further, after twenty-five miles we arrive at Mogilev, six miles from which ( NG even higher) is Orsha. The named cities according to Borysthenes, all located on its western bank, are subject to the king of Poland, while those lying on the eastern bank are subject to the sovereign of Moscow, except for Dubrovno and Mstislavl (Mstislaw), which are in the possession of Lithuania. Having crossed the Borysthenes, after four miles we will get to Dubrovno, and twenty miles from there to Smolensk. From Orsha our path lay to Smolensk, and then straight to Moscow ( NG The battle mentioned above took place between Orsha and Dubrovno. A few years passed, and such tall trees grew there that it is difficult to believe that there could be room for so many people and troops.).

The city of Borisov is twenty-two miles from Orsha to the west; The Berezina River flows past it, which flows into the Borysthenes below Bobruisk. According to my eye assessment, the Berezina is somewhat wider than the Borysthenes near Smolensk. I positively think that the ancients considered this Berezina Borysthenes, which, it seems to me, is indicated by the very consonance of their names. Moreover, if we look closely at Ptolemy’s description, it is much more suitable for the sources of the Berezina than for Borysthenes, called the Dnieper.

[Who were the sovereigns in Lithuania and when they adopted Christianity, enough has been said about this at the beginning.] The affairs of this people constantly flourished until the time of Witold. If they are threatened with war from somewhere and they must defend their property against the enemy, then they come to the call with great pomp, more for bragging than for war, and at the end of the training they immediately disperse. Those who remain send home the best horses and clothes with which they signed up, and follow the chief (dux,-), with a few (others), as if under duress. And the magnates, obliged to send a certain number of soldiers to war at their own expense, pay off their boss with money and stay at home ( NG If they have to go on a hike, then they, well equipped, quickly gather at the appointed place, but as soon as it comes to leaving the camp, one after another they come to the boss, coming up with all sorts of excuses, paying off the boss with money, and stay at home. Everything falls on the shoulders of the poor and servants. But even if someone goes (on a hike), he sends the best horses and equipment home.); and this is not at all considered dishonorable, so the leaders and commanders of the army order it to be publicly announced in the diets and in the camp that if anyone wants to pay off with [cash] money, he can be released (from service) and return home. Between them there is such self-will in everything that they seem to not so much enjoy immoderate freedom ( NG and the kindness of their sovereigns), how much it is abused. They give orders the property pledged by him (bona impignorata) of the sovereigns, so that those who come to Lithuania cannot live there on their own income if they do not enjoy the support of local (owners) (provinciates) ( NG For some time they even managed the income of the sovereigns. So, when King Sigismund arrived there, he had to live on the money he brought with him, since the local rulers (Herrn oder Landleut) did not give him anything at their own discretion (auss gutem willen).). These people wear a long dress; They are armed with bows, like the Tatars, and a spear (hasta, Spiess oder Copien) with a shield ( NG as well as a saber), like the Hungarians. Their horses are good, and they are barefoot and without iron shoes; The bridle is light. The capital of the people is Vilna; it's extensive (NG Vilna, in Latin and Slavic Wilna) a city located between the hills at the confluence of the Welia and Vilna rivers. Viliya River ( NG keeping your name) a few miles below Vilna flows into the Cronon. The Krona [flows past the city of Grodno, the name of which is to a certain extent similar to the name of the river, and] in the place where it flows into the German Sea, separates [once subject to the Teutonic Order] the Prussian peoples, who are now in the hereditary possession of the margrave Brandenburg Albert (-, Albrecht) since he submitted to the Polish king, laying down his cross and order from the Samogitians. [There is the city of Memel (Mumel), for] Germans(NG Prussians (Preysen)) is called Kronon Memel, and on local(NG in Russian) language it is called Neman (Nemen). Now Vilna is surrounded by a wall, and many temples and stone buildings are being built in it; it is also the residence of the bishop, who was then John, the illegitimate son of King Sigismund, [an extremely courteous husband] who kindly received us upon our return ( NG The castle (einfang), where the residence of the king or prince is located, has a cathedral, and) . In addition, the parish church and several monasteries are [remarkable], especially the Franciscan monastery [for the construction of which large sums were spent]. But there are much more Russian churches there than of the Roman confession. In the Principality of Lithuania ( NG and lands belonging to him) three bishoprics of the Roman confession, namely: Vilna, Samogitia and Kiev. The Russian bishoprics in the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania [with their constituent principalities] are as follows: Vilna, where the archbishop now resides, Polotsk, Vladimir, Lutsk, Pinsk (Pinski, Pinsso), Kholm (Chomensis, Khelm) and Przemysl (Premissiensis, Premissl ). The Lithuanians' trade consists of honey, wax and potash(NG resin and bread.). All this is exported in large quantities to Gdansk (Gedanum, Dantzkho), a from there to Holland(NG where it is sold and exchanged for salt.). Lithuania also supplies resin in abundance ( NG planks) and timber for building ships ( NG and other structures (gepeu)), as well as bread. She doesn't have salt and buys it in Britain. When Christian was expelled from the Danish kingdom(NG left Denmark), and pirates were rampant at sea, salt was brought not from Britain, but from Russia; and now the Lithuanians still use it. In our time, the Lithuanians were especially famous [for military glory] for two husbands: Konstantin, Prince (Knes) of Ostrog ( NG who, although he was once defeated and captured by the Muscovites, both before and after that was very successful, having won more than one victory over the Muscovites, Turks and Tatars. I was not lucky enough to see him, despite the fact that I often visited Lithuania when he was still alive.) and Prince Mikhail Glinsky. Constantine defeated the Tatars many times; at the same time, he did not come forward to meet them when they went to plunder in a gang, but pursued those laden with booty. When they reached a place where, as they believed, they could, without fear of anything due to the distance, take a breath and rest - and this place was known to him - he decided to attack them and ordered his warriors to prepare food for themselves from this night, for the next he will not allow them to build large fires. So, having spent the whole next day on the road, Constantine, when the Tatars, not seeing any lights at night and believing that the enemies had either turned back or dispersed, let their horses graze, slaughtered (cattle) and feasted, and then went to sleep, with the first rays of the sun attacked them and inflicted complete defeat on them. Prince Mikhail Glinsky, while still a youth, went to Germany, showed courage (in the service) of Albert (-, Albrecht), Duke of Saxony, who was fighting a war in Friesland at that time, and, having gone through all levels of military service, acquired a glorious name for himself. Brought up in German customs, he returned to his homeland, where he enjoyed great influence and occupied the highest positions under King Alexander, so that he decided all complex matters in his opinion and discretion. It happened, however, that he had a quarrel with John Zaberezinsky (Sawersinski), the governor of Trokai, because of the king. In the end, this matter was settled, and during the life of the king there was peace between them, but after the death of the king, John harbored hatred in the depths of his soul, since because of him (Glinsky) he lost his voivodeship. Then some envious people surrounded King Sigismund, who succeeded Alexander, both Glinsky himself and his adherents (complices) and friends in a criminal quest for power, calling him a traitor to the fatherland. Unable to bear such an insult, Prince Mikhail often turned to the king with requests to sort out the case between him and the accuser Zaberezinsky at a general court (commune iudicium), which, according to him, could remove such a serious charge from him. Since the king did not respect his requests, Glinsky (NG Then he was called not Prince (Knes), but Pan (Pan) Mikhail. There he learned graceful manners (ehrliche Sitten) and knightly customs, was agile in military exercises: racing, fencing, wrestling, jumping, as well as in entertainment, such as dancing and all kinds of courtesy, which earned him special, more than others, fame. Grand Duke Alexander, who became the Polish king after his brother John Albrecht, had him in such honor that he occupied the highest and most important positions and (enjoyed) special trust. It happened one day that, on his orders, they went to Troki to get oats for the royal horses. The local governor, John Zaberezinsky (Saworsinski) - and this is four miles from Vilna - allowed (to take oats) for the first time, threatening, however, the driver with beatings if he appeared again. Prince Glinsky was informed about this. He sent (there) again, the driver was beaten and no oats were given. The governor arrived in Vilna, and when he entered the king’s chambers, Alexander turned away and leaned against the window - and yet they have a rule that if such a high official appears to the Grand Duke, he gets up and takes a few steps towards him. Duke Michael was also in the room. Then Zaberezinsky said loudly that he had noticed the disfavor, but did not know what he had done to deserve it. Prince Glinsky told the story of the driver and the oats. He began to justify himself, saying that he was thinking about the benefit of the king, but the king said: “I do not need guardians (Gerhaben), I am already an adult (hab meine jar).” After this, Zaberezinsky left. The disfavor was so great that he was deprived of the voivodeship and another position, although usually the voivodeship is given for life and is not taken away. Zaberezinsky also held a third position; he and his friends feared that he would be driven away from this one too, and therefore considered it best for him to make peace with Duke Michael. And so they did. The third position remained with him, but he harbored anger in his heart. It turned out that the king fell ill, and the Tatars with a large army invaded the country. According to their customs, the king had to go on a campaign: he was taken. All matters were in the hands of Prince Mikhail and a certain nobleman (herr) named Kishka (?) (Schisskha) , but this last one also fell ill, so Prince Mikhail had to manage everything. In general, he dealt with the matter successfully: the Tatars suffered a cruel defeat like never before, the king was sent back to Vilna, but he died on the way. It was then that the secret hatred of Zaberezinsky made itself felt, who accused Prince Glinsky of treason. He and his friends also sent to the brother of the late king of Velikoglog Duke Sigismund receives news that Prince Mikhail is seeking a great reign and Sigismund should hurry up with his arrival. When Duke Sigismund, without celebrating, went to Lithuania, Prince Mikhail rode out to meet him with eight hundred horsemen and recognized him as his real master - (in a word), he did everything as it should be. After Duke Sigismund took the grand-ducal throne, Prince Mikhail began to seek trial and investigation (verhoer und Recht) against Zaberezinsky. The Grand Duke postponed the matter until (arriving) in Krakow, since he was now also elected King of Poland. After the king’s arrival in Krakow, Michael again demanded a trial, but the case, under some far-fetched pretext, was again postponed to Vilna, by which Prince Michael was extremely offended and) went to Hungary to visit the king's brother Vladislav. Having achieved that Vladislav sent envoys (to his brother) with a letter [in which he advised the king to look into the Glinsky case, having tried all means], Mikhail still could not convince the king to consider his case. [Outraged by this] he told the king that he would commit an act that both he and the king himself would regret in time ( NG But these words were spoken in vain.). [Returning home in anger] he sent [one of his close associates, a faithful] man with a letter to the Moscow sovereign. He wrote that if the sovereign, given for this occasion by a letter with the addition of an oath, provides him in Muscovy with full and free (ownership) everything that is necessary for life (vivendi copia), and if this will bring him benefit and honor from the sovereign, then ( NG asked for an accompanying safe-conduct (glaidt und sicherhait) in order to live freely under his arm, and then) he is ready to surrender to him with the fortresses that he owns in Lithuania, and others that he will occupy [by force or (persuade) to surrender]. The Muscovite, who knew the valor and skill of this man, was extremely happy at this news and promised to fulfill everything that Michael asked of him, that is, to give him, as he wished, a letter with the addition of an oath. Having arranged affairs with the Muscovite in this way, as he wanted, Mikhail, burning with a thirst for revenge, rushed with all his might ( NG a letter, drawn up in the best possible way, confirming the oath, was sent. Upon receiving it, Prince Mikhail gathered his brothers and friends, informed them of his intention and appointed which of Zaberezinsky’s friends each should act against in order to kill them. He himself went) against John of Zaberezinsky, who was then in his estate (villa, offen Hof) near Grodno, in which (the estate) I once had to spend the night. Having placed guards around the house so that he could not escape, he sent (to the house)(NG Having broken open the doors to his chambers, he sent) a murderer [of a Mohammedan], who attacked the sleeping Zaberezinsky in his bed and cut off his head. Done with it(NG His friends did nothing. After this, Prince Mikhail knew what to do), Mikhail moved with the army to the Minsk fortress ( NG - I drove past him -), trying to occupy him by force or (encourage) him to surrender; but having been deceived about the capture of Minsk, he then moved on to other fortresses and cities. Meanwhile, having learned that the king’s troops were coming against him [and realizing that his forces were far from equal to them], he [left the siege of fortresses and] headed to Moscow, where he was received with honor by the sovereign, for he knew that there were no equal to Glinsky. Therefore, the Muscovite had a firm hope of occupying all of Lithuania, [using the advice, assistance and art of Mikhail, and these hopes did not completely deceive him. After all, after a conference with Glinsky, he again besieged [the famous Lithuanian principality] Smolensk and took it rather thanks to the skill of this man than to his troops. Michael, by his very presence, took away from the soldiers defending (the fortress) any hope of defending the city, and through intimidation and promises he persuaded them to surrender(NG The soldiers knew Prince Mikhail well, and he managed to negotiate with them so that they would surrender the fortress.). Mikhail achieved this with all the greater courage and zeal that Vasily promised to yield to him forever ( NG into hereditary possession) a fortress with the adjacent region, if Mikhail manages to capture Smolensk in any way. But subsequently he did not fulfill his promises, and when Mikhail reminded him of the condition, he only consoled him with empty hope and deceived him. Mikhail was seriously offended by this. Since the memory of King Sigismund had not yet been erased from his heart and he hoped that, with the assistance of the friends he had at that time at court, he would easily be able to return his favor, he sent one person faithful to him to the king, promising to return if the king forgives His crimes against the king are by no means small. This embassy was pleasant to the king, and he immediately ordered the messenger to be given the requested letter of safe conduct (literae publicae fidei). But Michael did not fully trust the royal letter, and therefore, wanting to be more confident in his safety, he sought and obtained similar letters from the German knights George Pisbeck and John von Rechenberg, who, as he knew, were the king’s advisers and they had such influence over him that they could force the king to fulfill his promise even against his will. But the messenger on this matter came across Muscovite guards and was detained. The case was opened and was immediately reported to the sovereign. By order of the sovereign, Mikhail was captured. At the same time, one young Polish nobleman from the Trepkones family was sent by King Sigismund to Michael in Moscow. Wanting to better fulfill the royal commission, he pretended to be a defector. But his fate was no better: he was also captured by the Muscovites. And although he pretended to be a defector, they did not believe him, but he kept the secret so (correctly) that he did not reveal it even under severe torture ( NG agreed (to the requests) of Messrs. Georg Wispeckh and Johann von Rechenberg, who had previously served the king’s brother with him (Glinsky), to give a safe conduct and for them to also confirm his safety. A messenger was sent to Glinsky, but one of the king’s advisers, hostile to Prince Mikhail and fearing that he might again return to his former favor, sent a secret messenger to Moscow and opened the whole matter. The messenger to Prince Mikhail was a Polish nobleman named Trepka; after such a betrayal, he was captured, severely tortured and killed, but never betrayed the purpose of his mission, insisting that he left the king, wanting to serve Prince Mikhail. Prince Mikhail got ready to set off, but was caught while fleeing.). When the captured Mikhail was brought to Smolensk in front of the sovereign, he said to him: “Treacherous, I will inflict on you a worthy punishment according to your deserts.” Michael responded to this: “I do not recognize the accusation of treachery brought against me by you, for if you had kept your word and promises to me, then I would have been the most faithful of all your servants. But since you, as I am convinced, do not value them at all, and besides, you also mock me, then the only thing I regret is that I could not carry out my plans against you. I have always despised death and will meet it all the more willingly because I won’t have to see you anymore, tyrant.”(NG my soul is not in your power.). Then, by order of his sovereign taken to Vyazma(NG they took him to Vyazma, where the main part of the army was stationed, and there he was taken out) in front of a huge crowd of people. Here the chief [military leader, throwing (to the ground) in front of everyone the heavy chains in which the prince was supposed to be shackled, said to him: “Mikhail, as you know, the sovereign showed you great favors while you served faithfully. But when you wish to be a strong betrayer, he, according to your merits, grants you this gift.” With these words, he ordered to put shackles on him. When he was thus chained in front of the crowd, he turned to the people and said: “So that false rumors about my captivity do not spread among you, I will explain in a few words what I did and why I was captured, so that at least by my example “You understand what kind of sovereign you have and what each of you should or can expect from him.” Having started like this, he told why he had arrived in Muscovy, what the sovereign had promised him with his letter and the addition of an oath, and how he had not fulfilled his promise in anything. And when he was disappointed in his expectations regarding the sovereign, he wanted to return to his fatherland again, for which he was captured. And although the insult was inflicted on him undeservedly, he does not flee death, for he knows that according to the general law of nature, everyone must die equally. [He was distinguished by a strong physique and resourceful mind, he knew how to present reliable advice, was equally capable of both a serious matter and a joke, and was positively, as they say, a man for every hour. With his cunning, he gained great influence and favor with everyone, especially among the Germans, where he was brought up. During the reign of King Alexander, he inflicted an exceptionally strong defeat on the Tatars: never after the death of Witold did the Lithuanians win such a glorious victory over the Tatars. The Germans called him in the Czech way - “Pan Mikhail”]. As a (born) Russian, he first professed his faith according to the Greek rite, then ( NG in Germany), leaving her, went over to the Roman one, and already in chains, wanting to soften and tame the anger and indignation of the sovereign, he again accepted the Russian faith. During our time in Muscovy, many noble persons, especially the sovereign’s wife, who was his (Glinsky’s) niece, his brother’s daughter, petitioned the sovereign for his release. Tsar Maximilian also interceded for him and even sent a special letter on his behalf to the sovereign during my first embassy. But this turned out to be so ineffective that I was then denied access to him, and was not even allowed to see him. During my other embassy, ​​when there was talk about his release, the Muscovites constantly asked me if I knew this man. I answered them what, in my opinion, should have served to his advantage, namely, that I had only ever heard his name ( NG During my first embassy, ​​I was tasked with negotiating his release and extradition to Emperor Maximilian. They answered me that since he had again accepted the Russian faith, it was not appropriate for the (Grand) Duke to hand him over to a foreign faith. I was not allowed to speak with him or see him. When I was sent there for the second time, and the Grand Duke divorced his legal wife, imprisoning her in a monastery, and took the daughter of Prince Michael’s brother, Prince Vasily the Blind, they petitioned for his release (to the sovereign). Many respectable people in Poland asked me to take care of the prisoner if possible. I was often asked (by Muscovites) if I knew Prince Mikhail? I thought there was nothing better I could do than say, “I don’t know.” Although I had orders from Emperor Maximilian to negotiate about him, this time there was none, so as not to complicate his affairs and not arouse suspicion.). And then Mikhail was released and released. Having married his niece while his first wife was still alive(NG Many people were assigned to him, who guarded him rather than served him. The reason for his release was that), the sovereign had great hopes for him, since he saw in Michael’s valor a guarantee of the security of the royal throne for his children (from the threat) from their uncles and in the end ( NG He was afraid that if he had heirs, then his brothers, of whom there were two, might not recognize them as legitimate (eelich) and not allow them to come to power. The dexterity of their relative (Vetter) Prince Mikhail should have supported them, and therefore he) appointed him in the will(NG along with some others) guardian of his sons. After the death of the sovereign, Mikhail repeatedly reproached his widow ( NG like your close relative (Muhm)) in a dissolute life; for this she accused him of treason ( NG her children), and he, unfortunate, died in custody. A little later, the [cruel] woman herself died from poison, and her lover, nicknamed Owtzina, [as they say] was torn to pieces and chopped into pieces.

Among the other principalities of Lithuania, the most warlike people are in Volynia (Wolinia) ( NG It lies to the south.).

Lithuania is extremely forested; it contains huge ( NG lakes) swamps and many rivers; some of them, like the (Southern) Bug (Bug, Bog), Pripyat, Tur (?), Berezina (flowing) to the east, flow into the Borysthenes, others, like the (Western) Bug (Boh), Kronon ( NG Dvina) and Narev, flow north ( NG to the Prussian Sea (Preissisch Moer)). The climate is harsh, animals of all breeds are small; xl e ba is abundant there, but the crops rarely reach maturity ( NG so the sheaves are dried and ripened in rooms specially designed for this purpose). The people are pitiful and oppressed by heavy slavery (-, dienstperkhait). Because anyone accompanied by a crowd of servants(NG having power (geweltiger)) having entered the peasant’s home, he can do whatever he wants with impunity, rob and take things necessary in everyday life(NG edibles and whatever you want) and even brutally beat the peasant ( NG if he suddenly refuses to give. That is why villages are located far from roads.). To the peasants(NG subjects) without gifts, the path to the gentlemen is blocked, no matter what they have to do with them. And even if they are admitted, they are still sent to officials (officiales) and superiors. And if they do not receive offerings, they will not decide or decree anything good ( NG to the viceroy (Namestnick) , that is, to the manager of affairs (Phleger) and the more noble (angesehnlicher), or rather (in German) to the Stathalter; and they need to be given too.). This order exists not only for the common people (tenues, Paurn), but also for ( NG poor) nobles, if they want to achieve something from the nobles (-, mechtige). I myself heard how one senior (primarius) official under the young king(NG royal chamberlain (Hofmaister)) said the following: “In Lithuania, every word is gold.” They (NG This means: no one will be listened to and no one will be helped without money. Poor people (die armen leuet)) pay the king ( NG or the Grand Duke) annually cash tax (imperata recunia)(NG quart (vierdung): twelve groschen from each gufa (Huebe)) to protect the borders of the kingdom. In addition to quitrent (census, ordentlicher Zinss), they also work for the masters six days a week ( NG therefore, there are usually two masters (wirt) in a house: one to work for the master, the other to work for himself. If the gentleman has guests or a wedding, or he has to go to the court or somewhere else, then the village is assigned (to give) so many geese, chickens, sheep and other things); finally, upon marriage or death of a wife, as well as upon the birth or death of children and after confession, they are obliged to pay a certain amount to the parish priest ( NG To many it may seem surprising and even incredible how the poor still manage to exist; this despite the fact that any day the Tatars or Muscovites could come and capture him along with his wife and children.) . From the time of Witold until the present day, they have been in such cruel slavery that those sentenced to death are forced, by order of their master, to execute themselves and hang themselves with their own hands. If he suddenly refuses to do this, he will be brutally flogged, inhumanly tortured, and hanged anyway. As a result of such severity, it happens that [the judge or the boss appointed to (analyze) the case will only threaten the guilty person], if he begins to hesitate, or just say(NG they'll just tell him): “Hurry up, the master is angry,” as the unfortunate man, fearing the most severe beatings, ends his life with a noose.

[About wild animals]

In addition to those that are found in Germany, in Lithuania there are [the following wild animals] bison (Bisontes) [buffalo (Uri), elk (Alces), otherwise called onagers, i.e. forest horses]. In their language, the Lithuanians call the bison a bison (Suber), the Germans [incorrectly] call it aurox [or urox; this name is appropriate for a buffalo, which has the exact appearance of a bull, whereas] bison do not look like them at all in appearance. Namely, bison have a mane; their neck and shoulder blades are shaggy, and something like a beard comes down from their chin. Their wool smells like musk(NG rough and tough and not as nice a black color as the tour), the head is short [the eyes are large and fierce, as if burning], the forehead is wide, horns ( NG shorter and thicker (than buffalo), and) for the most part are so far apart from each other and so spread out ( NG although they get back together later) that three strong-built people can sit between them. They say that such an experiment was carried out by the Polish king Sigismund, the father of the now reigning Sigismund-Augustus, - and we know that he was stout and strong in body, and he took two others no less than himself as comrades ( NG Therefore, I believe that the bison is a bison, as it is called in Latin, and the other animal is a tour, whose name is the same in Latin and in the Muscovite dialect - buffalo; Well, in Switzerland, the area of ​​Uri has (in its coat of arms) the head of this beast, also black, with the same bull horns. ). They have something like a hump on their back, so that the front and back parts of the body are lower (the back). [Those who wish to hunt bison must have great strength, dexterity and cunning.] A convenient place for hunting is selected, where the trees [are separated from one another by the necessary intervals and] have trunks that are not too thick [so that they can be easily walked around, but ] and not small [so that a person could hide behind them]. The hunters are located one at a time near these trees, and when the bison, raised by the pursuing dogs, is driven to this place, it quickly rushes at the one of the hunters who comes out (from behind the tree) first. Hiding behind a tree ( NG so the beast rushes past), he stabs the beast as best he can with a horn (venabulum, Spiess), but the bison does not fall even from numerous blows, but becomes more and more inflamed with rage, shaking not only its horns, but also its tongue, which is so rough and it is cruel that, having barely caught the hunter’s clothes, it (can) already detain and pull him in - and then the beast leaves the person no sooner than it kills him. If the hunter wants to rest [tired of running around the tree and stabbing the animal], then he throws him a red hat, which he furiously attacks [with hooves and horns]. If the beast is not finished off and the other (hunter) needs to engage in such a fight [which is sometimes necessary if they want to return unharmed], then he can easily call the beast on himself by shouting at least once in a loud voice (barbarico sono): love-love- liu ( NG They say that the bison is so strong that it can throw a horse and its rider into the air.) .

