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THB
HISTORY OF RUSSIA,
PBOM TKE
EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME.
CompOetr from ti^r most 9tt%mCc S^ourcts,
JVCLTJDIVG THB WOEKS OP
KAEAMSIN, TOOKE, AND SEGUE.
WALTER K,^KELLT.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. L "
■••••• *
• • * • <• • •
^« * • V* ■* ^
• • ♦ • / •
LONDON:
■• HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
KDOOCIJV. I ', '■,,
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
AftTOK, LENOX ANft
TH.DEK FOUNDATfOttt.
If 09
• • • •/
• • •
• • •• •
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PREFACE.
Thx Kteratme of England is singularly deficient in the
department of Bussian .history. IraTellers have ^ven na
some insight into the actual condition of the empnre ; and
for portions of its history under the present and the pre-
ceding reign we may turn with advantace to some recent
works. But when we desire to study, from its infan<rr in
the ninth century to its present stage of growth, the whole
life of tliat anomalous member of the European confederacy,
which pretends to exercise a despotic hee;emony over the
rest, our English giudes give but scanty help, ana often mis-
lead on essential points.
Tooke's five ill-digested volumes long enjoyed a consider-
able reputation, which was partly adventitious, because for
many years they had exclusive possession of the field, and
partly deserved, in so far as they were made up of trans-
lations from works of merit, especially those of Levesque
and Cast^. Sugar's single volume, of which there is an
English translation, is valuable for its pregnant summary of
that dreary porticm of the earljr annals of fiussia^ which even
TTarfttna^'Ti^ the national historian, apologises for givinff in
detaD. But S^gur's faults are many and capital — ^a painndly
unnatural style; elaborate indirectness ; a perverse ingeonily
in giving dissertations when he should narrate ; and above
aQy a preposterous idolatry of Peter the IFirst. Of certain
workid by Uidng Englishmen it becomes us to speak with
reserve ; but all our respect for the literary abiHty of their
authora cannot restrain us from saying, that they too err
with S^gur in misplaced admiraldon of the reforms effected
by Peter. The reign of that monarch was the turning-point
in the history of Eussia. The empire is at this day what he
and his successors, inheritors of his system as well as of his
throne, have contributed to make it. We judge that system
Tl PBXPACB.
by its results. If these are iiredeemably bad, what praise is
due to the source from which they flow r
An original history of Bussia, derived to anj great extent
from primary Bussian authorities, is certainly not to be looked
for at this moment. We must content ourselyes with making
the best use of such secondary materials as already exist.
Happily these are both copious and instructive, and n^d only
to be selected with discrimination, and judiciously arranged.
This is the task we have undertaken, with what success it
is for our readers to decide. The authors whose works have
been chiefly consulted or put under contribution for the pre-
sent volume are as follows :
Por the earlier portions — Segur, Karamsin (whose eleven,
volumes reach only to the 16th century), Tooke, Lederc,
and Levesque.
Eor the period of the faHae Dmitris — "KTaramsin and Me-
limee.
!For that of the first two Bomanofa — ^Tooke, Levesque, and
Schnitaler.
For that of Peter I. — ^Levesque, Schlosser, Yon Halem,
Pelz, Sdgur, Yoltaire, Yillebois, and Staehlin.
Por the subsequent periods-^Schlosser, Levesque, Mann-
stein, Yillebois, and Castdra.
Li writing Bussian words, we have generally represented
the native orthography not by IVench, German, or Polish,
but by English equivalents : e. y. Otehaktf not Oasmkowy
Varontztf not Woromsow. Li conformity, however, with a
usage which we cannot approve, we have retained tiie form
GSbst, whereas the true pronunciation is accurately repre-
sent^ by Txar.
The consonant j, wherever occurring in Bussian words, is
to be sounded as in French, or like the « in the English word
fiuiom. The Germans employ j where English usage requires
jr, as JermoUff for Yerwmof. The German ff at the end of
audi names as Orlof, Bomanof, Gortchakof, would indicate
too much stress on the single consonant with whidi tiiey end
in Bussian.
W. K. K.
Ja4fl,lS54.
COJfTENTS OF VOL L
Stwoptical View 1
CHAPTER I.
Rurik— Ole^— Igor 7
CHAPTER n.
l!he Regent 0]ga—Syiatoslaf 16
CHAPTER m.
YapopoIk--Yladiinir— -Russia Christianised .... 26
CHAPTER rv.
SYiatopolk—Yaroalaf— First Russian Code — ^Liberties of Nov-
gorod 37
CHAPTER Y.
General Survey of the Second Period, from 1054 to 1236 . 48 ^
CHAPTER VI.
The Grand-Princes of the Second Period — Yladimir Mono-
machus — ^Andrew 67
CHAPTER Vn.
Third Period, from 1237 to 1462 67^
CHAPTER Yin.
Decline of the Tatar Power — ^Alexander Nevski— Ivau Kalita . 76
CHAPTER IX.
Decline of the Tatar Power— Dmitri Bonskoi— Yassili Dmitrie-
vitch 87
▼lU COHTTEITTS.
CHAPTEE X. PA«B
Vassili rV.— The Russian Church in the Third Period . . 95
CHAPTER XI.
Beginning of the Fourth Period, from 1462 to 1613— Ivan HI.
the Great 105
CHAPTER XII.
Ivan m. continued 120
CHAPTER Xm.
Yassili rV. Ivanovitch— Ivan rV. the Terrible ... 189
CHAPTER XIV.
Manners and Condition of the Russians in the 6is1;eext& O&Awrj 146
CHAPTER XV.
Peodor I.— Extinction of the Dynasty of Rurik-^-Boris €te-
dunof— The False Dmitri 156
CHAPTER XVL
Peodor Borissovitch— The False Dmitri . ... , 180
CHAPTER XVH.
Vassili Ivanoviich ShniBki SCO
CHAPTER XVm.
Accessioii of the House of Romanof-— Micbael^«-> Alexia"-*
Feodorll . - 813
CHAPTER yrxL
Iv*n V. and Peter I , .886
CHAPTER XX.
Peter the First 33^
CHAPTER XXI.
Peter's Schemes of Conquest — Conspiracy to murder him —
He travels to acquire Knowledge— Rebellion and Extinction
of the StreHtz— Peter the Author of a Spurious tHiviliisation . 24:3
OOITTBKTB. IZ
CHAPTEB, XXn. PAoa
War with Sweden— Battle of Narva 260
CHAPTER XXm.
Petersburg founded — Narva and Dorpat taken— Defeats at
Gemaaers and rranstadt — Augustus loses the Crown of
Poland . 272
CHAPTER XXIV.
Charles XII. invades Russia — ^Battle of Poltava — ^Baltic Pro-
vinces conquered— War with Turkey — Capitulation of the
Pruth 284
CHAPTER XXV.
Peter's Acquisitions in the North — Operations in Pomerania,
&c. — Steinbock and his Army made Prisoners— Intrigues of
Gortz— Naval Victory pf Aland 297
CHAPTER XXVI.
Charles XII. liberated from Captivity — Political Aspect of
Europe at that Period— Project of Peace between the Czar
and the King of Sweden — ^Peter's Second Visit to Holland —
Cabals of Alberoni and Gortz ...... 308
CHAPTER XXVn. •
The Czarevitch Alexis disinherited — Afterwards brought to
Trial, condemned to Death, and poisoned by his Eather . 319
CHAPTER XXVra.
The Burlesque of the Conclave— Institutions of the Year 1718
—Peace of Nystadt— Peter's Einandal Resources . 837
CHAPTER XXIX.
Peter is sumamed the Great — The Patriarchate abolished —
The Tchin instituted— Persian Campaign .... 354
CHAPTER XXX.
Death of Peter— Retrospect— His Politidal Testament . • 367
h
OHAPTBE Xm. FXGx
Personal Charaoteristics of Peter L . . « « . 377
Gatharme L--Peter II. « , S92
CHAPTER XXXm.
Anna Ivanovna chosen Empress — ^Def ^ts an attempt to limit
her Sovereign ^PowCT-^Intedferas successfully in Poland —
The Pec&i&n Provisoes tes^gned — Ww with Tuzkey-^Wiim
libe Attitiuie of Sweden — ^Deeth d Ajmb^Ckmndkaaiics oi
her Reign . 404
cHAPTiaa xxxrv.
Ivan VI.— -The Regent Ann©— Elizaveta Petrovna— War with
Sweden— Treaty of Abo . , 420
CHAPTEE XXXY,
Marriage of Elizabeth's Heir — Growing Antipathy between the
Courts of Russia and Prussia — ^The Seven Years' War —
Death of Elizabeth— Her Character 4.S3
CHAPTEE IXSCVL
Accession of Peter III.— ^End of the Seven YeacB^ Wiat^^^^km^
rous Acts of Peter IIL — Meditated Expedition against Den-
mark . • 451
. CHAPTEE XSXVIL
Peter III. dethroned and murdered— Accession of Catharine 11. 461
Appendix to Vol. L ....... 479
SYNOPTICAL VIEW.
Fbom time immemorial the more temperate portions of
the vast territory, now ruled by the czar, were parcelled out
amongst barbarous tribes, which owned no common bond of
union, nor eyen a eollective national appellation. It was in
the ninth century of our era that the first step was taken
towards combining those loose elements under the sway of
a conquering race, who imposed their own name on the van-
quished. From that point, therefore, we date the rise of the
Kussian empire. In its history we discern fire great periods,
two dynasties, five capitals, and twelve remarkable princes,
exclusive of those of the fifth period, which is not yet ended.
Of these five prominent periods, the first, comprehendiug a
space of a hundred and ninety-two ^ears, from a.i). 862 to 1054,
presents to our view the foundation of the empire, in Nov-
gorod, by Burik the Great, a leader of Yarages, Varangians,
or Yaeringar, from the Baltic sea ; its enormous extension
Bnder the potent Oleg, who, as regent for Surik's son Igor,
gave to this rising state Kief as its capital, together with a
large part of the present European Bussia. Then follows
the protracted reign of the weak Igor, an insignificant prince,
though he was son of Burik, pupil of the great Oleg, and
husband of the celebrated Olga.
To this reign succeeds a second regency, that of St. Olga,
B
2 HISTOBY OF BXrSSIl.
the widow of Igor. This princess, the first Christian Bussian
who exercised sovereign authority, was baptised at Constan-
tinople. She is famous for the crafty and terrible revenge
which she took for the murder of her husband, upon the
Drevlians, whose subjugation she completed. Her adminis-
tration is remarkable. To her the republic of Pskof was
indebted for its liberties, which rendered it so flourishing
during the space of six centuries. • It was this princess who
divided the north of Bussia into various administrative
districts. Down to theperiod of the annalista, her greatness
continued to fill the memories and the hearts of the people.
She was the mother of Sviatoslaf, a rough, inflexible, im-
petuous warrior, — the Achilles, the Charles the Twelfth of
that epoch. Ab Oleg had removed his capital firom Nov-
gorod to Kief, so did Sviatoslaf remove his to Bulgaria;
each remove being an approach towaids the coveted empire
of the Greeks* But he was driven hcaa it; and, in. hia
retreat, his skull became the cup of the leaden of the Pet-
chenegans, on the same soil where,, eight centurieft later,
Charles the Twelfth was destined to be overcome by Fetec
the Great, in cojisequence of similar obstinacy..
Subsequent to him, and to Yaropolk, & prince who was a
mere cypher, this first period, displays to us tiie highest
Gothic glory o£ the Bussian empire, under Vladimir tha
Great,. and its conversionfto Christianity in.988» Then suc-
ceeds Sviatopolk. Were it not for his. fratricides, and. tha
first invasion of Kief by the Poles, o£ which he was the
prompter, this miscreant would pass^ aliiiofl^. unparc^ved
between his. father, ihe great Ykdimir, and. his brothec
Yaroslaf the legislator, l^a fiftix eminent man. of this
dynasty, with whom the first period; closed in. 1054^
In ^e second period, from 1054 to 1236, oomprising a
hundred and eighty years, a period wholly engrossed.by disr
cord and. intamal strife, the entire was divided and sub*
divided, like a private property,, amimg liie de8cendaiQt&> of
Burik.
JaxaUst tf Iteong of 1^efl& prinees, who lecipvoeally con-
tended for tiietr {^panages, imd especially fbr the tbranef of
tSatS, vm^ baldly^ dbtingoish an tminteirapted serieir' of serea*
teen paramount princes, saociMfdiug from brother to broiler,
and ftom tmdiB tb nephew, down to l^e ob^eure Tury, who
was slain by the Tafcam in 1237. Of the seventeen Grand*
PHncei^ ranged in Hub singnlar order of snccession, two only
were men of historic note: Vladimir Monomachos, in 1114,
and Andrew, abont 1157.
The first of l^ese restored to the empire a moment of
unity, by the ascoidant of his valonr and his virtues, in spite
of llie efforts of the Folovtzy, nomad t^bes of the south,
whom he succeeded in crushing. The second, abandoning
EHe^ made Vladimir l^e capital' of his empite. His policy
raised' him above the unfbrtunate times in which he Hved.
He is l^e only one who seemed to be aware of the cause of
sonauch dissension, and whostroveto annihilate it;
The l^urd period opened in 1237, wil^ iiie subjugation of
BuBsia, in consequence of its intestine divisions. It con*
tinned for two hundred and twenty-five years, till 1462.
A multitude of Buasian princes, the 6rand*Prince, three
of his sons, and their mother, were maisacred by the Tatars ;
but two brothers' of* the* Orand-Prhioe stiQ survived, who
successively filled bis place. The eldest had five sons, all of
whom in sucoessibn winded the degraded seeptre. The third
of these brothers, 9t. Alexander Nevsky, was a great man,
in every sense of tiie word. He was a hero, victor over the
Teutonic knights, the Swedes, and the Lithuanians, who had
flung themselves upon the fidling Bussian empire ; and he
died a martyr to his patriotic devotedness, after having
Ifaiee bent his way to the extremity of Asia, to disarm the
Tatar wrath, which was about to crush tiie remnant of his
imprudent and unruly subjects.
Two of his sons, unworthy of him, ascended the throne, after
two of their undes. Mikhail of Tver, their cousin, succeeded
to them about 1300. Then began a contest of twenty-eight
b2
i, aiBTOBT OF BXTBSIA.
years, fraught with treason, baseness, and perfidy, between
the princely branch of T^er and that of Moscow. But in
1328 the Grand-Princedom was secured by the latter, in the
person of Ivan I., sumamed Kalita.
This prince is worthy of note, because with him recom-
menced, firstly, the reuniting of the appanages with the
Grand-Princedom of Moscow, which was become the capital ;
secondly, the rallying of the appanaged princes round the
Great-Prince ; thirdly, the re-establishment of succession in
the direct line; and, lastly, a system of concentration of
power, by which the Bussian empire was one day to be again
raised up, and transformed into that stupendous mass which
we now behold.
This direct succession, and this system, were intermitted
but for an instant, to revive in 1362, in the great Dmitri
Donskoi, the first conqueror of the Tatars, and to pass to
his son and grandson, the two Vassili ; finally, to produce in
1462, after the lapse of a century, the uncontested autocracy
of Ivan in.
It was in 1462, and with that great Ivan, that the fourth
Eussian period began ^ it ended in 1613, and lasted only a
hundred and fifty-three years.
The Bussian republics of the north, and the Tatars, sank
beneath his power, which he always employed opportunely,
circumspectly, progressively, and with Maohiavellic dexterity.
By degrees, the chain with which the Tatars weighed down
the Bussians came wholly into the hands of this Grand-
Prince, who bound with it both the victqrs and the van-
quished, the one by means of the other, and remained sole
and absolute master.
His grandson, Ivan IV., great in crime, carried to excess
the concentration of this power, in which everything was
swallowed up : manners, morality, patriotism, and the few
privileges which, under Ivan III., the Bussian nobility had
either preserved or acquired, by serving him against the
princes who held appanages, the Bussian commonwealth, and
STNOMICAL
the Tatars. This madman killed the only one of his three
sons who was able to wear his ponderous crown. The result
was that, after having rested nominally on the head of his
feeble successor, it passed to that of a descendant of a
Tatar, his treacherous minister, whom it crushed, as it did
aU the Eussians, Poles, and Swedes, who subsequently dared
to seize or aspire to it.
Thus did this insane despotism destroy itself. It gave up
the corrupted state to invasions from the West, in the same
manner that, three centuries and a half before, internal dis-
sensions had laid it open to invasion from the East. This
similar effect of an opposite kind of eiscess lasted fifteen
years; and it seemed as if the empire, brought to its last
gasp, were to close its existence with its fourth period.
But it was re-invigorated at that crisis, by the election of
a new dynasty : in 1613 the family of Eomanof ascended the
throne. With them begins the fifth great period of Bussian
history, to be followed perhaps in our own day by a sixth ;
for while we write this, the empire is hurrying towards a
momentous crisis. The splendour of the fifth period begins
towards the end of the seventeenth century, with the reign
of Peter the Ghreat.
To guide us to this illustrious man through the obscurity
of eight centuries, we have, as already stated, a series of
twelve remarkable princes. In the first period, the period
of foundation and aggrandisement, we behold Bwriky the
Pounder ; Oleg^ the Conqueror ; Olga^ the Begent ; Vladimir^
the Christian ; Yaroslqfy the Legislator.
In the second, the period of dissensions, the valiant and
virtuous Vladimir MonomacTius, and the politic Andrew,
In the third, that of complete slavery, the victorious and
devoted St, Alexander Nevsky, the able Ivan Z, and Dmitri
Donakoiy the first who vanquished the Tatars.
Lastly, in the fourth, that of deliverance and of despotism,
Ivan Illy the Autocrat, and Ivan IF,, the Terrible.
But, independent of these twelve beacons, we descry other
8 PESTOBOr W R1HHIU.
.dire<»ting pointsj, ]«adnuurkEi, which ako msj -afford uauBsuit-
imce in elasaiBg our oimmxtitiQDMi ftad.aoBlyaingtthk .^Mfc
jnA88 of hifftorj.
We hftTO j^eiEorke^ that the pxieflont capital of Biuimis
ih^ fifth which %h& empire has Jaad. I& 86^, the conquaeiiig
genius of Suxik plAoed the&st.in Novgorod. J!rom .882,
the still greater genius of Oleg, together with the aUuMxaenli
.of a mildar cliiuate, audof theiiiohfiCj, the ^owledge, nud^the
comforts of Qreek civiliaatiozi, .fixed the^seeKSid in the aouttw
at .Kief. In JJLB?, intumai disaesaionis, the attaeks of .the
JPoles in the wi9^t, thooe of ,tbe nomad tribes in .the wnxbh^
and itiie 'poUcj of .Andreiw, drew b^ck the third towards the
east, .ond^estE^liated it at Yladimir. The fourth, and motA
central, the^great Moscow, which was to re-unite with it all
the en^pire, .rose in 1328, and subji^gated the three otibers
hj the Jla^hiaYellism^of Xuzy, and the italent of lYan>Ealita,
its fij»t pinneesj.and by its position between JN^ovgorod, .the
first metropolis, and Vladimir, the third. Lastly, about ISOBt,
the genius of oiyilisation established the fifijh, St. Fetembuig,
on the northern ifroutier, at ike Jbead of the Gulf of J^inland,
and on the very coast whence, eight hundred andioriy yeM»
earlier, the barbarian Eurik, the creator of this empire, com*
menoed his marchior the purpose of founding it.
HISTOII OF RUSSIA.
'CHAPTBRX
HAYnre fhufi aketdhed.tlie outline of Bnasian histoiy, let
us prooeed to its pxiiicipal details ; and, without pausing on
tlie almost diLuvian origin which is assigned to the primitive
tribes ; without lepeatm^ the names of Ji^et, iBus8,'6layBXi,
or Scythes, from wnom the ^Russians, the .Slayonians, and the
Scythians are supposed to be descended, let us state that the
most anciently mown inhabitants of Soissia were, the Scy-
thians, to the south.; the Slavonians, in the ceuiirej and the
Finns, to the north. Of their earliest source nothing .is
known with certainty; but everTthing leads us to baUoive
that the IBussian Varangians were Normans.*
Till the time of Bunk, the history of these tribes is fiill of
uncertainty : all that we can discern is, that, down to the
ninth century, the extensive territory, which now consti-
tutes European ILussia, had often been inundated by gieat
and opposite irruptions ; those firom Central Asi% and Uiose
firom Scandinavia. J£f however, we ma^ J^%^ ^^^'^ ^^® ^^^
Tatar irruption, previous to 860, that of toe Eihozars ,(or Cha-
zases), it will ^pear that the Asiatic mvaaions never pene-
trated, in a northern direction, b^ond the spots where £ief
and Kaluga are now situated.
As to the INorman irruptions, with the exoOT)tion of that
oTJimaiskf king of tibe GQtlis,and son of the gods^^who, about
the year 250, carried with him, againab theEoman emmre, all
file Slavonians of the country .comprehended between Einland
and Jbd 3QE^aQiene% 'ithey isppear to .hai» flawedoff .to :the
» •Bee Appmdiz.
8 HI8T0BY OT BVSBIA. [OH. I.
right, towards the south-west ; so that, from the Oka and
the Upper Dniepr as far as the Baltic, all the SlaToiuaa
and Finnish tribes who dwelt in the centre and the north of
European Bussia, and thus were between the two irruptions^
were able to live in tranquillity, to multiply, and even already,
as was the case with the great Novgoroa, to acquire riches
by means of a considerable commerce.
At the time of which we have now to speak, this republican
mother of a most despotic empire, had become so powerful
that it was a common saying among its neighbours : " Who
can dare to oppose God and Novgorod the great ?'' Its com-
merce extended to Persia and even to India, and from Constan*
tinople to Yineta, a very commercial city on the mouth of
the Oder. The nations around it were its tributaries, from
Lithuania to the IJral Mountains, and from Bielo Ozero and
the lake of Bostof to the White Sea. About the middle of
the ninth century, however, anarchy arose in the republic,
either from the abuse of liberty or the pride of wealth. In
this state of things a geographical curcumstance drew down
war on Novgorod. Its most active commerce was carried on
through the Baltic, through the midst of the Bussian Varan-
gians, Scandinavian warriors who were then masters of that
sea. A passage was to be obtained only by tribute or by
force : hostilities ensued, and the Novgoroddans were rendered
tributary.
They recovered their independence after a while, but did
not retain it long. The weakness consequent upon internal
dissensions induced them, in the year 862, to invite the three
Varangian brothers, Buiik, Sinaf, and Truvor, either to rule
over them, as an old chronicle alleges, or, much more pro-
bably, to serve as auxiliaries for their defence against foreign
aggression. The brothers accepted the invitation, and esta-
blished themselves on the three principal frontiers of the
republic — ^Burik at Old Ladoga, near the Volkhof ; Sinaf at
Bielo Ozero, which wasthen situated on the northern bank of
the lake of the same name ; and Truvor at Izborsk, near
Pleskof. In these positions the Varangian princes were able
to protect the republic from attacks from without ; but along
with the power to defend they had also the power to oppress,
and consequently the will to use it. Encircling the commer-
cial city they commanded all its outlets. Bather than re-
A.3>« 879] .OIiBa THX BXGEKT.' 0
linquisli all ideas of traffic, Novgorod preferred to submit,
and Burik took peaceable possession oi it in 864, after the
deiath of his two brothers without issue. He now assumed
the title of Cband-Prince (Veliki Kniaz), and portioned out
all the cities among his companions in arms. The country
thenceforth became Bussia ; and from this epoch we must
date that new name of the many Slavonian and JPinnish tribes
of European Bussia, and also the origin of their slaveiy.
Most of the Bussian historians reckon Oskhold and Dir,
sovereigns of Kief, among the Varangians who accompanied
Burik to Novgorod. They relate that these two brothers,
being dissatisfied with the Grand-Prince, set out in quest of
fortune in the direction of Gfreece, at the head of a body of
adventurers of their own nation. On their way they made
themselves masters of Baef ; and two years afterwards they
attacked Constantinople ; but they suf^red a severe repulse,
and with difficulty returned to Kief, bringing home no other
fruit from their £sastrous expedition than a strong desire to
embrace that religion to wluch they probably ascribed the
better fortune of their Greek foes. The Byzantine writers
give the year 851 as the date of this enterpnse, thus making
it precede the .reign of Burik by eleven years ; and this, ac-
cording to Levesque, is confirmed by one ancient Bussian
chronicle. However this may be, it appears from an epistle
of the patriarch Fhotius, written towards the end of 866, that
the (Sovereigns of Kief had already embraced Christianity,
and received a bishop and a priest from Constantinople.
After the death of his brothers, Burik reigned fifteen
years in Novgorod, and died in 879, leaving to his kinsman
Oleg the regency, and the guardianship of his son Igor, then
aged four years.
G^ie dominion founded by Burik was rapidly and prodi-
gioudy enlarged by his successor. Oleg appears to have
possessed in a high degree the virtues and the vices most
incident to the age in which he lived: a true specimen
of barbaric greatness ! brave, crafty, insatiable, adventurous,
indefatigable; faithful, as with respect to Igor, his ward,
and yet capable, on occasion, of the most savage treachery,
as in his conduct to Askhold and Dir. After the capture
of Smolensk in 882^ he set his heart on the possession
of Kief; but as its intrepid sovereigns and their Yaran-
3.0 JIUMMIl OV SlHHtfii. 1t3S.X
gini' wftirionirare nob liksfy to .pvov6 on anycoujioti, 1m
detennined to employ atnte^geia. (Leoring luBirmt^'beilund,
and tokiiig Igor with faim, 'he deseRDided ibe Bmefv rniA
a -few boats, >in which some acmed men were oo&oealed,
and landed helow l^e high bankon "which stood the aaci^it
oify of EleL He then sent a messnge to AsUiold and Bir,
aaying that some Yaarangian merchants, on their way to
Greece hj order of the prinoe of l^ovgorod, denrediio'sae
^em as mends and men of the same raee. In accordance
miik the sim^de habits of the times, the two pnnees -went
out without hesitation to meet the supposed merchants, aoA
had no sooner reached the place of ambush than thejr wese
Burronnded by Oleg's arm^ foUowers. '^' Yon are nebhiat
princes, nor of prinoety birth," he cried; "but I am «
prince, and this is the son of Euiik." As in these words he
pronounced their doom, Askhold and Dir were laid dead at
nis feet.
By this ne£mou8 (deed Oleg obtained undisputed posses-
sion of Kief. Transported with admiration of nk conquest^
" Let Kief," he exclaimed, " be the mother of alt rthe
BuBsian cities !" Glliis it became in &et, for nearly three
centuries ; and he made it his capital ; not that he might
enjoy repose in it, but because it was nearer at hand to the
€beek empire^ — ^a prey which was greedUy coveted by the
barbarians under his command.
But to this pillage he did not lead them tillhe had wdl
connected his two capitals by a chain of conquests. To esti^
blish this connexion he first subdued, or won over, all the
Slayonian, ^Finnish, and Lithuanian tribes, which had till
then been independent, or tributaries to the dogeneBtled
Khans of the eastern Khozaxa,
In fflayonia itaeU^ where the was desirous (Of fixing ihis
authority, he was cautious in ii&e use of his power, and
moderate in the tributes whidi he imposed. Me itdosated
nascent (Christianity in Kief, and firmly established thene laa
pupil Igor. .
(But, when he had completed the foundmg of ihis empiiie,
he rbiesdied into all tiie vanquished tribes, who heeame his
Bubjects, the adventurous and fesooious aviddiyof thefriaton,
which ibe had h^evto restnuned. Putting bimaelf at the
bead of both ^partiea. inflaming ttiieir passions % 3m 40wb,
jL9..904i] oLEe's TSfitior invKirBSccmssK xmpbbob. 31
ittod eonoJiiQing tbem in one taoi like 4«me Jionilite.tiiiHrf; dF
Uood^of gpLory^ imdof plunder^ ke :pA8aed wiik eighty .tiioQ-
auid men, tin iiwo thotuttBd barlBi, ihe etttanctB .t^ Urn
Borj^tkesMHi, deviuitated tb0i0vfiek 6m^» by atrodiom bv-
bficiafis, and, like Miahomet, ccmveyed hiB fleet oirsr a cape,
or, 'as .the chDonidb affirms, mounted his .vesselB tm wheds,
navigated them by land with all sails ad;, to ^Isimeh them
again in the veinr^poizt ofBysantium ; he then fixed his ibield
iHL tiie^te of that capital as a Irophy, andiRnreatedd^mAe
emperor an ignominious trei^, and: an. enormous zanaoin.
Xhua, erea the.^ieoond.aoy-ereign of JBnssiarmade himself ja
formidable to the Greek emperor as his ancceason h«T9
bfion to the Bnltan<of Constantinople.
Okg's yaraogian guard, who seem to haw faeamjdso faia
(Qouncil, vwere parties with him to this treafy, for thearaaaent
appears to hasre beea requisite to giv^ validity .to an agzee-
m&at affecting the amount of their gains as eon^uerDicu
These warriors swore to ,the tretdsj by their gods Eerune
aod ¥ole8a, and by their arms, placed befose them on ihe
ground.: I^eir shields, l^eir rings, their naked swards, gdd
and -steel, the things they loved and honoured .moat U3ie
gorged bairbarian then departed with his jdeh booty to Kifi^
to Qi^joy there an uncontested authority, .and tlie HHb of
^ise Man or Magician, unanimously oonfeized upon him Jiy
popular admiration.
Mighk ^eara afker this ewent Oleg jent ambaaaadora to
iConatantinqple to conolnde a iareaty of aUiamoe and eom-
msxene between the two empires. This treaty, tpiesewed in
thafold.chroBiole.af Kestor, is the first twcitten mnnumwnt of
fiumanhii^Qi^, .for all ptevious treaties were^vevbaL It is
irf'¥alue, as presenting to us .some customs of rthe times in
n^ch.it vwas negotiated, and aa ^ving that the iBuaaians
laid already Jams. Those histoanans, ttfaai^re, me iin jool
enar, who ratlsritote their find; laws io a prinae a tmiixaj
fwrtmorta &isg.
JB&» foQawjunna of the jartiiSes itiiai;^iraare signed 'bgr tito
aaafeieigos'of ^Conatratinople and^of Eief lespectnel^r:
JI. '^ If :a<Qfeek oomniit any .outaage (on a 'Euaann, or a
Bnaaion ion SiGreek, a&d it be jxA anffirimittyjpio)ged,^tiie
flaEl3i(gfttiie«Haiaer ahaU lie iaken,iand juakiceine^doitt.
Ui. ^^Jf A Sunan kiU.!a (Huaatian, onarjCBirisfiaadDUs
12 HIBTOBT OT BUBglA. [OH. I.
Buasian, the assassin shall be put to death on the very spot
where the crime was committed. If the murderer take to
S:ht and be domiciliated, the portion of his fortune, which
ongs to him according to law^ shall be adjudged to the
next of kin to the deceased ; and the wife of the murderer
shall obtain the other portion of the estate which, hy latt,
should belong to him.
IV. " He who strikes another with a sword, or with any
other weapon, shall pay three litres of gold, according to the
jRmnan law. If he have not that sum, and he affirms it
upon oath, he shall give the party injured all he has, to the
garment he has on.
Y. '' If a Bussian commit a theft on a Gh?eek, or a Greek
on a Eussian, and he be taken in the fact and killed by the
proprietor, no pursuit shall be had for ayenging his death.
But if the proprietor can seize him, bind him, and bring him
to the judge, ne shall take back the things stolen, and the
thief shall pay him the triple of their yalue.
X. "K a Russian in the service of the emperor, or tr»-
yelling in the dominions of that prince, shall happen to die
without haying disposed of his goods, and has none of his
near relations about him, his property shall be sent to
Bussia to his heirs ; and, if he naye bequeathed them by
testament, they shall be in like manner remitted to the
We see, then, that the Bussian laws laid great stress on
oaths, a characteristic always obseryable among people in a
state of simplicity. They pronounced the sentence of death
against the murderer, and in this respect were wiser than
those ancient laws, which, by inflicting only a pecuniary
mulct, left the rich at liberty to be guilty with mipunity.
Wiyes had a part of the estate of their husbands. The
punishment did not inyolye the entire confiscation of goods,
and the widow and orphan were not punished for the crime
of which they were innocent. Bobbery which attacks only
property, was punished by the priyation of property, and the
law maintained a just proportion between the penalty and
the crime. The citizens, secure in their possessions, were
under no apprehension that the soyereign would seize upon
their heritage, and might eyen dispose of their effects in
&your of friendship. Lastly, since the Bussians made tes-
taments, the art of writing was not unknown to them.
A*J}. 913] 4IPC15S8IOK or lOOB. 13
The names of the ministers who negotiated the two
treaties of peace hetween Greece and Eussia are preseired.
As none of these names are Slavonian, it appears that the
Slaves had retained no share in the admimstration : the
Varangians alone were in possession of all places of trust,
and the ancient masters of the country had only to obey
them.
Oleg governed for thirty-three years the dominions of which
he was only the trustee. There were doubtless at that time
neither laws, nor usages holding the place of laws, that could
force him to surrender the sovereign authority to his ward.
Besides, the Eussians were averse to being governed by
young princes; a dislike which for several centuries esta-
blished among them the order of succession from brother to
brother, and from uncle to nephew. Properly speaking, says
Karamsin, this prince is to be regarded as the founder of the
empire's greatness, for to him it owes its finest and richest
provinces. Eurik's sway extended from Esthonia, the Slave
sources and the Volkhof, to Bielo Ozero, the mouth of the
Oka and the city of Eostof ; Oleg subjugated all the countries
from Smolensk to the Sula, the Dniestr, and probably to the
Carpathian Mountains.
It was not to be supposed that such a man should die like
an ordinary mortal : a miraculous life must have a miracu«
lous end. !Nestor relates that Oleg had a favourite horse
which he rode constantly till the soothsayers predicted that
it would be the cause of his death. The animal was then
put aside, and Oleg heard no more of it for some years. At
last, recollecting the prediction, he inquired what had become
of the horse, and was told that it had long been dead. Exult-
ing, then, in the discomfiture of the soothsayers, he desired to
see the bones, and being taken to the place where the skeleton
lay, he set his foot on the skuU, saying, *^ So this, then, is the
creature destined to be my death." That instant a serpent
that lay coiled up within the skull darted out and gave the
prince a bite, of which he died.
Igor, the son of Eurik, was near forty years of age when
he succeeded Oleg in 913. He ascended the throne under
trying circumstances, for contemporaries and posterity ex-
pect great things of the successors of great princes, and
We little indulgence for their short-comings. The death of
the victor revived the courage of the vanquished^ and the
JA HUHmnr os mmsui. [oh; n
Dso^liaiiB zaked. tiie standaitl of revolt againsfc Kief; but
Itof soon quelled them, aEud puxDBhed them by augmentisg
iiieir tribute*. The TJgHtches, who dwelt on the southern
side of the Dni^r, contended longer for their liberty agameCi
the rojevoAe Sveneld^ whom Igor had despstehed against
them. One of l^exr principal towns, named Pixesetehen^
held out a siege of three years. At last they too were
subdued and: made tributary.
Meanwhile new enemies, formidable fkim their numbers
and their thirst for piUaffe, showed themselres on the frontiers
of Bttssia : these were uie Petchenegans, famous in the Bus**
sian, Byzantme, and Hungarian annals, from l^e tenth to
the twelfth century. They were a nomad people, of the
Turcoman sto^, whose only wealth consisted in their lanoes,
bows and arrowy their flocks and herds, and their swift
horses, ^»hich they managed with astonishing address. The
only objects of their desires were fbt pai^iures for their
cattle, and. rich, neighbours to plunder. After their ex-
pulsion from the deserts- of Saratof, the Petchenegans turned'
westward, extended their dominion from the Don to the
Aluta, and divided their conquests into eight provinces, four^
of them to the east of the I)niepr, between the Bu8sian»~
and the £hozars, and four to the west of that river, in Mol-
davia, Transylvania, on the Bug, and about Gflicia, in the
neighbourhood of the Slave tribes dependent on Kief. The
Petchenegans had thought of sacking Kief, but desisted'
from the attempt on seeing the formidable nature of the
resistance they would have to encounter, and retired peace^
ably to Bessarabia or Moldavia. Thencefbrth occupying
the ground between the &reek and the Bussian empires,
subsidised by the one for its defence, and court? d by the other
from commerdaL motives, for the cataracts of the Dniepr
and the mouths of the Danube were in the hands of those
marauders, the Petchenegans were enabled for more than
two hundred years to indulge their ruling propensity at the
expense of their neighbours. Having concluded a treaty
with Igor, they remained for five years without molesting
Bussiia ; at least Nestor does not speak of any war with them
unial 920, nor had tradition afibrded him any due to the
reaalt of that campaign.
GDie reigniof Igor w»s hardly disttoguiflfaed by any impra^
taut eyeat maiil tke year Ml>. when, in. imitaiioxL of Ma
guardian, he engaged in an expedition against GonatontinoplflC
1£ tha ehromolerft do not exaggerate, Igor eootered tiie Black
Sea. with tan thouaixid baiks, each caiirying fbrlgr nien« The
imperial tonms b^bg at a distance^ he hj^ tiine to oTteinizr
and raTag^ Paphlagonia, Fontus, and Bithysia. nestosr
spe&ka' vn& deep abhorrence of the ferocLty displayed by
l£e HnflffBans oil this occasion ; nothing to' whidb they could
apply fixe or sword escaped their wanton kist o£ deslaructaon^
aad their prisonera were inirarzably massacred in^ the moat
atrocious manner,— cmcified, impaled, cut in pieces, bumd
alive, or tied to stakes to serve as butts for the archers. At
last the Greek fleet encountered the Bussian as it rode at»
ancdior near the Pharos, prepared for batde and confident
of victory.. But the terrible Greek fire launched against
idie invaoBrs struck them with such dismay tlmt they fled in
disorder to tha coasts of Asia Minor. Descending there ta
pillage, they were again routed by the laud &roes, and
escaped by night ia their- barks, to lose many of them in
aoQ&er severe naval d^eatw By the oon£ession.of tha Bus*'
maa chronicles, Igor scarcely took back with him a third
part of his: army.
Instead of being, discoursed by thesa^ disasters, Igor
prepared, to revango them* Li 944 ha collected new forces^
tooK the Fetehenegans into his pay, exacting hostages for
l^ir fidelil^, and again set out for Greece. But scarcely
had he reached the mouths of the Danube whmi ha was met
by ambassadors irom the emperor. Bomanus, with an ofler to
pay him the same* tribute aa had been exacted by Oleg:
Igor halted and communicated this offer to his chief men,
whose opinions on the matter are thus reported by Nestor :
"If CsBsar makes such proposals^" said they, "is it not
better to get gold, silver, and precious stuffs, without fight-
ing? Can we tell who will be the victor, and who the
vanquished ? And can we guess what may befal us at sea P
It is not solid ground that is imder our feet, but the depths
of tiia waters; where all man ran the same risks."
In. aeeordance with these views Igor granted peaee" to the=
empke osl the proposed^ conditions, and the following year
he cDseluded with tha emperor a treaty, which was-in part a
renondiof that mada by Qleg. Of l^e fiflT'nattaes attached
16 aisTOBY OF nrssiA. [oh. u.
on the part of BuBsia to this second treaty, three are Slave,
the rest Norman.
Igor, being now advanced in years, was naturally desirous
of repose, but the insatiable cupidilr of his comrades in arms
forced him to go to war. Erom the complaints of his war-
riors it appears that the Bussian, like the Gorman princes,
furnished fiieir Paithful Band with clothing, arms, horses,
and provisions. " We are naked," Igor's companions and
guaras said to him, " while the companions of Sveneld have
beautiful arms and fine clothing. Come with us and levy
contributions, that we may be in plenty with thee." It waa
customary with the Grand-Prince to leave Kief every year,
in November, with an army, and not to return until April,
after having visited his cities and received their tributes.
When the prince's magazine was empty, and the annual
contributions were not sufficient, it became necessary to find
new enemies to subject to exactions, or to treat as enemies
the tribes that had submitted. To the latter expedient Igor
How resorted against the Drevlians. Marching into their
country he surcharged them with onerous tributes, besides
suffering his miards to plunder them with impunity. His
easy success in this rapacious foray tempted him to his
destruction. After quitting the country of his oppressed
tributaries, the thought struck him that more might yet be
squeezed out of them. With this view he sent on his army
to Kief, probably because he did not wish to let his voyevodes
or lieutenants share the fruit of his contemplated extortions,
and^ent back with a small force among the Drevlians, who,
driven to extremity, massacred him and the whole of his
guard near their town of Korosten.
CHAPTEB n.
THE BEOENT OLOA — BYIATOSLAF.
SvTATOSLAT, Igor*s Only son, and the first prince who bore
a Bussian name, was very young at the death of his father in
945. He had for tutor the boyard Asmuld; Sveneld com-
manded the army ; and Olga, the widow of Igor, aided by
the counsels of these eminent men, -undertook the regency.
.A.D. 945] olga's Bxngiircffi oki'HB bseyliaks. 17
Her first care was to revenge her husband's death on the
Drevlians, who were now dreaming not only of impunity
but of a great accession of power, to be obtained by the
marriage of their prince Male with his mortal enemy Olga.
The account given oy Nestor of this passage in the regent's
history is strongly tinctured with fable ; but it is interesting
as a record of traditions based upon the usages of the times
in which they had birth.
'' Twenty of the most considerable men among the Drev-
lians," says the chronicler, " came to Kief, and said to Olga :
* We have killed your husband, because he plundered and
devoured like a wolf. But our princes are good, and make
our country thrive. Come and marry our prince Male.*
And Olga replied : * Your proposal seems good to me ; for
after all I cannot bring my husband to life again. To-morrow
I will entertain you before my people ; return now to your
barks, and when my people come to you to-morrow, say to
them : We will not go on horseback or on foot, you must
carry us in our barks; and my people will carry you on
their shoulders.*
^ Olga had a wide and deep pit dug in front of a house
outside the city. Next day she went to that house, and
sent for the ambassadors. And they said : * We will not go
on foot or on horseback ; carry us in our barks.' The men
of Kief replied : * We are your slaves ; our prince is slain,
and our princess is willing to marry your prince.' The
]>revlians, seated proudly in their barks, were carried before
the house in whidi Olga was, and were flung into the pit
with their barks. And Olga cried to them : * How do you
like your entertainment ?' In vain they cried, * Forgive us
the death of Igor !' She ordered them all to be buried alive,
and the pit was fiUed up*
"Then Olga sent to the Drevlians, and said: *K you
sincerely wish for me, send me men of the highest considenu
tion, tliat I may repair to you with honour, and that the
people of Eief may let me go.' The Drevlians, on hearing
this message, chose the most considerable men of their
country and sent them to her. On their arrival, Olga had a
bath prepared, and sent word to them : ' Take a bath, and
then come into my presence.' The bath was heated, the
0
18 tEXBVOVT^QWQWKl. '[O.H.
I)ire^^a9i8eiiteied]tand1)6gaaaix>haiihe; but the dooas iKere
then made fast, t^e house mm set .<hdl fire by her ardeorBy ainfl
they were all burnt aEve.
^' Again ahe iBeskt word to the Dierliasis:: ' I am about 1»
rerpair to you. Get ready a Itage quasxtity of faydrosuel in
the plaoe where you killed my hufiband, that I may iracf
OY€r his tomh^ and celebrate the trizna (the funeral banquet)
in his honour.' The Drevlians hearing thia, brought maieh
honey and brewed it. Olga taking inth her only a amall
number offiiends lightly, armed, came to the tomb and wept
0¥er it. Then she had a great mound raised oyer it, and
when this was done, ahe ordered the trisna to be set out.
Then the Drevlians began to drink, and Olga ordered her
people to serve them. Asxi the Drevlians said to Olga:
' TVhere are our fii^xds whom we sent to you ?' She replied :
* They are coming after me with the friends of my busbandj'
And when the I^eyliaiis had drunk their £0, sue (ordered
her friends to cut them to pieces, and they kiUed five tiboiur
sand of them."
Eetuming to Eief, Olga called out her forces and begasL a
campaign, taking her youi^ son with her, that he might thus
early be inured to arms. She laid waste all the country of
the Drevlians, and sacked and deslaroyed their towns. Ai
last she laid nkige to their capital, Karosten-^^e name of
which, signifying u»U fof iarkt indioaites what was the struco
ture of the city, at least at its oiigin. It was, perhaps, buiU
of more solid materials at the time cxf which we ture speaking,
but all the houses were still wooden. This suggested the
last stratf^gem ascribed to Olga W the traditions whieh Nestor
has followed. Emding she could not foroe the city tto aozr-
render, she sent this message to the inhabitants : ^'KThy dlo
you hold out so obstinately ? All y©iar -dtlier towns are m,
my power ; the rest of your people are peaoefully tilling their
fields whilst you permat in dying of hunger. You We no
more to fear from me; I have sufficiently reyenged my
husband." The Djoevlians offesjed her a tribute of honey and
furs, but Olga., with -affected generosity, refused it, and said
she would be content with three .spacrows and a pigeon from
each house. These being supplied with alaorrtAy/the am-
placable widow let them ^ loose in the evening with lighted
matches tied to their tails. The birds flew back to their
^55] mLWL
iffistB in the ixfvm, ^and conBequcsntily Bet it ^on !fire in a
tiioiraaoDLd pliiceB. ^Ehe inJuAntante escaped the flames <anlT
to faH under the swoirdfi of the besiegers. The prmce and aU
ikiB rprincipal men pezished in the massaore; but ieiw pri-
soners were made, and only the lowest of the popnlaee were
Ifift alire to langmsh under heavy impositions.
After ohastimng the Drerlians the regent visited the
northem part of her dominions, regulated the oontiibntionSy
divided the lands nsto bailiwicks and oonmnmes, built towns
and villages, and marked her route by many other measures
jihat did honour to Ixer administrative capacity. It was
pxobably at this time that, by certain privileges bestowed on
hear native town of Fskc^ she laid the foimdation of its
greatness, and enabled it to beoome the capital of an im-
portant prcnrinca
Though idolatry eonthxned to be the prevaSBng religion of
fiiUBsia, Chmstiainfy bad constantly gained ground in Kief
Binoe the baptism of AiEikhold and Bir. The treaty con-
duded between Igor and the Greeks giyes manifest proof
iSoBAi Cfasristians were not only tolerated in the Sussian
capital, but w€Ere ia all respects on a footiDg of equality
Kith their Pagan countrymen. Olga became desirous of
ODrbraomg tthcdr religion, and, in order to do so in a mere
angost manner, she went to OonstantiDaple to be instructed
and baptised by the pafcriaroh (A.n. 95B). The impenal
iifarone vnis th^ fillea by Oaostantine iPorphyrc^netl^
who has himself left icm a detailed account of the honours
paid to the Sussian princess on that occasion. It was tiie
emperor hzmaekf who led Olga to the baptismal font and
gatro ber the name of Helena.
01g»^s example wiw followed by few tof her subjects.
*^ Wmild you have me be a laiigihiDg-«tock to my friends P**
was Sviatoslafs repl^ to the pious exbortations of has
mother. He prohibited none from being baptised who
would ; but he took no pains to conceal Ins ctinxtempt for
Ohfristians, whom he looked upon as cowards, grounding his
ofpimon, pecbapsy on the general character of the Greeks of
ms day.
It is not predsfiOiy known -at what iame Sviatoslaf took
tite 3«inB of government in his own hand ; but the most
pjHi^Alft opinion is, that they were i«emitted to him by Im
o2
20 HISTOBT OV BUSSIA. [C. II,
mother at her departure for Constantinople. Before we
follow him in bis battles we will consider bim for a moment
in bis ordinary course of life, which was that of the ancient
Scythians, of several of the Tatar hordes, and indeed of most
nations in primitive times.
Though m the earlier years of his reign we do not find
that he had any war to carry on, his first care was to collect
an army, less formidable for its numbers than for the
ferocious courage of its soldiers. Looking upon a palace aa
nothing better than a prison, he made the camp his only-
abode. His troops, in their frequent and rapid movements,
were followed by no kind of baggage ; and the prince re-
fused to have any himself. Without any utensil for pre-
paring his meals or boiling his victuals, he contented him-
self with cutting up the meat he ate, and broiling it himself
upon the coals, just like one of Homer's heroes. But one
thing which distinguished Sviatoslaf from them was, that
he frequently lived only on horseflesh. By this manner of
life, resembling that of the Kalmuks, he was enabled like
them to carry on war at a distance without any embarrass-
ment or concern for the subsistence of his army ; since the
same animal that carried the warrior afterwards served him
for food. This hero, who kept so poor a table, was not
more delicately lodged. He had no tent ; but braving all
the inclemency of the Eussian sky, he lay on the bare
ground, or at most with a piece of the coarsest felt beneath
him, with a saddle for his pillow and a horsecloth for hia
covering. It was with no common devotion his soldiers
followed a leader who shared eve^ toil and privation equally
with the meanest in the camp. The nobilitv of Sviatoslaf 's
character is testified by the chroniclers. Ear from seeking
the advantages of unforeseen attacks, his were always pre-
ceded by a formal declaration of war. Amidst the odious
treachery of those barbarous times, the mind rests with a
grateful sense of relief on this trait of chivalric honour.
The banks of the Oka, the Don, and the Yolga were the
first scenes of his triumphs. He subdued the Yiatckhos,
tributaries to the Khan of the Khozars, then turned his
victorious arms against that once so mighty potentate, de-
feated him in a bloody battle, and took his capital, Sarkel or
Bielovess, a city on the Don fortified by Greek engineers
i..3>. d64i-8] STIATOBLAf 'S WJLBS. 21
(1..D. 964). Nestor gives us no details as to tlie subsequent
operations of the prince in that direction, but contents him«
self with saying that Sviatoslaf subjugated ako the Yasses
and the Eassogs, the former being probably the Ossians or
Ossitians of Daghestan, the latter the Circassians, whose
country was called Eassakhi in the tenth century. At this
^och, too, the Eussians became masters of all the possessions
of the Ehozars on the eastern coasts of the sea of Azof, and
Sviatoslaf was able to secure these remote conquests by an
easy communication between Tmutarakan and Xief by way
of the Black Sea and the Dniepr. Thenceforth the E[hozars
appear no more in history.
Opportunity for a still more important conquest was fur-
nished by the repeated incursions of the Hungarians upon
the Greek territory, and the secret succours afforded them
by the Bulgarians, the treacherous allies of the empire.
Nicephorus Fhocas implored against the latter the aid of
Sviatoslaf, and purchased it by subsidies. There was no
difficulty in engaging in such an enterprise a prince who was
ever in quest of battles. Sviatoslaf entered the Danube
with a fleet contaimng sixty thousand men, took all the
towns belonging to the Bulgarians, and seeing himself thus
master of ancient MoBsia, resolved to transfer thither the
seat of his empire to the city of Fereiaslavetz, now Yamiboly.
Meanwhile he had nearly lost his family and his ancient
eapital.
The Fetchenegans had taken advantage of the absence of
the valorous Ghrand-Frince to invade Eussia for the first time,
and had laid siege in great force to Kief (a.d. 968), where the
princess Olga was with her grandchildren. The only succour
that could be looked for was from a Eussian commander
named Frititch, who was posted on the other side of the
Dniepr ; but his army was small, and he could have no com-
munication with the town, which was nearlv reduced by
fiamine. At last a daring young warrior, who spoke the
language of the besiegers, undertook to convey intelligence
to Frititch. Leaving the city vdth a bridle in his hand, he
w^it straight to a group of Fetchenegans, and asked had
they seen liis horse. The Fetchenegans thinking he was
one of their own people, offered him no impediment, and did
not discover their mistake till he had plunged into the river
as jDEnmcr QV BirsaiJk [c^xa
wad warn swimntmg^ npidly to. tke- apparitor bank. Tha
acrows ihej: ahoi sfter hvoi miased theur mark, and a:1ioat
a^it out 1^ his. OBKOatiipaHi took Mm cm boaxiL Fnititab^
loaEDis^ iilom tlie ennroy: that the KievdaDa-wnBe on the pamii
of smrendmng, resolyed to nm all haJBaixb to save at laaat
the family of bi» soTeseign; At. day bxeak next morning the
bmegoBa. aeArtho Dmsar eoremA. with SuaBian baiks^ ad**
vancing to the sonad of tmunpet% whieh wore answered by/
load shoots of joy &om the town. Believing that it was the
terrible Sviatoslaf coming in person to the relief of hia
oapkal,. the Petchenegans were seiis^. with a panic, and
Kief was rescued. The prince of the Petchenegans pe»*r
ceiyed t^e small, number of the enemy, but durst not en-
OQunteo! them. He requested an> internew with the Buseiast
voyevode, and asked him if he was the Ghsod-Prince. Pnii'
tUich adroitly replied that he was only the commander oi
Smatoslaf 's vasuguard, and that he himself was adyancing
with, a formidable wmy. The two couirteous enemies exr-
changed gifts at parting, like' CHaueus and Diomede, on t^
prinoe'a part his scimitar, his arrows^ and his horse ; on tha
yoyewMLe's, his buckler, cuirass, and sword ; and the Petdie^
negan raised the siege and retired with his troops.
Syiatoslaf hastened back from Bulgaria on hearing of the*
inyasaon of his own dominions^ and restored peace to th^ni
by defeating the Petchenegans, and. driving them back oyer
the fi'ontier. His mother died soon after at an advanced
a^, — a woman, says Karamsin^ whom tradition has charac-
terised as crafty and deceitful, the. church, as a saint, and»
history as a* wise and able ruler. BLer death removed whaifa^
to Sviatos^ seemed the only obstacle to the execution o£
his- ill<-advised scheme of transferring the. seat of empire toi
the^ banks of the Danube. He told his boyars " thai ha
preferred Pereiaslavetz as a residence to Kief ; the Bulgarian
capital was,. in a manner, the centre of the riches of nature
and of art ; the G^reeks imported thith^ gold, textile fabrics^,
wine and fruits; the Bohemians and the Hungarians silyear
and horses^;,and the Biiasians furs, wax, honey, and dayes."
Befere he set out on his second expedition to Bulgaritu
(iLD. 970), he conferred on his son Yaropolk the govern^
m^at of Kief, gaye the country of the Brevlians to Oleg hia
seisondson^ and sent tb NoygorodlOadimir^. a na^usaLacai'
ju>. 971] WAB BETmum tnuMOJOtAMD ziidsoiB. at
hotiL t^him hy Msixa^ oa» of Otgali attudanti.. Thus:
Shntoflkf WW &« first; who introduced' tfae dutom of bo"
albwrng pnTato appiuiages oa the princes of the blood;: a
•pemimoxut oastom, whieh otben, bzomght Bosna to tha bshik
Qfrniii^
JSmixtg thi» pnmded; fi»r the admiiuBtaNitioii of fail do*
minions, he began his mareh against the Bolgaaane. Iti
mxut be obaerr^ that on ooming to the aesistaiioe of Saef
he had brought with him all his forces, and consequentlf
abandoned the whole* of hia conquests, secure' of regaininfi^
titeaoi at any time with ease. Such is tiie method pursued
by barbttdans in carrying on war'; and all mUnons have once
bean barbarianst
The* ^feilganaas suffered Sviatoriaf to advance to the walk'
at FeraiMlaveta,. and there rushed upon him with no less^
fiixy than courage;. The Bussians, repulsed, thinned, and
already defeated, thought of nothing but selling their lives aa<
dteav' as they could. Their force* seemed now to increase
with, their efforts; the ad;onished conqum^ora M back,, were-
coffifased, ^eroersed, and surrendered to Sviatoslaf both tha^
victory and &eir town ; and he waa once move master of
"M the meaa time Nioephorus was assassinated by John
2iuiisees, who succeeded him. The new emperor saw what
an. error his predecessor had: committed in alluring l&e
[Russians to the banks of the Danube; fbr the daring and
wvdike Smtoslaf was a far more formids^le neighbour Idian
the- Bulgarians. Zimisces consequxmtly summoned Svia-
todaf to evacuate his oonqu^t in pursuance of the treaty"
concluded. wi<Jh Meephorus. The B^ssian prince haughtily
inftiaed compliaivoe, and tdd the emperor's envoys tnat he>
would soon* be in Constanldnople, and would drive the Greeks
inte Amii To this breach of treaty the Busrians were in-
cited by a patrician named Kalokir. It was he who had
tswated with them in the name of Kicep^orus ; and^ having
formed l^e intention to employ their arms in order to raise-
himself to) the imperials throne, he thought thdr aid not'
deaely purchaBed- by t^e relinquishment of Bulgariai"^
Ab Gbsekempeior prepared to open the campaign at the
*- Scr^HbtiByiEaiitu
2A. HX8T0ET 0£ BrSSIA. [C. IX^
return of spimg ; and Sviatoslaf, in order to be a match for
him, joined to his own troops the subjected Fetchenegana,
Hungarians, and Bulgarians, and thus had the command, it
is said, of three hundred thousand men. He made an in-
cursion into Thrace, burnt and ravaged whatever he met,
and set up his camp before Adrianople ; but he was defeated
by a stratagem of the commandant of that town.
The Bussians, however, remained masters of Pereiaslavetz ;
and Zimisces marched against them himself the following
year. The city was taken by assault ; but eight thousand
llussians threw themselves into the royal citadel. It was
held to be impregnable; but the besiegers succeeded in
setting it on fire. No resource being left to the wretches
within, many of them leaped from the summit of the rock,
tha greater part perished in the flames, and the remainder
w^ carried into captivity. The Eussian prince had not
shut himself up in rereiaslavetz : afflicted though not de-
sponding at the loss of the city, he kept the field with some
troops, and exhibited a dreadful example of ferocity, by
causmg three hundred Bulgarians to be slain of whose fide^
lity he entertained some suspicions.
The emperor followed up his victory, and made himself
master of several towns. Durostole on the Danube was the
most considerable of those that yet remained, and it was
easy to foresee that the Greeks would lose no time in com-
mencing the siege of it.
Accordingly, after an obstinate combat, in which the
Bussians were at last repulsed, it was blockaded by land and
by sea. The scarcity of provisions in the city was increas-
ing from day to day ; but the Bussians, though continually
more harassed, showed no abatement of courage : they made
frequent sorties, which only added to their losses; and
Sviatoslaf, in one of these fights, with difficulty escaped cap-
tivity.
His counsellors advised him to sue for peace ; but he pre-
ferred death to any degree of submission. He ordered a
feneral sortie to be made the next day ; and having no hope
ut in victory, he forbade any return, and ordered the gates
to be shut as soon as the soldiers were out of the town.
His commands were executed : but, after the most obstinate
resistance, the Bussians were beaten, and Sviatoslaf was re-
AsD. 972] DEATH OF BYIATOSLAT. 25
duced to tbe necessity of applying for peace. This victoiy
appeared so important ana so difficult in the eyes of the
Qreeka^ that they thought they could do no less than ascribe
it to a miracle. They pretended that Theodore the martyr
bad fought for them on a white horse.
If we may rely upon Nestor, the Eussians were always
victorious ; but more credit is due to the narrative of the
Greeks, as better agreeing with the miserable end of Svia-
toslaf. If he had been conqueror, would he have retreated
into Eussia badly attended? Would he have abandoned
Bulgaria, the price of so much blood? Besides, what the
Bussian chronicle relates of the treaty of peace proves to a .
certainty that Sviatoslaf was vanquished, for all its stipula-
tions are in f&vour of the empire alone.
By Nestor's account, Sviatoslaf, the victor, had only ten
thousand men. According to the historians of Byzantium,
Sviatoslaf, the vanquished, had three hundred thousand men
before Adrianople, and again three hundred thousand in the
battle near Durostole. It may be supposed that the Greeks
were desirous of increasing their fame, by exaggerating the
forces of their enemy, and that Sviatoslaf, who had brought
few troops out of Eussia, found his army increase on the way
by the junction of all those barbarians whom the hope of plun-
der would allure to his standard. The same may oe said of
tlie divers nations that ruined the Eoman empire : each of
them seemed exceedingly numerous when engaged in action,
because a crowd of other nations took pah; in its enter-
prise.
In short, whether victor or vanquished, Sviatoslaf, very
badly attended, regained the road to his ancient territories.
It was to no purpose that Sveneld, Igor's illustrious voye-
vode, represented to him the danger of going up the Borys-
ihenes : he embarked. The Petchenegans, being informed
by the Bulgarians of the route he had taken, waited for him
near the rocks, by which the &mous cataracts of that river
are formed. The autumn being far advanced when he arrived
near that spot, he was obliged to pass the winter there, and
had to experience all the horrors of famine. On the return
of spring he attempted to open himself a passage through
the ranks of his enemies, but was defeated and Elled ; and
his skulli ornamented with a circle of gold, was used as a
K HIB90&T OF BiniSIA. [O. SSEL
goblet by l^e prince of the Petdienegsos. Ofily a snudS
iemmmt of the KuBsian army escaped tmdisrthe cdimxiaxid of
Sveneld, to bring to Eief the news of their intrepid prihceV
death.
Sviatoslaf a oyerthrowwae, after all^ a fortunate event fa»
idsB E^sian empire. Kief was already aaufBlciently eccentric
capital ; had 8Tiato8laf established l^e seat of goT^nment on
tike Danube, his successor would have* gone stmfiiFther; ami
Siiarik, instead of being the founder of a mighty empire^
would have been nothing more than* iShe principal lieader of
one of those vast but transient irruptions of the northeia
barbarians, which often niv^d the world without leaving
behind any permanent trace of l^eir passage. But in thi
Greek emperor Zimisces, Sviatoslaf met with a hero as pev^
tlnadous as himself, and with fhr more talent, andi the
Bas»ans, driven back within the limits of Kussia, were eom-
pelled to establish themselves there.
€HAPTEB III.
TAEOPOLK— VLADIMIR— BUSSIA. CHRISTIAlflSBD.
AxTEB ttie death of Sviatodaf, Taropolk reigned in Kief,
Oleg in the country of the Di?evlians, and Vladimir in Nov*
gorod'. The monarchical power existed nowhere in the
state ; for it does not appear that Yaropolk had any aut&o*
rity over the appanages of his brothers. The^ effects of this
pamtion of the empire were soom displayed in the civil wa0
which broke out in 977. Its instigf^or waa the celebrated
v;oyevode Sveneld, the companion in arms of Igor and
Sbnatoalaf. He had to revenge on Olbg. the murder of his
Bony sdain by that prince, who had. found him hunting on hitf
territory ; and to' this end> he induced Yan)polk to make war
asL Oleg, and re^unite the country of the Dtevlians to ihft
dominions of Kief. The armies of the two brotihevs met^:
that of Oleg was defeated^ and he himself perished in hisi
flight by the breaking down of a bridge thronged with £Qgi<»
tires. Thevictor forgot his triumph in gri^ lbs his Brothes'lEi
fieite*. Se; shed tearsD over, the Uf^Lssa nemain» of 01^ and!
tinted Ids nmorae in. paBoanato accnaalaoDS against himself
aMd-Sveneld.
Yladimir, prince of Norgorod, now became alarmed for his
wm safety, aad crossing the sea took refiige with tint Yamn-
giaiuK Yaropolk sfflit his ToyeYodes to taJca possession' of
fte temtory abandoned by his brother^ and tiius became
Stfvanrign master of all Susna%
Meanwhile, thou^ & fugitive, without domains and with^
eat an army, Vladimir nev«r cenounced the design of ]»eo»
reting and aggrandising his power. During the two years
be semained among the Tarangians, the oountr^en of his
ancestors,, he pacticipafaed in the daring enterprises of those
Norman viidiigar whose flags swept all the seas of Europe.
At IlBst^. having assembled & large force of Yacangian adven^*
turers, he returned to Novgorod, and drove out Yaropolk'a
veyevodes, bidding them t^ his brother that he should see
him- soon at Kief.
Sogvolod, a Yarandan, who ruled in Polotsk, whether hy
ng^ ofconquest, or by grant £rom JBurik, had a datirfiter:
" ' to iai
muned Bogneda, of gr^ beauty, already betrothed i
polk.. Yladimir, who was preparing to smze his: brothor'a
tdirone, resolved also to wsest from Imn his intended, consoaet.
Accordingly, he sent ambassadors to Polotsk to demand the^
hand, of the princes ;. but she rejected him with disdain.
" I wall never," said she, " unboot the son of a slave ;?' for
Yladimir'a mother was^ as we have said, one of Olga's at^
tendants. It was at that time the custom for brides to ptdl
off ihe boots of tHeir spouses on l^e wedding night. The
imdiotive Yladimir, on receiving this insulting answer,
marohed against the prince of Polotsk, defeated him, killed
him and bis two sons,, and forced the young princess to
receive his hand, yet reeking with the blood, of ner family.
AtSoBS this< horrible vengeance he advanced towards Kief,
where Yaropolk shut hiix^lf up without venturing to risk &
battle. A villain named Blude, a voyevode of xaropolk's^
loadbd with his bounties^ but already sold to Yladimir, con^
trived to lull his prince into a profound secuiity. The town
wmt naturally stnmg,. and the inhabitants were fiuthful to
their sov^nigUk Th^ teaitor Blude^ perceiving this, found
means to raise suspicions in the^ breast of his miaater against*
the crtizHnS' of Siie^and persaadedhim to take flighty, whila
28 HlflTOBY 07 BTT88IA. [C. IH^
it was yet in his power, if he would avoid being delivered
into the hands of his brother. The inhabitants, deserted
by their prince, were obliged to admit his rival.
Yaropolk, pursued by his brother, was blockaded in his
new retreat at Eodnia, which became a prey to the horrors of a
famine so dire, that its memory has passed into a common
Bussian proverb. What was even worse, hi^ ear was still beset
by the wretch who had obtained his confidence for the sake of
betraying it. He might have found an asylum among the
Petchenegans ; but he chose rather to repair to Kief and
throw himself into the hands of Yladimir, by whose orders
he was murdered in their father's palape. Such was the sad
end of Sviatoslaf 's eldest son after a reign of seven years,
lour of them as prince of Ki^f, and three as monarch of all
£ussia.
The wife of Yaropolk was a Greek nun of great beauty,
taken captive by Sviatoslaf, and given by him to the eldest of
his sons. She happened to be pregnant when Yaropolk was
killed, and was compelled to share the bed of her husband's
murderer. Yladimir immediately acknowledged the child in
her womb : it was the miscreant Sviatopolk, who was bom to
visit on the sons of him who adopted him the guilt of his
fether's murderer.
Next to the Varangians, it was to Blude, the false friend
of Yaropolk, that Vladimir was indebted for his nefarious
successes. Accordingly, for three days he showed the traitor
great honour, and accumulated the prime dignities on his head.
But that term being elapsed : " I have fulfilled my promise,"
said he ; "I have treated thee as my friend ; thy honours
exceed thy most sanguine wishes : to-day, as judge, I con-
demn, the traitor and the assassin of his prince." Having ut«
tered these words, he put Blude to death.
The Varangians had reinstated Vladimir on the throne of
J^ovgorod, and had followed him against his brother : on this
plea they thought they had the right to require that he should
oblige the inhabitants of Kief to pay them a tribute. Vla-
dimir, being at that time not sufficiently strong to venture
upon offending them by a downright refusal, amused them
by promises, until he had put himself in a condition to be
a&aid of them no longer. Upon this they narrowed their
demands, and asked only permission to go and seek their for-
A.]>. 984] yiJJ)IMIB THE GfiEAT. i9
tune in Greece. He gladly complied with their request, re-
tained the boldest of them in his service, and privily advertised
the emperor of the departure of the rest, praying him to
cause them to be arrested, and to disperse them in several
parts of his dominions, that they might oe incapacitated from
causing danger either to Eussia or to the empire.
After he had thus consolidated his power, Vladimir displayed
great zeal for the honour of his pagan deities. He had a new
statue of Ferune, with a silver head, erected near his palace,
and other idols he placed on the sacred hill. If remorse for fra-
tricide had any share in his motives for propitiating the gods,
at least there was nothing ascetic in his piety. Besides six
wives, by whom he had those twelve sons among whom he
partitioned the empire, this lascivious despot had in several
towns establishments of concubines, amounting in all to eight
hundred. He did violence with impunity to his female
subjects, though this is the rock on wliich tyrannies usually
split, and no wife or maid of any attraction was safe from
the lust of this second Solomon, as Nestor calls him.
He loved war no less than women. He forced back to
obedience all those tributary nations that had revolted after
the death of Sviatoslaf, and he brought others under the
yoke. He recovered from Metchislaf, kmg of Poland, Oleg's
conquests in Ghillicia, which had been lost again under the
reign of the weak Yaropolk. He made himself master of the
country of the Yatviagues, between Lithuania and Poland,
and of all Livonia; and waged successM war on the
people of eastern Bulgaria, whose country corresponded
nearly to the present government of ELazan.
Vladimir resolved to return thanks to the gods for the
success they had granted to his arms, by offering them a
sacrifice of the prisoners of war. His courtiers, more cruel
in their piety than even their prince, persuaded him that a
victim selected from his own people would more worthily
testify his gratitude for these signal dispensations of Heaven.
-The choice fell on a young Varangian, the son of a Christian,
and brought up in that faith. The unhappy father refused
the victim : the people, enraged at what they deemed an in-
sult to their prince and their religion, stormed the house,
and murdered both father and son. They have been ca-
nonised by the Eussian church as its only martyrs.
80 -HISTOBT ^OF ItlTSSljL. [O. 2XX.
It i7as sbout this time (984i) tliat a curiouB and taDcbing
ineident ooemred, irhich is related in the continuation ef
STestor's chionide. Sogneda had forgiven Ykdimir i^
nmrder of her father and her brothen, but could not forgive
li» infidelities. The Grand-Prinoe, having preferred other
women to her, had turned the unfortunate prmcess out of his
palace. One day, when he bad gone to see her in her lonely
abode on the banks of the Libeda, near Eief, he fell £ut
asleep, and B^aeda thought to seize that opportunify to
0tab nim, but '^adimir woke in time to prevent the blow.
iBesolying to execute Tengeanee upon her with his own hand,
he ordered her to put on her wedding attire, and await her
death on a sumptuous bed in her handsomest apartment,
fihe obeyed; her implacable judge entered the room, bu3;
there he was met by Bogneda's young son Isiaslaf, wiio, in
obedience to his mother's instruetionB, presented Yladimir
with a drawn sword, saying: '' Thou are not alone, father!
thy son will be witness to thy deed."—" Who thought of
seeing thee here ?" said Vladimir, throwing down the sword.
Imm^ately quitting the place, he convoked his boyais and
ai^ked their advice. " Prmce,*' they said, " spare the cul-
prifc for sake of this child, and mve them for appanage the
pcbkeipality which was Hogvolod's.^' Vladimir consented,
Imilt a new dtv called Isiaslavle, in the present government
«xf Vitebfi^, ana thither he sent Eogneda imd her son.
Vladimir's rude greatness, and the rumours of his warlike
exploits, awakened the attention of neighboimng states, and
made th^n desirous of attaching 'him to the religion they
severally professed. Four of them contended for his ccm-
•version. The conquering religion of Mahomet was recom-
mended to hhn by the eastern Bulgarians; the descnptioH
txf its paradise and its lovely hoims fired his voluptnous
imagination ; but he could not (D^vereome his repugnance td
dreumcision and the interdiction of wine. "Wine," he
said, " is the delight of the Bussians ; we cannot do without
it." OathoHcfem, offered to him by the Germans, he dis-
liked, because of its pope, an eaai^ly deity, which appeared
to him a mosistrous tUng; and Judsusm, because it had no
jcountry, and he thought it neither rational to take advice
from wanderers under the ban of fieaven, nor desirable to
share their punsshmeixt.
Ai». 9S8] TLAJmOM BBBQBfiSS .XBXBSOIT. 81
JBut, .at the -same time, his attention was fixed on the
Gbseek nreligion, which his aneestress Olga had foUo^v^d, and
wluch had recently bean preached ito luxa bj a philfisoj^har of
^^aantiwn. Me smnunoned his boyarc^ took their opinions,
aiBtd deputed ten ef them to examdne the religions in question
m the countries wlieie they were pifofeased. The envoys
weoat forth and returned. Mahometaoism and Catholicism
Hiffy had seen in poor and barbarous proyinces ; but they
had witnessed with rapturous admiration the solenmities of
fine G-re^ xetigion in its magnificent metropolis and adorned
idth aU its pomp. Their report made a sbrong impression
an Vladimir and on the boyars. " If the Greek religion waa
nf>t ithe besi^" they said, '^ Olga your ancestress, l^e wisest
eimor^sim, would never have thought of embracing it." The
Gband-Itince resolved, therefore, to follow that example.
Yladimir might .easily have been baptised in his owm
oaptaL, where thene had long been CbxiBtian churches and
psiectts; but ihe disdained so simple a mode of proceeding as
loiwortby of his dignity. Only the parent church could
fomush priests and bishops worthy to accomplish the con-
version of himsekf and his whole people; but to ask them of
the amperor seemed to him a so^ of homage at which his
iMin^ly soul ^revolted. He conceived ,a project, therefore,
worQiy of his times, his country, and himself: namely, to
nftake war on Gitreeoe, and by force of arms to extort instruc-
tlan, priests, and the rite of baptii^n. He assembled a nu-
nkerous army, and repaired by sea to the rich and powerfiil
G2!aek.city rf Eherson, the ruins of which still exist near
Sbva^opol, and closely besieged it, telling the inhabitants
tio»t he was prepaied to remain three years before their walli
if their obstinacy was not sooner overcome.
However, afteir .carrying on the siege for six months,
Tladimir bad imade no progress : he was even threatened
ld£h being obliged to raise the siege, and was in gr^t
dn^er of never be^omui^ a Christian. But a traitorous
citizen, named Anastasius, who appears to have been a
pgriest, tied a Jieitor to an arrow, aaotd shot it &om the top of
tlieAainprarta. iEhe Buasians learnt hy this (papea;, that be-
Uad iibenr eamp w^as a spring, from wlucth the town derived
its sole supply of fresh water by subterraneous pipes. Yla-
B2 HISTOBT 07 BTTSBIA. [o. IS*
dimir ordered this source to be sought out : it was found ;
the water was diverted into other channels, and the horrors
of thirst compelled the citizens to surrender.
In consequence of his victoij, Vladimir could now receive
baptism in the manner he desired. But this sacrament was
not the sole object of his ambition : he aspired to a union by
the ties of blood with the Caesars of Byzantium. In his
case, as in that of most of the princes who adopted Chris*
tianity, political reasons had at least an equal innuence with
devotion ; and when Vladimir was baptised in 988, and mar-
ried Anna, the sister of the Grecian sovereign, it was as
much his intention by this match to acquire a claim upon
the Greek empire, as by his baptism to have pretensions to
the kingdom of heaven. Persuaded that his name excited too
much awe to run any hazard of a refusal, he sent to the em*
perors Basilius and Constantino to demand their sister in
marriage, threatening, if they dared to reject his proposal,
that he would take Constantinople. After some delibera-
tion, conditions were hazarded : it was required at least that
the Eussian prince should make the first advance by becoming
a Christian. At length, being too weak to prolong the alter-
cation, the Greek emperors conveved to nim the princess
their sister, who was by no means nattered by the conquest
she had made.
Vladimir then listened to some catechetical lectures, re-
ceived the rite of baptism and the name of Basil, married
the princess Anna, restored to his brothers-in-law the con-
quests he had recently made, and brought off no other
reward of his victories than some archimandrites and popes,
sacred vessels and church-books, images of saints and conse-
crated relics.
On his return to Eaef his mind was wholly intent on over-
throwing the idols which but lately were the object of his
adoration. As Perune was the greatest of deities to the
idolatrous Eussians, it was him that Vladimir, after his con-
version, resolved to treat with the greatest ignominy. He
had him tied to the tail of a horse, dragged to the Borys-
thenes, and all the way twelve stout soldiers, with great
cudgels, beat the deified log, which was afterwards thrown
into the river.
Perune, though beaten and drowned at Kief, without
JL-D. 988] BirSSLI. OHBISTIAKIBID. 69
working one miracle, was not quite so patient at Noygorod.
When the idol had been precipitated from a bridge into the
Tolkhof, it rose to the siirface of the water, and, throwing a
staff upon the bridge, cried out in a terrible voice, " Citizens,
that is what I leave you in remembrance of me." The
stoiy is preserved in the chronicles of Novgorod ; and, in
consequence of this tradition, the young people of the town
were wont, on the day which had been kept as the anniver-
sary of the god, to run about the streets with sticks in their
hands striking at one another unawares ; but this custom has
long ceased.
People in a low state of civilisation have too few ideas to
acquire a strong attachment to any religion. The Bus^
sians very easily abandoned the worship of their idols ; for,
though Yladimir caused it to be published that those who
persevered in idolatry should be regarded as enemies of
Christ and of the prince, it does not appear that Eussia
tmderwent any persecutions, and yet it soon became Chris-
tian : of such force was the example of the sovereign. At
Kief he one day issued a proclamation ordering all the in-
habitants to repair the next morning to the banks of the
river to be baptised ; which they joyfully obeyed. " K it be
not good to be baptised," said they, " the prince and the
bows would never submit to it."
With the zeal of a new convert, Vladimir now carried to
excess the virtues of Christianity, as he had done before by
the vices of Paganism. He wasted the revenues of the state
in alms, in pious foundations, and in public repasts, to imitate
the love*feasts of the primitive Christians. He no longer
dared to shed the blood of criminals, or even of the enemies
of his country. From this exaggeration, however, he was
soon reclaimed.
Vladimir, in the sequel of his reign, had frequent wars
to <ionduct, especially against the Petchenegans. In one
of the incursions made by that people, the two armies were
on the eve of an engagement, bein^ separated only by the
waters of the Sula, which falls into the Bniepr. The hostile
prince advanced, and proposed to Vladimir to spare the blood
of their subjects and aecide the quarrel by single combat be-
tween two champions. The people whose soldier should be
roL, I.. . : n ' - -^ ; ■' ■ •
M HI8TGBX cm nVBSJUu [CS. 1X14
Y&iM|iiided should be bound to abatein for liiree years from
takizig arms againrt the other. •
The BussisQ prince yerj fjuntly accepted the proposal,
beeaicise he had no soldier robust Plough to match the chain-
'pion of the Petchenegans. When the d»f appointed fbr ika
combat^was arrired, he was obliged to sohdt a fiirther deky.
This he obtained, though without foreseeing what advantage
was to be derived firom it ; a prej to uneasiness and vexatixm,
he could scarcely call up one glimmering hope. He was in
this agitation of mind, when an old man, who served in the
army with four of his sons, came and told him he had still a
fifth son at home, endowed wilili prodigious strength. The
young man was sent for in haste. Being brought before the
prince, he desired permission to make a pubHc trial of his
force. A powerful bull was irritated with red-hot irons : the
youth stored the animal in his furious ooiurse, knocked him
down, and tore off his skin and flesh by handfuls. This ex-
periment gave the prince just ground of hope. The time
fixed for the duel arrived ; the champions advanced between
the two camps, and the Petchenegan laughed disdainfiilly
on beholding the apparent weakness of his beardless adTBm
sary. But being presently attacked with no less impetuosity
than vigour, and seized ana crushed, as in a vice, between tiie
arms of the young Eussian, he was stretched lifeless in the
dust. The Petchenegans, seeing their diampion fall, were
struck with terror and fled. The Bussians, regardless of ihmr
compact, profited by this confusi(Hi, pumied them, and com*
mittod great slaughter.
The victorious champion, who was only a sample currier,
was raised with his father to the rank of nobility, and gave
hia name to the town whidi the prince caused to be built (at
the spot where the duel was fought. It was called Bb«
reiaslavl, or Victory-town.
It might be supposed that the Petchenegans, with whom
the treaty had been so badly observed, would not have heai^
tated to infringe it in their turn. However, they did not
again take up arms till three years w^re at an end : they
then laid siege to Yassilef, a town built by Yladimir on the
Stnghna. Heendeavoured to succour it; being defeated and
wounded, it was only by hiding under a bridge that he saved
his life (996). In the following year^ Yladimir having j
AJ^. 1015] DEATH OV YhADTiilR THE GBEAT. SS
to 1^0Tgoit>d to eolleet an armj, the Petchenegans took ad-
lantage of his absenee to approach the eapital and laj rie^
tx> Bidgorod. They invested it so closely that the famished
inhabitants wem on the p(»nt of surrendering, when, as tifee
aid chronicler tells us, they were saved by a ruse, which, to
say the least of it, seems more ingenious than probable. One
of their elders had two wells dug, and vats let down into
them, tiie one fiUed with hydromel, the other with dough.
Hhm done, he invited some of the Fetchenegsn chief men to
come to him, as if for the purpose of negotiating. The de-
paties were entertained at the mouths of the wells^ «id they,
unagining that the ground produced of itself such good food
and drink, went back and told their princes that the town
could not be reduced by famine. Accordingly, the Petehe-
Qfigans raised the siege.
Vladimir, whom fortune almost always aocomponied, and
who was rarely deserted by victory, had his last days em-
bittered by domestic vexations. Yaroslaf his son, to -whom
in the distribution of his domains he had given Novgorod,
Te&med to pay the tribute he owed him as his vassal, aad
applied to the Varangians for assistance against his father.
The aged Vladimir, obliged to march against a rebellious son,
died of grief upon the road (a.i). 1015), after having reigned
forty-five years. K we recollect that he imbrued his hands
in the blood of his brother Yaropolk, we shall not think Ms
end unmerited.
Tiaa rough-hewn colossus, however, had great qualities :
tf he was not always able to repress his turbulent neigh-
bours, he generaliy frustrated their incursions. He caused
deserts to be cleared by colonies established for that purpose :
he built towns, and while he was rendering his country more
flourishing, he thought it his duty to provide for its embel-
lishment, and invited from Greece architects and workmen
eminent &r their skill. By their means he raised conve-
nient and substantial churches, palaces, and other buildings.*
The young nobles were brought up in seminaries endowed
* The Bussian towns at this period were all of wood; nevertheless
many of them already indicated considerable opulence. The German
amaliat Dittmar, contemporary with Vladimir, says that Kief eon-
tnned four hundred churches, and eight great luarketa. Adam of
■a let a leoond Constantinople.
1)2
36 HiSTOBT OE Bxrssii.. [oh. m.
bj tbe prince, to 'vrhich lus bounty had attiticted able
masters irom Greece. Parents saw with horror these strokes
aimed at ignorance, and the honours that were paid to
ioxfiigD. services. It was necessary to use violence in taking
their children to place them in the new establishments,
where they were to be taught reading and writing, unholy
arts identified with sorcery.
Vladimir, who waded through the blood of his brother to
the throne of Kief, received from his nation the surname of
the Great, was advanced to the rank of a saint, and is re-
cognised by the national church as coequal with the Jlpostles.
He raised Eussia to its highest degree of Gothic glory, but he
undid everything by the partition of the empire among seven
of his ten sons.
This fault, however, was so pertinaciously repeated by
subsequent Grand-Princes, that we must look for the cause
of it rather in the manners of the times, and the force of cir-
cumstances, than in the improvidence of its authors. These
partitions, were indispensable. A city was given to a prince
to make provision for one part of his expenditure ; another
city for another part ; there was no other means of providing
for these objects.
And, besides this, as the military leaders, such as Bogvo-
lod of Polotsk, Sveneld, and the dukes, who are mentioned
in the early treaties with Byzantium, were possessed of fiefs,
or governments, it was not natural that the princes of the
blood should remain vdthout them. It would even have
been more dangerous to leave such large and distant pos-
sessions in the hands of men who were not related, to the
dynasty.
This may induce us to believe that the massacre of the
family of Eogvolod by Vladimir, and the brutality by which
that prince compelled the sole surviving heiress to many
him, arose from the circumstance of that family, which was
only allied to the Buriks, having already converted Polotsk
into an hereditary fief.
Besides, what could have been done with the Bussian
princes of the blood ? "Were they to be forced to live at the
court, and at the expense of the Grand-Prince, without any
command, and merely as subjects of the first rank ? But, at
that time, this would have been contrary to tie nature
Jl,D. 1016] SVIATOPOIK. 87
of tilings * such a course is practicable only where long ex-
perience and advanced civilisation have made the general
interest predominant. Could these princes be shut up in
seraglios? There were none in Eussia; their existence
there is* impossible. The climate stimulates too much to
all kinds of activity ; it is hostile to effeminacy, and to a
contemplative life: what gratification could seraglios pos*
sibly afford ? They were there looked upon as intolerable
prisons. What, then, was to be done ? "Was the genealogical
tree to be pruned in every generation, and the princes to be
lopped from it like useless branches? But neither did
the climate prompt to such extreme means ; the spirit of
Christianity, too, which was then in all its fervour, was
repugnant to them. This spirit had a much more powerful
influence over the thinking people of the North, than over
the impjassioned people of the South, and of that East
whence it came, but where it could not remain.
CHAPTEE IV.
STIATOPOLK — TAEOSLAF — FIEST BITSSIAK CODE — ^LIBEETEBB
OP yOVOOEOD.
SviATOPOLK, the successor of Vladimir, did, however, in
1015, conceive such atrocities. But, as a plurality of wives,
and licentiousness of maimers, had multipued the princes of
the blood ;* as, also, the appanages, and the vastness of the
territory, kept those princes at a wide distance from each
other, his attempts on the lives of his brothers could not be
simultaneously executed. Taroslaf, one of the intended
victims, escaped, and by him Sviatopolk was punished.
Vladimir's favourite son Boris, whom he had destined to
be his successor, was at the time of his father's death en-
gaged in [an expedition against the Petchenegans at the
head of an army of fifty thousand men. Had he been more
enterprising or less scrupulous, and complied with the en-
treaties of his soldiers, he might easily have expelled Sviato-
* Witness Sviatopolk, who made no distinction between his bastards
and his legitimate offspring.
88 HISTOBX OT BVSSIii. [CH. IT.
polk from Saef. But be rejected the advice of bis annr,
Oedaniig it to be but just tbat tbe eldeet brother sboud
emeceed to the potemal throne. The ocmsequenee of thk
generoBity was, tbal the army fonodt hka, and the aasassnw
eommiflsioned hf his brother despatched him in his tent.
Two mate of tbie brotiiers met a similar fate ; and all the
rest had the same to appveheaotd.
But Yaroshif, the prmoe who bad receiTed Norgorod &at
hm portion, aided by his subjects^ hufled the firatricide from
the throne. Sviatopolk then ied to his father-in-law B(4ea-
Lu^ king of Polttid, and added to Us cnnes by laying open
the heart of his eountiy for the first time to tiie attaidji of
the Poles. Boferias ^feated Yaroelaf on the Bog, took
Kief, umL refdaced his son-in-law oa the throne (▲.». 1018).
But then the monster, thinking his sway firmly estaUiahed,
arfctesDipiled to rid kimseilf of his auies by massacre, — ^a treachery
which they sufficiently revenged by abandoning him to Yam
own resources, after plundering his capital, x aroslaf had
meanwhile carried the news of his own defeat to !N'oYgorod,
and, discouraged by his misfortunes, was preparing to cross
the sea and seek refuge with the Varangians, when the
Novgorodians gave him a fresh proof of their attachment by
destroying the ships that were to convey him away, and
raising funds by voluntary contrifotttions in order to engage
auxiliaries for his service. Once more he marched against
Sviatopolk, and defeated him in a desperate battle on the
very spot where Boris had been murdered. The fratricide
deserted his army before the fight was ended, to die of fear
whilst flying from the avenging sword of Taroslaf.
Of the niue earliest princes of this first dynasty, Yaroslaf
was the fifth great man. His reign began by the sword ;
but it was not with the splendour of the sword that it was
to shine. Yet, with a single blow, he destroyed the Petche-
negans. It is knovm, too, that he made himself felt by
^Finland, Livonia, Lithuania, and Bulgaria : for a moment, he
inspired even Byzantium with dread. But his expeditions
in that quarter were generally entrusted to lieutenants : little
glory was reaped from them ; the last, in l(Nb3, terminated dis- .
gracefully the wars of the Busaians against the Greeks.*
* Bat for the crril wan by wfaich the power of Rasda was soon
afterwards broken, says Earamsin, the world <* might hsre seen the
accomplishment of an ancient prophecy written by an unknown hand
▲J). 1019-54] TAXOSLAT. 90
After the NovgoxodiaiiB had twio» lepkioed Tvotfaif on
tlie pttruttoimt tkrane, we aee lum agsia precipifcated from
it in 1026 hy hia farother Mstiflkt': but tkis prince of
Tmutarakan stopped bim midway in his faU^ and gepe-
rcMulj Testoired to Iiim oiKe-half of the empire, the immeDfiiiy
of which is safficientlj indicated bj NoTgorod and Tmutam*
faaan,* the original i^panages of these two princes.
Ten yeairs of a singokr good understanding sneoeeded to
ike abort oonteat between the wazruxr and the legislator;
after which ihe death of MstisJaf left Yaroslaf sole poe*
sessor of this shapeless and colossal empire. It was not,
then, to the genins of war thafc he owed his powor and
h» renown ; it was to a genins of another kind. !m Yaioslaf
the Wise, Eussia empecially roTeres its first legislator, the
rmorator of the libeorty of Novgorod, the founder of a great
number of cities.
It admires in this prince the disseminator of instraction
and of civilisatian. it was he who caused the Holy Scrip-
tares to be translated into Slavonian : with his own hand
he transcribed seireral copies of them. Eussia is indebted
to him for many schools^ and, among others, for that in
whidb three hucadred yonng Norgorc^ans were educated.
Its history still tells of the throng of Oreek priests whom
he inyited, the only teachers that could then be given to the
It applauds his toleration of the Ingrian and Lxroman
idolaters ; his enlightened protection of the women of Suz-
dal, who were accused of sorcery. These hapless females
were about to become the yictims of a people exasperated
by famine, which it attributed to their magical incantations ;
he saTod them ; for his piety was as free from superstition
and weakness, as it was possible to be in' that age.
The Bussian diurch owed to him a UKHnentary freedom,
which his children renounced. Undismayed by the thun-
in the tenth or deYenth centoiy under the statue of Bellerophon, in
the Taurie place, in Oonetantinople : it was to the effect that the
Rnanana were one dmy to possess themselves of the capital of the
Entire of the East"
* KoYgorod, whose possessions bordered on the Baltic: Tmutarakan,
the kej to the confluence of the Sea of Azof with the Black Sea. See
the inscriptioB disoor^ed in the isle of Taman, under Catherine II.,
sad the dissertation 1^ MaschiiKPnschkin. See also LeFssque^ and
40 HISTOBT OF BITBBIA. [CH. lY*
ders of the mother church, it was he who resolTed that the
appointment of Eussiail bishops, and their councils for the
Section of metropolitans, should be independent of the
patriarch of Byzantium.
Already Eussia rises from its long obscurity : Vladimir
and Yaroslaf have made it European by their conquesta
towards the West, by religion, by the seeds of knowledge,
and by their alliances ; the daughters-in-law of Yaroslaf were
Greek, German, and English princesses ; his sister was queen
of Poland ; his three daughters were queens of Norway,
Hungary, and France.
Yet a code for the empire was still wanting, and that, too,
it received from Yaroslaf. It is chiefly in the codes of bar-
barians that we must look for their history. The earliest
Eussian code was written about the year 1018, and, in the
first instance, for Novgorod alone.
Erom this, however, we are not to conclude that no laws
existed before the time of Yaroslaf, a circumstance which
is impossible, as, prior to the reign of Eurik, there were
large commercial cities. Besides, there are traces of them
in the treaties concluded by Igor and Oleg with Leo and
Constantine. But we know that, before the conquest of
Slavonia, it was divided into numerous hunting, pastoral, agri-
cultural, and commercial tribes, each of which had its laws
or its usages. The Eussians came, commingled under
their dominion all these tribes, and, likewise, their laws and
customs, and blended with them something of their own
Scandinavian laws.
It appears that neither the one nor the other were
written; and as the first Grand-Princes did not perplex
themselves with attempts to make them harmonise ; as they
thought of nothing but conquering, and estimated their
power solely by their warriors, and the tributes which those
warriors gained for them; this occasioned a confusion of
the laws and customs, in which maijiy of them were lost,
and such sinister consequences, that Yaroslaf was compelled
to frame an ordinance, to prevent the most grievous anarchy
from ruining Novgorod, the only city that was left under
his sway.
This event was, no doubt, the immediate cause of the
code, and, particularly, of the very remarkable charter of the
Novgorodian franchises.
A.D. 1018] TABOSLAI^'S CO])E OF Li.WB. 41
The chronicle of that period says, that, in 1018, Novgo-
rod, being driven to despair by the Varangians, did itself
justice by slaughtering them; that tbe irritated prince
orenged this violence by the massacre of the principal Nov-
gorodians, whom he had inveigled into his palace ; out that
at this moment was spread the news of Sviatopolk's triple
firatricide; that, then, Taroslaf, threatened by bis brother,
and finding himself without gufrds, and deserted by his
subjects, sought the latter, and threw himself weeping into
their arms. Those arms they opened to receive him without
rancour, employed them on his behalf, and by means of
them twice raised him to the sovereignty of the empire.
Without some explanation, this fact is wholly impro*
bable. That Yaroslaf may have softened the Novgorodians
by his repentance, is possible ; but that he should instantly
have converted them into an army most devoted and per*
severing in his cause, is not credible, unless we suppose an
interchange of benefits, a compact, in short, between the
prince and his people. Besides, the epoch of the revolt,
the vengeance, and the reconciliation, agrees with the date
of the Irancluses which Yaroslaf conceded to the Novgoro*
diiVQB, and with that of his code.
This code is remarkable. It is despotism which promul*
gates it. '* Bespect this ordinance : it must be the rule of
your conduct. Such is my will."*
Its two first enactments, according to Leclerc, or, accord-
ing to Karamsin, its first, constitute the law tbe public
avenger only in default of private vengeance. The law,
therefore, came in aid only of the weak ; the strong did jus-
tice for themselves. None but the relations of a man who
had been slain had a right to avenge his death. The law did
not even regulate judicial combats ; this is being not merely
barbarous, but absolutely savage.
This same law distinguishes several classes. If no avengers
exist, it says, the murderer shall pay into the treasurv of the
state the double fine (eighty grivnast) for the murder of a
• Lederc
t The Russians had as yet Httle or no coined monej; gold and silrer
circulated as bnlUon, and the common currency was pieces of skins
called yunu A grivna at this period was [a certain number of kunis
equal in Yidue to half a pound of silyer. However, as these pieces of
skin had no intrinsic value, they underwent a continual depreciation as
boyar, or A thiun df the prince; forty gnTnas far ii^maiAer
cf ftfree Bussiaii, whether Yam^iiaii, arSkrauan^ft loldiOT;
or a flciibe, a huslHqiidiBan, a merchant, whether native or
fore^, and perhaps, also, for the murder of a hired muk, for
the latter was still free.*
The life of a female was estim^^d at only half the worth
of am8n's;t a brutal law, auid weU worthy of that barbaEOua
period in which strength y^ aboise all things respected.
for the murder of a shiTe, nothing was to be paid to the
treasury ; all that was required wai, that the yalue ef him
ahould be paid to his owner, if he had been hiUed withouit
a suffident cause; that is to say, without the alaye having in-
Siilted a freeman.
This value was estimated aocordii^ to the oeeupation of
the slave. An artisan, a schoolmaster, a nurse, the superin*
tendent of a vilhufe, acting either for a Grand-Primoeor for a
boyar, was war£ onlj twelve grivnas (see the first kw) ;
juafc as much as the msulted li^nour of a citizoi (see the
tiliird), or the fine for killing a head of cattle (see, from K««
ramsin, the seventh). Others were valued as low as six, and
even five grivnas. That these unfortunate beings w^e not
free, is proved by the wills of several princes, who ait
their death emancipated a great number of them ; bat the
objects of this posthumous ^neficence could make no betteir
use of their liberty than to sell themselves again.
• Factual slavery, extending to their posterily, was the lot
of all prisoners of war, and of all persons bought from
fweigners ; slavery, for a limited period, was the portion of
those who sold themselves, of msolv^it debtors, freemem
who, without conditions, married a slave, servants out of em-
ployment, hired servants who did not fulfil their engage-
ments ; in a word, aU the weak who made themselves the
slaves of the strong, to obtain subsistence and proteetioii.
The rapidity with which the pest of slavery must have been
diffused wiU appear from two facts : that, on the one hand, a
silTer liecarae more abundant, nntil in the thirteenth centuty a fStret
grivna was equal to seven kuni grivnas of Novgorod.
* This seems to he proved hy the last paragraph of the tinrd artide,
accdrdlflg to Karamain ; aodalgohy tbefinefor themmderof aftmale
servant, which was eighteen grivnaa^ twelve of which woe taksa by
the state.
f 6ec^ la KanoBiiB, tiw third paragraph of tiie firstartafle.
▲.!>. 1018] TABOftli^T'S CO»S OV ItAJTB. 4S
debtor became a alirre, mid on the oliier, that the legal m-
traiest of money was fcnrtj per cent.
^3ie iecond law* made the district reepcrasiUe for tihe
poffabe safety witMa t^ botmda of its territory, ishetL it coald
not gire up to the prince the murderer, bis wife, and his
diildreii : a law whidh was then useful, but which seems to
bear out this remark, that the more widely civiliBtffcion is
spread, the more its penal justiee is brought to aet on in-
dividuals ; and that,, in proportion as baHbarism existB, the
more is that juatiee eompeUed to sw^ the number of eol-
leetrre leenonsibdlitiea.
The iJurd lawf rates the loss of a member almost as
UgUy as tkst of life. This maa^s a hunting asid warlike
neople. On the plucking out a part of the bea^, it infiicts a
nae four times greater than that which it de<9!ee8 for the loss
of a finger. This brings to reeoUection the imBortanoe which
the G^hs and €termans attached to their hair, and may
aenre as a proof of a common origin ; as may, also, the penalty
of loss of liberty for stealing a horse, whidi is a Saxon law.
Time existed, likewise, another enactment, which was who%
JuHandic, both in its sph^ and letter ; that which prohibited
the making use of a horse without the owner's consent. It
must be added, that our ordeals by boiling water and red^
hot iron are contained in this code.;]:
The en-omeration of the mulcts for blows seems to have
been dictated by a delicacy like o«r own, wiiii respect to the
point of honour; insults are fined four times more heavilh^
than wxmnds.
From Hie seventh law,§ which appears to compel a Xoble-
gian or a Varangian, and not a Sh^ronian, to take an oath, it
18 fifficolt to dnvw any conclusion, except that, as* in Lorn*
* Of Yaroslaf, accordis^ to Karamain; but Iieclerc attributes it to
Isiaslaf, his son.
f The second, accorcUng to Karamsin's arrangement.
X See Ewers, 4as aiteste Reeht der Bwssm, wbere he proves tke is-
semblance of the ancient Bussian law with that of the Germana. See,
alaov Struve, Diseowse to the Academy of Sckueegy in 175C, tboiigk re-
ceauy refuted in Bassia (Patriotic Annals, Jan., 1826), bat without
being able to explain the singular conformity of the Russian and Scan-
disaTian laws, otherwise than bjr assigning to them a common snd
Germanic origin.
§ Translation bgr Lederc.
4i HIBTOBY OF EITflSIi^ [OH. 1Y«
hBSrij flad Erance, each party followed its own usage; tbat
this was the usage of the Yarangians ; that it could belong
only to a decidedly warlike people, and not to a commeraai
people, among whom other sureties than words were re^foi-
site; that fiimlly, the Yarangians were greater barbanans
than the Slavonians ; for, when justice imows a denial on
oath to be sufficient, the oppressed has no other resource
than an appeal to arms : a custom which would be the parent
of barbarism, if it were not its offspring.
The thirteenth law, according to I^derc's arrangement,
confirms the existence of the three classes, which the second
had already indicated ; the class of slaves and that of free*
men, which it protects against that of the nobles and boyars,
whose violence it seems to apprehend.
These freemen were the husbandmen or farmers, hired
servants,* and country landholders ; probably, those Odno«
vortzy, of whom there were still about thirfy thousand re-
mainuig in the time of Peter the Great ; but the majority of
the. freemen dwelt in the cities. They were divided into
centuries, and they chose a chief, who was a kind of tribune.
This civil and military magistrate of the people, who bore
the denomination of Tyssiatchsky, had a guard, and was
upon an equal footing with the most eminent boyars of the
prince.
As to the nobles, they were doubtless descendants from
the Yarangian and Slavonian warriors of Eurik and his sue*
cessors, who had large shares in the conquest; they were
the voyevodes, or military leaders, the boyars, or direct coun*
sellers of the princes, and the officers of their guards.
Among vanous regulations relative to inheritances, we
observe (law the thirtieth), that the prince was the heir of
such free men as died without male issue ; but that, in no
case, had he a claim to the succession of a boyar, or an
officer of his guard : a circumstance which could not fail, in a
short time, to produce a nobility exclusively possessed of
property.
According to Karamsin, this code neither inflicted corporal
punishments (except, indeed, slavery, which includes them
all), nor made any difference in the compositions or fines be-
* See the twentieth law, in Earamsin's arrangement.
A.J). 1018] TASOSLAr's CODE OF LAWS. 45
tween the Varangians and the Slavonians. But, in the first
place, the code of Taroslaf was not promulgated till after the
an[ialgamation of the two people ; and, secondly, as it appears
that the prince's guard consisted entirely of Varangians, it
will be seen in. the first and thirteenth laws, that the latter
were not without their privileges.
The sixteenth law* regulates the mtiximum of what a pro-
prietor, or a possessor, whether of a fief or a freehold, may
demand, by the week and by the day, from his farmers ; for
the peasant was not then a serf, but a cultivator.
In the various versions of these laws, there is no trace of
taxation. The daring refusal of Taroslaf to pay tribute to his
father, the great Vladimir, is the only proof that appanages
were bound in this way to the Great-Principality. It does
not otherwise appear, that even the fiefs and estates paid
imposts to the Grand-Prince ; the lord or proprietor seems
to nave had, in his possessions, the same right of customs and
tribute that the prince had in his own domain.
All that was not appanage, fief, or private property, be-
longed to the sovereign. The Grand-Prince, bke the lord,
subsisted on the fines which he imposed for ofiences, and on
the tribute which he received from his estates : this tribute,
as is now the case with Siberia, was paid in kind, where
there were no other means of payment, and in moneyt,
where the use of money had been mtroduced by commerce
with Cherson, Byzantium, and Vineta.
The expression tribute is here used instead of revenue,
because all this bore the aspect of conquest.
Under this point of view, it appears that the only mark of
the lord's dependence — and this may well be called a tax —
was military service, and that, too, with all its burdensome
charges: the lord was bound to join the prince, armed,
mounted, supplied with provisions, and numerously at-
tended.
The judges went circuits : on the spot they empannelled
twelve respectable jurors, who were sworn, as in Scandinavia,
* Lederc'i translation ; he attributes it to Isiaslaf, the son and
socoessor of Taroslaf.
t Karamsin says that money was coined at Kief, in the time of
Tarq^iaf, which bore his effigy. See also Weydemeyer.
M HISTOAT OF SUBSIA. [CH. rr<.
or. in Denmadt,* siiijce tiie tune of Lodbfog, ft monareb of
tbe eighth oentiuy.
Several other lawB extended protection to movable and
immovable properly ; thej are so judicioaslY framed for the
interests of eommeroOy that it is evident they were enacked
with a particular reference to !N^ovgorod.
This code sufficed for the enormous empire comprehended
between the Volga and l^e Lower Danube, the iN'orthinn
Dwina and the Niemen, the Black Sea and the Baltic.
It excites surprise to find in it so many oontradictioiis,
and such a disproportion between the penalties ; but to what
a variety of circumstances and different interests they wese
to be applied I Doubtless^ its provisions were not all enacted
at once, nor were the whole of them meant to extend to all
It is, nevertheless, one of the most remarkable monnm^itB
of the Gothic age. This code, and the franchises granted
to the !N'ovgorodians, constitute the glory of Yaroslaf. A
summary of these franchises will give an idea of those which
existed in the Bussian cities of that epoch, but vnth greai:
modifications, reaultmg from the greater or less degree of
power which each of the cities possessed.
The vaat importance of that republic is strikingly mani-
fested by the largess which Yarodaf gave to the army that
placed him on the throne of Kief. Here, as elsewhere, the
aegree of consideration enjoyed by the receiver, is indicated
by the magnitude of the sum received : ten grivnas to each
voyevode, ten grivnas to each Novgorodian, a single grivna
to each Varangian or Bussian. The Varangians most,
indeed, have declined greatly in consequence since the pra-
eedinjg reign, when they sought to extort a ransom from the
Kievians. That nation was now looked upon merely as i^
niirs^ of brave men, useful to the prince, but dangerous
to the country: their influence in Bussia seems to have
endisd with the re-establishment. of the liberty of Novgorod,
and with the reign of Yaroslaf.
But it is now time to explain this very predominant
power of Novgorod, which we have seen thrice giving the
whole of Bussia to Vladimir and to Yaroslaf. Its republkaii
* See EaramfiD, wbo cites Saxo-Grammsftiem (vol, ii.p. f9f)*
AJi. 1018] coKSTinmow of sotgosob. 47
exisiBDee, oonstantljmore woriiij of note down to the period
of Ivm III. (1480), 18 a remirksMd phenomenon in the
xnidflt of ihSk luaA of Blarei^.
The geographical giination of that citf, whiek at fint
ooctfidomi its sabmission to the YarangianB, became after-
waids the eause of its strength.
In fact, the Novgorodians being, hj that situation, out of
the Teach of ike nomads of the south and east, and always
attracted towards the north by their commerce, remained
stationary, without going, like the rest of Bussia, to be dis-
seminated and lost in the sonth. This peace in the north,
while tiie south was exhanstiDg itself; the remoteness of i^
Grand-Princes, after Oleg had remoyed the capital to Kief;
their circumspect conduct towards a city which they looked
upon as their asylum ; all contributed to ^iye new vigour to
lia9gQxody and to restore to it its pristine independence.
In consequence, it soon became lord-paramount of Ligria,
Garcia, a c(»isiderable part of Fermia, of Fleskof, and of
IVnjodk. On ike north it was bounded by Archangel, on
the sonth, by Tver. It had a Namestnick, who was usually
a ^xnoe of the blood, the lieutenant of the Grand-Prince,
general of the army, and even judge, but only when his in-
tervepttoB was sought for ; a Posa&ick, the burgomaster et
mayor; a Tisiatski, or Tyssiatchsky, the boyar of the Com*
nitons, the tribune of the people, who watched orer the pro-
oeedinga of the Namestnick and Posadnick ; boyars of tlie
city council, or senate (all which offices were elective and
temocBrary) ; Zitieloudie, or proprietors of the first class, out
of wnkh the bc^^ars were chosen ; and, lastly, ike merchants
and the people.
This republic, considered as an appanage of the Grand-
Principality, and as a state wil^in a state, entrusted with the
defence of the northern and north-western frontiers, had its
assemblies of the people, which were convoked by the sound
of a £unous bell, called vetchevoy ; every citizen, without
distinction, had the right of votiDg. The prince was not
present at their deliberations. Here were decided war,
peace, the election of magistrates, sometimes the choice of
Ae buhop, and even that of the prince; at least, in a gre«t
mqority of cases, the approbation of this asaemUy was
Beeessaryr
4S HI8T0BT OV BirSSIA. [OH. V*
The prince was not acknowledged till he had sworn to
gOTem agreeabl J to the ancient laws of the republic ; to
entrust the government of the provinces only to Novgorodian
magistrates, approved of by the Posadnick ; and to attempt
no infringement on the exclusive right of the republic to sit
in judgment on its own citizens, to tax itself, and to cany
on its commerce with Grermanj.
He also engaged neither to give to his boyars, nor allow
them to acquire, any of the villages dependent on Novgorod ;
not to encourage emigration from among the Novgorc^ians ;
not to cause any of them to be arrested for debt; and
lastly, to oblige his own boyars and judges to travel at their
own expense in the Novgorodian provinces, and to reject the
evidence of slaves.
It was on such conditions that these haughty and restless
republicans allowed the prince to administer justice, con-
jointly with judges chosen by themselves.
They paid him no taxes ; they merely made him firee gifts ;
they even pushed their pretensions so far as to regulate the
hours which their sovereign was to dedicate to pleasure;
they expeUed several of their princes, and even of their
bishops. This liberty, which too often degenerated into
licentiousness, was maintained for four centuries, in spite of
the distant power of the Grrand-Princes. But, transferred
from Kief to Yladimir and Moscow, that power, by degrees,
acquired concentration as it drew nearer to the republic,
and ended, at length, by overwhelming it.
Such were the concessions made by Yaroslaf to a people
who had twice been able to send foith forty thousand men
to raise him to the throne.
CHAPTER V.
OXKEBAL SXTBYXY OF THE SECOND PEBIOD, FBOK 1054 TO
1236.
Thus, as far back as the eleventh century, Eussia had a
paramount throne, an acknowledged d;^asty, a European
religion, a code ! It advanced towards civiliBation at the same
pace as the rest of Europe ; and nothing was wanting for it
AJ>. 1054-1286] BKOOVB febiob. 48
but to perBist in the same noble career^ wben it stopped
sbort, tottered, and fell. Having, duiing the first perioa of
its history, witnessed the growth of its rude and barbaric
glory, let us seek, amidst the gloom of the second, and in its
moral and political situation, the causes of its dedine and of
its fall.
The time for conquests was gone by. The misfortunes of
Sviatoslaf, and his warlike excesses, hsA excited a disgust of
them; under Vladimir and Yaroslaf, the natural frontiers
bad been acquired ; in what remained, there was little temptar
tion ; and, besides, the yictories of Boleslas king of Poland,
and his capture of Kief, showed that the territories to the
west offered no eas;^ prey. Internal disturbances, which
sprang from the partitions of the empire, subsequent to the
reign of Sviatoslaf, called back the attention of the Bussians
to themselves. Their conversion did not allow of their
marching to plunder Constantinople^ which was become the
metropous of their religion. Compelled, thenceforth, to
think rather of restraining their own subjects, than of con-
quering those of other monarchs, the Ghrand-Frinces, softened
by Ckcistianity, and enlightened by the priests, were at
length made aware that, to govern their people, it behoved
them to give to that people laws, property, and instruction.
Such was their idea ; their means we nave seen ; let us
now behold the obstacles and the result.
The commerce of the empire with* Asia and with the
Oreeks ;* the military service of numbers of Bussians at
Constantinople ; the exoeditions, often crowned with suc-
cess, which were directed towards that centre of civilisation
by the Grrand-Princes ; the situation of Cherson, which, in
many respects, may be compared with that of Marseilles;
all these were causes productive of improvement. To these
must be added, the journey of Olga to Constantinople, and
iier conversion ; the numerous cities and schools founded by
Vladimir and Yaroslaf; the laws promulgated by the latter ;
the many Grreek priests and artisans of aU kinds, whom they
both attracted into Bussia ; the seventy years' duration of
* Yakat the Geographer: observe the effect of Asiatic civilisation on
the great Bulgarians of the Volga, who, in the tenth century, from the
time of Vladimir the Great, were agricultorists, manufacturers, and
merchants, and dwelt in cities built c^ stone.
VOL. I. B
so HISIOST OV XCmKUL. [CH. T«
Irlieir reigHB, and their ardent efforts to eiviliBe tbeir people;
imd, ittitlj, the slaTes -whom they brought back from their
expeditions, who re-peopled the eount^, and, when thef
were Gre^s, enligfatened it: all these circumstaiioea, no
doubt, must have contribttted to the instruction of the
BussiaQB, and begun to render them superior to their nejg^
hours.
Of this we may form a judgment from what is said hj
contemporaries'* with respe&b to Kief, which thej denomi*
nate the Capua, the Constantinople of the North ; the great
wall of brick that surrounded it; its gilded sate, like tluit of
Byzantium ; its four huhdred churches ; its luxurr ; the lidi
and splendid dresses worn by its inhabitants ; its hot-baths;
l^e effeminacy of its manners, by which the Polish army was
ocMTupted ; lastly, its sumptuous feasts, at which were to be
found the wines of the Gbeeks, their silrer plate, and eyen
the productions of the Indies. There can be no doubt, also^
that the long possession, since the time of Oleg, had sctftened
manners, formed ties, and rendered some duties sacxed.
But barbarism, renewed by continual wars, stifled these
germs of civilisation.
To conceive the difficulties which this empire had to en*
counter, we must figure to onrselres the capital of the Great*
Princes in the mid^ of deserts, where unknown h<»des sud-
denly disappeared from view, to rush forth again incessantiy
in irruptions as sudden. Surrounded by barbarians, they
themselves being wholly barbarous, and reigning over bar*
bariane, on whose obedience, from the few laws, cities, and
properties they possessed, tiiey had but an imperfect h<dd;
i^ese princes £>und it impossible to govern such distant pro-
vinces in any other manner than by traversing them with an
army durine one half of the year, or by committii^ ext^asive
portions of them to lieutenants, able to keep in order and
defMOid them. Hence, civil wars between the great vassals;
such wars as raised Yladimir and Yaroslaf to the throne;
and, as the result of these dissensions, the overtumix^ €i
establi^ed fortunes^ and their transference into the hmiM
* See Kamnisin, sad Dittmar of Kerteburg, who died in 1018; and,
at a later period, Fkn-Caipin himself admiring the exqvisite work^
manflhip i)f the rich tluraae of the KhanS) which wai madia byBasnaa
goldsmiths.
MJSu 1054-1236] SKioiro pxmioo. 51
of new men, the ofispring of confliota and rOTolutiooi ; and,
lastly, nascent ciyilisation perpetaaU j exposed to intecnqk
tion.
The iniarodaction of Chitstianity, however, was one of the
most direct steps which was taken towards that drilisatioaBL ;
and if the efforts of Olga, Yladimir, and Yacoslaf had
not heen thwarted, we are justified in believing that the
period upon whidi we are about to enter would have been
less stained with blood. Daring this seeond period, the
genius of Christianitj inspired with their noblest actions
ti&e numerous descendants of Sunk, among whom Buasia
was divided; of the best of them it made truly great
men ; of the wickedest it modified the manners, and some-
times arrested their guilty hands. Karamsin remarks, that
m no family of barbarian princes were there ever aeen
more violent dissensions and fewer fratricides. Although
diverted from their religious subtleties by the coarse nuKi*
city which surrounded them, dependent on the sovereigns,
and having everything to lose hy this barbarism, the Ghreek
priests, who were the li^ts of l^at dark age, often s^ke
^e sublime language of Christianity.
But how was it possible to civilise barlnrians surroimded
by barbarians ? Olga was not listened to ; her son Sviatos-
laf even resisted her. He could not brave the ridicule which
has been at all times the most powerful of anti-religious
weapons. This weapon was too weak against Yladimir;
hsb he undertook too late his own reformation) and that
of others.
There existed other obstades to the civilisation of the
Buasians ; they are to be &und in the mitipathjr with which
tiie despi&ed Greeks and their new religiotu inspired the
minds of the people, against the arts, the sci^oces, and tiia
maimers introduc^ by these £i»eigners.
We may believe, also, that the generation which was
ffAng off llie stage, had the selfishness to wish that it might
not be so much surpassed by that which was to replace it.
Clan those who have declined into the vale of years, bear to
hear it asserted, that ev»ything which has occupied duar
whole life is but ignorance, barbarism, trividity, and
ctownishness P Are they thus to lose the rights derired
x2
52 HISTOBT OS BVB8IA. [CH.T^
from experience, tlie sole benefit, and that* so dearly bought,
which remains to the aged ?
Add to this, that, in those barbarous times, the want of a
system of tactics, and the nature of the weapons, gare all
the advantage to mere physical strength ; a circumstance
which conferred on the exercises of the body a precedence
over those of the mind.
The various sackings of Kief, also, from the time when the
partitions of the empire commenced, destroyed to the veiy
root the entire labours of Olga, Yladimir, and Yaroslaf.
Against a voluntary and general barbarism, the means of
instniction are so feeble, that, far from dividing in order to
spread them, the prince is compelled to unite them imder
his protection : it is necessary that he should first call
round him- the rising generation, that they may come to
seek that instruction, which cannot seek them : this is the
reason of civilisation being so long confined within the
limits of a single city.
^ow we shall see, in this second period of the Bussiaa
history, that Kief, taken in 980 by the Yarangians of Via*
dimir, burned in 1015 by those of Taroslaf, and plundered in
1018 by the Poles, was captured and re*captured by them
in 1069 and 1077; and, lastly, that after having passed
violently from hand to hand for more than a century, it
was completely sacked in 1169, and nearly destroyed in
1201.
In the downfal of Kief, that mother of all the Eussian
cities, would have been comprehended that of civilisation,
were not the human mind so adapted to its seeds, that,
when once they are sown there, they become indestructible.
The Grand-Princedom, however, passed from Kief to Vla-
dimir; the navigation of the Borysthenes, more and more
impeded by the Polovtzy Tatars, and others, was forgotten.
The Grand-Princes thus withdrew from their civilisers, the
Greeks ; while, on the other hand, the Greeks withdrew from
them, repelled by the civil commotions of Eussia.
This is the reason why, about the middle of the twelfth
century (1168), the date of the fell of the second Eussian
capital, manners became more fierce, or, rather, manners were
wholly changed ; they were no longer those of Kief, softened
by Byzantium, but those of central Eussia, still Pagan and
XD. 1054-1236] . ^xcoKD period. 58
barbarous, whitKer the seat of goYemment had recoiled.
Judicial combats were then added to the fire and water
ordeals ; political assassinations and civil wars were multi-
plied ; and to all these elements of confusion was added a
singular order of succession. Thus torn to pieces, the empire
was laid open to the Poles, to the Hungarians, and especially
to the Folovtzy Tatars, who assisted the Eussian prmces to
deyastate it : at length appeared the Mongol Tatars ; split
into fractions, the state resisted without concentrating its
efforts, and was destroyed.
Then, while it was plunged in this abyss, and for several
ages, the Tatar invasion poured forth on it the profuse stores
of its barbarism, its treacheries, and all the vices of slavery.
Bobbery, " like a contagious disease, attacked everjr kind of
property."* Oppression, with its hideous train of hatred,
8tr{d}agems, dissimulation, gloomy and stem manners, poison-
ings, mutilations, and horrible executions, established its
sway: it extended over the whole country; it penetrated
into all hearts, and vrithered and brutalised them during
two centuries.
Such a horrible tyranny rendered legitimate all means of
escaping £rom it ; then, everything was confounded : the dis-
tinction of good and evil ceased to exist ; crime lost its shame,
and punishment its infamy. The very name of honour va-
nislied ; fear alone held absolute dominion !
In the second period, upon which we are now entering, at
the commencement of the twelfth century, Vladimir Mono-
machus, that Christian hero, could yet say, ** Put not even
the guilty to death, for the life of a Christian is sacred."
But, at the close of the fourteenth century, when his spirit
again revived in the great Dmitri Donskoi, we find that
worthy descendant of the Christian hero of the Bussians
under the necessity of re-establishing capital punishments.
Very soon, the justice of his successors became more fero*
clous, either from the Tatar manners having become predo-
minant, or from necessity, in order to render punishment
commensurate with crime.
AU this evil had its source in the division of the empire
into appanages,— an evil which, as we have seen,* was in-
* Kara?nfn*'t
n HI0TOBT 07 KITBffCl. [OH* ▼.
editable ivitib so mesoj princes of ilie blood, in sach a dunato,
and among soeh men; a ajsteniy in riiorfc, bj which aione it
was practicable to gorem such nnmeroaB tribes, having no
means of inteeeomoMinication, and dispersed orer so wide a
space.
Dunng the first period of Uie Bnssfam history, it has been
seen, that the genins of the last two reigns checked thue
qpiread of that endemic distemper which was so pemicioia
to all the states foonded hj the men of the Novth. But, on
the death of Yaroslaf, this debilitating fever seised on ihe
empire, divided among his five sons. Of the second period,
the first twentj-fonr years, which comprise the reign of
Isiaslaf, the son and successor of Yaroslu, were deeply con-
taminated by its pestilential influence; several civil wan
broke out, and that prince was twice driven from his throne
by his relatives ; and twice re-established by Boleslas IL
kmg of Poland. On his death, another principle of decom-
position was superadded to that of the appanages ; the order
of hereditary succession, which, though transiently int^-
rupted by the prolongation of Oleg's regency, had, since liie
time of Eurik, always passed from father to son, then under-
went a change. With the consent even of the children of
Isiaslaf, Ysevolod, his brother, became his heir, and the order
of succession from brother to brother was established.
This is said to have been founded on a custom, for which
the only precedent quoted is the regency of Oleg ; wildiout
sufficiently considering that so antiquated a proceeding, and
one which had not occurred a second time in the course of a
hundred and sixty-five years, could not be in accordance
with the national manners.
The Bussians may be supposed to have obeyed a natural
instinct, which seems repugnant to the submission of an
uncle to his nephew; or, i^her, to have wished, by this
means, to avoid minorities, or to prevent quarrels between
the young princes, who would have more respect for ma
dderly prince, who was their uncle. The fact is, that, in
those simple and rude times, this mode of succession, at once
so singular and so pernicious, appears to have originated in
a serupulous and overstrained respect for the right of primo-
geniture. The appellation of el^ was held in such reve-
rence, that, down to the close of the fifteenth century, it was
XJK 1064-1236] iXooBD PXBIOD. 68
Boffimntto demgnate the posseteor of paramoimt Mithmritj.
Tkiis vfe shall see tliat tne direet sacoeBsion was irai t^
BBtmh&iheA till the GraiicL*Frinces of Moscow had secured^
beforehand, the recognition of their sons and grandsons, as
the seniors of all the oth^ princes. " I acknowledge iliee
m mj elder," was their sjmbol of submission.
To the ssme deference for the right of ddership we must also
attribute the succession from uncle to nephew, a consequence
of the hdorship between brothers. The brothers haying sue*
eeeded each other according to their order of birth, and the
last of them being extinct, it was xiot to his son that the
sceptre devolTed, but to his nephew ; that is to say, to the
son of the eldest brother who had possessed the tlmine.
!From this truly singular mode of succession resulted two
htil consequences. In the first place, a still further parcellji^
out of the empire into appanages, and new occasions of ciril
war. It was quite natural that, during bis life, a Grand-
Prince should strengthen his children against an uncle, whoy
it was certain, would ere long fayour his.own offspring at the
expense of his nephews.
This system of parcelling out did not spare eyen the do*
main of the crown. It appears that Yaroslaf the Legislator
left it so powerful, in comparison with the appaoiages, that
he might well belieye its paramount influence to be secure
and incontestable. But this vast domain was soon subdi-
yided, like the rest of the empire.
This fault was committed by the Grand-Princes them**
selyes ; whether it was that they were indifferent as to pre-
sorying unmutilated a domain, which, after their decease,
was to pass to another branch ; or, more probably, that they
were interested in leaving it weak against their children, by
whom it ¥ra8 not to be inherited ; or that they knew not
from what other source to provide them with appanages.
The second result of this order of heirship was, nie pnv
gressiye weakenix^ of the power of the Ghrand-Princes ; not
only from the want of a solid point of support, in conse-
quence of the domains being thus broken into fragments,
but also from the want of an invariable system of govern-
ment. In fact, always strangers to the Grand-Principalit^^
the prizkces jurived there from their appanages, with their
boyars, men devoted to them, whom they glutted at the
56 HISTOBT OF BtTBBIA. [CH. T^
expense of tbe old possessors.* The frequent transference
of the sceptre^ perpetually disappointing the hopes of the
subjects, accustomed them not to attach themselves to any
branch of the Bunks.
On the other hand, as the Gh*and-Frinces did not ascend
the throne till they were somewhat advanced in years, the.
reigns were shorter; a circumstance which interrupted all
phms, and perpetually gave rise to new revolutions, or new
systems of government : for the system of government could
not be transmitted from brother to brother, and from undo
to nephew, as from father to son.
This order of succession was, therefore, during the second
period, one of the main causes of the progressive weakness
of the Grrand-Frinces and of the state : so certain is this, that,
in the third period, and in spte of the additional calamities
produced by the Tatar invasion, we shall see the state again
revive with the paramount authority, by the re-estabush-
ment of the direct succession in one of the branches of this
multitude of princes.
As to the Russian nobility, we must remark, that, amidst
all the quarrels which, in the second period, arose respecting
appanages, there is no allusion to them, but only to the
princes. The reason of this is, that the continually con-
quering movement of the first period, the manners, the mu«
tabiUty of all secondary fortunes in the midst of these revo-
lutions of appanages ; in fine, the scarcity of cities, resi-
dences, and sbrong places, had prevented the voyevodes from
perpetuating themselves in their commands, as those mili-
tary leaders had done everjrwhere else, at that period. After-
wards, when cities be^an to be founded, the princes were
multiplied also, and divided them among themselves; no
one even imagined that they could belong to anybody but
those princes; so absolute and exclusive appears to have
been, at all times, the devotion to the fisimily of Eurik.
To belong to that race was enough : whether the princes
* Among a thousand other instances, see what the Bussiau historian
sajs with respect to Yurj of Suzdal, who thrice usurped the throne of
Kief. His favourites, and a swarm of adventurers, who flocked to
seek their fortune in his train, trampled as they pleased on the citi-
zens of that capital, and plundered and insulted them. The princes
ofted carried off all the boyars of a city, &c
A«D. 1054] GBAITD-PSOrCES 07 THE BECOin) PEBIOD. 57
were good or bad, the Bussians accepted them all. They
allowed themselves to be transferred from hand to hand,
divided and subdivided, given and resumed, just as the princes
thought proper. The family of Burik looked upon the state
as its property. Listen to one of them, named Oleg, who was
summoned, in 1096 or 1097, to the congress of Eief by his
kinsmen, and was informed that, at the meeting, the bishops,
the ancient boyars, and the most distinguished citizens,
were to be consulted. "I am a prince," replied he, "and
am not made to take advice from monks and the mob." We
shall witness many other examples of the submissiveness of
the people, and of the pride of the Buriks.
This congress, however, which was convoked in 1096, that
of the sons of Taroslaf the Legislator, in 1059, for the de-
liverance of their uncle, and those which were subsequently
held, indicate to us the form of government during this
second period. It was an assemblage of appanaged princes
descended from Bunk,* who recognised the sovereign of
Kief as Grand-Prince and Lord-Paramount. These princes
often held a con^ss, in which important affairs were decided,
appanages distributed, and high offences iudged. " The
fault which costs the boyar his head," said one of them,t
^ costs the prince his appanage."
CHAPTEB VL
THE ORAiro-PRlNCBS OP THE SECOND PEBIOD— yLADIMIE
MONOMAOHUS — JlSBTLIEW.
Now that all these causes of barbarism — the order of
succession from brother to brother, partitions, intestine dis-
sensions, and the exclusive authonty of the Buriks — are
appreciated, and that a glimpse has been given of the mode
ox government, let us revert to the history of the main facto,
for the understanding of which it was necessary to premise
these general considerations.
* About the year 1150 there were more than seventy- one, all sove-
reigns,
t SviatosUf, in 1176.
58 HZSTOBX or xvbbia. [oh. tx«
Uaalii^ the son <tf Yaroelaf the Great, began tbe seeond
diiaatroas period, bj twenty-four years of dvil war, two de^
poiitions, two appeals to fozeign inteirention for the purpose
of effectmg his restoration, and by a change ift the mode of
snecession to the throne, which he kfb to us brother Ysero*
lod, withont any opposil^on being offered by his two sons.
Bat what boots it to dwell on the name of Isiaslaf ; or that
of a Yseyolod, his successcnr, who reigned fifteen years ; or of
a Syintopolk, the nephew of Yseyolod, and son of his eldest
brother, who succeeded him, and for twenty years occfupied a
throne, whicb was much more an object of enTy from the
wealth and luxury of Kief, than from the contested powor
winch it conferred P What can we learn from these annals,
eze^t that they are filled with outrages, usurpations, tio*
lated treaties, and pfflagings, eUAtdr between the Buasiasa
princes, or betwem them and the PoloytEy Tatars, ihe Poles,
or the Hungarians ? Of these facts, therefore, the major
part of which is unworthy of being remembered, we bKuJI
select only such as may show us the colour of the times, and
giie us a leading and general idea of that epoch.*
Kow, as early as tiie opening years ofthe reign of YseTolod,
about 1084, there rises to view the noble form of his son,
Yladimir Monomachus, the hero of the second period of iiie
EuBsian history. His first actions were distant campaigns
for the redress of injuries. A tutelary genius amidst the
crowd of princes possessing appanages, he was incessantly
emplo;^ed in succouring the weak against the unjust aggressor.
In their frightful incursions, the rolovtzy always found him
the foremost to arrest thdr progress^ The only fact with
which he can be reproached is, tib^t he once allowed himself
to violate his faith with these robbers, who never kept theirs ;
that he availed himself of treachery against the treacherous,
and gave them up to the slaughter, while they were slumber-
ing amidst the miits of their rapine, among which Yladimir
^ The national historian of Russia himself is our warrant finr so
ctanorj a treatment of this ignoble period: '< Un ^rivain stranger ne
tronyerait aucone jouissance dans la pdatare de ees fdnestes ^poqiies,
studies en actions glorienses, et signalees par des guerres ciyiles de pea
dtepoctanoe, eatre lea nombrenx aonyeiains, dont Its ombres, teintes
da sang de leurs sujets infortun^s, passent sous ses jeox dans rofaaea*
rit^ des si^cles."— Earamsin, trad, par St. Thomas et Janfitek, ii. 84,
▲.D. 1097] TI^AIMMIB MOKOKACHUS. 59
doobtlesa reckoned the treaty tliej hftd leeentlj extorted
&om Mm.
But hj how znanj great actkms did be not atone for this
great error ! When, in 1093, hia father died in his arms, on the
thrme of Kief, whi^h he bequeathed to him, and of which
all good citizens implored his acceptance, he refused it.
Absurd as was the established order of succession, he re-
spected it, and transmitted the sceptre to his cousin Sviato-
polk. " His father," said he, ** was the senior of mine; he
reigned first in the capital. 1 wish to preserve Bussia firom
the horrors of a cinl war.**
He did more ; during twentj years he persisted in this
generous conduct. Bemaining a faithful vassal of Sviatopolk,
whose guard consisted of only eight hundred warriors, he
peipetiu^y hastened to his aid in the unjust wars and im-
prodesit combats in which, notwithstanding Vladimir's re*
monstrances and reproaches, the rash monarch involved him-
sdf. in fighting for this sovereign, Vladimir lost in the
waves a beloved brother, whom he vadnly endeavoured to
save at the risk of his own life ; and he lost even his appi^
ni^ of Tchemigo^ which the flagitious Oleg, his kinsman,
elided as his iQheritance, and succeeded in wresting firom
him.
This Oleg would neither submit to the amovability of
fiefs, nor te the congress of 1097, in which the princes di*
vided the appanages between them : he had sworn on the
cross to be satisfied with his share, but he, and David his
Inrother, again appealed to the Polovtzy. They perpetually
laid open Bussia to those robbers ; their whole existence was
nothing but a tissue of treasons.
Thtoks to the influence of Christianity, the feudal con-
tests of ike Bussian princes, not less bloodnstained than
those of other barbarians, had yet been rarely stained hitherto
with any blood but that which flowed in battle. For nearly
a century, Sviatopolk, the firatricide, had remained a solitary
monster in an age of discord, by which he had been held in
abomination. Towards the close of the eleventh century,
however, the detestable race of the traitor Oleg, with whom
nothing was sacred, renewed these monstrosities ; his Inrother
David, to whom the public peace, restored by the congress
of 1097^ was insuppoqrtable; framed a plot^ slandered "VHiadi-
60 HISTOBT OF BUS8IA. [CH. YI.
mir, and tore out the eyes of one of his kinsmen, whose ap«
panage he coveted.
But this crime, so common in Greece, was unprecedented
in Eussia, and excited the utmost abhorrence. A new con-
gress of the Russian princes was assembled under a vast tent,
and there, too, the genius of Vladimir Monomachus was pre-
dominant. " Thou pretendest that thou hast cause of com-
plaint," said they to David; "thou art now seated on the
same carpet with thy brothers. Speak ; which of us dost
thou accuse ?" David,* disconcerted, kept silence, and the
Erinces quitted the tent. They mounted their horses ; and
eld a council, all of them completely armed, as was the
custom under alarming circums^ces. Then separating,
each of them went to consult his boyars ; and David, con-
demned, and cast out with horror, was deprived of his appa-
nage. ^Nevertheless, from the pity of his kmsmen he received
four towns and four hundred grivnas for his subsistence ; so
much did these descendants of Bunk respect his blood, even
when it was most impure ; so much had Christianity softened
them since the time of Vladimir the Great, who abolished
the penalty of death, and of Isiaslaf his grandson, who again
suppressed it, after it had been restored by Yaroslaf his
father.
At length, the death of the infamous Oleg, the last con-
gress in which the influence of Monomachus shone so greatly,
his generosity, and his active valour, suspended the civil dis-
sensions, and put an end to new wars against the Poles and
the Polovtzy. During the thirtj-five years of the reigns of
Vsevolod and Sviatopolk, Vladimir, who had refused the
sovereignty of Bussia, had been its tutelary genius.
But, in 1113 Sviatopolk died. Kief fell into utter con-
fusion, and massacred its Jewish inhabitants, and Mono-
machus, who was always appealed' to whenever the want of
order and justice was experienced, was again called to the
throne ; but this hero of duty again rejected the sceptre ; he
declared that the son of his enemy, the offspring of the per-
fidious Oleg, had an hereditary title to it. His high renown,
however, his age, and the existing circumstances, triumphed :
a unanimous assent and resolve, and the revolt of the
Xievians, compelled him to reign. For it is remarkable, that
he was elected by a general and solemn assembly of the
A.I>. 1125] TLA.BIKIB HOKOKAOHXTS. 61
dtizens of Kief; this, however, does not establish the rights
of the people, there being then nothing fixed : a great man
could make infringements in everything, and procure them
to be made. Besides, this prince refused to avail himself of
the election, which proves that he did not consider it valid.
At length, however, he vielded; and order was quickly
restored by the expulsion of the Jews from the whole of the
Russian territory. Yladimir protected their retreat, and
made their exile be respected : it lasted for six centuries,
until the conquest of Poland, where their race was numerous,
led to its partial and gradual abolition.
At the same time, the lot of those who were slaves by
contract, or for debt, and even that of the perpetual slaves,
was ameliorated ; the passions, restrained in the interior of
the state, were now turned towards external objects, and the
civil wars were succeeded by useful wars against the enemies
of the countrjr.
In conclusion, this great man left to Bussia better laws,
and to his children the remembrance of his actions, of which,
on his death-bedy he traced the picture, and offered it to them
as a model.
" My dear children," said he, " praise God, love men ; for
it is neither fasting, nor solitude, nor monastic vows, that can
give you eternal life ; it is beneficence alone.
*^ J3e fathers to the orphan ; be yourselves judges for the
widow. Put to death neither the innocent nor the guilty,
for nothing is more sacred than the life and soul of a Chris*
tian.
'' Keep not the priests at a distance from vou ; do good to
them, that they may offer up prayers to God for you.
^* Violate not the oath which you have sworn on the cross.
My brothers said to me, ^Assist us to expel the sons of
iEtotislaf, and seize upon their provinces, or renounce our
alliance.' But I answered, 'I cannot forget that I have
kissed the cross.'
'' Bear in mind that a man ought to be always employed :
look carefully into your domestic concerDS, and fly from
drunkenness and debauchery,
^* Love your wives, but do not suffer them to have any
power over you.