Buffaloes are found [only] in Mazovia [which borders Lithuania]; in the local language they are called Thurs, but we Germans have a real name for them, urox. [These are real forest bulls, no different from domestic bulls, except that] they are completely black and have a whitish (ex albo mixtus, grablaten) stripe along the back. [Their numbers are small, and there are certain villages that are entrusted with their care and protection, and they are looked after almost like menageries. They happen to domestic cows, but with disgrace. For after this, other buffaloes do not allow them into the herd, as they have dishonored themselves, and the calves born from such a mating are not tenacious. When I was an ambassador at the court of Sigismund Augustus, he gave me one animal, already gutted, which the hunters had finished off, (finding) it half-dead, driven out of the herd. However, the skin on his forehead was cut off. I thought that this was done for a reason, although due to my absent-mindedness I did not ask why this was being done. But it is known that girdles made of buffalo skin are prized, and it is a common belief that girding them with them speeds up childbirth. In these forms, Queen Bona, the mother of Sigismund Augustus, gave me two such belts, one of which was graciously accepted from me as a gift by my most illustrious lady, the Queen of Rome.]

That animal, which the Lithuanians call in their language moose (Loss), is called Ellend in German; some call it alces in Latin(NG it is found not only in Lithuania, but also in Prussia and Russia.). The Poles claim that ( NG in Latin) is an onager, that is, a forest donkey, but his appearance does not correspond to that. For he has cloven hooves; However, there are also those with solid hooves, but very rarely. [This animal is taller than a deer, with protruding ears and nostrils] its antlers are somewhat different from those of a deer, the coat color is also whiter (NG There are those who believe that these are (Latin) alces. But this, in my opinion, is not so, since alces cannot lie down, because, as has been written, they have inactive joints (?) (khain gengig glyd); it’s the other way around: moose have all the joints like deer.). When moving, they are very fast and do not run like other animals, but like a pacer. Their hooves are often worn as amulets against falling illness.

On the steppe plains near Borysthenes, Tanais and Ra there is a forest sheep, called by the Poles Solhac, and by the Muscovites - saiga (Seigack), the size of a roe deer, but with shorter legs; her horns are stretched upward and seem to be marked with rings; Muscovites make transparent knife handles from them. They are very fast and jump very high ( NG There are wild horses that cannot be trained to work in any way. Commoners (der gemam man) eat them. All of them, as a rule, are pale in color (falb) with black stripes along the back.).

The region closest to Lithuania is Samogitia ( NG in Latin Samogithia, and in Russian - Zhomot land (Samotzka semla)). She lies to the north at(NG from the Principality of Lithuania, belonging to the same (as it is) Grand Duchy, and reaches the very) Baltic Sea, And (NG where ) for four German miles separates Prussia from Livonia. It is not remarkable for any cities or fortresses ( NG unless after (my journey) something was built.). The sovereign appoints a commander there [from Lithuania], whom in your own language(NG according to his position) they call Starosta, i.e. “oldest” (senior, der elter). He does not have to fear that he will be dismissed from his position, unless for some very compelling reasons(NG In Poland this is what they call low-level bosses (gemain Haubtman)), (usually) he remains (in his place) until the end of his life. There is a bishop there who is subordinate to the Roman high priest ( NG they were baptized at the same time as King Jagiel, who took the name Vladislav, and the Lithuanian land). [This is what first of all deserves surprise in Samogitia] the inhabitants of this country, as a rule, are tall, and their children will be born to them [exactly in turn] sometimes of extraordinary size, sometimes tiny, downright dwarfs(NG whom they usually call Carls (Carln). ). The Samogitians dress poorly, most often in ash-gray colors. They live in low and very long huts (casa)(NG poor houses that look like long barns or cattle sheds); in the middle a fire is maintained in them, and when the father of the family sits with him, he (can) ( NG all the time) to see livestock and all household utensils, for it is their custom to keep livestock under the same roof under which they themselves live, without any partition ( NG horse, pig, bull, etc. standing around. It is extremely rare to see fenced-off sleeping rooms among them.). More than ( NG rich and) nobles (maiores, -) use buffalo horns as cups. These are brave people [and good warriors]. In battle, they use armor and other various weapons, mainly a spear [and shorter than usual], like hunters ( NG it also serves as a weapon for horsemen.). Their horses are so small that it’s hard to believe how they can ( NG under (the saddle) of such heavy people) perform so much work: they serve both [in war] on campaigns and [at home] to cultivate the fields. They plow the land not with iron, but with wood, and this is all the more surprising because their soil is hard [and not sandy, so no pine trees grow on it]. When they go to plow, they take with them a lot of wooden (ral) (ligna), with which they blast the ground, using them as a plowshare, so that, of course, if one breaks, they will have more and more ready, without wasting time on it. One of the leaders of the region [wanting to relieve the residents of their too hard work] ordered the delivery of a large number of iron shares. But when both that year and some(NG two or three) the next harvest [due to the vicissitudes of the weather] did not meet the expectations of the farmers, the common people began to attribute the sterility of their fields to the iron coulter [without recognizing any other reason]. Then the boss, fearing outrage, abolished the iron, leaving them to cultivate the fields in their own way. This area abounds in groves and forests ( NG as well as swamps and lakes), in which ( NG as they say) sometimes you can meet ghosts (horrendae visiones, gesicht oder gespenst). There(NG In these lonely places) and to this day there are a lot of idolaters ( NG some worship fire, others trees, the sun or the moon; there are some), who feed in their houses [like penates] certain snakes on four [short] legs, reminiscent of lizards ( NG only bigger), with a black fat body, no more than three spans in length; they are called Giwoites (giowites - So! - A.N.). On set days, they perform cleansing rites in houses and, when the snakes crawl out to the food provided, the whole family worships them with fear until they, having had enough, return to their place ( NG others call them Jastzuka, others - Szmya . They have a (certain) time when they feed their gods: milk is placed in the middle of the house, and they themselves sit on their knees on benches; then a snake appears and hisses at people like an angry goose - and then people pray and worship it with fear.). If any misfortune befalls them, they attribute it to the poor feeding and reception of the household deity [snake]. When I, returning from my first trip to Muscovy, arrived ( NG to Lithuania, to Vilna, and went to look at buffaloes four miles from there) in Troki, then my host, with whom I happened to stay, told me that in the year when I was there, he bought from one such a snake worshiper(NG peasant in the forest) several hives of bees ( NG and left them for safekeeping with this peasant.). With his speeches, he persuaded the seller to the true faith of Christ and convinced him to kill the snake that he worshiped. After some time, he returned there to look at his bees and found that man with a disfigured face: his mouth was pitifully parted to his ears. When asked about the reason for such a misfortune, he replied that he was punished with this disaster for laying his wicked hands on the deity - the snake; So he has to atone for his sin and wash away his guilt. If he does not return to his former faith (ritus), then he will have to endure many even more difficult things ( NG He told him: “This is what you did to me. If you don’t help me soon, I’ll have to make peace with the god (snake) again and take one into my house.”). Although this happened not in Samogitia, but in Lithuania, I still cite it as an example. [They say that] nowhere is honey better, tastier, whiter and with less wax content than in Samogitia.

The sea washing Samogitia ( NG - this place is called the Samogitian coast (Samaitner strand) -), some call it Baltic, others - German, others - Prussian, and some Venedsky (Veneticum), the Germans, in connection with (the name) “Baltic”, call it Pelts.(NG Pomeranian (Pomerisch), Livonian (Leiflandisch) or Finnish (Finlendisch).). Actually, this is a bay, for it juts out past the Cimbri Chersonese, which the Germans now call Jutland (Yuchtland), and Schleswig (Sunder Yuchtland), and in Latin - Jutia (Iucia), a name borrowed from the same place. It also washes Germany, called Lower (Bassa), starting from Holstein (Holsatia), which adjoins Cimbri (Chersonese) ( NG between Jutland and the island of Sieland in Denmark and between Sieland and Sconland, which is part of Sweden. He has many names. Near Denmark, opposite Schleswig, the Duchy of Holnstain and Lubeckh, it is called Pelts. It shares over a large area the possessions of Muscovites and Swedes, as well as Livonia with Prussia and Sweden. Near Germany it washes Jutland and Schleswig), then country of Lübeck (Lubicensis)(NG Lubeck, which, however, is not located directly on the coast), also Wismar (Vismaria) and Rostock (Rostok), the cities of the Dukes of Mecklenburg (Magnopolenses, -) and the entire region of Pomerania, as indicated by the very name of this area: Pomorie (Pomorije) in the Slavic language means the same as “by the sea "or "seaside". Then it washes Prussia, the capital of which is Gdansk (Gdanum, -) [also called Gedanum or Danzig (Dantiscum)]. Next is the residence ( NG and court) of the Prussian Duke, called by the Germans Königsberg (Regius mons, Khuenigsperg). In this area, at certain times of the year, amber (succinum) floating in the sea is caught with great danger to people due to sometimes unexpected ebbs and flows ( NG Between these cities, about four miles from Konigsberg, white and yellow amber (Augstain), otherwise called Pornstain, is caught (in the sea) at the end of August; there is more of it here than anywhere else. It is completely unclear whether it is born in the ground or is tree resin. I think that these are special formations (gewaechs), because no one has been able to find out from which trees such resin flows. Large pieces of it were found in other seas, even in other places and fields. It is considered a precious stone.). The coast of Samogitia reaches barely four miles. Further, for a long distance, the sea washes Livonia [and that country which is colloquially called Courland (Khurland), no doubt (by the name of the people) of the Curets (Cureti)] and the lands subject to the Muscovites; finally, it flows around Finland, which is in the possession of the Swedes and from which it is believed that the name (of the sea?) “Venden” came from. On the other hand, it comes into contact with Sweden(NG the last is Skåne, which, although adjacent to Sweden, belongs to Denmark. This is not an island: the ancients were mistaken about that, and the new (writers) (die Jungen) even to this day.). As for the kingdom of Denmark, it consists mainly of islands and everything is entirely contained in this bay, except Jutland ( NG Schleswig) and Skane (Scandia), adjacent to the mainland ( NG Schleswig belongs to the Duchy of Holstein, which belongs to Germany, and, being part of it, is an imperial fief (von Reich lehn). And although the Danish kings own it hereditarily, they receive it as fief from the Roman emperor or king.). In this bay there is also the island of Gotland, subject to the Kingdom of Denmark. Most believed that from this island ( NG only twelve miles wide) the Goths came out, but it is too small to accommodate so many people(NG having passed through and conquered (then) so many vast lands. This is wrong. The Goths came from the Kingdom of Sweden, where to this day there are large areas bearing this name. All those who have written about the origin of the Goths agree that they came from Scone, called Scandia in Latin.). In addition, if the Goths left Skåne, then from Gotland they would have to (then) get to Sweden and, turning and passing through Skåne, return again, which is not at all in accordance with common sense. On the island of Gotland (Gothia) ruins are still visible ( NG large) city of Visby (Wijsby, Wiswy), in which litigation and disputes of all floating by , cases and litigation were also transferred there for final resolution (provocabantur) even from remote coastal places(NG merchants from coastal countries - this was the privilege and prerogative (handierung) of this city.).

The region of Livonia stretches along the sea coast. Its capital is Riga, where the master (magister, Maister) of the Teutonic Order (ordo Teutonica, Teutsches orden) is in charge. In addition to Riga, in this area there are bishops of Revel and Ezel (Osiliensis, zu Osl). There are many cities in Livonia, especially the (remarkable) city of Riga (-, Ryg) on ​​the Dvina River near its mouth, as well as the cities of Rewal (Rewalia, Refl) and Dorpat (Derbtensis). Russians call Revel Kolyvanya (Roliwan - So! - A.N., Coliwan), and Dorpat (Derbt) - Yuryev city (Iuryowgorod). Riga is called that way in both languages. The navigable rivers are Rubon (-, Duna) and Narva. The sovereign of this region, the order's brothers, the main of whom are called commanders (commendatores) , as well as nobles and citizens (of cities)(NG Both the master of the Teutonic Order, who is the prince of the country, and the commanders (Comentheuren), who as local nobility (Landtherrn) are part of the government (Regierung), and other permanent inhabitants (angesessene Landleute), who have hereditary possessions, and in addition, city ​​citizens) almost all Germans. The common people speak three languages ​​and accordingly are divided into three departments (ordines) or tribes (tribus). From the German principalities of Jülich (Iuliacensis, Guelich) ( NG Clevsky (Clef)), Geldrensis (Geldrensis, Geldern) and Munster (Monasteriensis, Muenster), new servants (servitores, diener) and warriors ( NG and knights), who partly take the place of the dead, and partly replace those who have served an annual service and ( NG not wanting to serve further,) return [like freedmen (manumissi)] to their homeland. They have an exceptionally numerous and powerful cavalry, thanks to which they have steadfastly withstood repeated enemy invasions of their lands by both the Polish king and the Grand Duke of Moscow, valiantly defending themselves against them ( NG In those parts they drink immoderately and (..?) (bedrangts).) .

In September 1502 after the birth of Christ, Alexander, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, having concluded an agreement, persuaded the Livonian master Walter von Plettenberg (a Pleterberg) ( NG very wonderful husband) gather an army and attack the region of the Prince of Moscow, promising himself appear with a large army as soon as it enters the enemy's territory(NG meet him on the appointed day and at the appointed place.). But the king did not arrive at the appointed time [as promised] ( NG- the Polish side (die Khuenigischen) blamed the queen, the Muscovite’s sister, for this -), and Muscovites, learning about the enemy's approach(NG how is it customary for them), came out in huge numbers to meet the master; seeing that [he was abandoned (by the Polish king) and] could not retreat except with [great shame and] danger, the master, first of all, in accordance with the circumstances, encouraged (his) in a few (words), and then, firing a volley from the cannons, bravely attacked the enemy. At the first onslaught, he managed to scatter the Russians and put them to flight. But since the victors were too few in number compared to the number of enemies and, moreover, were burdened with too heavy weapons, so that they could not pursue the enemy far enough, the Muscovites, realizing what was the matter, and having gathered their courage, lined up again and decisively moved towards the infantry Plettenberg (Pletenbergius), which in quantity ( NG there were many enemies, and some of them, opposing the infantry, numbered) about one thousand five hundred (people) met them with a phalanx, they defeated it(NG brutally fired at her with bows.). In this battle, the commander Matthias Pernauer, his brother Heinrich and standard bearer Konrad Schwartz were killed. [The outstanding feat of this standard-bearer is memorable.] Covered with arrows, exhausted, unable to stand on his feet any longer, before falling, he began to call in a loud voice some brave man to accept the banner from him. Lucas Hamersteter immediately ran up to this call, boasting that he was descended, albeit out of wedlock, from the Dukes of Brunswick, and tried to take the banner from the hands of the dying man. But Conrad refused to hand over the banner, [either not trusting Lucas, or] considering him unworthy of such an honor. [Unable to bear the insult] Lucas drew his sword and cut off Conrad's hand along with the banner. But Conrad grabbed the banner with all his might with his other hand and teeth, without letting it go, (so it) tore into pieces. Having seized the remains of the banner, Lucas, betraying the infantry, went over to the side of the Russians. As a result of this betrayal, almost four hundred ( NG(ex) with him) infantrymen were pitifully exterminated by the enemy, and the remnants with the cavalry(NG Although the cavalry repeatedly scattered and put the Muscovites to flight, being heavily armed, they could not pursue a light and numerous enemy, and therefore returned to the infantry, and they), without losing formation, returned unharmed to their own. The culprit of this defeat, Lucas, was [then captured by the Muscovites and] sent to Moscow, where occupied a place of honor for some time at the court of the sovereign . But unable to bear the insult inflicted on him by the Muscovites, he subsequently secretly(NG soon entered the service, but did not stay there long and) fled from Moscow to Christiern, the Danish king, who appointed him to command the cannons (-, Zeugmaister). But when some of the infantrymen who survived that battle and ended up in Denmark discovered his treason to the king and did not want to serve with him, King Christian sent him to Stockholm. When then the situation in the kingdom changed and Iostericus, otherwise Gustav, King of Sweden, returned Stockholm, he, Finding Lucas there, he accepted him among his close associates (familiares)(NG left Lucas in the service) and made him the head of the city of Vyborg (Wiburg). There he was accused of I don’t know what crime and, having found out about this, he, fearing the worst(NG Soon the king received complaints and accusations against him, and he, without waiting for further proceedings,), again retired to Muscovy, where I saw him in honorable clothes(NG in a castle dressed in a black velvet caftan) among the mercenaries (tributarii, Dienstleut) of the sovereign.

Sweden neighbors the Muscovite power and is connected with Norway and Skåne in the same way as Italy is with the kingdom of Naples and Piedmont (Pedemons). It is washed on almost all sides by the Baltic Sea, the ocean and that (sea) that we now call the Arctic (Glaciale) ( NG It is located across the sea opposite Livonia, Samogitia and Prussia; (extends) all the way to Skåne, and beyond Skåne - along Norway for a long distance to the sea, which is called the Arctic (gefrorn), and from there again to the land of the Muscovites, where the Dvina flows into the sea. Near the Dvina there are several territories (stuckh der lender) that pay tribute to both sovereigns: the Swedes and the Muscovite . Sweden is not an island, as others believe and write, but a large part of the mainland, which includes, starting from the Dvina River, Finlappen, wild Lappen, Norwegians, Goths, Skåne and Swedes, then reaching again Finland and the Muscovite limits. There are two kingdoms in this territory: Sweden and Norway; here are the Goths, who until now also had their own kingdom; now they are under the Swedes.). The capital of Sweden is Holmia, which residents call Stockholm, and Russians call Stecolna. This is a very vast kingdom, containing many different nationalities; Among them, the Goths are famous for their military valor, who, in accordance with the position of the regions they inhabit, are divided into Ostrogoths, i.e. Eastern Goths, and Vestrogoths, i.e. Western Goths; Having come out from there, they, according to the reports of most writers, served as a thunderstorm for the whole world ( NG It was captured by the Danish king Johan (Hanns); when he left there, leaving his wife there, Queen Christina, who came from a Saxon house, she was besieged and taken by the Swedes. They kept the queen captive until the king paid the Lübeck people ( or, perhaps: did not pay them from Lübeck. - A.N.) big money for a hired ship. When the Danish king Christiern entered this city (Stockholm), he called the nobility (die ansechliche) for dinner, spoke of peace and trust, and (he himself began) to rage. This happened on Sunday November 4, 1520. Because of such ferocity, he had to leave Denmark of his own free will, not forced by anyone, along with his wife, the daughter of Philip, King of Spain, Archduke, etc., and two children, losing all kingdoms, lands and subjects; he himself fell into eternal imprisonment. The Kingdom of Sweden was ruled for several years by certain special persons who did not have royal rank. ; attempts by King Johan and then his son Hristiern to take possession of it were unsuccessful. Then Gosterich arrived there as king, who rules the kingdom to this day. When I was in Moscow for the second time, the Swedish embassy also came there . The Count (Nugarola) and I asked permission to invite them to our place; we were allowed. When we invited him (the Swedish ambassador) to dinner, he agreed on the condition that we dine with him in turn. According to the old custom, he was accompanied by many priests, who, however, did not appear for dinner. Our Moscow bailiffs were also present at the dinner. His (ambassador's) name was Erich Fleming, he was from the Brandenburg Mark. We behaved in the German manner, and soon began to talk and laugh in a friendly manner. This was a novelty for the Muscovites, and they did not want to believe that until then we had not known each other.).

Norway, which others call Northvagia, is adjacent to Sweden for a long distance and is washed by the sea. AND(NG According to residents, the country has many amazing things: talking and smoking mountains , where you can hear strange screams, extraordinary visions (erscheinungen), as well as spirits allegedly communicating with people. God knows what it is, and whether it should be believed, but many honest people wrote and talked about it, and from them I heard all this. Both this country and Sweden include many other areas, for example, wild Lapps and others that are opposite Engraneland.) just as the latter received its name from the word Sud, which means “south”, so the first - from the word Nort, i.e. “north”, where it is located. [For the Germans gave their own names to the four countries of the world and named the areas adjacent to them accordingly. Namely, Ost means “east”, hence Austria, which the Germans actually call Osterreich, West - “west”, whence Westphalia.] In the same way, from the words Sud and Nort, as stated above, Sweden and Norway received their names.

As for Skåne, it is not an island, but a part of the kingdom of Sweden (adjacent to) the mainland, [which borders for a long distance with the Goths and] a significant part of which is now owned by the Danish king. And although those who wrote on this occasion represented it more than Sweden itself and reported that both the Goths and the Lombards came from it, however, at least in my opinion, the name Scone seemed to mean all three kingdoms as some kind of indivisible whole, because that then the part of the land between the Baltic Sea, which washes Finland, and the Arctic Sea was unknown; and to this day it remains uninhabited (inculta) and little known due to the abundance of swamps, countless rivers and unfavorable climate. As a result, the majority called this huge island ( So! - A.N.) one common name Skane(NG Skåne is so close to the island of Zealand, on which the Danish capital of Copenhagen is located, that (the strait) is shot from both sides by cannons, and because of these cannons no ship can safely pass it unless it has an escort or is ( didn't pay) washed up.

The Kingdom of Denmark (Dennmarckht), in Latin Dania, owns on the continent only Skåne, as mentioned above, and Jutland, to which Schleswig adjoins, the rest are islands. Count Christiern of Oldenburg was elected king. From him descend the descendants of King Johan and Frederick, Duke of Holstein. King Johan had a (son), King Christiann, whose wife was mentioned above. He behaved in an inappropriate manner, which is why I was sent (to him) by Emperor Maximilian , spoke reproachful words to him and also that he placed a simple woman (ain gmain weib) above God, his honor and duty, as well as friendship, the highest among Christian (sovereigns). That is why the following decision was made regarding him: Duke of Holstein Frederick, and then his son Christian became kings and (are) to this day . ).

About Korela (Corela) ( NG - that's what Muscovites call it, otherwise - Karela -) it is said above that she is a tributary to both the Swedish king and the sovereign of Muscovy, since she lies between the possessions of both, which is why each of them boasts that she is his (property); its borders extend all the way to the Arctic Sea. And since most writers report a lot of contradictory (news) about the Arctic Sea, I considered it useful to add short description sailing this sea NG they themselves also have tributaries. Korela lies near another sea into which the great Dvina flows (gross Dwina) . ).

Since the time of Ivan III, foreigners have been visiting Russian regions more and more often. Some of them came here for the sake of profit, counting on a good salary, which was paid in Moscow to “cunning”, that is, knowledgeable, skillful foreign craftsmen; others came for trading purposes; Still others got acquainted with our region while passing through, making their way east to the rich Trans-Caspian countries.

Foreign embassies also appear in Muscovy (as foreigners usually called the Muscovite state) more and more often.

Muscovy in those days was just as little known to Western Europe as, for example, China is to us, and therefore it is understandable that the more educated foreigners who were in the Russian regions looked with great curiosity at both the country and the life of the inhabitants, and diligently included them in their notes, everything that seemed wonderful to them, in order to introduce their compatriots to an unknown land. In the stories of these foreigners we find precious information about the life of our ancestors.

Sigismund Herberstein in a Russian fur coat granted to him by Vasily III

We find several news about Muscovy from the Italian travelers Barbaro and Contarini, who passed through Russian lands - the first at the beginning, and the second at the end of the 15th century, and also from some writers who, although they themselves were not in Rus', collected information Russian ambassadors and people who visited Muscovy talked about it. Particularly interesting are the notes of Baron Sigismund Herberstein, the German ambassador. He visited the Moscow state twice under Vasily Ivanovich; the first time I stayed for about eight months, the second time about six months. Familiar with two Slavic dialects, Herberstein soon became comfortable with the Russian language and could speak with Russians without an interpreter. The inquisitive and enlightened Herberstein was very interested not only in what he saw in Muscovy, but also in its history.

Western Europeans were struck by Muscovy primarily by its appearance, its nature. There was not the same diversity as in the western, especially mountainous, part of Europe, where picturesque views, villages, beautiful stone cities, and formidable castles came across at every step. An endless plain, covered with huge, continuous forests, cut by many rivers and rivulets, with many lakes and swamps - this is what the Western traveler imagined in our fatherland. In Herberstein's time, one could drive a whole day without encountering human habitation. The villages along the way were for the most part very small: three or four huts, the same number of peasant families - that’s a village. In Muscovy, one more often came across just emerging settlements consisting of one dwelling, “pochinki,” as they were called, or “zaimishcha,” i.e., a settlement often consisting of one peasant family that had taken a place for a hut somewhere in a forest clearing. It was possible to drive for several days and not see not only a city, but even a decent village, that is, a village with a church. And Russian cities at that time were completely unpretentious, in the opinion of a Western European like Herberstein: the same wooden buildings as in the villages, the earthen and log fence that made up the city itself - all this was very unpretentious; Only the churches that abounded in our cities brightened them up somewhat, but the churches were also mostly small, wooden. Only in the more significant cities of Muscovy were there stone fences forming kremlins, or detinets. The Kremlin usually had stone, more elegant churches and cathedrals; The mansions of the princely governor were set up in the Kremlin. In large cities, where rich boyars lived, and in the posad, the part of the city located near the Kremlin, rich posad people and merchants sometimes built more intricate and spacious dwellings.

In the spring, when the snow melted, the rivers overflowed, all the low-lying places in Muscovy were filled with water, swamps appeared at every step, which did not dry out even in the hot summer, especially in the forest slums, impenetrable to the sun's rays. It was impossible to travel by land in the spring or summer. If necessity forced them, they preferred to ride, but even here they had to overcome enormous difficulties - making their way through forest thickets, crossing swamps, wading or swimming across rivers; only large cities had bridges or rafts for crossing. In Muscovy, during the time of Herberstein’s embassy, ​​it was not difficult to get lost while making your way through the forest jungle. Moreover, the forests were full of predatory animals, and the swamps gave rise to clouds of midges and mosquitoes. It is clear that undertaking a long journey with all the indicated inconveniences meant deciding on a difficult feat. That is why in the summer they usually tried to travel through Muscovy by river routes. Only in winter, when frost froze the swamps and rivers and the ground was covered with a soft snow carpet, was it possible to travel with greater comfort to different ends of the Russian land in a sleigh with guides on skis who scouted out the paths. But in winter the frosts were so severe that birds froze in flight, and people and horses of merchant convoys froze on the way. Foreigners, not accustomed to such cold, found such frosts unbearable.

It is clear that in the era of Herberstein there were few people who wanted to travel around Muscovy and study it; It is clear that information about her could not be accurate. They knew especially little about the far north and were content with various fairy tales: they said, for example, that in the far north there live people who die or fall asleep in winter, and come to life in spring; they talked about unusual northern inhabitants, covered with fur, with dog heads, about people who do not speak, but chirp like birds, etc. It is not difficult to guess how such tales came about: inaccurate and random stories about some of the customs of the inhabitants far north, for example, the custom of hiding from severe frosts for a long time in their yurts, covered with snow, wearing clothes made of animal skin with the fur facing up, stories about the peculiarities of language, etc. gave rise to these fables.

Western ambassadors usually traveled to Moscow in two ways: one, further, but more convenient, went through Livonia to Novgorod, and from here to Moscow, the other, the shortest, through Smolensk.

Reception of ambassadors in Muscovy

During the time of Sigismund Herberstein, a foreign ambassador, approaching the borders of Muscovy, had to make himself known to the governor in the nearest Moscow city. He found out whether a great ambassador, or an envoy, or just a messenger was traveling, whether he had a large retinue, etc. These inquiries were made in order to arrange a proper reception for the ambassador. The governor sent to meet him some “big man” from his subordinates with his retinue, who met the foreign ambassador, standing with his entourage in the middle of the road, and did not shy away a single step, so that the foreigners had to turn out of the way and go around them. When the ambassador and the Russian official sent to meet him met on the road, an explanation took place. According to Herberstein, this required that the ambassador and the Russian “big man” get off their horses or get out of the carts; the latter vigilantly ensured that he did not get off his horse before the foreign ambassador and thereby not diminish the honor of his sovereign, then he approached the ambassador with his head open and informed him solemnly and verbosely about himself that he had been sent by the viceroy of the great sovereign to see off the ambassador and ask how best to whether he rode well; after which he extended his hand to the foreigner and asked him about the path from himself. Finally, the ambassador continued his journey, driving around the Russian official, and he followed him from afar with his people and on the way found out from his servants the names, rank and rank of all the persons in the embassy, ​​as well as who understood what language. The Grand Duke was immediately informed of all this in Moscow. The Russian bailiffs who escorted the foreign embassy vigilantly ensured that none of the foreigners lag behind the ambassador or enter into contact with the population of Muscovy. All sorts of supplies were delivered to them by the same bailiffs. They moved forward very slowly: the bailiffs used all sorts of tricks to slow down the ambassadors' journey until they received a decree from Moscow on how to act.

Sigismund Herberstein had to spend the night three times on the 12-mile journey, and twice in the open air in the snow. In large cities, governors usually honored and treated ambassadors.

According to Moscow custom, a foreign embassy, ​​entering Russian borders, was freed from all expenses: not only food supplies were delivered to the ambassador and his retinue, but the transportation itself was carried out at the expense of the sovereign's treasury.

So-called “pits” (stations) were built along the main roads of Muscovy; The “drivers” had to display a certain number of horses and carts. On the way, foreign guests were met by those sent from eminent people, who accompanied the embassy, ​​taking care of everything necessary, and also making sure that foreigners did not enter into relations with the population.

Near Moscow, the embassy in which Herberstein was present was met by an old clerk, who announced that the sovereign was sending “great” people to meet foreigners. At the same time, the clerk warned that when meeting with the sovereign’s people, foreign ambassadors should dismount from their horses and listen to the sovereign’s speeches while standing; he was very fussed, in a hurry, apparently tired and covered in sweat. Herberstein, who had met him earlier, asked him about the reason for his fatigue.

“Sigismund (Herberstein’s name),” answered the old man, “they serve our sovereign differently than yours!”

The courtiers who rode out to meet the ambassador tried to arrange things so that he would be the first to bare his head, the first to get out of the car or get off his horse. This meant making sure that the sovereign’s honor was not compromised in any way.

At the meeting itself, one of the Moscow dignitaries said to Herberstein and his companions:

- The Great Sovereign Vasily, by the grace of God the Tsar and Sovereign of All Rus', etc. (the whole title was said), learned that you, the ambassadors of his brother Charles, the elected Emperor of Rome and the High King, and his brother Ferdinand, had arrived. The Emperor sent us, his advisers, to ask you how his brother Charles, the Roman Emperor, is doing.

Then the same appeal on behalf of the sovereign, listing his titles, was made both to the chief ambassador and to his comrades - they asked each one if he was traveling “in good health.” After these greetings, to which the ambassadors responded in the same manner, they mounted their horses.

The Moscow bailiffs tried to put on their hats faster and jump on their horses faster than foreign ambassadors, so that it would not seem to them that the Russians considered themselves lower than them, and their sovereign lower than their sovereign.

Then they entered Moscow. Usually huge crowds gathered to see such a wonder as foreign ambassadors. They say that by order of the sovereign, people were gathered further from the surrounding villages to Moscow to meet the ambassadors: crowds of people in festive attire were supposed to inspire foreigners with a high opinion of the strength and wealth of the Moscow state. It even happened that when a foreign embassy entered, shops were locked, traders and buyers were driven from the market to the streets along which it passed.

The premises for the embassy, ​​in which Sigismund Herberstein was, were allocated in a building that was almost completely empty, even without beds. Food supplies were delivered by a clerk specially appointed for this purpose. The bailiffs in their address were strictly consistent with the rank and importance of the ambassador; it was also strictly determined how much bread, meat, salt, pepper, oats, hay and firewood should be given to him and his people daily. The bailiffs tried with all their might to prevent foreign guests from buying anything themselves and, a little later after their arrival, they found out from the embassy servants what the ambassador intended to give them.

After resting for two days, Herberstein and the other ambassadors began to inquire when they would be receiving an appointment with the Grand Duke of Muscovy. After much delay, the day of the appointment was finally set.

- Get ready, because you will be called before the face of the sovereign! – the bailiff solemnly announced to the chief ambassador.

Some time later it was again announced to the ambassadors:

- Big people will soon come for you, and therefore you should gather in one chamber!

At the same time, the bailiff convinced the foreign ambassadors to do honor to big people - to come out to meet them.

Then, accompanied by many boyars, Herberstein and his comrades went to the palace. Again, the streets where they passed were crowded with people in festive dress, and troops stood in rows. Before reaching the palace porch, the ambassadors had to dismount from their horses and walk. Only the prince himself could ride up to the porch itself on horseback.

The ambassadors were met on the stairs by the boyars of Muscovy, the sovereign's advisers. They led the foreigners to the top of the stairs; here they were handed over to the highest dignitaries, and they themselves walked behind. At the entrance to the chambers, the leading boyars met the ambassadors and led them to the sovereign. In the main chambers there were more eminent dignitaries, the people closest to the sovereign. The boyars showed off in their richest, most brilliant clothes. Everything was unusually solemn. Finally, the ambassadors approached the Grand Duke. One of the top dignitaries bowed to him and loudly proclaimed:

- Great Sovereign, Count Leonard (chief ambassador) hits you with his forehead!

Similar greetings were announced from other persons who were with the ambassador.

According to Herberstein’s description, the sovereign of Muscovy sat with his head uncovered on an elevated and honorable place (on the throne), near a wall glittering with gilding and images of saints; on the right on the bench lay a cap, and on the left a scepter; There was a basin with two washstands right there. (They say that the prince, extending his hand to the ambassador of the Roman faith, considers that he is giving it to an unclean person, and, having released him, immediately washes it.) Opposite the prince, in the lowest place, a bench was prepared for the ambassadors. The prince himself, after saluting him, invited them with a sign to sit on the bench.

“Is our brother Charles, the elected Roman emperor and high king, well?” - asked the sovereign.

The same question was asked about Ferdinand, the emperor's brother.

The interpreter, through whom the conversation took place, translated these words to the envoy. While the name of Charles and his brother Ferdinand was being pronounced, the Grand Duke stood up and then sat down again, receiving the answer: “Good.” Then the sovereign turned to the ambassador with a friendly question:

- Did I go well, did I go well?

To this the ambassador should have responded like this:

- God grant, sir, that you may be healthy for many years to come. By the mercy of God and by your mercy, I am healthy.

After this, the sovereign ordered the ambassadors to sit down again. It was the custom for the ambassadors of those states with which Muscovy had more frequent relations (Lithuania, Livonia, Sweden) to bring gifts. The boyars also reminded the people of the embassy in which Herberstein participated about gifts, but they replied that they did not have such a custom.

When the ambassadors had sat for a while, the sovereign invited them to dine with him.

“Have a bite of our bread and salt with us,” he said to each of them.

Then the bailiffs took the ambassadors to another chamber, where they outlined in detail their instructions to the boyars and clerks, whom the Grand Duke himself appointed. After this, Sigismund Herberstein and other envoys were taken to the dining room. All the boyars stood up when the ambassadors entered, saluting them. The ambassadors, in turn, thanked them with bows in all directions, then took the place that the sovereign himself indicated to them with his hand.

The tables in this chamber, Herberstein reports, were placed in a circle of the purveyor, who stood in the middle, burdened with a lot of gold and silver utensils. At the table where the sovereign was sitting, there was a small free space on both sides; on the right and left sides there were places for the brothers of the Grand Duke. Further, at some distance from these places, sat the oldest princes, boyars - according to the degree of nobility and favor that they enjoyed from the sovereign. Opposite the Grand Duke, at another table, sat the ambassadors, and at a short distance from them - their entourage. On the tables were small vessels with vinegar, pepper and salt.

The food servers in magnificent clothes entered the dining room and stood against the Grand Duke. Meanwhile, he called one of the servants and gave him two pieces of bread and ordered him to give it to the ambassadors. The servant, taking the interpreter with him, brought the bread to the ambassadors one by one and said:

- The Great Sovereign Vasily, by the grace of God the Tsar and Sovereign of All Rus' and the Grand Duke, does you a favor and sends you bread from his table.

The interpreter translated these words loudly. The ambassadors stood and listened to the mercy of the sovereign. Others, besides the brothers of the Grand Duke, stood up to show honor to the foreigners, and they thanked the sovereign with a bow, then bowed in all directions to the boyars.

According to Herberstein, by sending bread to someone sitting at the table, the Grand Duke expressed his mercy, and by sending salt from his table, he expressed love. This was the highest honor that the sovereign of Moscow could bestow at his feast.

The dinner began with the serving of vodka, which was always drunk at the beginning of dinner; then they brought fried cranes, which are served to meat eaters as a first course. Three were placed before the Grand Duke. He cut them with a knife, testing whichever way was best. Then the servants took them away to be cut into pieces, and soon returned and distributed the pieces into small dishes. The Emperor gives a piece to the servant to try, then eats it himself. Sometimes, if he wants to honor a boyar or ambassador, he sends him a dish from which he himself tasted; Moreover, the same ritual of greeting and bowing is repeated again, as when sending bread or salt.

Herberstein complains that “everyone gets tired a lot, how many times saluting the prince, getting up, standing, thanking and often bowing his head in all directions.”

Russians in Muscovy ate cranes, adding vinegar and adding salt and pepper. Vinegar was used instead of sauce or gravy. In addition, sour milk, pickles, and pears, prepared in the same way as cucumbers, were placed on the table. The cranes were followed by other dishes. Various drinks were also served: malvasia, Greek wine and different honeys. According to Herberstein’s description, the prince ordered his cup to be served to himself once or twice, and he also treated the ambassadors, saying: “Drink, and drink, and eat well, to your fill, and then rest!”

The Grand Duke's dinner lasted three or four hours, and sometimes until the night.

After dinner with the sovereign of Muscovy, the dignitaries who escorted the ambassadors to the palace took them back to the embassy house, and claimed that they, the boyars, were ordered to stay there and entertain the guests. Silver bowls and many vessels with drinks were brought, and the boyars tried to get the ambassadors drunk. The boyars are great masters of forcing people to drink, says Herberstein, and when, it seems, all the reasons for drinking have been exhausted, they begin to drink to the health of the emperor, his brother, the Grand Duke, and finally, to the health of the most important dignitaries. They believe that it is indecent to refuse the cup. They drink in Muscovy in the following way: the one who starts, takes the cup, steps into the middle of the room and, standing with his head open, expresses in a cheerful speech his wishes to the one for whose health he drinks; then, having emptied the cup, he tips it over his head so that everyone can see that he has drunk to the bottom and really wishes health to the person for whom he drinks. Then he orders the cups to be filled and demands that everyone drink to the one whose name he calls. In this way, everyone should go to the middle of the room and return to their place only when in sight at everyone will empty their cup. Russians consider a good welcome and a warm treat only when the guests are drunk. To get rid of excessive drinking, according to Herberstein, you need to pretend to be drunk or asleep.

Grand Duke's hunt in Muscovy

Wanting to show the ambassadors a special favor, the sovereign of Muscovy invited them to participate in the usual fun of that time - hunting.

This is how Sigismund Herberstein describes one of these hunts.

Near Moscow there is a place dotted with bushes, very convenient for hares, where, as if in a menagerie, a great many of them are bred; no one dares to catch them or cut down the bushes there under pain of the greatest punishment. In addition, the Prince of Muscovy keeps many of them in animal pens and other places. Every time he wants to enjoy this fun, he orders hares to be brought from different places, because, in his opinion, the more hares he hunts, the more honor he will have.

When the ambassadors arrived at the call of the Grand Duke to hunt and performed all the rituals in honor of the prince, the hunt began. The sovereign, writes Herberstein, was sitting on a richly decorated horse, wearing luxurious clothes. He wore a hat, called a cap, which had visors on both sides, front and back, from which golden plates stuck up like feathers and swung back and forth. His clothes were embroidered with gold. On the belt hung two oblong knives and the same dagger. At the back, under the belt, he had a flail (a kind of whip, to the end of the belt of which a metal ball was attached). WITH right side the former Kazan king Shig-Alei was traveling; on the left were two young princes, one of whom held in his right hand a poleaxe (axe) with an ivory handle, the other a mace, or poleaxe. Shig-Aley had two quivers tied: in one he had arrows, in the other he had a bow. According to Herberstein, there were more than three hundred horsemen in the field. About a hundred hunters stood in a long row. Half of them were dressed in black clothes, and the other - yellow. All the other hunters stood not far from them and watched so that the hares did not run through this place and would not leave completely. At first, no one was allowed to release the dogs except the king, Shig-Aley and foreign guests.

The prince shouted to begin. Then the message was given to all the hunters. They all cry out in one voice and release the big dogs. It was fun to hear, says Herberstein, the loud and varied barking of dogs, and the Grand Duke has a lot of them, and excellent ones at that. When a hare runs out, three, four, five or more dogs descend, rushing after him from everywhere, and when they grab him, a joyful cry and applause arises, as if a big beast has been caught. If the hares do not run out for too long, then, by order of the Grand Duke, they are released from the bags. These hares sometimes, as if sleepy, fall into a flock of dogs, between which they jump like lambs in a herd. Whose dog hunted down more hares is considered the main winner. This time, when after the hunt they dumped the hares in one place, there were more than three hundred of them.

Herberstein reports that the princes and boyars of Muscovy loved to amuse themselves, in addition to dogs, with bird hunts. Falcons and gyrfalcons, accustomed to hunting, would strike swans, cranes, wild geese, etc. on the fly, and the killed bird would fall at the feet of the hunters.

The hunt in which Herberstein took part ended in a feast. Not far from Moscow, several tents were erected: the first of them, large and spacious, was for the Grand Duke, the other for Shig-Aley, the third for ambassadors, the rest for other persons. The prince, entering his tent, changed his clothes and immediately called the ambassadors to him. When they entered he was sitting in an ivory chair. On his right was King Shig-Alei, on his left were the younger princes, whom the Grand Duke especially favored.

When everyone was seated, they began to serve first anise jam, almonds, etc., then nuts, almonds and sugar cakes; Drinks were also served, and the sovereign showed his favor by treating foreign guests.

The Grand Duke of Muscovy had other fun, according to Herberstein. The bears were fattened in a spacious house built specifically for this purpose. By order of the prince, people of lower rank came out against them with wooden pitchforks (horns) and began a battle for the amusement of the Grand Duke. If angry animals wound them, they run to the prince and shout: “Sir, we are wounded!” Grand Duke says to them: “Go, I will show you mercy” - and orders them to be treated and given clothes and bread.

The power of the sovereign in Muscovy

The observant Sigismund Herberstein often saw and heard how the Grand Duke of Muscovy treated the boyars and other close people and how they treated him. “In power over his subjects,” says Herberstein, “the Moscow sovereign surpasses almost all the autocrats in the whole world”; both the personality of his subjects and their property are completely in his power. Everyone must unquestioningly fulfill his wishes. Rich people were obliged to serve free of charge at his court, in the embassy or in war; He pays only the poorest of his associates a small salary at his own discretion. The noblest, who send embassies or other important positions by order of the sovereign, are given control of the region or village and land; moreover, however, they have to pay him an annual tax on these lands, so that only court fees and other income go to the benefit of the managers. The Grand Duke of Muscovy allows the use of such possessions for the most part for a year and a half; if he wants to show someone special mercy and favor, he adds a few more months. But after this time, all salary ceases, and for six whole years such a person must serve for nothing.

At the princely court, says Herberstein, there was a clerk, Vasily Tretyak Dalmatov. He enjoyed the special favor of the Grand Duke. But once he was appointed to the embassy in Germany. The costs were considerable. Dalmatov began to complain that he had no money for travel and other expenses. For this, by order of Vasily Ivanovich, he was captured and taken to Beloozero in custody. His estate, movable and immovable, was taken into the grand ducal treasury; the brothers and heirs did not receive even a fourth part.

If the ambassadors sent to foreign sovereigns bring some precious gifts, then the prince of Muscovy takes them to his treasury, saying that he will give the boyars another reward for this. So, when the ambassadors who went to the German emperor brought with them gold necklaces, chains, Spanish ducats, silver bowls, etc., almost everything more valuable was taken to the sovereign's treasury. “When I asked the Russian ambassadors if this was true,” says Herberstein, “one of them denied, fearing to humiliate his prince in the eyes of a foreigner; another said that the prince ordered gifts to be brought to him in order to look at them.” But the courtiers did not reject the fact that more valuable things were taken away from the boyars by the Grand Duke.

- So what? - they said at the same time. - The Emperor will reward them with another favor.

He has power over both secular and ecclesiastical persons and freely, at his own discretion, disposes of the lives and property of everyone. Of his advisers, none is so important as to dare to contradict him in anything or have a different opinion. They openly admit that the will of the prince is the will of God and that what the prince does, he does according to the will of God. They even call their sovereign “God’s key keeper” and believe that he is the executor of God’s will. The prince himself, when asked about a prisoner, usually answers:

– He will be released when God commands.

If someone asks about an unknown or dubious matter, they usually say:

- God and the great sovereign knows about it!

The personality of Vasily Ivanovich greatly occupied Herberstein; He even attached a drawing to his notes depicting the Grand Duke in home clothes.

Military affairs of Muscovy in the 16th century

The great military strength of Muscovy also attracted the attention of Sigismund Herberstein. Moscow ambassadors proudly declared to foreigners that, at the first request of the Russian sovereign, a huge army of two or three hundred thousand horsemen could flock like bees in a few days... Even if this is exaggerated, it is still known that the Moscow army was usually very numerous . According to Herberstein, Vasily already had a permanent, but small, foot detachment of soldiers, consisting of 1,500 hired Lithuanians and all sorts of foreigners. The main military forces consisted of cavalry, which was fully armed only during the war.

A year or two later, the Grand Duke orders that the boyars’ children be recruited and registered in order to know their number and how many people and horses each of them has. All those who are able due to their condition serve military service in Muscovy. Rarely do they enjoy peace: there is almost constant war going on, either with the Lithuanians, or with the Swedes, or with the Tatars. Even if there is no war, twenty thousand troops are still deployed annually on the southern outskirts, near the Don and Oka, to protect them from the raids and robberies of the Crimean Tatars. These detachments usually change every year; but in wartime, everyone obliged to serve must serve where the Grand Duke indicates, and for as long as necessary.

The Russian army in those days was, according to Herberstein, poorly organized. Although the horses of the cavalry were strong and hardy, they were for the most part small, unshod and with the lightest bridle. The saddles were arranged in such a way that it was possible to easily turn around in all directions and shoot arrows. The riders sat on their horses, their legs bent so tightly that it was not difficult to knock them out of the saddle with a blow from a spear. A few use spurs, and most use a whip, which always hangs on the little finger of the right hand, so that it can be used immediately when the need arises.

Common weapons in Muscovy are a bow, arrows, an ax and a flail. The saber is used mostly by the richest and noblest. Long daggers, hanging like knives, are often so hidden in their sheaths that they are difficult to pull out; They also used spears and javelins or small lances. The rein of the bridle is usually long, cut at the end; it is put on the finger of the left hand so that you can freely use the bow. Although at the same time the rider holds a bridle, a bow, a saber and a whip in his hands, he manages all of this quite deftly.

Noble and rich people, writes Herberstein, use good defensive weapons in war: various kinds of armor, chain mail, braces, etc. Very few have a helmet that is pointed at the top and has a decorated top.

Those who are poorer are often content with clothes tightly lined with cotton paper or hemp, the so-called tegils, and the same caps. Pieces of iron were embedded in the thickness of both, so that it was very difficult to cut through the tegilyai. The armament of Russian soldiers has not advanced much since the 14th century.

According to Herberstein, guns and firearms in general were handled poorly in Muscovy. Frequent wars with the Tatars, and it was necessary to rely most on the speed of movement and had to cover large spaces across the steppe, led to the fact that there were no foot troops, with the exception of the mentioned small detachment. A quick, sudden attack on the enemy, pursuit of him or flight from him - this is what, according to Russian concepts, war consisted mainly of. It is clear that infantry and guns with this method of war would only be a burden.

Under Vasily Ivanovich, the beginning of infantry was nevertheless laid, and cannons were also gradually put into use, especially during the siege of cities (the siege of Smolensk). The Russians rarely took cities by battle or attack; they usually took them by starvation, that is, they forced the inhabitants to surrender through a long siege and starvation. Vasily Ivanovich had foundry workers from Germans and Italians in Muscovy: they poured cannons, cannonballs and bullets.