'^Endeavour constantly to obtain knowledge* Without
62 HlfiXOBT OF &U8SU.. [OS. TI.
hftving qniited his palace, mj fatiiar Bfcke five languages ; a
tliixig which captivates for us the adnmatioiL of fioeignenL
^',Iii war, be vigilant; be aa example to your vojevodes:
never retire to rest without having posted your guards:
never take off your arms while you are within the enemy's
reach ; and, to avoid ever being suzprised, be eady on lioise-
faack.
^' When you travel through your provinces, do notadlow
your attendants to do the least injury to ihe inhabitants;
entertain always, at your own expense, the master of tiie
house in which you take up your abode.
'^ If you find yourself affected by some ailment, make three
prostrations down to the ground before the Lord ; and let
the sun never find you in bed. As soon as the first gleanui
of day appeared, my father, and all tiie virtuous men by
whom he was surrounded, did thus — ^they glorified the Lord ;
they then seated themselves to deliberate, or to administer
justice to the people, or they went to the chase, and in the
middle of the day they slept; which God permits to man, as
well as to the beasts and tiie birds. ^
" Eor my part, I accustomed myself to do everything that
I might have ordered my servants to do : night and day,
summer and winter, I was perpetually moving about; I
wished to see everything with my own eyes. Never did I
abandon the popr or the widow to the oppressions of the
powerful. I made it mj dut^ to inspect the diurches and
the sacred ceremonies dT religion, as well as the management
of my property, my stables, and the vultures and hawks of
my hunting establishment.
''I have made eighty-three campaigns and manyexpadi*-
tions; I concluded nineteen treaties with the Folovtzy; I
took captive a hundred of their princes, whom I set £cee
Qgain ; and I put two hundred to death by throwing fiiem
into rivers.
" No one has ever travelled more rapidly than I have done,
letting out in the morsing from Tchermgo^ I arrived at
£ief before the hour of vespers.
" In my youth, what falls from my horse did I not ezpe*
rience ! woimding my feet and my hands, and breaking my
head against the trees ; but the Lord watched over me.
'^ In hunting, amidst tbe tiaiekest Crests, how many times
A.D. 1125] LI]0!AGS5 OF MOirOHi.CHir8 Aim OLXa. 68
hsfe I mjself caught wild horaeSy and bound than togetiiarl
How inanj times have I been tfarown Aawn by bi^Qidoefl^
woimdbd bv the antlers of stags, and trodden under the feet
of elks! A iiuious wild boar rent my swwd firom my bali-
idck; my saddle was torn to pieces by a bear; this temble
beast ruslied upon my courser, whicli he threw down upon
me ; but the Lwd protected me.
^ O xny children, fear neither death norwild beasts ; tnut
in ProTidence ; it far surpasses ail human precantions."
Vladimir Monomachus was married three times, and had
five clnldren, who survived him. Mstislaf, the eldest, who
socceeded him as Grand-PHnce, was the son of Oyda, daoffk-
ter of HJarold, the last Saxon king of England. Mstidaf
inherited all his father's virtues. Had he lived as lon^
he might havB secured fiie repose of Bussia; but after his
brief reign of six years we again behold the disseyenng
fiiroe of feudalism in full operation, and the pernicious low
of succession appealed to by the descendants of i^ wi(^ed
Oleg ; again we behold all the princes armed and arrayed
as;ainst each other as in a state of nature. In the thirty*
caght years tlmt elapsed between the reign of Mstislaf aaod
tluit of Andrew of Suzdal, appanasfes were indefinitriy mul*
tipHed. In this short interval, eleven princes, chiefly de-
aoendants of Oleg and Yladimir, renewed, with variow
success, the contest of their fathers : they besieged the bar*-
hmc throne, and scrambled vnih. each other for its mde
dominion.
At length, towards the middle of the twelfth centnry, by
means of partition on partition, and civil war on civil wax,
iii6 Grand-Principality had dwindled to littiie more than the
CJt^ of Kief. Its paramount soverdgnty was nothing but a
ram title ; and ^t, whetitear it arose firom the influence of a
name, or that rt was still looked upon as the Capua, the
Babylon of the Eussians, the metropolis of their reii^oa,
ibe em]porium of their comm^ce, the 60iu*ce of their civili-
flKtk>n, it is certain that all the anarchy of the princes con^
tinned to be obstinately bent against Kief: the eye becomes
bewildered in gasing upon the confusi<m.
In the midst of it, however, some traces are visible of the
struggle between the descendants of Yladimir MonomacbuB
and idiose of Oleg. The latter, still leprobsled by the peo^.
64 HISTOBT OF BVBSLi, [CH. Tr«
looked for support; to the nomad 'barbarians of the south ;
the former sought it from the love of their people and &om
the Hungarians, who were, at least, equal to the Eussians in
civilisation. It would appear as if these lineages, like those
of Gain and Abel, always retained the distinguishing marks
of their origin.
But, at length, one of the appanaged princes, Igor of
Suzdal, obtained the ascendancy in this chaos, and for a
short time even inspired a hope that he would reduce it to
order. Like the founder of the third French dynasty, his
strength lay in his patrimony. The principality of Suzdal
included the present governments of Taroslaf, Kostroma,
Vladimir, Moscow, and a part of Novgorod, Tver, Nijm
Novgorod, Tula, and Kaluga. But this vast couniry, the
centre of Eussia, was, in the eyes of the prince who reigned
over it, nothing more than a cheerless place of banishment.
He could see there, he declared, only an inclement climate,
uncultivated deserts, gloomy forests, and a people plunged
in ignorance. Kief alone could charm him ; he made him-
self master of it, or rather. Kief made itself master of
him ; and there he soon after died, more the victim of sensual
pleasures than of the weight of years.
The host of appanaged princes instantly started up again;
again they rushed to seize upon the throne of Kie^ carried
it by assault, and passed and repassed on it with such ra-
pidity, that the eye is baffled in its attempt to follow them.
One alone, whose youth was that of Achilles, withdrew
ft)m this ambitious crowd: it was Andrew, the heir of
Suzdal. He viewed that great appanage with veiy different
eyes from his father. " Here," said he, " still abide simpli*
city of manners, the obedience of the people, and the devoted
fidelity of the boyars ; while at Kief, a city which is on the
frontier of the Hungarians, the Poles, and the Polovtzy, all
is pillage, murder, civil and foreign war.'* Thus, whila he
left the rest of the princes to tear each other to pieces, and
exhaust themselves round Kief, he regarded it with contempt,
and kept himself apart in his patrimony. There he appeared
to reflect deeply on the calamities of his coimtry* It Was
especially in the divergent position of KieJ^ and in the par-
titions of the empire, that he discovered the cause of them.
For this reason he refused all grants of territory in his own
AJ). 1168] AITDEEW or BVZDAL, (55
vaaii domeun, even in favour of bis nearest relations, and
commenced a war of extermination against appanages. For
this reason it was that he rendered liis Vladimir worthy of
being the Eussian capital ; that he aggrandised Moscow, a
creation of his father; founded around him a number of
cities, peopled them with the Bulgarians of the Volga, whom
he had subjugated,* and drew into Central Russia, by the
attraction of peace, the population of the south, which fled
from the horrors of all kinds of war.
At length, in 1168, after having been repulsed by the
proTld and fickle Novgorod, he led his army against Kief;
and this second capital of the Eussians, taken by storm,
despoiled, and degraded, resigned the supremacy to Vla-
dimir.
In the following year, however, the numerous troops of
Andrew, commanded by one of his sons, having under him
seventy-one princes of the blood, were again foiled before
Novgorod, where reigned a son of the prince of BLief. Nov-
gorod was at the climax of its power : as the emporium of the
commerce of Persia and India with Germany, it had been
recently admitted into the Hanseatic league. But, though
it twice successfully resisted all the forces of Andrew, it
yielded to his policy ; and the first capital of the Eussians,
like the second, acknowledged a third city as the metropolis.
Andrew had triumphed in this part of his double combat ;
but in that of the appanages, custom, backed by too powerful
interests, prevailed against him. Opposed to a single Grand-
E*rince, whose interest it was to destroy the system, there
^as a throng of princes, all sovereigns, who must necessarily
>e anxious for its continuance ; ana not only those princes,
)ut also their guards, and the whole of the boyars, that
aultitude of adventurers retained by each of the descend-
jQts of Eurik, all of whom subsisted on this usage and its
ttendant defects.
The whole of them, therefore, revolted. It was in vain
hat the brothers and nephews of Andrew, to whom he had
* Andrew did not personally make war after his accession to the
iTone. This, perhaps, is the reason why, from the date of his reign,
le chromcles give the name of court to that which they previously
^nominated the guard of the prince.
Toil. I. E
06 BiSTOKr 07 vunni^ [cfi. n.
refused appanages^ were banithed, and forced to fl j at fJEor as
Bysanidum ; the rest of Busaia^ divided among his kinamen,
had the npper hand. Kief and Novgorod escaped ^m bis
graap ; his armies of fiftj thousand men wore baffled bj an
inveterately rooted custom ; it was vietorious, and aH tib^
policy of Andrew availed onlj to secure for hnn an empty
homage. iFinallj, in his own patrimon;^, which, at least, he
was desirous to preserve entire and unmvided, he was cruelly
assassinated by his subjects, and died hated and unavenged.
The fall of this Grand-Prince, and of his plan of at*
. taining order and strength by the concentration of power,
took place in 1174. This great effort was made too soon, as
appears from thctriimiphant resistance which custom op*
posed to it ; and too late with reference to the Tatar inva*
sion, which occurred fifty-four years subsequently. For,
even supposing a succession of able princes, and a series of
well-directed efforts, half a century would not have been suf*
ficient to give to Bussia, by the centralisation of power, all
the energy of which she was susceptible, and which, indeed,
was indispensable for her safety. All history proves that
such a concentration Df power m a feudal state, and in the
&ce of such formidable and hostiLe interests, has ever been a
task of difficult and tedious accomplishment.
Far from persisting in carrying this great conception into
effect, the mrst successor of Andrew weakly allowed to be
broken up into appanages the vast domain or Suzdal, which,
by its temporary imion in one hand, had become the nucleus
of empire. The second suffered the Orand-Pnncipality to be
disputed with him, by one of the princes to whom he had
given an appanage out of his own domain. The third went
still further : he ingenuously declared that he did not require
any homage from the princes holding appanages, and that to
Grod alpne were they accountable for theur conduct.
Thus, the result of this third change of the capital was,
to transport the frenzy of civil war into the middle of
Eussia, to break it up into appanages, and to remove the
centre of government not only from Greece, its commerce,
and its civilisation, but also from the most European of
the Bussian provinces. The latter, seeking to obtain some
point of support within reach, were not slBw in becoming
AJ>. 1287] TBI TATAB nTTABioy. 67
Hvngsrian, Polisb, and Litbuaaiaii. Pinallyy tiik change
of reaidenee completed the decomposition of the north a£
SuTOpe, at the yerj moment when Central Aaia^ united in
one mass, and under a single chief, was ready to pour down,
with orerwhelming weight upon that unfortunate country.
CHAPTEE VII.
THIBB PBBIOn, FBOM 1237 TO 1462.
A GIUEAT conqueror had now arisen in the vicinity of
Bussia, at the precise instant when that unhappy country
liad no other means of defence than the fragments of a power
worn out and rent to pieces by discord.
In consequence of this, nothing more was required to
crush her than a single lieutenant of Qenghis-Khan, and
two efforts, one of which was made in 1221, through the de-
files of Caucasus, the other, in 1237, on the side of eastern
Bulgaria (the country of Kasan). The first, which was
merely an incursion, cost the victor only one battle; the
second, some insignificant combats, but many sieges.
Let us, in the first place, investigate the causes of this in-
vasion, of its rapid success, and of the long duration of this
last triumph of Asia ; we will then trace the slow and gradual
progress of the Eussians towards independence.
^e principal causes of this great invasion of Europe by
Asia are to be found in the genius of Genghis-Khan, who
united the Mongols* and Tatars, and in the manners of those
twopeople.
That ambitious prince could attain greatness by war
alone ; he was a barbarian ; he held command over shepherds,
who, like their flocks, were compelled to be migratory ; how,
in those vast deserts, would it have been possible to keep
them dependent on him, elsewhere than in camps ? How
could he retain them united in camps, otherwise than by
continual conquests; without which, these shepherd tribes
were under the necessity of separating into a multitude of
* Mogols, according to Be Guignes and Earamsin; and Mongols,
according to Malte-Bmn, Depping, and Levesque.
f2
68 HISTOET OF EtrSSIA. [OH.VIX.
hordes, to find the means of subsistence ? War, perpetual
war, therefore, could alone satiate his desires, 'and give a
relish to his power. When he had devoured the whole ot
Asia, Europe was required.
. To say that the Eussians had interfered in defence of the
Polovtzy, and had murdered the Tatar envoys, who came to
propose an insidious alliance, would be to assign a puenle
cause for this mighty invasion. Lured, like all their prede-
cessors, by the riches of Byzantium, would these greedy
barbarians have passed by Eussia without ^ving her a
thought ? Would not Kief, which was almost in their road,
and the Greek luxury of the Eussians, have been sufficient
to attract them ? They had heard of them, in 1221, from
the Polovtzy, and in 1237 from the SHver Bulganans,
whose plundering excursions had made them too well ac-
quainted with the wealth of the Eussians. Besides, the
Polovtzy and the Bulgarians of the Volga were at war witn
the Tatars, and the conquest of these by the latter naturally
led to that of Kief and Vladimir.
As to the causes of the rapid success of the Tatars, we
must, in the first place, observe, that the circumstance ot
their pastoral habits preventing them from becoming at"
tached to any country, could not fail to forward the vast
and ambitious projects of Grenghis-Khan. This kind of hi®
renders a people fit for the profession of arms, and keeps
them ever ready for action. The nomad nations are armies ;
irregular, indeed, but easily put in motion, prompt, and
always on foot ; whatever they leave behind them can b^
guarded by old men, women, and children. To such nations
war is not an event ; for long marches produce but little
change in the habits of a wandering people : their houses,
their provisions, march along with them ; and this is of some
importance in uncultivated plains and uninhabited forests.
The Tatars, therefore, had over the Eussians the advantage
which standing armies have over hasty levies.
Here, however, we must call to recollection the existence
of the permanent guards of the Eussian princes, to which must
be added those of the cities, though the latter had doubtless
less military experience than the former ; but the national
♦ Or Bulgarians of the Volga*
A.D. 1237] THE TATAE IKVASIOIT. 69
autliors give us to understand, that the pennanence of these
guards had induced a habit of wholly committing to them all
that related to war, and that the people were become unfit
for bearing arms.
Add to this, that here, as was the case wherever the
JNbrmans established themselves with their military govern-
ment, there could be no warriors but free men and pro-
prietors ; and even from these we must deduct the traders
and the clergy. Now, continual wars had so much increased
^he number of monks, hired servants, and slaves, and so much
<liminished that of &ee men and landholders, that there re-
mained scarcely warriors enough to make head against the
Polovtzy.
Amidst a ruin and depopulation which was so general,
even the guard of the prince must necessarily lose much of
its original strength. It has been seen, that about the year
1100, the guard of the Grand-Prince consisted of only eight
hundred men, and that he lost it. Hence it happened that,
with the exception of one battle and some trivial skirmishes
in the field, the Tatars encountered no resistance except
from the cities, in which all who had fied to them for refuge —
peasants, priests, and populace, were converted into warriors
by despair.
Even this did not take place till the second invasion : to
the first, we see the inhabitants of those cities opposing no-
thing but processions of priests and suppliants, whom the
barbarians amused themselves by trampling under their
horses' feet.
Another cause of the nature of this second war, a war
wholly of sieges, was, that in barbarous times, when tactics
were unknown, an impetuous cavalry must have had the supe-
riority in an open country : now, the Tatars being always in
the saddle, and being masters of the provinces which pro-
duced the finest horses, were the best horsemen in the world.
The Eussians, on the contrary, were infantry ; their guards
being overwhelmed, and the rest badly armed and undis-
ciplined, could not keep their ground, except in cities,
against such furious cavalry.
The annalists boast much of the obstinate defence made by
the cities, the greater part of which suffered themselves to be
taken by assault, and destroyed, rather than surrender. The
70 HIBTOBT OV BUBSUL. [CH. TU.
example of the sacking of one ciiy did not deter another firanoi
exposing itself to the same fate. In this is supposed to be
manifest the same tenacious firmness even to death, which
now forms a distinguishing feature in the Euasian eharactee.
But the truth was, that as the Tatars gloried in being equally
jGuthless and pitiless, no treaty could be made with, nor any
quarter expected from them. It was liieir maxim, that ^ the
Yanquished can never be the friends of the Tietora ; the deatii
of the former is necessary for the safety of the latter."
If ow, with the reduction which had taken place in the wiv>
like class of the Bussians, let us contrast the enormous magni-
tude of the Tatar armies. Flan-Carpin, the ambassador sent
to Baty by the Pope, saw that Khan surrounded by six
hundred thousand warriors, of whom a hundred and fifty-
thousand were Tatars. There was, at that period, no art
which could counterbabmce such an astounding disproportiaii
of force. Bubruquis,* who was the enroy from St. Lbuk to
Mangu-Khan, sives us as vast an idea of them.
There were uso other causes which gave the superiority to
the Tatars. Among the Gauls, as among aQ barbariaxis, it
was by cries repeated from village to village that inteUigexkoe
was transmitted ; the more thickly the country was peopled,
the more speedily was the news conveyed. In Bussia, iiraere
the- dwellings were separated by deserts, this kind of oom-
munication was perpetually interrupted, so that a prince was
ofiben surprised in his capital by the enemy ; this was a great
advantage on the side of an assailant always ready, and ao
rapid in his movements.
There is reason to believe, likewise, that iiie Mongols, who
were situated so near the mines of Nertshinck, and had be>-
come nutters of the Ural and the Caucasus, were proYided
with better arms than the Bussians ; accordingly, the annalists
speak with horror of the long and steeled arrows of ikoae
Tatars, of theip- huge scimitars, tiieir pikes with hooks, and
* Hiis monk was Md to think that he could convart Msngm; Wat
the Ehaa replied to faim: ** The Mongols are not ignorast of the
existence of a God, and they love him with all their hearts: there are
as many, and more ways of heing saved, tiian there are fingers on yonr
handsi and, it God has nrea yoa the Bible, he has given va the
Magi,»i«.
1237] Tax TAIAB IVTAIXOir. 71
ihose terrible l)att6ri]ig'-raiiift which in one day overthMw
the walls of Kief, their strongest city.
Aooth^ cireomsfcazice which we must figure to ounelves
id, the audden organisation of these wandering hordes in
dtrifflons of tea thouaand men, regiments of a thousand,
companies of a hundred, and detachments of ten. We must
also admire the annual assemblage of all the chiefs in the
presence of Genghis; his sole means of knowing them,
Keeping them in a sort of connexion, and impressing theif '
minds with his authoritjr, throughout so vast an extent : for
it was in the midst ot deserts that the splendour of his
genius burst forth ; it is there, especially, that we witness
what can be accomplished by the influence of one man over
so many men and events, and' even in spite of nature.
Fanaticism had its share. In one of these general as-
semblies, a prophet had predicted to Genghis*££an that he
would be master of the world. We must also remark, tiiat,
among the Mongols, the three highest crimes were adultery,
witchcraft, and cowardice ; and that, in fine, men who bad
such fiery passions, who were so ignorant, and who were
bound to risk their lives under pain of death, could not fail to
be formidable soldiers.
Besides, it is not very astonishing that the disunited Bus-
sians should have been overthrown by the Mongols, united
to tiie Tatars. To sum np i^ whole, the genius of Genghis,
tba impulse given by him, the confidence which he be-
queathed, and the enthusiasm inspired by forty yeaza of
victory, are striking causes of success.
These nomad bonles pushed their conquests as far as into
Hungary, and beyond roland ; but a dearly-bought victory
in £tih»ia, and the poverty of Brandenburg, having disgusted
tliem, they confined themselves to Busna.
Yet, w&h the assistance of the Folovtzy, the Alans might
have defended the entrance of European Bussia against the
Tatan, who, in the first instance, attacked it by the south-
west of the Caspian, and the defiles of Caucasus ; but, de-
ceified by ofiers of firiendship, and by the remembrance of a
Gonunon origin, the Folovtzy abandoned the AUns. As soon
as the latter were crushed, and the Caucasus was penetrated,
fell in turn on the Folovtzy, who, driven to the
72 HISIOBT 07 BTTSSIA. [CH. TII^
DniepP; implored aid firom the princes of Saef and Ga-
litscli.
Those princes were aware of their true interest, and united
with the Pplovtzy. It was then that the Tatar enyoys were
killed, who came to o£fer to the Eussians the same friendship
with which they had lured the Polovtzy. The league of the
Eussians was imperfect: by a feigned retreat, they were
drawn to the banks of the Kalka, near the mouth of the
Don. There the prince of Gklitsch was desirous of van-
quishing without the help of the prince of Kief, who, on his
part;, allowed him to be defeated, and was slaughtered in his
turn : all the south of Bussia was ravaged, after which the
Tatars withdrew.
This sketch of their first exbedifcion, in 1221, shows with
what prudent and deceptive policy these Tatars prepared for
a war which they were to carry on with all the fury of bar-
barism : what Montesquieu says of the character of Attila
well portrays the Tatar character, which, patient and subtle
in policy, is implacable and furious in war.
There are yet two additional reasons to be assigned for
the general conquest of Bussia, in 1237, by Baty, grandson
of Genghis, and £han of the Kaptchak. In the first place,
famine, a plague, the earthquake of 1230, and a paroxysm of
intestine dissension, had weakened the Eussians ; while, on
the contrary, the pacific reign of Zuzi-Khan, had prepared
the Kaptchak; secondly, the Grand-Prince of Vlaaimir
(Tury, or George) was an idiot, who never thought of form-
ing an alliance with the Bulgarians, and allowed himself to
be beaten in detail. As he was solely occupied in adorn-
ing the churches, perpetuating mendicity by alms, and fii^t-
tening the monks, he believed that God would do the rest.
The infamy of the Bussian princes, who, at the outset,
deserted each other ; who, as we shall see in the sequel, next
employed themselves in mutually completing the work of
their own destruction ; and ended with choosing Baty as the
arbiter of their quarrels ; this, and the establishment, on
the Bussian frontier, of the great Tatar empire of Kaptchak,*'
* Kaptchak, or the Goldeil Horde, a Khannat, which, according to
Levesque, was comprehended hetween the Volga, the Yaik, and the
Don; and, according to De Guignes, extended much farther towards
the north-east of the Caspian. It is even believed, that the Sir, or
ancient Jaxartes, was its boundarj.
A*D. 1237] THE TATAE IBTVASIOIT. 73
wbicli extended from the north of the Caspian to the banks
of the Don, were causes not only of the successes of the
Tatars, but also of the duration of their supremacy in
Eussia.
The Khans of Xaptchak, Astrakhan, Kasan, and the Crimea,
long drew from the wandering hordes a swarm of soldiers,
ready to engage in any enterprise, having little to lose, every-
thing to gain, and nothing to leave behind them. Their
number was ke^t up by the slaves whom they captured;
they enrolled their vanquished enemies under their standards,
and thus made their conquests supply the means of conquer-
ing. In Eussia, however, the difference of religion, climate,
and manners became an obstacle. They could govern it
only from a distance, and as paramoi^it sovereigns. It wals
necessary for them td have armies there, to oppose the
Lithuanians, th^ Swedes, and the Livonians, their common
enemies; for those three people, combined with the Hun-
garians and the Poles, had risen at once against Eussia, and
rushed upon that fallen prey. But the Tatars not being
men to be retained in a country, the climate of which was
repugnant to all their habits, they left the Eussian princes
there to reign and to fight for them. This addition of
European wars, which began in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, weakened the Eussians, and thus contributed to
the continuance of the Tatar yoke.
Here might be enumerated the femines, which were a
consequence of the Tatar invasion and of Eussian impro-
vidence; and next, the endless dissensions between the
Eussian princes and in the republics ; but all these causes
of the long endurance of slavery were equally the causes of
the conquest.
Prom the spot where Kasan now stands, to as far as
Vladimir, the seat of the Eussian empire, the Tatars de-
stroyed everything ; such was their custom. Why should a
pastoral and migratory people have spared the cities ? Pas-
turage was all they stood in need of.* This solitude flattered
* See, in 1223, the assembly of the Mongol chiefs, several of whom
proposed to Genghis-Khan to massacre all the inhabitants of the con-
qii^^d oountries, in order to convert those vast and populous regions
into pasturage. (De Guignes, vol iii 4to.)
74 XlfiTOBT 0¥ UVBBIA^ [CS. TIL
their pride and ensured their safety. Could thej allow to be
left in their rear a population whidi mi^t have become an
army ; armies being then the same thing as the population f
Like all similar barbarians, they made war upon walla ; fi»
to auidi tribes, walla are enemies ; at home, because they are
in opposition to their manners; among tiieir neighbours,
because they are an obstacle to their Tiolence.
The deserts which these Tatars made, and which would
haT6 stopped the progress of any other than a nomad people,
were no impediment to them. Their horses found pasture in
themi^ and horses were eyerything in their [eyes. But the
principal. «id which the Tatars had in view, in thus spreading
destnustion, was to root their power deeply by terror ; fcr,as
soon as tiiey had produced the desired effect, they treated
with honour the Busman princes who applied to them^ thougbf
at the same time, they enieebled tiiem Dy insidious partitioiuu
They founded Sarai,* and then Kaaan, and thus estaUisiiad
themselrea in the ricinity of their conquest.
After Baty, Burgai caused a general census of the Biuh
aians to be made. He sent gorernors (baskaks) with &roes
into each principality, imposed taxes, and placed a goyecnor-
general on the oontier. He prohibited, under nain of deatht
the plundering of the monasteries; exempted the priei^
team all tribute ; and did not &ar to augment their temporsl
power, that he might secure in his interest tiieir f^nntu/d
power, which they knew better how to make use of. In the
djagraciug of the princes of Kief mxi of Vladimir, who bad
recognised the Pope, the Tatar displayed his care to de&od
the Greek religion which he did not profess, but of which
he knew the ascendancy over these tributary tribes, and
which he considered as a barrier between Eussia and the
rast of Europe.
. The weakening of the feudal tie in Bussia had facilitated
iib& eonqnest; the policy of the Khans completed Use im*
loonng of that tie. They tihemselres collected the tribute
of each district ; they received the homage and the appeak
of every prince ; and, when they committed the fault of re-
establishing a Gfrand-Prince, they allowed several rirala to.
9 Oi|)Halof th»&aptehak : acooidhiff to AinilgMi, a Tatar ptafB^
and historian, it was situated oa tins 7«lg*» north of AstiaklMA* .
A.l>^ 1800] TAX TJLTAB SGHnTIOK. 79
ky daim to this paramount sway, made them wait their
dednon, and Bometimea retained them at their Horde fat
two whole years. At the same time, they prerented the
gettiiog of any order of suoeession. In a word, they made
themnelvea lords paramonnt ; for; at the outset, iiiey adopted
the plan of not permitting any prince, great or small, to
assume the^vemment of his states before he had jommayed
to the Great Horde to solicit the investiturei
The effect of these joum^s, to accomplish which a year
waft barely sufficient, was to leave the principalities without
Bussian chiefs, and under the authority of ihe Tatar biakalcs';
to prove the supremacy of the Grand-!K!liaiB ; to xaake known
to these Mongols with what kind of men they had to deal;
to rfitn the competitors by the customary presents ; and,
kstiy, as accusers of the princes were nerer wanting among
tiieir kinsfolk and riyals, to make them dread tixe terrible
vengeance of the Khans, in ease of their haying to reproach
themselres wil^ so much as a sigh for independence.
Several princes were summoned to the Great Horde^ triad,
and executed. But these Tatars, who tluui cruelly punkhad
the insubordination of the Eussian princes, joined with them
in their foreign wars. They even served them in their civil
wars ; and this was the manner in which they did so : a
Russian prince journeyed to the Horde to impeach the
Grand-Prince, in whose place he prayed to be substituted ;
and he returned with a Tatar army, ]?yhich permitted him to
r^gn over ashes and blood.
The granting of these fluccours was not always dictated
by policy. The Tatars, like the Huns, ravaged without con-
quering ; it was iaibute and slaves, that they required. Had
niey wished to gmem their' conquests, they could not hove
plundered ^em ; a habit which it was impossible for them to
relinquish. The tribute was for the Khan, the plunder for
l^e Horde ; it was necessary, from <ime to time^ to satisfy
tys craving for prey ; for the mass of the Tatar empire was
composed of such incoherent parts, that war, which destroys
«fvery thing, was its only means of preservation ; it was indis-
pensable to its existence, because it bound toother the whole
of these scattered tribes, by direding all thesr iateres^i and
aU tlMffiP pass&oiHij tt^wards one objeot.
76 HISTOST OF BTTflSIA. [OH. YIU»
Ab it is only bj convulsions that a body ver^g on disso-
lution can manifest its strength, so was it only in the violent
state of war that this empire resumed its collective form.
What other vehicle than a burning and impetuous fever,
stimulated by all the most fervid passions, comd have circu-
lated with rapidity enough to animate and move at once all
the gigantic members of this enormous empire ? Nothing
but the renown of a victor, the cry of war, was sufficiently
powerful to make itself simultaneously heard through all the
parts of a dominion which were so remote from each other,
and dissevered by vast deserts.
Accordingly, no sooner did that war-cry cease to be loudly
heard ; no sooner did the Khans, exhausted or glutted with
blood, and fixed bv luxury in cities which could not, like the
tent of Grenghis, be removed to a distance, seek to enjoy at
home the repose of which they had robbed the world, than
their sway was narrowed to their slaves and the cities, and
the insubordination of the hordes convinced them how
little consistence there was in an empire composed of so
many wandering nations, and of such various and conflicting
interests.
CHAPTEE VIII.
DECLnO! or THB TATAS POWEB — ALEXAKDEB ITETSKI-*
rVAJSr KALITA. ^
We have seen Asia, when rallied, surprise and subjugate
disunited Bussia; we are* now about to see Asia falling to
pieces in its turn, and Bussia, after having successively
banded together all its people, at length avenging its injuries.
But, in reverting back to the right path, it imitated the pro-
gress of Nature, who so slowly and methodically composes
that which she so rapidly decomposes.
Habitual war, and the consequent recognition of no other
law, no other virtue, than force ; the want of order in the
succession to the Khanship; the &cility with which the
chiefs of wandering hordes could revolt; the indispensable
iL.D. 1350] DECLimE 0» THE TATAE POWER. 77
necessity, in a too extensive empire, of entrustrng large por-
tions of it to lieutenants ; the rebellion and the conquests of
the Nogays, in 1259 ; the ravages of Timur, in 1380 : all
these causes contributed to the disunion and enfeebling of
the £aptchak, which may be dated, particularly, from the
middle of the fourteenth century, after the reign of Fsbek,
more than a century posterior to its foundation. We speak
here only of the empire of the Kaptchak, one of the five
divisions of the great empire of Gknghis-Khan. The latter
subsisted but forty years in its complete state. Of its brief
duration we need seek no other cause than its immense
extension ; for a man may, indeed, devastate the world, but
it can be governed by God alone.
The first successors of Genghis-Khan, however, claimed
nothing less than the possession of the whole earth, which he
had bequeathed to them by will.* !Por the conquest of
Europe they assigned eighteen years. But, of these arrogant
beings, Octay, the first after G-enghis, died by poison ; an
event which probably contributed to postpone the impending
invasion of Constantinople, Vienna, Dresden, and Berlin.
The second, Gaiuk, or Kaiuk, held the throne but transiently ;
Mangu, the third, sustained reverses ; and Kublai, the fourth
of these pretended sovereigns of the world, could not even
make himself master in his own territories.f
We have seen the causes of the Tatar invasion, ita success,
and its permanence, and also the first principles of the dis-
solution of the Tatar empire. We are now to trace the
progress of the Eussians towards their independence.
In the first place, we remark that the Grand-Princes, and
even the princes holding appanages, were obliged to journey
to the abode of the Mongol Khan to obtain the right of
governing. As these journeys took up a year, the authority
of the princes at home, during so long an absence, remained
weak, fluctuating, and uncertain. But ere long, the Kapt*
ehak, or Gt>lden Horde, threw off its dependence on the
Mongol Khan, and the Bussian princes had then to travel
only to Sarai to solicit the crown.
On the other band, nearly at the same epoch, and in the
* See Plan-Carpin. t ^ Abolgasl
78 HiiioBT 07 B1786ZA. l<m. Tmi
Esptehak itieify tilin seref^ £rom the great Mongol emniK^
anofcber dismemberment took place. Nogaj, one of it9
warrion» a conqneior from the north of the Black Sea»
tendered himself independent. As early as 1262, or 1266,
his rerolt against the Golden Horde affording to the Buseians
soane hope of reeoyenng their freedom, they massacred
the Tatars who resided among them. No lon^ time alter,
in 1281, a Grand-Prince, Dmitri, even opposed these No-
nvs to the Eaptdiaks, and re-established himself by theis
umnence.
These b^;inningB of division among the oonqnerors, hofr-
erer, weakened them at the expense of Bussia alone, which
serred as their field of battle, and the prize of their vior
terieBa
' But that which excites surprise is, that there still existed
a Grand-Prince at that epoch. While Baty and Buigai
were completing the conquest of Bussia^ chance so cnrdered
ii^ that Alexander Nevsky, one of the sons of the Grand-
Prince of Vladimir, and consequently prince of Noygorod,
was a great warrior and statesman. He rebuilt and repeopled
numerous Bussian cities ; heroically defeated his European
enemies, the Teutonic knights and the Lithuanians; re*
coyered the Neva from the Swedes ;* and won the good-will
of the Tatars, whom he considered as too formidable to bcr
attacked.
By the same chance it happened that, at the very time
when Alexander gained the esteem of the Khan, the prince
of Kief drew upon himself the hatred of the Tatars and
Bussians, by submitting to the Pope ; and Andrew, prince
of Tladimir, marrying the sister of this prince of Eief, and
refusing to pay the Khan his tribute, inyolyed himself in the
same disgrace with his brother-in-law. AU these principa-
lities the Khan save to Alexander Nevsky ; some authors are
of opinion that he even aided him to seize upon them.
But the Bussians were not disposed to submit either to
the Tatar yoke, or to the sceptre of the Grand-Prince ; so
that Alexander's whole life was spent in vanquishing his
people, in punishing or pardoning their revolts, or in hurrying
to entreat forgiveness for them at the feet of the Khan,
* Hence his surname, Nersky.
JU0. 1^2] ATiTtTAKIVBR VXyKKT. 79
whom they veroperpetadD^iiunilting* At Bottof , Yladimiry
Suzdal^ and other towns, the Tatar collectors were massacrcM^
forced to adopt the Christian faith, or hnnted out of the city.
No sooner were these acts known at Horde, than the Kbaa
eommanded not only the Orand*Prince, but all the otk^
Bussian prmoes, to apnear before him ; adding, that thej
dumid come each at the head of his troops, for that the Khan
intended to make a campaign, in which he required the asaist*
anee of the Bussians. It was manifest, howerer, that he
odIj wanted to depnve Eussia of her armed defenders, in
order to be the better able to penetrate into the empire.
Alexander, who had already made trial of the consideration
he had acquired in the mind of the Ehan, now conceived the
perilous resolution of repairing alone to the Horde, there, by
aubmissiveness and prudence, to avert the wrath impending
orer Bxissia. Twelve months was Alexander obliged to tarry
in the Horde before he could appease the wrath of the TJsbek.
At length, after having obtained his dismissal, and a promise
that the Khan would forgive what had happened, and forego
his purpose of raising an army, he died suddenly on his road
home, in Ihe year 1262, under circumstances that render it
extremely probable that poison had been administered to him
in tiie camp of the Khan, shortly b^ore hia departure. His
father had already experienced a similar fate, falling Bick and
dying on the journey back from the Horde ; and after him it
likewise befel some of hia successors. It may easily be be*
Heved, indeed, that the rough, uncleanly, and irregular
manner of life in use among the Tatars, to which the Bussian
princes were not accustomed, as well as the a&onts and
humiliations of various kinds experienced by them in the
Horde, must have deeply affected them, and had a detri^
mental influence on their health ; but these considerations
by no means account for the ^ct that so many of them died
on the return journey. Alexander's ascendancy at home was
becoming too great to be endured by the conquerors. He
died the victim of his patriotism, but remained immortal in
the hearts of his subjects, who canonised him ; his virtuei^
restored in the minds of the Bussians the paramount supre-
ma^ of Vladimir.
This Grand-Principality was, it is true, long a subject of
discord held out to md ambition of the Bussian princes, and^
80 .HI8T0BT OF BI78SIA. [CH. Vm.
wliile thej contended for it with their own sword and that of
the Tatars, the Khan ruled it with sovereign sway. 1£ it
chanced that one of these princes rentured to attack the
Glrand-Prince, without having appealed to the Tatars, and
even in spite of them, it was hecause success would procure
for him riohes, with which he might conciliate the Tatar
governors and the Khan himself; hut this success was un-
certain ; and the Bussian princes at length perceiving that a
journey to the Horde decided the possession of the crown,
war became thenceforth useless, very soon, therefore, it
was oidj at the Horde, and to acquire an ascendancy in the
mind of the Khan, that they contended with each other;
fewer civil wars occurred, the Tatars were more rarely called
in, and Eussia had time to breathe.
The Khans committed a serious fault in preserving a
Grand-Prince ; it was a still more striking one, and a con*
sequence of the first, to place in his hands a sovereimty
disproportioned to those by which he was surrounded to
select him for too long a time from the same branch, and to
give him armies to establish himself, and the means of
seducing even themselves by the most costly presents. The
consequence of this was, that the appanaged princes dared not
enter so readily into a contest with the Ghramd-Frinces, who
were already more powerful than themselves, and were so
formidably supported. Not daring to contend with them,
they turned their arms against each other, and thus en-»
faanced by their own weakness the strength of the Qrand^
Princes.
Nevertheless, till 1324, that is, for a century posterior to
the Tatar invasion, the power of the G-rand-Princes was
doubtful ; but then, amidst the crowd of pretenders to the
Grand-Princedom, two rival branches made themselves con-
spicuous, and the other princes of the blood resigned to them
an arena, in which the scantiness of their own resources no
longer permitted them to appear.
One of these branches was that of the princes of* Tver ;
the other that of the princes of Moscow.
The princes of Tver (about 1300) succeeded to the G-rand-
Principality of Vladimir, which devolved to them in the order
of the succession ; they resided at Tver. If we consider the
position of Moscow between Tver and Vladimir, and the
A.D. 1328] THE EIVAL PBIKOES OF TTBB AND MOSCOW. 81
fickleness of the Noygorodians, we shall perceive whj it was
impossible that the Grand-Prinees of Tver could ever extend
their ^ower beyond the limits of their patrimony. In fact,
the pnnce of Moscow, whom the situation of his appanage
made the rival of the Grand-Priace of Tver, and who could
cut off all communication between Tver and Vladimir, had
only to win over Novgorod, in order to reduce the Grand-
Prince within the bounds of Tver ; and this was what actually
happened.
Moscow, however, as being the weakest, muist have fallen,
but that one of its princes, Tury, married, in 1313, the sister
of Usbek-Khan. It was then that, after having excited the
hatred of the Novgorodians, iu persisting to subdue them by
means of the Tatars, Mikhail of Tver drew down upon his
head all the wrath of Usbek, by defeating Yury, and taking
prisoners his wife, who was the lOian's sister, and Kavadgi,
a Tatar general, who came to put the prince of Moscow in
possession of the Grand-Princeaom.
For Usbek, after having preferred and supported the rights
of Mikhail of Tver to the Grand-Principality, had changed
his mind in &vour of Tury of Moscow, who was become his
brother-in-law. The enmity of Usbek, however, remained
suspended, until his sister, the wife of Tury, and the prisoner
of Mikhail, expired at Tver. Tury then hastenecf to the
Horde, and accuised Mikhail of having poisoned the princess.
The offended pride of Usbek lent itself to this base calumny ;
he entrusted the investigation of the affair to Kavadgi ; Mik-
hail appeared to the summons ; the vanquished passed sen-
tence on his vanquisher, whom he caused to be put to death ;
and the infamous Tury of Moscow was appointed Grand-
Prince in the place of hia murdered rival (1320). Hjs
triumph was short : being accused of withholding the tribute
due to the E^an, he journeyed to the Horde, and was assas«
sinated by the son of his victim, who was himself immediately
executed by Usbek. This vengeance restored the Grand-
Principality to the branch of Tver, in the person of prince
Alexander, Michaers second son. It remained in it for
three years ; but then, in 1328, this madman caused all the
Tatars at Tver to be massacred. To the brother of Tury,
Ivan I., surnamed Kalita,* prince of Moscow, Usbek imme-
♦Orthe Purse.
VOL. I. a
6t HltlOltT <fW VOBOX. [OS. VUL
dlotelj- gare Yladimir and Nonrgorod, tiie doable poanarian
of wluch alwajTB diBtmgiushed the Gband-Arnbeedom. 1^
eoneeMon formed, in the hands of lyan, a maiB, the cocru
nexion of which Tver, weakened as it was, did but littie
diminish. Consemiently, with this power, and the troops
that Usbek added to it, Iran speedilj compelled all the
Bussian princes to combine, nnder his orders, against tiie
prince of^Tver ; who, after having nndergone Tarious mis-
fortunes, was executed with his son at the Horde.
Here begin the two hundred and seventy jean <3i the
leign of the brandi of Moscow. This first imion of tiie
Bussians, nnder Ivan I., denominated K&lita, constitutes an
epoch ; it exhibits ike ascendancy of this second Gkand-
nince of Moscow over his subjects; an ascendancy ike
increase of which we shall witness under his successors ; and
for which, at the outset, this branch of ike Buiiks was
indebted to the aupport they received from the Tatars. For,
as a word from the Khan decided the possession of tiie
throne, that one of the two rival branches of Moscow and
Tver was sure to triumph which displayed the most shrewd
and consistent policy towards the Horde. It was not that
of the princes of Tver which thus acted. On the contaiy,
they sometimes solicited the protection of the Khans, and
sometimes fought against them ; we have ever seen one of
them ordering the massacre of the Tatars in his principality.
The princes of Moscow pursued a diffisrent system; the^,
no douDt, detested the yoke of the Khans as much zm their
rivals did ; but they were awaze that, before they could cope
with the Tatars, the Bussians must be united, and that it
was impossible to subject and imite ike latter without tiie
assistance of the former. They therefore espoused ike
daughters of the Khans, manifested the utmost submisaioii
to the Horde, and appeared to be wholly devoted to ita
intefests.
Now this policy, which, at the commencement of the
Monsol invaraon, acquired for Alexander !N'evsky the empire
of all Bussia, gave it, seventy-four years later, still more
completely to Ivan I. : for the sway of the Tatars was ikiBsa
more recognised; the Bussians were more docile to tkmr
yoke; and the ^cities, wUdi composed the Grand-Prindpality,
were more powerful in. themselves, and also by comparison
JLD. 1328-41] ITAJT I. KiAXITA. 88
witk the rest of BuBsia, wkieh became dailj more and moire
exhoasted.
The wealth of iTan I. was another cause of the extension
of his power.
The complaints of the prince of Tver, in 1323, prove that
Ytuy I., Gfrand-Prince of Moscow, when he undertook to
execute the vengeance of his forother-in-law Usbek, against
Tver, was also entrusted with the collecting of the i^hutes ;
which, however, he retained, instead of sending them to the
Sorde. Ivan Kaiite*, his son and successor, profited hj this
example. Thus it was, that by making themselves lieu-
tenants of the Khan, the Muscovite Grand-Prinoes first
became the collectors, and finally the possessors, of the taxes
throughout the whole of Sussia; and thus they succeeded
to all the rights of conquest enjoyed by the Tatars, and to
their despotism.
There can be no doubt that one of tiie most copious
sources of power to those sovereigns was the periodical
census and the perpetu^ imposts, so alien to feudalism, and
especially to a feu^miism of princes : these imposts and ceor
suses nothing but the Tatar conquest could have established,
sad they were inherited by the Grand-Princes. Already, in
the first half of the fourteenth century, these taxes bad ren-
dered Ivan Kalita rich enough to purchase entire domains
and appanages,* the protection of Usbek-Khan, and the pre-
ference of the primate, who removed his residence tpom
Ykdimir to Moscow, by which means the latter city became
the capital of the empire.
It was by virture of his authority as collector for the
Tatars that Ivan Kalita practised extortion upon his subjects.
Jn 1377, we see him requiring a double tribute feom the
Novgorodians, under pretext that such was the* will of the
Khan. Armed against the Bussians with the dread inspired
by the Tatar name, and against the Tatars with the money
^ i^ Bussians ; intoxicating the Khan and his eourtiers
with gold and adulation in his frequent journeys to the
Horde ; he was enabled, as lord-paramount, to bnng about
ifad first luuon of all the uppanaged princes against his com«
♦ In the governments of Novgorod, Tladlmir, Kostroma, sod Bosto(
and the cities of Dnglitch, Bielozersk, arid Galitch.—See Karamsln;
and an act of Dmitri Donskoi.
g2
84 HISTOBY OT BUB8IA. [CH. TOIi
petitory the prince of Tver, whom he drove from Pskof and
Irom BuBsia, being aided by the primate with the thunder of
the Church, then heard in the empire for the first time.
The nobility imitated the clergy. Impelled either by fear,
or cupidity, several boyars of other princes rallied round
this Grand-Prince, preferring the fieu of so rich and so
potent a lord-paramount to those of the petty princes whom
they abandoned.
Ivan Kalita pushed forward with horrible vigour in his
ambitious career. " Woe, woe to the princes of Eostof !*'
exclaims Nicon, "because their power was destroyed, and
everything was concentrated in Moscow." In fact, from the
Kremlin,* which he fortified, Ivan proclaimed himself the
arbiter of his kinsfolk ; he reigned in their principalities by
the medium of his boyars ; he arrogated to hunseli the right
of being the sole distributor of fiefs, judge, and legislator ;
and if the princes resisted, and dared to wage against him a
war of the pvhlic good;\^ he hurried to the Horde, with purse
in hand, and denunciation on his lips ; and the short-sighted
TJsbek, deceived by this ambitious monitor, was impolitic
enough to disembarrass him of the most dangerous of his
competitors, whom he consigned to frightful torments. The
prince ff Tver and his son were the most remarkable vic-
tims of this atrocious policy.
Meanwhile, Lithuania, which, from the period of the first
overwhelming of Bussia by the Tatars, had emancipated it-
self from its yoke, was now become a conquering state.
About 1B20, Guedimin, its leader, seized on the Bussian
appanages of the south and west, which had long ceased to
be dependent upon the Grand-Principality of Vladimir,
Eaef, Galitch, Volhjmia, became sometimes Lithuaniai^
* Kremlin, originally Kremnik, from kremen, fire-stone. See Ea-
ramsin, and the Chronicle of Troitski. The Kremlin is situated on a
very rocky hill.
t From 1333 to 1339, the princes who held appanages espoused the
cause of the prince of Trer against the Grand-Prince of Moscow,
whom they called a tyrant. In 1339, the Grand-Frince of Moscow
returned to the Horde, and so terrified Usbek-Khan by his denuncia-
tions a^lnst the prince of Tver and other princes, that the Khan
immediately summoned them to the Horde, in order to restrain^ or get
rid of them. See Karamsin.
A.D. 1328-41] ITAir I. KALITA. 85
Bometimes Polish or Hungarian : driven to despair, their in-
habitants emigrated ; thej formed the two military republics
of the Zaporogue and Don Cossacks. BaUying around them
the unfortunate of all countries, they were destined to
become one day stron§ enough to mal:e head against the
Turks and Tatars, between whom they were situated ; and
thus to embarrass the communication between those two
•people, whom a common religion, origin, and interest con-
spired to unite.
The Grand-Principality was, on the other hand, repeopled
by unfortunate fugitiyes from the southern Eussian pro-
vinces, who sought refiige at Moscow.* The empire, it is
true, lost in extension ; but it was thus rendered more pro-
portionate to the revived power of its Grand-Prince, who
had also fewer competitors in it : those who remained could
not, in point of resources, be compared with the Grand-
Principality. Ailer all, it was much better that the latter
should one day have to recover some provinces from a
foreign foe, than from its domestic enemies : it was suffering
an external evil instead of an internal one, which is the
worst of all.
Thus, the Machiavellism of Ivan prospered. It is true
that, by the confidence with which he inspired the Horde,
and the terrible war which he waged against his kinsmen, he
restored to Eussia a tranquillity to which she had long been
a stranger. A dawning of order and justice reappeared
under a sceptre acquired and preserved by such horrible acts
of injustice; the depredations to which Eussia had been
a prey were repressed; commerce aga^n flourished; great
marts and new fairs were established, in which were dis-
played the productions of the East, of Greece, and of Italy ;
and the treasury of the prince was swelled stiU further by
the profit arising from the customs.f
Such were the rapid effects of the first steps which Ivan
*' See the emigration of Hodion, and of seventeen hundred Eievian
boyar followers, who, about 1304 or 1333, sought an asylum at Moscow.
. t See Eamenevitch (translated by Earamsin), describing the great
mart of Mologa on the Volga, where the commerce of Asia and of
Europe met in the seventy inns of its Slavonian suburb; and where
seven thousand two hundred pounds' weight of silver were collected for
the treasury of the prince.
86 HlflOEOBT OF BtrtWXA. [OB. tHL
took to execnte tbe sjriiem of eoncenfaafoa of power; tfaii
great political impoLie was so yigoroiialj giren, that it was
perpetnatod in his son Semen, or Simeon the Frond, to whom
Iran left wherewiliial to purchase the Ghsnd-PrincedoBt
from the Horde, and in whom he rsfiyed the direct sneoes*
sion. Accordingly, Simeon effected, against Novgorod, s
second union of all the Eussian princes. It is to he re^
marked, that he was ohliged to cede mie half of the taxes to
his brothers ; but, at the same time, he reserred to himself
the whole authority, which soon.giyes to its possessor the
mastery of the rerenne.
Simeon haying died without children, in 1353, after a
reign of twelye years, Ivan U., his brother, purchased tkr
soyereignty with the wealth of Kalita. After the six y«arf
reign of lyan IL, this system and this order of succession
were, indeed, transiently interrupted in the person of a
prince, alien to the branch of Moscow ; but we shidl soon
see the great Dmitri Donskoi establish them as fixed piifl*
ciples ; that pnnce did not neglect to increase the wealth* cf
his grandfather Ivan. The people had given to Ivan thft
surname of The Purse ; as much, perhaps, with .allusion to
his treasures, as to the purse, filled with alms for the poor,
which is said to have been always carried before him. At a
later period, the constantly progressive riches of the GTatid«
Princes of Moscow enabled them to enfeoff diifectly from the
crown lands three hundred thousand boyar followers ; and
next, to keep up a body of regular troops, sufficiently strong
to reduce their enemies and their subjects.f
This system of concentration of power which Ivan Kalita
commenced, by means of his wealth, by the imion of the
sceptre with the tiara, and by restoring the direct order of
succession ; his.horrible but skiHul Machiavellism against t^
* See the treaty of Dmitri Donskoi with Vladimir his uncle, who
promised to pay to him the tribute of his appanage, which bore the
name of the Khan's tribute; and the second treaty with the wSi^
Vladimir, by whieh the latter prince engaged that his boyars sboiud
f»f to Dmitri the same tax which the Graad«Frince might tfaiOK
proper to impose oa his own boyars.
t It was thus that, in France, in 144S, Charles Vn. took advoirty
Cf the exactions of the EngUsb, and of the terror which th^ ^"^^^
to render perpetual the temporary taxes, and to h^ep ap a ]
corps of twenty-five thousand men.
JUD. 1859] DEOLHOt OV IHX TAXAX ZOIHSB. 87
prinees holding appanages ; finaJlj, the fifty jetan^' repose
which, thanks to his policy, and to their dissensions^ the
Hatars permitted Eussia to enjoy ; these are the circiim*
stances which entitle Ivan to he considered as standing next
after Alexander NcTsky among the most remarkable Grand-*
Princes of the third period. It was he who had the sagacii^
on this stnbbom soil to open and to trace so deeply the path
whid led to monarchical unitT, and to point out its directioii
so dearly to his successors, that they had nothing to do but
fo perseyere in it, as the only safe road which it was then
possible for Bussia to follow.
This concentration, of power brought about great changes
£rom 1320 to 1829 ; as, at that epoch, all the Eussian princes
IB concert solicited from the Horde the recal of the Tatar
^Off emors. It was then that, more firmly fixed, the throne,
of the Gxand-Princes became the rallying-poiut of the
SfossiaDs: along with the consciousness of their strength, it
XDU^nred them with a public spirit, which emboldened them^
This good understanding was, in reality, an effect of the asr
eendiuicy which a direct and snstamed saeeevsion, in a single
branch of the Buiiks^ had abeady giren to it over all the
ofiheca.
CHAPTEE IX.
BBCQUERB Of ODHI TASXR f OWSB — DICIIBI DOKSKOI — ^YJlSSILI
3)MITB£irVIT0H«
•lis* fact, sometimes natural justice, sometimes Oriental
negligence and cupidity, often the fear of being disobeyed,
and lastly, and especially, the power and riches of the princes
of Moscow, whose presents always surpassed those of the
other princes ; all these motives had .induced the Khans to
allow the succession to the Grand-Principali^ to descend
regularly from father to son in the branch of Moscow.* This
* tJsbek, it is true, with MackiaTeHian poiicy, deefignated all the
diildren of Iran 1. as his successors; bttt, in 1340, he allowed Shneon,
the oldest smd ablest of tbem, to make himself sole master of the
^m>ne. Bmtshek-Khan nominated Ivan II., the brother of Simeon,
after his death and that of his dtHdreOy to the exchttion of a prince of
the branch of Tver or Nevsky. A prince Dmitri, of the VefnM
88 HISTOBY or RUSSIA. [CH..IX«.
natural order of succession Dmitri Donskoi, in 1359, esta-
blished by a treaty, in which his kinsmen consented to re-
nounce the mode of succession from brother to brother. It
was the most remarkable among them, Yladimir the Brave,
who was the first to sign this act. In several other conven-
tions, Vladimir acknowledged himself the vassal and lieu-
tenant, not merely c^ Dmitri, but also of Yassili his son, and
even of the son of Vassili, when he was only five years of
age. This example, set by a prince who, of all the possessors
of appanages, was the most renowned for his prudence and
his valour, was followed by the others. Thus, like the Capets,
kings of Prance, did Ivan I., and particularly Dmitri Donskoi,
begin the monarchy by restoring the direct succession, in
causing, while they lived, their eldest sons to be recognised
as their successors. Afterwards we see Vassili, son of Dmitri,
persevering in this practice, and Vassili the Blind, his grand-
son, raising up his tottering throne, and preparing the
autocracy of the fourth Bussian period, by associating with
himself his next heir, the great Ivan III.
It is easy to conceive the infallible effect of this order of
succession, and with what promptitude it must necessarily
have extended and consolidated the power of the Grand-
Princes. In fact, the ideas of the father being transmitted to
the son by education, their policy was more consistently fol-
lowed up, and their ambition had a more direct object ; for
no one labours for a brother or nephew as for his own
children. The nobles could not fail to attach themselves
more devotedly to a prince whose son and heir, growing up
amongst them, would know onlv them, and would recompense
their services in the persons of their children ; for the neces-
sary consequence of the succession of power in the same
branch, was the succession of favours and dignities in the
same families.
Even before Dmitri had established the principle,, the
branch, who had been made Grand-Prince by a whim of Naurus-Ehan,
yrfis deposed in 1362 by Murath-Khan, who chose Dmitri Donskoi,
grandson of Ivan I., and son of Ivan II. Taktamuisch also gave the
throne to Vassili II., the eldest son of Donskoi (1389). Lastly, Ulu-
Mahomet nominated Vassili HI., son of Vassili II., and father of the
Great Ivan III., whom this long succession rendered so powerful that
he completely crushed the Horde.*
AJ). 1359-89] j)MiTBi n. DoirsEOi. 89
boyars saw the advantages which this order of succession
held out to them. Here, as elsewhere, the fact preceded the
law. This was the reason of their restoring the direct Imein
the grandson of Ivan Ejdita ; it was they who made him
Grand-Prince at the age of twelve years, and who subjected
the other princes to him. In like manner, about 1430, they
maintained this order of succession in Vassili the Blrad.
Contemporary annalists declare that these ancient boyars of
the Grand-Principality detested the descent from brother to
brother ; for, in that system, each prince of the lateral branch
arrived from his appanage with other boyars, wl^m he always
preferred, and whom he could not satisfy and establish but
at the expense of the old. On the other hand, the most im-
portant and transmissible places, the most valuable favours^
an hereditary and more certain protection, and greater hopes,
attracted a military nobiliiy around the Grand-Princes. In
a very short time, their elevation to the level of the humbled
petty princes flattered their vanity, and completed their
junction with the principal authonly. This circumstance
explains the last words of Dmitri Donskoi to his boyars,
when he recommended his son to their protection. " Under
my reign," said he, " you were not boyars, but really Bussian
princesJ' In fact (to cite only some examples), we see that
nis armies were as ofben commanded by boyars as by princes^
and that, from this epoch, it was no longer a prince of the
blood, but a boyar of the Grand-Prince, who was his lieu-
tenant at Novgorod.
ISTay, more, when the succession from father to son was
once established, there were, at the very beginning, two
minorities (those of Dmitri, and of Yassili, his grandsoo),
during which the boyars composed the council of regency,
governed the state, and were the equals, and even the supe*
riors, of the princes who held appanages. This will explain
why, in 1392, the boyars of Boris, the last prince of Suzdal,
gave up him and his appanage to Yassili Dmitrievitch of
Moscow. The motive is to be found only in their interest ;
as the Grand-Prince of Moscow entrusted them with the
government of the appanages, and thus substituted the
nobles in the place of the princes.
A very remarkable circumstance, with respect to Dmitrii
Donskoi, is, on the one hand, thd energy with which he sub«t
00 aiKTOXT 07 BirifXA. [CE.II.
dned those prinoes, add, on the other, laaa eiieamspect tiMd^
metit oi his hojaors. Aacardms to Karamsin, xt is mate
esnemJlj to their pride moA jealousy of the tymakohs\j d
Moscow (the hoj»r of the city, cr of ike Conrnune, a sort of
cMl and mifitaiy tribime, dected hy the people), that we aie
to attribute the abolitioii of that office by Bonskoi. Ihiriag
the preceding neign, another tjssiatchsKy of Moscow, who
datmed pieqraence of eren the boyars of the Gmnd-Princej
had been mnrdered by them.
When this hereditary protection afforded by the Orand*
Princes of ike Moscow branch was once fairhr estoblisfaedi
the nobles of eadi appanage, who coostatated its army, hsd
thenceforth an asylum, an(^ as it were, a tribunal forredrefli^
to which they could appeal whenever thej were dissatisfied
with their prince. It was this whidi made Tver £all befone
Ivan Kalita; for the sovereign prince of that first and In*
rival of Moscow having preferred to his boyars the people
of Pskofy who had defended him, the former withdrew to
Mosoow«
l%e power of Ivan Ealita being once raised by Ae I^
tavft' aid, and by the re-establishment of the direct ]iDB
of (succession, and thoroughly developed by his son and
gruidson, Simeon the Proud and Dmitri Donskoi,. it £al^
lowed, as a natural consequence, that he who was most Mb
to reward and to pnnish drew round him, and retained, the
whole of the nobles. These constituted the sole stiengA
of the appanaged princes; their defection, therefore, com*
pleted the subjugation of the princes. Dmitri Donskot was,
thet efcare, in reality sovereign, as is proved by his **®*^
with the princes who held appanages, all of whom beredacea
to be his vassals. And, accordmgly, notwithstanding the
appanages which he gave to his sons, aad the dissensioBS
indch arose out of tfitt error — an error as yet, perhi^a, uft*
avoidable — the attachment of the nobles, for whidi we hav0
just assigned areason^ always replace the legitimate heir ca
tbetfarono. .
Akeady, so eariy as about 1366, the Bussian princes eooU
no longer venture to contend against their lord-paramount
by any other means than by denunciations to the Horde; bo*
to what S[han could they be addnessed 9 Disenrd had oeated
seferal: what result was to* be hoped from tiiemj J^i^
AJ>. 1859-89] DiOTBi n. bohseoi. 91
amoDg themselves, the Tatar armies Bad eeaifed to be an
ayafliS^^le force. The jouroeya to the Goldan Horde, which
had oxiginallj oontributed to keep the Bussiaa piinoeftin awe^
now served to afford them an insight into the weakness of
their enemies. The Grrand-Erinces returned from the Horde
with the confidence that thej might usurp with impunity ;
and their competitors with envoys and letters, which even
they themselves well knew would be of no avaiL It was,
then, obvious in Eussia, that the only protecting pow^ was
at Moscow : to have recourse to its support was a matter of
neeessity. The petty princes could obtain it only by the
sacrifice of their independence; and thus all of them be^
came vassals to the Grand-Prince Dmitri.
Never did a great man arise more opportunely than this
Dmiiai. It was a propitious circumstance, that the disseii!*
sions of the Tatars gave them full occupation during the
eighteen years subsequent to the first thi^ of his reign:*
this, in the first place, allowed him time to eztingnish the
devastating fury of Olguerd the Lithuanian, son of Gnedimin,
fath^ of Jagenon, and conqueror of all Lithuania, Yc^lhynia^
Smolensk, £iei^ and even of the Taurida ; secondly, to unifte
Several principalities with his throne ; and, lastly, to eooKpei
the other princes, and even the prince of Tver, to acknow^
ledge his paramount authority.
The contest with the latter was terrible : four times did
Dmitri overcome Mikhail, and four times did the prince of
Tver, aided by his son-in-law, the great Olguerd, prince of
litibuania, rise agaia victorious. In this obstinate confliet^
Moscow itself was twice besi^ed, and must have faHen, had
it not been for its stone walls, the recent work of the first
regency of the Muscovite boyars. But, at length, Olgneard
dieid; and Dmitri, who, but three years before, could appear
only on Ms knees at the Horde, now dared to refuse the Khiit
his tribute, and to put to death the insokot ambassador who
had been sent to daim it.
We have seen that, fifby years earlier^ a dnular instance of
temmty caused the bnanch of Tver to fall beneath that of
Moscow ; but times were changed. The triple alliance of
the primate, the boysrs, and the Gband^Fnuce, had now
* Vrom la&S^to 1380.
92 HIBTOBT OF BUSSIA. [CH. IX.
lestoredto tbe Bussians a confidence in their own strength :
thej had acquired boldness from a conviction of the power of
their Grand-Prince, and from the dissensions of the Tatars.
Some bands of the latter, wandering in Muscovy in search
of plunder, were defeated ; at last the Tatars have fled before
the Bussians ! they are become their slaves, the delusion of
their invincibility is no more !
The burst of fury which the Khan exhibited on learning
the murder of his representative, accordingly served as a
signal for the confederation of all the Eussian princes against
the prince of Tver. He was compelled to submit to the
Grand^Frince, and to join with him against the Horde.
Bussia now began to feel that there were three important
things which were indispensably necessary to her; the
establishment of the direct succession, the concentration of
the supreme power, and the union of all parties against the
Tatars. The movement in this direction was taken very
opportunely; for it happened simultaneously that Mamai-
£han was also disembarrassed of his civil wars (1380), and
he hastened with all his forces into Bussia to re-establish his
slighted authority ; but he found the Grand-Prince Dmitri
confronting him on the Don, at the head of the combiaed
Sussian princes and an army of two hundred thou-
sand men. Dmitri put it to the choice of his troops
whether they would go to encounter the foe, who were en-
camped at no great distance on the opposite shore of the
river, or remain on this side and wait the attack ? "With
one voice they declared for going over to the assault. The
Grand-Prince immediately transported his battalions across
the river, and thea turned the vessels adrift, in order to cut
off all hopes of escaping by retreat, and inspire his men with
a more aesperate valour against an enemy who was three
times stronger in numbers. The fight began. The Bussians
defended themselves valiantly against the furious attacks of
the Tatars ; the hosts of combatants pressed in such numbers
to the field of battle, that multitudes of them were trampled
xmder foot by the tumult of men and horses. The Tatars,
continually relieved by fresh bodies of soldiers as any parfc
was fatigued by the conflict, seemed at length to have victory
on their side. Nothing but the impossibility of getting over
the river, and the firm persuasion that death would directly
transport them from the hands of the infidel enemy into the
A.]>. 1389-1425] YASsiLi in. dmitbievitoh. 9$
manBions of bliss, restrained the Bussians from a general
flight. But all at once, at the very moment when everything
seemed to be lost, a detachment of the Qrand-Prince's army,
which be had stationed as a reserve, and which till now had
remained inactive and unobserved, came up in fall force, fell
upon the rear of the Tatars, and threw them into such amaze-
ment and terror that they fled, and left the Bussians masters
of the field. This momentous victory, however, cost them
dear ; thousands lay dead upon the ground, and the whole
army was occupied eight days in burying the bodies of the
dead Bussians : those of the Tatars were left uninterred upon
the ground. It was in memory of this achievement that
Dmitri received his honourable surname of Donskoi.
Subsequently, however, and even during this reign, there
were many civil wars in Bussia ; Moscow was several times
burned by thfi Tatars. Two years after the victory of the
Don, Taktamuisch, a lieutenant of Tamerlane, who was be-
come master of the Kaptchak, surprised and ravaged the
Grand- Principality, and rendered it tributary; and Tver
once more raised its h^ad. Seventy years later,we still find
two Bussian princes disputing at the Gk)lden Horde for the
possession of the Orand-Principality. But the two prin*
ciples destructive of the Tatar empire, — ^namely, its own dis-
sensions and the power of the Grand-Princes, — gradually
acquired the predominance, and ended by sweeping every-
thing before them. We see the Khans, even after their
victories, uniformly concentrating authoril^ in the hands of
the Gbrand-Princes of Moscow, and annihilating themselves
by enga^g more and more in internal divisions. Donskoi,
meanwhue, had so firmly founded the authdKt]^ of the Qrand*
Princes, — ^he took such prudent steps on ms death-bed, in
1389, and left such an illustrious example, that he seemed to
have bequeathed, not his greatness of mind, but his skill and
his good fortune to his successor Yassili.
PUant and patient with his European and Asiatic neigh-
bours, Vassili III. Dmitrievitch was haughty, and even fero«
cious and inexorable, to his kinsmen and to his unruly sub-
jects. In his proceedings, circumspect at first, but perse-
vering and inflexible, we discover the aristocratic poucy of
the council of boyars and priests to which his father had
confided his youth.
His triple object was, firstly, to repress the Lithuanians ;
M HiaTOBT or Bir«fLL. [ox. XX.
iad as he mm the iBKnHii'^v of tlie'LithtuuQian prince, he
eombfited him rather hy policj tiiaa W arms ; seeondlj, to
liberate Biueia from me yoke of the Tatin ; and it waa hf
their means that, foUofirixig the example of his ancestors, he
continued the i^stem of re-uniting the appanages to ilie
GrandoFrinapality; for that -wag Ma third purpose, which
he deemed it prudent to adueve before he thought of the
aeeond. Like his predecessors, therefore, he journeyed, in
1892, to ofier homage to the Horde for his sceptre, propitiate
it by presents, and purchaee from it the investiture of seven
appanages, of which he had despoiled his kinsmen ; their own
boyatrs put them into his hands, and those princes were,
consequently, under the necessity of mingling in the ranks
of his courtiers, or of dying in activity or in exile.