U different nations“,” says Herberstein, “there is a big difference in the way of war, as in other matters,” and makes the following comparison between a Russian, a Tatar and a Turk: “A Muscovite, as soon as he begins to flee, no longer thinks of another means of salvation other than flight . When the enemy catches up with him or captures him, he no longer defends himself and does not ask for mercy, but humbly surrenders to his fate. A Tatar, thrown from a horse, left without any weapons, even seriously wounded, usually defends himself until his last breath - with his hands, feet, teeth and whatever he can. The Turk, having lost all hope of help and salvation, throws down his weapon, begs for mercy, folds his hands to be tied, holds them out to the winner, hoping to save his life by his captivity.”

Foreigners were especially surprised by the extraordinary endurance of the Russian warrior. If he has, says Herberstein, crushed millet in a bag the length of two palms, then eight or ten pounds of salted pork meat and salt, mixed, if he is rich, with pepper, then he is quite satisfied. In addition, every warrior in Muscovy carries with him an ax, tinder, and a saucepan, and if he comes somewhere where there is no fruit, no garlic, no onions, no game, then he makes a fire, fills the pot with water, into which he puts a full spoon millet, adds salt and cooks - both master and slaves live contented with this food. If the master is too hungry, he eats everything, and the slaves sometimes fast for two or three days. If the gentleman wants to have a better dinner, then he adds a piece of pork to this. This is said about people of mediocre condition. The leaders of the army and other commanders sometimes invite these poor people to their place, who, having dined well, sometimes abstain from food for two or three days. When warriors have vegetables, onions, garlic and bread, they can easily do without anything else.

According to Herberstein, in battles the Russians rely on the large number of their forces more than on the courage of the soldiers and on the good organization of the army; they try to get around the enemy and attack him from the rear.

Morals and customs of Muscovy, according to Herberstein

Also interesting is some, albeit fragmentary, information from foreign writers about the morals and customs of Russians in Muscovy in the 15th–16th centuries. We again find more news from Herberstein.

The piety of our ancestors and their observance of external rituals struck the eyes of foreigners. Herberstein reports that the Russians zealously observed all fasts; Moreover, during Lent, some abstain not only from fish, but eat food only on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and on other days they do not eat at all or are content with a piece of bread and water. The monks are subject to even stricter fasts: for many days they must be content with only kvass.

Russians, Herberstein testifies, do not have preachers: they believe that it is enough to be present at divine services and hear the Gospel, messages and teachings of other teachers (church fathers: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom). In Muscovy they think by this to avoid various rumors and heresies, which are mostly born from sermons. On Sunday, the holidays of the coming week are announced and the confession (profession of faith) is read loudly. They consider what the prince himself believes or thinks to be true and obligatory for everyone. “The Muscovites,” says the same writer, “boast that they alone are Christians, but they condemn us (Catholics) as apostates from the primitive church and ancient holy institutions.” Russian monks have long tried to spread the Word of God among idolaters; they go to various countries lying in the north and east, where they reach with great difficulty and danger. They do not expect or desire any benefit; on the contrary, sometimes they even die, sealing the teachings of Christ with their death; they try only to do what is pleasing to God, to guide the souls of many who are lost on the true path, to lead them to Christ. This zeal for faith was also reflected in the piety of Russians. Herberstein is struck by the “amazing confluence of tribes and peoples” on certain days at the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where the prince himself often goes, and the people flock annually on holidays and feed on the bounty of the monastery. Noble people in Muscovy honor the holidays by first of all going to mass; then they put on luxurious clothes and revel... The common people - servants and slaves - for the most part work after mass, saying that “celebrating and walking is the master’s business.” Only on special days (Christmas and Easter holidays and some others) do black people “go out”, usually indulging in drunkenness.

Boys and boys in Muscovy loved to amuse themselves in holidays fist fights. The fighters are called with a whistle: they immediately converge, and hand-to-hand combat begins. The fighters become very angry, punch and kick each other indiscriminately in the face, neck, chest, stomach, or try to knock each other down. It happens that some are killed to death. Who will beat larger number opponents, stays in place longer and endures blows more courageously, he is praised and considered a winner.

The rudeness of morals was also reflected in torture and corporal punishment, and was also reflected in the relations of landowners to villagers, masters to servants. The villagers of Muscovy, according to Herberstein, work for their master (i.e., the landowner on whose land they live) for six days, while the seventh is left for their own work. They have plots of fields and meadows, which the master gives them and from which they feed; but their situation is extremely pitiful: they are called “black little people” and can often offend and rob with impunity. A noble man, no matter how poor he may be, considers it a disgrace and disgrace to earn bread with his own hands. Commoner workers, when hired to work, receive one and a half money for their work per day, a craftsman receives two money. Despite the fact that these were civilian employees, the employer considers himself entitled to beat them to force them to work harder: “If you don’t beat them well,” says Herberstein, “they won’t work diligently.” In addition to hired servants, all nobles had serfs and slaves, most of them purchased or from captives.

“Slavery in Muscovy has become a custom to such an extent,” says Herberstein, “that in those cases when masters, dying, set slaves free, these latter are usually immediately sold into slavery to other masters. If a father sells his son into slavery, as is the custom, and the son somehow becomes free, the father has the right to sell him a second time; only after the fourth sale does the father lose his rights over his son. Only one prince can execute by death both slaves and freemen.”

The position of a woman in Muscovy was also sad: among the common people she was an “eternal worker” for her family, a slave to her husband, and in the highest circles a woman was a slave in both her father’s family and her husband’s family. The girl could not get married of her own free will: her father was looking for a groom; also the groom did not marry of his own free will; marriage was a transaction between the father of the bride and the father of the groom. They get together and talk about what the father will give to his daughter as a dowry. Having resolved the dowry case, a wedding day is set until the contract is finalized. The groom, continues Sigismund Herberstein, is not allowed to see the bride. If he expresses a persistent desire to see her, his parents usually tell him:

– Find out what she is like from others who know her.

The dowry includes horses, clothes, utensils, livestock, slaves, etc. Those invited to the wedding also send gifts to the bride. The groom carefully notices them, sends them to pricers to evaluate them, and then tries to thank those who gave them either with money or with gifts of the same value. He is obliged to do this, and, moreover, according to the correct assessment: otherwise, those who gave may demand from him a reward for their gifts, at their discretion, twice or more than their real price.

Herberstein writes that after the death of his first wife, a Muscovite is allowed to enter into a second marriage, but they look at this with disapproval; you are not allowed to marry a third wife without an important reason; No one is allowed to take a fourth wife and they consider this matter not at all Christian. Divorce was considered grave sin. Marital happiness and good family life were quite rare occurrences in Muscovy. This is understandable: they married not by their own choice and heartfelt attraction, but by order of their parents and by calculation.

The wife of a noble or noble man, according to Herberstein's description, was a recluse in her husband's house. A woman who does not live, confined to her home, is not considered well-behaved, but she is highly revered when strangers and strangers do not see her. Women confined at home usually do yarn and various handicrafts. All household work in Muscovy is done by the hands of slaves; Poor people's wives do all the housework.

It is very rare that wives are allowed to go to church, to close acquaintances, or to the company of friends; only old women enjoyed more freedom.

A holiday treat for women was the swing, which was installed in the gardens of all wealthy people. The women also amused themselves by singing songs, round dances, etc.

Russians looked at their wives as children or as slaves and tried to keep them in fear and obedience. The harsh, rude treatment of a husband towards his wife, even beatings, became such a custom that they were considered almost a sign of a husband’s love for his wife and his concern for his family.

Herberstein recounts the following incident:

“In Muscovy there lived a German blacksmith named Jordan, who married a Russian. After living with her husband for some time, she once tenderly asked him:

– Why don’t you love me?

- On the contrary, I love you very much! - he answered.

“I don’t yet have,” she said, “signs of your love.”

Her husband began to ask her what signs of love she understood. His wife answered him:

-You never hit me!

A little later, Jordan brutally beat his wife and confessed to me, says Herberstein, that after that she began to love him much more than before. It ended with him beating and disfiguring his wife...”

Moscow in the 16th century

Sigismund Herberstein and almost all foreigners who wrote about Muscovy also report some information about its capital. From a distance, Moscow with its gardens and numerous churches seemed very beautiful, but up close it turned out to be different. Almost the entire city consisted of nondescript wooden buildings(there were more than 40 thousand houses); the streets were irregular and dirty, so footbridges were needed; Only some streets had log pavements, very inconvenient ones. Almost every house had an extensive garden and yard. Along the outskirts of the city stretched the dwellings of blacksmiths and other artisans who had to use fire in their work. Between the houses, especially those located closer to the outskirts of the city, there were vast fields and meadows. Several monasteries were also adjacent to the city. All this merged, as it were, into one city, and therefore Moscow from a distance seemed very vast. In the middle of the city on the elevated bank of the Moscow River there is a fortress (Kremlin). On one side it was washed by the Moscow River, and on the other by the Neglinnaya River, which, flowing out of the swamps near the fortress, overflowed in the form of a pond, and from here the ditches of the fortress were filled with water. There were numerous mills along the banks of Neglinnaya. According to Herberstein, the fortress, built of brick, was very large: in it, in addition to the stone chambers of the sovereign, there were stone (i.e. brick) houses of the brothers of the Grand Duke, the Metropolitan and other noble persons. At night the streets were usually blocked with logs across them, and a guard was posted as soon as it got dark and the lights in the houses were turned on. At night, no one was allowed to walk after the appointed hour; and if anyone was caught, he was usually sent to prison for disobedience. If some eminent and important dignitary was walking, the guards would escort him home. Robberies often occurred at night. Guards were also placed on the side where Moscow was completely open (on other sides it was protected by the Moscow and Yauza rivers). There were several bridges on the Moscow River. In winter, on the ice, merchants set up their shops, and trade in the city itself then almost completely ceased. At this time, bread, hay, dead cattle (frozen carcasses), firewood, etc. were brought here for sale. Horse riding and other fun took place here, from which other daredevils often left crippled.

We find very little information about the structure of housing and clothing in Muscovy from Sigismund Herberstein and other foreign writers of the 15th and 16th centuries. The dwellings, judging by other sources, were very simple: a peasant log hut served as a model. For 20, 30 rubles it was then possible to build decent housing.

Of course, those who were richer settled more widely: several huts were connected together and thus built themselves more spacious housing. The chambers, numbering 3 and no more than 4, were small and low; stoves and benches took up a lot of space in them. The porches of the dwellings were usually spacious; the doors are low, so that the one entering had to bend quite low; the windows were small; in simple dwellings they were covered with bull's bladders; in richer houses, pieces of mica were inserted into the lattice window frames. Glass in Muscovy was then very highly valued, since it was brought from afar, first from Constantinople, and then they began to transport it from other European countries.

As for household utensils, they were also very simple in Muscovy: benches, tables and utensils - all this was very simple. Tablecloths and carpets on the benches of the wealthier people brightened up their homes; but its main beauty was its images: in every house and in every chamber, usually in the eastern corner, icons were placed, often in expensive silver and gold frames. The corner where the images stood was considered the most honorable (called the red corner). Anyone entering a dwelling first of all bowed to the images and was baptized, and then bowed to the owners. This custom continues to this day among our pious commoners.

As for clothing, relations with the East led to the fact that Asian luxury began to spread more and more among the wealthy people of Muscovy: expensive silk patterned and colorful fabrics, long gold-woven clothes began to become a custom.

In Herberstein's work we find a curious drawing depicting himself in a Russian fur coat, granted to him by the Grand Duke, in a Russian fur hat and in morocco patterned boots.

Industry and trade of Muscovy

Foreign writers paid great attention to the industry and trade of Muscovy. The main products of the country were bread, furs, timber, honey and wax. The pines in Moscow forests amazed foreigners with their incredible size; oaks and maples, according to their reviews, are better here than in Western Europe. Bees swarmed in the forests in huge numbers and laid honey in the hollows of old trees without any care or supervision, so those who traded honey only had to look for deposits of honey in the forests in the hollows of old trees and take it. One foreign writer was told such a funny incident about Muscovy.

Once a peasant, having found a hollow with honey in the forest, went to get it, but through negligence he fell and got stuck in the honey up to his throat and could not get out. Here he would have to perish. For two days he ate honey, waiting in vain for help. To his happiness, a bear came to enjoy the honey and began to descend with its hind legs into the hollow. The peasant grabbed the bear and screamed so loudly that the frightened animal jumped out of the hollow, dragged the man with him, and disappeared in fright...

There were a lot of fur-bearing animals in Russian forests at that time: sable fur, fox fur (especially silver fox), beaver and mustelid fur were considered the most valuable.

According to Herberstein, squirrel and cat furs (domestic cats) were the cheapest in Muscovy. In addition, ermine, lynx, wolf and arctic fox furs were mined. There were also moose, bears, large and black wolves in the forests, and aurochs in the western part of the state.

The land of the Moscow principality itself was infertile: the soil here is sandy. The stumps of huge trees showed that this entire country was recently covered with almost continuous forests, but the Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir regions are very fruitful. The inexhaustible rich soil here in those days gave abundant harvests: one sown measure of grain often yielded 20, sometimes even 30 measures. The Ryazan region was superior to all others in fertility: horses could barely pass through its dense fields, the tree fruits here were much better than those in Moscow. Moreover, the Ryazan region abounded in honey, fish and all kinds of game. In addition to arable farming, hunting, fishing and beekeeping, foreign writers point to the extraction of salt in Staraya Russa, near Pereyaslavl-Zalessky and Nizhny; iron was mined from Serpukhov. Some areas traded in their products: for example, Kaluga was famous for its carved wooden dishes, which were sold not only to Moscow, but also to Lithuania and other neighboring countries. But, generally speaking, the manufacturing industry in Muscovy did not flourish, and coarse native products served only the needs of local residents, and some were sent to the East, and only the so-called raw products went to Western Europe: timber, the best flax, hemp, oxen leather, fur goods; Leathers, furs and walrus tusks (fish teeth) were exported to Lithuania and Turkey, from which handles for weapons were usually made. Russian products were also sold to the Tatars: saddles, bridles, linen, axes, etc.

The goods imported to Muscovy were for the most part the following: silver ingots, cloth, silk, silk fabrics, brocades, gems, pearls, wines, spicy roots, pepper, saffron, etc.

To trade on a large scale, they gathered at a certain time in a certain place, where the purchase, sale and exchange of goods took place, i.e., trades (fairs) took place. The fair in Serf Town, on the Mologa River, was especially famous. Under Vasily Ivanovich, the beginning of the famous Makaryevskaya fair was laid: in 1524, the Grand Duke, in order to undermine Kazan, with which he was at enmity, forbade his merchants to go to the auctions that took place near it, and appointed a place for them in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

In the large cities of Muscovy there were rows of shops and warehouses for various goods, guest courtyards, where there was constant lively trade, reminiscent of fairs.

Sigismund Herberstein writes that trade in Muscovy is greatly hampered by the inconvenience of communications. In the summer we had to make do with river routes; but in the intense summer heat, many rivers became so shallow that they became unnavigable; It was necessary to find time in the spring or autumn, when the water in the rivers rose from the rains. Traders also tried to use the winter route to transport goods, especially to those places where it was difficult to reach by river routes. In winter, huge quantities of pork and beef carcasses, poultry, game of all kinds and fish were brought to Moscow; That's all, it was well preserved when frozen. But winter roads in Muscovy were also unsafe: sometimes, as already mentioned, during severe frosts entire convoys froze along the way. Trade movement in the south also encountered great obstacles: traveling through the waterless and treeless steppe was no less difficult and dangerous than through the forests and swamps of the north. Gangs of wandering Tatars engaged in robbery in the steppes, and trade caravans were a very tempting bait for these predators. Moreover, those traveling through the steppes had to cross rivers with great difficulty and danger: they often, for lack of boats, were forced to quickly make rafts themselves, on which they loaded their belongings, then drove horses into the water, tied these rafts to their tails, and the horses, sailing through river, dragged them along with them. Trade was brisk in the south only along the Volga; but even here she suffered greatly from robberies.

Foreigners complain about the dishonesty of Moscow merchants. When selling their goods, they asked three times, four times the real price, swore and swore that the goods themselves were very expensive, and tried with all their might to trick and deceive the buyer. Apparently, then the merchants adhered to that immoral rule, which in our time is followed only by dishonest petty traders: “you can’t cheat, you can’t sell.” When buying goods from foreigners, Moscow merchants valued the goods at less than half of their real value, and they bargained for so long, gradually adding on, that they simply tormented the sellers, even driving them to despair.

Giving money on growth was in great use, and huge profits were taken: from five rubles - one ruble (i.e. 20 percent), although this was considered a grave sin.

In the first half of the 16th century. In Muscovy, silver money (coins) of four types circulated: Moscow, Novgorod, Tver and Pskov. Money (from the Tatar word “tenga”) was an ordinary walking coin; it was irregular, round or oval in shape with different images; On the newest money, on one side there was a picture of a man on a horse, and on the other there was an inscription. Two money made a penny; 6 Moscow money was an altyn, 20 was a hryvnia, 100 was a half-ruble, 200 was a ruble. During the time of Sigismund Herberstein, half-money was also minted; therefore, there were 400 of them in the ruble. Novgorod money was considered twice as much as Moscow money.

In addition to the silver coin, Muscovy had a copper coin called a pula. Sixty pula made up Moscow money.

The Russians did not have their own gold coin, but used Hungarian chervonets, each of which was worth a hundred money; therefore, two chervonets were worth a ruble. However, according to Herberstein, the value of the Hungarian chervonets fluctuated: when a foreigner, buying something, gave the merchant a chervonets, its value decreased; if a foreigner wanted to purchase gold chervonets from a Russian merchant, then their value increased. Although they were considered rubles, there were no coins worth the ruble in the 16th century. Previously, as soon as they began to import silver into Muscovy, oblong pieces were cast without any image or inscription, which were chopped into pieces, which were called rubles. Six rubles worth of money were minted from a pound of silver. Counting in rubles instead of the previous counting in hryvnias began in the middle of the 14th century.

NOTES ABOUT MOSCOW

Lithuania is closest to Muscovy. I mean here not just one (Lithuanian) region, but also the countries adjacent to it, which are understood under the general name of Lithuania ( NG The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and its principalities border on Muscovite lands.) . It stretches in a long strip from the city of Cherkassy, ​​located near Borysthenes ( NG below Kyiv), all the way to Livonia ( NG which begins at Dunaburg on the Dune, called by the Russians the Dvina.). The Cherkassy (Circassi) who live along Borysthenes are Russian and are different from those about whom I said above that they live in the mountains near Pontus. In our time, they were commanded by Eustachius Dashkevich [who, as I mentioned, went to Muscovy with Tsar Muhammad-Girey], a man very experienced in military affairs and exceptional cunning. Although he repeatedly entered into relations with the Tatars, he beat them even more often; Moreover, he more than once posed a considerable danger to the Muscovite himself, who had once been his prisoner ( NG there is a not entirely clear phrase here, omitted in all modern translations: So ist er auch bey dem Moscowiter gewest, die alle auch seinen herrn Khuenig offt uberfueert; it can be understood approximately like this: this is how he behaved with the Muscovite ( or maybe: he also visited the Muscovite), who, in turn, often deceived his king ( i.e. we mean the following story about Dashkovich’s deceit) ). That year, when we were in Moscow, he [inflicted defeat on the Muscovites with the help of an extraordinary trick. This story, it seems to me, is worthy of being presented here. He] led certain Tatars into Muscovy, dressed in Lithuanian dress, being confident that the Muscovites would attack them without fear, mistaking them for Lithuanians. He himself set up an ambush in a convenient place, awaiting revenge from the Muscovites. Having devastated part of the Seversk region, the Tatars headed towards Lithuania. When the Muscovites realized that they had turned and moved towards Lithuania, they thought that they were Lithuanians, and soon, burning with a thirst for revenge, they quickly invaded Lithuania. When, having fought it, they returned burdened with booty, Eustachius, (emerging) from an ambush, surrounded them and killed every single one. Having learned about this, the Muscovite sent ambassadors to the Polish king with a complaint about the damage done to him ( NG despite the truce) offense. The king answered them that his (subjects) did not offend, but (on the contrary) took revenge for the offense. Thus, the Muscovite, twice ridiculed, was forced to endure both damage and dishonor.

Below ( NG Russians) Cherkassy there are no Christian settlements. At the mouth of the Borysthenes, forty miles from Cherkassy ( NG on the shore closest to Wallachia,), there is a fortress and the city of Ochakov, which was owned by the king of Taurida, having taken it not so long ago from Polish king(NG Grand Duchy of Lithuania.). Nowadays it is owned by the Turks. From Ochakov to Alba, whose old name is Monkastro, near the mouth of Tiras, fourteen miles ( NG it is also owned by the Turks), from Ochakov to Perekop fourteen(NG forty ) miles. From Cherkassy, ​​near Borysthenes, to Perekop is forty miles. Seven miles above Cherkassy along the Borysthenes we will meet the city of Kanev, eighteen miles from which ( NG upriver) is Kyiv, the ancient capital of Russia. The splendor and truly royal grandeur of this city are evident in its ruins and the ruins of its monuments. To this day, the remains of abandoned temples and monasteries are still visible on the neighboring mountains, and in addition, there are many caves and in them very ancient tombs with bodies untouched by decay. I have heard from trustworthy people that girls there rarely remain chaste after the age of seven. Various reasons have been given for this, but none of them satisfies me; Merchants are allowed to abuse girls, but they are by no means allowed to take them away. If anyone is caught taking a girl away, he will lose both life and property [unless he is saved by the mercy of the sovereign]. There is also a law according to which the property of foreign merchants, if they happen to die there, passes to to the king or his deputy(NG authorities (Herrschafften)); The same is observed among the Tatars and Turks in relation to the people of Kiev who died among them. Near Kyiv there is one hill through which a not very convenient road has been laid for merchants. If, while climbing along it, any part of the cart breaks, then the property that was on the cart is taken to the treasury. All this was told to me by Albert Gashtold, voivode of Vilnius, viceregens (-) of the king in Lithuania. Thirty miles from Kyiv up the Borysthenes we meet Mozyr (Mosier) on the Pripyat River, which flows into the Borysthenes twelve miles above Kyiv. The fish river Tur (?) (Thur) flows into Pripyat, and from Mozyr to Bobruisk (Bobranzko) it is thirty (miles). Climbing further, after twenty-five miles we arrive at Mogilev, six miles from which ( NG even higher) is Orsha. The named cities according to Borysthenes, all located on its western bank, are subject to the king of Poland, while those lying on the eastern bank are subject to the sovereign of Moscow, except for Dubrovno and Mstislavl (Mstislaw), which are in the possession of Lithuania. Having crossed the Borysthenes, after four miles we will get to Dubrovno, and twenty miles from there to Smolensk. From Orsha our path lay to Smolensk, and then straight to Moscow ( NG The battle mentioned above took place between Orsha and Dubrovno. A few years passed, and such tall trees grew there that it is difficult to believe that there could be room for so many people and troops.).

The city of Borisov is twenty-two miles from Orsha to the west; The Berezina River flows past it, which flows into the Borysthenes below Bobruisk. According to my eye assessment, the Berezina is somewhat wider than the Borysthenes near Smolensk. I positively think that the ancients considered this Berezina Borysthenes, which, it seems to me, is indicated by the very consonance of their names. Moreover, if we look closely at Ptolemy’s description, it is much more suitable for the sources of the Berezina than for Borysthenes, called the Dnieper.