Eighteen years afterwards, when, haying lost his old conn*
sellers, and being too eager to enfranchise himself, VaesiU
cirew on his head the wrath of the Khans, by his re&aal of
the tribute, he promptly reverted to the policy of his fathers,
and returned again to the Horde, to ensure its £a.vour by
renewed homage. In reward for this supple policy, whole
provinces dependent on iN'ovgorod, the principalities of Suzdal
and of Tchemigof were united to the Grand-Frincipalitj^ ;
and theneefor^ ihe paramount throne was raised to a dis**
pzoporiionate height ^ove the petty thrones by which it waa
sorroimded^
' Wars, horrible punishmients, and Machiavellian policy, all
were employed by Tassili Dmitrievitch to render the proud
KoTgorod tli^ tributary of Moscow; and as his power grew
with that of the primate, he strove to subject the repubHe to
the civil jurisdictidtai of that priest.
At length, in 1405, ending as he began, he closed a reign
•f tiurtv-six years, by requiring all the Bussian princes to
swear that they would hold no correspondence wi^ the
Tatars and Lithuanians ; he compelled them to acknowledge
his eon Yaisdili lU., then only five years old, as their lord-
paramount, and whoever dared to refuse he expelled from-
his appanage.
It was in the reign of Yassili Dmitrievitch that money,
began to be eoined in Bussta* Before this time the chronid^
make frequent mentioB, first of grivnas, and afberwiurds of
rubles; but by these words were understood a certain'
AuJfs 1426-62] TAseiu: if. vaiwilibtitch. M
weight of fdlFer. Foieigii eomnkeree, therefoie, uras carried
cm after the suuuier of the East by barter, or by exdbAzige
agutnob gold or sUt^ taken by weight. For petty traiui^
actiom the (nixr&at moDey was bitv of martea aidDB caUed
m^riki, and still smaller scraps of fur, eonKbtiug of squizrela'
heads, or eren the ears only, ealled pohshki^ wortii some
fractfton of a farthing. Moaeow and Tymr w^?e the first
towns that employed a Tatar coin, named denga^ &om the word
ianga, which means mark. At first the legend was only in
the Tatar language ; then Tatar on one. side, Russian oa, the
other; and finally Eussian only. Polish and G^erman coins
were abundant in NoYgorod in the beginning of ihe fifteenth
ocmtury ; but in 1420 the city established its own mint. Its
ooin, which represented a throned prince, was for a long
time cunent at about twice the Tahie of that of Moeeow or
CHAPTEE X.
TASBIXI IV. — THE EXTSSIAN CHTTECH IK THE THIED PEBIOD.
. S^OH as we have described was the political march of the
Qrand-Pcinces from the time of Ivan Ealita. In 1398,
however, the state was more than ever in danger of being
irretrievably destroyed, and these princes of Moscow, proud
as they might be of their MaehiaYelliaa skill, had reason to
thank the Bussian good-fortune &r the salvation of their
empire^
On its right and on its left arose at once two conque»H*ap
who seem^ ready to devour it. On the east, thaie was
Zamerlane ; on tl^ west, Yitovt the Lithuanian. The fiarst^
with his four hundred thousand warriors, had already con*-
mered the rebellious Ejtptcfaak, and touched on the Sussian
mntier: already the second was at ^Kaluga and at Yiazmai
bs had surprised Smolensk, and penetrated to Novgorod;
aad trmnbhng Muscovy expected to be crushed between
tibese two eolossnses, when, all at once, they both turned
•aide, bent their course to tibe south, met, and came into
coUision. JB>assaa, which they had so closely compressed^
now breathed again; dke arose astonished: on her left she
96 HIBTOBX OF BTTSSIA. [CH. X.
beheld YitoYt, Her European oppressor, beaten down before
Kutlui, the lieutenant of Tamerbne. She turned her still
terrified gaze towards the yictorious east, but the terrible
Mongol had vanished in the deepest recesses of Asia ; he
seemed to have appeared solely to inflict a mortal blow on
the rebellious Eiiptchak, that Horde which was fattened with
Bussian blood ana gold. It was thus that discord, passing
from the Eussians to the Tatars, prepared for the north of
Europe a triumph over Asia, the termination of which it is
impossible to foresee.
At the same time, and bj an equally propitious fortune,
subsequently to Jagellon and Yitovt, Lithuania and Poland
came to bloWs; these other enemies of Eussia rent each
other to pieces : like the Tatars, they exhausted their own
strength ; their sterile dynasties were interrapted ; a demo-
cracy of nobles gained the upper hand; and the sceptrd
became more and more elective ; while that of the Oraad-
Princes, in spite of the faults of Yassili the Blind, the son of
Vassili, struck deep root, by means of its divine right, and
of its direct succession, and became more flourishing by the
lei^h of the reigns.
This longevity of the Muscovite Grand-Princes was another
very remarkable cause of the prodigious growth of their jjower.
The reigns of Ivan Kalita, and his lineal descendants, Simeon
the Proud, Ivan II., Dmitri Donskoi, Yassili his son, and
Yassili Yassilievitch his grandson, were of thirteen, twelve,
six, twenty-seven, thirty-six, and thirty-seven years ; this was
enough to foimd the paramount sway of the Grand-Princes
of Moscow. In the succeeding period we shall see this
longevity increasing, like the power, in their successors Ivan
the Great, Yassili, and Ivan the Terrible, whose reigns were
of forty-three, twenty-eight, and fof <y-nine years. So that
in 1425, when the reign arrived of Yassili Yassilievitch, the
last prince of the third period, so rooted was the custom oi
acknowledging as Grand-Prince no one but the eldest son of
the Grand-Prince, that this Yassili succeeded his father when
he was ten years old; and although he was several times
dethroned, the habit of respect and of fidelity always replaced
him on the throne. After such protracted reigns, the rights
of the sovereign were marked out, the path traced for his
successor, and the habits of his subjects formed.
A.D. 1425-62] YASBiLi rv. vassilibvitch. 97
Nevertheless, on the birth of this Vassili Vassilievitch, a
miracle was deemed useful, to ratify more fully his right to
the throne of his father; the new-bom prince was proclaimed
Q-rand-Prince by a voice from heaven. The precaution, how-
ever, appears to have been quite supererogatory ; the first
event of this reign is a proof of its being so : it stands alone
in history.
Yury, the uncle of the young sovereign, making an appeal
to the ancient order of succession, laid claim to the throne.
An excommunication by the primate, which he at first de-
spised, but which an unexpected pestilence rendered effica-
cious, suspended the enforcement of his pretensions. They
were renewed, however, as the contagion diminished ; and
Vassili and his uncle proceeded to dispute for their rights
before the Horde. But the Khan was so completely in-
fluenced by the address of the boyars who accompanied the
Qrand-Prince, and so carried away by the general impulse,
that he unwisely declared for the lineal heir, released him
from all tribute to the Horde, and even decreed that the uncle
should hold the bridle of his nephew's horse, on the entrance
of the latter into his capital. But from this decision the am-
bitious Yury appealed to arms ; Moscow, taken by surprise,
fell into his hands, and his nephew Vassili was exiled to an
appMiage.
W oidd it not appear as if the lineal succession were again
overthrown, and that a long and furious war would be re-
quired to restore it ? JSTot so ; the manners of the time, and
respect for the lineal order — ^that custom founded on the
general interest, and already existing for eighty years, were
sufficient to secure its triumph ; and that, too, in the course
of a few days, without a smgle sword being drawn, or a
drop of blood shed. Public opinion, disarmed as it was,
yet stronger than a victor, neutralised his victory : priests,
people, nobles, all disavowed him; all, even the son of
the usurper, abandoned his cause. The entire population
of the great Moscow followed the lineal heir into his banish-
ment ; the conqueror, struck with dismay, remained alone ;
and, vanquishea by this terrific insulation, he descended
from his solitary throne, and restored it to the legitimate
heir.
The errors of Vassili, however, subsequently precipitated
TOL. T. H
98 HUIOST OF.XVSflliL. [CH. X.
him twice from the throne, fint into the fetters of the Tatars,
and next into those of the son of Ynrj, who put out his eyes
in retaliation; but le^timacy alwa;^ trinm|>hed br its in-
herent strength, even in i^ite of tms blind, improaent, and
unfortunate Grand-Prince, whom it perpetuallj raised up
a^ain. The son of Yury was, indeed, speedily deserted by
his nobles ; they replaced Yassili the Blmd on the throne.
The usurper was yanquished, pursued, despoiled ; he died of
poison administered by his own followers, and Novgorod,
which had given him an asylum, was compelled to ransom
itself.
Thus, the Tatar yoke was broken ; the humiliation of the
possessors of appanages was consummated ; that of the Biis-
sion republics of Novgorod, Fskof^ and Yiatka was com-
menced; the paramount sway was established; and the
lineal succession, which began de facto under Ivan Kalita,
acquired the force of a right under Dmitri Donskoi, was
rendered, both de facto and ie jure, incontestable a^ Hxd
dose of the long reign of Yaasili the Blind, when the force
of public opinion had obstinately overthrown his last com-
petitor, and when he associated with him his son, the great
Ivan III., in the government of the empire.
Among the means which co-operated in this great work of
autocracy, the reader can hardly have failed to recognise the
powerful and persevering hand of the priests. It remams for
us, then, to seek in the spirit of the history of the Bussian
Church one more cause of the elevation of the Grand-Banoes
of Moscow.
In those times of ignorance;, the Greek religion and its
priests could not be otherwise than one of the most power-
rill means of instruction and of government. An ^ot of
Vladimir, issued about the year 1000, is said to have granted
immense privileges to the iUissian dergy ; modem historians,
however, attach no faith to this story. But of what import-
ance to us is the truth ? it would prove nothing but the
blindness of a prince, and would be of no avail to estaUish a
right against nature.
If we look at this question only with a referenoe to
manners, or to obtain an insight into the respective positions
of tiie diltorent orders of the state, in ei£her case toe fact is
AJL 1237-1462] THS i}wncai ixf thb thibd febiod. 90
enough withoBi the light. Kow, it is eertain that, tm-ht
\axik as the year 1200, the Siuwkn dergj were eorered mtk
the spoils of their flocks; that, ia nuaieroas cases, they
seotenced to death, and without appeal; that the monks,
like the nobles elsewhere, had a numbur of fortified dwelHngs,
cf which they were the fonoidable defenders ; that their
primate had a court, boyarSi guards, and an Asiatie luxury;
that th€i» were public eeremonies at which the proudest
jovereigBs wailked before him, humbly holding the bridle of
the ass on which this pontiff rode; and that in all state
afljurs the primate was the first who was consulted— -a very
natural circumstanee, as many of these heads of the clergy
came firom Greece, and were looked upon as lights amidst
the surrounding darkness.
Another &ct is, that in the civil commotions the BossiaB
priests were often mediators, ambassadors — even umpires ; a
part which they were also called u{K>n to perform in virtue of
their ministry, consecrated to charity ana peace.
The Tatar invasion added to their power: in the desperate
resistance of the Bussian cities, the E^ans witnessed the
Imghty infloenoe which the clergy possessed ovmr the minds
of the people; it was for this reason that Baty, Burgai, and
their successors, treated them with respect, and even ex*
onesrated them horn all tribute. Thence&rth, being the <mly
persons who were allowed to be rich and at peace,* they
bought or coveted everything; Buscoa was covi^^d with
monasteries, in which males and females were blended ; and,
as all other subjects were horribly oppressed, all flodiied to
these convents : nobles, merchants, even priooes, were asxious
to become monks. Such was, besides, the superstition of the
age, that the minority of the Grand-Princes of the first race
expred in the monki^ habit.
. In 1339, an archbishop of Novgorod having been taken
* See the firmaa of Vabek, in 1318; he decUres, that " the C%nirch
is the toleindge of the Church in all cases, and of all who live on its
domflins. That he renounoes the tribute due to him from the lands of
the dezgy, as well as all his other rights, such as those of enstoms,
plough-money, tolls, farm-tax, and rdb.ys for his service. That who-
ever ahall eoBtraveae this safeguard shall be punished with deat^; and
wtonljrfor the forcible canTiog oST of sacred propertr, but even if
th^ dan merely to condeiniiy or to blarney the Qxaak xeUgSoi^
h2
100 HItTOBX OH BV8IUL [CH. X
pnjKmer b^ the Lithiunuaiu, the republic was on the ^int
of ransoming him at the cost of a proTince, of three dties,
and eyen of its independence.
An earthquake, frightful plagues, particnlarlj that of
1852, and, at a later period, the fear of the end of the world,
which an ancient prediction announced for this epoch, oon-
Bummated the work attributed to Yladimir : the major part
of the dying bequeathed their property to monasteries.
The legislation of the Bussians was, likewise, such as to
give them a tendency to this unworthy conduct : among men
who could buy off earthly justice by pecuniary sacrifices, it
was no unnatural conclusion that heavenly justice might be
bought off by donations. And then, at Byzantium, as at
Eome, it had become an established dogma, that a man might
gain the riches of heaven by disappointing his heirs, and be-
queathing his earthly riches to the men of God ; which, as^
suredlv, was closing existence with one of the most selfish
acts of his whole life.
As to the toleration displayed by the Khans, we know not
whether it ought to be attributed solely to their policy, or
rather to their religious apathy, and to their being ac«
customed to rule people of different religions ; one thing is
certain, that several Kussian bishops resided in the court of
these pagan princes ; and that the Tatars were believers in
the efficacy of all prayers, whatever might be their form, and
wished that they should be offered up for them. In truth,
their faith, nomadic like themselves, without any external
practices, without anv point of union, with scarcely anything
to allure and attach the senses of so liv^ a people, could not
be an object of much importance. Blow then could this
religion, so vague that it hardly deserves the name of one,
have been intolerant ? The interest of their priests might have
rendered it so ; but it does not appear that, among these
wandermg nations, the priests were ever able to become a
corporate body, or to acquire the spirit of one.
At a kter period, Mahometanism, which these Tatars em-
braced, did not, however exclusive it may be, render them
less tolerant ; and it is remarkable that, far from penetrating
into European Eussia, that religion stopped short on ite
frontier. Such of the Asiatic conquerors as entered this part
of our globe to establish themselves there became converts
^P. 1237-1462] THfi CHUBCH IS THE THIBB PEBIOB. 101
to ChTistianify. Would it not seem as if these two reUgions
had finally and inyariablj divided the different parts of the
world according to its great geographical divisions ? Let
us here remark, availing ourselves of the light thrown on
the subject bj the profound genius of Montesquieu, that
the causes of polygamy, and of the slavery of women and
men in the East, are all equally so of the partition which
Mahometanism and Chi^stianity have made of Asia and of
Europe. Now, almost all these causes are connected vnth
the climate ; and the reason is,, that a religion bavins, still
more than the laws, its roots in the manners, the cUmate
must have considerable influence over it. Neither could the
doctrine of fatalism, which springs from indolence, as well
aa leads to it, possibly take root in a rigorous, niggardly,
variable climate, which stimulates and requires active labour.
This was another reason for the distribution of religion ac-
cording to temperature. It has been objected, that Chris-
tianity itself came from Asia ; but this confirms still more
forcibly the preceding assertion, since it was compelled to
quit that continent.
However that may be, XJsbek, at the beginning of the
fourteenth century, became a Mahometan. He thought that,
either from tolerance, apathy, or pride, his predecessors had
been negligent in rallying under the same creed the van-
quished slaves, who were not to be despised. It is said that
he was desirous to divest them of the too obvious marks of
dissimilarity and opposition.
This Khan seems to have been deeply impressed with the
power of the Bussian clergy at this epoch ; of this we may
judge by the attentions which he lavished on the primate
when he visited his Horde. But the Christian must natu-
rally have been distrustful of a Mahometan prince who
reduced all his hordes under the law of the Prophet. In fact,
about 1827, a rumour was all at once spread abroad, that
Schevkal,* a kinsman of TJsbek, and his ambassador at Tver,
had gone thither to massacre the family of the Grand-Prince,
to set himself on the throne, and to raise the standard of the
Prophet.
Toe general massacre of the Tatars in that principality
* Stchelkhan, according to JjBfWjve.
102 HiiniBT or bitsbia. [oh. z.
nnut lunre eoimnoed JJabA of the emptiness of his projeets.
Berlui^g his iran with PenoB induced him to poaipone the
•xecution of them till another time ; perhaps, e^ea, they irece
fid8el]jr attributed to him ; as he contented himself iritfa
raraging Buasia and changing its Gh»nd-Prinoe. To aacer*
tain the truth of the fact is now both impossible anduadLeaa;
SQJBSce it) that the belief in it proves the active disquietude of
Chriatianity at coming in contact with a hostile reiigioay
equalhr exdusire with itself. The dsead of Tatar intokruioey
thcrerore^ had the effect of rallying the priests round the sote
power which was able to protect them. They felt that the
Grand*Frince could defend them against Mahametaoiam
and Catholicism onlj by means of the united force of tlio
Bussians, and that force they exerted themselves to place
within his ^lasp.
This policy dates more particularly from the period when
£jef was under the yoke of the Nogays and the Idthuaniana.*
Kief had preserred its petensions to the paramount aa«
thcnity; the primate still resided there: about 1290, it
became uninhaDitable ; the pontiff then established hinnelf
at Vladimir, and subsequently at Moscow. The head of the
Church formed a junction with the head of the State, and
the religious power with the civil power. After that i^eAoi
it was obvious, from the more consistent and undeyiatinff
march of the Qrond-Princes, that their progress was directed
by the constanU^ adroit and able policy of the priesfcs.
Besides, notwithstanding the general preyalence of super*
stition, the priests could not escape from the disastrous con-
sequences of civil dissensions ; and as they were as little
enabled to turn them to advantage, it became their interest
to form an alliance with the power most interested in putting
a stop to such excesses.
We see, in &ct, that the Metropolitan Photius became the
Grand-Prince of Moscow's firmest support, because that
throne was his sole protection against the encroachmenta of
the nobles upon the domains of the clergy. The same interest
united him with i^t Grand-Prince against Yitoyt, the
Lithuanian, who, by means of a very remarkable council of
bishopsyt had liberailed ^tie Church of Kief, whidi he had
* From 1299 to ISSflu f SeeXacSovfl^ toL v. p. 274^
▲.i>. 1237-1462] THx: chitbch ih thb thikd pzbiod. 103
Qcmqaared, horn the suproinacy of Ifiofleow, as well as firam
thai of Byzanidmn.
XisteD, also, in 1328, to the prophetic accents of the Me-
tropolitan Peter, choosiDg Moscow as lus reaJdence^ and
requinng of Iran £alita to build a cathedral there. '' My
bones," aaid he to him, " shall rest in this eitj ; here will the
primates fix: their abode ; it will or^throw all its enemies.
X on and your successors will become great and fiunoos." la
1332, this pontiff persevered in this <uose alliance, in raite of
the terrible Lithuaoian Ghiedimin, into whose hands he had
fallen.
After the death of Ivan IL, in 1359, one of the appanaged
frinoes obtained the Grand-Principidity from the Horde;
ut the primate, who was obliged to go to crown him at
Yladinur, refused to reside with him. The prehite retomed
to concert, with the Muscovite boyws, the means of restoring
the sovereignty to the grands<Hi of Ivan £ji1^ the bneiu
heir of the princes of Moscow, who was then only twelve
years of age. He went still further ; for, proceeding in the
work of legitimacy and concentration, he hurled the thunders
of the Church against those princes who refioised to acknow-
ledge the supremacy of this child.
£l 1415, it was also a monk of Moscow, a dependent on
the primate, who predicted the birth of Yassili the Blind,
the grandson of the hero of the Don. This monk published
throughout the empire, that he had heard a voice from
heaven miraculously proclaim, as Grand-Prince of all Buasia,
the young lineal heir of the throne of Moscow, at the very
moment in which he saw the light.
Lastly, in 1447, in a remarkable letter from the Bussian
bishops to the usurper Dmitri,* observe how they maintain
YassOi to be the only sovereign by the grace of God, and
how they threaten Dmitri with the wrath of Heaven fbr his
revolts ; " but for which," they add, '' Bussia would have
been emancipated from the Tatu! yoke."
Previously, in 1425, the primate of that day had proclaimed
the accession of this same Yassili, aged only ten years, and
summoned his uncles to acknowledge him as their sovereign.
Yet, in 1429, this young prince was near bemg expelled
See EaxamsiD, toL v. p. 403.
10^ HIBIOBT OF BITSSIA. [OH. X.
from the throne by his unde Tury of Q^alitch. The per-
nicious and absurd order of succession, from brother td
brother, was on the point of being restored, when the same
primate stopped Yury by that excommunication which, as
we haye before seen, deriyed additional weight from an
opportune pestilence ; for, in Eussia, it was necessary that
the moral force of anathemas should be backed by physical
force, without which the excommunication was impotent, as
was shown by Pskof in 1337, and Nijni Novgorod in 1865.
Eyerything, therefore, prompted the clergy to lean forrap-
port on the Grand-Prmces, and to enlarge the protecting
power of Moscow with all that they could aggregate to it.
Paithful to this policy, the primates had, consequently, a
considerable share in the elevation of the Grand^Princes and
the deliverance of their country.
Here terminates the third period of this history : in the
fourth, we shall behold Bussia emancipating herself from het
foreign masters to become the slave of her own princes.
Four centuries of calamity, arising from the partition of
power, had demonstrated the indispensable necessity of con-
centrating that power ; this single idea, which the G-rand-
Princes of the branch of Moscow faithfully transmitted to
each other, sufficed to raise up the prostrate empire ; such
mighty efficacy has a firm and consistent will. This idea
predominated for two hundred and sixty years ; but, spread-
ing in proportion as it encountered fewer obstacles, it went
beyond the mark, and produced the most atrocious despotism
that imagination can conceive.
The fourth period will exhibit to us the final emancipation
of Eussia from the Tatar yoke ; but when will the mark be
effaced which that vile servitude imprinted on the character
of the Eussian people ? National pride and the sense of
personal honour were crushed out of their hearts by that
calamity, and cunning and greed, the especial vices of slaves,
became their leading characteristics. " From Yassili Taro-
slavitch," says Karamsin, "to Ivan Kalita (1272-1328), the
most disastrous period of our history, the aspect of Eussia
was that of a gloomy forest rather than an empire. Might
took the place of right, and pillage, authorised by impunity,
was exercised alike by Eussians and Tatars. There was no
safety for travellers on the roads, or for families in their
JL])»I462] FOVSTH PBBIOD. 105
]i(»ne8 ; and robbery, like a contagious malady, infested all
poperties. When the gloom or these horrible disorders
began to disperse, and law, that sonl of social order, awoke
from its lethargy, it was necessa^ to have recourse to a
severity unknown to the ancient Kussians. The good and
generous Monomachus said to his children, * Put not even
the guilty to death, for the soul of a Christian is sacred ;'
and yet Dmitri, Mamai's victor, whose soul was not less noble
than that of the vanquisher of the Polovtzy, restored the
punishment of death as the sole means of appallii](^g crime.
j?ecuniary fines had formerly sufficed to check robbeiy among
our ancestors, but in the fourteenth century this offence was
punished with the gibbet. To the Eussians of Taroslaf's
age blows were unknown except in the heat of a quarrel.
The Tatar yoke introduced corporal punishments among us ;
for a first theft the culprit was branded ; and in the reign of
Yassili the Blind floggmg with the knout began to be in-
flicted ev^i upon persons of the highest station for offences
against the state ; but what efficacy could the shame of such
punishments have in a country where a branded man was not
excluded from society ? If we have seen crimes in our
ancient history, the times of which we are now speaking
present much more odious traits of feroci^ in princes and
people — ^ferocity aggravated by the sense of oppression and
abject fear. Circumstances always serve to explain the moral
qualities of a people. However, a»the effect is often more
lasting than the cause, the descendants, living under differ-
ent circumstances, retain some traces of the virtues or vices
of their ancestors; and it may be that the character of the
JStMsians exhibits to this day soTite of the Hots with which the
harharity of the Mongols defiled it"
CHAPTEEXI.
BlOIKiriKa OF THE FOITBTH PEBIOB, TBOK 1462 TO 1613 —
rVAW III. THE GEEAT.
The spirit of the history of the whole of this fourth period
— ^the period of despotism — stands fully displayed in its first
lOB HinooKT ov Bvsau. [c«. zi»
reign» tiiat of Ifan in. Thkprineeasoeiidedtlietliioiiem
1462, at the age of twenty-two ; he reigned foii^-thiee yeanu
The three succeeding reigns present the coB&uiation, and
the horrible abuse, of the ajstem of Iran IIL and the down-
fal of his race, the effect of ihaM system, whic^ itsdf was but
an expansion of that of his ancestors.
The life of Ivan the Gbreat^ like all great lives, had oxia
unifbrm object; in him the pursuit of autocracy was an ex-
dusire passion, but free from the ra8hness> confuaion) and
violence usually attendant <»l such a condition of mind.
From the age of twenty*thiee he |>royed himself ci^ble of
regukting its march, and subjecting it to the slow more'*
ments of a policy at once insidious even to peifidy, and cir-
cumspect even to cowardice, but ever invariable.
/Ivan III. wished to be independent oat of his domains^
uid autocrat within ; he had, therefore, numerous enemies
amon^ his neighbours and his subjects; but he succeeded
in uniting, by turns, all these ^aernies against a single one,
apd thus successively subdued the one by the otiier./
/it was necessary for him to subdue £^an and the
Golden Horde, to which he was yet tributary; the great
communities, or Sussian republics, of Novgorod^ Pskof, and
Yiatka, which affiacted a sovereignly almost equal to his own ;
and the princes, his kinsmen, proud of the ai^Mmages which
they stiU retained, and detemuned to live in raem as masters.
At the same time he h^ to repress Lithuania, which waa
always ready to offer to all these hostile powers the pro*
tection of a sovereignty, Icmg the fortunate rival of that of
Moscow, which it had straitened on the west, south, and
norlj), by successively seducing £rom it its great vassaLk /^
Such were his adversaries. /For allies, he made use, at
home, of his nobles, princes, and subjects of southern and
central Bussia, who were inured to slavery, against his
northern subjects, who were yet free; afterward, he em-
ployed his nobles and his old and new slaves against the
princes of his blood. Lastly, his omnipotence sufficed him
against his boyars, when he stood no longer in fear of them,
mer the humiliation of his other enemies, and the creation
of a swarm of petty nobles, his immediate vassals. /
Aa to the Golden Horde and Lithnaoia, his external ad«
Tcnaries, he song^t enemies §ot them in Persia^ in Sweden,
XD. 1462] vrxs m. thb. obisjlt. 107
inHongaiy, atTiamuiy and eveiL at Borne; bnt^lie cele-
brated Stepben^ Hotpodar of WattHcboa, and MengUi*
Ohiieiy Khim of the Oiimea, wbo woe placed between and
in dxead of the Cblden HoTde, Tnarkey, and Lithuania, were
the foes of his foes, and his own natiml alHea^^hese he
difltmguished abote aU others; his MachiaTd&in policy,
while it ineessanHy deccftred them, still contrived to retain
them oa the side of IUisBi% and in perpetual hostility with
Lithuania, tiU he found the fkrourable moment for striking
it in hia tont y
Such were the allies aad the opponents of lyan III. /At
the beginning of his reign he acknowledged all their ||ghts ;
he cajoled all the hostile powers whidi he wished to destroy ;
he flattered all their pretenfflons, and oTen patienUy sub*
mitted to the abuse of them.^
iVom the time of his acoesaiony howerer, the fourfold con-
test which he was to anstsin against the Lithuaaians, the
possessors c^ araanages, the Bussian r^nblics, and the
Tatars, b^;aa with the latter; b^t^ mnarK with what pre-
cautions ! If he does not pay the iribuie of tie Khan^ if he
does not go to pickup his crown at the feet of that sorereign,
do not imagine that his young pride hauf^itily rejects uie
sham^ial necessitieB ittpoaed upon him by a half^yanquished
barbarian. No ; he merely eludes them, and, while he fiir-
iarely withholds the tribute, he humbly acknowledges him-
self a tributary. By-and-by the Tatar residents, their re-
tinue, their merchants, who were yet established even in the
Kr^Blin, were at length excluded from it. Who would not
ai^pose that, in a pow^ul sovereign, this so much desired
enfcancldsemeiit was the eflfect of a noble burst of ind%na-
tion ? Not so. On the contrary, it was by insidious pre-
texts, and by meanly purchasing the protection of a Tatar
woman, tiiat the Grand-Prince surreptitiously obtained isom.
the Ehan the order that these Mongols should no longer
dwell aa masters in the very abode of the Bussian sovereign.
At a later period, all that the high spirit of his wife^ the
daughter of the emperor of Byzantium, could obtain from
the autocrat) was, that he would avoid going to meet the
Mongol envoy; that he would no longer degrade himself by
spreadinff under tiie hoo& of tUa barbariaai'a steed a carpet
of sable lor; thathewottldiiotgD.topiQBtrateihimaQlf athia
iOS jaaxoBT ov bubsia. [ch. xu
feet ; tliat he would refuse to hear on his knees the letter of
the Khan; and would not submit to present the cup of
koumiss to the enToj of his master, and shamefullj lick
from the neck of the barbarian's horse the drops of the
beverage which mieht fall upon it.
And yet, as earfy as the first years of his reign, eastern
Bulgaria, and Kasan, the first and largest Tatar city, had
yielded to his arms; nay more, before that triumph and
after, the Golden Horde, which had thrice risen in a body
against him, had thrice fallen again, and the remnant of it^
closely pursued, had at length been destroyed, even in its
haunk
Behold, then, Asia vanquished, and Muscovy liberated!
History will, doubtless, henceforth represent the prince
under whom this mighty revolution was effected in no other
light thian that of a formidable warrior, a glorious conqueror
in his triumphal car ! But history dares not ; not even na-
tive historjjCaptive, and submissive, like everything tEat
springs fromthe-^ilusgian soil ; far, indeed, from thus repre-
senting this prince, shefdepicts him displaying, in an age of
combats, nothing but a feigned desire to combat. Some*
times, he announced his departure for Kasan with his armies,
which he afterwards left to others the task of conducting ;
sometimes, he at length set off himself, only to stop on the
road on the slightest pretext, not blushing to let his war-
riors march without him, and constantly recommending to
them to shun all decisive engagements. /
Yet more remains behind ; in 1469, after assembling all
Bussia, and exhausting all the resources of war, when his
army was marching to certain triumph, he stopped short !
To so many arms, all fully prepared, the vain hope of some
negotiations made him prefer having recourse to policy ; but
in£gnant Eussia rushed forward in spite of its prince : tho
general, who, in obedience to his orders, endeavoured to hold
it back, was left alone. Ivan learned that the Eussian war-
riors bad chosen another leader, and, finally, that, maugre his
pusillanimity, they had triumphed over the inhabitants of
Kasan. It was not till then, not till the fortunate and un-
punished daring of his subjects had thoroughly convinced
him of the weakness of Slasan, that he urged against it all
the princes engaged in his service, and even his guard ; but
AJy* 1468-SO] TV AS ni. vhx gbeat. 109
he Himself contmued at Moscow, still seriously alfirmed by
the last convulsions of the feeble enemy, though, to give the
final blow to that enemy, he had despatched the colossal
forces of the whole of Bussia !
It was tlms that he attacked ; how, then, did he defend
himself P ^^^ow did it happen that the Golden Horde, which
BO long bore sway, was thrice repulsed, and at length irre-
trievably destroyed P^rWhat were the combats of this new
Pmitri Donskoi, or, at least, those at which this Louis XIY.
was present ? What was the Actium of this Augustus ?
yftow vanquish so often, without a victory ? History does
not record even one. On the first invasion of Eussia by the
Horde, he hardly dared to give orders for his own defence ;
iBussia was saved by the Tatars of the Crimea alone. With
reroect to the second (1468), he relied solely upon numbers,
and collected forces so disproportionate to the danger^ that
it was dissipated by the mere rumour of their march./^" In
the eyes of the Khan," says the annalist, '^ our army moved
and shone like the waves of a majestic sea illumined by
the rays of the sun." It was merely by this display that
Ivan contented himself with a second time vanquishing his
enemy, whose flight was not even disturbed by the wary
autocrats
/On the third invasion by the Golden Horde, in 1480, when
ne had subdued the most dangerous of the Eussian republics ;
when he had succeeded in rallying his brothers to the
general cause ; when Lithuania, held in check by the Khan
of the Crimea, was sufficiently occupied in providing for its
own safety ; in short, when all Eussia, ardent and in arms,
advanced proudly as far as the Oka to meet the Tatars, he
alone was discouraged ! — ^he deemed himself conquered ! He
alarmed the capital by the flight of the czaritza, whom he
sent to find an asylum in a remote part of the north. He
stopped on the approach of the enemy, deserted his army,
and retired to the distant Moscow to hide his terrors; he
even recalled his son to that city. At the moment when
all might be lost, he seemed resolved to risk nothing that was
conniected with his person. /
iHut the priests, the people, even that son, were indignant J
and broke forth into murmurs : " Why had he overburdenedf
them with taxes, without payingthe Slhan his tribute P And
110 HuaroBX OF sirsau.. [cslzl
when he had bccmght the enemy into Aeheitft of the «iq^^
why did ha refiise to light for it P*' fie convoked the bidbbopB
and boyarSi for the puipoee, as he said, of asking tiieir adtioe ;
but they replied,* << Does it beoome mortala to dnad death !
It is in yain to fly from fear : march boldly ag^unst tiie enemy ;
such is our advioe !" His eon, £ur from obe;^Bg him, deelared
" that he would unshrinkingly wa^ the coming of tli^ Tatois ;
that he would rather die at his post than foSkm the exMople
of his father."
Thus driven back towards his army by the general damour,
the pusillaoimous autocrat returned to his troops to cool the
ardour which glowed in their breasts ; the &ar which pos-
sessed a single individual fettered the oouraffe of ail. Moaeow
learned that its soverei^ trembling behind a river (the
Lugra), which divided hun from tiie danger, was dia&nng
for a remnant of disgrace, that he was negotiatixip; his own
dishonour I Forhaps he was about to decade huaself and
Buasia so flagrantly as to kiss the stirrup of the Mongol !
Then it was that the primate addressed him: '^ Moved by our
tears, ;|^ou set out once moFe to combat the enemy of the
:€imsaans, and now you implore peace from that inndel who
scorns your pray^ ! Ah, prince, to what counsels have you
lent your ear ? Is it not, to throw away your shield, and
shamefully take flight P Erom what a height of ^;randeur
are you not descending ! Would you give up Bussia to fire
and sword, and the churches to ^under? And whither
would you fly ? Can you soar like the ea^ P Will you fix
your nest amidst the stars P The Lord will cast you down
even from that asylum I No ! you will not desert us ; you
will blush at the name of fugitive, and traitor to your
.country !"
But neither these animating exhortations, nor the fresh
reinforcements which thronged from all quarters, nor the
insulated situation of his enemy, whcHn the Lithuanian prince
could iu>t second, nothing, in short, had power to move that
most personal of all feelii^, autocratic selfishness! Dia-
armed of his Machiavellian policy, in which his genius entirely
consisted ; in the midst oi^ two hundred thousand waxrioffB,
Ivan believed himself powerless; without a blow strudk, he
* BjthemauliiofyaftiaD, AichUthop of Bostot SeeKacaxaria,
ToL vi. p. isa.
±ji. 1480] xvajr xn. tbx mxMm. Ill
imagined binuidf dedbitiite of Tesomee ; ftiid when tlie iee of
a pxemstnie imAer had obliterabed iA» mer wliioh serrod as
a bairier between the two armies, be was seized with con-
stematioD, detennined to fisdl back, and conld not even retreat
but with a disordezly flight !
Now at length, it m«y be supposed, we shall behold a
tyrant stripped of all his deiosiTe qnalitieB, redneed to his
instrinsic vslne, and consigned in this shameful nudity to
t^e contempt of his people, whom he deserted. Not so.
/kowever k^ he might have &llen; the immense interval
which sepucated him. from ike people, and even from his
nobles, was not jet traversed: the d^nigod had not yet
tondbed the eari^: in him was still Tei^ected Ins whole
ancestral line, and such vast . innate authority ! What Mus-
covite could dai» to conceive the possibility of dispensing y
with this son of Burik^ this descendant of St. Yh/daxDOiT/f
Dastardly as was the soiil of this prince, it seemed to be the
only one by wMdi Bussia could be animated : it might be
su|^^ed to be the exdusive condition of the national exist-
ence, and that this immense body could not resign it without
siueide*
Such a degree of servility seems wonderful ; and yet ire
t^nsH see it increased ! This strong, this rooted faith, was
rewarded by a miracle ! At the very moment when Bonsia,
in dismay^ believed that she had again fallen, and for ever,
into the ehsins of the Tatars, she learned, all at once, l^at a
sinular terror had scattered the army of her ferocious domi-
nators; that, jftuiing the premeditated inaction of Ivan, his
lieutenant dt SYenigorod, and his allies, were on ihe march ;
that one of those allies, the Khan of the Crimea, united to
that voyevode, had, hj attacking the Qolden Horde in its
ci^ital, eoxapeUed the menacing army to bend its course
homeward ; while the others, a liftman of the Cossacks, and
the munsa cf the Nogajs, stationed on the route takan by
the Mongols, had surprised iiiem during their disorderfy
retoDgiade vciareh, and had totaUy dratroyra l^em. /
^The m|wtery was now dis^dled i Ivan had prepared aveiy-
tning^ had feieseen everything. Begavded by his people as
a second Providence, his pusillanimity was now lookea uiM)n
as wisdom; his cowardice as prudence; his flight as asill.
He had vdshed to make his enemies their own deslgoyegss
112 HIBTOBT 07 BTTBBIA. [CH. Xt.
without risking;, like Dmitri Donskoi, the £&te of Sussia on a
battle, he had hj a diversion, in spite of herself and for ever,
delivered her from the Asiatic yoke ; the hour, the place, all
had been prescribed. Placed, like the Divinity, out of the
sphere of those whom he protected, he had contemned even
their contempt, and, unmoved by the clamour of his subjects^
had waited the appointed hour !
Thus it was that time, fortune, and Menghli-&hirei en-
sured the triumph of Ivan over his first adversaries ; but his
good fortune did not intoxicate him. Having attained his
purpose, he despised not the means by which he had attained
it. Though, with the authority of a master, he gave sove-
reigns to Kasan, he chose them from the family of the Khan
of the Crimea, his faithful ally. His court and his states
were peopled with refugee or * converted Tatar princes. His
attitude, however, was materially changed. The Turks of
Cafia had plundered some Eussian merchants. In the pusil*
lanimous Grand-Prince of 1480, who could recognise the
Czar of 1492, writing in the following terms to Sultan
Bajazet ? — ^** Whence arise these acts of violence ? Are you
aware of them, or are you not ? One word more : Mahomet,
your father, was a great prince ; he designed to send ambas-
sadors to com^iment me; God opposed the execution of
this prmect. W hy should we not now see the accomplish-
ment of it ?" This same Ivan, who was lately so terrified in
the presence of the Tatar, expressly recommended to his
ambassador at Constantinople, in 1498, '^ to be careful not
to do. anything to compromise the dignity of his master ; to
compliment the Sultan standing, and not on his knees ; to
address his speech only to that sovereign himself, and to
yield precedence to no other ambassador.'*'
It is true that, at the period in qu€tf(tion, Ivan had tri-
umphantly terminated another contest. Novgorod the Greafc,
Pskof, and Yiatka had been subjugated. During the first
seven years of his reign, and of his war against Kasan,
pestilence and famiae, the fit allies of tyranny, had enfeebled
those Eussian republics ; and the dread of the end of the
world, which was predicted to happen at that time/* had, by
* In 1465, according to the Greek chronology, the sev^rim thousand
years was completed, and that was believed to be the epoch of the end
of the world.
JkJ>. 1471] ^OTeOJLQB HITMBLBD. 118
tummg from esrth the paeBiozia <^ Ivan's 8»bjectBy afforded, a
aokoie free and seeuie scope to his own. >/
The insolent Yiatka bad, howeTer, declared itself neutral
between Kaaan and Moscow, and the {nnnee had dissembled
hia anger, lor JSToTgorod had also shown itself rebellioas: the
fUl of Kason had alarmed that great lepnblicy and already it
had ezdaimed to the Fe^oyians, '^ Take anns ! march with us
to destroy the 4b^otie power of Moscow !'' It was neces-
sary» therefor^ to neglect Yiatka, to gain P^f and its twelve
cities, and to CMnbine aU against Novgorod. That having
once &llen, all the rest would follow.
Novgorod, rather an ally than a subject of Moscow, reigned
over all the north of Bussia, whose exdusive commerce it
possessed, and which it had to protect against the Swedes,
the Livonion knights, and Lithuania. Bu^ since the time of
Ivan Kalita, immersed in luxury, it had ofitener ransomed
than defended its frcmtiers snd its liberties. Of the latter,
some had already slipped from its grasp; but, in 1471, em-
boldened by the presumed pusillanimity of the Grand-Prince,
it determined to resume them* It was stiipulated to this step
by Mac&, the rich and powerful widow of a Posadnick, who
is said to hare been enamoured of a Lithuanian. The idea
pleased her of bestowing her country on that of her lover.
Bhe was an ambitious woman ; and in the ambition of females,
the passions, are almost always exerted to the advantage of a
man. She opened her palace, and lavished her treasures on
the citizens of Novgorod. Th^ drove out the officers of the
Crrandf-Prince, and seized on his domains ; and, when the
surrender of Kasan allowed Ivan to return towards Novgo-
rod and make his threatening voice heard there, they broke
out into revolt, and.gave themselves, by a treaty, to Casimir
prince of Idthuania.
Here^ amidst his other affairs with the Tatars, Sweden,
Idvonia, Pskof^ and the princes, his kinsfolk, ib is curious to
observe the politic system pursued by Ivan aoainst this
fonnidable republic Let na especially notice ms equally
firm and flexible detOTminatJon ; entibtudastic in its purpose,
yet at tbe same time cool and penaevering in its means;
sometimes resorting to humility andMachiavellism^somefcimes
to pride and ierrot, but also to patienceykindnessi and gene-
VOL. I. I
114 HISTOBT 01* BUBBLl. [CH. XL
rosiiy. These considerations, coupled with the faults of his
antagonists, and the imperious circumstances of the period,
give to the establishment of Ivan the Third's tyrumy a
semblance of moderation and eyen of public utility.
^Vlaking allies of all that came in his way, he succeeded in
arming against the ultra-democracy of Novgorod the pride
of the nobles ; against its excessive opulence, the greediness
of the princes who were still possessed of appanages ; against
its treason and apostacy, the fanaticism of the people ; and
Novgorod, attacked at once by three armies, which were fol-
lowed by swarms of plunderers, resisted obstinately within,
faint-heartedly without, and was finally oveipowere<y^
Ivan affecteda moderation which he considered to be still
iadispwensable J^Being not yet sufficiently secured against his
ambitious relatives to allow of his seizing on so rich a prey
without giving them a share of it, he seemed to content him-
self with a ransom and the restitution of some domains : but
he ruined Novgorod by devastation and plunder ; and, in the
act of submission of that republic, the obscuri^ of some
ambiguous words reserved to nim the authority of legislator
and of supreme judge. >^his was the side by which he seized
the prey, and by which he gradually drew it towards him,
that he might at length whoUy devour it.
At the outset, he availed himself of the stupefaction pro-
duced by this first blow, and of an insult offered by the
Permians, to deprive the great city of those tributaries.
Thenceforth Moscow was enriched by the commerce of that
people with Germany, which had been formerly so much
coveted by Ivan Kalita. Then, on receiving intelligence of
an aggression of the Livonian knights, and under pretence of
affordnig succour to the great city, and to Fskof, he de*
spatched thither his ambassadors and troops, to fight and
negotiate in his name ; to render him j^resent everywhere ;
and thus to take from those rej^ublics, wmch were also drained
by his army, the right of matong peace and war.
At the same time/ke fomented the dissensions between the
Erincipal citizens of Novgorod and the lower class ; and w^en
e had succeeded in having all complaints addressed to him-
self, he went among them, to impoverish the rich by the
presents and magnincent receptions wUch his presence re-
A.D. 1471-8] NOYGOEOD HTJMBLISD. 116
quired, to dazzle the people by the new splendour of his
Oriental court, and to seduce them by the partiality of his
ju.9ticey^
^hen it was that he sent to Moscow, loaded with chains,
the nobles of Kovgorod who had formerly been his enemies.
He had procured their denunciation by the people, whose
blind jealousy exulted to see violated, in the persons of these
eminent men, the ancient law of the republic, "that none of
its citizens should ever be tried or punished out of the limits
of its own territory.'/ Thus it was that, craftily mingling
stratagem with forcei and justice with violence, Ivan dis«
unite^all his advers^s, made himself judge in all causes,
andigained the hearts of all the multi^de, the transports of
which followed him even to Moscow/^
These republicans seemed thenceforward desirous of appeal-
ing to no other dispenser of justice than the Grand-Prince ;
their complaints were carried to the foot of his throne ; and
he, the better able to avail himself of the opportunity,
because it was of his own making, immediately summoned
all these imprudent men to appear before nis tribunal.
" Never," say the anoalists — " never, since Iturik, had such
an event happened ; never had the Grand-Princes of Kief
and Yladimur seen the ITovgorodians come and submit to
them as their judges. Ivan suone could reduce Novgorod to
that degree of humiliation."
But the autocrat had succeeded in clothing all these
usurpations in seductive garbs. In all his encroachments he
seemed to be entirely above personal hatred. Marfa her-
self was not molested ; his grudge was not against persons,
for their esdstence is transitory, and their cries might excite
emotion, or betray his course ; it was against things, for they
are more durable, are silent ; and, besides, include or com-
mand persons. Making good subservient to evil, he em-
ployed seven years in weaning these republicans from their
customs^ I7 the generous moderation and equity of his
sentences ; and when, by this slow, gradual, and almost im^
perceptible progression, he thought that he had led these
blinded men &r enough astray from their ancient usages,
and had made them foxget their ancient liberties, then, on
every thoughtless movement to which he had given rise, and
1 2*
116 BiaiOBZ OV XITffllA. [CH. XE.
oneireiyimpriideiifleheliadexe&edylie groanddd a ckhn of
,^t length, the name of soyereisn, which was given to hina
during an aodienee, bj the inadyertenco or treason of an
enToy of the rrauWc, suffioed to make him instantly claim
all the righto or an absdnte maateor, which euatom then at-
tached to that title.* He required, therefore, that the
republic, should take an oath to him aa its legislator and its
judge; that it should reoeiye his boyars, with sll thesr arbi-
trarj yeocaitiona^ eQcroaohmentsy and ruinoua oppressionB;
that it should yield to iskem the reyered palace of Yaroslaf,
the sacred temple of Noygorodian liberty; their forum,
where, for more than fiye centuries, their public assemblies
had been held ; and, lastly, that each citizen should abdicate
hia shar^of tiie soyeragnty for the benefit of a single indi-
vidual./
This sudden explosion of tyranny was ree^nded to hy a
counter ^cAofixm of indignation and ind^endence. The
yell dropped jGrom the eyes of Novgorod ; the cherished voice
of its liberty, its vetchvoi kohholy or great bell, uttered a last
peal of alarm; it summoned the dtuena to that fbram from
which there was now an intention of expelling them tsx ever.
Novgorod arose with one accord, and exdauned, '| Ivan is,
in tBnebf our lord, but he shall nev^ be our sovereign ; the
tribunal of his deputies may sit at Ooroditch, but never at
Novgorod ; Novgorod is, and always idiallbe, its own judge."
Then, in their transports of rage, these imfortunate men
completed the aMenatiiHi of the nobles^ by the massacre of
several of them, whom they believed to oe accomplices of
tyraimy. Their imprudent envoy, whom they loudly dis-
avoweOy was compelled to appear before them ; they tried,
cHamozoualy condemned, and tore him into a thousand pieces;
and a second time they gav^e themselves up to Lithuania,
^V^ prince they invoked to their aid.
/when the pmectly. foreseen intelligence of thid righteous
insurrection reaohec^ihe ears of the crafty despot, he feigned
a painfiil suiprise^lie uttered groans: if he were to be
beheved, it was he^ fius impost<»*, who had been treacherously
* The envor ad^seed IVan liy the ^Hs ef Oosmbr^ liege lord,
iiiBteadof Gmpoc^tii, masteivwhsdi had been UiBal v^
i«o. 1478] KOTBiaos humbxiIs. 117
deeeiTed. Be aeented ilie i&Ynded of haTXiig mread ft himen
for the inyader; ^it wsb tfaej wiio sooglit Bim for tiwiv
soTereig^; and when, jieldmg to their wishes, he h«d as-
sumed that title, they disavoi^ him; they had ihb bapv^
dence to give him the lie formally in the fiioe of all Bossia;
they had dsured to died the hlood of tibeir eompaiaiots who
remain^ faithful, and to betsay Heaven and the holy land of
the Eussians, by caUii^ into its limits a foreign religion and
domination"
The tyrant addressed these hypocntkai complaints to his
EriestSy to his noblee^ to his people ; to all Ihe vommn of
eaven and earth, which he was arraying against wese hap-
less republicans. Pskof and Tver aloQe appear to hare
hesitated ; but, under the f<»nn of a contingeot, he swept
away the whole of their military resources; &r he never
undertook more than one thing at a time, and, with jBriends
as with foes, he had the art of combiBing the effibits of all
against a single opponent.
Surrounded by so many enemies, I^orgorod was tenified,
and endeayoured to obtain coBditicms. ^'I will veign at
Novgorod as I do at Moscow," at length exdaimed the
despot : " I must have domains on your tmitory ; yon mast
give up your Posadnick, and the bell which summons yon to
the national council !" Tet, always fraudulent, he, in the
same breath, promised to resect a liberty which he deprived
of every means of defence.
On hearing this terrible declaration, the unfortonate
citizens were thrown into the most viotent agitaticau Seve*
ral times did they furiously seize their arms, and as often did
they sink again into helpless despondency. Meanwhile,
they were closely watched by the crafby autocrat. For a
whole month, though the sword was in his lumd, heremained
immovable; for he did not amuse himself with gbry. Bis
patient strength knew how to wait; he had oolleeted such
abundance of warlike means only to avoid war : and all this
innumerable army of combatants only to prevent a combat.
It was by consternation that he was desirous to vanquish ;
and, contracting by degrees the eirde of fiie and sword,
which he had drawn round the r^ubhc, he overbore sand
terrified it by his formidable presence. His all-powerful
118 HISTOBY 07 RUSSIA. [CH. XL
arm, though so long raised, did not suffer fatigae ; its weight
sank but gradually on these unhajppj beings ; and, by the
infJEdlible effect of this slow and inevitable compression, with-
out striking a blow, it at length compelled their despair to
give place to resignation.
The system of circumspection thus displayed in the contest
was equally pursued after the victory ; the melancholy recol-
lection of which was not stained with blood. Marfa and
seven of the principal Novgorodians were the only persons
who were sent prisoners to Moscow, and had their property
confiscated ; but, on the 15th of January, 1478, the national
assemblies ceased, and the citizens took the oath of slavery.
On the 18th the boyars entered voluntarily into the ser-
vice of the victor ; and the possessions of the clergy, united
to the domain of the prince, served to endow the three hun-
dred thousand boyar-followers, the immediate vassals of his
own creation, by whom the autocracy of Moscow over all the
rest was to be permanently secured. He exacted the sur-
render of a great part of the territories belonging to the city,
and he is said to nave conveyed to Moscow three hundred
cart*loads of gold, silver, and precious stones, besides a vast
quantity of fim, cloths, and other valuables.
In the following years the plan was followed up ; the fate
of the Eussian republics was sealed (1479). Viatka, a Nov-
gorodian colony, which was animated by the same spirit, was
subjugated with the same precautions. The Grand-Prince
had appeared inattentive to its rebellions — ^insensible to its
insults, as long as Kasan and Novgorod resisted ; but when
those states were reduced to submission he burst forth, and
it was by another display of irresistible force that, without a
combat, he annihilated this republic also. The blood of three
guilty persons was sufficient to satisfy his long-concentrated
irritation ; but he left there nothing out slaves.
The colony being destroyed, he returned to repeat his
blows on the parent city. S'rom 1479 to 1528, at each con-
Yulsion of the protracted agony of the great but now expiring
Novgorod, the yoke increased in weight ; till, exhausted of
its republican population, which was wholly transplanted to
the slavish soil of Moscow, it was re-peopled by Muscovites.
The restless and capricious idtra-democracy of Novgorod
formed a state within a state; its existence was no less in-
A.I>. 1478] yOTGOBOD HrMBLED. 110
compatible than that of the appanages with the existence of
the Grand-Prince. Political necessity, therefore, impelled
Ivan to this great encroachment. As to the pretext, whether
Marfa was excited by ambition, patriotism, or love, to seek,
in a foreign prince, a protector less dangerous than the sove-
reign of Moscow, her motive is of little consequence; the
MachiaveUism of Ivan, in first fraudulently pilfering, and
then violently seizing upon, all the liberties of the republic,
did but too well justify the efforts of that celebrated woman.
It is a remarkable circumstance, that the most fatal blow
which Ivan gave to Novgorod was an involuntary one. Till
1492, that commercial mart had been singularly populous,
rich, and powerful ; and it is truly worthy of attention that,
notwithstanding its barbarism, and so many foreign wars and
internal dissensions, the fruits of its popular government,
still the commercial prosperity of that capricious city con-
tinued to increase: so much, even in its most disorderly
form, is liberty favourable to commerce. It would seem as
if, amidst all their excesses, a free people preserve, in this
respect, the instinct of their true mterest ; while absolute
power, in such cases, is perpetually falling into errors.
As long as Novgorod was free, the Hanseatic cities, not-
withstanding her frequent intestine commotions, continued
to traffic therewith a confidence which was never misplaced ;
but, in the early days of her servitude, a burst of despotic
anger destroyed the source of her prosperity. Ivan the Third,
so skilful in extending and securing his power, committed a
iault which, during seven centuries, the popular assemblies
of the mad and inconstant republic had never committed.
Having been insulted by a Hanseatic city, he ordered to be
put in chains, at Novgorod, all the merchants of all the cities
^f that union, and confiscated the whole of their property.
iFrom that moment confidence was no more, the commerce of
the North took another route, and the great Novgorod,
which, for many centuries, was able to muster a force of
forty thousand men, and which is said to have been peopled
by four hundred thousand souls, is now nothing more than
an insignificant borough.
120 ■ HISTOBT OV BU0SIA. [OS. XU.
CHAPTEE Xn.
IVAN in. coNTnnjBD.
Oir that vast fidd, meanwhile, from which ereiy othm?
specieB of ambitioQ had been swept awaj, the Gnrnd-Fnnce,
and the princes possessed of appanages (feudahsm and auto-
cracy), were alone left standuig, and now confiponted each
other ; therer was no longer any intermediary between them,
nothing to divert tli^ir attention to another quarter: accord-
ingly, they were not slow to come into hostile collision.
But in this third grand contest there was nothing unfore^
seen ; the autocrat had long been prepared for it ; it began
in his heart at the moment of his accession. The enmm-
chisement J&om the GDatar yoke was, however, more pressing ;
that prelude was necessary, and the enslaying of the Bus-
sian republics was more ea^.
Accordingly, in this third contest, he had hitherto pro-
ceeded with a still more circumspect tardiness ; for here the
question related to individuals of a nature simiJar to his own,
and always less easily circumvented than large bodies. It
was for this reason that, during twenty^-tluree years, his
Machiavellian patience recognised the rights of all those
princes, and even their independence; all tibat he could
ventixre to do, in spite of their complaints, was to keep his
conquests without giving than any share, and to retain the
inheritance of two of his brothers, who left no heirs. When,
however, in 1480, his two other brothers revolted, and with-
drew into Lithuania, plundering everything in their way ;
as he had not yet finished with the Horde and the re-
publics, he humbled himself to the very earth, and brought
the fugitives back by the most abject supplications, and the
most important concessions. But at length, in 14^, Nov-
gorod was crushed, the Golden Horde was destroyed, the
lAVonian knights were vanquished, and the impotence of
Lithuania was obvious. The time was, therefore, come;
and as everything was prepared for it, the attack was imme*
diately commenced on the prince of Tver. "
As a consequence of the invariable policy of the Grand-
Princes, Ivan III., guided by Vassili, his father, had formally
espous^, at the age of twelve years, the princess of Tver ; at
A.B. 1490] lYAir ni. AITB THl AWASABED PBIKGES. 121
eigkteen, he had a 9on by this mamase, who was afbnrwaids
married to the daughter of Stephen, hospodar of Moldavia,
and b^ that son he had a grandson. But, in 14S5, having
lost his irst consort, he was wedded agun, to a Gredi: prin-
cess. Hs son ^ed$* the ties that connected Ivan witii
Tver were tfans broken, and since then, for a lon^ period, he
had held that first and hist rival of Moscow, in a manner
surrouHded and besieged bj his conquests.
In this instance, ms aggressive system was exactly the
same that he had acted upon agamst NoT^orod. He began
by terrifying the prince of IVer with his ambition; and,
when he had led him to call Lithuania to his assistance, he
raised the erf of tteaoon ; he armed, and dismayed his victim
by the fonmdable aspect of all his irritated power. His
feigned moderation was to be propitiated only by conces-
sions, which deprived his feeUe adversary of every means of
resisting him in &tnre. Then, aroiding the ostentatious
show of dmgerons power, which he had learned to render
useless, it was hj an underhand war, hy concealed violences,
that he achieved this conquest ; he stiired up a host of dis-
putes between the Muscovites and the Tvenans, and mani-
fested such partiality against the latter, that they abandoned
so wearisome a cause in &gust. All came and ranged
themselTeB nnder the protection of Moscow; while their
prince, driven to despair, had no asylum left but Idthuania,
where he died without posterity.
Tver being united with Moscow, all speedily thronged to
that centre of attraction. The period of circumspect ma-
nagement was gone by-; Ivan Btit>de rapidly onward to his
object: he spoke, and the sovereigns of Bostof and Yaroslaf
dared not be anything more than governors of those princi-
palities. A burst of his anger sufficed to strike such terror
into the prince of Vereia, that he fled into Lithuania, and
the autoehit punbhed his fear and his flight by compelling
* In 1490. His malady hegan witfh shooting pains in the legs.
Histr Lo(v.a JFew physicuuiy imdertook the cue, pledging his head
for its success, ^x wedks after the ]Ninoe's death Ivan had the an-
lucky physician publicly executed. Another physician named An«
thony, a Grerman, suflbred the same penalty in 1425, for having by
violeat remedies acodentted the death of a Tatar |«inoe. He was
given up to the xdations of the deceased, and hotchered by tbiua.
124 HZBTomT or BirmiA. [oh. xit.
only on addifaoinal cnem j, irhom be luid axtfnlly introdneed
into the heart of his t^YerearfB Btates. She csurried tMttier
the Greek religion^ whieh was that of all the BoBauniB who
weie Btill aabject to lithuania. Bj them Bbe waa looked up
to as th^ arowed protectreBs, whilst they were pexBocvted
hj her husband, as sealous a Oatholic as he was a con-
temptible politiciai^/
/j[yan added fuel to this smooldermg fire ; and when ^^
conflagration of a religious war at length burst forth, claiming
Heaven as his all;^ , and gathering coura^ from the cnes <»
his fellow-religionists, who implored his aid, he at last, about
1500, ventured, by a victory, to resume, as far as the walls of
£ief and Smol^sk, apart of the conquests wjdehwere made
£rom his ancestors by Guedimin and v itovl^
Thus was all accomplished at once, almost wiiiiout conn
bats, and by the same patient, perseverix^ Machiav^lism,
advancing slowly and gradually, and not patting out its
strength till it had rendered the enemy so weak, and its own
power so strong, i^at the mere display of the latter was
sufficient to annihilate all opposition.
We behold a triple revolution of men, of things, and of
manners, at length consummated. But, for a long period,
Ivan, the sole centre of this sphere, had been looked xs^od. by
the Eussians aa the source of all things. But havmg so
many internal enemies, whence did he derive this autoeratic
ascendancy ? By what illusions did he fasdnate such nu*
merous hostile gazers ? How happened it, that all pomr
capable of resisting his orders was thenceforth to appear dis-
order P Exposed singly to so many domestic foes, whom he
curbed, how was the pusillanimous Ivan enabled at length to
overlook them &om such an elevation l^at, even acccHdingto
their own avowal, he seemed to he iheir terregfyrial deUff
A last glance thrown on some particular details of this
great life will explain to us the phenomenon. From the first
years of his reign, what a long series of efforts concurred to
the accomplishment of his purpose ! Stratagems, intr^es,
fallacious promises, even an oath to apostatise, fitnn which
be was released by the heads of his religi<Hi; nothing wafr
thought too much that could forward his designs. He was
desirous to obtain the Pope's assent, that Sophia, the last
princess of the Gre^ imperial iamily, who, beii^ dis^SBeaMftt^
of Byzantium by the Turks, had taken refuge at Bome, should
jLb. 1500] lYiiS in. ZHB GBjEAT. 12S
eoma to adorn hk throne, to consolidate it with all ber xi^ts,
a^ to ^lyiron it with all her fasciiiaticms.
yOonstantinople is, in the eyes of the Busaiana, the aacred
soizioe of the faith which they ^fess ; its emperors long
gave to them their primates ; it is thence that they derive
their written characters,* their vi^ur baiiha, a part of their
manners and usages, tibe saints to whose images they pay an
idolafcrous worship, and, lastly, the supreme religion. They
had been brought to them, in a former age, by a Gredc
princeas; it was she who had made their Yladimir that
master of their destiny on earth, their holy protector in
heaven* I^ow that Byzantium was become captive to the
Turfcfi, the dexterous Ivan wished that a second (^leek
princess should come to render Moscow the heir of that
Byzantium^ that she should bring, aa her dowry to its
Chraiid-Erince, the two-headed es^le^ that symbol of auto-
CEacj, and the title of Gear, whicV^s the Bussians tell us,
IB i^Qitical with tiiat ci supreme qdthorfif^X He wished that
she shoidd introduce into his pdaee the haughty hierarchy
of the sumptuous court of Gonstanjone, and its. pompous
cer^nonies ; in a word, thair despc^smi of divine right by
which devotedness to the lajnce woald be stn^gfchened and
eveiL sanctified in Buseiy^This thooeratio power, togeth^
witii the iron yoke wludlaviuiLinhesited from iJie Tatan, and
ihe entirely military constitution which was soon to be added
by a great man, were destined to/ complete the most extra-
ordinary concurrence of dreun^tances that ever formed
prioces to despotism and nations, to slavery.
* Their mode of writlngr dates from the year 865 : it came from
Hbravuu The Btissiaii alphabet was' then inTentcd theie, by a phflo**
sophax named ConBtaoiiiie. This learned man had been sent from
Byzantium to translate the Scripturea into the language of the country.
In the time of Yladimir, ahout 981, there were to be seen at Kief in-
KiiptionB engrarFen ht'tlus character;
t Until after the ibarriage of Ivaii I£L wil^ Sophia the eognisaiice
oi the Graad-Ptini^ had always been a figure of St« Gecurge killing
theDn^n.
% This title occasionally appears efven earlier in Bussian history. It
18 not a conniption of the word CcesoTy-as many hare supposed, but is
an old Oriental werd which the Builpia&s acquired tluough the l^ayonic
IzanriatioB of the Bilde» and which they beetowed at first on the Greek
emperotSy and afterwards on the Tatar Khans* In Persia it signifies
throne, supreme authority, and we find it in the terminatlQn of the
nameff citbe kdngs of Assyria and Babyion, sudi as Phalasisar, Kabon-
aasar, Ac— Kararoain.
126 HISTOBX OF BUBBIA. [CH. XH.
.Nor was this all : %y his union with that imperial scion, the
skiKul and powerful hand of Ivan seems to have turned back
the face of ids empire from east to west. He brought the
weight of the Eussian throne into the balance of Europe.
Bussia, which, during nearly three centuries, had been ole-
tached from civilisation, was asain to be Hnked wit^ it bj the
ties of policy, and by those ofarts and sciences^It was the
Greeks, expelled from Constantinople, and sheltered in Ital^,
who convei^d those arts to Moscow, in the train of then:
sovereign^^n fact, by a singular conformity of circumstances, .
thoso Greeks, vanquished in their turn near the ancient and
Homeric conquests of their ancestors, had come like JBneas .
and his Trojans of old to dignify Italy also, by taking re&ge
theve with their household gods.
/rhis was the reason why the crafty Ivan seemed willing to ,
sacrifice even his religion to obtain this high alliance from
the Pope, who was then the protector of the Greek princess. J
See how triumphantly he caused to be conducted through
his states this sovereign, who came to deify his power ! Hear
the language of his nobles and his priests : " God," said
they, " sends him this illustrious spouse, an offset of that im-
perial tree, the shadow of which was formerly spread over
all orthodox Christian brothers. Portunate alliance ; which
brings to mind that of the Great Yladimir, and which will
make another Byzantium of Moscow, and give to its Grand-
Princes all the rights of the Greek emperors !*'
Thenceforth, a sumptuous train was requisite to the new .
autocrat. The novel pageantries of Constantinople came to ^
fascinate the eyes of these barbarians. At the same time, .
his people saw him raise the massy walls of the Ejremlin, the
awe-inspiring abode, the formidable fortress of autocracy;
and als^that first church of stone, included within its circuit, .
which the Muscovite architects had thrice endeavoured to
construct,. ^d which had thrice fallen on those unskilful.
artificersy/T^othing was neglected by Ivan ; founders, «igi*-
neers, architects, miners, and minters, were invited from
Germany, and firom Italy, and, following the footsteps of a
civilised princess, they venti^od to penetrate into those
almost unknown countries^ /Pre-eminent among these
foreigners was the architect and engineer Aristotie of
Bologna, who built the Kremlin, and founded cannon, which
i..I). 1600] ITAK III. THE GEBAT, 127
was used for tHe first time, and with immediate success, in
1482 at tlie siege of I'elling in Lironmi The Swedes did not
use cannon till thirteen years later^^^/Che mines of Petchora
were discovered in 1491 ; and Bussia, for the first time, saw
silver and copper money, the produce of its own territory,
coined in its capital./
We may imagine what a strikingly impressive effect must,
at that period, have been produced by a throne which was
raised to such a prodigious height that religion itself, every-
where else so dominant, served as one of its supporters, — a
tbrone whose summit, just beginning to emerge from the
obscure night in which all these tribes were still stagnating,
like a luminous point in the darkness, shone to their wonder-
ing eyes with all the splendour of the most gorgeous civil and
reb'gious ceremonies, and with the first rays of European
civiSsation.
Observe with what care this Louis XIV. of barbarism
turned these advantages to account. Proclaiming his divine
right, it is in the midst of this pomp that we hear him ex-
claim, "The high and holy Trinity, from which we have
received the government of all Eugpia ;" to which, according
to his prompting, the interpreter of that Trinity responds,
"Tjbie empire which you hold from God himself."
yWhen, subsequently, the repubHcans of Pskof dared to
oommunicate with him otherwise than by a respectful em-
bassy, he instantly astounded them by his indignation ; nor
did he allow himself to be appeased, till after he had long
bent them under the weight of his wrath, that he might be
certain they would never again lose the servile feeling thus
deeply and protractedly impressed. In like manner, he would
not grant his protection to the Livonian knights till, instead
of requesting, they had supplicated for it. In his diplomatic
instructions, we see him eager to ally himself with the en-
lightened courts of Europe, but pursuing that object with all
the precautions of the most susceptible pride ; he seemed to
fear that European civilisation might treat him as im upstart,
an Oriental barbarian, the tributary of a Horde. '
It was for this reason that he, who so carefully studied the
poHcy of ^rope, and deemed it of such high importanop to
Dnag his throne in contact with other thrones, did yet jfor a
mere omission of formalities, refuse to receive the Aidstrian
128 . HUXQBT 07 BVaSU. [OH. XH.
enTOfy and even drove hiin from hia preteneo^He fovoed the
emperor to treat with him aa hia equal; mi if hia aBtgeete
may be beliofed, he eren denied hia daag^tor to the kiag of
the Bomima, Yiemia not having conaeaated to all &e eoi^oea-
Biotia whidi he required/^
/As to the Mai^rave of Baden, the union of hia danger
with Idiat Gkrmon prince af^eared to him a dearo^iMtory
alliance. When Maarimilian endeaTonred to flattte hia am-
bition with the title of king, Ivan hanghtilj dedared to him
" that he would not degprade himself l^ receiving titlea from
any pcmpe on earth, and* that he held hia crown from God
/ Throogli him it was that the Bnsaiaa bojara lost tbeir
ancient right of qidttmg the service of the Qrand-Fnnce
to enter/that of the other princes who still possessed appa-
nages. /And what boyar, what Eussian prince of the bilood,
comd ntenorfortli have such an opinion of his own greatness
as not to humble himself before the daaaling spl^otdour of
this sovereign majesty? Already blended together, and
oblivious of personal dignity, all crowded around him, and,
like ike nobles of Byzantium, esteemed it an honour to
be admitted into his dameatic establishment. AccordiQ£;ly,
they soon were absorbed in it entirely, and had no ol^er
existence than in the servile offices of which he delighted to
multipty* From this epoch it was that they began to con*
aider as hi»*editaiy those dvil, military, and domestic ranks,
and to contend with eacK other for precedence ; but did they
dare to avail themsehes of it in contravention of hia orders,
then, depriving their vanity of this last resource, he declared
to them " tiiat they ought to submit without, a murmiu* to
the will of their sovereign, and that when the queaiion
related to his service every office was good."
Affcer the death of his eldest son, however, the issue of his
first marriage, these nobles are said to have pushed their
intri^es even to the foot of Ivan's throne, to secoie the
inheritance of it to the son of the regretted prince ; it is
said, too, that these worthy ancestors of the boyara of Peter
the Great slandered their Greek CEantza, the mother of a
seooad son, out of hatred to ike commencement of civilisation
which she proteeted, and the foreipmra whom die had kitro- ^
duced«. One fret is certain, tfiatTlvaa being misled to be- i
AJy. 1500] ITAK HI. THE OSBAT. 129
lieve that Sophia intended to poison his daughter-in-law and
his grandson Dmitri, at first disgraced that princess, and
caused Dmitri to be solemnly crowned as his successor ; but
afWrwards, on better information, he restored Sophia to his
favour, and with a view to preserve his innovations, he made
her son his heir, to the exclusion of Ms grandson, whom he
consigned to perpetual imprisonmentyr^Ivan would not leave
behind him this leaven of discord ; in tnis circumstance, as was
done at a later period, and more cruelly, by the regenerator
of Kussia, he sacrificed evervthing to reasons of state. It
was on this occasion that Pskof ventured to expostulate, in
behalf of the elder branch, against the heir whom he had
chosen. ** Am I not, then, at liberty to act as I please ?*' he
haughtily replied. " I will give Eussia to whom I think
proper, and I command you to obey." And he had the
enxoys thrown into prison.
/As to the boyars who had taken part in these intrigues,
their rank, hitherto respected, did not shield them : whether
accusers or accused, they were successively victims of the
prince's credulity, or of his vengeance. Eussia, dumb with
astonishment, witnessed, for the first time, the fall of several
of those illustrious heads : a word from Ivan sufficed to strike
them off as easilvTis though they had belonged to the meanest
of his subjects. /^'
Is it therefore astonishing that all should have bent down
before this autocrat, whose able hand, rending the veil which
concealed Eussia from Europe, had forced it to pay homage
to his ^ower ; whose policy possessed the art of obtaining
the services of all, without ever serving any ; and who had
added to Eussia nineteen thousand square miles and four
millions of subjects, by extending it from Kief to Kasan, and
as far as Siberia and Norwegian Lapland ? Personally, it
is true that he conquered nothing; but, on the other hand,
free from the infatuation of warrior-kings, he knew how to
pause opportunely, to acquire as much, to retain more, and
t%dose nis career under happier auspices.
/rHe was the ^st to borrow the arts of civilisation ; but for
himself only, as the means of riches and power, and much less
to enlighten than to dazzle his subjects/ To him as their
second legislator, the Eussians are indebred for a reform in
the manners of their clergy, over whom he presided in their
VOL. I. K _
/ \
A80 .filBTOST OF fiUBSI^. [CH. XCX.
oouneilii ; a jBrat attesipt at a geneoral jaeiziiro of the ppo-
perty of that order; ana, in flpite of thdr fumous criea, the
supp^esaiQii, bj meanfi of ridicule .and exile alone, of a faeDBsy
whieh the BomtB of the day iviahed to extfinninate by fire.
T)im Jewish herefiy consiBted in (^qpectiog the adyent cf
the Measiah; denying and cusmg Uhrifit and the Holy
Yirgin ; spifcting on the images of the saints, said teacing
them with the teeth; dkbeHeTing Paradise and the resor*
rection of the dead; and putting faith in a caballstioal
book given to Adam by Groi himself. Prom that book
Solomon was imagined to have deriyed his wisdom; and
Moses, Joseph, Mias, and Daniel, their power over the
elements 4Uia monsteEs, itheir skill in the interpretation of
dreams, and their faoulW of looking into futurity. Zosimus,
the primate, is said to have been the head of these heretics.
" 'We see," exclaimed at that period St. Joseph of Yolok,
''we see a son of Satan seated on the throne of the holy
prelates ; we see a devouring wolf under the garb of a simple
shepherd i They ace no more, they have flown to the bosom
of Christ, those daring eagles of iteligion, those godly bishops
who would have rdtilessly torn ouit with their talons every
eye that was bold enough to look askance on the divinily of
the Saviomr ! Now, in the garden of the Ohurch, we hear
nothing but the hiss of a horrible reptile, which vooouts forth
blaigftLemy f^ainst the Lord, and agamst his blessed mother."
;. But Ivan did not allow himself to be led away by these in-
' sane declamations ; he contented himself with causing the
^ heopesy to be anathematised, banishing the heiretics, and nomi-
nating another primate. He himself by virtue of his sujpre-
macy over the Chmrch, and his divine ri^ht to the thrcEoe^
undertook the inauguration of the new pnmate ; thus it was
that he ti^ed everythix^ to the advantage of his own au-
t^i>rity. /
, ' A sysliem of policy and admzoistratian ist length began to
preside over the destixry of Sussia ; everythin|; was classified
and fell into its pkoe ^ the roads and their stations, the police^
the army, ware more regularlr organised ; the taxes more
w^ormJy and better assessed., In the thousands of boyaiv
followers, new possessors of milittary fie&, a kind of spahis,
such as are still seen in Turkey, we rocQgnise the institutiani
of a petty &aiidal nobiUly^ but without aggradation of lank,,
XM. 1505] IVAJR m. SBSB asBAff. 181
and dependent solely on the throne, the strength of which it
constituted.
A new code appeaired; it related and taxed the
liberty which the peasants possessed of changing their
lords ;* it determined the Emits of slavery ; and, though it
was f0i?oed to confide the diapenfiing of justice to the aobles,
and to those boyar-followers, the new proprietors, it joined
to them the ddeors, the chief men, and the ciyil funotionarf
of the place.
As to the rest ; in this barbarouB code eyeorytfaing partahes
of the keenness of the f^ord, which is brought into action
in every part of it. Single combat decides upon the ma-
jority of criminal offences ; in cases of sui^ieoa, where repu-
tation is not spotless, torture is called in to enlighten Justuses
A first theft (the spoliation of a church or the kidnapping of
a fllave excepted) was punished with the knout and confisca-
tion of all the criminal's property, half of which went to the
injured person. The poor ^culprit was given up to his
accuser to be dealt with at discretion. A second robbery
WBB punished with death without any formality, when &v4t
or six honest citizens deposed on oath that the o&nder was a
known thie£ The penalties of Xvan^s code are coufiscatian,
the knout, slavery, and death, the level of his despotism.; it is
since his reign that the Bussians have astonished Europe by
their blind servility, foreigners, as well as his subjects,
denomiQate him Ivan the Oveat. The Bussia of Oleg, of
Yladimir, and of Yaroslaf, listed 3io longer ; it is the Russia
of Ivan III,, reformed by Peter the Gbeat, i^at still exists.
Ivan in. died in 1505, at the age*of sixty-seven, after a
reiign of forty-three years and a half. His son Yassili sue*
ceeded him withoitt (^position. Pour years affc^rwarda a
violent death terminated the cruel captmty of his grandson
Dmitri
• The law of Ivan IIL^Allo^ed the' peasants, or free labonrers, i»
i»S8 from one village to another, that is, to change their lords; but only
in the eight days before and after St. George's day. The abolition of
tins privilege by Boris Godunotf, made the Bussiim peasant a slave, as
he is at ttus day.
e2
132 HIBTOBY Oir BUSSIA. [CH. Xtlti
CHAPTER XIII.
YASSIU IT. IVANOVITCH — IVAN IV. THE TEEEIBLE.
Vassili's reign of twenty-eight years was virtually but
the prolongation of that of Ivan III., whose principles he
followed in his domestic and foreign policy with equal in-
flexibility. Less celebrated for the fortune of his arms than
for his successful cunning and intrigue, he maintained the
dignity of the empire bequeathed to him by his father, and
enlarged its extent.
His first warlike effort had an inauspicious result. In
1508 he sent a great army, under his orother Dmitri, to
punish the refractory people of Kasan, who had murdered
the Eusisian voyevode placed among them with an authority
similar to that of the British residents at the subsidise^
courts of India. This expedition was remarkable for the
imprudence and the alternate defeat of the two rival armies ;
but the last and heaviest blow was that sustained by the
Eussians, who were utterly routed with great slaughter.
The victors, uniting with the Tatars of the Crimea, invaded
Eussia, and carried their ravages up to the gates of Moscow,
which they filled with dismay. Vassili, true to his father's
temporising policy, did not shrink from the disgrace of pur-
chasing the safefy of his capital by the payment of a lai^e
ransom, and by putting his seal to a Ireaty by which he
engaged to become tributary to Makhmet-Khan. Satisfied
with having thus humbled their foe, the Tatars retired,
carrying with them 300,000 prisoners, whom they exposed
for sale at Caffa, in the Crimea, where they were purchased
as slaves by the Turks.
Vassili's vengeance was delayed by pressing engagements
at home, and by a war of ten years with Poland, which ter-
minated in the recovery of Smolensk from that power (1523).
He then assembled an army of one hundred and fifty thou-
sand men, and sent it against Xasan in two divisions, one by
land, the other by water. The latter division was almost
annihilated by the Tcheremisses before it reached its destina-
tion ; and the land army, deprived of its supplies, and decimated
by famine and sword, returned in a wretched plight to Moscow.
A J). 1533] ' IH9 BBeXNT HSUSNA. 183
For six j^ears Yassili patiently digested tliis further disgrace ;
at.last, in 1530, he sent a third expedition against Kasan. It
would probably have shared the fate of its predecessors if
the Xasanians had been as watchful by night as they wer»
yaliant by day ; but their negligence enabled some of the
[Russians to creep unseen up to the palisades, smear then
with resin and sulphur, and set them on fire. In a moment
the fortress was wrapped in flames, the Eussians burst in
and massacred sixty thousand of the astounded Tatars.
There remained only twelve thousand inhabitants in the
heart of the city, which might easily have been taken ; but
prince Belski, Vassili's nephew, bribed it is sf^id by the
jS[asanians, cons^ted to enter into a treaty of peace with
that handful of men.
The only other events of interest in Vassili's reign were
the annexation of Yereia, the last of the appanages, and the
extinction of the republic of Pskof, the last abode of Eussian
liberfy. He died m 1533, leaving the empire further en-
larged and consolidated by his wary management.
Then began the reign of the infant Ivan IV. The hideous
scene opened with the saturnalia of that court which the two
preceding autocrats had suddenly called into existence, in
the midst of coarse and brutal ignorance. Its nobles were
barbarians, either upstarts or fallen from their pristine state.
A great number of them were of the blood of Kurik. For-
merly, the whole empire was the theatre of their ambition ;
its partition into appanages, their end; civil war, their
means : but, now that all was concentrated in the prince,
their sole arena was his court; their end, the precarious
power derived from favouritism ; their means, intrigue ; they
were without rules, without manners accordant to their
novel situation ; they knew no other restraint than an iron
despotism, whose rude and ponderous mass had fallen into
the hands of a female of blighted character, the mother of an
in&nt who was only three years of age.
Helena was the second regent of the Eussians* Since
the time of Olga, no similar instance had before occurred.
Muscovite manners would have dictated that the widow of
Yassili Should be dead to the world; that a convent and
a new name should have hidden her sorrows froin public
view; and the grandees were indignant to see the sceptoe
IZA ^mrnoxT m laiBmjL^ [oh. xmn
of Suxik in tbe hsndb ef thiife Lithuanian widb^, sod of her
paramoar, whom. ^< daved to impose oat them* as a mast».
Fov fbcor yeavS) however, the impure eonple kept tiieir
ground hy meana of despotism. That wei^on, so illegiti^
mate that it fits any hand that dares to wield it, ga^e si
answer to ail ^ to the indignation of the three nndes of lyaa^
it replied by a lingering death m horriJ^le dongeoms; te
their partisans, — by tortoro', tike cord, and the- axe; to
those grandees who emigrated to' Litthoania and Crimea^
whence they brought back war, — by war and yictory.
But, at length, cnme did justice on' crime ; tortures were
arenged by poison ; the regent died suddenly, and the groat
boyarS) of whomthe* majority were de8cei|ied from prin^is
of the blood, who formerly held appanages, seized upon the
guardian^ip of that same despotism of whieh their anoestors ■
had been, the Tietims. In the foremost rank of these barba*
rians stood the Shuiski, the chief of whom was prendent of
the siqpveme' council of boyars. iFrom father to son i^ey
had long been treated as tibie enemies of the Grand-Frinee
and of the state ; their turn was now come to treat the state
and its (^rand-Prince as enemies. Their mischieTona ambiv
tion was limited, however, by the crowd of other pretensions
by which t^ey were surrounded. They could only dilapidate
the resources of the public, and of individuals, by their es^
actions; and avenge the fall of their ancestors by the humi-
liations which they lavished on the heir of the-Grand-^Princes.
They suffered the Tatars to harry the empire with impunity,
while they themselves desolated it by their rapine and their
proscriptions, which they did not even deign< to cover wii^
the name of their royal ward ; for the youthM ]hraa was
spaced no more than his sabjects; His treasury was plun-
dered, hia donnuns encroached i^on; the grea<? boyars,
masters of his palase, seemed hardly to- endure his presenee
there ; it was their delight te^ degrade him. Shuiski^ in his
clownish insolence, was seen to loll on Ivan'» bed and bum
den the- h^ of the descendant; of so many sovereigns with
the unwortiiy weight of his feet;
The influence, however, of the Bblski, and of the primate,
"which was ail at once increased by a Tatar in^amon, awaksraed
tiie pattiotism of Ithe nobles, restored some degree of order,
and gave to the youtib&l Ifvais a moment of digniiy. Bttt
i.»t 154S] nisBmBOfT 0F nrux iv. 136
^hm. t&e deoigier ms o^er, the Slimski re^appeared ; tb^
BBfprised MoBCGWiD: tbe dead' ^ the niglli; (Jan.^ l&ll^> ana
made themflelHres masters of the palaoe ; thej pushed thmr
brutal irruptien! esfeet to the bed of their Toung- maator, and
roused him suddenly from sleep to fill his' mind with mad;*
dening terror. From his very side they dragged' the primatH
and prince Bebki, the fermer to be ill-treated and deposed ;
the latter to be mtirdered- in prison, livan's supplications
th^ disdained^ and drowned by their v^eifisrations ; if he
ordered, they took a pteaaure in disobeying ; i£ they saw him
regret hia motiier, who had been their victim, they scoffed at
hia filial jpiety. The friendship he manifested towuids Feodor
Voronzof was enough to bring down their hatmd on the
latter; Id a council one day they fell upon liim like-madmen^
loaded him with blowa, and rent with theor feet the gannents
of the primate, who, touched by the entreaties of the €h»nd«-
Pnnce, implored them to spare the young' beyav whom they
wi^ed to sacrifice*
It was amidst these horrors that young IVan reached his
fourteenth year. The sceoe then changed,, but iU' the* per-
sonages only. This resolution was brought about hj the
€Hinski, who w^^ kinsfolk of Ivan. AJU at once^ ia a
huntmg-party, an angry word, which they suggested to the
Grand-Prince, thunderstruck Andrew Shutski, the most in^
solent of the three brothers, and the whole train rushed
immediately on him, seized, and threw him to: the dogs^ by
which he was devoured (1548),
But his tyranny surviyed him ; it was continued in the
name of the prince. The Gf^linski pushed Iran forward at
their head in the same path of blood and plunder. They
allowed him to misuse uis recently acquired liberty. Bile
aquandered it in roaming without a purpose through his
provinces, which were compelled to deficar me charges ; they
were ruined by his costly presence, and astonished by his
capricefs. There, his unworthy kinsmen prompted him to
pmiiah vrithont cause, and to reward beyoml measure ; glut-
ting some with what waa confiscated from others; They
tsG^ht him not to think himself mastTsr, except when he was
BsnSbas, and when he* was cauaing to be tortured before his
eyea me suppliants by whose entreatiea he^ was weaaied*
These infamoua. beinga- made ua» of hia youthfiiL hand to
186 HIBTOBT 01* BTJ8SIA, [CH. YITI,
massacre their enemies. Thej applauded his cmeliy, when
he amused himself with tormenting wild animals, and throw-
ing down tame ones firom the summit of his ps^ce ; when,
in his disorderly rambles, he dashed old people to the ground,
and trampled under the feet of his horses the women and
children of Moscow.
These ebullitions of the youth of a tyrant had lasted three
years, when, one day, he awoke in Moscow surrounded by
the flames of a horrible conflagration and the clamours of
revolt (1647). Ivan was only seventeen. Terror had been
the first feeliQg of his infancy; long oppressed by its
weight, he had lately taken delight in throwing it off upon
the whole of his people; and now, from all points, that
terror was rebounding back upon him in burning brands,
threatening cries, and the blood of the GHnski, whom the
furious populace had torn in pieces.
Amidst this universal disorder, Sylvester, a monk, one of
those inspired personages who then traversed Bussia, and
who, like the Jewish prophets, or the dervishes, dared to
stand up even against sovereigns, appeared in the presence
of the frightened young despot. He approached him, the
G-ospel in his hand, his eye full of menace, his finger raised,
and with a solemn voice he pointed out to him, in the sur-
rounding flames, and blood, And furious cries, and the limbs
of his dismembered kinsfolk, the wrath of Heaven, which his
passions had at length aroused. To these terrific menaces
he added the infaSible effect of certain appearances then
deemed supernatural ; and thus mastering the mind of Ivan,
he wrought a real miracle : the tiger was humanised ! Alexis
Adashef seconded Svlvester ; they encircled the young tyrant
with priests and able and prudent boyars ; and, assisted by
the young and virtuous Anastasia, Ivan's first and recently-
married bride, they, during thirteen years, made Bussia enjoy
an unexpected felicity.
Everything was now pacified and reduced to order ; regu-
larity was introduced into the army ; the strelitz, a permanent
militia of fusiliers, were created ; seven thousand Grermans
were hired and kept up; a more just and equal assessment
of the military fiefs, services, and contingents was accom-
n^* ^led; all proprietors of estates, that required three hun-
pounds' weight of seed com were obliged to furnish a
A,D, 1547] ITm IT. — ADACIHEF. 187
horseman completely armed, or aa equivalent in money ; a
rate of pay for the soldiery was established, and was even
doubled, to encourage such of the boyar-followers as should
furnish a larger contingent than was imposed by law ; and
by these means the forces of the empure were so much
increased, that they were thenceforth estimated at three
hundred thousand men. The presence of the prince with
his armies at once re-established order in them, and stimu-
lated to exertion. £asan was once mcnre reduced; the king-
dom of Astrakhan was conquered; fortresses were con-
structed to keep the Tatars in check ; and eighty thousand
Turks, whom Selim II. had sent against Astrakhan, perished
in the deserts by which it was surrounded. Meanwhile, the
grand idea of the reign of Peter the Great, that of opening
to Bussia the conmierce of Europe, by conquering the Ingrian
and Liyonian ports, was abnost realised ; the Don Cossacks
were united with the empire ; and the groundwork was laid
for the conquest of Siberia by Yermak, one of those roving
people.
So much for what relates to war ; as to the rest, we see
the project of enlightening Bussia conceived ; a hundred
and twenty artists requested from Charles the Pifth ; the
£r8t printing-office established ; Archangel founded ; an alli-
ance formed with England ;* and the north of the empire
thrown open to the commerce of Europe.
At the same time, the abolition of prerogative and prece-
dence among the nobility was begun; the greediness of the
clergy in monopolising landed property was restrained;
they were improved in their morals, and in their observances,
which were still deeply embued with paganism; and the
tolerant spirit of Adashef prohibited the cruelties with
which superstition inspired them. To crown the whole, the
laws were revised in a new code. Till then justice had been
* In the reign of Edward YI., 1553, three ships were sent ont nnder
Willonghbj and Chancellor, to look for a north-east passage to China
and India. WiUoughbj and the crews of two of the ships were froisen
to death, but Chancellor arriyed safely in the White Sea, and anchored
In the bay of the Dvina, near the spot where Archangel was founded in
consequence of that event. The English navigators met with a most
hospitable reception from the Bussian sovereign and people, and the
report they brought home gave such satisfaction in London, that a
Comptuiy of Merdiants Trading with Bussia was immediately formed.
138 HIMOfiT or STSBSA. [CS. SSL
adknimstered' "by HHe goT^mors; who paM tb^nselv^s eiii/ of
fees levied at their own diseretion. la 1556 Adashef and
Sylveater abolished dl these fees, catisedjastiee to he* gra-
tuitously administered by the oldest and most eminent
persons of each place, and, finally, establisheff a general
assessment, which was collected by the officers of the Ex-
chequer.
The auspicious ascendancy of Adaehrf lasted th&teen
years. All the glorjr of the fifty years' re%n of Ivan IT.
is circumscribed within this brief space. Ivan himself in
1560, bore witness to it, while he cursed it ; for, at that
calamitous epoch, the dieath of the mild Anastasia^ and a
violent disease which had previously attacked the despol^
seem to have alienated his mentsd faculties.
A salutary terror had* kwot down his ferocity ; another
terror again let it loose. Inntmous informers instilled their
venom into his mind; to the ministers whom they wished ix)
supplant, they attributed the death of the czarEbza, and the
insubordination of the boyars, which they affirmed to be on
the eve of breaking out ; and with that weakness which is
inherent in cruelty, the superstitious Ivan persuaded him-
self that nothing but witchcraft could have enabled Ada-
shef and Sylvester to retain for so long^ a period their
paramount sway over his mind. In a letter, which still
exists, all the benefits which Eussia attributed to him are
urged against them by this madman, as if they were- a pro-
tracted series of crimes — for the barbarian coidd write I his
letters and many of his speeches are even remarkable.
Like most insane persons, this frantic being now and then
manifested scintillations of talent, of which he made a
parade in sophisms, priding himself on his knowledge, and
often reasoning with considerate acuteness;
In his actions, consummate craftiness may also Be seen
occasionally prevailing. In 1566^ being on the eve of
engaging in a dangerous war^ he convoked an. aasemb]|f of
the states-general, consisting of threa hundred and ikMf-
nine members*— priests, nobles, citizens, and traders*. He
laid'befiiiTe them his negotiationa with Poland,, on the suh-
J0ct of Livonia; pointed out to them the importmce of
{)i»flBrving that outlet for iiha BuBfiiasLcommeBee; said BOSf
ceeded in obtwiing a^ dsdacatian^ from the ft&Bhops^ tluit
JLB^ IS&S] TVJitS I?7.. TSX TSBSXBZJB. 139
it duL not become them to dase to advise tlteir czar;: &qbi
the-BoUes, that thej were ready to aKed for him the h»t
dropef their Mood ;- firom the citizens and traders, thataH
tiheir- wealth belonged to him.
But^ ale^dy, the modem Seneca and Bmrhua of thb
l^ra of the Hiorth had experienced a &,te similar to: that
of the two prudent ministers of the Nero of Bome;r ihmee^
fbrth, dnmk wii^* blood, bewildfired with terror, the li£a of
the Muscovite tyrant was. nothing but a long crimjop,. a
fixrioaB Ijonacy ; its origin, howeyer,. may be percerrod,, and
we may detect its ruling- principDa smidat the^ waiubmngs of
9 heated and iciiegnlar imagination.. It was. tiie despot in-
stinct of hareditncy, innate^, divinei right, disturbed b^ f^ur ;
it was aeyenteen years* of temorj received and repaid with
interest in his childhood and his early youth, that gained the
upper hand of thirteen years' effidrts a^dnst natose. We
l^hnild a young* tiger, which efforts have been made- to tame,
flEnd which reverts with hondble ardour to its' oc^ginal pro-
pensities*.
Even, as early as 1562,^ at the capture* of Kasan, his
mGfaural disposition had broken out. iupostrophiffln^ the
Bobles^who surrounded him, he then exclaimed :. ^^ At l^gth,
God has preserved me from you!" ]ji the following year
•he had an interview with Vassian,. ec-bishop o£ Eiolomna,
who. had stood high in. favour wiiit Yassili IT., and whose
•heairt was-fiill of malice against the boyars,. by whom he had
been deservedly deposedl !E^m this wicked old manilvan
reeeivBd advice which he never forgot.. " K you would be-
eooiie truly an absolute monarch," said Yassian^. " nev^ seek
s counselor wiser than yourself r never receive advice from
an|it man*. Command, and never obey ; tixen yon vnE be a
seal sovereign, and a terror to>the- boyars^ Bear in miiid
that the counsellor of the wisest pimoe always ends by
being his ixderJ* These words feE upon, no; inmffenent ear.
Ivan kissed the- old mmi's hand; eamBsidy esdauoin^ ^My
«wa: fother conld not have given, met mBoae wholesome
adiicej."'
Adashei^ however, had kept^ him wxidxim bounds for
m/vejii more y^ERii; but, in. 1560, that: first: terssoi^ with
which the nobles had impressed his childhood, awoke, like a
terrific phantom, in hiis mind> and th^xcoforth was ever
140 HI8T0BT 07 BUBSIA.. [OH. ZIU.
present to his thoughts. Very soon, the power of Sigis«
mondy who muted Lithuania to Poland, and contended with
him for Livonia, and that of Stephen Battori, the successor
of Sigismond, whose vigorous himd was felt bj Ivan, ex-
aspKBrated his trembling and senseless rage : and the sus-
picion that his subjects connived with those princes increased
his frenzy.
Li this burning and unintermitting fever of twenty-six
years, the Bussians reckon six violent paroxysms; in the
first, which was occasioned by the flight of prince Kurbsky*
into Poland, he accused that prince of a aesign to render
himself sovereign of Yaroslaf: he could not conceive how
his subject, without bringing down the vengeance of Heaven
upon his soul, could have dared to secure his head from
hun. The boyars were reproached with the offences which
they committed during his minority ; the remembrance of
those events bewildered him ; the impression made by them
was indelible; and the madman, always having before his
mental vision a vast and perpetual conspiracy of the nobles
against his power, retired to Alexandrovsky, a fortress en-
compassed by a gloomy forest, the fit haunt of tyramiy.
The imagination of the moralist poet, in his description of
the despot of Tyre, falls short, of this reality.
The despot of Alexandrovsky, whose fear made his whole
empire tremble, at length denounced by letter (1565) to
the clergy and the people the crimes of which the grandees
had been guilty during his minority, and the new projects,
which his &enzy attributed to them, against his own life and
that of his son, and ended by declaring, that his wounded
heart resigned the government of a state which was so
thronged with traitors. On hearing this read, the people,
whom at the same time the craftv despot had won oy his
flatteries, were astonished and aghast, and thought them-
selves lost : " Who thenceforth would defend them ?" The
priests and the nobles, either in consequence of the fear
with which the people inspired them, or of the universal
spirit of serviliiy, exclaimed, "That their czar had over
them an imprescriptible right of life and death; that he
might, therefore, punish them at his pleasure; but that
* See the letters of Ivan and of prince Eurbsky.
A-B. 1565] iTAir IV. the tbbbiblis. 141
the state coiJd not exist without a master ; that Ivaa was
their legitimate sovereign, whom God had given to them,
the head of the Church. Without him, who could preserve
the purity of religion — ^who could save millions of souls
from eternal perdition F" All hastened to offer him their
heads ; thej s^ck with them the dust at his feet, hoping
to move him bj their lamentations, and bring him back by
their prayers.
The dastards obtained this misfortune. Ivan appeared
again in Moscow ; but, at sight of him, everybody was struck
with astonishment. Their surprise is described by their
historians. " Only a month," say they, "had elapsed since
the absence of Ivan, yet they hardly knew him again. His
large and robust body, his ample chest, his broad shoulders,
had shrunk ; his head, which had been shaded by thick locks,
was become bald ; the thin and scattered remains of a beard
which was lately the ornament of his face now disfigured it.
His eyes were dull, and his features, marked with a ravenous
ferocity, were deformed." The acts of his mind corresponded
with the disordered appearance of his person. ITot satisfied
with forming an entirely new household, court, and guard, he
deserted the palace of his fathers to construct, in Moscow itself,
another fortress ; he then drove out all the inhabitants of the
adjacent streets, and posted his satellites there. To those
satellites he soon afber gave twelve thousand of the estates
nearest to his capital, of which, in the depth of winter, he
despoiled the rightful possessors.
Still uneasy, after so many precautions, the fear of God,
joined to that of man — for this monster felt every kind of
fear — prompted him to fly from Moscow, to return to
Alexandrovsky, and to assume the monkish habit with thi'ee
hundred of his minions. At the same time, he abandoned to
the trembling boyars the government of the empire; he
derisively named them the hoyars of the commons; he himself
retaining only the military power, the power of striking. And,
nevertheless, his pusillanimity, which extended to everything,
covered the Russian banners with disgrace, which had mtherfca
been victorious over the Tatars and the Turks. In this third
portion of his reign, Moscow and several hundred thousand
Muscovites were again burned by the Tatars in the year
1571.
142 HZBIKXET 07 SITflfilA. [OS. tttt^
The madman, who had said to the Siuudanfl, *' I am your
Gt)d, as Gk)d ia mine ; whose tfarouB, like that of the Onmi*
poteoat, is Burrounded by winged archangels, and who seais
foith armies of three hundred thousand men and two hun-
dred camion against hisenemies," he tremhied at the thieais
of the Elian of the Orimea. An incursion of the'Sibemns
terrified him ; nor could he discard his fears till he learned
that Yermak, a robber, and six hundred CossackB, his .ao-
complices, paid by a trader, and flying from the rigour of the
Bossian laws, had sufficed to reduce this new empire under
his dominion.* But what he dreaded above all things was
the anger of Batixni; he sent to that prinoe his dastardly-
submissions, his abject supplications ; and even offered him-
self, in the person of his envoys, to the insults and blows by
which the king of Poland might please to dishonour Siussia
and its czar..
Sweden, meanwhile, wrested Esthonia from this vile tyrant,
while Batton deprived him of Livonia. Since 1556, those
proviaoes, which were on the point of beong conquered by
the talent of Adashef, had mken refuge, the one under
the Swedish sceptre, the other in the arms of SigisBMrnil
Augustus of Poland; and Kettiier, the last Grand-Master of
ihe Idvonian knights, had reserved to himself only Courbmd
and Semigallia. It was then (1561) that, to the new suppli-.
cations g£ the czar, who grovelled l>efQre him, Battenf
deigned to re^ly only by branding Hm as a forger who
falsified the articles of treaties, and a monster who torturedL
his subjects. *^ Where are you, then, God of the Buseisns,
as you compel your unfortimate slaves to call you ?" Thifii
insulting letter he closed with a challenge to single combat ;
but Ivan, whose ambassadors he had recently dismissed,
answered him only by &esh prostrations.
"When, at length, to use the words of the Sussian histo-
lian, ''this cowardly prinoe, whose mind was degraded by
* This Termak ^splayed, to the life, that likedess which has so
often been asserted to exist between the conqueror and the malefactor.
A despised Cossadk, a detestable captain of xobbers, while his getaoB
was .craooiped in his own country; and an admired conqueror, as sooa
as he was at liberty to astonish mankind, by perfomnng abroad, and on
a large scale, the same actions which had degraded him when heliad
committed them at liome, and by piecemeal
t See the correspondence of the two princes.
jUS. 1581] ITAir IT« TW£ XSS£IB£E. 148
tyraniiy," had collected together three hundred thousand
men, hie did not dace to command them; if he marched, lb
was under co^er of the Jesuit Possevin, the envoy of Bome^
'whose intervention with Battori he had &audulentlj pro*
cured, bj holding out to him as a bait the conversion of the
Bussiaius to Catholicism.
This long effort, however, against the Livonian koights, is
worthy of remark ; its purpose, then avowed,* was to give
Bussia ou£ets upon the Baltic, and the means of communi-
cating with Europe. Its result was to make these maritime
provinces fall into more formidable hands ; but though this
ma&terlv idea belongs to Ivan's ministry, and the deplorably
isBue of it to Ivan himself it is to this effort particularly that
must be attributed theiidmiration, so often highly censured,
which the ^preateat prince of the Bussians expressed for their
greatest monster.
* At length, the germ of that terror with which the early
years of the tyrant had been impregnated, expanding bur
more and more, he sometimes conjured up phantoms of re-
volted voyevodes, ready to give up to the Tatara, and then
he £bw far from his armies, which he dreaded ; and, at other
times, he pictured to himself his boyars on the point of
raising the whole empire in rebellian, to overthrow him, and
to crumi him with its collected weight. Then neither citadeL^
nor fortified convents seemed, in his eyes, to have power to
save him ; only .an island beyond the seas appeared to offer a
safe asylum ; and he did not blush to request that asylum
&om i^zabeth of Euglandi
Everything in Bussia was bent down to earth ; and, jeL
the abject submission with which Ivan lY. was surrounded
did not trauquiUise him ; his bradn, shaken by the violent
emotions xxf his infancy, and by Jais l^ant conscience, made
ever present to him the phantom of a war ofthejmblic good.
The fitreUts did not suffice him; he formed a new guard of
sii: thofusand select men ;t in a word, of spies, informers, and
assassins, ready to massacre all the gramdees whom he might
* KaiamBin, vol. iz. p. 439.
t The Opritchinikis. As types of fhehr office they txire a apg^shegl
nd a %Booin sinpended ^rom taek saddle-bow^tlie fbrmer to signify
Ihat tbef wDiriaA the enflnues of the csiir,ihe iotler to iadieale Ihat
tliey «w<gpt ihem off the ito of the eao^
144 HI8T0BT OT BUSSIA. [OBU 3111.
Buspect to have the slightest memory of ancient indepen-
dence. He chose these executioners from the lowest cbiss, in
order to be sure that envy would make them participate in
the hatred which he felt. He gave them the property of
their victims ; and thus transferred eminence and nobility
from those who, having long possessed them, had any pre-
judices or pretensions' whatever, to entirely new men, without
principles or predilections ; who were but too happy to bend
to anything that was required of them, so that they might
accumulate riches.
In his first fit of rage, several great boyars, of the family
of Eurik, were put to death by beheamng, poisoning, or
impaling ; their wives and children were driven, naked, into
forests, where they expired under the scourge. In a second
paroxysm, he marched as a conqueror against the subjugated
Kovgorod ; and, imagining that he imitated, or perhaps sur«
passed, the victory of his grandfather, he butehered with his
own hand a throng of the unfortunate inhabrfcants, whom he
had heaped together in a vast enclosure ; and when, at last,
his strengljh failed jbo second his fury, he gave up the re-
mainder to his select guard, to his slaves, to his dogs, and to
the opened ice of the Volkof, in which, for more than a
month, those hapless beings were daily engulphed by hun-
dreds. Then, declaring that his justice was satisfied, he
retired ; seriously recommending himself to the prayers of
the survivors, who took special care not to neglect obedience
to the orders of their terrestrial deity.
Tver and Pskof, also, experienced his presence ; Moscow,
at length, saw him again, and on the same day the public
square was covered by red hot brasiers, enormous cauldrons
of brass, and eighty gibbets. !Five hundred of the most
illustrious nobles, already torn by tortures, were dragged
thither ; some were massacred amidst the joyful acclamaSons
of his savage satellites ; but the major part of them expired
under the protracted agony of being slashed with knives by
the courtiers of the Muscovite monster.
Neither were women spared any more than men; Ivan
ordered them to be hanged at their own doors; and he pro-
hibited their husbands from going out or in without passing
under the ^corpses of their companions, till they rotted and
dropped in pieces upon them. Elsewhere, husbands, or
AJ>. 1584] lYAK IT. THE TXBBIBLB. 145
children, were fastened dead to the places which they had
occupied at the domestic table, and their wives, or motheni,
were compelled to sit, for days, opposite to the dear and
lifeless remains.
To the dogs and the bears, which this raging madman
delighted to let loose upon ^i^ people, was left &e task of
clearing the public square from the mutilated bodies which
encumbered it.* Every day he invented new modes of
punishment, which his tyranny, jaded by so many excesses,
still looked upon as insufficient. Very soon, he required
fratricides, parricides ! Basmanof was compelled to kul his
father; Prozorovsky, his brother. The monster next drowned
eight himdred women ; and, rummaging with atrocious cu-
pidity the abodes of his victims, he, by dint of shocking
tortures, compelled their remaining relations to point out
the places in which their wealth was hidden. These confis-
cations, joined to monopolies, taxes, and conquests, accu-
mulated in his pidace the riches of the empire and of the
Tatars. To this he joined those of the Livonians, whom he
plundered, though he could not conquer them.
In his long and fruitless wars against the Livonian knights,
his transient successes were marked by frightf^l executions*
The courageous resistance which the enemy opposed to him
was, in his eyes, a revolt, and he ordered his prisoners to
be thrown into boiling cauldrons, or spitted on lances, and
roasted at fires which he himself stirred up.
Setting himself above all laws, this lustful being married
seven wives ; even his daughter-in-law was forced to fly from
his death-bed, terrified by his lasciviousness. He was eager
to procure an eighth wife from the court of his friend Eliza-
beth of England, and the daughter of the Earl of Hunting-
ton was offered to the inspection of the Bussian ambassa-
dor at her own desire and the queen's. The daughter of
Henry VIII. was not shocked to hear at the same moment
of the czar's wish to be married, and of the birth of a prince
borne to him by his seventh living wife; but before the
English match was concluded Mary Hastings took fright, and
begged Elizabeth to spare her the perilous honour. To com-
plete Ivan's usurpation, he assumed the manner of one who
* According to the annals of Fskof, there were sixty thousand
victims at Kovgorod alone.
VOL. I. L
146 * HBHroMT OP BlTSaZ^ [QH« JXfi,
mm imipirecl, and til those exbemal signs wliich our bounded
ima^naHoR ai;tEibnteB to the Divimly ; he made himseif god
m the minds of his people. All that came from hia himd,
blows, wounds, even the most deG;Tading treatment, was re-
ceived witb xBaignation-*-nay, wx£ adoration* In the blind
and servile submission of me ttnasian people Gk>d and the
csar were identified: their proverbial sayings* bear witness
to this ; and to the inftuenoe of things and men waa joined
that of words, the power of wMcb ia mote durable than, is
oommonlj imagined.
Pinallj, in a humble supplication, whick was addressed
to him by the most faithful of his subjects, hia^ frenzy again
saw a conspiracy of the boyars, of which the eldest of his
iduee sons, and the only one who waa capable of succeeding
him, waa to be the leader: transported with rage, the madr
man felled to the earth, witk a mortal blow frt)m hia iron-
bound sta£^ this hope of his raoe; to expire himself soon after
(158^), consumed by regret without remorse, and giving
orders for newexecutionSk.
CHAPTER XIT.
ICAJOTBSBS ^OT>' COIOJITIOW. OB THE' BTTSSIAIfS EST THIS
Br&TEBlTTH CSSTU'BLY.
B£FOBB we pass from the contemplation of Ivan's reign of
terror to tbat of the nine-and-twenty wretched years which
formed its appropriate sequel,, we may pause to glance at
the moral aspect of the ILuiasiaas at that epock.
Despotism and servitude are deeply rooted' in Bussia.
•There is always a principal cause of the distinctive character
of a nation. The benefit which results from an institution
always leads the people to adopt its spirit, to make a bad
use of it, or conform to its abuses. Spain was subjugated
by a hostile rdigion ; it was by religion that Spain achieved
its liberation,, and fanaticism still rules in Spain. A foreign
despotism,, that of united Central Asia, fettered Russia,
which was enfeebled by anarchy ; it was by the concentration
of power that Eussia recovered its independence, and, thence,
ifispofiiBixL esfiablishafib itself in fiuseda, without eaeotmtenng
aoy obstacle;
Bfd; there ace other partietdor causes of despotisM in that
esi^^re. Extension and want of population are hostile to the
cmxqpaefeness of the mass ; in conjunclion with the climate,
thej hinder large and eontinuouA assemblages -^^they render
men conseiDus of the weakness caused bj being insulated ;
tiiey perpetuate blind and credulous ignorance, by cutting
eff^ the communication of ideas^; they con&ie observation
within narrow limits^ and thus the judgment cannot; be
eserciBed for want of objects of comparison; and the result
is,, tihe existence of only a scanty number of ideas, which,
hofwever, have a stronger hold on the mind, &om the habit
«f constoit recurrence to them. Thus the Bussians of that
peciod^ having none of those connexions which enlighten,
were unable to form for themselves a public opinion ; they
W6XB obliged to tsike it from the oourt of the Grand-Prince ;
these was their oracle, their despot. All these causes, so
fia.TQurabie 1» d^potism, had, from immemorial time, destined
the Suasians to slai^ery.
After' what has been alreac^ said, it will exxAte little
aEd^ndshment that the Bussian^ of those days v^ere inclined
to dissimulation. They had been led to it by long servitude,
and by the piactuse of concealing what th^ had gained, that
it might not be wrested from them by their masters. They
wees selfish and cheating, because they were poor, because
iHm major past of them had to purchase their liberty, and
Ihecause all meaaos appeared good by which they could obtain
wherewithal to acquire so natural a right. The priests, the
only teachers of that age, were too coarse*minded to inspire
morality. The people, therefore, had no education, not even
tbat which exaxople affords; for the nobles, at all times the
models of the people, beiug surrounded, even from their
eradleB, by slaves, were not more civilised than the rest.
To form an adequate idea of the ignorance of the Russians
under Ivan IV., we must see them seriousljr entertaining the
idea that, because, in the sixteenth centuiy, traders came to
St. Nicholas and to Archangel to purchase their grain, tim-
ber, hemp, and caviare, therefore their country was the gra^
nary and the dockyard of Europe, and that,, without their
aid, the Europeans would die of hunger and of cold ! We
ii 2
148 ^ HI8T0BT 07 BUSBIA. [CH. XIT.
must also see them imagimng themselyeB the best-infonned
people on earth, at the moment when astronomy, anatomy,
and most of the sciences appeared to them to be diabolical
arts; when not even three of their priests knew Greek;
when their only mode of reckoning was by balls strong upon
strings ; and when the skins of beasts were still their current
money ! It Vas here that a noble substituted in place of
himself one of his servants, to receive the corporal chastise*
ment awarded to perjury ; and that, in the presence of the
czar, and even to himself, ^rsons could venture to say
'^ Thou liest," without conceiving that they were offering an
insult ; for insults were punished by fines, blows, and banish-
ment; judicial duels had not yet introduced those other
duels, which honour elsewhere required. The latter, even
between foreigners in Bussia, were punished as capital
offences.
Por such rude beings the penalties were equally rude,
and, as manners and honour had no influence, the punish-
ments were horrible. Peculation was punished by whippiog
and public branding ; but from the hands of the executioner
the criminal returned to his office; this dishonoured the
office, and divested the punishment of dishonour ; or, rather,
it implies a general want of honour.
The custom of the Grand- Princes choosing their consorts
from among the collected daughters of the nobility; the
slavery of prisoners of war ; the long afternoon slumbers ;
the taste for plumpness of person ; the dead silence in the
presence of the czar, — so dead, that, a foreigner tells us, if
the eyes were closed in the midst of the most numerous
court, the spectator might have supposed himself in a desert ;
the bazaars ; the practice of boxing ;* the hiring of mourners
at funerals ; the length of the vestments, which is suitable
to Asiatics, whose mild climate invites them to an indolence
that is favoured by this mode of dress ; the long beards ; the
monkish habit which Ivan, as well as several of his predeces-
sors, assumed in their dying moments ; and, lastly, the com-
position of its court, at once so unpolished and so sump-
* The Russians were fonnerly as renowned for pugilism as the
EngUsh have been in later times. The practice was encouraged by the
goTernment, as tending to keep up the courage of the people and
harden them to bear pain.
MAIWHES, etc., IK THE SIXTBBKtH CJSJSTXTRY. 149
tuous ; all this proves that tliis nation lad borrowed from
the Gh*eeks and Tatars only that which was most easily
acquired — ^usages, prejudices, and yices.
These same usages excluded women from society. Like
the Greek and Oriental, women lived retired in a separate
portion of the house ; they had no authority in the house-
hold; their sole occupation was to spin and sew. This
seclusion of the sex may account for the unnatural lusts
which marked another point of conformity between the
manners of the Eussians and those of the G^reeks. There
existed at that period no such thing as society, at least in
our acceptation of the word; for women, its connecting
link, were banished from it. But, as reading and writing
were unknown, there was a necessity for communicating by
word of mouth. Every day, at noon, therefore, the people
met in the public squares : it was there that business was
transacted, that intelligence was spread, and that the educa-
tion of youth was completed. This custom, also, the uneasy
tyraaany of Ivan IV. destroyed. He secretly introduced into
uiese meetings his nefarious informers. Before the reign
of this maniac, the Bussians were accustomed to say, " If I
break my word, may shame be my portion," But the
monster extinguished the few remaining sparks of the rude
honour of the days of old.*
Thus everything in Bussian history brings us back to the
history of despotism. By a horrible consequence of the
principle of this hateful government, it was an established
rule, that all the individufds of a family were involved in the
punishment of a single member of it. By another conse-
quence, every subject who went beyond the frontier, became
a traitor, who was daring to remove himself out of reach of
the prince — out of the sphere of that terror which was the
inspiring soul of the government ; he was a fugitive slave, a
rebel ! Nay, much more than that ; for was not his quitting
that sacred territory an offence against his God, since he
then breathed the infection of those hostile religions by
which Brussia was surrounded, and mingled with miscreants
whose mere touch was contamination ?
* Many writers have repeated the erroneous statement that there
is no word in the Bussian language to signify honour. Both the
word and the idea are indigenous in Bussia; the former is TchesL
Ud sunexrorBiTin^ [ch. xiv.
BeligienMi •at>^Mtiti«n, and the gqpenrfatiaii of power, "i
thevefore tfaenpublieopiniim of thst age; it .drove kadk iadn
the bounds of despotism every one who wished to^uit them;
thece was no asylum firom it ; it was .aU-piflsent. A &dier
was as despotic in his wooden hut as tlie oiar in the einpiie.
The fetter was ^eskesal; and, from the great to l^e amaH,
£pQm the g^randsire to his latest bom descendant, aU formoil
one vasty comiected chain of tyrants and of skves.
There wa«, in &et, a law whioh allowed &therB to sconm
their children with rods, and to sell them four times. The
children were, therefore, the slaves of their fathers. lEath
being wafi hGca a slaive ; slavery showed itself everywhene.
The iBuBsian wives were more enslaved than the Asiatoe^
their slavery, no doubt, was less strict, but it was more hw-
barous ; no law protected them from the violenoe of their
husbands, who, like savages, often put in force agamst them
the right of the strongest, as the caprice of temper, or pas-
sion, or drunkenness inspired them. It is even said thflit
Sufisian wives were unhappy if their husbands never boat
them : it seems they welcome ill-usage as proof that thoy
were not regarded with indifference.
In the Bu^ian laws of that epoch, against wives who nmiv
doFcd their husbands, we find the same cruelty that madted
the Eoman laws against slaves who killed their maBtenu
Similarity of situation induced eimilarity of precaution. The
culprit was buried alive up to the neck, and a close guavd
was set round her to see that no one supplied her with food,
or the means of endiug her sufferings. In this state of
torture some have been known to linger a week before they
were released by death.
!Erom the slavery of the women may be inferred that of
the men ; for the slavery of the one sex irnpHes that of the
other.
Another Qaw authorised persons to sell themselves. ALL
those who were mined by ^e civil wars, and by the Tatan^
were, in truth, under the imperious necessity of selling them-
selves, in order to subsist. Yet this law, while it proves
slavery, proves also a sprt of tliberfy; for a man must hav^
possessed his liberty before he could be able thus to dispose
of it.
NiDw^ «diould we he tdld, '^ !Ebere.£iist0 a^oonntiy jn mlmk
MAmSTEBBf ETC., IS HHE HIX'IHCMKTH OHJSTVSiJC. 151
priBoaerB of xrav are «la^(ieBi ^ere iiiBokBiit ieibbDTB .are
gi^nto iSieirtezeditovB.; :wlifive the poor manixia7.iseLl lum^
self to the rich ; and whevefafcfaerB have the Ti^t of BeUing
l^eir ehildren isbxee or four timea; ,to mhksh mtasb be Added,
ihOb only cme diusB there can possefis landed property, irhioli
daM is, by its nature, by usage, and b7.ne0eBfflty,dfinroted
to the profession of arms ;" should we not conclnde that;,
within a given lapse of tuxxo, «uoh a conntiy must be ;com«
posed of only nobles and serfsf And.if it shoxdd be readied,
that fiuch a countzy existed, and that, neverthelesj, <nning
S3SC centizries, it had alwa3n3 a third estate, :could we donbt
tiust the vagne existence of that ovder miud; hftVB been in*
debted for ifcs preservafcion to local .circamstanees, to the
inteorasts of >the prince, to the weakness of the nobl^, and
to tbe system of binding the slaTB to the iU3il not haying
been yet introduced ?
in fact, this pec^le, oiiginaLLy free, by its dmsion into
tdbes, till'to^nards the end of the ninth century, was also
free in the time of Yladimir the Gbrcat, by its being united in
cities, of wbich several w^re commercial ; by the enormous
esdeiit of tbe country, and the small number of conqueroiss ;
and because the Varangian leaders had not conquered with
the »idew of plundering .and proceeding onward, but to est^
blaahthemsdiv^s, and in many cities, as in !^o^orod,it was
as allies and protectors that they were reeeived.
We know, also, that in many of those cities the advaninge
of jciYilisationiras on the side of the vanquished. Eesid^,
by the simple manners of those times, the .prince and his
Bobjfiois were on numerous occasions brought in contact with
eadL other:; .as at common festinods, the public repasts, to
which all inare admitted, and the deliberations, in which all
bore a pact, becausOiaU had an. interest in them. The traders
were Jield in estimation thei»; for, in a country without
iodufiiiry, and without any means of communication, they
WKSB'ihB great connecting link/espedially witdi foreigners, it
was, ibesi^, neeessary to :have recourse to them for every-*
thing that was wanting ; .accordingly, they always constitui»d
a 'body in tiie atate. We see them appearing prominently in
besides, iin dinstiona, in 1die assemblies i)f the>citie8, in tfaoa^
of tbe natianBvmi; they were indispensable, in eonsequenee
of their numbers, their connexions, and tbeir wealth.
152 / HIBTOBT OF BTtflBIA. [OH. XIV.
We hofre remarked the duration, for aix ^entaries, of the
warlik^ and commercial republic of Novgorod. Pskof, the
paramount ruler of twelve cities, and Viatka,were equally free;
it ev^n appears that, like them, each city that was founded
hefore the Tatar dominion, had its boyars, denominated
Boyar» of the Commons ; its tyssiatchsky, a military leader
appointed by the citizens, taking precedence of all the boyars
of the princes, and even of those of the &rand-Frinces ; lastly,
its timL by jury ; and, above all, its vetch6-bell, or assembling
ef the pimple ; the voice of the supreme national power, often
seditious, .ind always dear to the Slavonians. By an ancient
law of Pskofi the husbandmen of its territory were consti-
tuted, in perpetuity, its tributaries and labourers ; for, with
the exception of some odnodvortzy (country landholders), it
seems that there were no limded proprietors, except military
persons, traders, and citizens.
G[?he peasants of the lowest class, however, were not bound
down to the soil, but had the privilege of hiring themselves
to whom they pleased, eithei: ror life or for a term.
This is highly worthy of notice ; in this mainly consists the
difference between the feudal times of the Bussian people and
those of the rest of Europe. The right of the strongest was
then everywhere predominant. In Europe, the nobles having
gained the upper hand of the cities and princes, the necessity
of some kina of order gave rise there to the feudal hierarchy,
and the inhabitants of the towns and of the countiy were
slaves. Among the Bussians, the princes having remained
masters of powerful cities, and the country free froin feudal
manors, the plebeians were protected ; there was no bondage
to the soil, no serfs, but farmers and hired servants ; and in
cities, a tribunal to make their contracts be respected.
Now, from the liberty and the protection afforded by the
tities, we must conclude, that the peasants continually de*
serted their fields, where they were at the mercy of all the
individuals of the military class, to be hired in the cities,
and to seek their fortune there; that, consequently, those
cities were exceedingly populous, and were sometimes sum-
moned to the councils and elections of princes ; and that,
in the commercial cities especially, the commercial class must
have often enjoyed the pre-eminence. How, then, happened
ICAinfTEBS, XTO., UT THE SIXTKEirTH CEKTUBT. 153
it that liberty was not the result ? for, in all ages, cities have
been its cradle and its asylum.
Too far apart from eacn other in that immense space, they
acted without concert: when we are speaking of iUussia, the
words distance^ extension^ dispersion, perpetuallj present
themselyes, and are always applicable. Besides, the country
being in general extremely flat, it affords few of those posi-
tions of difficult access m which libert^r delights. Tnose
dties, with their ramparts of earth and resinous timber, could
not haye been yery secure places of refuge. In the thirteenth
century, we see tnem almost all burned bj the Tatars ; again,
mider lyan IV., most of those which the Poles besieged they
compelled to surrender by setting fire to their ramparts.
Such cities, strong enough against the nobles, were weak
against their princes, and could not subsist without them.
It must be remembered, that the great number of those
Erinces, and the scarcity of cities, had caused each of the
itter to become an appanage, and that the faithful band by
which each appanaged prince was surrounded, composed for
him a permanent and formidable body-guard. Could the
municipal goyemment long subsist in the presence of those
princes ?
Add to this, a perpetual state of hostility, and the continual
danger to which each city was exposed ; whence originated
the preponderance of the military goyemment, which, next
to the theocratic, is the most absolute of all. Hence resulted
the loss of their primitiye liberty to those cities which were
not, like Noygorod, rendered secure from ciyil wars by their
Swer, and from the nomad wars by their northern situation.
»ncentrated in this great Noygorod, the ancient liberty of
the Slayonians flourished there for six centuries and a half,
in despite of the Bussian princes, of their guards, and of the
Tatars. It was under lyan III. that the original despotism
of the Grand-Princes of the family of Eurik, reinforced by
the ciyil and superstitious despotism deriyed from Greece,
inherited also the sayage and Asiatic despotism of the Tatars ;
eveiything, eyen the great JN^oygorod, completely sank beneath
and was leyelled under the weight of this triple despotism..
At length, on this soil, seyeral times conquered in mass,
and a thousand times in detail, we find, at the opening A>i
IM HUSaRTOFSDlBXl. ['OH. XEY.
tin dxtoealih oeninxry, affcer l^aa in., nothing \nA aifiekr
and the yanquished ; or, in other irordfl^ a maBiier .und daraL
QDler tfwem, tiie on]y bcnratile aide of aerYitade^ did notexkt ;
aa rnndb did Ihe i^ionoeB of force and of droamstttnoes daoUa
evBirtinng. It was not till al)out the year 1660 that Urn
bandage of the peaaant to the aoil -waa introduced there, ^
the moment Krhen it ceased in the seat of JESurope. Tfaki
esowning miaery it wee neceaaary to endure, to escape jfe
hna^^ from the chaos; for there waa no afdvation to he
ohtuned hut by 'concentrating all tycaunieB into one. Thsfl
odily could the army, the tazea — an a irordy all the means of
government, be combined in the handa which had the
rtnmgeBt interest in the maintenance of order and of puhlic
tnmquillitjr. Tranquilliiy was the first thing needed*; whilst
it huited, it -must produce increase of popubtion, theaiaana
of interoanrse, knowledge, wealth, and all that natmaUy^nd
insntably brings forward the Hbefty of the people, imd «at
hiat £xeB it on a firm basis.
It was the usurper Qodunof, then the prime minister
of I\3odor, son ana successor of Ivan the Terrible, jAo
omdied Buasia with this final chain.*' In a <very short tmffi,
there were no longer even hired servants; commeree M
into the hands of the shcves of the nobles, and the cities
were filled with serfs.
finrprise has been manifested, that, in this Jacnd of sbiivery,
bondage to the soil was so lately introduced ; but the^countzy
hsfing been rather under a feudality of ^cinees thaa <u
nddes, it must have been the interest of thepsinoes, against
the nobles, not to render them proprietors of their peasants.
Besides, this institution could not be transmitted iHaaiilaBt If
the Ghreeks, who were unacquainted with it when (the S^OB*
sians imitated them, and still less by the nomad tribes, wh^
the latter subjugated Hussia. When, however, ^e .public
and prxvatB interest had raised and firmly £xed a singly
throne on the ruios of the princes holding appaoages, and of
the higher class of nobility who replaced these pEineBi, ^
Borefeign, :who had a hold over the noUbs and cities by iheir
pw^erty, Imew not how to reach the lower dasstrf the c«»*
nmmty, wfaidi was so widely diapeised.; he was DbUg^ ^
*• «ee TaCisdief.—- TfaeXaw of 1592 or 1593 ; the •Edict rf 159rr"
Eanunsin, Divof, Weydemeyer.
XAJSrSlETiS, £TC^ Or;XB|B iSTCBKIXDH CEKTUBT. ISS.
render each proprietor responsible for the peasants whom he
employed. But those ;>pro]iridiovs could not be answerable
for men who had voluntarily entered their service, nor have
them forthcoming when iihe wants of the state required
them ; at the beginning ttf the ffifceenth century, we witness
th0 jptA&msi. adminifitradiion of a prince of Tver, Bttraoting
into his Btates the population of the (neighbouring primci*
palities.
IFhuB, A continual J^udmation of the people prevented ib»
locruiting service and the taxes from being establisfaed on a
&Eed basis : with such nmtabiUty, the creation, by Ivan III^
of .thiee hundred thousaind subfirdinate landholder, &om the
i&ads of boyar-^foUowers, subject to military semce, .and the
asBosfiinent of a tax on theur ploughs, would have produeed
but a very uncertain resuk. Accordingly, when, after
Lnpi in., the Grand-Fxinee was possessed of an anny, and
had no loQger any fear of the nobles, it became bis icAe-.
rest tfi introduce the bandage of the peasant to the aoil.
Well^infonned Bussians add, that Bans Gk)damof, embar-
rassed in his usiHrpation by the remains of the great families,
felt that the petty ixobilily, being envious, greedy, and leas
united, would be more pliant ; aSut gbb of the means wlii^
he^employed to g^dn over the poor proprietora, of which the
nobility was composed, was to secure to them the husbands
men, of whom h^herto the rich had easily deprived than;
and that this was an additional cause of making the peasant
a 'band^slave irremovable from the soil.
Another motive is also aseagned for this barbarous institu-
tion. The natives of the south were always firee ; that cir-
cumstance, and the climate, drew thither tlie peasants of ihB
neorth. It appears that the armies, when they withdrew.from
Easan and Astrakhan, left behind them numbers of soldiers::
&6m the concourse of people to the cities, irom these deseiv
tieias tor nugrationiEi, and from the vagabond habits whida.
pseivdled, arose the depopulation of the rural districts, srob-
bcofy, and £ftmine. Gkreat^rils were put a stop to by a lesser
evil; bondage to the s6ilrenderedthepropriet0rs.re8panfiib}a
&r their peasrata, and brought ba^ the latter to their agri^-
coltosal labours.
156 HI8T0BT 01 UVUIX. [OH. XT.
CHAPTEE XV.
FEODOB I. — EXTUSrOTIOH OT THE DTKASTT OE BVBIK —
BOBIS OODVlfOF— -THE FALSE SICITBI.
Eeobob, the eldest surming son of Ivan the Terrible,
succeeded him in 1584, at the age of twentj-seTen. The
character of the new czar was in singular contrast with that
of his father. Feeble and sickly in body, pliant, timid, and
superstitiously dcTOut, Feodor would have been a sexton,
not a soveretgn, had he been free to follow his natural bent,
for his cireatest delight was to haunt the churches and ring
the bells. His incapacity was so complete that Ivan had
been forced to bequeath him, together with the autocratic
sway of which he was so jealous, to a council of boyars ; but
that precaution was unavailing, for he had already sealed the
doom of his dynasty. Ivan did not perceive that what had
preserved himself during his minority was the existence of a
fiigher class of nobility. Had Shuiski, the oppressor of his
childhood, not feared pretensions equal to his own, he would
have seized the crown. In reducing all around him to one
level, Ivan overthrew everything that could obstruct the de-
signs of a prime minister. The immense interval of terror
between the throne and the subjects was a field open to the
ambition of a vizir who might remain alone in it with the
prince. The members of Feodor's council immediately con-
tended for that position, and in such a strife the victorv
eould only belong to the most crafty and wicked of them all.
This was Boris Godunof, the descendant of a Tatar, and bro-
ther-in-law of Feodor, the last sovereign of the race of Eurik.
No man was fitter than Boris to become mavor of the
palace to that fainiant monarch. Active, indefatigable,
more enlightened than any of his countrymen, versed in
affairs and in the knowledge of men, he possessed' all the
qualities requisite to constitute a great mmister. He con-
cealed his ambition under a doak of piefy and boundless at-
tachment to his country and sovereign, dj his grave demea-
nour and noble presence he extorted respect from the jealous
boyars ; and when the czar showed himself to the people,
accompanied by his minister, every one felt that it was not on
the throne they were to look for the master of the empire.
4.J).1684] noDOEi. 167
Between this able and imBcnipulous man and the object
of bis criminal desire, there stood only an imbecile czar,
wbo could not live, and the czar^s brother and sole heir, the
unfortunate Dmitri, who was but a child. All others who
might compete with Boris he removed by calumny, banish-
ment, or' assassination ;* and he had only one more crime to
commit in order to grasp the crown.t Having long medi-
tated that crime, he had from the first taken care to facili-
tate it by removing Dmitri, with his mother and his maternal
uncles, to TJglitch, a to¥m which Ivan had bestowed as an
appanage on his younger son, but without intending that it
should be made for him a place of exile. Por a while Boris
entertained the design of bastardising Dmitri, on the ground
that he was the son of Ivan's seventh wife, such a union
being contrary to the canons of the Church. A third
marriage was with difficulty permitted, but a fourth was
absolutely void as condemned by religion. Boris forbade
that Dmitri should be prayed for, or his name mentioned in
the liturgy ; but afterwards he reflected that the marriage of
the dowager czaritza, though really illegal, had been sanc-
tioned or tolerated by the ecclesiastical authorities; they
could not annul it now without thereby incurring a perilous
loss of credit. The very act would be a confession of shame-
ful wei&ness and error, and Boris had too much need of the
Church's &vour to force upon it that hmniliation. Besides,
even though Dmitri were declared illegitimate, public opinion
would not the less continue to regard him as the true
czarevitch and sole successor of Eeodor. Boris had recourse
to a surer expedient. .
He began by exciting odium against his destined victim,
* Boris was sparing of public executions, but most of those who
incuned his enmity were poisoned by domestic traitors or strangled
in prison.
f A Bussian chronicler, who was certainly not acquainted with the
legends of Scotland, depicts Godunof as another Macbeth, urged to
crime by the predictions of soothsayers. <*He assembled several
soothsayers or astrologers, in the dead of the night, and desired them
to cast his horoscope. Their answer to him was, * The crown is thy
destiny.' But then they were suddenly mute, as if dismayed by what
they foresaw besides. Boris insisted on their completing their predic-
tion, and they told him he should reign, but only for seven years.
He embraced them in a transport of joy, exclaiming: < Though it be
but for seven days, no matter, so I reign V *'
I5S HIBTOBrY OF BUSSIA. [OH. XV.
ly publishing, tbroiigli tlie mouths of his creatures, alarming
rsgorbB of the bof 'a emdi and perrerse dispontion. It was
•verjwheve said openlj in Moscow that the* little czarentch
was the living image of his father ; that he manifested a pre-
eoeious delight in blood and the sight of tortures ; and that
faisfayourite amusement conasted in tormenting and killing
domestie animals. These stories were intended to insdre
the people with ayersion fi>r Dmitri ; another was devisea to
idarm ihe grandees. It was related that the czareyitch,
playing on the ice one day with other children, gave orders
thai twenty images of men should be made of snow. To
«aeh of these he gave the name of one of the leading men in
the state, and the largest of them he called Boris Gt>dunof.
Then, armed with a wooden sword, he began to hack and
hew at them all. He cut off the head of &odunof s image ;
others he stabbed, or lopped off their feet and hands, ex-
claiming, " That is what you shall have wiien I am czar."
We have no means of judging whether or not there was any
fbimdation fi>r these tales ; nor is the question material. It
i» enough to know that they were encouraged by Gk)dunof;
for they were repeated without the least restraint in the
capital, where no man durst have whispered a word wbich
he' thought capable, by any chance, of giving ofSmxse to the
dreaded regent.
When the minds of the Bussionr had in^ this way been
ffoflciently prepared for the catastrophe, the blow wa£F struck.
In the afternoon of the 15th of May, 1691 (OlS.), {Dmitri,
who was then ten years old, wtw playing with four other
boys, his attendants, in the court-yard of his palace at
Uglitch, a large enclosure containing several detached dwell-
ings irregularly placed. There were near him also his
governess^ Vassilissa Volokhof, his nurse, and a servant*
woman ; but it seems that all the persons about him lost
sight of him for a moment. According to the unanimous
testimony of the three women and the pages, he had a knife
in his hand, and amused himself with sticking it in the
ground, or cutting a piece of wood.. Suddenly the nurse saw
him writhing on the ground, bathed in blood. He had a
Jar^e wound in his throat, and died without uttering a word.
The czaritza, hearing the nurse's shrieks, ran to the spot,
and in the first outburst of h&c frantic grief she fell upon the
MJI. 1691] DEATH ax* TBB QZA3XTESCK DMITBI. 169
govemeafiy who ought to ha^e watched the boy, and beat beer
mak a billet ofwood^ accafioiigher of having let in the mur-
dMcrs of her son. At theaame time ahe denounced aa the
assaasin one MiikhaiL Bitiagofski, a creature of Boria, whom
Ute latter had placed in the palace of TJglitch, as paymaster
and comptDoUer, or, in other words, as a spy upon the
esBcitza and her brothers. Mikhail !Nagoi, one of the latter,
was roused, by the uproar &Qxn the table where he was
drinking after dinner. Coming out in a state of intoxication,
ha- too beat the goyemess, and gave orders to ring the tocsin.
She court-yard was instantly thronged with townspeople
and servaiulis, who had hurried to the spot with forks and
hatchets, idiinking the palace waa on firoi Among the rest^
Bitiagofski amved with his son and some of hia subordinates.