[Who were the sovereigns in Lithuania and when they adopted Christianity, enough has been said about this at the beginning.] The affairs of this people constantly flourished until the time of Witold. If they are threatened with war from somewhere and they must defend their property against the enemy, then they come to the call with great pomp, more for bragging than for war, and at the end of the training they immediately disperse. Those who remain send home the best horses and clothes with which they signed up, and follow the chief (dux,-), with a few (others), as if under duress. And the magnates, obliged to send a certain number of soldiers to war at their own expense, pay off their boss with money and stay at home ( NG If they have to go on a hike, then they, well equipped, quickly gather at the appointed place, but as soon as it comes to leaving the camp, one after another they come to the boss, coming up with all sorts of excuses, paying off the boss with money, and stay at home. Everything falls on the shoulders of the poor and servants. But even if someone goes (on a hike), he sends the best horses and equipment home.); and this is not at all considered dishonorable, so the leaders and commanders of the army order it to be publicly announced in the diets and in the camp that if anyone wants to pay off with [cash] money, he can be released (from service) and return home. Between them there is such self-will in everything that they seem to not so much enjoy immoderate freedom ( NG and the kindness of their sovereigns), how much it is abused. They give orders the property pledged by him (bona impignorata) of the sovereigns, so that those who come to Lithuania cannot live there on their own income if they do not enjoy the support of local (owners) (provinciates) ( NG For some time they even managed the income of the sovereigns. So, when King Sigismund arrived there, he had to live on the money he brought with him, since the local rulers (Herrn oder Landleut) did not give him anything at their own discretion (auss gutem willen).). These people wear a long dress; They are armed with bows, like the Tatars, and a spear (hasta, Spiess oder Copien) with a shield ( NG as well as a saber), like the Hungarians. Their horses are good, and they are barefoot and without iron shoes; The bridle is light. The capital of the people is Vilna; it's extensive (NG Vilna, in Latin and Slavic Wilna) a city located between the hills at the confluence of the Welia and Vilna rivers. Viliya River ( NG keeping your name) a few miles below Vilna flows into the Cronon. The Krona [flows past the city of Grodno, the name of which is to a certain extent similar to the name of the river, and] in the place where it flows into the German Sea, separates [once subject to the Teutonic Order] the Prussian peoples, who are now in the hereditary possession of the margrave Brandenburg Albert (-, Albrecht) since he submitted to the Polish king, laying down his cross and order from the Samogitians. [There is the city of Memel (Mumel), for] Germans(NG Prussians (Preysen)) is called Kronon Memel, and on local(NG in Russian) language it is called Neman (Nemen). Now Vilna is surrounded by a wall, and many temples and stone buildings are being built in it; it is also the residence of the bishop, who was then John, the illegitimate son of King Sigismund, [an extremely courteous husband] who kindly received us upon our return ( NG The castle (einfang), where the residence of the king or prince is located, has a cathedral, and) . In addition, the parish church and several monasteries are [remarkable], especially the Franciscan monastery [for the construction of which large sums were spent]. But there are much more Russian churches there than of the Roman confession. In the Principality of Lithuania ( NG and lands belonging to him) three bishoprics of the Roman confession, namely: Vilna, Samogitia and Kiev. The Russian bishoprics in the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania [with their constituent principalities] are as follows: Vilna, where the archbishop now resides, Polotsk, Vladimir, Lutsk, Pinsk (Pinski, Pinsso), Kholm (Chomensis, Khelm) and Przemysl (Premissiensis, Premissl ). The Lithuanians' trade consists of honey, wax and potash(NG resin and bread.). All this is exported in large quantities to Gdansk (Gedanum, Dantzkho), a from there to Holland(NG where it is sold and exchanged for salt.). Lithuania also supplies resin in abundance ( NG planks) and timber for building ships ( NG and other structures (gepeu)), as well as bread. She doesn't have salt and buys it in Britain. When Christian was expelled from the Danish kingdom(NG left Denmark), and pirates were rampant at sea, salt was brought not from Britain, but from Russia; and now the Lithuanians still use it. In our time, the Lithuanians were especially famous [for military glory] for two husbands: Konstantin, Prince (Knes) of Ostrog ( NG who, although he was once defeated and captured by the Muscovites, both before and after that was very successful, having won more than one victory over the Muscovites, Turks and Tatars. I was not lucky enough to see him, despite the fact that I often visited Lithuania when he was still alive.) and Prince Mikhail Glinsky. Constantine defeated the Tatars many times; at the same time, he did not come forward to meet them when they went to plunder in a gang, but pursued those laden with booty. When they reached a place where, as they believed, they could, without fear of anything due to the distance, take a breath and rest - and this place was known to him - he decided to attack them and ordered his warriors to prepare food for themselves from this night, for the next he will not allow them to build large fires. So, having spent the whole next day on the road, Constantine, when the Tatars, not seeing any lights at night and believing that the enemies had either turned back or dispersed, let their horses graze, slaughtered (cattle) and feasted, and then went to sleep, with the first rays of the sun attacked them and inflicted complete defeat on them. Prince Mikhail Glinsky, while still a youth, went to Germany, showed courage (in the service) of Albert (-, Albrecht), Duke of Saxony, who was fighting a war in Friesland at that time, and, having gone through all levels of military service, acquired a glorious name for himself. Brought up in German customs, he returned to his homeland, where he enjoyed great influence and occupied the highest positions under King Alexander, so that he decided all complex matters in his opinion and discretion. It happened, however, that he had a quarrel with John Zaberezinsky (Sawersinski), the governor of Trokai, because of the king. In the end, this matter was settled, and during the life of the king there was peace between them, but after the death of the king, John harbored hatred in the depths of his soul, since because of him (Glinsky) he lost his voivodeship. Then some envious people surrounded King Sigismund, who succeeded Alexander, both Glinsky himself and his adherents (complices) and friends in a criminal quest for power, calling him a traitor to the fatherland. Unable to bear such an insult, Prince Mikhail often turned to the king with requests to sort out the case between him and the accuser Zaberezinsky at a general court (commune iudicium), which, according to him, could remove such a serious charge from him. Since the king did not respect his requests, Glinsky (NG Then he was called not Prince (Knes), but Pan (Pan) Mikhail. There he learned graceful manners (ehrliche Sitten) and knightly customs, was agile in military exercises: racing, fencing, wrestling, jumping, as well as in entertainment, such as dancing and all kinds of courtesy, which earned him special, more than others, fame. Grand Duke Alexander, who became the Polish king after his brother John Albrecht, had him in such honor that he occupied the highest and most important positions and (enjoyed) special trust. It happened one day that, on his orders, they went to Troki to get oats for the royal horses. The local governor, John Zaberezinsky (Saworsinski) - and this is four miles from Vilna - allowed (to take oats) for the first time, threatening, however, the driver with beatings if he appeared again. Prince Glinsky was informed about this. He sent (there) again, the driver was beaten and no oats were given. The governor arrived in Vilna, and when he entered the king’s chambers, Alexander turned away and leaned against the window - and yet they have a rule that if such a high official appears to the Grand Duke, he gets up and takes a few steps towards him. Duke Michael was also in the room. Then Zaberezinsky said loudly that he had noticed the disfavor, but did not know what he had done to deserve it. Prince Glinsky told the story of the driver and the oats. He began to justify himself, saying that he was thinking about the benefit of the king, but the king said: “I do not need guardians (Gerhaben), I am already an adult (hab meine jar).” After this, Zaberezinsky left. The disfavor was so great that he was deprived of the voivodeship and another position, although usually the voivodeship is given for life and is not taken away. Zaberezinsky also held a third position; he and his friends feared that he would be driven away from this one too, and therefore considered it best for him to make peace with Duke Michael. And so they did. The third position remained with him, but he harbored anger in his heart. It turned out that the king fell ill, and the Tatars with a large army invaded the country. According to their customs, the king had to go on a campaign: he was taken. All matters were in the hands of Prince Mikhail and a certain nobleman (herr) named Kishka (?) (Schisskha) , but this last one also fell ill, so Prince Mikhail had to manage everything. In general, he dealt with the matter successfully: the Tatars suffered a cruel defeat like never before, the king was sent back to Vilna, but he died on the way. It was then that the secret hatred of Zaberezinsky made itself felt, who accused Prince Glinsky of treason. He and his friends also sent to the brother of the late king of Velikoglog Duke Sigismund receives news that Prince Mikhail is seeking a great reign and Sigismund should hurry up with his arrival. When Duke Sigismund, without celebrating, went to Lithuania, Prince Mikhail rode out to meet him with eight hundred horsemen and recognized him as his real master - (in a word), he did everything as it should be. After Duke Sigismund took the grand-ducal throne, Prince Mikhail began to seek trial and investigation (verhoer und Recht) against Zaberezinsky. The Grand Duke postponed the matter until (arriving) in Krakow, since he was now also elected King of Poland. After the king’s arrival in Krakow, Michael again demanded a trial, but the case, under some far-fetched pretext, was again postponed to Vilna, by which Prince Michael was extremely offended and) went to Hungary to visit the king's brother Vladislav. Having achieved that Vladislav sent envoys (to his brother) with a letter [in which he advised the king to look into the Glinsky case, having tried all means], Mikhail still could not convince the king to consider his case. [Outraged by this] he told the king that he would commit an act that both he and the king himself would regret in time ( NG But these words were spoken in vain.). [Returning home in anger] he sent [one of his close associates, a faithful] man with a letter to the Moscow sovereign. He wrote that if the sovereign, given for this occasion by a letter with the addition of an oath, provides him in Muscovy with full and free (ownership) everything that is necessary for life (vivendi copia), and if this will bring him benefit and honor from the sovereign, then ( NG asked for an accompanying safe-conduct (glaidt und sicherhait) in order to live freely under his arm, and then) he is ready to surrender to him with the fortresses that he owns in Lithuania, and others that he will occupy [by force or (persuade) to surrender]. The Muscovite, who knew the valor and skill of this man, was extremely happy at this news and promised to fulfill everything that Michael asked of him, that is, to give him, as he wished, a letter with the addition of an oath. Having arranged affairs with the Muscovite in this way, as he wanted, Mikhail, burning with a thirst for revenge, rushed with all his might ( NG a letter, drawn up in the best possible way, confirming the oath, was sent. Upon receiving it, Prince Mikhail gathered his brothers and friends, informed them of his intention and appointed which of Zaberezinsky’s friends each should act against in order to kill them. He himself went) against John of Zaberezinsky, who was then in his estate (villa, offen Hof) near Grodno, in which (the estate) I once had to spend the night. Having placed guards around the house so that he could not escape, he sent (to the house)(NG Having broken open the doors to his chambers, he sent) a murderer [of a Mohammedan], who attacked the sleeping Zaberezinsky in his bed and cut off his head. Done with it(NG His friends did nothing. After this, Prince Mikhail knew what to do), Mikhail moved with the army to the Minsk fortress ( NG - I drove past him -), trying to occupy him by force or (encourage) him to surrender; but having been deceived about the capture of Minsk, he then moved on to other fortresses and cities. Meanwhile, having learned that the king’s troops were coming against him [and realizing that his forces were far from equal to them], he [left the siege of fortresses and] headed to Moscow, where he was received with honor by the sovereign, for he knew that there were no equal to Glinsky. Therefore, the Muscovite had a firm hope of occupying all of Lithuania, [using the advice, assistance and art of Mikhail, and these hopes did not completely deceive him. After all, after a conference with Glinsky, he again besieged [the famous Lithuanian principality] Smolensk and took it rather thanks to the skill of this man than to his troops. Michael, by his very presence, took away from the soldiers defending (the fortress) any hope of defending the city, and through intimidation and promises he persuaded them to surrender(NG The soldiers knew Prince Mikhail well, and he managed to negotiate with them so that they would surrender the fortress.). Mikhail achieved this with all the greater courage and zeal that Vasily promised to yield to him forever ( NG into hereditary possession) a fortress with the adjacent region, if Mikhail manages to capture Smolensk in any way. But subsequently he did not fulfill his promises, and when Mikhail reminded him of the condition, he only consoled him with empty hope and deceived him. Mikhail was seriously offended by this. Since the memory of King Sigismund had not yet been erased from his heart and he hoped that, with the assistance of the friends he had at that time at court, he would easily be able to return his favor, he sent one person faithful to him to the king, promising to return if the king forgives His crimes against the king are by no means small. This embassy was pleasant to the king, and he immediately ordered the messenger to be given the requested letter of safe conduct (literae publicae fidei). But Michael did not fully trust the royal letter, and therefore, wanting to be more confident in his safety, he sought and obtained similar letters from the German knights George Pisbeck and John von Rechenberg, who, as he knew, were the king’s advisers and they had such influence over him that they could force the king to fulfill his promise even against his will. But the messenger on this matter came across Muscovite guards and was detained. The case was opened and was immediately reported to the sovereign. By order of the sovereign, Mikhail was captured. At the same time, one young Polish nobleman from the Trepkones family was sent by King Sigismund to Michael in Moscow. Wanting to better fulfill the royal commission, he pretended to be a defector. But his fate was no better: he was also captured by the Muscovites. And although he pretended to be a defector, they did not believe him, but he kept the secret so (correctly) that he did not reveal it even under severe torture ( NG agreed (to the requests) of Messrs. Georg Wispeckh and Johann von Rechenberg, who had previously served the king’s brother with him (Glinsky), to give a safe conduct and for them to also confirm his safety. A messenger was sent to Glinsky, but one of the king’s advisers, hostile to Prince Mikhail and fearing that he might again return to his former favor, sent a secret messenger to Moscow and opened the whole matter. The messenger to Prince Mikhail was a Polish nobleman named Trepka; after such a betrayal, he was captured, severely tortured and killed, but never betrayed the purpose of his mission, insisting that he left the king, wanting to serve Prince Mikhail. Prince Mikhail got ready to set off, but was caught while fleeing.). When the captured Mikhail was brought to Smolensk in front of the sovereign, he said to him: “Treacherous, I will inflict on you a worthy punishment according to your deserts.” Michael responded to this: “I do not recognize the accusation of treachery brought against me by you, for if you had kept your word and promises to me, then I would have been the most faithful of all your servants. But since you, as I am convinced, do not value them at all, and besides, you also mock me, then the only thing I regret is that I could not carry out my plans against you. I have always despised death and will meet it all the more willingly because I won’t have to see you anymore, tyrant.”(NG my soul is not in your power.). Then, by order of his sovereign taken to Vyazma(NG they took him to Vyazma, where the main part of the army was stationed, and there he was taken out) in front of a huge crowd of people. Here the chief [military leader, throwing (to the ground) in front of everyone the heavy chains in which the prince was supposed to be shackled, said to him: “Mikhail, as you know, the sovereign showed you great favors while you served faithfully. But when you wish to be a strong betrayer, he, according to your merits, grants you this gift.” With these words, he ordered to put shackles on him. When he was thus chained in front of the crowd, he turned to the people and said: “So that false rumors about my captivity do not spread among you, I will explain in a few words what I did and why I was captured, so that at least by my example “You understand what kind of sovereign you have and what each of you should or can expect from him.” Having started like this, he told why he had arrived in Muscovy, what the sovereign had promised him with his letter and the addition of an oath, and how he had not fulfilled his promise in anything. And when he was disappointed in his expectations regarding the sovereign, he wanted to return to his fatherland again, for which he was captured. And although the insult was inflicted on him undeservedly, he does not flee death, for he knows that according to the general law of nature, everyone must die equally. [He was distinguished by a strong physique and resourceful mind, knew how to give reliable advice, was equally capable of a serious matter and a joke, and was positively, as they say, a man for every hour. With his cunning, he gained great influence and favor with everyone, especially among the Germans, where he was brought up. During the reign of King Alexander, he inflicted an exceptionally strong defeat on the Tatars: never after the death of Witold did the Lithuanians win such a glorious victory over the Tatars. The Germans called him in the Czech way - “Pan Mikhail”]. As a (born) Russian, he first professed his faith according to the Greek rite, then ( NG in Germany), leaving her, went over to the Roman one, and already in chains, wanting to soften and tame the anger and indignation of the sovereign, he again accepted the Russian faith. During our time in Muscovy, many noble persons, especially the sovereign’s wife, who was his (Glinsky’s) niece, his brother’s daughter, petitioned the sovereign for his release. Tsar Maximilian also interceded for him and even sent a special letter on his behalf to the sovereign during my first embassy. But this turned out to be so ineffective that I was then denied access to him, and was not even allowed to see him. During my other embassy, ​​when there was talk about his release, the Muscovites constantly asked me if I knew this man. I answered them what, in my opinion, should have served to his advantage, namely, that I had only ever heard his name ( NG During my first embassy, ​​I was tasked with negotiating his release and extradition to Emperor Maximilian. They answered me that since he had again accepted the Russian faith, it was not appropriate for the (Grand) Duke to hand him over to a foreign faith. I was not allowed to speak with him or see him. When I was sent there for the second time, and the Grand Duke divorced his legal wife, imprisoning her in a monastery, and took the daughter of Prince Michael’s brother, Prince Vasily the Blind, they petitioned for his release (to the sovereign). Many respectable people in Poland asked me to take care of the prisoner if possible. I was often asked (by Muscovites) if I knew Prince Mikhail? I thought there was nothing better I could do than say, “I don’t know.” Although I had orders from Emperor Maximilian to negotiate about him, this time there was none, so as not to complicate his affairs and not arouse suspicion.). And then Mikhail was released and released. Having married his niece while his first wife was still alive(NG Many people were assigned to him, who guarded him rather than served him. The reason for his release was that), the sovereign had great hopes for him, since he saw in Michael’s valor a guarantee of the security of the royal throne for his children (from the threat) from their uncles and in the end ( NG He was afraid that if he had heirs, then his brothers, of whom there were two, might not recognize them as legitimate (eelich) and not allow them to come to power. The dexterity of their relative (Vetter) Prince Mikhail should have supported them, and therefore he) appointed him in the will(NG along with some others) guardian of his sons. After the death of the sovereign, Mikhail repeatedly reproached his widow ( NG like your close relative (Muhm)) in a dissolute life; for this she accused him of treason ( NG her children), and he, unfortunate, died in custody. A little later, the [cruel] woman herself died from poison, and her lover, nicknamed Owtzina, [as they say] was torn to pieces and chopped into pieces.

Among the other principalities of Lithuania, the most warlike people are in Volynia (Wolinia) ( NG It lies to the south.).

Lithuania is extremely forested; it contains huge ( NG lakes) swamps and many rivers; some of them, like the (Southern) Bug (Bug, Bog), Pripyat, Tur (?), Berezina (flowing) to the east, flow into the Borysthenes, others, like the (Western) Bug (Boh), Kronon ( NG Dvina) and Narev, flow north ( NG to the Prussian Sea (Preissisch Moer)). The climate is harsh, animals of all breeds are small; xl e ba is abundant there, but the crops rarely reach maturity ( NG so the sheaves are dried and ripened in rooms specially designed for this purpose). The people are pitiful and oppressed by heavy slavery (-, dienstperkhait). Because anyone accompanied by a crowd of servants(NG having power (geweltiger)) having entered the peasant’s home, he can do whatever he wants with impunity, rob and take things necessary in everyday life(NG edibles and whatever you want) and even brutally beat the peasant ( NG if he suddenly refuses to give. That is why villages are located far from roads.). To the peasants(NG subjects) without gifts, the path to the gentlemen is blocked, no matter what they have to do with them. And even if they are admitted, they are still sent to officials (officiales) and superiors. And if they do not receive offerings, they will not decide or decree anything good ( NG to the viceroy (Namestnick) , that is, to the manager of affairs (Phleger) and the more noble (angesehnlicher), or rather (in German) to the Stathalter; and they need to be given too.). This order exists not only for the common people (tenues, Paurn), but also for ( NG poor) nobles, if they want to achieve something from the nobles (-, mechtige). I myself heard how one senior (primarius) official under the young king(NG royal chamberlain (Hofmaister)) said the following: “In Lithuania, every word is gold.” They (NG This means: no one will be listened to and no one will be helped without money. Poor people (die armen leuet)) pay the king ( NG or the Grand Duke) annually cash tax (imperata recunia)(NG quart (vierdung): twelve groschen from each gufa (Huebe)) to protect the borders of the kingdom. In addition to quitrent (census, ordentlicher Zinss), they also work for the masters six days a week ( NG therefore, there are usually two masters (wirt) in a house: one to work for the master, the other to work for himself. If the gentleman has guests or a wedding, or he has to go to the court or somewhere else, then the village is assigned (to give) so many geese, chickens, sheep and other things); finally, upon marriage or death of a wife, as well as upon the birth or death of children and after confession, they are obliged to pay a certain amount to the parish priest ( NG To many it may seem surprising and even incredible how the poor still manage to exist; this despite the fact that any day the Tatars or Muscovites could come and capture him along with his wife and children.) . From the time of Witold until the present day, they have been in such cruel slavery that those sentenced to death are forced, by order of their master, to execute themselves and hang themselves with their own hands. If he suddenly refuses to do this, he will be brutally flogged, inhumanly tortured, and hanged anyway. As a result of such severity, it happens that [the judge or the boss appointed to (analyze) the case will only threaten the guilty person], if he begins to hesitate, or just say(NG they'll just tell him): “Hurry up, the master is angry,” as the unfortunate man, fearing the most severe beatings, ends his life with a noose.

[About wild animals]

In addition to those that are found in Germany, in Lithuania there are [the following wild animals] bison (Bisontes) [buffalo (Uri), elk (Alces), otherwise called onagers, i.e. forest horses]. In their language, the Lithuanians call the bison a bison (Suber), the Germans [incorrectly] call it aurox [or urox; this name is appropriate for a buffalo, which has the exact appearance of a bull, whereas] bison do not look like them at all in appearance. Namely, bison have a mane; their neck and shoulder blades are shaggy, and something like a beard comes down from their chin. Their wool smells like musk(NG rough and tough and not as nice a black color as the tour), the head is short [the eyes are large and fierce, as if burning], the forehead is wide, horns ( NG shorter and thicker (than buffalo), and) for the most part are so far apart from each other and so spread out ( NG although they get back together later) that three strong-built people can sit between them. They say that such an experiment was carried out by the Polish king Sigismund, the father of the now reigning Sigismund-Augustus, - and we know that he was stout and strong in body, and he took two others no less than himself as comrades ( NG Therefore, I believe that the bison is a bison, as it is called in Latin, and the other animal is a tour, whose name is the same in Latin and in the Muscovite dialect - buffalo; Well, in Switzerland, the area of ​​Uri has (in its coat of arms) the head of this beast, also black, with the same bull horns. ). They have something like a hump on their back, so that the front and back parts of the body are lower (the back). [Those who wish to hunt bison must have great strength, dexterity and cunning.] A convenient place for hunting is selected, where the trees [are separated from one another by the necessary intervals and] have trunks that are not too thick [so that they can be easily walked around, but ] and not small [so that a person could hide behind them]. The hunters are located one at a time near these trees, and when the bison, raised by the pursuing dogs, is driven to this place, it quickly rushes at the one of the hunters who comes out (from behind the tree) first. Hiding behind a tree ( NG so the beast rushes past), he stabs the beast as best he can with a horn (venabulum, Spiess), but the bison does not fall even from numerous blows, but becomes more and more inflamed with rage, shaking not only its horns, but also its tongue, which is so rough and it is cruel that, having barely caught the hunter’s clothes, it (can) already detain and pull him in - and then the beast leaves the person no sooner than it kills him. If the hunter wants to rest [tired of running around the tree and stabbing the animal], then he throws him a red hat, which he furiously attacks [with hooves and horns]. If the beast is not finished off and the other (hunter) needs to engage in such a fight [which is sometimes necessary if they want to return unharmed], then he can easily call the beast on himself by shouting at least once in a loud voice (barbarico sono): love-love- liu ( NG They say that the bison is so strong that it can throw a horse and its rider into the air.) .

Buffaloes are found [only] in Mazovia [which borders Lithuania]; in the local language they are called Thurs, but we Germans have a real name for them, urox. [These are real forest bulls, no different from domestic bulls, except that] they are completely black and have a whitish (ex albo mixtus, grablaten) stripe along the back. [Their numbers are small, and there are certain villages that are entrusted with their care and protection, and they are looked after almost like menageries. They happen to domestic cows, but with disgrace. For after this, other buffaloes do not allow them into the herd, as they have dishonored themselves, and the calves born from such a mating are not tenacious. When I was an ambassador at the court of Sigismund Augustus, he gave me one animal, already gutted, which the hunters had finished off, (finding) it half-dead, driven out of the herd. However, the skin on his forehead was cut off. I thought that this was done for a reason, although due to my absent-mindedness I did not ask why this was being done. But it is known that girdles made of buffalo skin are prized, and it is a common belief that girding them with them speeds up childbirth. In these forms, Queen Bona, the mother of Sigismund Augustus, gave me two such belts, one of which was graciously accepted from me as a gift by my most illustrious lady, the Queen of Rome.]

That animal, which the Lithuanians call in their language moose (Loss), is called Ellend in German; some call it alces in Latin(NG it is found not only in Lithuania, but also in Prussia and Russia.). The Poles claim that ( NG in Latin) is an onager, that is, a forest donkey, but his appearance does not correspond to that. For he has cloven hooves; However, there are also those with solid hooves, but very rarely. [This animal is taller than a deer, with protruding ears and nostrils] its antlers are somewhat different from those of a deer, the coat color is also whiter (NG There are those who believe that these are (Latin) alces. But this, in my opinion, is not so, since alces cannot lie down, because, as has been written, they have inactive joints (?) (khain gengig glyd); it’s the other way around: moose have all the joints like deer.). When moving, they are very fast and do not run like other animals, but like a pacer. Their hooves are often worn as amulets against falling illness.