Trying to appease the tumult, he shouted that the boy had
MUed hims^ by falling on hia knife in a fit of epilepsy, to
.Ti(hich he was known to be subject. " There is the mmv
derer!" cried the csaritza. The crowd rushed at him with
«^li£bed weapons ; he fled to one of the houses in the courtp
yacd, and barred himself in ; but in a moment the door was
broken open, amd he. and hia son were massacred. Every
ene whO' ventured to say tk word in his behalf, or who was
faoDwn to belong to him, was hacked to pieces^ The gover*-
aesa lay bathed, in blood, and half lifeless, on the ground,
withibare head and dishevelled hair, for the servants of the
Ifogois had torn off her cap, thus inflicting on her what, in
the estimation of the Bussians of those days, was -a more
igm>miniou8 outrage than, the blows she had. received. One
<£ her serfs picked up her cap, and put it on her head; he
was instantly murdered for hia compasfflon. The &aiitie
multitude, still hunting down and slaying fcesh victims,
earned the bleeding corpse of the czarevitch to the neigh-
bouring churchy where Daniel Yolokhof, the governess's son,
ma samficed before it, under his motibier's eyes. He was
known, to be connected with Bitiagofski; and that was
deemed, proof enough that he was his accomplice. The
irifista of the> church with great difficulty rescued Yasailissa
andi Bitiagofski' B< daughters irom the hands of the mob ; but
tiiey were all impiisoned under close guard in one of the
baildings belongmg.to the cathedral.
Thus far the facta we luure related ^pear unquefiddonably
160 HIBTOBY OF BITSSIA. . [OH. XT.
authentic; popular rumours, collected and intenrified by
chroniderB who wrote long after the death of Dmitri, hm
added to them a great number of details, palpably ficti«
tious, and all assuming the character of durect proof of
Oodunors guilt. The real evidence against him is by no
means so complete, and is only sufficient to establish a very
strong probability. iN'or was the case rendered less obscuie
by the result of a mock inquest held at TJglitch, by order of
Boris, four days after Dmitri's death. The two grandees
who were deputed to inyestigate the matter were Andrew
Klechnin, notoriously one of &odunors creatures, and prince
Yassili Shuiski, who passed for his enemy. Shuiski's elder
brother Andrew had been put to death by the regent, and
he himself had been for some years in disgrace. But he
and his younger brother Dmitri had already been per-
mitted to effect their reconciliation with Ghodunof, and the
latter had given his sister-in-law in marriage to Dmitri.
The regent knew Yassili well, and was not deceived in the
choice he made of him, whilst at the same time it seemed to
testify entire freedom from fear and partiality on his own
part. Aifter an inquiry conducted in secret, without any
examination of the body, any comparison of the wound with
the weapon said to have inflicted it, or the observance of any
one requisite for the discovery of the truth, the commis-
sioners reported that the czarevitch had died in the manner
before declared by Bitiagofski, that is to say, by a wound
accidentally inflicted on himself during a fit of epilepsy.
The patriarch and the bishops unanimously adopted this
report, and further declared that Mikhail 2^agoi, the wicked
astrologers his accomplices, and the citizens of TJglitch, de-
served death for their treason in murdering the czar*s officers ;
but this, they added, was a matter that concerned the secular
jurisdiction. A number of persons thus prejudged were
put on their trial before the Council of Boyars ; the bro-
thers of the dowager czaritza among the rest. Some of
the witnesses deposed that Mikhail and Gregory Nagoi> in
their fraudulent desire to prove the murder of the czarevitchj
had produced knives, sabres, and other weapons, smeared
with the blood of a fowl, and pretended that they had fonno
them in the hands of the officers massacred at IIgH<^"'
Especially it was testified that one of the brothers had given
A.D. 1591] D35ATK 07 fHE OZJLRETITCH BMITBI. 161
tbe chief magistrate of Ug^litch a Tatar dagger, known to
belong to Gregory, with dureetions tbat be should lay it on
tbe corpse of Bitiagofski, or of one of his companions. This
charge was faintly denied by Gfregory, but was confessed by
Mikhail under torture. Such a confession proves nothing;
the accusation may have been true or false, but in any case
it points to a conclusion the reverse of that for which it was
adduced. It curiously supplies that capital omission in the
inquest which we have before mentioned — ^the comparison of
the wound with the weapon said to have caused it — and it
corroborates the vague but undisputed statement that the
wound was a large one: that is to say, such as might have
been made by a sabre or a Tatar dagger (nagaiskitnaf), which
is a long, broad-bladed, two-edged weapon, but not by a little
knife (nqfik) such as the czarevitch was represented as play-
ing with. The balance of evidence, thereK)re, is agamst the
probability that Dmitri's death was accidental.
The Council of Boyars decided otherwise. The dowager
czaritza was compelled to take the veil ; and her brothers
were sent to remote prisons. The inhabitants of Uglitch
were treated as rebels with atrocious severity. More than
two hundred of them were put to death ; others had their
tongues cut out or were thrown into dungeons. All the rest
of them whom terror had not already dispersed, were sent to
Siberia ; and a flourishing town that had numbered 30,000
inhabitants was converted into a desert. The wrath of the
regent extended even to inanimate objects. The palace of
the czarevitch was rased to the ground, and the church-bell
that had summoned the inhabitants of Uglitch to rest was
banished with them: According to Karamsin, it was still to
be seen, at the end of the last century, in the capital of
Siberia. This excessive violence was no less impolitic than
inhuman; it confirmed the suspicions it was intended to
avert. Boris alone had had a manifest interest in the czare-
vitch's death, and all men in their hearts pronounced him
the murderer. Macbeth stabbed the sleeping grooms in his
simulated rage ; just so, it was whispered!, Boris had exter-
minated the witnesses he had been unable to suborn, and
had destroyed a whole city in order to efface even the mute
memorial of his guilt. Thenceforth the Muscovites looked
TOL. I^ 31
162 HTSTOBT or BtllSIJL. [<^* ^'
upon him only as an assassin, and saw notiiing but cnmes
even in bis most laudable acts.
Soon after the horrible tragedy of Uglitch, a tremendous
fire broke out in Moscow and consumed a great portion^
the city. Boris had whole streets rebuilt at his own cost,
distributed succours among the Tictims of the disaster, an
exempted them from taxes. His bounty ^^s eagerly fc
cepted, but its very recipients secretly accused him of hari^
set fire to the capital, that he might creafce the opportunity,
of which he avaQed himself, to attribute the deed to the par-
tisans of the Nagois, whom he subjected to fresb perse-
cutions. ^ 1
In the same year Kassim Grherei, Ehan of Crimea, su -
denly invaded iKussia with a formidable army, and appear®
unexpectedly at the gates of Moscow. The Eussia^ com-
manders were at their wit's end, the army without ^'^^^
efficiency, the people sunk in helpless despair. " fj®
Feodor was applied to he answered, with his usual apatn^;
that " the saints who protected Eussia would fi^ht for her.
Boris alone preserved nis presence of mind in this ^^^'J^Sj
In the space of a few days he had Moscow surrounded i^ ^
palisades and redoubts, lined with numerous forces ^^^z^
midable artillery. He reanimated tiie courage of the tro^
and by his predigious activity supplied all that was ^^^^
in the emergency. The Tatars, repulsed in a first ***f?^ '
durst not attempt a second, but after some days' deliberatao^
resolved to retire. Their retreat became a frigbtf^ ^^^
and hardly a third of their immense army reached hoin
again. Eussia was saved by Boris, but Feodor ^^?f ^^
grateful. The people accused the regent cf having callea
the Tatars " in order," they said, "that the country's danger
might make us forget the death of Dmitri." £
In the following year, 1592, the unexpected pregi^^^A
the czaritza Irene was announced. She was delivered o*^
daughter, and Boris was immediately suspected of ^*^f
substituted a female child for the male which his ^^^.i,\
brought forth. The infant lived but a few days, a^**.^
it was said he had poisoned it. The long-expected dea ^
of the czar, happ^i when it might, was sure to be ***^5*^^^
to the same cause. But Godunof's ambition, though Jj^'
ordinate, was patient. He suflfered the weak Teodor to ii^ '
i.3. 15S;8] lEXTisanov of thb bitsu: btkastt. 16S
aad reigning glorknialj in his name^ ha pmpoeed to aaakd
himaelf indispensable to Bussia^ so that when the throne
should become yacant he shonld be called to it by the una*
nimons Toice of the nation. Especially he took care to secure
to himself the powerful aid of the clergy. In the same
year in which he killed the sole heir to the throoe, he availed
^ himself of the sordid ambition of a Greek bishop, who was
become the slave of the Trnks^ to purchaae from him the
right of establishing in Bnssia a patriarchy who was destined^
at a future period, to repay him diadem for diadem.
In the mean while, the grandees whom he could not deceire,
were either driven away or crushed by terror ; the petty
nobles were gained over by chaining down the Bea& to the
soil in 1592 or 1593 ; the inhabitants of the cities, by a con^
tinned affectation of popularity ; criminals, by indulgence ;
and the whole nation, by the splendour {£ an able adminis-
tration and poHcy. Smolensk was f(nrtified ; Archangel built ;
the Tatars, defeated for the last time under the walls of
Moscow, were chased back into their desertsy and were con«
fined within them by strong places constructed around their
haunts. Other fortresses arose, under the shadow of the
Caucasus ; Siberia was finally reconquered by the Bussian
manners, arts, and arms. The Swedes were driven into
Narva ; and a diplomatic intercourse was opened with the
European powers. Lithuania, and even Poland itself, tis said
to have momentarily consented to submit to the sceptre
which was swayed by GrodunoL Tli» spirit of sectarianism
alone appears to have dissolved this important union, which
was then voluntaiy, but which, two centuries later, was to
be the work of compulsion.
It was at the moment that the glory of Boris shone in its
brightest lustre, that, after seven hundred and thirtyrsix
years of existence, the dynasty of Burik became extinct, in
the jperson of Peodor, its fitty-second sovereign, and with
the sixteenth century (1598). Other branches still existed,
but the tyranny of Ivan had pressed heavily upon aU his
race. So completely had he insulated the thiione by terror,
that none but the minister of that terror dared to aspire
to it.
The deputies of Bussia were assembled; let us listen to
their annalists. " The election begins ; the people look up
M 2
IM HI8T0XT OT BirSSIA. [CH. XT.
to the noUes, tlie noUes to the grandees, the g^randees to
the patriarch ; he speaks, he names Boris ; and instantane-
ously, and as one man, all re-echo that formidable name !"
Godunof, on his side, grasped with so firm a hand all the
links of power, that he felt a pleasure in obstinately refusing
a sceptre which he so ardently desired. The grandees and
the people besieged him with their supplications ; he escaped
from them, and took refuge in a monastery, where the throng
of slaves again fruitlessly surrounded mm. This politicid
farce, which others of his kind have hardly been able to play
fer a few minutes, he ventured to keep up for more than a
month. He knew that, from the cell to which he had hypo-
eritically retired, a single breath of his would suffice to impel
the multitude as he pleased.
And so it was: people, nobles, priests, all obeyed the
impulse ; he appeared to direct, by imseen threads, every
movement of those thousands ; always invisible, he made them
eome, or go, speak, or be silent, with one accord, and as he
willed, as though they had been a single body of which he
was the soul. To the walls of his monastic retreat the im-
postor attracted that herd of slaves, repelled them, drew
them on again, without fearing to disgust them ; nor did he
yield at length, till for six weeks he had kept all Bussia in
suspense, on its knees, in tears,* and with clasped hands
holding forth to him the relics of the saints, the image of the
Eedeemer, to whom it compared him, and that antique
crown, which during fourteen years he had coveted, and to-
wards which he had won his way by so many crimes.
The usurpation of Boris began, or rather it continued : it
sustained itself by dint of promgalitites, idle shows, and those
striking effects of charlatanism which have such influence
over the minds of a rude and ignorant people. The satisfied
tyrant at first imagined that he might stop in the career of
crime. He sought to enlighten his subjects with European
knowledge; but this the priests opposed. His usurped
power was devoid of independence ; emanating from evil, it
was strong only for purposes of evil. The consciousness of
his crimes appalled him; he hoped to quiet his alarms by
new acts of violence, which redoubled these alarms, and he
• A chronicler says, that " those who had no tears at their com-
mand wetted thdr eyes with their spittle." — ^Earamsin, x., note.
A.3). 1598] BOBis GODxmor. . 16S
completed the demoralisatioii of everything by the dread he
felt aad inspired.
Boris had always pursued with diabolical art the polic^of
undermining the grandees, which was begun by Ivan IIL
He had even improved on that policy, and compassed the
extinction of many of the great families by withholding from
its members permission to marry. He now had cause, m
common with ail usurpers, to be doubly mistrustful of those
who had so lately been his own equals ; in their ruin he saw
hifi own safety : their riches would enable him to win the
petty nobles, whose pretensions could never come in compe-
tition with his own ; and also the love of the populace, which
the majority of tyrants have sought, and too often obtained.
Among his victims may be remarked the Eomanofs. Being
allied to the Euriks, they were the family which gave most
uneasiness to the usurper. The head of this eminent house
was preserved from the punishment of the axe only by that
of the tonsure. Ere long, we shall see this monk, alber
having risen to the primacy, rendering himself illustrious by
his patriotic devotecuiess, and his virtues meriting for his son
the sceptre of an empire which had been preserved by them
from foreign domination.
All was, in the mean time, brutified by fear : in the midst
of banquets, in the most peaceable ceremonies, the proudest
grandees of the empire, the descendants of so many princes,
on the least sign being given by this Tatar, were seen to rush,
like executioners, upon any one of their number whom he
pointed out as his enemy. Slavery was carried to its highest
pitch of intensity by this usurper ; with that slavery which
Ivan employed to crush the princes and the Eussian re«
public, which Ivan IV. extended to the higher class of
nobility and the cities, Boris fettered the country also, by
binding down the .peasantry to the soil. The imme<Hate
result disappointed Ids expectations. The peasants fled bv
thousands to escape slavery, and easily found an asylum with
proprietors who wanted hands to cultivate their estates. A
new edict was issued in 1597, prescribing the most vigorous
measures for the discovery of uigitive seris. Hence arose an
insupportable inquisition, as hateful to the landowners as to
the peasants themselves. From that moment, despotism was
omnipresent ; every village, every house, had its despotism
166 HiBToxT or BiriBiA. [oh. XV.
equally -with the i^uoiie, an which, in iheir torn, all tiieae
despotisms were dependent. The Eussian nation was no
longer anything but « hieraichy of fliavea. Thenceforth,
Aere waa no interconrae ; none of t^oae public meetinga in
which 'the youthfiil part of aoeiety at least orally acquired
knowlec^ ; no compiets to protect the weak, no asylum for
them. Kuasia became sad and sullen: the minstrels, who
had been wont to trarerse the countiy, now disappeaied;
their songs of war and the chase, and eren of love, were
heard no longer. It is only in the dnronicles of the time
that we discover the traces of those perished manners, those
forgotten songs : on meeting with them, the national his-
toTuuL is surprised and affected, and mournfully exdaims^
*^ that, in these recollections, the Bussia of the present day,
mute and enslaved, &ids but the image of an object which
no longer exists, the echo of a voice which no longer vibrates
on her ear."
AH these usorpations of Boris were not slow in producing
the natural results, which caused the tyrant himself to die of
grief on his tottering throne. He was doomed, in the first
place, to witness a calamitous emigration of the peasants,
m order to preserve their freedom among the OossacKs ; then
a horrible mmine ; and shortly after, an htrociaua jacquerie,
Tiotorious at first, but ultimately vanquished. These were
the fruits of his criminal attack upon the liberties of the
people. As to the murder of Dmim, he imagined that he
belaid the shade of his victim rising from the tomb, to take
vengeanee upon him. In conclusion, he left Bussia depopu-
lated, exhausted, laid open on every side, and a prey to aU
the horrors which arise from the breaking up of society.
"What crimes, what torments, what woes, to procure a six
years' reign upon a throne which, two months after his
decease, was to overwhelm his son in its fall !
The &mine mentioned in the last paragraph began in 1601 ;
it was accompanied as usual with pestilence, and both conti-
nued their dreadful ravages for three years. Boris was un-
sparing in his efforts to alhiy the calamity ; he caused immense
C[uantitie8 of provisions, besides money, to be daily distributed
m Moscow ; out the consequence was that multitudes flocked
irom aU tl^ provinces to the capital, and the T«iaf*liiAf was
inweased by conce^tration. At last tiie state treasury was
JkJ>. 1603] . SHE 1SAL8E BMXZBI. 167
exhausted, whiLst the £unme was still unabated. It is said
tliat half a million of people died in Moscow, The dead lay
by thousands in the streets and highways, many with their
mouths full of hi^, stiaw, or the filthiest ofal, which they
had endeavoured to eat. Moscow was become a city of can-
nibals. In many houses the fattest person was killed to
serve as food for the rest. Parents devoured their own chil-
dren, children their parents,.or sdLd them for bread. Petreius
saw a woman, in the open street^ tearing with her teeth the
fleah of a living child she carried in her arms ; and Margeret
relates that four wom^i, having decoyed a peasant into their
house under pretence of buying wood &om him, killed him
and his horse, and dragged the two carcases into their ice-pit*
to serve them for food.
TVTien the manifold discontents of the Sussians had been
exasperated to ihe highest piteh by three years of this horrible
visitation, and by iiie coiuitlesB secondaiy evils that flowed
from it; and when the whole empire was fuU of that va^e
dijEiquiet which commonly foreruns revolution, a surprism^
jnunour, brought fiom the frontiers of Idl^uania^ spread
through all the provinces with incredible rapidity. The
^zaievitoh Dmitri had not been murdered afber all, but was
alive in Poland! His cause was espoused by the principal
lords of the republic, and he was preparing to assert nis here-
ditary rights. Various accounts represented him as having
been previously seen at different places in the Bussian terri-
tory disguised as a monk, or playing a distinguished part in
the military expeditions of the 2Aporogue Cossacks. These
accounts were contradictory in sever^ particulars, but ail
agreed as to the main point, that Dmitri was alive, and was
about to call the usurper to a terrible reckoning.
About the middle of the year 1603, prince Adam Wisznio-
wiecki, of Brahm, in Lithuania, being irritated by some act
of negligence on the part of a young man who had not long
been in his service, gave him a box on the ear and called him
son of a — . The voimg man replied, with tears in his
eyes, " If you knew who I am, prince, you would not treat
me BO, nor call me by that name." — *^ Who are you, then ?
and whence do you come F" — ^' I am the czarevitch Dmitri,
son of Ivan Yassilieviteh." BJe then recounted the particu-
* The usual zeceptade fbr meat, fiah, &&, in Buflsia.
168 filBTOBT OV BVSSIA. [OH. XT.
lars of his miraculoaB escape from the aaaaMm employed by
Boris Godunofl He stated that his physidazii Simon, haying
been tampered with by Boris, had feigned to comply with the
regent's designs against the life of the heir-presumptiye, but
only that he misht the more effectually frustrate them. On the
ni/ht appointed for the murder, Simon put the son of a serf
into his young master's bed, and it was that substituted boy
whom the murderers despatched. Conyinced of the inutility
of appealing to Feodor against the minister who held his
mind enthralled, Simon fled with Dmitri from TJglitch, and
committed him to the care of a loyal gentleman, who for his
better protection made him enter a monastery. The gentle-
man and the physician were both dead ; but in confirmation of
his story, the pretender exhibited a Eusaian seal, bearing the
arms and the name of the czareyitch, and a gold cross adorned
with jewels of great yalue, which he said was the baptismal
gift of his godfather, prince lyan Mstislayski.
This tale, deliyered with great persuasiyeness of mamier,
found ready credence on the part of the Polish prince ; the
costly diamond cross seemed to him an eyidence not to be
resisted, for how could such a jewel haye come into the young
man's hands if he were not really the czareyitch P Wisznio-
wiecki immediately tendered his illustrious ffuest the command
of his wealth and influence, presented mm with clothes,
horses, carriages, and a retinue suitable to his supposed
birth, and took him to the residence of his brother, prince
Gonstantine, at Jalojicz. There a Bussian fugitiye, named
Pietroyski, in the seryice of the chancellor of Lithuania, yo»
lunteered a declaration that he had formerly been in attend*
ance on the czareyitch Dmitri, and that he recognised by
certain remarkable tokens his undoubted identity with the
young man then before him. The real Dmitri, if aliye in
1603, would haye been about twenty-two years old ; that was
the apparent age of the stranger. The latter had a wart on
the forehead, another under the right eye, and one arm
a little longer than the other ; and lyan's son was said to
have been marked in the yery same way.
There was an end to all doubts. The Polish nobles thronged
to prince Constantine's mansion to be presented to the
rightful czar of fdl the Bussias, to offer their seryices to
him, and inyite him to the most sumptuous entertainments.
A;D. 1603] THX 7ALaE DMITBI. 169
His deportment was such as folly became his alleged Inrth.
Ferfectlj at his ease among the noble palatines ; gracious,
affable, but always preserving his dignity, he accepted their
services with the air of one who confers a favour, and with
assurances that he would one day reward them. He spoke
Polish as well as [Russian, perhaps with more facility ;
knew a few words of Latin, and wrote with a bold and rapid
hand, which was enough in those days to prove that he had
received a liberal education. Moreover, he was minutely
versed in the history of [Russia, and in the genealogies of all
the great feimilies, their several interests, rivalries, and various
fortunes. In short, he had thoroughly learned his part as
pretender, and played it admirably. Adroitly flattermg the
prejudices of his entertainers, he led them to attribute to him,
rather than confessed, a certain partiality for Polish manners
and usages, and seemed to set light by the institutions of
Russia, and even by the superstitions of the Ghreek church.
In fine, and this was no small merit in the eyes of a warlike
jidfyihty, he was a most accomplished horseman, indefatigable
in £eld sports, and excelled in all exercises that required
vigour or agility.
Boris was not slow to hear of the appearance of this for-
midable pretender on the frontier, and the reception he met
with in Poland. What made the danger more pressing was,
that whilst the palatines were feasting the self-styled Dmitri,
a Bussian monk, named Gregory, or Orishka Otrepief, was
going about among the disaffected Don and Zaporogue Cos-
sacks announcing to them the speedy arrival of the czarevitch,
and urging them to take up arms in his behalf. Boris made
haste to get his rival into his hands, but nothing could be
more injudicious than the way in which he set about effect-
ing his purpose. In offering the brothers Wiszniowiecki
money and lands if they would give up the impostor to him,
he took the surest means of confirming their belief that their
guest was really the person whose name he assumed. The
indignant palatines dismissed the agents of Boris without
deigning to make them any reply, and carried Dmitri for
greater security into the interior of Poland, where he was
received vrith royal honours by George Mniszek, palatine of
Saudomir, father-in-law of prince Constantine. At Sandomir
another witness was found to identify Dmitri. This was an
170 joaroBT of bubka.. [oh. it-
old soldier -who bad been a prLaoner in Bassia, and wbo de-
jdaied tbat be perfectlj recognised in tbe adult tbe featoi^
of tbe cbild be bad o&ea seen at Uglitch. But wbat contrir
buted more tium anytbing else to advance tbe pretender's
fortunes was tbe intaiest be bad now excited in me mind of
Itangoni, tbe papal nuncio, wbose influence was psramoimt
witb tbe weak and fanatic Sigismond, Idng of Poland. A
compact was entered into, tbrougb tbe medium of the jesmts,
between tbe nuncio and Dmitri, by virtue of which idie latter
was to bring over Bussia to tbe church of Eome, and Bangom
was to support hiTn 'with all his influence in Poland and
i^iroughout Europe.
Dmitri now privately abjured tbe Gh^eek faith in preflfflice
of tbe nuncio, ^kL signed a contract of marriage with JMarina,
the youngest daughter of Mnissek, by which be settled i^on
her the towns rf Novgorod and Pskoi^ and engaged to
.py h^ father a million of PoUsh florins as soon as he shomd
have ascended the throne. Soon afterwards he signed an-
other deed, by which be ceded the city of Smolensk ^^ *j
Severia to Mnisaek and tbe king of Pobmd, to be divided
between them. These engagements, as wellaa bisabjuratian,
were to be kept secret for the present, and Dmitri continued
outwardly to observe the forms of the Greek ritoal. Hejwas
next presented by the nuncio in a solemn audience to Sigis-
mond^ who saluted him as prince of Moscow, assigned him a
pension of 40,000 florins, and authorised him " to accept the
counsels and services of the subjects of the Polish ^?^
The pension was an illusory aid, for it was to be paid oj
IVrniBzek, Sigismond's nearly insolvent debtor^ nor would
the king take up arms in the pretender's cause in violation
of the truce of twenty years which had been concluded witn
Bussia; but it was a great thing that he bad recognisea
Dmitri as the rightfiil czar, and hm permitted him to accept
Ihe cotmseh and sermeef of the Poles— that is to say, to levy
troops and prepato an expedition against Boris. Dmitn ua-
mediately hastened to the frontier, and prepared to enter
Severia, where his Cossack partisans had already begun hosti-
lities against the government in their own desultory rxasa^'
'Ear a long time Boris was reluctant to appear, by t^®
magnitude of his preparations, to confess his senseof imp^'
ing danger, and lend nnportance to his rival's daims. Afe<5iang
XJ>.. IGOii] . XHE lEAJDSS: IZKrCKC 171
io regard faim mih ccmtmnpt, lie tlionght to ruin him utterly
in tbe opmion of his Polish protectors and the EdiBSian
pe<^e by^identifyixig him m&i the apostate monk G^rishka
Otropief. {Oiis man, ^ose parentage was well known, was
ihe nephew of a person high in the confidence of Bods, and
was nofcorious for his profl^^ate and yagahond hfa We haye
sdieady mentioned him as a missionary on behalf of ike pre-
tender among the Cossacks; but his own uncle loudly dedared
tiiat he and the spurious Dmiiai were one and the same.
This opinion has been adopted by Karnmsin and most mo-
dem historians; Merimee, on the other hand, mftinWna that
it rests only cm Idie assertion of Boris and his partisans, and
that it is inconiQstent wilii known fietcts and dates, as well as
with ihe positiye testimony of Margeret and others who knew
bath liie monk and his master. We hare said that while the
latter was reyealing himself to the Polish nobles, the former
was busy among the Cossacks ; but this se^ningly dedsiye
fact is iuvalidai^d by a statement made by yaramsm. Hie
says, without naming his authority, that while the real Otre-
pief was figuring as Dmitri in Lithuania and Poland, his con-
federate Leonidas, another monk, had assumed tiie name he
discarded, and was acting as his ag^it on i^ Ukraine.
^we assume, with Kanunsin, that Otrepief was himself the
fialse Dmitri, nothing could haye been better adapted to his
purpose than this ing^ous artifice ; in the absence, howeyer,
of any proof that it was put in practice, we must be content
to leaye the main question unsdyeS. It is a question, in-
deed, more curious than important, since the well-authenti-
cated death of the real Dmitri leayes us no room to doubt
that the person, whoeyer he was, who afterwards assumed .
his name, was an impostor.
Whilst Boris was fulminating his prockmationB, and the
patriarch his anathemas against \' the rascally disrobed monk,
itie apostate, rd[)el, and magician, who wished to introduce
the Latin h^reefy into Bussia, and to build Catholic churches
in the orthodox land," the object of tiieir inyectiye was re-
ptying to tiiem witii more successful rhetoric, and gathering
recruits under his banners. On J:he Slst of October, 1604,
ha entered the Bussian territory, and marched on Morarsk, a
small fortified town of the presait goYBRiment of Tcheinigo£
His little force consisted of about eleyen hundred Polish
172 HISTOftY 07 BXTSSIA. [OH. XT.
lances and their followers, making together upwards of tbree
thousand horse, five hundred foot of the same natioOf and
some thousand Bussian refugees. This was a very small
force with which to undertake the conquest of a vast empire,
but it swelled rapidly on its march. Town after town joy*
fully submitted to Dmitri, and the inhabitants, along with
bread and salt, the customary tokens of allegiance, brought
him their goyemors and other officers set over them by Boris,
and put them bound and gagged into his hands. Dmitri
liberated aU these prisoners, and treated them in a mamier
not less politic than humane. Many other functioiiBiies
voluntarily deserted to him, and it was not until he arriyed,
on the 23rd of Noyember, before the walls of Noygorod-
Severski that he saw the face of an enemy. Peter Basmanof
had thrown himself into that town with a corps of fiye
hundred strelitz from Moscow, had set fire to the lower town,
and retired into the citadel. A flag was sent to summon him
to surrender in the name of the Czar and Ghrand-Prince
Dmitri. Standing on the ramparts with a lighted match in
his hand he replied to the enyoy : " The Grand-Prince and
Czar is at Moscow, and your Dmitri is a robber who shall be
impaled, and his accomplices with him. Be off if you yalije
your life." Bepeated efforts were made to suborn Basmanof,
but all in yain ; an attempt was made to storm the fortr^y
and was repulsed; three weeks were spent by the Polish
engineers in preparing means for burning the palisades which
their cannons were too light to destroy ; but the garrison was
aware of the project, and encountered it with such spirit that
the besiegers were forced to abandon it. Their losses were
considerable ; their supplies were wasting away, and this long
delay before a petty forbess spread discouragement amongst
Dmitri's troops, and gaye time to those of Boris to muster
and advance.
Dmitri alone did not share the despondency of his fol-
lowers, and his steadfastness was soon rewarded by an un-
expected piece of good fortune. A train of waggons loaded
with casks of honey fell into the hands of his partisans, and
in these casks was found a^um of 80,000 ducats, which Boris
was sending to the commandants of the towns that still ad-
hered to him. At the same time the important fortress of
Putivle declared in favour of Dmitri ; and in less than three
A.D. 1604] DMITEI'S VIOTOET AT ITOVGOBOD. 173
days tills example was followed by Bjlsk, Sievsk, Voroneje,
and forty other places of more or less strength. The siege of
Novgorod was now prosecuted with renewed spirit, though
with no marked success. Basmanof, however, being aware
that an army was on its march from Moscow, adroitly con-
eluded a truce of a fortnight, engaging to surrender at the
end of that time if he was not succoured.
Godunof probably now perceived the error he had com-
mitted in affecting to despise the ^' rascally monk ;" the con-
struction put by the people and the soldiery upon his conduct
had been the reverse of that on which he had calculated ; for
their belief was, that Godunof was really afraid to oppose the
true son of Ivan. Boris might still have repaired tnis first
error if he had put himself at the head of his troops and
marched in person against the impostor. But his health was
broken; he was no longer the man who, as regent, had in-
spired the drooping hearts of the Eussians with his own
courage, and saved Moscow from the Tatar invaders. As if
his coward conscience would not suffer him to march even
against the shade of Dmitri, he committed his fortunes to
the hands of the boyars whom he suspected ; and while he
issued the most peremptory orders that all who were capable
of bearing arms should repair with all speed to Briansk, he
seemed himself afraid to quit the capital. Bv the utmost
exeirtion of his authority, and a rigorous inquisition backed
hy confiscations and the knout, fifby thousand men were
brought together at Briansk in the course of six weeks. In
1598 a less space of time had sufficed to assemble half a
million of fighting men at the mere word of a still popular
czar.
On the 25th and 28th of December there was some skirmish-
ing between the outposts, but neither Dmitri nor Mstislavski,
Godunof 's general, was in haste to bring on a general action.
The former expected to see the hostile army pass over to him
en masse ; ana the latter thought that the enemy, who were
hardly fifteen thousand strong, would disperse without fight-
ing. Neither expectation being fulfilled, Dmitri marched out
of his entrenched camp at davb^eak on the 31st, and daringly
took up his position in order of battle in an open plain,
extremely imlavourable to an army so inferior in numbers.
His principal force consisted of six or seven hundred Polish
174 HIBTOBT OF BUBBIA. [OH. XT.
kDightB cased in complete mail, and their poehoUkif or
esquireg, who were armed almost as well as their masUnB.
Putting himself at the head of this choice eoxps, Dmitri
harangued his soldiers with inspiring energy. ^'Almigfatj
Gk>d !" he cried aloud, " if my cause is unjust, may th^ wrath
fiill on me alone ! But thou knowest my right, and will make
my arm invincible !" He then gaye the word to charge. The
Bussian right wing was broken at the first shock by the
Polish lancers, and driyen in upon the centre ; the whole
Muscovite army was disordered, and the soldiers fied, throw-
ing down their arms and shouting, '^ The czarevitch ! the
czarevitch!" Prince Mstialavski, a brave soldier though a
bad general, strove in vain to rally his dismayed cavalry, who
sought to excuse their disgrace by imputing their own fears
to their horses, saying that the latter were afinud to fiiee tiie
Poles, for they looked like a troop of wild beasts, eveiym«tt
of them having a shaggy bearskin over his armour. Mstis-'
lavski fell £rom his horse, bleediug firom fifteen wounds, and
was with difficulty rescued and borne off from the field. H
Dmitri had followed up his advantage, the route of the
Muscovites would have been complete; but, meanwliile,
Basmanof made a sortie, and set fire to the camp. Dmitn
was obliged to put an end to the battle in order to repel this
attack, and Godunof 's generals were enabled to effect their
retreat under cover of the woods.
Brilliant as the victory was, it brought Dmitri nothing but
barren glory. Badly as the Bussians had fought, they had
shown no disposition to forsake the cause of Boris for his
own. They had not surrendered but fled, and very fe^
deserters had passed over to him. He knew that without
the voluntary submission of the Sussians neither the Poles
nor the Cossacks would be able to overthrow Boris ; and there
was another and more numerous army on its march froD*
Moscow, which might resume hostilities in a few days.
While he was in this untoward predicament, there arrive*^ a
peremptory order firom Sigismond, commanding the Poles to
return home forthwith. Apparently this order had been ex-
torted from the king of Poland by the threats of Bona s
agents, and would not have been issued if the victory oi
Novgorod had been known at the court of Cracow ; but tne
inconceivable prolongation of the siege of a petty fortrefls*
iLj>. 1605] BHITBI IMSFEATSD AT BOBETKITOHI. 175
and tlie immenfie preparations whidi the czar was sdii to be
makiQg, bad greatly diminiahed tbe probabiliij of the pre--
tender's success. All tbe paihitines and tbe principal Folkb
gentlemen, inclixding even Mniszek, obeyed the eonmiand
of their soyereign a fortnight after the battle of jN'oygorod,
and only &nr hundred Poles remained with Dmitri. To
continue tbe siege of Noygocrod was no bnger possible ; to
shut himself up in one of the fortified towns that had declared
in bis &.your appeared to him more dangerous than to hazard
another battle. A desperate stroke might be successful, and
the second army might be leas faithful to Boris than the first.
Dmitri felt besides that there is no safety for a pretender but
in bold action, and that he is lost the moment he appears to
doubt his own fortune. Determined, therefore, to risk eyery-
thing, he broke up his camp, and after passing some days at
Sieysk to re&esh his troops, he took the field again with
hardly fifteen thousand men, most of them Cossacks.
Mstislayski was disabled by hia wounds ; Basmanof, the
onljr other commander who liad earned the approbation of
Boris, was summoned to Moscow to be loaded with extra-
ordinary honours, which were a tacit re{»roach to others, and
excited the jealousy of the higher nobility to a dangerous
degree. T¥iiether it was that Boris feared to exasperate that
jefdousy, or that he detained his best office for tbe defence
of his capital and his p^son in case of extremity, he com-
mitted a capital fault in depriving his army of the only man
fit to lead it, and another m giving the command to YassiH
Shuiski, who, like MstislavEfi, was personally brave, but
otherwise incompetent. No one knew better than Shuiski
that the so-called Dmitri was an impostor, and he had no
thought of promoting his success ; but though he fought for
Boris, he never forgot the wrongs he had sustained at his
hands ; in short, he was willing to defend the czar against
the pretender, but not to make him too secure.
0^ the 2()th of January, 1605, Shuiski and the other
generals drew out their united forces, amounting to seventy
thousand men, on the plain of Dobrynitchi. Dmitri did not
h^tate to attack them with less than a quarter of their
numbers. As at the batile of Novgorod, he prayed aloud,
harangued his army, and divided it mto three corps. Eight
thousand mounted Zaporogues 'formed the main body ; &ttE
176 HIBTOBT OF BUBSIA. [CH. XT.
thoufland Oossack infantry were posted on a hill with the
artillery ; the yanguard, led by Dmitri in person, coneisted of
the four hundred roles and two thousand mounted Bussians.
Gallantly charging the enemy's centre, he routed and chased
their cavalry, bore down the foreign legion in spite of their
stout resistance, and fell upon the Muscovite infantry and
artillery. He was received with a general discharge from
fourteen cannons and sixteen thousand muskets. The hurried
and ill-directed fire emptied but a dozen saddles, and when
the smoke was cleared away Dmitri's lances were seen flash-
ing in the midst of a great gap rent in the enemy's line. Had
the Zaporogues seconded their intrepid commander, he would
probably have achieved a complete victory ; but they stood
stock still, bribed, it is said, by Boris. Meanwhile, "Walther
von Bosen and the Erench captain Margeret rallied the
foreign legion, and gave the Bussians time to follow their
example. The Zaporogues wheeled round and quitted the
field without striking a blow. The day was lost for Dmitri;
he fled ; his horse was wounded, and the pursuit was hot.
Fortunately for him it was checked for a moment by his four
thousand CossaKk infantry, who kept their grouna without
flinching as^ainst the whole Muscovite army, and were killed
to a man, defending their cannons to the last. But in spite
of this diversion not one of the fugitives would have reached
Sievsk alive, had not Shuiski and the other voyevodes mani-
festly favoured the pretender's flight, their interest forbidding
them to relieve Boris from all cause for fear. They gave
orders to stop the pursuit, saying, " The fowl is in the pot,"*
a common phrase which was understood by the soldiers as
meaning that Dmitri was slain or taken. Beaten he was ; he
had lost by death or treachery seven-eighths of his army and
all his artulery and baggage ; but all this was really nothing
whilst he retained the prestige of his name.
"Whilst Dmitri was continuing his flight to Putivle, which
from its strength and its vicinity to the frontier offered him
a secure asylum, the czar's voyevodes remained at Dobry-
nitchi, busying themselves only with executions. They
hanged all their prisoners, except a few whom they sent to
Moscow, torturea and shot the inhabitants of the province of
• « P&pabia hw vo shtshi:'* liteially, «*The fowl has fallen into the
cabbage soap."
X.J). 1605] sues ov kboht, 177
Komamitsky and by these stupid crueltiefl augmented the
rancour of the people against Boris, and their attachment to
Dmitri, who behaved with inyariable clemency eyen to his
enemy's most zealous servants. Instead of marcoing instantly
to exterminate the remains of the rebels, Shuiski £smissed a
part of his troops immediately after his victory, under pre-
tence of economising his scanty provisions; and when he
moved it was only to make a show of besieging Silsk, where
Dmitri had halted for a while, but which he had abeady left.
After remaining inactively before that town for a fortnight,
he drew off his troops into winter quarters, and sent word to
the czar that no more cocdd be done for that season. This
was not what Boris had expected, and his anger against the
voj^evodes was now the greater for the short-lived joy with
wnich the victory of Dobrynitchi had inspired him. He had
been profuse of thanks, rewards, and promises to the army
and its leaders, and had urged them to complete the work so
well begun, assuring them that he was ready io share his last
shirt with his faithldl servants. His displeasure was now
extreme, and he expressed it in a manner which excited deep
and general resentment. Erom that moment several digm-
taries of the army were visibly disposed in favour of the
impostor, and a growing desire was manifested to get rid of
Boris. By way, however, of ostensibly obeying the peremp-
tory orders of their sovereign, Shuiski and Mstislavski
marched out of camp, but only to engage in futile and
illusory operations. Leaving Dmitri unmsturbed in Putivle,
where fresh adherents were daily rallying round him, they
sat down with all their forces before the little town of
Blromy, which was defended only by wooden fortifications,
and a garrison of six hundred Don Cossacks, under the valiant
Hetman Elorella, whom the chroniclers denominate *^ a mighty
magician." The besiegers set fire with incendiary arrows to
the palisades of Kromy, but were greatly amazed to find a
wide ditch and an earthen rampart behind them. Abandon-
ing the hope of carrying the place by a coup de main, they
contented themselves with bombarding it ; but the garrison
were perfectly protected by their casemates, and often made
vigorous sorties by means of long burrows carried out from
the great ditch. Whenever a Muscovite post showed any
negligence, a band of Cossacks would rise out of the grouna,
TOL. I. K
178 * maTO»T 01 svfltiA.. [oh- 3C^-
cat it to piacee, and yanish like foxes in their eartba. ^^^^^
inoeBsaiitlj haraaaed by an iayisible eneinj, an anny oi
eighty thousand men, iviRj supplied mtli artill^> ^^iT
two months befin^e that petty fortress, rather as besieged thaa
as besiegers.
Meanwhile Dmitri made good use of his opportautiwt
He issued letters and manifestoes, which were received mta
ayidity throughout the countiy ; his agents wrou^t upon
the disoffecticm of the army ; and several men of rank, an»
a |reat number of soldiers, left; the camp at £jomj and re^
paired to Putiyle to offer their services to the pretendfijc.
Alarmed by the success of these intrigues and by the inofr
xkess of his army, Boris soucht other means to get rid of mB
rival. Three monks arrived at Putivle with letters firom the
Patriarch Job and from the czar, the latter of whom pw-
miaed the townspeople a pl^iazy amnesty and ma|;ni&^
rewards if they would delivar up the impostor to him, alive
or dead. The inhabitants of Fudvle being all devoted to
Dmitri, the monks had no soooer begun to make overtuM
among them than they were arrested. Being put to toe
torture, two of them resolutely kept silence ; but the third
confessed that the youngest of them had a subble poison caa'
cealed in the sole of his boot, to be administered by order of
Boris to the osarevttch, with the connivance of two boya^
who had traitorously insinuated themselves into his confix
dence. The exposure of such attempts as these was more
serviceable to the pret^ider's cause than a victory iu the field.
After punishing the traitors, Dmitri wrote to the patriarch
Job and to Boris, vauntiog the special protection which
Heaven vouchsafed to him, the true czar, and reproaduQg
them with the vile means to which they had recourse bo
awkwardly. To Boris he said with poignant iron^, that he
was graciously disposed to extend m^cy towards mm. '^L^
him descend from the throne he has usurped, and seek in the
solitude of the cloisters to reconcile himself with Heaveoj
in that case I will forget his crimes, and even assure hiai w
my sovereign protecftion."
To be addressed in words like these must have smitten the
haughty spirit of Boris with mortal anguish ; for he felt that
the power to punish such an indignity had passed away from
him. An impalpable force had neutralised all the efforts of
his strong will and subtle genius, — all the resources of his ab-
JUi, 1605] pai.!tH or bobxs. 179
solute authority. Like a magician mocked and undone by
Ms own familiars, lie felt liimself the victim of the universal
perfidy he had spread around him. Outwardly his state was
still imchanged ; he was still the autocrat, whom his slaves
approached only with trembling and adulation. The busi-
ness of the council proceeded as usual ; the court, pre-emi-
nent among those of Europe for its gorgeous splendour, was
as magnificent as ever. But every heart was full of feelings
which the face belied. Some disguised their terror ; others
their secret joy ; and Boris above all had to make super-
human efforts to hide his despair. In this awful eonflict
with destiny he won the last prize in his career of ambition,
— ^to die as he had lived, a monarch. On the 13th of April,
1605, he presided at the council-board as usual ; reoeived
some distmguished foreigners; dined with them in "the
gilded hall ;" but immediately after dinner he was seized with
sadden illness, and blood burst from his nose, ears, and
mouth. In the brief interval between his being attacked and
sinking into insensibility, he was consecrated a monk by the
name of Bogolep ;* and two hours afterwards he expired in
the fifty-third year of his age, after a reign of sis years.
Popular belief ascribed his death to poison, administered hy
his own hand ; but we can be at no loss to account for it
without adopting the improbable supposition of suicide.
So long as the czar lived, and the army had not actually
revolted, the pretender's aspiring fortunes were not secured
from all chance of failure. The existence of Boris was the
only safeguard of his family. Would so cool a calculator
have thrown away a chance however faint ? "Would a man of
such energy and resolution, so noted for the depth and ten-
derness of his domestic affections, have wilfully hastened the
triumph of his foe, and basely abandoned his wife and. chil-
dren to inevitable destruction — to destruction only rendered
inevitable by his own act ?t
* ue, AgreeaUe to God.
t '* Why should I play the Boman fool, and die
On my own sword?"
We have already alluded to the obvious analogy between the Boris of
history and the ideal Macbeth. The chief difference between them
eonsists in the far greater strength of character belonging to the
n2 ■
180 HI8T0BT 07 BTTSSIA.. [OH. XYI.
CHAPTEE XVI.
FBODOB BOBISSOYITOH— THX FALSE DHITBI.
Thb death of Boris bad been so sudden and unforeseexii
that Dmitri's partisans in Moscow were unprepared to acton
the instant ; the accession of Eeodor, the son of the deceased
czar, aged about sixteen, was therefore prodaimed without
opposition, and the oath of allegiance to him was taken by
all orders, from the patriarch and the grand boyars to the
burghers and workpeople. Shuiski and Mstislavski were
rectSled to the capital to aid the young czar with their
counsels ; and Basmanof was sent to take the command of
the army, and administer the oath of fidelity to the soldiers.
That ceremony was accomplished without difficulty, for, not-
withstanding the prevalence of disaffection, no one dared to
take the first step in open rebellion ; but hardly six weeks
elapsed before !Feodor was deposed and strangled without
a sword drawn or a shot fired in his defence.
When Basmanof quitted Moscow, his loyalty appeared as
incontestable as his courage and capacity ; and possibly it
was not until he had learned from persozial observation how
much the yoyevodes and the army were disposed in favour of
Dmitri, that he conceived the idea of betraying his trust.
Be that as it may, it is certain that soon after his arrival at
Kromy he began to negotiate secretly with Dmitri. Seeing
the weakness of the throne, and feanng the ambition of the
numerous family of the Godunofs, he doubtless thought it
better for himself in the first place, and perhaps for Bussia
too, to commit the sceptre to the bold hands of an impostor
even, whose courage and enterprising spirit extorted his invo-
luntary admiration. Besides, he could not but foresee that
should he save Feodor's crown, the claims of the czar's pre-
server would always be eclipsed by those of the least of the
Godunofs ; whereas an adventurer without family would be-
stow the first place in his favour on the general who should
have opened to him the gates of Moscow.
On the 7th of May the troops were all under arms. Bas-
manof harangued them, and proclaimed Dmitri czar of
A.D. 1605] FEOBOE II. BOBISSOTITCH. 181
Moscow. The greater number responded with enthusiastic
acclamations ; the troops under the command of lyan Gh>-
dunof, Feodor's unde, threatened resistance, but were over-
awed bj superior numbers, and he himself was arrested and
put in chains. The next day prince Yassili QaHtzin hastened
to Putivle to tender the submission of the army to the czar
Dmitri, and as a pledge thereof to deliver the prisoner Ivan
Godunof into his hands. Dmitri received his new subjects
with his usual i^bHiiy, and sent orders to Basmanof to
make reader to march to the capital.
Meanwhile Feodor still occupied the Kremlin, and Moscow
obeyed him. A great city well fortified, and containing a
large garrison and a vast population, was not to be carried
by a cottp de main ; it seemed also imprudent to appear before
it with an army whose steadfastness in its new.faith remained
still to be proved. Dmitri wished to sound the dispositions
of the inhabitants ; but his letters were intercepted, and the
bearers put to death by the Oodunofs, who commanded in
Feodor's name. Not dismayed hj these examples, two
o£Scers, Pushkin and Plestcheief, arrived on the 1st of June
at Krasnoe Selo, a large town near Moscow, where many
wealthy merchants of the capital resided. The two envoys
assembled the chief men of the place, and read to them a
letter from Dmitri promising an amnesty in case of imme-
diate submission, and threatening merciless vengeance in
the opposite event. Struck by the confident tone assumed
by Dmitri, the inhabitants of Krasnoe Selo marched en masse
with his envoys into Moscow, and convoking the people to
the great square, called upon them to acknowledge and pro-
dfldm their lawful sovereign Dmitri, the son of Ivan. Th^
were seconded by the majority of the boyars of the council,
and by many grandees whom Boris had exiled, and who had
returned after his death to the capital. The people, who
had long been wrought upon by Dmitri!s emissaries, rent the
air with acclamations, and in a moment the revolution was
consummated. Petreius. relates, that the Muscovites called
upon Vassili Shuiski, who had presided over the inquest at
ifglitch, to declare whether or not it was true that Dmitri
hid been killed. Shuiski was not the man to make himself
a martyr for the cause of truth, or for that of the (Jodunofs,
and he declared without hesitation that the body which had
182 msfOBX (UP BVSfliA. [oh. xn*
been exhibited to bim was not tbat of the czarevitcby but of
a pope's son wbo bad been mnrdared instead of bim. Satis-
fied \ntb tbiB declaration, tbe populace burst into &6
Xrembn, seized Peodor, bis sister Aenia, and bis molber,,
and removed tbem to tbe bouse wbicb Bozis bad occupied
before bis accession to tbe tbrone. Tbere tbej were kept
prisoners till tbeir fate sboidd bave been decided by tbe new
soyereign, but otberwise tbej were treated witb respect.
All tbe rest of tbe Qodunofs were sent off in cbaiBa to
Dmitri's camp.
Tbese erents being promptly made known to tbe new
czar, be sent prince Vassili Oalitzin and Massalski to the
capital as his plenipotentiaries. Their first act was to de-
pose the patriarch Job, and shut bim up in a monastery,
though he had already professed his wilUngness to crown
with his own hands tbe man be had so recently anathematised
as a renegade monk. Then followed the murder of Jeodor
and his mother, whose bodies were carried without ceremony
to a monastery beyond tbe city walls, along with tbe remains
of Boris, which were no longer allowed to rest in the sepul-
chre of the czars. It was giyen out that tbe victims bad
poisoned themselves ; but Fetreius declares that when their
bodies were exposed in public, he himself saw on their necks
the marks of the cords with which they had been strangled.
It is possible, as Dmitri's most recent biographer remadks,
that this deed was not directly commanded by himself.
Most of tbe chroniclers allege that it was so ; but their,
assertions rest only upon vague presumptions. The zeal of
Dmitri's agents, says Merim^e, '^ doubUess bad no need of
positive ins&uctions. The sequel of this young adventurer'Sr
histoiy shows that, far from being cruel, he was good-natured
and generous to a degree, which was very rare in those days
even among the most civilised nations. I am more inclined to
believe that men^who, within a month, had taken two oaths,
and successively betrayed Boris and Peodor, eagerly seized,,
without orders, the opportunity to remove enemies out of
their new master's way, and objects of remorse and dr^
out of their own." The only member of the Gfodunof family
who was put to death by the avowed order of Dmitri was
Semen, the head of tbe secret police under Boris, and he waft
probably sapiificed to the vengeance of the Bnssian nobilit^^;
A J». 1605] dmiixi'b xsTBar xsro xoscow. 188
br whom lie was mureraally detested. The other membeift
of the family were banislied to Siberia, oir to ▼foioiis for*
tresses ; and if we consider that in those tiinea it was no
lUMisoal thing to exterminate a whole family for the crime
of its head, it must be owned that Dmitri manifested a
moderation at which his enemies themselves had reason to
be surprised. i
Snutri was not in haste to approach his capital, and thetre
was wisdom in his delay. Merim6e hazardi a conjecture
that he had studied MacbiaTelli, whose JPrine^e had already
been translated into Polish, for his conduct smce the defec-
tion of the army at Kromy seems as thmieh it had been
strictly regulated by the precepts of that prdbund politician.
AH the requisite acts of severity had been rapioly accom-
plished, and all his enemies removed, before his entry into
Moscow, so that he had only favours to distribute when he
took possession of his throne. On the 20th of June he
oomplied with the earnest entreaties of his longing subjects,
and entered the capital in great pomp, amidst the enthusi-
astic greetings of an imm^ise multitude that thronged ^he
streets, the windows, and the housetops. Never was a be-
loved monarch received with a more joyous welcome. But
when the procession began to defile across the great squaro
before the Kremlin, there arose a sudden whiriwind, so vio«
lent that the horsemen could with difficulty keep their
saddles ; the air was fiUed with thick clouds of dust, and the
ezar and his cortege were for a moment hidden from the
multitude. Struck by the omen, the superstitious Masco-
vites crossed themselves, and whispered, ^' God keep usfirom
hann." But the wind fell, and the untoward incident waa
forgotten. Soon after a shock was given to the feelings of
the devout. At the moment when Dmitri dismounted to
kiss the relies with which the cki^ advanced to meet him,
his Lithuanians struck up a flourish of military music that
drowned the chant of Te Deum, Again, when the czar
entered the cathedral he was accompanied by several ^ Pa-
gans," as the BuBsiana called all foreigners who were not of
the Greek Church. Moscow had never before witnessed
such a pro&nation of its holy places. In another churdi,
however, which he riirited afber the cathedral, tiie czar's
conduct was beheld with sympathy and admiration. There
184 HIBTOBT 01* BirSfllA. [OH. XYX^
lie knelt in tears before the tomb of lyan, and kissing it with
a well simiilated transport, exclaimed, '^ O father ! thy orphan
Teigns ; and this he owes to thy holy prayers !" His emotion
was contagions ; all present wept with him, repeating one
to another, *^ He is indeed the son of the Terrible."
Unlike his putatiye father, howeyer, Dmitri made haste
to shower benefits on his subjects. Kot only the Kagois,
his pretended relations, but all those whom Sons had dis-
graced, were restored to their honours and fortunes. E^en
the Godunof family experienced his generosity, and seyeral
of its members were appointed yoyeyodes of remote pro-
yinces. The salaries of the public functionaries and the pay
of the army were doubled ; and the new czar annouQced
tiiat he would pay all the debts of the crown contracted b^
his father lyan IV . — an act of truly royal muiiificence, as it
seemed in those times, and one which had not been thought
of by Feodor or Boris. Dmitri also remitted many taxes
preyiously imposed on trade and on law processes ; sternly
discountenanced all yenality ; seyerely punished corrupt
judges ; and made it his practice to sit eyery Wednesday
and Saturday in the portico of his palace to receiye the peti-
tions of the humblest of his subjects and redress their
grieyances. He modified the iniquitous enactments of
Boris respecting the peasants, and inaugurated a more
humane system of legislation, which still regulates, in theory
at least, howeyer it be eyaded in ]^ractice, the mutual
relations of the Eussian lord and his serf. Whilst he
authorised the lord to reclaim his fugitiye serf, he was careful
to restraiii, under seyere penalties, all fraudulent claims of
ownership. Eyery man was to be deemed free until his
bondage nad been judicially established; and the onus of
proof lay upon the master who claimed him. Moreoyer,
affirming the principle that the lord's right of property was
inseparable from tne serf's right of maintenance, the czar
enfranchised all the peasants who had been abandoned by
their lords during the late famine. It often happened that
freemen who had engaged in seryice for a limited time on
hire, were afterwards retained as serfs against their will*
Dmitri made this abuse highly penal, and enacted that for
the future the right of ownership in serfs should be authen-
— --^
i.D. 1605] MSXTnra oe dmitbi ajsd iyan's ttidow. 185
ticated by enrolment, after sufficient proof giyen, in registers
kept by the government.
Bmitri had been a month in Moscow, and it began to
excite some surprise that he had not yet seen his mother,
though the conyent to which Boris had compelled her to
retire was but 500 versts distant from the capital. The
interral was spent in preparing the czaritza for the part she
was required to play ; and this task, it appears, was volun-
tarily undertaken by her brother the Nagois, who succeeded
in impressing her with the advantages which would accrue
to their faniirj^ from favouring the imposture. At last it was
known that the illustrious nun was about to quit her convent
at Yyska, and that her son was to meet her at Toininsk.
He set out from Moscow with great pomp, accompanied by
a great multitude, who looked forward to the approaching
interview with the most eager curiosity. A sumptuous tent
had been erected near Toininsk, and there it was that Dmitri
received Ivan's widow. They remained alone together for a
little while, but what passed between them was never known ;
presently they came out of the tent and threw themselves
into one another's arms with every token of the liveliest
affection. A unanimous shout of joy burst from the sympa-
thising multitude ; if any had doubted before, none doubted
now; not one who looked upon that touching scene but
would have sworn that the czar was truly the son of her who
was seen weeping on his bosom. Dmitri led the princess to
the carriage which was to convey her to Moscow, and walked
beside it bareheaded the greater part of the way. At the
outskirts of the ciiy he mounted nis horse and galloped in
advance, to await his mother at the gate of the convent of
St. Cyril in the Kremlin, which he had chosen for her tem-
porary residence, until he should have built a magnificent con-
vent expressly for her. He had made every provision for her
reception, with the honours due to the mother of the sove-
rei^. She had a revenue assigned her, and a household be-
fittmg a dowager czaritza. He went to see her every day,
and invariably treated her with manifestations of profound
respect and filial affection. He consulted her on affurs
of state, and. her name was associated with his own in the
ukases he issued. The incredulous were put to confusion ;
186 HI8T0BT (UP BtTBSIA. [OH. XfU
who oonld dare to questiaii the testimony of tiheooiiBecEatei
czaritza P A few oiiys after her arriTal Dmitri was crowiidd
in the cathedral with the ceremonies obserred in the corona-
tions of Eeodor and Bona. The day was marited, however,
by one novel incident, which had a bad effect. A Polidi
Jesuit congratulated the monarch in a Latin oration, not a
word of which the Bussiana understood, but they made no
doubt that it was full of horrible blasphemies against tbdr
religion ; for they all knew that Latin was the hmguageaf
the papists.
Of nothing ought Dmitri to have been more careful than
to ayoid prematurely proYoking against himself the l^en
jealousy and inextinguishable hatred witii which the Euseiiuia
regarded Poland, and everything associated with the Polish
name. But the impostor's rapid and marvelloas saceesa^
co-operating with his youth and his natural intrepidity, had
filled him with an insane confidence in his star, that scorned
all prudential considerations. While he astonished the
boyars of his council by his immense superiority to them all
in capacity and knowledjge of state affairs^ he offended then)
beyond forgiveness by his unsparing sarcasms, and by inoes*
santly sounding the praises of the Poles and other forttgnen
in tlieir ears. '^ Qo and travel," he used to say to raem;
'^ observe the ways of civilised nations, for you are no better
than savages." This was in substance good advice ; but it
was unseasonably, and therefore unwisely, given. To msA
his trust ia his Bussian subjects, Dmitri dismissed his
Polish body-guards ; but he could not forget that they had
stood by him when his fortunes seemed desperate, at the
moment when Mniszek and the other palatines had forsaken
him. He recompensed them with profuse liberality; they
had free access to him at all times, and he never addressed
them but as '^ comrades." He chose two Poles, named Bdk
shinsky, for his private secretaries ; whilst the onL^ Bussian
whom he treated with the same degree of fiuniliarity and
confidence was Basmanof, a man disliked by the grandees
as an upstart, flattered by the preference thius shown them^
the Poles behaved towards the Bussiana with an arrogsaee
that intensely exasperated their wounded pride.
The idea of the czar's anti-national tendencies onee ad*
mitted, found abundant confirmation in his personal habits.
XJ>. 1605] DMXIBl'S nCPXUDSKOE. 187
They were such ae shocked all established rules of deeorom..
He was fond of riding a fimous stallion, and would leap on
the animal's baek without help, like the Cossacks ; whereas^
etiquette required that a czar should be lifted into his saddle,
and ride slowly and gravely along. It was in that unseemly
manner he rode to church, instead of in his carriage like hu
predecessors. He often neglected to salute the images of the
saints. He ate yeal, which was deemed an unclean meat ;
dined without haying his table blessed and sprinkled with
holy water, and sometimes had the inmiety to rise from it
without washing his hands. If he had got drunk at table
with his buffoons like Iran lY., none would have taken it
amiss ; but the foreign fashion of baring music at meals,
which he introduced, was not to be excused. Contrary to
the universal custom in Bussia^ he never indulged in a siesta
after dinner, but chose that time for walking about the
ciiy alone, or with one companion, to the astonishment
of the Muscorites, who had only been used to see their
sovereign surrounded with all the pomp of their barbarie
courts. The clergy failed not -to remark that in addreesing
them he often us^ the phrases ^^yow religion, wwr ritual,"
whence they concluded that he had a different religion of his
own, which could be none other than the Latin heresy. One
day at a sitting of the council he was told that something
he had just proposed was prohibited by the seventh genend
council of the Church. "Well, what matter?" said he;
^ very likely it is allowed by the eighth." It may be that
he uttered tiiese imprudent words in ignorance of the fact that
the seventh general council is the last which is acknowledged
by the Ghreek Church ; the expression, however, was regarded
as an abominable blasphemy, and an involuntary confessi<ni
of Catholicism. But what excited the most riolent disgust
was the news that the czar was about to marry Maucins
Mniszek — that a heretic woman, an unbu^iUed Pole, was to
be raised to the throne of orthodox Bnssia I
Dmitri was prompted both by nature and circumstances
to aspire to the glory of conquest. His grand project was
the same as that of Stephen Batthori — ^namely, to combine
all the forces of the Slave race, and launch them against
the Turks and Tatars. A vast aggrandisement of his
domiTiians, unparalleled glory, and the eonflolidatian nof his
190 HI8T0BY OF BUS8L1. [CE. XYL
JDmitri had sent as presents to his betrothed. This delay
led to the disooyery of the conspiiacr, and the arrest of Yas-
sili Shuiski and his two brothers. The latter were banished
to Siberia ; the f(»rmer was bastinadoed and condemned to
lose his head ; but his sentence was commuted for banish-
ment at the very moment he knelt on the scaffold with the
axe lifted above him. Having given a solemn promise n^er
again to take part in an^ rebellion against his soyereign,
Yassili Shuiski oegan his journey to Siberia ; but was oyer-
taken on the road by a courier, and brought back to the
capital, where he and his brothers received a complete pardon.
His rank and his possessions were restcNred to him, and he
even took his place again in the council of the empire. With
a duplicity which cost him no effort, he now conducted himself
to m outward appearance in sudi a manner as to disarm
suspicion, whilst being regarded hj the malcontents as a
martyr, he continued to d^ct their movements with more
authority than ever.
Dmitri had hoped to promote a reconciliation between the
Muscovites and me Poles, by announcing that it was to ibe
intercessions of the latter, preferred through the medium of
the dowager czaritza, that he had granted Shui^'s pardon.
But the truth was, that the czar's Polish advisers strongly
urged him not to spare that convicted conspirator. '^ Ifo,
he replied to tiiose who thus remonstrated with him; '^I
have sworn not to shed Christian blood, and I will keep my
oath. There are two ways of governing an empire ; tyianny
and generosity. I choose the latter. I will not be a tyrant.
I w^ not spare money; I will scatty it on all hands."
This, says M^rim^e, is almost the identical language of
Gffisar to his confidants, when he had made himself master of
Italy in a few days.* If either Caesar nor Demetrius disarmed
their enemies by clemency; but posterity will not confound
them with the lierd of ignoble tyzifiuits who haye died in their
beds.
* « TentemuB hoc modo si possumus onmiiun voluntatem recaperaie
et diutuma yictoiia uti: quoniam reliqui cnidelitate odium effugere
non potuerunt, neqne victoriam'dmtius tenere, prseter unum L. Sallam,
quern imitaturus non sum. Hsbc nova sit ratio ymcendi: ut miseri-
cordia et liberalitate nos muniamus."— Cesar's letter to OppinB and
Balbus,CK.adAtt.9.
A J). 1606] MABUTA ABBITES IS KO6C0W. 191
' In tbe b^iinning of 1606 Dmitri was threatened with a
ciyil war on the p^ of a new ;^retender, whom his own suc-
cess had prompted to iuuj;ate his imposture. A young man,
who called himself Peter Peodorovitch, but whose real name is
unknown, appeaared among the Cossacks of the Yolga and
announced himself as the son of the czar Eeodor and hia
comfort Irene, the si^er of Boris. He had been taken from
his mother, he said, immediately after his birth, and placed
with some Cossacks, whQst a female infant had been substi-
tuted for him, and recognised by the credulous Feodor ; but
she died in her cradle. Upon the faith of this story some
three or four thousand Cossacks took up arms, and began to
pillage in the name of the lawful czarevitch. Dmitri wrote
to h^ new pretender, telling him that if he would come to
Moscow ana prove his parentage, he ^ould receive a pension
befitting; his rank ; but that if he knew himself to be an im-
postor, he would do wisely to retire at once while he might
with safety. This hint, backed by military movements, made
Peter and his marauders disperse in the steppes, whence we
shall presently see them reappear.
It was not until the 12th of May that the new czaritza
arrived in Moscow, accompanied by a special embassy from
Sigismond, and with a retinue so numerous that it was like
an invading army. In spite of the czar's impatience and his
reiterated letters, the march jfrom Cracow had occupied nearly
three months. The entry into the Bussian capital was made
with all possible magnificence, and lacked no outward demon-
stration of gladness and loyalty. Marina was conducted to
the convent occupied by the dowager czaritza, where she was
to remain until her coronation, and the people were told that
during her residence there she was receiving instruction from
her pious mother-in-law in the practices of the orthodox
fiuth. But the people were in no mood to be cajoled by
such transparent flatteries. The flrst sight of the vast train
of armed roles that came with the wihxptued czaritza irri-
tated the rankling jealousy of the Muscovites. These unin*
vited guests, armed cap«a-pie, and lance in hand, marched to
the sound of their national airs, as if they were taking pos-
session of a conquered city. "Is it the custom in your
country," ^aid the Eussians to the foreign merchants dojEui-
died among them, " to go to a wedding cased in steel, as if
192 HISTOBT or B17BSIA. [GH« Xn»
you were going to a battle ?" It was still worse wliea the
Poles alighted at their quarters, and began to unpack their
baggage. They had aU come with the expectation of makxDg
a campaign against the Tatars, and they were seen unloading
whole arsenals from their waggons. The people looked on
with anger and suspicion ; and the conspirators easily per*
siiaded them that the czar had sent for his Polish allies, those
eternal enemies of Eussia, to massacre all the orthodox
Christians.
A more plausible, but equally unfounded report, imputed
a sinister purpose to Sigismond s embassy. The latter was
simply complunentary, but the Muscovites belieyed that the
ambassadors had come to receiye from the czar the cession of
a considerable portion of the Eussian territory. By way of
counteracting these dangerous rumours, Dmitri took excep-
tion to the superscription of the letter addressed to him by
the king of Poland, wherein he was styled only Qxand-Prince
and Czar, whereas he insisted on receiving the higher title of
Caesar, or Emperor. Dmitri threatened to return the letter
unread ; the ambassadors remonstrated vehemently against
such an unpardonable insult ; a long and acrimonious debate
ensued, and was pushed to the verge of open rupture ; finally*
Dmitri yielded in consideration of his approaching marriage,
but with a warning to the ambassadors that he would never
again be so complaisant. The quarrel was renewed *on the
occasion of the marriage banquet. The ambassadors claiined
the right to sit at the same table with the czar. Dmitri
would not consent to this, because he had not invited the
king of Poland to his wedding. The ambassadors refused to
be present ; but at last, at IV&iszek's urgent instances, they
yielded under protest, and dined at a separate table on the
czar's right.