On the steppe plains near Borysthenes, Tanais and Ra there is a forest sheep, called by the Poles Solhac, and by the Muscovites - saiga (Seigack), the size of a roe deer, but with shorter legs; her horns are stretched upward and seem to be marked with rings; Muscovites make transparent knife handles from them. They are very fast and jump very high ( NG There are wild horses that cannot be trained to work in any way. Commoners (der gemam man) eat them. All of them, as a rule, are pale in color (falb) with black stripes along the back.).

The region closest to Lithuania is Samogitia ( NG in Latin Samogithia, and in Russian - Zhomot land (Samotzka semla)). She lies to the north at(NG from the Principality of Lithuania, belonging to the same (as it is) Grand Duchy, and reaches the very) Baltic Sea, And (NG where ) for four German miles separates Prussia from Livonia. It is not remarkable for any cities or fortresses ( NG unless after (my journey) something was built.). The sovereign appoints a commander there [from Lithuania], whom in your own language(NG according to his position) they call Starosta, i.e. “oldest” (senior, der elter). He does not have to fear that he will be dismissed from his position, unless for some very compelling reasons(NG In Poland this is what they call low-level bosses (gemain Haubtman)), (usually) he remains (in his place) until the end of his life. There is a bishop there who is subordinate to the Roman high priest ( NG they were baptized at the same time as King Jagiel, who took the name Vladislav, and the Lithuanian land). [This is what first of all deserves surprise in Samogitia] the inhabitants of this country, as a rule, are tall, and their children will be born to them [exactly in turn] sometimes of extraordinary size, sometimes tiny, downright dwarfs(NG whom they usually call Carls (Carln). ). The Samogitians dress poorly, most often in ash-gray colors. They live in low and very long huts (casa)(NG poor houses that look like long barns or cattle sheds); in the middle a fire is maintained in them, and when the father of the family sits with him, he (can) ( NG all the time) to see livestock and all household utensils, for it is their custom to keep livestock under the same roof under which they themselves live, without any partition ( NG horse, pig, bull, etc. standing around. It is extremely rare to see fenced-off sleeping rooms among them.). More than ( NG rich and) nobles (maiores, -) use buffalo horns as cups. These are brave people [and good warriors]. In battle, they use armor and other various weapons, mainly a spear [and shorter than usual], like hunters ( NG it also serves as a weapon for horsemen.). Their horses are so small that it’s hard to believe how they can ( NG under (the saddle) of such heavy people) perform so much work: they serve both [in war] on campaigns and [at home] to cultivate the fields. They plow the land not with iron, but with wood, and this is all the more surprising because their soil is hard [and not sandy, so no pine trees grow on it]. When they go to plow, they take with them a lot of wooden (ral) (ligna), with which they blast the ground, using them as a plowshare, so that, of course, if one breaks, they will have more and more ready, without wasting time on it. One of the leaders of the region [wanting to relieve the residents of their too hard work] ordered the delivery of a large number of iron shares. But when both that year and some(NG two or three) the next harvest [due to the vicissitudes of the weather] did not meet the expectations of the farmers, the common people began to attribute the sterility of their fields to the iron coulter [without recognizing any other reason]. Then the boss, fearing outrage, abolished the iron, leaving them to cultivate the fields in their own way. This area abounds in groves and forests ( NG as well as swamps and lakes), in which ( NG as they say) sometimes you can meet ghosts (horrendae visiones, gesicht oder gespenst). There(NG In these lonely places) and to this day there are a lot of idolaters ( NG some worship fire, others trees, the sun or the moon; there are some), who feed in their houses [like penates] certain snakes on four [short] legs, reminiscent of lizards ( NG only bigger), with a black fat body, no more than three spans in length; they are called Giwoites (giowites - So! - A.N.). On set days, they perform cleansing rites in houses and, when the snakes crawl out to the food provided, the whole family worships them with fear until they, having had enough, return to their place ( NG others call them Jastzuka, others - Szmya . They have a (certain) time when they feed their gods: milk is placed in the middle of the house, and they themselves sit on their knees on benches; then a snake appears and hisses at people like an angry goose - and then people pray and worship it with fear.). If any misfortune befalls them, they attribute it to the poor feeding and reception of the household deity [snake]. When I, returning from my first trip to Muscovy, arrived ( NG to Lithuania, to Vilna, and went to look at buffaloes four miles from there) in Troki, then my host, with whom I happened to stay, told me that in the year when I was there, he bought from one such a snake worshiper(NG peasant in the forest) several hives of bees ( NG and left them for safekeeping with this peasant.). With his speeches, he persuaded the seller to the true faith of Christ and convinced him to kill the snake that he worshiped. After some time, he returned there to look at his bees and found that man with a disfigured face: his mouth was pitifully parted to his ears. When asked about the reason for such a misfortune, he replied that he was punished with this disaster for laying his wicked hands on the deity - the snake; So he has to atone for his sin and wash away his guilt. If he does not return to his former faith (ritus), then he will have to endure many even more difficult things ( NG He told him: “This is what you did to me. If you don’t help me soon, I’ll have to make peace with the god (snake) again and take one into my house.”). Although this happened not in Samogitia, but in Lithuania, I still cite it as an example. [They say that] nowhere is honey better, tastier, whiter and with less wax content than in Samogitia.

The sea washing Samogitia ( NG - this place is called the Samogitian coast (Samaitner strand) -), some call it Baltic, others - German, others - Prussian, and some Venedsky (Veneticum), the Germans, in connection with (the name) “Baltic”, call it Pelts.(NG Pomeranian (Pomerisch), Livonian (Leiflandisch) or Finnish (Finlendisch).). Actually, this is a bay, for it juts out past the Cimbri Chersonese, which the Germans now call Jutland (Yuchtland), and Schleswig (Sunder Yuchtland), and in Latin - Jutia (Iucia), a name borrowed from the same place. It also washes Germany, called Lower (Bassa), starting from Holstein (Holsatia), which adjoins Cimbri (Chersonese) ( NG between Jutland and the island of Sieland in Denmark and between Sieland and Sconland, which is part of Sweden. He has many names. Near Denmark, opposite Schleswig, the Duchy of Holnstain and Lubeckh, it is called Pelts. It shares over a large area the possessions of Muscovites and Swedes, as well as Livonia with Prussia and Sweden. Near Germany it washes Jutland and Schleswig), then country of Lübeck (Lubicensis)(NG Lubeck, which, however, is not located directly on the coast), also Wismar (Vismaria) and Rostock (Rostok), the cities of the Dukes of Mecklenburg (Magnopolenses, -) and the entire region of Pomerania, as indicated by the very name of this area: Pomorie (Pomorije) in the Slavic language means the same as “by the sea "or "seaside". Then it washes Prussia, the capital of which is Gdansk (Gdanum, -) [also called Gedanum or Danzig (Dantiscum)]. Next is the residence ( NG and court) of the Prussian Duke, called by the Germans Königsberg (Regius mons, Khuenigsperg). In this area, at certain times of the year, amber (succinum) floating in the sea is caught with great danger to people due to sometimes unexpected ebbs and flows ( NG Between these cities, about four miles from Konigsberg, white and yellow amber (Augstain), otherwise called Pornstain, is caught (in the sea) at the end of August; there is more of it here than anywhere else. It is completely unclear whether it is born in the ground or is tree resin. I think that these are special formations (gewaechs), because no one has been able to find out from which trees such resin flows. Large pieces of it were found in other seas, even in other places and fields. It is considered a precious stone.). The coast of Samogitia reaches barely four miles. Further, for a long distance, the sea washes Livonia [and that country which is colloquially called Courland (Khurland), no doubt (by the name of the people) of the Curets (Cureti)] and the lands subject to the Muscovites; finally, it flows around Finland, which is in the possession of the Swedes and from which it is believed that the name (of the sea?) “Venden” came from. On the other hand, it comes into contact with Sweden(NG the last is Skåne, which, although adjacent to Sweden, belongs to Denmark. This is not an island: the ancients were mistaken about that, and the new (writers) (die Jungen) even to this day.). As for the kingdom of Denmark, it consists mainly of islands and everything is entirely contained in this bay, except Jutland ( NG Schleswig) and Skane (Scandia), adjacent to the mainland ( NG Schleswig belongs to the Duchy of Holstein, which belongs to Germany, and, being part of it, is an imperial fief (von Reich lehn). And although the Danish kings own it hereditarily, they receive it as fief from the Roman emperor or king.). In this bay there is also the island of Gotland, subject to the Kingdom of Denmark. Most believed that from this island ( NG only twelve miles wide) the Goths came out, but it is too small to accommodate so many people(NG having passed through and conquered (then) so many vast lands. This is wrong. The Goths came from the Kingdom of Sweden, where to this day there are large areas bearing this name. All those who have written about the origin of the Goths agree that they came from Scone, called Scandia in Latin.). In addition, if the Goths left Skåne, then from Gotland they would have to (then) get to Sweden and, turning and passing through Skåne, return again, which is not at all in accordance with common sense. On the island of Gotland (Gothia) ruins are still visible ( NG large) city of Visby (Wijsby, Wiswy), in which litigation and disputes of all floating by , cases and litigation were also transferred there for final resolution (provocabantur) even from remote coastal places(NG merchants from coastal countries - this was the privilege and prerogative (handierung) of this city.).

The region of Livonia stretches along the sea coast. Its capital is Riga, where the master (magister, Maister) of the Teutonic Order (ordo Teutonica, Teutsches orden) is in charge. In addition to Riga, in this area there are bishops of Revel and Ezel (Osiliensis, zu Osl). There are many cities in Livonia, especially the (remarkable) city of Riga (-, Ryg) on ​​the Dvina River near its mouth, as well as the cities of Rewal (Rewalia, Refl) and Dorpat (Derbtensis). Russians call Revel Kolyvanya (Roliwan - So! - A.N., Coliwan), and Dorpat (Derbt) - Yuryev city (Iuryowgorod). Riga is called that way in both languages. The navigable rivers are Rubon (-, Duna) and Narva. The sovereign of this region, the order's brothers, the main of whom are called commanders (commendatores) , as well as nobles and citizens (of cities)(NG Both the master of the Teutonic Order, who is the prince of the country, and the commanders (Comentheuren), who as local nobility (Landtherrn) are part of the government (Regierung), and other permanent inhabitants (angesessene Landleute), who have hereditary possessions, and in addition, city ​​citizens) almost all Germans. The common people speak three languages ​​and accordingly are divided into three departments (ordines) or tribes (tribus). From the German principalities of Jülich (Iuliacensis, Guelich) ( NG Clevsky (Clef)), Geldrensis (Geldrensis, Geldern) and Munster (Monasteriensis, Muenster), new servants (servitores, diener) and warriors ( NG and knights), who partly take the place of the dead, and partly replace those who have served an annual service and ( NG not wanting to serve further,) return [like freedmen (manumissi)] to their homeland. They have an exceptionally numerous and powerful cavalry, thanks to which they have steadfastly withstood repeated enemy invasions of their lands by both the Polish king and the Grand Duke of Moscow, valiantly defending themselves against them ( NG In those parts they drink immoderately and (..?) (bedrangts).) .

In September 1502 after the birth of Christ, Alexander, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, having concluded an agreement, persuaded the Livonian master Walter von Plettenberg (a Pleterberg) ( NG very wonderful husband) gather an army and attack the region of the Prince of Moscow, promising himself appear with a large army as soon as it enters the enemy's territory(NG meet him on the appointed day and at the appointed place.). But the king did not arrive at the appointed time [as promised] ( NG- the Polish side (die Khuenigischen) blamed the queen, the Muscovite’s sister, for this -), and Muscovites, learning about the enemy's approach(NG how is it customary for them), came out in huge numbers to meet the master; seeing that [he was abandoned (by the Polish king) and] could not retreat except with [great shame and] danger, the master, first of all, in accordance with the circumstances, encouraged (his) in a few (words), and then, firing a volley from the cannons, bravely attacked the enemy. At the first onslaught, he managed to scatter the Russians and put them to flight. But since the victors were too few in number compared to the number of enemies and, moreover, were burdened with too heavy weapons, so that they could not pursue the enemy far enough, the Muscovites, realizing what was the matter, and having gathered their courage, lined up again and decisively moved towards the infantry Plettenberg (Pletenbergius), which in quantity ( NG there were many enemies, and some of them, opposing the infantry, numbered) about one thousand five hundred (people) met them with a phalanx, they defeated it(NG brutally fired at her with bows.). In this battle, the commander Matthias Pernauer, his brother Heinrich and standard bearer Konrad Schwartz were killed. [The outstanding feat of this standard-bearer is memorable.] Covered with arrows, exhausted, unable to stand on his feet any longer, before falling, he began to call in a loud voice some brave man to accept the banner from him. Lucas Hamersteter immediately ran up to this call, boasting that he was descended, albeit out of wedlock, from the Dukes of Brunswick, and tried to take the banner from the hands of the dying man. But Conrad refused to hand over the banner, [either not trusting Lucas, or] considering him unworthy of such an honor. [Unable to bear the insult] Lucas drew his sword and cut off Conrad's hand along with the banner. But Conrad grabbed the banner with all his might with his other hand and teeth, without letting it go, (so it) tore into pieces. Having seized the remains of the banner, Lucas, betraying the infantry, went over to the side of the Russians. As a result of this betrayal, almost four hundred ( NG(ex) with him) infantrymen were pitifully exterminated by the enemy, and the remnants with the cavalry(NG Although the cavalry repeatedly scattered and put the Muscovites to flight, being heavily armed, they could not pursue a light and numerous enemy, and therefore returned to the infantry, and they), without losing formation, returned unharmed to their own. The culprit of this defeat, Lucas, was [then captured by the Muscovites and] sent to Moscow, where occupied a place of honor for some time at the court of the sovereign . But unable to bear the insult inflicted on him by the Muscovites, he subsequently secretly(NG soon entered the service, but did not stay there long and) fled from Moscow to Christiern, the Danish king, who appointed him to command the cannons (-, Zeugmaister). But when some of the infantrymen who survived that battle and ended up in Denmark discovered his treason to the king and did not want to serve with him, King Christian sent him to Stockholm. When then the situation in the kingdom changed and Iostericus, otherwise Gustav, King of Sweden, returned Stockholm, he, Finding Lucas there, he accepted him among his close associates (familiares)(NG left Lucas in the service) and made him the head of the city of Vyborg (Wiburg). There he was accused of I don’t know what crime and, having found out about this, he, fearing the worst(NG Soon the king received complaints and accusations against him, and he, without waiting for further proceedings,), again retired to Muscovy, where I saw him in honorable clothes(NG in a castle dressed in a black velvet caftan) among the mercenaries (tributarii, Dienstleut) of the sovereign.

Sweden neighbors the Muscovite power and is connected with Norway and Skåne in the same way as Italy is with the kingdom of Naples and Piedmont (Pedemons). It is washed on almost all sides by the Baltic Sea, the ocean and that (sea) that we now call the Arctic (Glaciale) ( NG It is located across the sea opposite Livonia, Samogitia and Prussia; (extends) all the way to Skåne, and beyond Skåne - along Norway for a long distance to the sea, which is called the Arctic (gefrorn), and from there again to the land of the Muscovites, where the Dvina flows into the sea. Near the Dvina there are several territories (stuckh der lender) that pay tribute to both sovereigns: the Swedes and the Muscovite . Sweden is not an island, as others believe and write, but a large part of the mainland, which includes, starting from the Dvina River, Finlappen, wild Lappen, Norwegians, Goths, Skåne and Swedes, then reaching again Finland and the Muscovite limits. There are two kingdoms in this territory: Sweden and Norway; here are the Goths, who until now also had their own kingdom; now they are under the Swedes.). The capital of Sweden is Holmia, which residents call Stockholm, and Russians call Stecolna. This is a very vast kingdom, containing many different nationalities; Among them, the Goths are famous for their military valor, who, in accordance with the position of the regions they inhabit, are divided into Ostrogoths, i.e. Eastern Goths, and Vestrogoths, i.e. Western Goths; Having come out from there, they, according to the reports of most writers, served as a thunderstorm for the whole world ( NG It was captured by the Danish king Johan (Hanns); when he left there, leaving his wife there, Queen Christina, who came from a Saxon house, she was besieged and taken by the Swedes. They kept the queen captive until the king paid the Lübeck people ( or, perhaps: did not pay them from Lübeck. - A.N.) a lot of money for a hired ship. When the Danish king Christiern entered this city (Stockholm), he called the nobility (die ansechliche) for dinner, spoke of peace and trust, and (he himself began) to rage. This happened on Sunday November 4, 1520. Because of such ferocity, he had to leave Denmark of his own free will, not forced by anyone, along with his wife, the daughter of Philip, King of Spain, Archduke, etc., and two children, losing all kingdoms, lands and subjects; he himself fell into eternal imprisonment. The Kingdom of Sweden was ruled for several years by certain special persons who did not have royal rank. ; attempts by King Johan and then his son Hristiern to take possession of it were unsuccessful. Then Gosterich arrived there as king, who rules the kingdom to this day. When I was in Moscow for the second time, the Swedish embassy also came there . The Count (Nugarola) and I asked permission to invite them to our place; we were allowed. When we invited him (the Swedish ambassador) to dinner, he agreed on the condition that we dine with him in turn. According to the old custom, he was accompanied by many priests, who, however, did not appear for dinner. Our Moscow bailiffs were also present at the dinner. His (ambassador's) name was Erich Fleming, he was from the Brandenburg Mark. We behaved in the German manner, and soon began to talk and laugh in a friendly manner. This was a novelty for the Muscovites, and they did not want to believe that until then we had not known each other.).

Norway, which others call Northvagia, is adjacent to Sweden for a long distance and is washed by the sea. AND(NG According to residents, the country has many amazing things: talking and smoking mountains , where you can hear strange screams, extraordinary visions (erscheinungen), as well as spirits allegedly communicating with people. God knows what it is, and whether it should be believed, but many honest people wrote and talked about it, and from them I heard all this. Both this country and Sweden include many other areas, for example, wild Lapps and others that are opposite Engraneland.) just as the latter received its name from the word Sud, which means “south”, so the first - from the word Nort, i.e. “north”, where it is located. [For the Germans gave their own names to the four countries of the world and named the areas adjacent to them accordingly. Namely, Ost means “east”, hence Austria, which the Germans actually call Osterreich, West - “west”, whence Westphalia.] In the same way, from the words Sud and Nort, as stated above, Sweden and Norway received their names.

As for Skåne, it is not an island, but a part of the kingdom of Sweden (adjacent to) the mainland, [which borders for a long distance with the Goths and] a significant part of which is now owned by the Danish king. And although those who wrote on this occasion represented it more than Sweden itself and reported that both the Goths and the Lombards came from it, however, at least in my opinion, the name Scone seemed to mean all three kingdoms as some kind of indivisible whole, because that then the part of the land between the Baltic Sea, which washes Finland, and the Arctic Sea was unknown; and to this day it remains uninhabited (inculta) and little known due to the abundance of swamps, countless rivers and unfavorable climate. As a result, the majority called this huge island ( So! - A.N.) one common name Skane(NG Skåne is so close to the island of Zealand, on which the Danish capital of Copenhagen is located, that (the strait) is shot from both sides by cannons, and because of these cannons no ship can safely pass it unless it has an escort or is ( didn't pay) washed up.

The Kingdom of Denmark (Dennmarckht), in Latin Dania, owns on the continent only Skåne, as mentioned above, and Jutland, to which Schleswig adjoins, the rest are islands. Count Christiern of Oldenburg was elected king. From him descend the descendants of King Johan and Frederick, Duke of Holstein. King Johan had a (son), King Christiann, whose wife was mentioned above. He behaved in an inappropriate manner, which is why I was sent (to him) by Emperor Maximilian , spoke reproachful words to him and also that he placed a simple woman (ain gmain weib) above God, his honor and duty, as well as friendship, the highest among Christian (sovereigns). That is why the following decision was made regarding him: Duke of Holstein Frederick, and then his son Christian became kings and (are) to this day . ).

About Korela (Corela) ( NG - that's what Muscovites call it, otherwise - Karela -) it is said above that she is a tributary to both the Swedish king and the sovereign of Muscovy, since she lies between the possessions of both, which is why each of them boasts that she is his (property); its borders extend all the way to the Arctic Sea. And since most writers report a lot of contradictory (news) about the Arctic Sea, I considered it useful to add a brief description of navigation in this sea ( NG they themselves also have tributaries. Korela lies near another sea into which the great Dvina flows (gross Dwina) . ).