Marina's conduct during the week preceding her marriage
was as injudicious as that of a spoiled child. Unable to put
the slightest restraint on her caprices, she could not conform
to the usages of the convent even for so short an interval*
She could not eat the Eussian cookery, and insisted on
having a set of Polish cooks, to whom the Eussian domestics
had to give place, to their intense disgust. Never supposing
that their skill could be questioned, the mortified Bussians
gave out that the czar and his betrothed had brought in
A.9. 1606] DHITBI'S UABBIA.&X» 198
pagan cooks, that they might break the ooinmands of the
orthodox church with respect to forbidden meats and fast
days. Marina complained of the tiresome babble of the
Greek priests, and the long litanies of the nuns. To indem-
nify her for these annoyances, the czar brought her musicians ;
and Moscow heard with horror that the holy retreat was
profaned with concerts, balls, and eyen masquerades^ When
the ceremonial of the marriage and the coronation was under
discussion, Marina insisted on going to church in the Polish
<M>stume, which was the same as that of the court of
Prance — a long-waisted robe, a ruff two feet in diameter,
und hair frizzled and gathered into a thick tuft on the top of
the head. Now it was considered an abominable indecency
in Bussia foi* a married woman to let her hair or the form of
ber waist be seen ; and no czaritza had ever been crowned
except in the national costume, consisting of a head-dress,
called hokoshnikf still worn by the peasantry, a gown hang-
ing straight down from above the bosom, and boots with
^r^t iron-shod heels. Marina protested with petulant in-
dignation that she would never submit to be made a fright of
in that manner. The affair became so serious^ that it was
brought before the council. Dmitri exhausted all his
eloquence in vain efforts to convince his boyars that the
choice of a toilette was a matter in which the wisest states-
men might &irly defer to the superiority of a woman's
judgment : they were inexorable. Marina had to cotiform
to the national usage on the wedding-^day ; but immediately
aftdr it she laid aside the odious Sussian garb, and never ^
appeared in it again.
The ceremony of the marriage and the coronation took
place on the 18th of May, in the cathedral, with extraor-
dinary magnificence ; but the people remarked with horlror
that it was an unlucky day, a Jhriday, and moreover that it
was the eve of a great festival, that of St. Nicholas. They
thought it scandalous that a marriage should be celebrated
on such a day ; and they made no doubt that Dmitri had
chosen the day on purpose to mark his contempt for public
(pinion. The czar was held responsible for the indecorous
manner in which the Poles behaved in church, leaning their
backs against the iconostase, sitting on tombs that contained
revered rielicsi laughing and talking aloud^ and appearing to
TOL. I. o
194 HIOTOBT OF BU68IA. [<^- ^^I*
tarn the sacred mygteriea into derision. But tbe wowt of
all was that the whole ceremony was gone through without
that abjuration of the Latin heresy which the people expected
to the last moment on the part of the csaritza. Manna
kissed the images of the saints, received the communioa
frcttn the hands of the patriarch, but remained unconTerfced
and unbaptised, and yet was crowned and proclaimed as the
orthodox czaritsa.
The reyellings that followed the marriage gave occarion to
fresh scandals. The table-talk between the Poles and Ae
Bussians was not such as conduced to good fellowship. ^®
former hardly condescended to conceal their contempt for
the latter and their barbarous customs, and insolently said
to them, " It is we who have given you a czar." The Poles,
returning home from deep carousals at the palace, drew
upon peaceful citizens in the street, and offered violence
to their wives and daughters, and even to those of the
boyars, sometimes pursuing them into their very houses-
A Pole taken in the fact was about to suffer condign punisb-
menty but his comrades rescued him and massacred the
executioner.
The moment was come which Shuiski had patiently
awaited for so man^r months. He assembled the cfaiefii w
the. conspiracy by night, in his house, and harangued them
on the necessity of immediate action. The assent of the
meeting was unanimous. City functionaries answered for
the concurrence of the people, officers for that of the
soldiers, and nobles for that of their dependents. R^
Shuiski, who were enormously rich, had several thousand
men on whom they could rely, and these they had brought
from their estates to Moscow, under pretext of seeing the
splendours of the imperial marriage. The time was fixed
for the execution of the plot ; and meanwhile agents, chosen
firom the lowest class, were to go about among the people, in
the markets and tbe public-bouses, and teU them that
Dmitri was a heretic and an impostor, and that he was joined
with thtf Poles in a plot for an indiscriminate massacre of
the Muscovites on the 27th of May. A sham-fight had been
announced to take place that day beyond the walls ; but all
the innocent spectators were to be mowed down by ^
and the cupitat of Bussia was to beeome a prey to the .
AJ». M06] IKSUWBOTIOir AJQAJOSm BMITBI. 196
ott whom the emperor intended to bestow not onlj all the
hoaaefl of tbe bojars, nobles, and merohantSy but even the
iBonasieries and convents, after taming out the monks and
jnanying them to the num.
One of the men who spread these repoHa was arrosted by
the esar's bodj-guards. Dmitri gave orders that he should
be examined bj the boyars of -^be council ; but the latter
jwetended that the prisoner was a drunken fellow, who had
talked he knew not what, and that tbe czar ought not to
giye himself anjr concern about the raving of a drunkard, or
^tesL to every idle tale brought him by officious and blun-
dering G^mans.
This advice coincided but too well with the czar's own
cminions. Belying on the attachment of the soldiery, he felt
himself secure against taxy possible attempts of an unoiga-
xdsed multitude to shake his power. Besides, he had reason
to believe in the inexhaustible patience of the Eussians, since
they had endured so tameljr the ferocious and l^utal tyranny
of Ivan, and the more universally felt insidious tyranny of
Sons. '' I hold Moscow and tbe empire in my hand," he
aaid, '^ and nothing shall be done in it but by my will.' ' In this
i^^irit he laughed at all the warnings siven bim by the Poles,
by Basmano^ and by the officers of his guard. He would
take no precaution for himself, not even so much as to increase
the ordinary guard of the palace, which consisted of but fifty
halberdiers, who were incapable &om the nature of their
weapons, as well as from their scanty numbers, of offering
any serious resistance to an assailing multitude.
At daybreak^ on the 29th of May, between three and four
o'doek, the whole city was in open rebellion, A bodv of boyars
and nobles was assembled in the great square on horseback,
and in full armour, with Yassili Shuiski at their head. One
of the gates of the S^remlin was opened to them by the
gaards, who had been previously suDomed, and the whole
troop entered, accompanied by a countless throng of towns-
people. At the church of the Assumption, Shuiski dis-
mounted, and prostrated himself before the image o( our Ladj
of Vladimir. Then rising with an inspired air, and brandish
isg a sword in one hand and a cross in the other: " Ortho-
doQE Christiana,^ he shouted, *^ death to tbe heretic!" My<.
riads of furious voices repeated the ay : ''Death to the here-
106 HIBTOBTOr B17SBU. [Ci^. XVl.
tic !" The great bell was rung, and was answered by ibe
three thousand bells of Moscow. The whole populace flocked
with axes and clubs to the Kremlin, or to the houses tnarked
with chalk as the abodes of the Poles, where breaking dowii
the doom, they began to massacre the sleeping inmates*
At the first sound of the tocsin, Dmitri sent to inquire the
cause of the akrm. Dmitri Shuiski, who was on duty in the
palace, sent the czar word that a great fire had broken out,
and then hurried off to join his brother. Presently the in*
creasing din of the bells and the uproar of the multitude
conyinced the czar that something more serious than a fire
had set the whole city in commotion. Dressing in haste, he
sent Basmanof to the front of the palace to reconnoitre.
The outer court was diread^ filled with an armed multitude^
yelling out, " Death to the impostor !" After giving a hur-
ried order to the halberdiers to stand to their arms, Badmanof
ran back to warn his master. At the same moment one of
the conspirators, who had followed him into the czar's apart-
ment, cned out : "^Well! unlucky emperor, at last thou art
awake. Come and give an account of thyself to the people
of Moscow." Basmanof snatched up the czar's sabre, ci6ft
the insolent traitor's skull, and then rushed to the peri-
style, which was already thronged by the conspirators. Dmitri
took a sword from one of his guards, and following his faith-
ful general, cried out to the rebels, ''I am not a Boris for
you !" It is said that he kiUed several of them with his own
hand, whilst Basmanof, who seconded him with heart and
hand^ appealed by name to the boyars he recognised, amon^
whom were the princes Galitzin, Mikhail Soltikof, and
others, who had alw^s professed themselves Dmitri's most
zealous partisans. Whilst he was endeavouring to recal
these traitors to their duty, one of them, Mikhail Tatistchof,
whom a few days before he had saved from exile, stabbed
him to the heart, exclaiming, "Go to hell, villain, witti thjr
czar." Dmitri and his guards were driven in from the pen-
style by a volley of musketry, and a series of sieges began in
the interiDr of the palace, the guards barricading themselves
in chamber after chamber, and the insurgents storming them
one after the other. When the last retreat was forced, and
the guards were forced to lay down their useless halberts, the
czar was no longer aniong them.
JU>. 1606] DIUTH OF THB JJLXSS 9HITBI. 197
< When he found that resistance was hopeless, Dmitri threw
down his sword and ran to a room in the part of the palace
which was farthest from that assailed hj the rebels^ He
opened a window which looked out on the site of the palace
of Boris, which he had caused to be demolished. The wmdow
was thirW feet from the ground, but there was no one in
sight, and he leaped down. In his fall he broke his leg, and
tainted with the pain. His groans were heard bj some stre*
litz, who were there on guard, and were not in the plot.
They gave him water to drink, laadhim on one of the founda-
tion stones of the ruined palace, and when he revived a little
and spoke, they swore they would defend him with their Uves.
The first rebels who came to claim their prey were answered
with volleys of musketry ; but the news that Dmitri was
found brought multitudes to the spot ; the strelitz were sur-
rounded, and being threatened that unless they gave up the
impostor, their. wives and children should be all massacred by
the mob, they laid down their arms, and abandoned the
victim to the fury of the rebels, who dragged him away to his
sacked palace. As he passed the spot where his guards were
held captive, he stretched out his hand to them in silence, in
token of adieu. One of them, a Livonian gentleman, named
Furstenberg, though unarmed, rushed forward to shield his.
gallant roaster with his own body from the blows of his ruf-
nanly captors ; but the faithful servant was instantly mas-
sacred, Dmitri's agony was prolonged by the ingenioua
malice of his assassins. They tore off his ro^al garments,
~ dressed him in a pastrycook's cafban, and humed him into a
XQom in the palace to undergo the mockery of a trial. ** Bas-
tard dogy" said a Bussian nobleman, '' tell us who thou art,
and whence thou art come." Exerting all the strength left
him to raise his voice, Dmitri replied, '* You all know that I
am your czar, the legitimate son of Ivan Yassilievitch. Ask
my mother. If you desire my death, mye me time at least
to collect my senses." Thereupon a JBussian gentleman^
named Valuief, forcing his w^-y through the throng, cried out,
" What is the use of so much talk with the heretic dog P
This is the way I confess this Polish fifer !" And shooting
Dmitri through the breast, he put an end to his agony. The
mob then virreaked their fury on the lifeless corpse, and after
hacking and slashing it with axes and sabres, rolled it down
198 mnoKT or nvfUfUL. [cs.xn:
the palace Btepa and threw it on that of Basmanof. '^Tou
were friends in life ; go along to hell together," cried the
murderers in their savage exultation. The bodies were after*
wards dragged to the place of execution, where that of
Dmitri was exposed on a table, and Basmanof s on a bench
below it, so that the czar*s feet rested on his fayonrite's breast.
A gentleman threw on Dmitri's body a masque, which he said
he had found in the heretic's bedchamber, in the ^laoe
reserved in Bussian houses for the images of the saints.
Another threw a set of bagpipes on his breast and thmst
the pipe into his mouth, saying : *^ You played upon us lon^
enough ; now play for us." Others lashed the corpse wiu
their whips, crying : ** Look at the czar, the hero of the
G^ermans r' The women surpassed the men in their obscene
fur^ ; for in scenes of mob yiolenoe the weakest are inta-
riably the most inhuman.
IMarina narrowly escaped from the fate that befel hear
husband. At first she ran half naked to hide in the cellars,
but was thrown down the steps by the rush of the mob.
They did not recognise her, and she contrived to return to
her own apartments, where the grand mistress of the palace
had the presence of mind to conceal her under her wide-
hooped skirts. A Polish chamberlain, sabre in hand, guarded
the door of the room in which his terrified countrywomen
were huddled together. The rioters with a volley of fire-
arms shattered the door, and killed its defender and one of
the ladies within it. The ruffians rushed in, and with
hideous threats demanded the czaritza. The grand mistress
told them that she had escaped to her father. The age of
that lady preserved her firom personal outrage, but the other
ladies of the czaritza's suite endured the worst brutality.*
At last some chiefs of the conspiracy put an end to the
abominable scene, and took Marina into safe custody.
Meanwhile a great number of the Poles, whose lodging
were dispersed over the city, had been surprised in their
'^ Baer, p. 8S, note 78. ^^yolamuB nos omnes, vmn post afiamr
■lapnim inferre, qdub in p~ alter in t— ^ Andivimiu poloDiaat
meretricee Testras planum concnbitue bene svstinere posse^ nee ipsis
nnuf vir (me;) sufficere." £t postea nudabant sua equina pudenda
(proh Sodomial) coram toto gynssceo, dicentes: •« Videte, meretiioeB,
iJdetenosmultofortioraisamuaPdonisiestria. Prabate nooL"
▲.|>,2606] FOPTTLABCiMGKXimiOVSHVSEiLDSHITBI. Id9^
steep and maasacred without reawtanoe. It wte easy for the
mob to batcher defeacelesa domeatica, muaiciana, and Catholio.
prie^, but not ao easy to atorm the manaiozia of the Polkh
nobles, filled aa tbej were with reaolute and welUanned
hejduks and gentlemen. Each of these mansions became a.
sort of fortress, whieh withstood all the disorderly assaults
of tbe rabble, and repaid them with musketry. At last the
^ef conspirators thought it ftme to restore some degree of
quiet. About mid-day Yaasili Shuiahi, his brother, prince
Mstislavaki, and the principal boyars of the council, rode
through the streets with a atrong body of strelitz, and easily
prevailed on the people to desist from their unprofitable
attempts on the houses of the Poles ; «nd to the latter they
pledged themselves that their lives and properties should be
respected, if they would only remain in their houses until the
popular excitement had time to subside.
£V>r three days Dmitri's body lajr open to the view cf all
the Muscovites; but the rage of ma enemiea had rendered
^tds public exposition almost nugatory. In that i^uipelesa
mass, all hacked and mangled, and covered with blooa and
mire, who could recognise ike gallant young man who
had been seen a few days before glittering in gold and jewels,
and wearing the imperial crown P Some persons tuougfat
they perceived that the dead man had a beard, and it
was notorious that Dmitri had none. Conjecture, faiUag to
identify those dis^ured features, suggested the idea that the
czar's intended murderers had a second time mistaken their
victim. On the third night the guards, who kept watch over
Ijie body, saw a blue flame playing over the table ; it disap-
E eared when they approached, and returned when they moved
ack to a certain distance. This natural result of putrefac*
tion inspired the people with superstitious terror, and the
corpse was removed for burial to the Serpukhof cemetery
oqtside the walls* A hurricane had greeted Dmitri at his
entry into Moscow; another accompanied him at his depar-
ture, and chronides aver that it swept only those streets
tibrbii^ whieh the corpse was borne. Prodigies did not
eeaae even after the eause of them was laid in the grave;
and the people whispered in terror that the false Dmitri was
a sort of^ vampire, bemg one of those wizards who, by means
of their infernal art, can come to life i^in after they are
200 HuvosTOvsirMiA* [of. xm.
dead. To make tUs impoisible in hk ease, the bo^ "was
disinterred and burnt ; the aabes were collected, mixed mth
gunpowder, and rammed into a cannon, whicb was dragged to
the gate by which Dmitri had entered Moscow, and pointed
down the road leading to Poland. When the match was
applied, Bossia fancied she was for ever delivered of the im-
postor. Vain hope! His name subsisted still, with the
memory of his audacity and his success, and new Dmitris
w^re soon to spring from his scattered ashes.
CHAPTER XVn.
YASSILI ITAirOyiTCH SHTTISEI.
ImcinjJLTBLT after the death of Dmitri, the boyan eon-
certed measures for oonvoking deputies from all the town%
and proceeding to the election of a new sovereign ; but thief
were not allowed to accomplish their desi^. The throne
had been but four da^^s vacant, when Shuiaki directed his
partisans to proclaim lumself. They led him forth into the
public place, named him czar by acclamation, andimmediatdy
escorted him to the cathedral. There, in order to ingratiate
himself with his new subjects and make them forget the
illegality of his election, he took a solemn oath not to punijEdi
any one without the advice and consent of the boyars ; not
to visit the offences of the fathers on the children ; and that
he would never revenge himself in any way on those who
had offended him in the time of Boris. Since Novgorod lost
its privileges, this was the first time that a sovereign .of
Russia had pledged himself to any convention with his s«b*
jects ; but Shuidci's oath was no guarantee for its fulfilm^ut.
Having good reason to dread the resentment of the Polish
nation, Shuiski sent prince Yolkonski on an embassy to
them, to represent the late czar as an impostor, who, had
deluded both Poland and Russia ; but the ambassador was not
even listened to. Sigismond and his subjects were resolved
to be revessed on the Russians, and to profit by the disturbs
ances which they foresaw would soon break out among
them* Shuiski was not liked by the i^ussian nobles, many
A^.:190S] . TAMtam 9H17IBKI. 201
^ whom mig^t have competed with him for the tiirone had
the choice of the Bation been free ; and hia conduct after his
Elevation augmented the number of his enemies. In spite
of his oath he could not forget any of his old grudges ; and
he. ventured to indulge them just enough to exasperate
their objects Mrithout depriying them of the power of re^^
tati^ion. Moscow was the only city in the empire on the
all^^ce of which he could rely ; but eyen there the people
had imbibed from their late excesses an alarming propensity
to disorder and mutiny. To meet all the dangers thickening
round him, Shuiski had neither an army nor money ; for
Dmitri's profusions and the piUaee of the Eremlm had
exhausted the imperial treasury. His chief strength lay in
his. renown for orthodoxy, which insured him the favour of
the clergy. The more to stren^hen his interests in that
direction, he made it his first busmess to depose and send to
Or. monastery the heretic patriarch Ignatius, who bad been
appointed by Dmitri, and to nominate in his stead Hermo*
genes, bishop of Easan, an aged prelate, whose simplicity
rendered him a useful tool in the hands of the Crafty czar.
Bumours began to be rife in the provinces, and even in
Moscow, that Dmitri was not dead.' Many of those who.
had seen his mangled body exposed denied its identity, and
believed that one of the czar's officers had been massacred
instead of him. Four swift horses were missing from the
imperial stables; and it was surmised that by means of
them Dmitri had escaped in the midst of the tumult. Three
strangers in Bussian costume, but speaking Polish, crossed
the Oka in a boat, and one of them gave the ferryman six
ducats, saying, '^ You have ferried the czar; when he comes
\iaxk. to Moscow with a Polish army, he wiU not forget this
service." The same party held similar language in a
Sherman inn a little farther on, in the direction of Putivle.
It was afterwards known that one of them was prince
Shakhofskoi, who, immediately upon the death of Dmitri,
had, with singular promptitude, conceived the idea of finding
a new impostor to personate the dead one. To put an end
to these alarming rumours, Shuiski sent to TJghtcb for the
body of the real czareritch, that with the help of the
paisiarch he might make a saint of him. When the grave
was opened the body of the young prince was found in a
208 HxnoET ov Bunum. [a
perfeet state of pTesarFation, with the fresh hoe of life upon
it^ and atill holdiDg in its handa some nuts as miracukudj
pseserred as itself. It is cnrious that Shniski should ha^^
i«rgotten that nothing was said of these nuts in the report
of the inquest at TJgliteh signed by himself. That docuinent
only stated that at the moment of his death the cxarevitdii
was amusmg himself with sidling hu knife w the §rcm^
Notwithstanding this oTersight, the act of canonisation wva
good policy; for if the czarevitch became an object of
veneration for the people, if it was notorious that his body
worked miracles on earth, and consequently that his sou
was in heaven, then any one assuming his name could be
nothing but an impostor. The czar took pains to make
known far and wide what prodigies were effected by the
relics of the blessed martyr ; but the credit of the new saint
was of short duration. Shuiski himself damaged it by a
gross blunder in permitting the pompous removal to tlie
monastery of Troitsa of the remains of Boris Ch>duno4
whom but a few days bc^fore he had named as the murdarar
of the sainted DmitrL No doubt he hoped in this way to
conciliate the partisans of a still-powerful family; but his
enemies immediately accused him of blasphemous wickedness,
alleging that he had substituted the body of a newly-murdered
boy for the decomposed corpse of the real Dmitari.
The public retractations of the dowager czaritza obtained
no more credit than the miracles imputed to her son. In a
letter signed by her, and immediately published by Yaasili,
sftie declared that the impostor Grishka Otrejpief had
threatened her with death to herself and all her family^ if Ae
did not recognise him as her son. But who could believe in
her sincerity after so many contradictory avowals and (&h
avowals ? Her declaration that she had been compelled bj
&ar to yield to the threats of a man whose aversion to
cruelty was notorious, suggested to everybody the idea that
she acted at that moment under the coercion of threats and
fear.
Civil war began. Prince Shakhofskoi had raised the
inhabitants of Putivle, and in a few days assembled a great
munber of Cossacks and peasants, who routed the foices
sent agsinst them. The msurrection spread rapidly; bat
still the pcinoe, twice ndraenkusly saved, did not make his^z-
A»v. 1607] BEBEuanK AGAimix ssmsEi. 208'
pceted appearanee. Instead of Mm tbere camo from Pokild
a ^neral with a commissioB booriDg the imperial aeal of
Dmitri. TMa was an adventurer named lYan Bolotnikof,
origmallj a serf to prince TeliabeTski. He Had beea a
prisoner among tlie Turks, and baying escaped to Yenioe
bad probably acquired some military experience in tbe
service of the republic. His commission was recognised at
Putivle ; be took the command of the insurgents, defeated
Sboiski's forces in two engagements, and pursued tbem to
within seyen yeists of tbe capital. But the inexplicahle
absence of tbe prince for whom tbey fbugbt damped the
ardour of Bcdotnikors men ; for tbey could not beliere that
if Dmitri was alive he would delay to put himself at their
head.' The ataman of the Cossacks, too, was mortified at
being supplanted in the command by an adventurer, and
suffered himself to be corrupted by Shuiski. Deserted by a
part of his army, Bolotnikof was defeated by Skopin Shuiski,
the czar*s nephew, and forced to dielter himself in the
fortress of Kaluga.
It is probable that aU this while ShakhofSdcoi and the
Poles were looking about for a fit person to play the part
of Dmitri ; but it required time to find him, and to put
him through training. In this conjuncture the false Fet»
Eeodorovitch, who had made a brief appearance in the former
reign, repaired to Putivle, and offered himself to Shakhofakoi
and the people as regent in the absence of his uncle. The
rebel cause stood in need of the prestige of a^ royal name,
and the ccarevitch Petw was eagerly welcomed. Presently,
the czar having marched against him in person, the impostor
amd 8hakho&koi shut themselves up in the strondy fbrtified
tovxL of Tenia, where they were joined hy Bolotnikof*
Tassili laid siege to the town with an army of a hundred
iiiQUsand men; but the besieged, who had no marcy to
expect if taken, fought more earnestly for their own lives
than did Shuiski's soldiers for the rights of a mastw to
whom they were but little attached. Seeing the little
progress he made, the czw began to doubt the success of an
enterprise to fail in which would be ruin. While he was ia
this anxious state, an obscure eodesiastio, named Kravkof,
presented himself before the csar and his council, and under-
tocdc, if hia directions were followed, to drown all the people
HM HUTOBT OV BUBSIJL. [CH. XVXI.'
of Toula. The^ laugbed it liim at first as an idle btag-
sart, but he reiterated his assertion with such confidence
that the czar at last desired him to explain his plan*
Toula is situated in a yalley, and the little river Oupa flows
through the town, Ktavkof proposed to dam the stream
below the town, and ene;aged to answer for it with his head
if in a few hours after the execution of that work the whole
town was not laid under water. All the millers in the
armjy men accustomed to such operatiouB, were immediatelj
put under his orders, and the rest of the soldiers were
employed in carrying sacks of earth to the s]^ chosen for
the diun. The water soon rose in the town, mundated the
streets, and destroyed a great number of houses ; but the
garrison still fought for seyend months with unabated
courage, though decimated by famine,' and afterwards by a
terrible epidemic. All the efforts both of the besiegers and
the besieged were concentrated about the dam, the former
labouring to raise and maintain it, the latter to break it
down. The inhabitants of Toula were persuaded that magic
must haye had some share in raising so prodigious a work
with such rai>idity, and mtmc was not nep;lected among the
means by which they sought to destroy it. A monk, who
boasted his proficiency in that art, offered to effect the
desired object for a reward of a himdred roubles. His terms
being accented by Bolotnikof, he stripped, plunged into the
riyer, and disappeared. An hour afterwards, when every one
hnd given him up for dead, he rose to the surface, with his
body covered with scratches. " I have just had to do," he
said, '* with the twelve thousand devils at work on Shu-
iski's dam. I have settled six thousand of them, but the.
other six thousand are the worst of all, and will not give
in." For a long time the inhabitants of Toula continuedto
fight against men and devils, encouraged by letters th^,
received in Dmitri's name, with promises of succour, wUcn
never came. Shakhofskoi, the chief instigator of the rebellion,
was the first to propose a capitulation, and was thrust into a
dungeon by the Cossacks. At last, when the besiesed had
eatcnoL their horses, dogs, and all other carrion, and had not
so much as an oxhide left to gnaw, Bolotnikof and Peter
offered to capitulate on condition of amnesty for their heroic
gairison. They asked nothing for themselves, but declared
▲J>« 16a7] A StCOlH) fAXSB ]>U»BI. 200
thab unless their soldierd obtained honourable cohditionff,
they were resolved to die with arms in their hands, and erc^il
to eat each other, rather than surrender at discretion.
Yassili accepted these terms, and the gates were opened to
him (October, 1607). Bolotnikof advanced before the czar
with undaunted mien, and presenting his sword, with the
edge laid against his neck, offered himself as a yietim^
sajring, " I have kept the oath I swore to him who, rightfully
or wrongfully, calls himself Dmitri. Deserted by him, I am
in thy power* Cut off my head if thou wilt ; or if thou wilt
spare my life, I will serve thee as I served him." Shuiski,
who did not pique himself on generosity, sent Bolotnikof to
Kargopol, where he soon after had him drowned* The false
Peter Feodorovitch was hanged ; but Shakhofskoi, the most
guilty of the three, was more fortunate. The victor found
him in chains when he entered Toula, and Shakhofskoi made
a merit of his sufferings at the hands of the obstinate rebels
whom he had urgeS to submit to their sovereign. He obtained
his liberty ; but the first use he made of it was to rekindle
the flames of insurrection.
Before Shuiski had terminated the siege of Toula, and
whilst the issue of his conflict with one pretender was still
dubious, another, assuming the name of Dmitri, appeared in
the frontier town of Starodub, where he was hailed with
enthusiasm. Bolotnikof sent an officer to him from Toula,
to acquaint him with the desperate condition of the town.
This envoy was a Polish adventurer, named Zarucki, who
had become one of the atamans of the Don Cossacks, had
fought bravely for the first Dmitri, and been distingnished
W his favour. Although the first glance must have satisfied
Zfarucki that the new pretender was an impostor, he affected
without the least hesitation to recognise him as his fcnrmer
master. Another false witness of this identity was the Fane
SGechawiecki, a Pole, who was well known for the eminent
position he had held at the court of the first Dmitri, and
who was now the secret instructor of his successor in what
we may call the histrionic details belonging to his assumed
character* The pupil profited but badly by the lessons he
received; for in everything but profusion he was the reverse
of hispi^ototype, and the leiast attentive observer could. see.
that he was a coarse, ignoruit, vulgar knave7qaidified onljr
906 HinoBT OP MvmoA. {car* ztu.
for the purt; lie had undertakea. The
were not such fastidious critics as to be shocked
b^ his uncourtly nuuinera; but the Poles, whilst trestisg
htm as a sovereign for their own ends, were by no means tiie
dupes of his -gross impoatore. Baer states that he was
•riginallj a schoolmaster of Sokol, in White Bossia ; bat,
aoc^rding to the Polish writers, who had bettor opportunitiefl
of learning the truth, he waa a Lithuaoiian Jew, named Miehad
Moltchanof.
The adherents of Dmitri, as we shall henceforth call him,
increased so rapidly in numbers, that he was able to defeats
detachment of Yassili's army sent against him from Toida^
and to make himself master of the town of Koaelsk on the
road to the capital. When the fall of Toula had left tke
eaar at liberty to act against him with all his forces, Dmitri
retreated to i^^ovgorod Siyerski* There he was joined by im-
cxpeeted reinforcements led by Bozyneki, Sapieha, Tisilde-
wicB, Lissowaki and others, the flower *of the Polish and
Lithuanian chivalry. Prince Adam Wiszinowiecki, the earliest
patron of the first Dmitri, came in person to the aid of hk
Bueceasor at the head of two thousand horse. The Den
Ch>ssaeks brought in chains to him another schemer, who had
tried to put himself at their head. All that ia known of the
man is, that he called himself Peodor Feodorovitch, and pie-
tended to be the son of the czar Peodor. His more pros-
perons rival in imposture condemned him to death.
Dmitri's army, commanded by the veteran prince Soman
Bozynski, defeated that of the csar with great havoc near
Yolkhof, on the 24th of April, 1608. All the vanquished
who escaped the lances of the Poles and Cossacks fled in
disorder to Moscow, and had the victors pressed their advan-
tage, the capital would have faUen into their hands. P^
•ibly the Pohsh leaders were in secret unvrilling to let their
Sot^^jlS triumph too soon or too completely, or to give fip
oscow to pillage, which is always more profitable to tiie
soldier than to the general ; but, whatever waa the reascm,
they halted at the village of Tushino, twelve versts from
Moscow, which the impostor made his head-quartersy sad
there he held his court for seventeen months.
With a view to prevail on Sigismond to recal the Polish
tdnnieaai ii^ Dmitri's semice^ Yaaaili resolved to liberate the
A^.lflQ^] HABIKAAGiaffaW£ED0X8TmiBSCOiri) DMITBI. 20?
aatbafliadoni, tbe paktixie of Sendomir and his daughter, aad
tke other BideB whom he had kept in captiTitj Bince the mas-
gaere of Mobcow. With their liberty he boBtoired on them
mdemnifieations for their loBBes, and onlj exacted from them
« pledge that thej would not bear arms against Bussia, or
in anj way favour the new pretender. Thus, after having
made sport of the most solemn oaths, Yassili expected to
ind in men, so deeply provoked, scruples of conscience which
he had never known himself. He sent Idjuszek and his
daughter away under charge of an escort ; but they yrere
interested by a detachment of Poles, and carried to Dmitri's
eanp. They had been prepared for this event by a letter
weviously received by tne palatine from his pretended son-
Uhlaw, which contained this remarkable phrase :— -^' Gome
betii- of you to me, instead of going to hide yourselves in
Foland from the world's scorn." He could hardly haive
dropped a hint more adapted to move a woman of Mjoina's
ehanieter. Bather thati go back to encounter ridicule at
Sendomir, she was willing to share the bed of a banctit who
might bestow a crown upon her. It is said, however, that
in tiieir first interview with Dmitri neither she nor her
fidiher testified all the emotion befitting so touching an
occasion, nor could quite conceal their surprise at the sight
off a man not at all like him whose name he bore. But
after a few days the scene of meeting was played over
again with more suoeess, and the whole camp was witness of
Marina's demonstrations of tenderness for her husband. In
apology for her nrevious coldness it was said that, having
so long believed her Dmitri was dead, she durst not yield to
tiie delight of seeing him alive again xmtil she had receired
ti» most certain proofs that it was not a delusion. This
ebunsy excuse was admitted; Marina's recognition of the
impostor brought over to him numbers who had doubted till
then; and the news being soon snread abroad, almost all
Bosna dedared for him, except Moscow, Novgorod, and
teaknsk.
This was the enlminatmg point of his fortunes : their de-
dine was rapid. The mutual jealousy of the Polish com-
manders rose to such a pitch that it became necessary to
difide the army; and Sapieha quitted the camp of Tushiso,
wttk ^OfiOik men and €0 cannon^ to lay siege to the famous
208 HIBTOST ov vumkt [CK, xvu*
JDionii8tei7 of tlie Trinity, near Moscow, which was «l Aid
same time a powerful fortress and the most revered sanctuarjr
of Bussian orthodoxy. The support which Shttiski reoritdl
£rom the monks was worth more to him than an army ; for
besides krge subsidies, he derived from them a motai forca
which still kept many of his subjects true to their alle*
giance. The loss of such auxiliaries would have consmn-
mated his ruin ; therefore the capture of the monastery was
of extreme importance to the impostor* But in spitd of tiie
most strenuous efforts, continuea for six weeks, Sapieha was
unable to obtain the least advantage over a garrison whose
courage i^as exalted b j religious enthusiasm $ and mem*
while the Poles had to sustaw a harassing and niurderous
guerilla warfare, waged against them hv the plundered pea*
sants, whom they had made desperate. These partisan hwi
were about to be supported by a more formidable armyt led
hj Skopin Skuiski and by James de la Gurdie, who brought
five thousand Swedish auxiliaries to Yassili's aid. .' Eady in
1009 these two generals began a brilliant campaign in the
north ; the Poles and the partisans of the impostor weee.
beaten in several encoxmters, and in a few months the whofe
aspect of the war was changed. [Finally, Sapieha himself
was defeated in an obstinate engagement, forced ignO"
miniously to raise the siege of the monastery, and shot
himself up with the remnant of his force in Dmitroi
Skopin entered Moscow in triumph ; but Yassili's jealousy
kept him there inactive for two months, until he died
suddenly, in his twenty-fourth year. Yassili, to whose cause
the young hero's death was &tal, was accused by puUiD
rumour of having effected it by poison.
Por some months before this time there had been a new
champion in the field, whose appearance was equally to:be
dreaded b]^ Shuiski and Dmitri. About the end of Septentov
1609^ Sigismond, king of Poland, laid siege to QmoianAr
with an army of twelve thousand men, and immediatdy
summoned to his standard the Poles who served under
Dmitri. The grieater part of them complied,, and the
impostor fled to Xaluga. In the spring of 1610, Bnasia
presented a most deplorable, spectacle, being devastated In*
.three great armies, all opposed to one anc^her. In.the wes^
Sigismond was presmng uxeaiege of Smolensky. in.the south,
i;]Kl6tiO] TASSZCT 8HVIBEI I1EP08BJ). 209:
Dmitri was in possession of Kaluga, Tula, and some other
towns. Some of the Poles who had quitted the impostor's;
aemee had established themselyes on the banks of the TJgra^
in a futile country, which had not yet experienced the'
gufferings of war ; and there, under the command of their
new leader, John Sapieha, they offered their services simul*
taaeoasly to Sigismond and the Mse Dmitri, being ready ta
join whichever of them bid highest. Nor was this all : one
of the Bussian princes, Procope Liapunof, took advantage of
ilie general confusion to raise a new banner. He pro-
daimed himself the defender of the fidth, and, at the head of
a ooQsiderable force, waged a war of extermination against
the Poles and the Bussians who recognised either Dmitri or
Yaasili. A chronicler applies to him the phrase which
had served to characterise Attila: — ^' No grass grew where
Us horse's hoof had been." And as if all these armies
were not enough for the desolation of the land, the Tatars"
of the Crimea had crossed the Oka, under pretence of
smeeooring Yassili, their ally, but in reality to plunder
the Tillages, and make multitudes of captives, whom they
earned ra into slavery.
'Such was ihe condition of Sussia at the moment of
Skofdn's death. Yassili still derived some hope from the
division of his enemies, and turned his whole attention
against the most formidable among them. He despatched
to i^ relief of Smolensk an army of nearly sixty thousand
men, consisting partly of foreign mercenaries, imder James
de la Gardie ; but he gave the chief command to his brother,
Dmitri Sbuiski, who was neither liked nor respected by the
soldiers. Chiefly in consequence of this fatal appointment
^e whole army was defeated at Klushino, by a force of only.
Itoee thousand horse and two hundred infimtry, led by th&
^vetesnm Zolkiewski, and was forced to lay down its arms.
Bat for tiie enormous blunders subsequently committed by
Siginnond, the battle of Elushino might have for ever deter^r
xnmed the preponderance of Poland in the north.
l%e defeat of EJ^ushino was immediately followed by an
insurrection at Moscow. Yassili Shuiski was deposed, and
forced to become a monk ; and being soon after delivered up^
to Sigismond, he ended his days in a Polish prison. The-,
same event was equa^y disastrous to the ialiae Dmitri;:
TOL. I. J
210 HmosT cm wamoM^ [car. twcu.
Deicvted by Sapieia and kia BdIcb, h» loeti all hofM. (tf
aaeendiog the thioaa of Moscow; be lifed as afobl^ff ia
Kaluga, at the bead of bis ftrocaoua gaaga of CoisackaaoA
Tatars, until he was murdered br the latter in Deeember^
1610, in rerenge for the death of one of their oouatrjinfla
whom he bad downed. Marina was far advanced in pr^
nancj when she lost her second husband. She was ddLLTmm
of a son, who received the name, of Ivan, and to whom the
Httle court of Kaluga swore fealty. Zaroeki declared
himself the protector of i^e mother and the diild^ and put
himsdf at the head of the still numerous remnant of the
faction that remained obstinately attached to the name of
Dmitri. But the cause was hopeless; for Zajrudki waa
neither a general nor a statesman ; his talents were those
only of a bold leader of Cossack maraudeia.
Bussia was without a sovereign, and the cwttal was in the
hands of the PoH^ marshal. Z^lkiewski used his adrantages
with wise mediation, and eeaily prevailed on the weary and
afflicted Muscovites to resisn themselves to the &reign yekoi
and agree to offer the throne to Vladislas, the son of
Sigismond. One word fi*om the latter's lips mig^t have
reversed the subsequent fortunes of HusEda and Pdaad;
but in his selfish vanity he preferred the appearance of
power to its reality, and daimed the crown of the ezani, not
for his son, but for himself. Fhilaretes, bishop of Bostof^
and other ambassadors, were sent to him at his camp before
Smolensk, to make known the resolution of the Busmana ia
£Errour of Yladislas. Sigismond insisted that they riioald at
onoe put him in possession of Smoleni^, which he had been
besieging for a year ; wd this being refused, he seized the
ambassadors, and afterwards carried ikem. away to Polandy
where they remained nine years in captivity.
Zolkiewski, foreseeing the consequences of his master's
folly, against which he had remonrtrated in vain, retired from
the government of Moscow, kavine Oimsiewski aa hif
successor. The Polish troops seized the principal towoBf
proclaimed Sigismond^ and observed none oi that discretion
by which the great marshal had won the confidence and
esteem of the vanquished. National feeling awoke afi^ain
among the Bussians ; eagerly responding to the call of their
revered patriarch, HermogeneB, they took up anna in all
A.i^. 1611-12] tsmmLG^svu. 211
paH» of tii0 empire, «ad wmr was Tenew«d with mcxi^fcEffjr
than eyer. Smolensk fell after an obstinate reaislaacd' 4»
eighteen months ; but at the moment of the last assault the
explosion of a powder magazine set fire to the cit^, azid
Bigismond found himself master only of a heap of rtnmi.
The Poles in Moscow, assailed by the Bussisns, secured
themselres in the Kremlin, after burning down the greater
part of the city, and massaenng a hundred thousand of the
mhabitants. They were besieged by an immense levy £rom
the provinces, consisting of three armies ; but these seemed
more disposed to fight with each other than to force the
Poles in their entrenchments. One of them consisted chiefly
of vagabonds esca^d from the camp at Tushino, and was
commanded by pnnce Trubetskoi. Zarucki led another isl
the name of Marina's son ; the third army, and the only
one, perhaps, whose commander sincerely desired the inde-
pendence of his country, was that of prince Vr&eooe
liii^unof; but that brave leader was assassinated, and the
besiegers, disheartened by his death, immediately dispersed.
About the same time, the patriarch Hermogenes, the soul of
the national insurrection, died in his prison in the Kremlin,
to which he had been consigned by the Poles.
Anarchy was rampant in Eussia ; every town usurped the
right to act in the name of the whole empire, and set up
cmels whom they deposed a few days afterwards. Kasan
and Yiatka proclaimed the son of Marina; Novgorod^
rather than open its gates to the Poles, called in the Swedes,
and tendered the crown to Chailes Philip, second son of the
reigning king of Sweden, and brother of Gustavus Adolphus.
Ano^er impostor assumed the name^of Dmitri, and k^t his
state for awhile at Pleskof ; but being at last identiifed as
one Isidore, a fugitive monk, he was hanged. When all
seemed lost in irretrievable disorder, the country was saved
by an obscure citizen of Nijni Novgorod. He was a
butcher, named Kozma Mioin, distmguished by notiiing bat
the possession of a sound head, and a brave, hcmest, unselish'
heati, Eoused by his words and his example, Ins fellow*
citizens took up arms, and resolved to devote all their wealth
to the last fraction to the maintenance of an army for the
deliverance of their country. Prom Nijni Novgorod the
same spirit spread to other towns, and prince Pojarski, who
p2
212 Hi8Tos( ow BtrsnuL. [oh; xtin.
htA been Ueutexumt to the Inmye Liapunof^ wm soon able to
take the field at the head of a connderable force, whilst
Mnin, whom the popular Toice staled the elect of the whole
'Ruenan empirey ablj seconded hhn in an administisBtiYe
capadly* rojarski dlrove the Poles before him from town to:
town ; and having at length arriyed under the walls of the
Sjremlin, in August, 1612, he sustained for three dajs a hot
contest aeainst Chodkiewicz, the successor of Gk»nsiewski,
defeated him, and put him to flight. Part of the Polish
troops, under the command of colonel Nicholas Stmss,
returned to the citadel and defended it for some weeks
longer. At the end of that time, being pressed by familie,
thej capitulated; and on the 22nd of October, 1612, the
princes rojarski and Dmitri Troubetskoi entered together
into that indosure which is the heart of the country, and
sacred in the eyes of all true Bussians. The assistance of
Sigismond came too late to arrest the flight of the Poles. .
Upon the first successes obtained by prince Pcjarski the
phantom of Dmitri, and all the subaltern pretenders, dis-
appeared as if by magic. Zarucki, feeling that an inresistible
power was about to oyerwhelm him, was anxious Only to.
secure himself a refuge. Carrying Marina and her son with,
him, he made ineffectual efforts to raise the Don Cossacks.
After suffering a defeat near Yoroneje, he reached the Yolgai,
and took possession of Astrakhan, with the intention of
fortifying nunself there; but the generals of Michael
Bomanof, the newl^*elected czar, did not allow him time.
Driven from that city, and pursued by superior forces, he
was preparing to reach the eastern snore of the Gaspaii,.
when he was surprised, .in the beginning of July, 1614, est
the banks of the Yaik, and delivered up to the Muscovite;
generals, along with Marina and the son of the sec(»id;
Dmitri. They were immediately taken to Moscow, wh^pe.
2!arucki was impaled ; Ivan, who was but three years <AA^
was hanged ; and Marina was shut up in a prison, where she
ended her days.
MM 1618] ELCosiosr 01 k msir ossab. 213
CHAPTBE XVIll.
XOOXSBIOK OJr THE HOUSB OF BOMAlTOF — ^MIOHAEt-^
AXEXIS— ^rEODOB II.
The deliverance of Moscow had alone been awaited in
order toM the vacant throne by a free election. This
conld not properly take place except in that revered sane-
toary of the czarian power, the Ajemlin, where the aove-
leigDB were crowned at their accession, and where their
aahea reposed after their death. Delivered now from all
ibreign influence, the boyars of the council, in November,
1612, despatched letters or mandates to every town in the
en^ire^ commanding the clergy, nobility, and citizens to
aend d^uties immediately to Moscow, endowed with full
"iKyww to meet in the national council (zemskii sovetK), and
<|Hrea«ed to the election of a new czar. At the same time, to
inroke the blessing of God upon this important act, a fast of
thi:ee days was commandedl These orders were received
with great enthusiasm throughout the whole country: the
&8t was BO rigorously observed, according to contemporary
records, that no person took the least nourishment during that
interval, and mothers even refused the breast to their in&nts.
The election day came : it was in Lent, in the year 1613.
flhe debates were long and stormy. The princes Mstis-
lavski and Fojarski, it appears, refused the crown; the
election of priuce Dmitri Troubetskoi failed, and the other
candidates were set aside for various reasons. After much
^sitation the name of Michael Bomanof was put forward;
«. young man sixteen years of age, personally unknown,
iwit wcommended bv the virtues of his father, Fhilaretes,
4mdt in whose behalf the boyars had been canvassed by the
,|tatriai€h Hermogenos, the holy martyr to the national
42auae« The Bomanofs were connected through the female
branch with this ancient dynasty. The ancestors of Michael
had filled the highest offices in the state. He fulfilled,
moreover, the required conditions. *^ There were but thre^
surviving members in his familv,'V says Strahlenberg ; 'Vh6
had not been implicated in the preceding troubles; his
father was an.ecclesiaatic, and in consequence naturally more
tH xmosT or srawL [em. kibu.
disposed to secore peace and imion, than to mix himself up
in turbulent projects."
The name of the new candidate, mipported b^ the metro-
politan of Mosoovr, * was hailed with aodamation, and afber
some discussion he was elected. The unanimous voice of the
assembly raised Michael Feodoroyitch to the throne. Before
. he ascended he was required to swear to the fcAowing
oondition8}-<-^ 1%at he would protaei idigion; that hie
wmdd pardon and foirget all Ukat had heat done to his
&ther ; that he would maks no new lawa, nor alter the M,
unless circumstanoea imperatively required it ; and thai, m
important causes, he would decide nothing by himself, IwEt
that the existing bnrs, and the usual farms of trial, ahouUl
remain in foroe; l^t he would not at hia own jiemmBB
make either war or peace with his neighbonns; and that, to
avoid all suits with mdividuals, he would resign his eetatoB
to his family, or incorporate them with the crown domaina/'
Strahlenbeig adds, that Alexia, on his aocesaiGBi, swum to
olwervo the same conditions.
^These farms, however futile they may have boen, ta»
remarkable; not because they render aacred a right wkieh
stands in no need of them, but because tiiey reeal it to
mind ; and also because they prove that, even on the soil
moat &vourable to despotism, a charter whidi should give
absolute power to a moniurch would appear miA a gross
ahaurdity, tibiat we know not that an instance <j£ the kind
ever existed.
Nothing oould be more critical than the state of the
empire at the moment when its destinies were confided to a
youth of seventeen. Disorder and anarchy everywhere pB»-
vailed. Oastrialof gives us the following picture :—^ l%e
atimiriiolds on the frontier which should have served to
defend his dominions, were in the hands of external or in*
tenud enemies. The Swedes possessed Eexhdm, Oredbedk,
Koporie, and even Novgorod. The Poles ruled in Smolendc.
DoKurobuje, Putivle, and Tchemigof ; the country avovad
Pskof was in the power of Lisowski ; Baisiu, Kashira, and
Tola struggled ftehly against the Tatars of the Crimea aoid
the No^; Saroutski (Zaruoki) was estaUiahed in Astsa-
» fc •
* Tliere was aa patriarch at that time.
a
1018-18] sneunBOHURNP. 215
tiuB; Kasaii ms in jentb* At home, bands of ConackB
firom the Don and tlw ZaporogaeSy mad whole diviaiona tif
Bokai and Xaiara nmiged the villagea and the eennontB
tiuit were still entke, idien tiiere were hopea of finding
haolf. The country waa waated, aoMiera were dying of
hm^y the land-tax was no longer collected, and not a
Irapeek was in the treasnrf . Xhe sbaJbb jewela« crowna of
f^reat price, aeepiarea, preeiona stones, vases, all Imd heen
idnndoed and carried mto Pohuid.
" The jcnmg prince was saasounded by conrtiera belonging
ko twenty di&rent faoti<»a. GSiere were to be found the
fiaends of fiodonoi^ the defenders of Shubki, the companions
nCTladialaa, and even partiaana of the brigand of Tuahino;
m, a word, men profisaaiog the moat various opinions and
aama, bnt all eqnauj ambitious, sund incapable of vieUtng^tiiB
uiaUeat point as regarded precedence. The lower dasa,
itxilated by ten yeara of miseTy, were become habituated to
mmrAft and it was not without difficulty and resistance on
tinir part that the^r were reduced to obedience." Such,
Aen, was tiie situation of the country ; but Michad found
tteana to ledeem it.
NotwiAstanding the desperate state g£ his finanoe, the
insubordination of his ^ops, the Ul-will of the diets, and
the confederations continually springing up against him,
Sigiamond did not abandon his attempts upon Kussia; but
the negotiations whidi ensued in consequence, upon various
oeeasions, produced no result. Yladialas, at the head of an
azmy, once more crossed the frontiers, and iq^peared for the
jeoond time^ in 1617, under the walls of Moscow, whtdi he
aaaauhed, and whence he was repulsed. Deceived in the
ocpectation which the intelligence he kept up with varions
'fifaiefe had induced him to form, harassed by his troops, who
-were clamon)us for pay, he consented to renounce the title
of oaar, which he had up to that period aasumed, and ccMb-
Aided, on the 1st of beoember, 1618, an armistice for
fevrtoen yean. The peace of Stolbovna, 2Gth of January,
lfil7, had terminated the preceding year the war wiUi
Sweden, and was purchasea by the surrender of Ingria,
Oarelia, and the whole country between In|;ria and Nov-
gorod ; besides the formal renunciation of Livonia sad Es-
thoniay and the pajmeat of a aam of iaoney.
>216 .HnxoKT or Bimsu. [ds.lnpxm
The captivity of Philaretes Iiad now lasted nme
&om Warsaw he had been remoYed to the castle of T
bm^, and it was from that place, as it is asserted, that be
found means to communicate with the council of the boyan,
and use his influence in the election of the czar,, never
dreaming that it would fall upon his son. The cessation of
' hostilities restored him to freedom. He returned to Moscow
on the 14th of June, 1619, and was immediately eknrated to
the patriarchal chair, which had remained vacant from tiie
ddfttn of Hermogenes, in 1618. His son made him tx>-
-regent, and the tu^ases of that date are all headed ^ Midiael
feodoroyitch, Soyereign, Czar, and Grand-Frince of all tiie
Jtussias, and his father Fhilaretes, mighty Lord and most
holy Patriarch of all the Bussias, order," &e. Then exSmt^
moreoTer, ukases issued in the sole name of the patriacd^
thus called out of his usual sphere of action, and placed ia
one in which absolute power was granted him. He- took
part in all poUtiad affairs; all foreign ambassadofs wbeo
presented to him, as well as to the czar: and at those
solemn audiences, as well as at table, he occupied the right
of the sovereign. He held his own court, composed of
stoljdcks and other officers ; in a word, he shared with his
son all the prerogatives of supreme pow^. Erom this
.period dates the splendour of the patriarchate, which at a
later epoch excited the jealousy of the czar Peter the Qreat,
who was induced to suppress it in 1721.
Philaretes always gave wise advice to his son, and tiie
influence he exercised over him was always happily directed.
A general census, of which he originated the idea, produced
great improvement in the revenue; but, perhaps withoat
intending it, he contributed by this measure to give fixity to
.the system of bondage to the soil.* In the performance tif
his duty as head pastor, he directed all his efforts tOtxe*^
establish a press at Moscow, t which had been abandoiied:
during the troubles of the interregnum; and he had the
satisfaction of seeing, after 1624, many copies of the Liturgy
issue from it. He took part in the attempts made to reform
♦ See Oustrialof i « Hiatoire de Rusaie."
" t Established in 1560. The first book printed in Modoow, <^The
EvangeliBt," appeutd in the month of March) 1564. See Karpaiaiii^.-
iJbeie InxAs, the contents of wUcli luid^ in the opinioiL' of
masaj wise eoclesiastics, been seriouslj altered in the Sdit-
Tctoie translations; and the quarrels which thence ardse,
oamBiencing under Job, were destined to assume a mort
"geave character under the patriarch Nicon, one of the sud-
ceasors of Fhilaretes.
/ The peace with Poland being oiAj for a stated term df
Tears, Michael endeavoured, before its expiration, to have
ms tnK>ps placed in such a condition by foreign officers, that
le might be able to reconquer the countries ceded to the
l^oles. Nay, on the death of Sigismond, ere the armistice
was eipirea, he began the attempt to recover these terri-
tories, under the i<Qe pretext that he had concluded a peace
wkfa Sigismond, and not with his successor. But the
BiuNnaa commander, Michael Schein, the very same who had
Tsliimtftly defended Smolensk with a small number of troops
against the Poles, now lay two whole years indolently before
iJoBt^tovm, with an army of fifty thousand men, and provided
wiih good artiller^r, and at length retreated on capitulatidn,
ja xefareat for wmch he and his friends were brought to
answer with their heads. The Eussian nation were so
iMssatisfied with this campaign, and the king of Sweden,
whom Michael wanted to engage in an alliance with hilil
against, the Poles, showed so little inclination to comply,
that the czar was fain to return to the former amicable
relation with Poland. Peace was therefore again agreed on,
and matters remained as they were before.
Buring his reign, which continued till 1645, Michael had
employment enough in endeavouring to heal the wounds
lAaeh. the spirit of faction had inflicted on his country ; to
compose the disorders that had arisen; to' restore the
aimanistration which had been so often -disjointed and
rriflxed; to give new vigour and activity to the laws, dis-
obeyed and inefficient during the general confusions; and
tor communicate fresh life to expiring commerce. It re-
donnds greatly to hi&i honour that he proceeded in all theto
respects with prudence and' moderation, and brought the
disorganised machine of government again into play. More
than t&is, the restoration of the old order of things, was not
to be expected of him. Mvich that he was unable to efibct
waa accomplished by his son and snccessor, Alexis*
818 xxixosT or rnvnoi.. [01
The admidftration, hawwmry of tke bojrar Bom Mmyiof,
t» vbom Miebaal at bn deatk committed ti» edantnm itf
AkenSy tibu in his sixteenth jvar, 'vnell-nigh destrwed the
tzaDqnill^ which had lo lately been restared. MotomC
trod in the footsteps of Boris Godnnof, put himself, as tbifc
fayourite of the czar had done, into the highest poets, aial
Hum acquired the most eztenmnBe anidioritj in the state,
tozned out all that stood in his way, distribated offices asid
dilgnities, as ttey fell Tttcant, among lus friends and creatmoay
smd oven became, like Boris, a near relation of ezar Ale23%
hf marrying a sister of the ozaritza. like his prototyjisiy
indeed, Morosof effected much good, particularly by makiDg
tfae army a main object of his conoem, by strengthening the
frontions against Poland and Sweden, erecting manu&etorieo
lor arms, taking a number of foreigners into pay lor Ae
Wtter diseiplinine of the army, and diligently exercniag tlia
troops himself. But these important servioes to the state
ooold not render the people insensible to tiie numerous acte
«f injustioe and oppression which were practised with imi^
pnni^ by the party protected by this minion of the ezae.
The most flagrant enormities were committed, more pnw
lieularly in the administration of justice. The sentence of
Ae judge was warped to either side by preeente ; witnesMS
were to be bougnt; seTcral of the magistrates, howerar
incrediMe it may seem, k^t a numbo? of scoundrels in
readiness to corroborate or to oppugn, for a sum of moneof,
whatever they were required to confirm or to deny. Soak
^fligates were particularly employed in order to get rick
persons into custody on charges of any species ai delob
fueni^ sworn against them by false witnesses, to eondau
them to death, and then to seize upon their property ; as the
aoeumulation of wealth seemed to be the general chamo*
teristic df all mesi in office. From the same corrupt foimtaaa
flowed a multitude of monopolies, and excessiYe taxes on the
prime necessaries of life. The consequence of all this waa
tiie oppression of the people by privileged extortioners, and
murmuFB against injustice and ^e exorbitance of imposts.
in addition to this* those grandees who had now the reins of
Eexnm^it in their bands assumed a hanghfy, austaffO
ariour towards the subjects, whereas Michael and his
fSikther hadiwcn friendly and iodttlgeat^ and their gpentknns
AAlOiB-SO] MJMSOL 219
[xtidf toaaii)i0^duitti]iietookpntJnti»
MSflUmSVSIilDIl*
"Ftom tiiese tmeeal caffuwa airoee diBoontentB in tlie ludafla;
nek gfeat men aa were neglected and duMippointed, eon-
tirfliQlied what thej could to &n tbese discontei^ and to
loEng them to orert act. Moaeow, the aeat of tloie principal
magiatrate, who, himadf in the highest degree nnjuat, oott-
xmoi at ibe imqnities of hia subordinate judges, waa the
jdaee where the people first applied for redreaa. They beean
tf preeenting petitions to the csar, implored tbe remoraf of
tneae disorders, and exposed to him in plain terms the abnaas
.«onunitted bj the farourite and bis adherents. Bi£t theae
fffitdtians were of no aTul, as none of the courtiers woald
fentnie to put them into the hand of the oaar, for fear of
Moroaof 'a long arm. The pc^laee, therefore, once stopped
tte eaar, aa he was retuzpng from church to hia piuwse,
calling aloud for righteous judges. Alexis promised them to
make strict inquirj into their grievancea, and to inflict
fnaiahnent on the guilty; tise people, howerer, had not
patance to wait this taotly process, but proceeded to phindor
liiio houaes of such of the great as were most obnoxious to
tbem. At length they were pacified only on ccmditiDn thaib
the ;aai&ors of their oppressions should be brought to
eesid^n |nzmshmc9it. JSotf bowev^, tiQ they had kilkd
aha princi{»l magistcate, and other obnoxious persona, and
fioroed fiom tlie czar the abolition of some of the new tasei^
mod the death of another nefarious judge, could they be
induced to spare the life of Horosof, though the czar himfldf
entraated for him with tears. Thenceforth Morosof ooued
to be tiae sole adyiaer of his sorereign, though he eontinnfld
to eggoj his favour and affection.
fiome time after these events, disturbances not lesa violead;
OBBuired in Fleakof and Novgorod, and were not ^Ued
MDiil much mischief had been done. The pacification x£
Horfgarod was mainly due to ihe wisdom an^pntrepiditj of
tka celebrated Nioon, who was afterwards patriarch.
"While the nation was in this restless and angry mood,
«Bothfir false Dmitei thought to avail himself of an oppoD-
tonifty i^paxently so fafsmrable to gather a party. He was
tiieaon of a do^r in the Ukraine, and \as prompted to hia
hf M Boliah noblfffpaii, named Danilovdd, One
^220 HiSTOBTOinusaLi. : [<»c;kv£a^
day; when the }^oxmg man was haihing, marks were €kmi^
on his back which were thought to resemble letters of soase
unknown tongue. DaDilovsUi hearing of this freak of na-
ture, determined to build a plot upon it. He sent for tte
young man, and had the marks examined by a Greek 'p&fb
whom he had suborned. The pope cried out, " A mirai^e T
and declared that the letters were Bussian, and formed
distinctly these words: — Dmitri, son of the agar JMaUiri,
The public murder of Marina's infant son was notoriousi;
but that dif&culty was met by the common device of m
alleged change of children, and the Poles were invited to
lend their aid to the true prince ihus miraculously identified.
They were willing enougn to do so ; but the trick was to^
stale to impose on the Bussians. The impostor found no
iulherents among them ; and after a wretched life of TagnusUBf
and crime, he feU into the hands of Alexis, and wasfna^^i^^^d
alive.
Alexis soon had an opportunity to repay in a moiie w^
atantial manner the ill-will borne to him by the Poles; #^
had further offended him by rejecting him as a candidate for
their throne, and electing John Casimir. The cruel oppies-
aions exercised by the Poles upon the Cossacks of ^
Ukraine had roused the latter to revolt, and a fdrioos war
/ensued, in which the enraged Cossacks avenged their wrongti
in the most ruthless and indiscriminate manner. At law;,
iifter many vicissitudes, being deserted by their Tatar allien
the Cossacks appealed for aid to Alexis, offering to acknow*
ledge him as their suzerain. With such auxiliaries the wi
cotud now renew with better prospects the attempt madebf
his father to recover the temtories wrested from BussiH %
her inveterate foe. He declared war against Poland; his
conquests were rapid and numerous, and would, probftUy^
have terminated in the complete subjugation of Poland, hit
he not been compelled to pause before the march of a still
snore 6UcceaM|l mvader of that country, Charles Gustanui,
king of Sweden. Incensed at seeing his prey thus snatched
from him when he had nearly hunted it down^ Alexis fell
^ipon the king of Sweden's own dominions during his
absence ; but from this enterprise he reaped neither mYsaor
tage nor credit; and he was glad to conclude, in 1658, a
three years' truce with Sweden, and subsequently a peao^
^]^. 1M5] BTEKCA. SAHZXH's BXBXX1I.IOK. 221:
nMeh was an exact renewal of the treaty of Stolbova in 1617.
!Ri6 war in Poland ended more honourably for Eussia. An
armistice for thirteen years^ agreed upon at Andnissof, in
liithuania, and afterwards prolonged from time to time, was
the forerunner of a complete pacification, which was brought r
to effect in 1686, ana restored to the empire Smolensk,
Severia, Tchemigof, and Kief, that primeval principality of
the BuBsian sovereigns. The king of Poland likewise reCn-
quilled to the czar the supremacy he had till then ass^ted
over the Cossacks of the Ukraine.
Bussia had as much need as Poland of repose ; for the
empire was suffering under an accumulation of eviis-*-an
exhausted treasury, commercial distress^ pestilence and
famine, all aggrayated by the unwise means adopted to
nelieve them. To supply the place of the silver money,
which had disappeared, copper of the same nominal value
was coined and put in circulation. At first these tokens
were received with confidence, and no inconvenience was
e^iperienced ; but ere long the court itself destroyed that
oonfidenoe by its audacious efforts to secure to itself all the
sterling money, and leave only the new coin for the use of
commerce, ^he cupidity displayed in transactions of this
kind, especially by Ilia Miloslavsid, the czar's father-in-law,
taught the public to dislike the copper coinage; it became
immensely aepredated, and extreme general distress ensued.
A rebellion broke out in consequence in Moscow (1662),
and though it was speedily put down, it was punished in the
miofit atrocious manner in the persons of thousands of
wretches whose misery had driven them to crime; whilst the^
anthers of their woe escaped with impunity. The prisoners
w6re hanged bv hundreds, tortured, burned, mutuated, or
thrown by night, with their hands bound, into the river. >
lEh6 number who suffered death in consequence of this,
arbitrary alteration of the currency was estimated at more
Ifam seven thousand ; the tortured and maimed at upwaM^
of fifteen thousand.
' The conduct of the Don Cossacks was soon such as t<^
make it queslsonable whether the acquisition of these new
siibjects was not rather a loss than a gain to the empire. At,
the end of the campaign of 1665 the Cossacks were refused
peHbission to disband as usual and to return to their homes.
222 HxvrosT at mamiA. [cs.
Thej matimied; mid nfrmnl of OoBm were ptmudifld «Mi
death. Among thoae who were aoaeiited waa an nAeoTy
whose brother, Stenka Sadiin, had no difficnltf in nMoiiig
faia countrymen to lerenge thia yiolation of their privflagtii,
and at the same time to gratify their insatiable appetite for
haroc and phxnder. He l^gaa hia depredations on the Tolga
by seizing a fleet of boats belonging to the cxar, whidi was
on its way to Astrakhan, maaaacrin^ paort of the crews^ aid
jnresaing all the rest into hia service. Having devastatad
the whole country of the Tdga, he descended into the
Caspian, and haying swept its shores, returned to the Volga
laden with booty. For three years thia flagiticms ruffisa
continued his murderous career, repeatedly defeating ite
forces sent against hinu At last, having loot a great number
of men in his piratical incmnionB into Persia, he was
hemmed in by the troops of the governor of Astrakhan, and
forced to sue for pardon. The imperial commander thought
it more prudent to accept Sadzin's Toluntary submiBSioa
tiian to nsk an engagement with desperate wretches whose
numbers were still formidable. Radxm was taken to Aiinp
khan, and the Toyevode went to Moscow, to learn the czar^i
pleasure respectmg him. Alexis honourably confirmed tike
promise made by his general in his name, and accepted
Kadzin's oath of allegiance ; but instead of dispersing tii0
pardoned rebela over regions where they would have been
useful to the empire, he had the imprudence to send them aU
back to the countxr of the Don, without despoiling them ef
their ill-got wealth, or taking any other security for tii^
good behaviour.
The brigand was soon at his old work again on the Yolgai
murdering and torturing with more wanton ferocity ttat
ever. To give to hia enormities the colour of a^ iirar ^
behalf of an oppressed class, he proclaimed himself tiie
enemy of the nobles, and the restorer of the liberty of
the people. As many of the Buasians still adhered to
the patriarch Nicon, who had been deposed and sent to a^
monastery, he spread it abroad that Nicon was with hiia ;
that the czar's second son (who had died at Moseoir,
Jan. 16, 1670) was not dead, but had put himself under hia
protection ; and that he had even been requested by the eaar
^Umeelf to come to Moseow, and lid him oEikoae unpatriotie
jujn, /I671] WAJB "mxa tqbxbt. 2SB.
gmndaes bj "whom he was unli«p|alj ntrroonded. Tbe0»
afftifices, tq^her with tlie unlimited licence to plunder
which Eadzm granted to everj one who joined his standard^
operated so strongly l^at the rebel found himself^ ai lengthy
at the head of two hundred tfaeueand men. The ezar^tt
ao2d»!rs murdered thor officers, and went over to him;
Astrakhan betrayed its governor, and received him; he
was master of the whole country of the Lower Volga ; and
<m the upper eourse of the river, from JSTijni Novgorod to.
Easan, the peasants rose to a man, and murdered their lords-
Had Stenka Sadsin been anything better than a vulgar
sobber and cut-throai;, he might have revolutionised Biusaia;,
but he was utterly without the cmalities most requisite for
success in such an enterprise. Disasters overtook him in
tiie autumn of 1670; a division of his army was cut to
pieces; twelve thousand of his followers were gibbeted eifc
the high road, and he himself was taken in the beginning- of
ike foUewing year, carried to Moscow, and executed.
The Turks had by this time made war on Poland, and
Alexis was bound by the treaty of Andnissof, as well aa by
regard for the safety of his own dominions, to support the
huM«r power. In 1671 the Turks made themselves mastera
of the important town of Kaminitz, and the Cossacks of the
Ukraine, ever averse to subjection, could not tell whether
they belonged to Turkey, Pohind, or Bussia. Sultan Ma-
homet lY., who had subdued, and lately imposed a tribute
on, the Poles, insisted, with all the insolence of an Ottoman,
and of a conqueror, that the czar should evacuate his several
possessions in the Ukraine; but received as haughty &
denial* The sultan in his letter treated the sovereign of the
Sussias onl^ as a Christian horaodar, and entitled himself
'^Mofit Glorious Majesty, King of the World." The czar made
answer, that ''^He was aboTe submitting to a Mahometan
dpgj.but that his sabre was a» good as the grand aeignear'a
^etar."
Alexis sent ambassadors to the pope, and to almost all tiie
great sovereigns in Surope, except France, which was. allied
to the Turks, in order to establish aleague against the PortCL
His ambassadors had no other success at £ome than not
being obliged to kiss the pope's toe ; everywhere else thej
met with nothing but good wishes, the Uhzistiain prisseB*
321 HinoxT 07 vomik; [m. xvm,
heang ' generally prevented by their qnaireb and janii^
interestB from uniting acaonst the common enemy <n ^bekt
ireligion, Alexis did not live to see the termination of tilt
var with Turkey. Hia death happened in 1676, in his forty*
eighth year, after a reign of thirty-^ne years.
Alexis was succeeded by his ddest son. Feeder, a yodih
in hi^ nineteenth year, and of veiy feeble tempeiamezit.
The most pressing task that devolved on him was th6
prosecution of the war with Turkey, which, as &r as Buisia
was interested, had regard chiefly to the question whether
the country of the Zaporogue Cossacks should be under tbe
Qovereigntv of the czar or of the sultan. The contest was
terminated, three years after Feodor's accession, by a trei^t
which established his right over the disputed tenitory.