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• 1. Dedication. 5
• 2. To the reader. 15
• 3. The reliability of the news reported by the author. 15
• 4. Pronunciation of Russian names. 16
• 5. How did Russia get its name? 17
• 6. Peoples speaking the Slavic language. Borders of Russia. 18
• 7. So the sovereigns own Russia. Chronicle news about the spread of the Slavic tribe; Russian Slavs. 19
• 8. The Slavic alphabet was sent by Tsar Michael to Bulgaria; the beginning of the chronicles. Kozars and Varangians; Who are the Varangians? 20
• 9. The calling of princes. Rurik. Oleg. Igor. Olga's revenge. 21
• 10. Her baptism. Svyatoslav. Olga's death. 22
• 11. Division of Rus' by Svyatoslav; his campaign in Bulgaria; death. 23
• 12. Civil strife between Yaropolk and Oleg, Vladimir and Yaropolk. 24
• 13. Idols set up by Vladimir. His family. Sending envoys to explore different faiths. 25
• 14. Adoption of Christianity. Svyatopolk, murderer of Boris and Gleb. Vladimir Monomakh. Conquest of Rus' by the Tatars. 26
• 15. Andrey and Dimitry Alexandrovich. Dimitry Mikhailovich. Simeon. Victories of Dimitri Donskoy over the Tatars. Invasion of Tokhtamysh. Vasily Dimitrievich takes possession of Volga Bulgaria and appoints his brother George as heir. Court of George and his nephew in the Horde. 27
• 16. Vasily the Second’s struggle with relatives. Blinding him. Vasily the Dark - the first monk of Russia. John Vasilievich. His deeds. 28
• 17. His family affairs; Dimitri. Marriage of Elena and Alexander. 29
• 18. War with Lithuania. The Battle of Vedronga and its aftermath. 30
• 19. Flight of Konstantin Ostrozhsky. Conquest of Novgorod. Words of the Moldavian ruler Stefan. Some traits of John's character. 31
• 20. Attitudes towards the Tatars and changes in them under the influence of Sofia. Vasily Ioannovich. 32
• 21. Acquisition of Smolensk. 33
• 22. Battle of Orsha. 34
• 23. The fate of Chelyadin and other governors. Military actions after the Battle of Orsha. Victory for Albert Gastold. 35
• 24. Unsuccessful campaign against Kazan. The vastness of Basil's power. Salary for boyar children and rewards for noble sapovers. 36
• 25. Incident with Tretyak Dolmatov. The custom is to take away from ambassadors gifts they received from foreign sovereigns; example of Prince Ivan Yaroslavsky and Semyon Trofimov. 37
• 26. Unlimited power of the prince. Title. The meaning of the word king. 38
• 27. White Tsar. The form used to write diplomatic documents. 39
• 28. Title used in relations with the Polish king. The implausibility of rumors about the Muscovite sovereign seeking the royal title from the emperor or the pope. A refutation of the fact that the document conferring the royal title on the Moscow sovereign was brought by the author from Maximilian. 40
• 29. The danger of such rumors. 42
• 30. The ceremony of crowning a prince. 43
• 31. Description of church ceremonies at the wedding of Demetrius, grandson of John the third. Ceremony after the wedding of the Grand Duke. 45
  • 1. Visit to the Arkhangelsk and Annunciation Cathedrals; showering with gold money. Clergy present at the wedding. Girdling; presentation of Pereyaslavl herrings. 46
  • 2. Description of the Monomakh's barm and cap. Who owns the rest of Russia? Genealogy of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and Kings of Poland. 47
  • 3. Incidents under the sons of Casimir, Vladislav and Sigismund: the intrigues of John Zapolya. 50
  • 4. Anna's betrothal to Ferdinand of Austria; the death of Louis at Mogach. 51
  • 5. Marriage and divorce of Vasily Ioannovich and Solomonia. Rumor about the birth of a son from Solomonia. 52
  • 6. The reasons that prompted Vasily to marry Elena Glinskaya Mikhail Glinsky was appointed guardian of Vasily’s children. Death of him and Elena. 53
• 32. Religion. 53
  • 1. Religion of Russians. Metropolitan residences. 53
  • 2. Election of a special metropolitan in Lithuanian Rus'. Chronicle news about An's journey. Andrey to Rus'. Method of appointment of metropolitans. Metropolitan Varlaam renounces his son. 54
  • 3. Metropolitan Daniel. Archbishops and bishops; archimandrites and abbots. Extract from the message of Varlaam on the election of abbots. 55
  • 4. Priests and deacons: details of their position; they are subject to secular trial for crimes. 56
  • 5. A priest hanged by a governor for theft; income of priests; churches owning estates are few; the duty of the priest to perform services three times a week; clothes, hat, staff. Life of monks. 57
  • 6. They are obliged to obey government officials; an example of this; desert dwellers and capital dwellers. The Metropolitan and bishops are allowed to treat the laity to meat dishes. Their hoods, clothes, staff. the attitude of the Russian Church to Catholicism. 58
  • 7. Metropolitan Isidore. Message from Metropolitan John to the Pope about the difference in faith between Russians and Catholics. 59
• 33. The rules of a certain Metropolitan John called the Prophet follow. 63
  • 1. Brief extract from these rules. 63
• 34. Questions from a certain Cyril to the Novgorod Bishop Nifont follow. 64
  • 1. Extract from Virasheniya Kirikov. 64
• 35. Baptism. 69
  • 1. Details about the performance of this sacrament. 69
• 36. The bull of Pope Alexander follows. 69
  • 1. On the acceptance of Orthodox Christians into the Catholic Church without secondary baptism. 69
• 37. Confession. 70
  • 1. The view of the common people on confession; rituals when performing it; epitemia. 70
• 38. Communion. 71
  • 1. How the sacrament is made; the usual time for performing this sacrament; Communion of children and the sick. Reverence for images, gospels, prosphora. 71
• 39. Holidays 72
  • 1. How are holidays celebrated? Prohibition for the common people to drink beer and honey, except for the holidays of Christmas, Easter, etc. Some holidays. Rarity of the god; an ordinary curse. How they make the sign of the cross. 72
• 40. Purgatory. 73
  • 1. Concepts about the state of souls after death. What are memorial services for? Cemeteries are not blessed. 73
• 41. Worship of the saints. 73
  • 1. Veneration of St. Nicholas. The incident with Mikhail Kizaletsky and the Tatar. 73
• 42. Post. 74
  • 1. Lent, (his first week is cheesy). Various strictures imposed on themselves by many. Posts: Petrovsky, Bogoroditsyn and Filippov. The eves of holidays are not celebrated with fasting. Fasting of monks and priests; weakening of the charter at the present time. Church teachers. 74
  • 2. Lack of preachers and the reason for this. The beliefs and opinions of the prince are binding on everyone. Maxim Grek; rumor of his death. Greek merchant Mark. Georgy Maly; he fell from grace; the prince's new mercy to him; he is carried to the palace. 75
  • 3. Missionary activity of the clergy. Trinity Lavra. A foreigner who runs away to the Muscovites to accept their faith is not given back. 76
  • 4. The incident with Erasmus Bethmann and Stanislav, the author’s coachman. 77
  • 5. Severin Nordved. 78
• 43. About tithes. 79
  • 1. Tithes were established by Vladimir - for what purposes. Persons subject to the jurisdiction of the spiritual court. Make some bread. Cases of the laity judged by the bishop. 79
  • 2. Treating the Metropolitan with the Prince. Description church service on the day of the Assumption. 80
• 44. Method of marriage. 81
  • 1. A father offers his daughter to a young man as a bride. His relatives decide whether to accept the offer. The dowry is agreed upon. The groom does not see the bride until the agreement is sealed with a fine. Gifts for the newlyweds from guests. 81
  • 2. Method of giving. Marriage closer to the fourth degree is prohibited. Second and third marriages. Divorce; example of Vasily Ioannovich and Belsky. The Muscovite concept of adultery. 82
  • 3. Ordinary coldness between spouses. Seclusion of women. A woman cannot slaughter a chicken herself. Amusement of women. German Jordan and his Russian wife. 83
  • 4. Slaves and hired servants. The custom of selling oneself for money; father's right to sell his son up to four times. The right to execute the death penalty belongs to the prince alone. Census of boyar children every two years. Their service. Their horses, saddles, etc. 84
  • 5. Weapons; chainmail The Muscovites have neither infantry nor field artillery. First time using them. 85
  • 6. Infantry from foreigners. Attack in open field and siege of fortresses; examples. German and Italian foundry workers. Ignorance of Muscovites in artillery; example. How does the national difference of Muscovites manifest itself in war? 86
  • 7. Tatars and Turks. - Mill design. Method of food during the hike. 87
  • 8. Trumpeters; zurna. - Cloth; shoes; belt. - Youth fist fights on holidays. 88
  • 9. Why are they created? Severe punishment against robbers. Dealing with thieves, murderers, etc. The right to execute the death penalty belongs to a few regional leaders. Place and time of executions. 89
• 45. The decrees of Grand Duke John the Third Vasilyevich follow. 89
  • 1. Penalty. 89
  • 2. Judicial duel. The death penalty. Theft. 90
  • 3. Penalty. Cases tried in Moscow; court order. Duel. 91
  • 4. Prohibition of fights between foreigners and Muscovites. Difference between witnesses. Corruption of judges; her example. 92
  • 5. Reason. Explanation of who the okolnichy and the weekday worker are. Six-day corvee. Insecurity of peasant property. The nobles' concept of labor. Their immoderation in drinking wine. Clothing and housing. Daily wages for workers; the need for beatings. 93
• 46. ​​About visiting someone else's house. 94
  • 1. Sign of the cross on the icon and prayer at the entrance. Health. Care and farewell. Rules of Muscovite etiquette. The custom of sitting while talking. 94
  • 2. Postal chase. 95
• 47. About the coin. 95
  • 1. Silver coin: Moscow. 95
  • 2. Tverskaya, Novgorodskaya, Pskovskaya. Copper coin. The gold coin is foreign. Riga rubles. All goldsmiths can mint coins. The prince's efforts not to release silver abroad. 96
  • 3. Recentness of the silver coin. The old coin (silver plates, faces and ears). Counting in forties and so on. Inspection and evaluation of goods by tax collectors; showing them to the prince before going on sale. What merchants can come where? 97
  • 4. Products. Raising and lowering their prices. Export items. Dishonesty of Muscovites in trade transactions. The case of the Krakow merchant. 98
  • 5. Request; failure to fulfill promises; false god. Gostiny Dvor in Moscow. The relative cheapness of the goods sold there; 99
  • 6. The reason for this. - Furs: sable, mustelide, ermine, fox and squirrel. 100
  • 7. Lynxes and wolves, beavers, cats, arctic foxes. Duties on imported and exported goods. Interest. 101
• 48. Now I proceed to the chorography of the state and possession of the Grand Duke of Moscow. 102
  • 1. Name of Moscow. Moskva river. The soil. The severity of the climate. 102
  • 2. Excessive cold and heat. Works. 103
  • 3. City of Moscow; its vastness; Pour; insufficiency of reinforcements; blocking streets at night and night watchmen; 104
  • 4. Few stone buildings; number of houses; dirt walkways; The Kremlin, how Moscow became the capital. 105
  • 5. Kremlin wall; Cathedrals of the Assumption and Archangel; climate health; calorie disease; precautions against infection; the bad reputation of Muscovites; long day in Moscow. 106
  • 6. The order followed by the author in describing other areas. Vladimir; soil fertility; Klyazma River; muromaniacs. Nizhny Novgorod; soil fertility; extreme point of Christianity; Sura; Cheremis. 107
  • 7. The Sura River is the border with the Kazan kingdom; Vasilgorod; Moksha River; Kasimov and his women; Mordovians Ryazan; spicy Tube; extraordinary fertility of the Ryazan region. 108
  • 8. Don; the last princes of Ryazan and its annexation to the Moscow principality; 109
  • 9. Flight of Prince John to Lithuania. - Tula is the last city to the steppes. pp. Una and Tula; Vorotynsk; Odoev. - Don: its source and course; Azov; Ahas; the abundance of the Don region; 110
  • 10. Dankov; Azov trade; altars of Alexander and Julius Caesar; Donets; Moscow lies in Asia, not in Europe. - Mtsensk. 111
  • 11. The Oka River and the cities through which it flows; fish (beluga, sterlet, etc.); Seim and Sosna. - Kashira; how Grand Duke Vasily acquired it and Serpukhov. 112
  • 12. Kaluga; wooden crafts; guard against the Tatars. - Principality of Vorotyn; his last prince Ivan (1521). - Seversk Principality; Novgorod Seversky and the route to it from Moscow; the most important cities; 113
  • 13. Works; Vasily Shemyachich and Vasily Starodubsky; expulsion of the latter; Shemyachich's intrigue against Dmitry Putivlsky and his arrest; the flight of Dimitriev's son to the Tatars and his death. 114
  • 14. The death of Shemyachich himself - the reasons for this; jester; origin of the Seversky princes - Chernigov, Putivl, Bryansk. 115
  • 15. Rivers on the way from Putivl to Crimea: Sleep, Samara, Orel; danger from the Tatars; Horse-Waters and Milk; crossing method. - Ugra was once the border of Lithuania and Muscovy. - Demetrivuitz. - Smolensk, its fortress; cities between it and Moscow. 116
  • 16. Conquest of this principality by Vytautas and Vasily. Dorogobuzh and Vyazma; the Vyazma River and the movement of goods along it. - Mozhaisk; princely hare hunt; audiences with ambassadors. - Principality of Belskoe; Vasily Belsky and his sons. - Rzhev. 117
  • 17. The source of the Volga and its mouth. Source of the Dnieper; Monastery of the Holy Trinity; cities along the Dnieper. 118
  • 18. The source of the Western Dvina and its mouth; the cities through which it flows. - Source of Lovat; its course (St. Andrew) and mouth. - Volok; falconry for hares. - Velikiye Luki (the route from Moscow to Lithuania). - Toropets. - Tver. 119
  • 19. Grand Duke Boris and his daughter Maria; Mikhail Borisovich. - Torzhok; its two halves; sources of Tvertsa and Tsna. - Novgorod the Great: its name, the meaning of the word city; Volkhov; five ends and their features. 120
  • 20. Trade, possessions; works, structure and attitude towards neighbors; conquest of Novgorod by John. 121
  • 21. Perun; the stick he threw to the Novgorodians as a farewell; incident during the siege of Korsun by the Novgorodians. 122
  • 22. Longest day in Novgorod. Damage due to Moscow influence. - Lake Plmen; Lovat and Shelon; Volkhov; Lake Ladoga, Neva; Nut. - Rusa (old Russia): salt extraction. - Ivan-city; Narova River - border with Livonia: Lake Peipsi; pp. Pleskovia and the Great. 123
  • 23. Pskov; its walls; its conquest by Ivan Vasilievich; change in the rights of Pskovites; their previous conscientiousness. - Vodskaya land. 124
  • 24. Coastal places and rivers to the borders of Sweden: pp. Narova and Plyussa; Yama, Koporye; Neva River; Oreshek: Korela River Full - border with Finland. - Another Korela. - O. Solovki; salt; monastery and so on. - Dmitrov; pp. Yakhroma, Sister, Dubna. 125
  • 25. Favorable location of rivers for the import of eastern goods. - Beloozero - a place where princely treasures are stored; winter and summer road there; R. Shekena; excellent quality of fish; native language; due day; duration of winter. 126
  • 26. Northern Lake. Uglich. Kholopy-city; Mologa; fair. - Pereyaslavl; herring; princely hunt; salt lake; Nerl River. - Rostov. - the most ancient principalities of Russia. 127
  • 27. River Kotorost. - Yaroslavl; princes of Yaroslavl: Vasily; Simeon Fedorovich Kurbsky, his extraordinary abstinence and his campaign in Ugra; Ivan Posechen of Yaroslavl, his poverty. 128
  • 28. Vologda; swamps and forests; pp. Vologda and Sukhona; Cuban Lake; storage place for princely treasures; the high cost of bread in 1519. - Vaga River; The main trade of the inhabitants is hunting; foxes. - Ustyug; the past and present situation of the city. 129
  • 29. Poverty and the language of the inhabitants; fur. - Dvinsk region; pp. Sukhona, South and Dvina; the distance between Moscow and the mouths of the Dvina; Kholmogory, Pinega; works (polar bears; salt). 130
• 49. Signpost to Pechora, Ugra and the Ob River. 130
  • 1. The source from which the information contained herein is obtained. 130
  • 2. The path from Moscow to Kholmogory, - from the Northern Dvina to the river. Kuloy, - from Kuloy to Mezen; places along the way. The path from Mezen by Pezoy, portage and Tsylma to Pechora. 131
  • 3. Pustozersk. Usa River and Big Stone. The path from Pechora to the mouth of Shchugur. Samoyed. The path from Shchugur through the Ural Mountains to the Sosvoya River. Ob; the width of the Ob in this place. Vogulichi and Yugrichi. The path of the Ob to the mouth of the Irtysh. 132
  • 4. Fortresses Erom and Tyumen. The path from the mouth of the Irtysh to the Grustine fortress and Lake China. Lukomorites and their trade with the Grustinians and Serponovtsy. Kalamas. Rivers beyond the Ob. - Golden Baba in Obdor. 133
  • 5. The appearance of this idol. - Rr. Kossin, Kassimma and Takhnin; monstrous people behind the river. Takhnin; fish man - The author's view on all of the above. - Explanation of Russian words: Nose. 134
  • 6. Earth Belt; Khan of Katai Who controls Lukomoria? Panin-city; mountains of the Earth Belt (Riphean, Hiberborean). Sending the governors Simeon Kurbsky and Peter Ushaty for the Ural Mountains. 135
  • 7. Mount Pillar. 135
• 50. I return to the Moscow principality: 136
  • 1. Suzdal; its former meaning; its annexation to the Moscow principality under Ivan Vasilyevich (Prince Vasily Shuisky); the nunnery - the place of Solomonia's imprisonment; calculation of the most fertile principalities of Muscovy. - Kostroma. - Galich. - Vyatka; the way into it; Cheremis robberies. 136
  • 2. Khlynov, Orlov, Slobodskoy; notes about the country; Chunkas. - Permia; the difficulty of land communications; path along Vychegda and Vyshera; rare bread, served with horses and furs; Permian letters; Saint Stephen; the persistence of idolatry in different places; arts. 137
  • 3. Riding dogs. - Ugra is the birthplace of the Hungarians and Attila; Muscovites are proud of this; the similarity of the Ugra language with Hungarian; the author could not be sure of this; furs, pearls, precious stones. - Siberia; the beginning of the Yaika River; Shikhmamai. 138
  • 4. Squirrel furs. - The Cheremis are Mohammedans and subjects of the Tsar of Kazan, and before they paid tribute to the Moscow prince: the country and some features of their morals. - Salt pans nearby Nizhny Novgorod. - Mordva; their similarity with Cheremis. 139
• 51. About the Tatars. 139
  • 1. Chronicle news about the arrival of the Tatars to Kalka (persinache). The author of the book about the two Sarmatias made a mistake regarding the Polovtsians. 140
  • 2. Tatars are the common name of many peoples. Batu's invasion and the beginning of the yoke. The death of Batu in Hungary at the hands of King Vladislav. His successors: Uzbek, Chanibek, Berdibek, Kulna, Navrus, Khidyr, Temirkhozha. 141
  • 3. Mamai, Tokhtamysh, Temirkutluy, Shadibek, Temirassak (Tamerlane); his invasion and miracle on August 26th; explanation of the word Temirassak. Division of the Tatars into hordes: Zavolozhskaya. 142
  • 4. Perekonskaya, Nogai and others. They are Mohammedans; they abhor the name of Turks and assign to themselves the name of Besermen. The appearance of the Tatars and the features of their morals. Amazing endurance and extreme gluttony; how their enemies use this latter. Roaming the Stars (Iron Stake), Delicious Dishes. 143
  • 5. Horses; nakhmat; saddles Weapon. How they fight. 144
  • 6. How they sit on horses; bridle; whip Cloth. Attachment to nomadic life; they also have cities. 145
  • 7. Poor development of concepts of private property. Predation and passion for devastation. The rarity of murder and the punishment for it. Trade is primarily barter. Absence of any boundaries in the steppes; the case of one fat Tatar. - Kazan kingdom. 146
  • 8. Its boundaries. Military strength. Meaning of the word Kazan. Relative development of the Kazan Tatars. Subjugation of Kazan by Vasily; why it was easy to do it. Kazan kings: Helealek, Ibrahim, Alegam. 147
  • 9. Abdyl-Letif, Mahmet-Amin. Arrival of Queen Nur Soltan. Treason of the Kazan people. The campaign and defeat of the Russian army near Kazan; three gunners - Germans. 148
  • 10. Words of Grand Duke Vasily. Approval of Shig Alley in Kazan. The reasons for the hatred of Kazan residents towards him. His flight to Moscow; Sain-Girey. Invasion of Makhmet-Girey on Muscovy. 149
  • 11. Vasily’s fear. Confusion in Moscow. Flight of the Livonian ambassadors. Pushkar Nikolay. 150
  • 12. Certificate issued to Makhmet-Girey, and his removal to Ryazan. Evstafiy Dashkovich and governor Khobar. 151
  • 13. A successful shot from gunner Jordan. Hasty removal of the Tatars. A huge number of prisoners. How do the Tatars generally deal with captives? 152
  • 14. Return of Vasily to Moscow; gratitude to his gunners Nikolai and Jordan. Analysis of the case of the flight of troops from the Oka. Vasily's own campaign on the Oka River. 153
  • 15. Makhmet-Girey’s response to Vasily’s challenge. The campaign against Kazan and the founding of Vasilgorod, 1523. A new campaign against Kazan under the command of Mikhail Georgievich: the flight of Sain-Girey and the arrival of his nephew in Kazan; who is seid; 154
  • 16. Fire at the Kazan fortress and the inaction of the Russians; famine in the Russian camp; despondency. 155
  • 17. The fate of the ship's army sent under the command of Prince Paletsky; arrival of cavalry and siege of Kazan; 156
  • 18. The youth of six Tatar horsemen; the death of the Kazan gunner and Paletsky’s cowardice; 157
  • 19. Lifting the siege; rumor of Paletsky's bribery. Failure of peace negotiations. Transfer of the Kazan fair to Nizhny Novgorod; the harm suffered by the Russians themselves. - Nogai; their three princes: Shidak (in Saraichik), Kossum. 158
  • 20. Shikhmamai (in Siberia). The country of former Trans-Volga kings. Amazing plant in this country - ram, (reported to the author by Dmitry Daniilovich); news reported by William Postellus from the words of Michael. 159
  • 21. Yurgens; Barak-Soltan; Bebend-Khan, Great Khan of Cathay. - Astrakhan (Tsitrakhan); her position. - Tatars of Tyumen, Sheyban and Kaysak. Kalmyks. Shamakhnitsa. - Distance between Azov and Astrakhan. 160
  • 22. Perekop and Azov. Azov and Akhas are the only cities in the steppe. Settlement of the Tatars living on the Donets. - Kuban River. Afgazy. Cherkasy or Tsiki; their similarity with Russians in religion and language; piracy. Mingrelia, Cotatida. Phasis River, o. Zatabellum. Trebizond. - Cape St. John's Head. City of Crimea. The name of the kings of Perekop. 161
  • 23. Kafa (Feodosia) was conquered by Mohammed the second. Origin of the Perekop kings. Their enmity with the Trans-Volga kings. Shig-Akhmet, his alliance with King Alexander of Poland and imprisonment in Troki. 162
  • 24. Strengthening the Tauride kings. Relations between Poland and Muscovy towards them; example. Makhmet-Girey's conquest of Astrakhan; fear of the Nogai princes. 163
  • 25. The secret alliance of Agis and Mamai, and their attack on Makhmet-Girey; the death of the latter together with his son; Nogai attack on Crimea; restoration of the Astrakhan kingdom. Sadakh-Girey. 164
  • 26. Tatar titles: Khan, Soltan, Bey, Murza, Alboud, Olboadu-lu, Seid, Xi; Ulan; Shirni, Barni, Gargni, Tsintsan. 165
• 52. About Lithuania: 165
  • 1. Lithuania in a broad sense. Cherkasy. Evstafiy Dashkovich; one of his military tricks. 165
  • 2. Ochakov. Alba (Moncastro). Kanev. Kyiv; his former greatness; caves; some local customs. 166
  • 3. Mozyr; R. R. Prinet and Tour; Bobruisk, Mogilev, Orsha, Dubrovna, Mstislavl, Smolensk, Borisov; Berezina River - Ptolemy Borysthenes. - How recruitment is done in Lithuania. 167
  • 4. The custom of paying one’s way out of military service. Limited funds of the king. Clothes, weapons, horses. - Vilna; R. R. Viliya and Vilna. Kronon (Memel, Neman); Prussians. Bishop of Vilna John. Buildings in Vilna; There are many more Russian churches than Catholic ones. Catholic and Orthodox dioceses in Lithuania. 168
  • 5. Lithuanian trade with Danzig, Holland and England; Russian salt. Konstantin Ostrozhsky and his system of actions against the Tatars. Mikhail Glinsky: his youth; influence on King Alexander; quarrel with Zaverzinsky; 169
  • 6. Break with King Sigismund; murder of Zaverzinsky and removal to Moscow. 170
  • 7. Agreement with Vasily regarding Smolensk; relations with Sigismund and arrest; the firmness of Sigismund's messenger Treik; conversation with Vasily. 171
  • 8. Scene in Vyazma; characterization of Glinsky and various details about him. 172
  • 9. Efforts for his release; his and Elena's final fate. - Volyn. - Lithuanian forests, swamps and rivers; climate and works. - The difficult situation of the peasants. 173
  • 10. Monetary fees from them; Physical punishment. 174
• 53. About animals: 174
  • 1. Bison (bison). 174
  • 2. Hunting for bison. Buffalo (tour). 175
  • 3. Buff leather belts. Elk; his hooves are a remedy against epilepsy. - Saiga. - Self-death. Her head girl. 176
  • 4. Physiological curiosity. Clothing, housing, weapons, horses. Method of plowing with wooden stakes: unsuccessful experience of introducing iron coulters. Generation of snakes (givonts); 177
  • 5. The story of one Trok resident. Samogitsky honey. - Baltic Sea; its various names; the countries it washes (Pomerania - from the seaside). 178
  • 6. O. Gotland; Goths; Visby meaning. - Livonia; Riga, Revel (Kolyvan), Dorpat (Yuryev); R. R. Rubon (Western Dvina) and Narova. How the German element is replenished in Livonia. Livonian cavalry. 179
  • 7. Walter's campaign f. Pletenberg to Muscovy, 1502. The feat of the standard bearer Konrad Schwartz. Treason by Luke Hamersteter. 180
  • 8. His further fate. - Sweden; Stockholm; Ostrogoths and Westrogoths. - Norway. Origin of the names of Sweden and Norway. 181
  • 9. Scandia: the meaning of this name in ancient times. - Korela; to whom it is subject. 182
• 54. Sailing the Arctic Sea: 182
  • 1. The author reports this from the words of Gregory Istoma. 182
  • 2. The difficult path from Novgorod to the mouth of the Dvina. Pechora Sea. Finland. Northpodep (Kayan land). Holy Nose and the dangers it poses. 183
  • 3. Rock Seven; Skinner's superstition. Motka's thought. Bartgus. Wild Lapps; riding deer. 184
  • 4. Bergen. - Vlasiy's story about the same path. Testimony of Demetrius. Information about the Arctic Sea, reported by Istoma, Blasius and Dimitri. 185
  • 5. Summer solstice among wild liparii. The tribute they paid to the Moscow sovereign. Their art is in shooting. Their treatment of foreign merchants. Their clothes. 186
  • 6. Lifestyle. Fire-breathing mountains to the north. Walruses and their fishing; fish teeth. 187
  • 7. Country Engronelandt. 188
• 55. On the reception and treatment of ambassadors: 188
  • 1. Entry of the ambassador into the borders of Muscovy and the ceremonies observed at the same time. 188
  • 2. A case from the author’s first embassy. Greetings when meeting the ambassador at the border. 189
  • 3. Detailed reports to Moscow about Posle and his retinue. - How the author traveled from Dubrovna to Smolensk; the inconvenience of the journey and the deliberate slowness of the guides; the reason for that. 190
  • 4. Arrival in Smolensk. Arrival of bailiffs from Moscow. 191
  • 5. Difficulties encountered during further travel. The case of Count Nugarol. Herberstein's confrontation with the bailiff. 192
  • 6. Solemn meeting near Moscow (characteristic answer of the clerk); the words that are spoken at the same time. 193
  • 7. Travel through Moscow. Houses allocated for the embassy; bailiff and scribe; leave of contents. 194
  • 8. Appointment of the audience and preparations for it. Important dignitaries come for the ambassadors; meeting them. 195
  • 9. Procession to the court; a crowded gathering of people and the reasons for it. Meetings made with the ambassadors: in the middle of the stairs, at the top of them, in the palace itself. 196
  • 10. Presentation to the prince. What does it mean to hit with your forehead? Princely place and its furnishings. Why is a basin with two washbasins installed? How the prince listens to the welcoming speeches of the ambassadors. 197
  • 11. How he greets them. Offering gifts (commemoration). Inviting ambassadors to dinner. They are led into the dining room. 198
  • 12. Description of the dining room. The prince sends bread from his table; how this sign of mercy is received. 199
  • 13. What does sending salt mean? Drinking vodka before starting lunch. Fried cranes. How the prince eats them and sends out pieces of his five dishes. The author's actions with the prince's brothers. 200
  • 14. Seasonings for food. Beverages. How the prince invites the ambassadors to eat and drink. Prince Herberstein's question about the beard. 201
  • 15. Vasily Ioannovich shaved his beard before his second marriage. Clothes of table servants (terliks). Duration of lunches. Vacation of guests. Continuation of the feast at the ambassadors' home. Like drinking to someone's health. You can't refuse toast. 202
  • 16. Toast of the prince at the farewell dinner. The place where the prince hunts hares. Inviting ambassadors to hunt. 203
  • 17. Prince's hunting suit. Two horsemen - with an ax and a poleaxe. Shig-Alei. The custom of leading dogs with your own hands; why did the prince apologize for this to the ambassadors? 204
  • 18. Description of the hunt. Argamaks, falcons, gyrfalcons. 205
  • 19. About gyrfalcons. Refreshment after the hunt in tents; sweets; servants serve them on their knees. 206
  • 20. Mother of God bread. Fighting bears. Leave of ambassadors; gifts given by him. ...207
  • 21. Description of the ceremonies that accompanied the conclusion of the truce between Vasily Ioannovich and Sigismund. 208
  • 22. Speeches of the prince. 209
  • 23. Kissing the cross with them. Oath of Lithuanian ambassadors (Bogush and Peter Giska). Treating with wine and punishing bowing. 210
  • 24. Leave of ambassadors. 211
• 56. Roads to Muscovy: 211
  • 1. The reasons for Herberstein’s first embassy to Muscovy. His journey from Hagenau to Augsburg; here Grigory Zakrevsky and Chrysostom Column join him. The route from Augsburg. 211
  • 2. Via Linz to Znaim; death of Peter Mraksi. The route through Moravia, Silesia and Poland to Krakow. 212
  • 3. From there through Lublin (the famous fair) to Lithuania. Places through which the author traveled in Lithuania: from Melnik to Grodno: the Moscow messenger was forbidden to go to Vilna; - from Grodno to Vilna: 213
  • 4. Honorary meeting for the author; Peter Tomitsky; reception at the king's; marriage of Sigismund with Bona; visit to Chelyadnin by the author; 214
  • 5. From Vilna to Drissa: dangerous passage on the ice of the Dvina River; - from Drissa to Polotsk: Dvina is otherwise called Rubon; the difficulty of the further path. 215
  • 6. Uncertainty of the border between Lithuania and Muscovy. The path through Moscow's possessions. Corsula; Opochka; its siege by Sigismund; how the army moves in this swampy and wooded country. From Opochka via Porkhov to Novgorod. 216
  • 7. The path on post horses through Msta to Lake Valdai. 217
  • 8. To Volochok, - to Torzhok. The route by boat along the Tvertsa and Volga to Tver. The path on horseback through Klin to Moscow, (April 18, 1516). 218
• 57. Return route: 219
  • 1. The failure of Herberstein's embassy and the reason for it. The path from Moscow to Smolensk: parting with Moscow guides. The route through Lithuania: - to Borisov; 219
  • 2. Before Vilna: the author’s trip to Troki; lunch with the governor; Shig-Akhmet; - to Belsk: meeting with Nikolai Radzivil and gifts received from him by the author. 220
  • 3. The path in the Polish possessions: from Narchovo to Korchin: lunch at Zvorovsky and a story about Perstinsky; 221
  • 4. Feast at Szydlowetsky’s and explanations given by Perstinsky himself; O

SIGISMUND HERBERSTEIN

NOTES ABOUT MUSCOVA SIGISMUNDS, FREE BARON IN HERBERSTEIN, NEUPERG AND GUTENHAG (HERBERSTAIN, NEURERG ET GUETTENHAG) 1

A very brief description of Russia and Muscovy 2 , which is now its capital(NG Muscovy is the main state in Russia; compiled by Mr. Sigismund, Baron in Herberstein, Neuperg and Gutenhage, High Hereditary Chamberlain (Erbcamrer) and High Hereditary Kruchi (Erbtruckhsess) of Carinthia, Advisor to the Roman Royal Majesty (King) of Hungary and Bohemia, Chamberlain and President of the (Treasury) Chamber of Lower Austria.).

Moreover, chorography 3 the entire Muscovite state (imperium) with mention of some of its neighbors.

[Also included are various] information [about religion and] things that do not agree with our religion.

Finally, it is explained what is the method of receiving ambassadors and treating them.

With the addition of descriptions of two trips to Moscow.

To the Most Serene Sovereign and Lord, Mr. Ferdinand, King of Rome, Hungary and Czech and others, Infante of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and Württemberg and many regions, Duke, Margrave, Count and Mr., my most gracious Lord 4 .

I read that once upon a time the Romans, when sending ambassadors to distant and unknown peoples, instructed them, among other things, to carefully record the customs, institutions and entire way of life of the people to whom they were ambassadors. Over time, such notes became the rule and, after the report on the embassy, ​​they were kept in the Temple of Saturn for the edification of posterity. If our contemporaries or close predecessors had followed this order, then I think we would have more clarity in history and, of course, less empty talk. Personally, communication with foreigners both at home and in foreign lands gave me pleasure from an early age; Therefore, I willingly served in the embassies entrusted to me not only by Your Majesty’s grandfather, Mr. Maximilian 5 , the wisest sovereign, but also Your Majesty, on whose orders I traveled around the northern lands more than once, and especially visited Muscovy a second time together with a companion in honor and travel, the then Tsar's ambassador, Count Leonard Nugarola (a Nugarola) 7 . Among the lands enlightened by the sacrament of holy baptism, this country differs greatly from us in its customs, institutions, religion and military regulations. So, although by the will and on behalf of the blessed memory (divus) of Emperor Maximilian I went as ambassador to Denmark and Poland 9 , and after the death of His Majesty he went on behalf of the fatherland through Italy and France, by land and sea, in Spain to the most powerful and invincible Mr. Charles V 10 , to the Roman Emperor, Your Majesty's brother, then, by order of Your Majesty, he again visited the kings of Hungary and Poland, and finally, together with Count Nicholas Salmis (de Salmis) and so on. even Suleiman (Solimanus), the Turkish sovereign, had it 11 , - and although in other places I became acquainted not only in passing, but also very carefully with many things that, without a doubt, would be highly worthy of recording and publication, I still did not want to devote the leisure that I devote from government duties to narration about any of those cases, partly because they were eloquent and detailed have been stated before by others, partly because they are daily before the eyes and sight of Europe. But I preferred Muscovite affairs, much more hidden and not so accessible to contemporaries; I decided to describe these matters, relying mainly on two circumstances: the painstakingness of my research and my knowledge of the Slavonic (slavonica) language; both helped me greatly in writing this treatise, whatever it turned out to be. True, many people wrote about Muscovy, but most did it from hearsay, namely: from the earlier Nikolai Kuzansky 12 , and in our time they left both maps and notes Pavel Joviy 13 - I mention his name with due respect for his high learning and remembering his great affection for me - the writer is undoubtedly eloquent and very reliable, for he used a very knowledgeable interpreter 14 , John Fabry 15 and Anthony Bede 16 ; in addition, some referred to Muscovy not specifically, but when describing the countries closest to it; Olai Goth is one of them 17 , who described Sweden, Matvey Mekhovsky 18 , Albert Kampensky 19 and Munster 20 . However, they could in no way force me to abandon the undertaking of the essay, both because I was a witness to the events described, and because, while there, I gleaned some information from trustworthy reports; Finally, I talked for a long time and a lot about those matters with a lot of people. Therefore, sometimes I considered it necessary to be much more detailed and expansive - and even if this is not It will cause displeasure to the reader to explain what others have simply mentioned but not explained. In addition to this, I also write about something that others did not touch upon at all and that could not become known to anyone except the ambassador. You, Your Majesty, approved this intention and desire of mine and advised me over time to complete the work I had started, spurring, as the proverb goes, an already running horse; however, embassies and other instructions from Your Majesty have not yet given me the opportunity to complete what I started. Now that, in obedience to Your Majesty, I have returned to the interrupted work, resting, so to speak, from time to time from the daily studies of the Austrian treasury, I am less afraid of the ill will of readers, who in our extremely sophisticated age will probably demand from the book greater grace of style. It is enough that I, by deed itself, without being able to accomplish the same in words, showed a desire for the enlightenment of posterity and at the same time fulfilled the will of Your Majesty, above which there is nothing higher for me. Therefore, I dedicate to Your Majesty these notes about Muscovy, compiled by me much more out of a desire to explore and discover the truth than to show off eloquence. I humbly entrust and devote myself to the patronage of Your Majesty, in whose service I have already grown old, and I beg Your Majesty to honor the book with the grace and favor that You have always honored its author himself. In Vienna, Austria, on the first of March MCXLIX.

Your Majesty's faithful adviser, chamberlain (Camerarius) and chief of the Austrian treasury Sigismund, free baron in Herberstein, Neuperg and Gutenhage ( NG Sigmund, Baron in Herberstein, Neuperge and Gutenhage, High Hereditary Chamberlain and High Hereditary King of Carinthia, etc. wishes the supportive reader happiness and blessings.

After much has been said and written about the midnight countries of the world, especially about the mountains and the sources of famous rivers, as well as about the customs and way of life of the peoples; after, further, from the blessed memory of Emperor Maximilian 5 more than one embassy was sent to the Grand Duke in Moscow, which reported a lot of extraordinary things and even something (completely) incredible, it so happened that I was also instructed to go as ambassador to those countries: to Poland and Lithuania to King Sigmund and to Moscow to Grand Duke Vasily. Mr. Matvey Lang (Lang) 6 , the Cardinal of Salzburg, a very famous, experienced and respectable man, seriously persuaded and exhorted me to remember the events there (warhafftes), which I did with diligence, both mindful of his advice and on my own, and wrote everything down so well as soon as I could. Upon my return, the said lord cardinal asked the emperor not to listen to me about my case except in his presence; and so it was done. But after the death of the Emperor Maximilian, I was once again sent to those parts by the present King of Rome and my most gracious master Ferdinand, and I was especially entrusted and punished, together with the ambassador of His Imperial Majesty, Count Leonard Nugarolis, to find out the religious rites 8 and other morals and customs of the people. Therefore, I again questioned and found out about what I had written down before, and what was repeatedly confirmed by many witnesses, I accepted as reliable. Since after my report on the embassy and my stories, I learned that they were favorably and graciously received by His Imperial Majesty and so on. and Mr. Cardinal, I dedicated these notes written in Latin to the present most revered Roman royal majesty, etc. and published them, gaining the praise of many scientists. Soon they were translated into Italian and also printed, while the Latin text, somewhat expanded and improved by me, was printed twice more in Basel and sold in large quantities at the Frankfurt fair, that is, the general bazaar, so that in many places They are looking for them and cannot get them. For this reason, and at the request of some of my friends, I decided to translate them into German for ordinary Germans who are not versed in Latin, but who want to become thoroughly acquainted with this subject. Although before and subsequently I made many long journeys, each time with an important embassy: for example, from Emperor Maximilian I was sent to King Christian 21 to Denmark, to the Electors of Mainz, Saxony, Brandenburg and to the two brothers Dukes of Mecklenburg at the same time, also to Salzburg, Eichstätt, Bavaria, several times to Switzerland (Aidgnoschaft) and then to Hungary, and after the death of the most gracious Emperor Maximilian, on behalf of his fatherland, the Duchy of Styria through Venice, Ferrara, Bologna, Rome and Naples on horseback, and from there into Spain by sea, to Sardinia, Minorca, then Ibiza and Majorca, (where) a strong storm caught me, then through France, Piedmont, Milan, Brescia, Verona, Vicenza and Frioul again to his homeland, and another time from the present Roman royal majesty King Ferdinand, my most gracious master, repeatedly to Hungary and the Czech Republic, many times to Poland and Lithuania, as well as to the German princes, and then to the almighty and most successful Suleyman (Suleyman) Turkish Emperor - I did not write anything about those lands, about the morals of (those) peoples, for many respectable, famous and learned (men) have been there and are constantly, which they wrote about, so I do not consider it possible to do it better than them . But about those regions in which none of those who have written them so far, one must think, have been, and even now rarely does anyone visit, I want, by order and friendly advice, to bring to general knowledge what I saw myself and what I learned thanks to concordant testimony many. I hope that for those who happen to visit those countries or (talk with) those who come from those countries, my notes will serve as a basis to explore everything in even more detail, in order to bring more certainty to the knowledge about (the subject) that has been around for so long in the unknown. Having encountered - and repeatedly - in my writings such things as chronology from the creation of the world and so on, which I took from the historical writing there and transferred here, let the kind reader take into account that I did not want to change anything in the retelling of what I take from there, wishing to present both the reliable and their misconceptions. In my research, I was greatly helped by (knowledge of) Latin and the Slavic language (Windisch), so that I was helped by what in my youth I endured hardships when I had to listen to a lot of ridicule from the ignorant about (my study of) the Slavic language , as, indeed, because of Latin, many called me the offensive, from their point of view, nickname “doctor,” which I, however, would consider an honor if I considered myself worthy of this (title), and many other nicknames, which nevertheless did not push me away from (the study of) languages; In any case, I was not embarrassed and did not avoid speaking them, since on the part of (any) Other I would consider this honorable and (evidence of) education. This work, given my daily service and my age - I am already quite tired of my seventy-one years - gives me constant difficulties in translating into German, because due to the service entrusted to me, I cannot choose a convenient time and check more often that everything is correct. translated better and more gracefully 22 . Therefore, I very much ask everyone who will hold my work in their hands, as it is, to favorably accept and read it and to benefit from my difficult experience, for I wrote this for the sake of common benefit, albeit bad, but true.) 23 .

To the reader

Going to describe Muscovy, which is the head of Russia and extends its dominion over the vast regions of Scythia 24 , I, kind reader, will certainly need to mention in this essay about many northern countries that were not sufficiently known not only to the ancients, but also to modern writers. Therefore, I will sometimes have to disagree with their writings; and so that my opinion on this issue does not seem suspicious or arrogant to anyone, I declare that I, as they say, saw and examined Muscovy with my own eyes, and not once, but twice, acting as ambassador of Emperor Maximilian of blessed memory and his grandson the Roman king, Mr. Ferdinand; I obtained most of my information from the inhabitants of that land, who were as knowledgeable as they were trustworthy; In addition, I was not content with the reports of one or two, but relied on the concurring information of many 25 . So, supported, above all, by the beneficial knowledge of the Slavic language, which coincides with Russian and Muscovite, I wrote this down not only from hearsay, but also as an eyewitness, and not in a pompous style, but simple and clear, and committed it to the memory of posterity.

It is known that every nation has its own special way of pronunciation; in the same way, the Russians, combining and connecting their letters in every possible way, pronounce them in a way that is unusual for us, so that if you do not observe their pronunciation with all diligence, then it will be impossible to successfully ask them about anything, nor to learn anything from them no matter what it was probably. And since in the description of Russia I deliberately used Russian words when denoting objects, places and rivers 26 , then I want to immediately briefly say about the meaning of some combinations of letters 27 ; By noticing them, the reader will greatly facilitate his understanding, and perhaps his future research.

Although Russians write and pronounce the name Basilius (Vasily) through the consonant w, but since it has become ingrained in us to write and pronounce it through b, I did not consider it necessary to write this word through w. The letter s, standing before the aspiration, should be rendered not [through ci or schi], as is the custom among most peoples, but through khi, almost like the Germans, as, for example, in the word Chiowia (Kiev), chan (khan), Chlinow (Khlynov), Chlopigrod (Khlopigorod), etc.

If this letter precedes the double (sound) z, then it should be pronounced somewhat more sonorously, as, for example, Czeremissae (Cheremis), Czernigo (Chernigov), Czilma (Tsilma), czunkas (Chunkas), etc.

[Contrary to the custom of other Slavs] Russians pronounce the letter g as an aspirated h, almost in the Czech way. Therefore, although they write Iugra (Ugra), Wolga (Volga), they still pronounce Iuhra, Wolha 28 .

The letter i mostly denotes a consonant, as, for example, in the words Iausa (Yauza), Iaroslaw (Yaroslav), Iamma (Yama), Ieropolchus (Yaropolk), etc.

They usually pronounce Th as ph; thus Theodorus they pronounce Pheodorus [or Feodorus] (Fedor).

If v denotes a consonant, then instead of it I put the letter vu, which the Germans convey through a double b 29 , i.e. w, such as Wolodimeria (Vladimir), Worothin (Vorotynsk), Wlodislaus (Vladislav). [The same letter, standing in the middle or end of a word, receives the meaning and sound of the Greek letter phi, we have ph as, for example,] Ozakow (Ochakov), Rostow (Rostov), ​​. Therefore, the reader must carefully observe the meaning of this letter, otherwise, by incorrectly pronouncing it the same way everywhere, he may appear to be asking and implying different things. [In addition, when translating Russian chronicles (annales) 30 and when telling about their (Russian) origins and deeds, we used not the chronology that is customary among us, but the one that they themselves use 31 , so that, when correcting their writings, we do not turn out to be correctors more than faithful translators.]

Sigismund, Baron, in Herberstein, Neuperg and

Gutenhage

About the origin ( NG Latin) name Russia ( NG in German called Reissen) exist different opinions. Some believe that it was derived from (the name of) Russ (Russus), brother [or grandson (nephew?) (nepos)] of the Polish (Polonorum, Polln) sovereign Lech (Lech) 32 , since this (Russ) was the sovereign (Landtsfuerst) of the Russians. Others lead it on behalf of the [very] ancient city of Russum, not far from Novgorod the Great (Nowogardia magna, Grofineugarten). There are also those who explain this name by the dark complexion (fuscus, braun-schwarz) of the inhabitants 33 . However, the majority believes 34 that “Russia” is a modified name “Roxolania” 35 . Themselves Muscovites (NG Russians), rejecting such opinions as not corresponding to the truth, claim that their country was originally called “Rosseia” (Rosseia), and this name indicates the dispersion and dispersion of its people, because “Rosseya” in Russian means “scatteredness” or “scattering”. This opinion is obviously correct, since to this day various peoples live interspersed with the inhabitants of Russia, into which other lands are wedged everywhere, dividing it. ([From the Holy Scriptures we know that the word “dispersion” is also used by the prophets 36 when they talk about the settlement of peoples. However, in this way the name of the Russians can be derived from a Greek or even Chaldean root, for example, from the word “current”, in Greek  , or from Aramaic 37 Resissaia or Ressaia, which means “splashing”. Likewise the Jews and Gauls 38 and Umbrians 39 named from Gall and Gallim, as well as from Umber, which means streams, rains and floods, to thereby indicate that these peoples are restless V stormy, or a tribe of waters.]) But whatever the origin of the name “Russia”, this people, speaking a Slavic language, professing the faith of Christ according to the Greek rite, calling themselves in their native language Russi, and in Latin called Rhuteni, so multiplied that he either expelled other tribes living among him, or forced them to live in his way, so that they are all now called by the same name “Russians”.

Slavic language, now distortedly called Slavonic (Sclavonica) 40 , is very widespread: it is spoken by Dalmatians (Dalmatae, Dalmatiner), Bosnians (Bossnenses, Bossner), Croats (Chroati, Chrabaten), Istrians (Istrii, Isterreicher) and further along the Adriatic Sea to Frioul, Carnes (Carni, Carster), which the Venetians ( NG and Italians (Waelhisch)) are called kars (Charsi), as well as the inhabitants of Carniolani (Crainer), the Carinthians (Carinthii, Khaerner) up to the Drava River (Dravus, Traa), then the Styrians (Stirii, Steyrer) ( NG four miles) below Graz (Graetz) along the Muer (Muer) to the Danube ( NG and further along the Drava and Sava (Saw)), Mysians (Mysii, Mysy), Serbs (Servii) ( NG whom we now usually call Sirven and Raetzen 41 ), Bulgarians (Bulgarii) and others living as far as Constantinople; besides them Czechs (Behemi, Beham), Lusatians (Lusacii, Lausitzer), Silesians (Silesii, Schlesier), Moravians (Moravi, Marher) and inhabitants of the banks of the Vagus River (Vagus, Waag) in the Kingdom of Hungary 42 , and also the Poles and Russians [ruling over vast territories] and the Pyatigorsk Circassians (Circasi-Quinquemontani, Circassen in fuenff pergen) near Pontus and, finally, the remnants of the Vandals (Vandali, Wenden), living here and there in northern Germany beyond the Elbe. All of them consider themselves to be Slavs, although the Germans, using the name of Vandals alone, call everyone who speaks Slavic equally Vends (-, Wenen), Winds (Windi) or Vind (peoples) (Windische) ( NG This language is used in writing and worship by the Moldavians (Moldauer) and other neighboring Wallachians (Wallachen), who in common speech, however, speak a different language. Many claim in their writings that the Macedonians’ native language was and still is Slavic, which they call Syrvisch.) 43 .

Russia borders the Sarmatian Mountains (montes Sarmatici, Sarmatisch gebuerg) 44 , located near Krakow, and formerly extended along the Tirasa River, which in the language of the local residents is called the Dniester (Nistrus) 45 , to Pontus Euxine ( NG otherwise called the Black (Schwarz) or, in Italian, the Great Sea) and the Borysthenes River ( NG in Russian called the Dnieper (Nieper), but several years ago the Turks captured Alba, Weissenburg, otherwise called Moncastro, located at the mouth of the Tiras 46 , which belonged Wallachian-Moldavian (sovereign) (Walachus Moldaviensis)(NG Moldovan Voivode (Voyvode in der Molda)) 47 . Yes and ( NG Tatar (Tartarisch) king, whom the Russians call “(tsar) on Perekop” (im Rgesor) 48 , and in Latin called) the Taurian king (Thauriciae) 48 Having crossed the Borysthenes, he destroyed vast areas, after which he built two fortresses here; one of them, near the mouth of the Borysthenes, is called Oczakow 49 and is now also in the hands of the Turks. Nowadays the area between the mouths of both rivers ( NG Dniester and Dnieper) is a desert. Climbing from there up the Borysthenes, you will see the city of Cherkasy (Circas) on the left bank. 50 , and even higher ( NG Kanev (Caynow) and) the very ancient city of Kyiv (Chiovia, Chiow), once the capital of Russia ( NG and the residence of the prince.). On the other bank of the Borysthenes there extends Severskaya (Sewera) 51 an area still inhabited. Directly east from there are the sources of the Tanais 52 . Moving then along Tanais (So! - A.N.) (secundum Tanaim)(NG a long way down from the named rivers ( Dnieper and Don? - A.N.) (von denselben fluessen... hinab)) to the confluence of the Oka (Ossa) and ( NG Volga (Volga), called in Greek) Pa (Rha) 53 and having passed the vast expanses on the other side of Ra, you will come to the North Sea (mare Septentrionale, Moer gegen Mitternacht); if you return from there along the possessions of the Swedish king along Finland and the Gulf of Livonia 54 via Livonia (Leiffland) 55 , Samogitia (Sameitn) 56 , Mazovia (Masovia, Mass) 57 and Poland, you will eventually find yourself back at the Sarmatian Mountains. Inside (this circle) there are only two non-Russian regions - Lithwania (Lythen) and Samogitia; located among the Russians, they speak, however, their own language and belong to the Latin Church; however, most of them are Russians.

Russia is now ruled by three sovereigns