Only one other memorable event distinguished his bri^
reign.
' ij^othing could equal the care with which the noble
families kept the books of their pedigrees, in which were set
down, not only every one of their ancestors, but also the
posts and offices which each had held at court, in the azmy^
or in the civil department. Had these genealogies and
registers of descent been confined to the purpose of deter-
mining the ancestry and relationship of fumlies, no objection
coidd be alleged against them. But these books of record
were carried to the most absurd abuse, attended with i^host
of pernicious consequences. If a nobleman were appointed
to a post in the army, or at court, or to some civil station,
and it appeared that the person to whom he was now subor*
dinate numbered fewer ancestors than he, it was with tbd
utmost difficulty that he could be brought to accept of thd^
office to which he was called. Kay, this folly was canned
still greater lengths : a man would even refuse to take upon
him an employ, if thereby he would be subordinate to one
whose ancestors had formerly stood in that position towards
his own. It is easy to imagine that a prejudice of th»
kind must have he&a, productive of the most disagreeable
effects, and that discontents, murmurs at slights and tzi*
flmg neglects, disputes, quarrels, and disorders in th&
siervice must have been its natural attendants. It was,
therefore, become indispensably necessary that a particular
office s^QOild be instituted at court i^ which exact copies oi
Jfcd»; 1681] 7BOBOB m. ALEXIBTITCH. 225
tfie genealogical tables and service-registers of the noble
&milies were deposited; and this office was incessantly
employed in settling the numberless disputes that arose
from this inveterate prejudice. Feodor observing the per-
nicious effects of this fond conceit— that the father*s capacity
must necessarily devolve on the son, and that consequently
he ought to inherit his posts, wished to put a stop to it ;
and with the advice of his sagacious minister, prince Yassili
Cblitzin, fell upon the following method :
. He caused it to be proclaimed, that all the families should
deliver into court faithful copies of their service-rolls, in
order that they might be cleared of a number of errors
that had crept into them. This delivery being made, he
C(mv<^ed the great men and the superior clergy before him.
In the midst of these heads of the nobles, the patriarch con-
cluded an animated harangue by inveighing against their
prerogatives. " They are," said he, " a bitter source of every
^ind of evil ; they render abortive the most useful enter-
prises, in like manner as the tares stifle the good grain;
l^ey have introduced, even into the heart of fanulies, dissen-
sions, confusion, and hatred ; but the pontiff comprehends
the grand design of his czar. God alone can have inspired
it!" At these words, and by anticipation, all the grandees
blindly hastened to express their approval; and, suddenly,
IFeodor, whom this generous unanimity seemed to enrapture,
mrose and proclaimed, in a simulated burst of holy enthu-
aiasm, the abolition of all their hereditary pretensions, " To
extinguish even the recollection of them," said he, "let all
like papers relative to those titles be instantly consumed !"
And as the fire was ready, he ordered them to be thrown
iate^ the flames before the dismayed eyes of the nobles, who
fi^ve to conceal their anguish by dastardly acclamations.
Sy way of eondusion to this singular ceremony, the patriarch
dsDoanced an anathema against every one who should
j^^esnme to contravene this ordinance of the czar ; and the
jUSlftGe^ of the sentence was ratified by the assembly in a
general shout of " Amen!" It was'by no means Feeder's
intention to efface nobility; and, accordingly, he ordered
new books to be made, in which the noble families were
ktsoribed ; but thus was abolished that extremely pernicious
custom which made it a disgrace to be under the orders of
TOL. I. Q
226 HisnoBT oi? BUflSLi.. [gh. xex.
another if his anoestejr did not leaoh so high, or wan-nbi
oaae of equal pedigree— if a foEe&ther of the commander had
once been subordinate in the service to the pro^fenitor of him
who was now to acknowledge him for his wafmar.
Eeodor died in Fefaroarj, 1682, after a resgn of five years
and a half, lewring no issue.
CHAPTEE XIX.
lYAir t; Aim psteb, i.
TJfos' the death of Eeodor the empire seemed destined to
be plunged once more into the anarchy attendant on a
disputed succession. This was in consequence of Alexis
having conformed with the usual custom of the czars, to
choose their consorts &om among their own subjecta.
Alexis was twice married ; his first wife being a Miloslavski,
his second a i^rarishkin. By the former he had two sans
who surviFcd him, Feodor and Ivan, and several princesaeB,
the eldest oi whom, Sophia, is known in history; by the
latter he was the father of Peter and the princess XathaAie*
Under every reign the £uxuly allied to the sovereign naturally
acqjiired gneat influence in the state ; and when there ware
two families in that position, their keearivaliy could, not but
be injuiious to the public interests. The MiloslaTski and
the jyanshkan faction, contended with each oi^er for the
privilege of giving a czar to Eussia. Peodor^s accession had
been opposed by the Narishkiim on the ground of hk
alleged moapacity. Ivan, his younger brother, was still
more infirm in body and mind ; and the Narishkius stroTO to
havo both exdudea in favour of Peter, their own kinsman.
This project failed ; but on the death of Peodor the grandees
and tiie heads of the clergy resolved to reject the claims of
the imbecile Ivan, and to bestow the orovm on his mooe
promising brother, then teoa years of age. The princess
Sophia, however, conkived in part to iefeat this resolution,
and to restore to Ivan a sceptre which she hoped to wield in
conjunction with: Galitzin„the late czar's minister, during the
peiycfeuaL infancy of the weak-minded piinoe*
jl:^ 1862] TfAx T. AKD :BMmau j. 222
If, on the one hand, thecuatom o£ saisiiig a fiabjeob tft^ibe
zank. o£ eoaritzaiwaB fEk^onrable to the ladiea^ tfaare was sa-
ot^r. aa mneli to tlieir pvejjadice. This was, thaiir the daa^-
ters of the czar were very seldom marrifid; so thalt they gene*
rollj i^ent thek' days, in a monastery. Sophia, a. psincesft of
superior, but dangerous, abilities, when mie perceived that
her brother Heodor wasf very near his end,, did not think
proper to retire to a convent ; but finding that Ab was likely
to be le& betweea two brothers, who w^e unqualified for
the reins of goyeminent,^the one by natural infirnnties, and
the. other by infancy, she formed a scheme, for plaeing heonelf
at the head of the empire. Henee in the lafib hours of the
czar !Feodor, she attempted, to act the past ibat^ Pulcheoia
had formerly played with her brother- the emperor Theo-
dosius«
Immediately upon the uxunination of Peter^ and the ^l^
olusion of his elder brother,, a terrible insuraection broke
out among the Strelitz. Never did! the pretoxoanguards, or.
Turkish janissaries, behave with more barbarity. "Within
two days after the czar Eeodor's ftineeal, they armed, and
repaired in a body to the Klreml in, there they began with,
an accusation again^ nine of their colonels> for defraud-
ing them of their, pay. The ministry were obliged to break
those officers, and let. the Str^tz have the money dd^
manded. Not satisfied with this, the soldiers insxBted that
the nine officers dliould be delivered up to them ; and by
a plurality of voices they condemned. them> to the baaldnadoi
While the Strelitz were thus spreading terror throughout
the capital, the pmioess Sophia piivily encouraged, them, in
order to make them subservient to her own purposes.
Meanwhile she convened an assembly of the princesses
of the blood, the generals of the army, and the boyaro,
with the patriarch, bishops^ and. even tibie principal meiv
chants: she represented to them that prince Ivan, by right. of
seniority and merit, ought to succeed to the imperial dignity ;
but all the while she intended to hold the reins^ of govern-
ment in her own hands. As she withdrew from the assembly,
she "liromised some presents and. a further increase of pajir
to the Strelitz.. H^ emissaries, at the same time, inflamed
the soldiers against the family of the Namshkins, and.espQeially
against the two brothers, of the young czaritza dowager^.tiia
q2
S28 HIBTOST OF SVSSIiL. [OH. XI3&
mother of Peter tbe First. The soldiers were made to believe
that one of those brothers,iiamed Iyaii,had put on the imperiaL
robes, ascended tbe throne, and attempted to strangle prince
Ivan ; it was moreover added, that Daniel Yongad, a Dutch
physician, had poisoned the czar Feodor. At length Sophia
gave them a list of forty lords, whom she styled enemies to
their corps and to the state, and as such declared them
worthy of death.
The tragedy began with throwing the princes Dolgoruki
and Maffeof out of the windows: the Strelitz received
them on their pikes, and afber stripping them naked, dragged
their bodies along the great square. This done, they rushed
into the palace, where meeting with one of the czar Peter's
uncles, Athanasius Narishkin, brother of the voung czaritza,
they massacred him in the same manner ; then forcing the
doors of a neighbouring church, where three of the pro*
scribed had taken sanctuary, they dragged them from the
altar, stripped them naked, and cut them in pieces with
knives.
To such a pitch was their fury arrived, that a young lord
of the house of Soltikof, a great favourite of theirs, and who
was not in the list of the proscribed, happening to pass by at
that time, and one of their companions mistaking him for Ivan
Narishkin, of whom they were in search, they destroyed him
in an instant. But upon discovering their error, they carried
the body of the young nobleman to his father for interment ;
and the unfortunate parent, far from daring to complain,
gave them a considerable reward for the mangled body of his
son. His wife, his daughters, and the wife of the deceased,
with a flood of tears, reproached him for his weakness.
"Let us wait for an opportunity of being revenged," said
the old man. These words being overheard by some of the
soldiers, they returned in a transport of rage, and dragging
out the aged parent by the hair, they cut his throat at his
own door.
In the mean time, some of the other Strelitz were in
search of the Dutch physician Yongad, and happeniijg to
meet his son, they inquired where his father was ; the young
man trembling, replied he did not know ; upon which they
cut his throat. Soon after a German physician falling in
tiieir way, " You are a doctor," said they, " and if you have
A.]), 1682] BEYOLT OF THE STBBLITZ. 229
not poisoned our master Peodor, you have poisoned others,
tod therefore you merit death ;" and saying this, they des*
patched him in an instant.
At length having discovered the Dutchman, who had dis*
guised himself in a beggar's habit, they dragged him before
the palace. The princesses, who were fond of the good man,
and reposed confidence in his skill, begged hard for his life,
assuring the Strelitz that he was a very skilful physician,
Und had taken great care of their brother Feodor. The sol-
diers made answer, that he not only deserved to die as a
physician, but likewise as a sorcerer ; for they had found the
skeleton of a large toad, and the skin of a snake in his cabi-
net. They added, that young Narishkin must absolutely be
delivered up to them ; that they had been searching for him
in vain for two days; that he was certainly concealed in
the palace ; and they would set fire to it immediately, unless
they could seize on his person. The sister of Ivan Narish-
kin, and the other princesses, terrified with these menaces,
repaired to the place where this young nobleman lay ccm-
cealed : the patriarch heard his confession, and administered
the viaticum and extreme unction to him ; then laying hold
of an image of the Virgin Mary, which was said to perform
miracles, he led the young man by the hand, and advanced
towards the Strelitz, presenting the image to their view.
The princesses, dissolved in tears, encompassed the victim,
and kneeling down before the soldiers, interceded in the
name of the Virgin for their relation's life ; but the bar-
barians, regardless of the suppliant ladies, dragged him
away to the bottom of the staircase, where, erecting a kind
of tribunal, they put Narishkin and the physician to the
torture. One of the soldiers, who could write, drew up an
indictment against them, and the two unfortunates were
condemned to be cut in pieces. This is the usual punish-
ment of parricides in China and Tartary, and is called the
punishment of ten thousand slices. After behaving in this
manner to Narishkin and Vongad, they exposed their heads,
feet, and hands upon the iron points of a balustrade.
Whilst they were thus glutting their revenge in the
presence of the princesses, the remainder of their corps laid
violent hands on everybody that was odious to them, or
obnoxious to Sophia.
230 HIS90BT or mrisu.. ][oh. zdc
This boirid tragedy oonduded with proekiimmg i^ two
piinoeB, Ivan and Peter, joint soY«reigiis (June, 1662), and
associating their sister Sophia to the goyemment, in the
qoality of co-regent. She approved of all the outrages of
tne mrelitz, coofened rewards upon them, confiscated the
estaies of the proseribed, and bestowed them upon l^e
murderers; nay, she gave them permission to erect a
monument, with an inscription contaming the names of ike
persons they had massacred, who were Tepresented as
traitors to their country ; and she published letters patent,
thanking them for their zeal and fidelity.
13y these steps did the princess Sophia in reality ascend
tiie throne of Kussia, though she was not dedaared ezaritea;
and these were the first examples Peter the Gi^eat had befeie
his eyes. Sophia enjoyed all the honours of sovereignty ;
her bust was on the public coin ; her hand to aQ despatches ;
she had the first seat in council, and a power without
oontrol. She was a woman of talent ; composed verses in
her native language ; both spoke and wrote extremely well ;
and the charms of her person added a new lustre to those
abilities which were thus sullied by her ambition.
She procured a wife for her brother Ivan, in the begin-
ning of 1684, in hopes that the birth of an heir to the throne
would for ever exclude his brother from it, and prolong her
regencjr for an indefinite period. In the midst of the nuptial
entertainments, the StreCtz made another insuireotion on
pretexts concerning religion. Had they been mere soldiers,
they never would have become controversialists; buttkey
were also citizens of Moscow.
Bussia had already experienced somie disturbanees in
consequence of the dispute about the sign of the cross ;
whether it should be made with three fingers, or two. A
priest, of the name of Abakum, made himself canspieuous as
a ;pFeacber of the doctrines of the Eazkolniks, or old
bekei^rs, a sect who professed to maintain the priiiciples
and practices of the G-reek Churob in their nrimitive punty-
Several burghers, and a great many of the Btrelitz, em-
tmced the opinions of Abakum. At length those eorthu-
siasts rushed one day into the cathedral, at the time of
iftivine ^lervdce, and daaving the patriarch and his dsrgf
> with stones, devoutly placed themselves in ike sei3»
AM. 166^ KOvaaraoBEi'iB JiamBtmHm. aSi
qfetheae/ ecdeBrirotiBB, in order *io receive &e Holy Gthost.
They called the patriarch the tmlf in sJu^\» dathwyi, aititile
ivluch all sedts %me Hberallj beaiwwed upon aue anoiiher.
Immediately the ipsinceas Sophia and ihe Wo young csoars
wese infiirnred of these dktnrbanses; and the other
Streilitz, wlio nuizntamed the good cause, m^re told that
the ezars and the ichurch were in danger. A. party of the
Sixelitz and the patriarchal burghers came <to l>bws with
the faction of the Ea^okaks; but aa so<m.as mention was
made of ccmYenhig a cooneil, the carnage ceased. Accord-
ingly a council was forthwith called in a hall of the palace :
the conTocation was attended with ino difficulty ; and lall the
podests that could be found were summoned. The >patnarch
and a bishop entfflsed into a dispute with the leader of the
Bazholniks ; but upon coming to a second isjitUogism they
pelted one another with stones. The co(fm<m e^ed with
Ivehfiading the leader .and some of his faithful dkeipLes, who
were put to death by the sole order of the thxee sovereigns,
ficmhia, John, and Peter.
Buring this time of confusion there was a prinee, named
ELOvanski, who having contributed to the elevation of the
princess Sophia, waited, as a reward for his services, to
obtain a share in the government. It is, indeed, believed
that he met wiidi ingratitude on the part of the pioncess.
•Having sided with the devotees and the persecuted
Bagifeobiiks, he also raised a party composed of t&e^trelitz
and i^e people in defence of the cause of God. This
(Mmspiracy was of a more sexdous nature .than the enthur
siastical behaviour of Al)akum; for an ambitious hypocrite
is flure to cany matters to a greater length .than a aimple
&natic. Kovanski, in short, aimed at the imperial dignity.
in order to have nothing thenceforward to &ar, he resolved
to massacre the two czars and Sophia, with >the oth^
peineesses, and all that were attached to the imperial family.
The (CBai» and i}he princesses weve obliged to retzEe to the
msoastery of the Holy Trinity, within twelve leagues of
Moscow, wMdi was at the same time n convent, a palace,
ani.B, fortreBB. The imperial family were now in full ^safety,
fflkther from ihe strength than the sanctity of the tplaee<
Here it was that Sophia negotiated with the xebeL; and
terix^'deooyed him to come I:^ way, she caused him to be
282 HisTOBT out nvuBix. [cs. XIZ^
lieheaded, together with one of his sons, and thirty-seven
Strelitz who aceompanied him.
At this news, the bodj of Strelitz flew to arms, and
marched to the monastery of the Trinitjr, threatening
death and destruction : the imperial familj intrenched
themselves ; the boyars armed their serfs ; all the gentle*
men of the country flocked to the monastery ; and the em-
pire seemed to be on the eve of a bloodv civil war. The
Eatriarch in some measure appeased the Strelitz, who
egan to be intimidated upon hearing of the troops whidi
were marching on all sides against them; their fury was
soon succeeded by fear, and their fear by the most abject
submission. Three thousand seven hundred of them, fol-
lowed by their wives and children, went in procession, with
halters about their necks, to that very monastery of the
Trinity which three dajrs before they had threatened to
reduce to ashes. In this coudition the unhappy wretches
marched two and two, each pair carryiQg a block and a hatchet;
then prostrating themselves on the ground, they wwted for
their punishment: but, being pardoned, they returned to
Moscow, blessing their sovereigns; still ready, though un-
consciously, to commit the same crime upon the fiwt op-
portunity.
These convulsions being ended, the state recovered its
tranquillity. Sophia was still possessed of the chief autho-
rity: Peter being held in tutelage, and Ivan abandoned to
his incapacity, m order to strengthen her power, she shaied
it with prince Vassili Galitzin, creating him generalissiino,
minister of state, and chancellor. Under this able minister
an alliance was concluded with Poland greatly to the adnm-
tage of Eussia.
Eussia now enjoyed internal tranquillity: she was still
pent up on the side of Sweden, but had begun to extend
herself towards Poland, her new ally ; £pom Crim Tataiy
she received frequent alarms ; and there was. a misunder-
standing between her and China in regard to their firontiers.
But what galled her most of all was, that the Khan of the
Crimea demanded of her an annual tribute of sixty thousand
roubles : a humiliation to which the Turks had likewise sub-
jected Poland.
To wipe off this disgrace, and at the same time fulfil the
Aja. 1689] psteb's ftbst mabbUlGX. 2ZS
now engagement with Poland, GkQitzin marched agamst the
Crim Tatiurs at the head of a numerous army. In his first
campaign he traversed the dreary steppes until there was
no possihility of advancing farther for want of forage ; upon
which he led his troops hack to the river Samara. There
he employed thirty thousand men in building a town, in
order to erect magazines for the next campaign. The
houses, indeed, were of wood, except two of bnck ; and the
ramparts were of turf, but well fined with artillery, and
in a good state of defence. ^Nothing more was effected of
any consequence in this ruinous expedition.
In the mean while, Sophia continued to govern. Ivan had
only the name of czar ; and Peter, now at the ago of seven-
teen, had the courage to aim at more than a titular sove-
reignty. By the unexpected pregnancy of his brother's wife,
he saw himself placed at a disadvantage towards the party of
Sophia and Ivan ; and to remedy this, he married in January,
1689, Evdokhia, the daughter of Peodor Lapukhin. That
union proved a very unhappy one ; but in its first year it
fulfilled the wishes of Peter by giving him a 9on.
It is alleged, with what truth we know not, that at this period
Sophia and Galitzin engaged the new chief of the Strelitz
to sacrifice the young czar to their ambition. It appears at
least that six hundred of those soldiers were to seize on that
prince's person, if not to murder him. Peter was once more
obliged to take refuge in the monastery of the Trinity, the
usual sanctuary of the court when menaced by the mutinous
soldiery. There he convoked the boyars of his party, as-
sembled a body of forces, treated with the captains of the
Strelitz, and sent for some Germans who had been long
settled in Moscow, and were all attached to his person, firom
his already showing a regard to foreigners. Sophia protested
her abhorrence of the plot, and sent the patriarch to her
brother to assure him of her innocence ; but he abandoned
her cause on being shown proof that he himself was among
those who had been marked out for assassination. Peter's
cause prevailed. All the conspirators were punished with
great severity; the leaders were beheaded, others were
knouted, or had their tongues cut out, and were sent into
exile. Prince Galitzin escaped with lus life, by the inter-
cession of a relation, who was a favourite of the czar Peter :
SM siflaroxr ow xmsDL ^w. xz.
but heibtfeited all hb nropeciy, which was inmMiMe, and
HBB banished to the nei^bonrhood of ArchangeL
The soene canduded with shutting up the princeBs Ba^m
in a con:vBntiiear Moscow, where sheTemainedin coofiaenieail
until her death, whdoh did not happen till fifbeen. years afteF-
wards. Erom that period Peter was real sovereign. His
brother Ivan had no other share in the government than
that of lending his name to the public acts. He led a retired
life, and died in 1696.
CHAPTEEXX.
PEXXB THE FIBST.
Natubb had given Peter the Krst a colossal vigoor of body
and mind, capable of all extremes of good and eviL It ia
impossible to review his whole history without mingled
fedings of admiration, horror, and disgust. That he was
not altogether a monster of wickedness was not the fEuilt of
Sophia and her minister, whose deliberate purpose it was to
destroy in him every germ of good, that he might become
odious and insupportable to the nation. They succeeded
only in impaiiing the health, corrupting the morals, and
hardening the heart of the youthful czar; it was no more
in their power to deprive him of his lofty nature than to
have given it to him. G^eral Menesius,"*" a learned Bcotcb-
man, to whom Alexis had entrusted his education, refosed to
betray him, and was, therefore, driven from his charge. The
first impressions on the mind of Peter were allowed to be
neceived from coarse and sordid amusements; and &osi
jbreigners, who were repulsed by the jealousy of the Wyar%
hated by Idie superstition of the people, and despised by the
general ignox»nee. Thus it was hoped that he would at last
be driven bv public execration to quxt the palaQe for a m^nok]^
cell:; fast the very means which were taken to ^emose his
* SeeBaasnlle.
AJU, 16691 aOEREE (»r.P£3SB(KX
drngmee Bsnrad ;i!D I&7 the fbxmdatLans of ids gxeotiaesB and
Kept >at a distasiee from the tha^one, Peter escaped tlie
JQEEfiuence of that atmosphere of effeminaey and flattery by
whiefa it is en^omed ; the hatred with which he was inspired
ajl^ainst the destroyers of his family inoreaaed the energy of
hn character. I£e knew that he must conquer his place
upon ihe throne, which was held by an able and ambitious
sister, and encircled by a barbarous soldiery ; thenceforth,
his childhood bad iiiat which ripened age too often wants, it
had an aim in yiew, of which his geiuus, ahfeady bold and
perseyering, had a thorough comprehension. Surrounded
by adventurers of daring spirits, who had come &om far to
try their iortune, his powers weare rapidly unfolded.
One of them, Lefort, who doubtless perceived in this
young barbarian the traces of civiiisatbn, which had per-
haps been left there by his first tutor, gave him an. idea of
the sciences and arts of Europe, and particularly of the
nuHtaiy art.
M is said that, on being made sensible of the barbarism of
his countrymen, tears of generous sorrow started into his
eyes; ifc was like presenting a sword to »the sight of a neyr
Achillea. But Peter was much more. That arms should
harre been his toys, and military exercises his sports, excites
faiit Iifctlle astonishment ; but what deserves admiration is,
that at A time of life when discipline is deemed an inaup-
pArtable yoke, he should have comprehended its imp(»rtanee ;
that he should have submitted to it with the same eagerness
tiiat men display to elude it ; .have persevered in it at the
most mutable period of e^tenee ; and have given .an example
at jan age in which many are hardl;;^^ capablo of following one.
Such were the dispositions of tms prince, notwithstanding
the .follies of his youth. In the mean while his mtuation was
vasy critical, bemg obliged to guard against the different
&fiti(fflB of the nobiHty, to check the mutmons temper of the
toeHtz, «nd to de&nd himself .against the >Crim Tatars,
miik whom 'he was almost constantly at war. Hostilities,
howeiver, had been joispended in .1689, by a .truse of jao long
eantmuanoe.
Pozing .tiiis intorva], Peter was o»n6n»ed in thersBSohition
of intirodufiing the liberal acts into his country.
286 HIBTOBT 07 BtTBSIA* [CH. XX.
His father Alexis had been at great expense in sending
for Bothler, a shipbuilder and sea captain, from Holland,
with a number of carpenters and seamen. These people
built a lar&;e fingate ana a yacht upon the Volga, with which
they fell down that river to Astrakhan: they were to be
employed in constructing more vessels, in order to carry on
an advantageous trade with Persia, by means of the Caspian
Sea. Then happened the revolt of Stenka Badzin, who
destroyed the two vessels, which he ought to have preserved
for his own sake, and murdered the captain : the remaind^
of the ship's crew fled into Persia, and reached some of the
settlements belonging to the East India Company. A
master carpenter, who was a very good shipwright, stayed
behind in Kussia, where he lived a long time in obscurity.
As Peter was one day walking in the court at Ismaelof^ a
summer palace built by his grandfather, he perceived, among
other rarities, an old English shallop, almost fallen to pieces.
Upon this he asked Timmerman, his mathematical teacher,
and a native of Germany, how that little boat came to be of
a different construction from those which he had seen upon
the Moskva ? Timmerman answered, that it was made to go
^with sails, or with oars. The young prince immediately
wanted to make a trial of it ; but they were obliged to Iook
out for a person who could repair and fit it for service ; and,
after a long search, they found this very shipwright Brant,
who was living in Moscow. The Dutchman put the boat in
order, and sailed with it on the river Tauza, which washes
the suburbs of the town.
Peter caused this boat to be removed to a great lake in
the neighbourhood of the monastery of the Trinity, where he
made the Dutchman build two frigates and three yachts, and
piloted them himself. A long time after (in 1694), he
took a journey to Archangel, where he ordered this same
Dutchman to build him a small vessel, in which he embarked
on the frozen ocean, that had never been beheld by any-
sovereign before him. On this occasion he vras escorted by
a Dutch man-of-war, under the command of captain Jolson,
and attended by all the merchant vessels in the harbour of
Archangel. He had already learnt the manner of working a
ship; and, notwithstanding the eagerness of courtiers in
general to imitate the example of their sovereigns, he was
4.1). 1694] TOTTTH OF MTEB I. 237
the only person that learned this art. Among the many
proofs which Peter gave of his indomitable strength of wrll,
this was not the least remarkable : that although he had such
a dread of water from his infancy as to be seized with a cold
sweat and with convulsions even in being obliged to pass
over a brook,* he became the best mariner in aU the north.
He began to conquer nature by jumping into the water ; and
his aversion was ever after changed into a prodigious fond-
ness for that element.
To raise a body of land forces, well disciplined, and fond of
the service, was as difficult an undertaking as to establish a
navy. His first essay in navigation upon the above-men-
tioned lake, before his journey to Archangel, had been
looked upon as the amusement of a young prince of genius ;
and his first attempt to form a body of disciplined troops
had likewise the appearance of being only a scheme of
diversion. Sophia and her Strelitz meanwhile smiled at these
warlike sports. In this series of efforts always directed
towards the same point, she did not perceive the essays of a
nascent genius. In the fifty boys formed into what was
called a plectsure company^ she saw not the nucleus of those
regular corps which were soon to aid in hurling her from the
throne, and destroying her satellites.
Le Fort, in whom he placed his whole confidence, did not
understand much of the military service, neither was he
a man of literature, having applied himself deeply to no
one particular art or science; but he had seen a great
deal, and was capable of forming a right judgment of
what he saw. Like the czar, he was indebted for every-
thing to his own genius : besides, he understood the German
and Dutch languages, which Peter was learning at that
time, in hopes that both those nations would facilitate
his designs. Finding himself agreeable to Peter, Le Fort
attached himself to that prince's service: by adminis-
* The cause of this aversion is thus mentioned by Strahlemberg.
When he was about five years of age, his mother went with him in a
eoach, in the spring season; and passing, as he lay in his mother's lap
asleep, over a dam where there was a water-fall, he was so frightened
by the rushing of the water, that it brought a fever upon him, and,
after his recovery, he retained such a dread of that dement that he
could not bear to see any standing water, much less to hear a running
stream.
288 HinxmT ov bitsbia. [oh. xs.
ixtnne to his pleaBures he became Ids firronrite^ and con-
firmed this intimacy by his abilities. The czar entrusted
him with the most dangerous design a Bussian soverdlgn
could then posnblj form — ^tiiat of abolishing* the seditions
and barbarous body of the Strelitz. The attempt to reform
the janissaries had cost the great sultan Osman his life:
Peter, young as he was, went to work in a much abler
manner than Osman. He began with forming, at his
country residence of Preobrajen, a company of fifty of
his youngest domestics; and some of the sons of boyars
were chosen for their ofBicerB. i^ut in order to teach
those young boyars a subordination with which they were
wholly unacquainted, he made them pass through all i^e
militioy degrees, setting them an example himself, and
serving suooessiyely as private soldi^, sergeant, and Heutso
nant of the company.
This company, which had been raised by Pet^ only, soon
increased in numbers, and was afterwards the regiment of
Preobrajenski guards. Another company, formed on the
same plan, became in time the regiment of guards known by
tiie name of Semenofski.
The czar had now a regiment of five thousand men on
foot, on whom he could depend ; trained by general Gordon,
a Scotchman, and composed almost entirely of foreigners.
Le Fort, who had seen very little service, y^t was qualified
for any commission, undertook to raise a regiment of twelve
thousand men, and efiected his design. Mve colonels were
appointed to serve under him ; and suddenly he was made
general of this little army, which had been raised as much to
oppose the Strelitz as the enemies of the state.
rater was desirous of seeing one of those mock fights
which had been lately introduced in times of peace. He
caused a fort to be erected, which one part of his new troops
were to defend, and the other to attack. The difference on
this occasion was, that instead of exhibiting a sham engage-
ment, they fought a downright battle, in which there were
several solders killed, and a great many wounded. Le Fort,
who commanded the attack, received a considerable wound.
These bloody sports were intended to inure the troops to
martial discipline ; but it was a long time before this could
be efiected, and not without a great deal of labour and
▲.£. 1694] OBSAIXON OS" A JTAVT. 289
difficulty^. Amidst tljuese militaiy enteztainments^ tlie c^ar
did Bot neglect tibe navy :- and as he had made Le Port
a ganenal, natwithstanding this &yoiirite had never bame
any oommiflsion by land, so he raised him to the rank
of admiral^ though he had never before commanded at sea;
Eat he. knew him tol)e worthy of both commissioDS. T^nie
it is, he was an admiral without a fleet, and a general wifiiont
any otheff iaroops than his regiment.
Mj degrees the czar began to reform the chief abuse in
the.anmy, viz., the. independence of the boyars, who, in time
of wan, used to take the; field with a multitude of their
vassals, and. peasants. Such was the goveimment of the
Erank^ Huns, (Q:oths, and Yandals, who, indeed, subdued
the Boman empire ia its state of decUne, but would have
been easily destroyed had they contended with the warlike
legions of the ancientSomans, or with such armies as in our
times aiae maintained in constant discipline, all over Europe.
Admiral Le Fort had soon more than an empty title : he
employed both Dutch and Venetian car^^ters to build some
long-boats, and even two thirty-gan ships^ at the mouth of
the Yoroneje, which discharges itself into t!he Bon. These
vessels were to &U down the river, and to awe the Grim
Tatars. Turkey, too,, seemed to invite the. czar to. essay his
arms against her;, and the same time dif^utes weise pending
with China respecting the limits between that empire and
the possesfflLons of Eussia in the north of Asia. These,
however, were settled by a tneaty concluded in 1792, and
Peter was left fiee to pursue his designa of conquest on the
European side^of his dominions.
It was not so ea&y to settle a peace with the Turks ; this
even seemed a proper time for the czar to raise himself on
their ruin. The Venetians j. whom they had long over-
powered, began to retrieve their losses^ Morosini, the same
who surrendered Candia to the Turks,, was dispossessing
thiffln of the Morea. Leopold, emperor of Germany, had
gained some advantages over the Ottoman forces in Hun-
gary ; and i^ePoles were at leai^ able to. repel the incursions
of the Crim Tatara.
Fetei^ improved thefse circumataneea to discipline his
troop8> and to acquire^ if possible, the empire of the Black
ScA. General. Giordon marched along the. Den towards
240 HISTOBT or VUMUL^ [CH. XX.
Asof, with his numerous resimeut of five thousand men ; he
was followed by general lie Fort, with his regiment of
twelve thousand; 07 a body of Strelitz, under the oom-
mand of Sheremetef and Schein, officers of Prussian extrao*
tion ; by a body of Cossacks, and a lai^e train of artillery.
Li short, everything was ready for this grand expedition
(1694).
The Bttssian army began its march under the command of
marshal Sheremetei^ in the beginning of the summer of 1695,
in order to attack the town of Asof, situated at the mouth
of the Don. The czar was with the troops, but appeared
only as a volunteer, being desirous to learn before he would
take upon him to command. During their mardi they
stormed two forts which the Turks had erected on the banks
of the river.
This was an arduous enterprise, Asof being very strong,
and defended by a numerous garrison. The czar had em*
ployed several Venetians in building long-boats like the
Turkish saicks, whicTi, together with two Dutch frigates,
were to fall down the Voroneje; but not being ready in
time, they could not get into the sea of Asof. All beginnings
are difficult. The Russians having never as yet made a
regular siege, miscarried in this their first attempt.
A native of Dantzic, whose name was Jacob, had the
direction of the artillery under the command of general
Schein ; for as yet.they had none but foreign officers belong-
ing to the train, and indeed none but foreign engineers, and
foreign pilots. This Jacob had been condemned to the
rods by Schein, the Prussian general. It seemed as if these
severities were necessary at that time in support of authority.
The Bussians submitted to such treatment, notwithstanding
their disposition to mutiny ; and after they had undergone
that corporal punishment, they continued in the service as
usual. Our Dantziker was of another way of thinking, and
determined to be revenged: whereupon he spiked the
cannon, deserted to the enemy, turned Mahometan, and
defended the town with great success. The besiegers made
a vain attempt to storm it, and after losing a great number
of men, were obliged to raise the siege. •
Perseverance in his imdertakings was the characteristic of
Peter the Qreat. In the spring of 1696 he marched a second
AJI. 1696] WAB IS THE OBIMEA. 24!X
time to attack the town of Asof with a more considerable
army. About this time died the czar Ivan. Though Peter
never felt any diminution of his authority from his brother,
who had only the name of czar, yet he had been under some
restraint in regard to appearances. The expenses of Ivan's
household were applied, upon that prince's demise, to the
maintenance of the army ; a very considerable relief to a
government that had as yet by no means a large revenue.
Peter wrote to the emperor Leopold, the States-General,
and the elector of Brandenburg, in order to obtain engi-
neers, gunners, and seamen. He likewise took some Cal-
mucks into his pay, whose light horse were of very great
service against the Crim Tatars.
The most agreeable part of the czar's success was that of
> his little fleet, which he had the pleasure to see (
equipped, and properly commanded. It beat the
saicks that had been sent from Constantinople^
some of them. The siege was carried onisfijftfiough
not entirely after our manner. Thesnes were three
times deeper than ours, and the par^ere as high as
ramparts. At length, the garrison suited, the 28th of
July, N.S. (1696), without obtaining u the honours of
war ; they were likewise obliged to (J up the traitor
Jacob to the besiegers. !
The czar immediately began to impfhe fortifications
of Asof: he likewise ordered a harbo^e dug, capable
of holding large vessels, with a de(o make himself
master of the straits of Caffa, which ^e passage into
the Black Sea. He left two-and-thirtpd saicks before
Asof, * and made all the preparations |ng out a strong
fleet against the Turks, which was to j; of nine sixty-
gun ships, and of one-and-forty carry^n thirty to fifty
pieces of cannon. The principal nobiH the wealthiest
merchants were obliged to contributhe fitting out
of this fleet ; and, as he thought t| estates of the
dergy ought to bear a proportion j service of the
common .cause, orders were issued the patriarch,
the bishops, and the superior clergy I find money to
forward this new expedition, in honoiieir country, and
for the general advantage of Chri^. He likewise
♦ Le Fort*8 Memoi
VOL. I. B
M2 JUBTOBr OF mxssiiL. IJCOL aoL
oUioed-the Ooaiacks to build a number of light boats, swsh
as thej lEse themgelres, and with whidi they mi^t eaofy
infaat the whole coast of the Crimea. The sdieme wbs to
didve the Tatava and Turks for ever out of the Onmeih
and atfterwittds to establish a free and easy oomnieroe wi&
Benria, through Georgia. This is the very branch of trade
which the Gi^eeks formerly carried on to Colchis, imd to
tluB peninsula of the Crimea, which the czar seemed likeAy
to subdue.
Before Peter feft the Crimea he repudiated his wife
Srdokhia, and ordered her to be sent to a coaxvont, wheie,
before his return to Moscow, she became a nun, under the
name of Helena. She had long made herself distasteful to
her husband by her querulous jealousy, for which, indeed,
she had ample cause, and by her aversion to bis foreign
favourites and the arts they introduced.
-^ fter his successful campaign against the Turks and
Tatars, ^Vq^^ wished to accustom his people to splendid
shows, as well "y** \)j military toil. With this view, he made
his army ente/' l^oscow under triumphal arches, in t^®
midst of firewoi^ks bnd other tokens of rejoicing. The soldiers
who had foughU on board the Venetian saicks against the
Turks le4 the ;^ procession. Marshal Sheremetef, generate
Gordon and Sc^hein, admiral Le Fort, and the other generd
officers, took p^recedence of their sovereign, who pretended
he had no ranK in the army, being desirous to convince the
nobility by his Example that merit ought to be the only road
to militaiy preferment.
lEhis triumphal entry seemed, in some measure, to resemble
those of the ancient Eomans, especially in iMs, that as the
triumphers exp>8ed the captives to public view in the streets
of B»ome, and sometimes put them to death, so the slaves
taken in this expedition followed the army; and Jacob,
who had betr^ed them the year before, was carried in *
cart, with thegibbet, to which he was fastened after he
liad been brokn upon the wheel.
Upon this Jcasion was struck the fest medal -in Bnssift.
The legend, "v^ich was in the language of that country, ^
vemwik&hle '^eteir the First, the cm^wt emperor ofMnaoowf*
On the reveras Asof, with these words, Victorious hyfi^
and water.
JI3. 1697] PSTEK^S aCHEHXS 07 OOHQU£ST. 2IB
CHAPTEE XXL
J?9TBB'B SGHSMIS of OOKQUSST — GOKSPIBAGT TO HTJBDSB
HIM — HE TBA^YELS TO ACQUIBS KETOWXEDGB — ^BBBELLIOIT
AKD EXTINOTIOK OF THE STBELXIZ — PETEB THE AUTHQB
OP A. SPXTBIOIIB arraiBATioN.
The paramoimt idea of Peter's whole life displajred itself
in the siege of Asof, his first military enterprise. He
wished to civilise his people by beginning with the art of
war by sea and land. That art would open the way for all
the others into Eussia, and protect them there. By it the
czar was to conquer for his empire that element which, in his
eyes, was the greatest civiliser of the world, because it is
the most fiivourable to the intercourse of nations with each
other.
But ignorant and savage Asia lay stretched along the
Black Sea, between Bussia and the south of Europe. It
was not, therefore, through those waters that Peter could
open himself a passage to European knowledge. But to-
wards the north-west, another sea, the same whence, in th^
ninth century, came the first Bussian founders of the
empire, was within his reach. It alone could connect
Muscovy with ancient Europe ; it was especially through
that inlet, and by the ports on the gulfs of Finland and of
[Riga, that Eussia could aspire to civilisation. Those ports
belonged, however, to a warlike land, thickly studded with
'Strong fortresses. It mattered not ; everything was to be
.tried to attain so important an object.
Peter, however, did not deem it proper to begin such
an arduous enterprise until he should have made himself
better acquainted with the nations which he wished to con-
ciliate, or to conquer, and which were recommended to him
afl models. He was desirous, with his own eyes, to behold
•civilisation in what he supposed to be its mature state, and
to improve himself in the details of government, in the
knowledge of naval affairs, and of the several arts which he
wished to introduce among his countrymen. Perhaps he
b2
S44 HISTOBT ov Brssu. [CH. ZZI.
would have acted more wisely in remainiiig at home, and
developing the native genius of his people, instead of forcmg
them to become mere plagiarists of foreign institutions and
usages ; and instead of making his Bussians resemble their
neighbours, he should have tried to make them like them-
selves alone, and superior to every other people. The arts
and sciences would then have sprung up among them
spontaneously, or have found their waj^ to them from
abroad, and become naturalised in Eussia, whereas they
remain exotics thefe to this day. • He departed, however ;
and thereby he, at least, broke down the barrier which
despotism and superstition had raised between the Eussians
and Europe, and which rendered war their only connecting
link.
But he was not allowed to depart in peace. The an-
nouncement of his intention was received with deep disgust
by his bigoted subjects. The Strelitz in particular, who saw
tnemselves supplanted by the regiments disciplined in the
European manner, were actively hostile. The childhood
and youth of Peter had several times escaped from their
rage; and now, in the horror which was inspired by his
approaching departure for profane Europe, they determined
to sacrifice the impious czar who was ready to defile himself
by the sacrilegious touch of foreigners whom they abhorred.
They saw in the midst of them twelve thousand heretics,
already organised, who would remain masters of their holy
city ; while they themselves, exiled to the army, were
destined to fight at a distance on the frontier. Nor was
this their only grievance; for Peter had given orders to
construct a fleet of a hundred vessels ; and of this sudden
creation they complained, as being an insupportable tax in
the midst of an already ruinous war, and as rendering it
♦ "Pierre I," says Condillac, **aurait pu observer dans ITiistoipe
les avantages et les vices des differens gouvernemens, et c'est ain»i qu'il
pouvait chercher ^ s'instruire. Les nations de I'Europe, mal gouvern^es
et corroQipues, ne pouvaient que lejeter dans I'erreur. Leur politesse
et leurs arts n*etaient pas ce qu'il fallait aux Busses. S'il y eut en
quelque part un pays bien gouverne, je conviens qu'il eut 6te plus court
de r^tudier. Le czar eut done bien fait d'y aller, et les autres princes
de TEurope auraient du y voyager a son exemple."— Cours cfetudc, torn,
xiv., p. 488.
A.1). 1697] cosrsFiSAOY to mubdeb peteb. 245
Biecessary to iniroduce into tbeir sacred land a fresli supply
of those sclusmatical artisans who were preferred to them.
A few days before the departure of their sovereign, Tsikler
and Sukanim, two of the Strelitz leaders, plotted a nocturnal
conflagration. They knew that Peter would be the first ^to
hasten to it ; and in the midst of the tumult and confusion
common to such accidents, they meant to murder him
without mercy, and then to massacre all the foreigners who
had been set over them as masters.
Such was the infamous scheme. The* hour fixed for its
accomplishment was at hand. The principal conspirators
assembled at a banquet, and sought in intoxicating Hquors
the courage ♦equisite for the dreadful work before them.
But drunkenness produces various effects on different con-
stitutions. Two of the villains lost in it their boldness, left
the company under a specious pretext, promising their
accomplices to return in time, and hurried to the czar to
disclose the plot.
At midnight the blow was to have been struck; and
Peter gave orders that, exactly at eleven, the haunt of the
conspirators should be closely surrounded. Shortly after,
thinking that the hour was come, he went thither alone, and
entered boldly, not doubting ^at he should find them
already fettered by his guards. But his impatience had
anticipated the time, and he found himself, single and
unarmed, in the midst of the ferocious gang at the instant
when they were vociferating an oath that they would achieve
his destruction.
At his imexpected appearance they all rose in confusion.
Peter, at once comprehending the fuU extent of his danger,
exasperated at the supposed disobedience of his guards, and
furious at having thrown himself into peril, had yet the
presence of mind to conceal his emotions. Having gone too
iiMP to recede, he unhesitatingly advanced among the throng
of traitors, greeted them familiarly, and, in a calm and
natural tone, said, that " as he was passing by their house he
saw a light in it, and guessing that they were amusing
themselves, he had entered in order to share their pleasures."
He then seated himself, and drank to his assassins, who,
standing up around him, could not avoid putting the glasa
about, and drinking his heiedth.
M6 KIBSOBT OV BUHBU.* [OH. XJBU
Bat ERxm they begaa to exebange lobfai and signB. At:
last one of Idiem leaned over to fihi£aiim, and nid, in alow:
voice, ''Brother, it is time!" The Iftttee, for what reason, ia.
wi^own, hesitated,, md had scaroely rraptied, ^ Not jet,'^
wh^n Peter, who heard these words, ana along with theoc
tiie fbotsteps of his guards, stacted from his seat, knodcedl
him down hj a hlow m the fiice, and exckumed, " If it is mtlh
yet time for you, scoundrel, it is for me!** This blow, and
the sight of the guards, threw the assassins into constema*-
tion; they fell on their knees and implored forgiveness.
'* Chain them !'* replied the terrible czar. Then turning to*
the officer of the guards, he struck him, and reproached him
with his want of punctuality ; but the latter slewed him his
order ; and the czar perceiving hi^ mistake, claaped him in:
his arms, kissed him on the forehead, proclaimed nis fidelity^,
and entrosted him with the custody of the traitors.
His^ vengeance was terrible ; the punishment was more
ferocious than the crime. First the rack, then the sucoessivG;
mutilation of each member: then death, when not enough
of blood and life was left to allsrw of the sense of suffering;
To dose the whole, the heads were exposed on the summit
of a column, the members being symmetrically arranged
around them, as ornaments : a scene worthy of a government
of masters and of slaves, brutifying each other, and whose
only god was fbar.
After tihds terrific execution, Peter began his ioumev in.
April, 1097, travelling irveognito in the retinue of his Imree
ambassadors, general Le Fort, the boyar Alexis Golovin,.
and Yonitsin, diak, or secretary of state, who had been long
employed in foreign courts. Their retinue consisted of two
hundred persons : the czar, reserving to himself only a valot
de chambre, a servant in livery, and a dwarf, was confounded
in the crowd. It was a iMng unparalleled in history, ei&er
ancient or modem, for a sovereisn of five-and-twenfy years
of age te withdraw &om his kingdoms, only in order to learn
the art of gov^mment. His victory over the Turks and
Tatars, the c^lendour of his triumphant entry into Moscow,
the multitude of foreign troops attached to ms interest, the
death of his brother Ivan, the confinement of the princess
Sophia to a doister, and the fear&l example he had jxnst:
made of the conspirators, might naturally encourage him to
jMK. 1607] PETEB TBAYSLft TO AOQinSB XFOWIiEDaX. 2MB
hope that tlie tranqiullity of his dominions would not ladis*
tuibed during bis absence. The regencnr he eniirusted to the
boyar Stiecknef and prince Eomadonovski, who in matters' of
inmorfcanoe were to consult with the rest of the nobility.
The troops which had been trained by general Gkxrdem
continued at Moscow, with a view to awe the cnDital. The
disaffected Strelit;z, who were likely to create a custurbanoe^
were distributed on the frontiers of the Crimea, in order to
preserve the conquest of Asof, and check the incursions of
the Tatars. Buying thus provided against every contin*
fleney, he gave a free scope to his passion of travelling, and
his d&aie g£ improvement. He had previously sent threes
score young Bussians of Le Eort's regiment into Italy, most
of them to Venice, and the rest to Leghorn, in order to
learn the art of navigation, and the method of constructing
galleys : forty more set out by his direction for HoUim^
to be instructed in the art of building and working large
ships : others, were ordered to Q^ermany, to serve m the
land forces, and to learn the military discipline of that
nation.
At that period, Mustapha ll. had been vanquished by the
emperor Leopold; Sobieski was dead; and Poland was
hesitating in its choice between the prince of Gonti and
Augustus of Saxony ; William III. reigned over England;
Louis XIV. was on thfe point of concluding the treaty of
Byswick; the elector of Brandenburg was aspiring to the
title of kmg ; and Charles XU. had ascended the throne.
Setting out &om !N'ovgorod, Peter first visdted Livoni%
where, at the risk of his liberty, he reconnoitred its ci^tal,
Siga, fipom which he was rudely repulsed by the Swedi^
governor. Thenceforth he could not rest till he had acquired
that maritime province through which his empire was one
day to be enriched and enlightened. In his progress he
^ined the friendship of Prussia, a power which, at a. future
time, might assist his efforts ; Poland ought to be his ally^
and already he declared himself the supporter of the Saxon
prince who was about to rule it.
The czar had reached Amsterdam fifteen days before the
ambassadors : he lodged at first in a house belonging to tlss
East India Company, but chose afterwards a small apad^
ment in the yards of the Admiralty., ^e disguised himself
2^8 HI8T0BT Ot BirSSIA. [OH. XZX»
m a Datch skipper's habit, and went to the great ship-
building village of Sardam. Peter admired the multitude of
workmen constantly employed; the order and exactness
observed in their sevend departments; the prodigious
despatch with which they built and fitted out ships ; and the
vast ^uantitv of stores and machines for the greater ease and
security of labour. He began with purchasing a boat, and
made a mast for it himself: b^ degrees he executed every
part of the construction of a ship, and led the same life au
the time as the carpenters of Saraam ; clad and fed exactly
like them ; working hard at the forges, at the rope-yards,
and at the several mills for sawing timber, extracting oil,
manufacturing paper, and wiredrawing. He entered himself
as a common carpenter, and was enroUed in the list of work-
men by the name of Peter Michaelof . They commonly called
him Master Peter, or Peter-bas; and though they were
confounded at first to behold a sovereign as their companion,
yet they gradually accustomed themselves to the sight.
Whilst Peter was handling the compass and axe at
Sardam, he received intelligence of the division in Poland,
and of the double nomination of the elector Augustus and
the prince of Oonti. Immediately the carpenter of Sardam
promised kin? Augustus to assist him with thirty thousand
men. From his shop he issued out orders to his army in the
Ukraine, which had been assembled against the Turks.
His troops obtained a victory over the Tatars,* in the
neighbourhood of Asof ; and in a few months after became
masters of the town of Orkapi, or Precop. Por his part
he persisted in making himself master of different arts.
With this view he frequently went from Sardam to Am*
sterdam, in order to hear the anatomical lectures of the
eelebrated Euisch. Under this master he made »]oh
progress as to be able to perform some surgical opem-
tions, which, in case of necessity, might be of use, both
to himself and to his officers. He likewise studied natural
philosophy, imder Vitsen, celebrated for his patriotic virtue,
and for the noble use he made of his immense fortune*
Peter-bas suspended these occupations only to pay a
private visit at Utrecht and at the Hague to WilUam
the Third, king of England, and stadtholder of the United
* 1697, August the llth.
AJ>, 1697] pbtbb's occitpatioks ts hollakb. 249
ProviBtces. Gfeneral Le Fort was the only person present
at the interview of the two monarchs. reter assisted
next at the ceremony of the public entry of his ambassadors,
and at their audience, when the deputies of the States were
presented, in his name, with six hundred of the finest sables :
the States, in return, besides the usual present of a gold
chain and a medal to each, gave them three magnificent
coaches. They received the first visit of all the plenipoten-
tiaries assembled at the congress of Eyswick, except the
iVench, to whom they had not notified their arrival, not only
because the czar espoused the part of king Augustus against
the prince of Oonti, but because king "William, whose friend-
ship he cultivated, was averse to a peace vdth France.
tlpon his return to Amsterdam he resumed his former
occupations ; and having finished with his own hands a sixty-
gun ship, which he had begun himself, he sent it to Arch-
angel ; for the Eussians had then no harbour in the Baltic.
He not only engaged IVench refugees, Swiss, and G-er-
mans, to enter into his service ; but took care to send all
sorts of artists to Moscow ; not vrithout previously seeing a
specimen of their abilities. There are few arts and manual
employments with which he was not well acquainted : he
took a particular pleasure in rectifying the maps of geogra-
phers, who having at that time but a slender knowledge of
his dominions, frequently fixed the situation of tovms and the
course of rivers^erely at a venture. He himself drew a
plan of the communication between the Caspian and Black
Seas, which he had projected some time before, and com-
missioned M. Brekel, a G-erman engineer, to carry it into
execution ; this plan is still preserved. The junction of
those two seas was indeed a less arduous task than that of
the ocean and the Mediterranean, which had been executed
in 'Fk*ance ; yet people were frightened at the very idea of
joining the sea of Asof and the Caspian. There seemed to
be a stronger reason for the czar to make new settlements
in that part of the world, as fresh hopes arose from his
successes. His troops, commanded by general Schein
and prince Dolgoruki, had lately obtained a victory in the
neighbourhood of Asof, over the Tatars, and even over a
body of janissaries, whom sultan Mnstapha sent to their
assistance.
2S0 EiBTosT oirinrssiA. [os.zzl
ISxaa he cantmued bk uaual employ^mente of ship-faiiilda^
ensiiieer, geographer, and natiu^ philoeopber tiU the
middle of Jannaij, 169B, when, he embarked lor En^aDdin
hift ambaasadora' retinue.
King William aeot hia yacht to me^ bim, with a convej
of two men-of-war.. In England he followed ik& aame nunmar
of li& aa that which be had obBervad at Amateidam and
Sairdam. Se took lodginga near the dockyard at D^t*
ford ; and almost hia whole time waa employed in gaining
farther instmction. The Dutch, carpenters bad only taught
bim the practical part of ship-buildrng ; but ia England ho
learnt the fundamental principles of the art; H« soon
became master of the theory, and waa capable of giving
lectures upon it himself. He undertook to build a ship ac-
cording to the Engliah method of construction ; and it prored
aprime sailer* His attention was also directed to watchmaking,
an art which had already been brought to perfection in
London, and he made himself thoroughly acquainted with the
principles on which it is founded. Captain Perry, the engines
who attended him from London to [Russia, affirms that there
was not so much as a single article belonging to a ship, from
the casting of cannon to the making of cables, bid; what EetaD
minutely observed, and set his: hand to as ofben. as he camB
into the king's yards.
In order to cultivate his friendship, king William per-
mitted him to take a number of English Atificers into hia
service, as he had done in Holland ; but beside the artificers,
Peter engaged some mathematicians, whom he could not sa
easily have procured from that republic. He contracted for
tins purpose with Mr. Ferguson, a Scotchman, and a. good
geometrician. This was the man who introduced the a^ith*
metical.method of accounts into the exchequer in Bussia^wh^
before that time they used only the Tatar method of reckoning
with balk strung upon a wire; a method which sup*
pbed the place of writing, but was perplexing and inof
pecfect ; because after the calculation, there waa no meana
of proving it, so as to obtain a certainty of there being no mia*
take. The Indian.cyphers, which we now use, wore not intro*
dueed into Europe til the ninth century by the Arabs ; and
the SuBsian ein^nre did not reoeive them till many agea after:
such has been the fate of all the arts, to be slow ia tibei»'
^m. 1A98] FETEB nr est&lahd axtd hollaitd. 2&1
progress vaxmA lihe globe. iFergnsen was aeeonspiuiiAd hj
jHiro yoimg msthema&ciaiiB &om\ Chruat Ghurdi Hoepiti^
and tlii» was* the beginnixig of the marine academj, faunded
aome ttme after by Peter the G-reat. >He observed and eidi*
culated eclipses along with Perguson. Perry the ^atgineez^ .
thon^ greatly dissatisfied wii£ the casar for not having
snfficientiy rewarded him, acknowledges that Peter haa
studied astronomy. He understood the motions of the hea<*
Tenly bodies, and even iftie kws of gravitation^ by whieh they
are directed. This force was already famiHar to a BOYereiga;
of Soissia, when other nations amused themselves with emi^
merical vortices ; and when Gbitileo's ignorant countrymen
were commanded by teachers as ignorant as themselves,, to
believe the earth immovable.
Pefry set out upon his jommey in order to effect the jonev
tion of rivers, and to construct bridges and sbiices. Tha
ezar's plan was to open a communication, by means of caoala,
between the ocean, the Caspian, amd the Black Sea.
We ought not to omit that the English merchants^ headej
by the marqius of Carmarthen, gave him fifteen thousand
pounds for leave to import tobacco in Eussia. This brands
of commerce had been prohibited b;^ the patriarch ; for the
Bussian Church looked upon smoking as an unclean sai
sinful action. Peter, who knew better things, and who,
amon^ his other projects, was meditating a reformation et
the church, introduced the use of this commodity inta
his dondnions, and retained the monopoly of it in his own;
hands.
Before he departed from England, king "William enter<-
tained him with a spectacle worthy of such a guest, that of a
sham sea-fight. Little was it then imagined that the czae
would one day fight real battles on this element ^inst the
Swedes^ and obtain victories on i^e Baltic. William alse
made hxm a present of the B<M/al Transport^ a very beai>
tifal yacht^ which he generally used for his passi^ ovev
to Holland. Peter went on bomrd this vessel, and got back
to Holland in the end of May, 1698; He took with him
l^uree captains of men-o£-war, five-and-twenty [obtains cf
merchant ships, forty lieutenamitB, thirty pilots^ thirty sm^
geons, two himdred and fifty gunners, and upwards ef iOkrea
hundrod actifieeni. Xhis. colony of ingenious men in tbs
252 HI6T0BT 01* B17BSIA. [CH<r XXI.
eeveral arts and professions, sailed from Holland to Arch-
angel on board the Baikal Transport; and were sent thence
to the different places where their service was necessary.
Those whom he engaged at Amsterdam, took the route of
Narra, at that time subject to Sweden.
"While the czar was thus transporting the arts and manu-
factures from England and Holland to his own dominions,
the officers whom he had sent to Bome and Italy succeeded
so far as also to engage some artists in his service. Greneral
Sheremetef, who was at the head of his embassy to Italy,
made the tour of Rome, Naples, Venice, and Malta ; while
the czar proceeded to Vienna with the other ambassadors.
All he had to do now, was to observe the military discipline
of the Germans, after seeing the English fleet, and the dock-
yards in Holland. But it was not the desire of improvement
alone that induced him to make this tour to Vienna: he had
likewise a political view ; for the emperor of Germany was
the natural ally of the Russians against the Turks. Peter
had a private audience of Leopold, and the two monarcbs
stood the whole time of the interview, to avoid the trouble
of ceremony.
During his stay at Vienna, there happened nothing re-
markable, except the celebration of the ancient feast of
landlord and landlady, which Leopold thought proper to
revive upon the czar s account, after it had been disused
during his whole reign. The manner of making this enter-
tainment, to which the Germans gave the name of Wirth-
schaft, was as follows. The emperor was landlord, and the
empress landlady : the king of the Romans, the archdukes,
and the archduchesses, were generally their assistants : they
entertained people of all nations, dressed after the most
ancient fashion of their respective countries. Those who
were invited as guests, drew lots for tickets; on each of
which was written the name of the nation, and the character
to be represented. One had a ticket for a Chinese mandarin,
another for a Tatar mirza, another for a Persian satrap, or a
Roman senator: a princess might happen to be allotted the
part of a gardener's wife, or a milkwoman; and a prince
might act the peasant 6r soldier. They had dances suited
to these different characters ; and the landlord and landlady
with their family waited at table. On this occasion Peter as-
ji3,1698] EEBELLIOITAKDEXTIirCTIOS'OFTHESTBELITZ. 253
mimed the habit of a Friesland boor, and in this<;haracter was
addressed by everybody, at the same time that they talked
to him of the great czar of Muscovy. " These indeed are
trifles,'* says Voltaire, from whom the account is taken,
" but whatever revives the memory of ancient customs, is, in
some measure, worthy of being recorded."
Peter was preparing to continue his journey from Vienna
to Venice and Eome when he was recalled to his own do-
minions by news of a general insurrection of the Strelitz,
who had quitted their posts on the frontiers, and marched on
Moscow. Peter immediately left Vienna in secret, passed
through Poland, where he had an interview with king Au-
gustus, and arrived at Moscow in September, 1698, before
any one there knew of his having left Germany.
Gordon had already crushed the rebels ; had almost extern
minated in battle a body of them, comprising ten thousand
men ; compelled seven thousand more to lay down their arms ;
decimated them on the spot, and carried the rest prisoners to
Moscow. But even this rigorous vindication of military dis-
cipline was not enough to satisfy the cruel spirit of the czar.
Just returned from the tour he had undertaken for the pur-
pose of importing among his barbarous people the enlighten-
ment and civilisation of the west, he exhibited to them a
spectacle paralleled only by the deeds of the monster Ivan
IV., for whom, indeed, Peter always avowed his special
admiration. There were seven thousand Strelitz prisoners
in Moscow, all of whom he caused to be executed after six
weeks spent in personally examining them, day by day,
under torture inflicted before his eyes with every refinement
of diabolical cruelty. Two thousand were hanged by his
guards ; the rest were beheaded, kneeling in rows of fifty,
before trunks of trees laid on the ground. This part of the
execution was begun by the czar himself, who struck off
some scores of heads with his own hand. All the nobles of
his court, the foreigners Blumberg and Le Fort alone ex-
cepted, were compelled to follow his example ; and Mentchi-
kof made a boast of surpassing all his brother-executioners
in amount of work and style of performance.
Several hundreds of the corpses were gibbeted at the gates
of the city and along the walls ; the rest were left unburied
where they had fallen ; and as the execution took place in
264 HISTQBT or BDBaiUL. [os.iBa.
October, at tbe aetiSng in of ibe frost, the people ef Mosconr
liad ibr five whde months befioce thebr eyes tbe hoini opeof
tecle o£ 8076B thousand oorpieB nroflernng the appeamioe q£
raeent violent deaith. Thirty gibt)et8, susfoiming two hundred
bodies, irere pbnzted before tiie conyent in which the osar's
sister, Sophia, was confined. The Strelitz had deputed three
of their number to present an address to the princess, in-
viting her to assume the crown. The three were gibbeted
before the single grated window that lighted the ceU in
which the princess was immured, and the fatal paper was
held out to her bj the stiffianed arm of one of the dead men.
She could not turn her eyes to the light without beholding
the bodies of the wretches who had perished for her sake.
Among the czar's victims on this occasion were two ser-
vant women belonging to Sophia and her sister Macfa, who
was confined wii^ her in the same convent. The two women
were tortured, and put to death. Their execution was not
public, and it is not certain whether they were buried alive
or drowned. One of them was known to be pregnant, but
this did not save her either from torture or death.
The widows and children of the Strelitz were transported
to wild and desert places, where a limited extent of ground
was assigned them ; out of which they and their descendants
were never to pass. About three thousand men had escaped
from the massacre inflicted by Gordon on the first bod^ of
StreHtz whom he had encountered. The fu^tives having
dispersed in different directions, it was forbidden, on pain
of death, that any one throu^out the whole Hussian empire
should harbour one of them, or give him so much as a crop
of water.
The natural consequences of these inhuman acts were siazu-
fested next year; fresh insurrections broke out in distant
parts of the empire, followed by fresh executions. A niimb^
of rebels were Drought in chams from Asof to Moscow, ana
eighty of them were beheaded by the czar with his om
himd, whilst the boyar Plestchef held them by the hair. It
is probabljr to this period we may refer an anecdote relakea
by M. Frintz, ambassador from Prussia at the court oi
Peter I. At an entertainment to which M. Printz was
invited by the czar, the latter, after he had drunk as ustmI
a great deal of wine and brandy, bad twenty rebels bMWg»*
!;]». 1608] spmtxoirs crmoBA^mi^. 26S
jn froinifae piimma. Tben drinking twenty sBfleeBfiiice bum-
psDB witbin mi hour, be struck off a bead with eaoh, and
actiudly proposed to the annbamador that be should tiy bis
sMil in the same way !
What kind ef civiliBation could that be which was inffi:t-
gnrated under such auspices as these, and by so brutal a
ireformerF Truly did Peter once observe, that "he wished
to reform others, yet was unable to reform himiself." In &ct,
he laboured all his life long under a total misooneeption ot
the very nature of civilisation; and while making prodigious
effi^vts to secure its results, he was equally energetic in com-
botmg its essential principles. " H^ showed lumself," says
Sdhniitzler, " in one particular a true Eussian. He attached
mor^' importance to interests than to principles. Whilst all
mafterial progress excited his sympathy to the highest degree,
l^e idea of elevating and purifying the moral character of his
country, and of contributing to her social and religious per-
fection, hardly entered into his thoughts. He saw in civili-
sation Tsther an element of might than a means of increasing
the dignity of human nature. The moral culture of his
people. was overlooked by him; but when their material
interests were concerned, nothing escaped his attention and
his indefatigable activity.'-' The result is well summed up
in Diderot's homely phrase : the Eussians, as fashioned by
Peter, "were rotten before they were ripe."
Having suppressed the entnre corps of the Strelitz, Peter
established regular regiments, clothed and disciplined in the
European manner. As he had passed through the lowest
degrees in the army himself, he ordered that the sons of his
boyars and princes should serve in the capacity of common
soldiers before they became officers. Some of the youn^
nobility he sent on board his fleet at Yoroneje and Asoi^
where he obliged them to serve their apprenticeship in the
nttvy. None durst refuse to obey a master who had deigned
to set so extraordinary an example. The EngUsh and Dutch
helped to equip this fleet for sea, to construct sluices, to
establish dodks fi^r careening his ships, and to resume the
grand work of joining the Don and the Volga, which had
been dropped by Br^el the €terman. Prom that time he
set about a multitude of reforms in civil and ecclesiastical
affaurs, and in the usages of society.
256 HI0TOBT OF BV88XA.. [OH. XZI,.
The revenue had been hitherto administered nearly^ in tbo^
same manner as in Turkey. Every boyar paid a stipiilated
snm for his lands, and raised it upon his dependents or.
bondsmen. But the czar appointed for his receivers select
merchants who were not powerful enough to claim the pri-
vilege of paying into the public treasury only just what they^
pleased. He established a Senate in lieu of the old Council
of Boyars, and suppressed the titles of boyars, okolnitchi,
and dumnie-diaki, substituting for them those of presidents^
counsellors, and senators.
The reformation of the church, which in all other coon-
tries is looked upon as a dangerous attempt, proved an easy
task to Peter. The bishops had arrogated to themselves the
power of condemning people to death, and to other corporal
punishments. This authority, notwithstanding that it had
been usurped for several ages, was taken from them. The
patriarch Adrian happenuig to die at the end of this century,
reter abstained from giving him a successor. At last, ia 1721,
this dignity was entirely abolished ; and the great income of
the patriarchal see was united to the public revenue, which
stood in need of this addition. If the czar did not set him^
self up for head of the Eussian Church, he made himself
absolute master of the clergy, for the functions of the patri-
archate were transferred to a synod, the members of which
were to begin their ministry by taking an oath of submission
and obedience, couched in the following terms : " I swear fide-
lity and allegiance as servant and subject to my natural and true
sovereign, and to his august successors, whom he shall please
to'nominate, by virtue of the incontestable power for that pur*,
pose, of which he is possessed. I acknowledge him to be the.
supreme judge of this spiritual college : I swear by the aU-
seeing G-od that I understand and mean this oath, in the .
full force and sense which the words convey to those, who.
read, or hear it." This is much stronger than the oafch,
of supremacy in England. The Eussian monarch was not
indeed one of the fathers of the synod ; but he dictated their
laws : he did not touch the censer ; but he directed the hands
that held it.
"While he was waiting for the completion of this great
work, he thought that as his dominions were but ill peopled,
A.B. 1700] BETOBMS EFFECTED BT PETEB. 257
the celibacy of the monks was contrary to nature, and to the
pnbHc good. The ancient usage of the church of Eusaia is,
that the secular priests shall marry at least once ; nay, they
• are obliged to do it : and formerly, when the priest lost his
wife, he ceased to be in the sacerdotal order. But a multi-
tude of cloistered young men and women, who made a vow
to be useless to the public, and to live at other people's
expense, appeared in his eye a dangerous institution. He
reduced the number of convents, and ordained that none
should be admitted to a monastic life till they were 'fifty
5^ears old — an age when all ties are either formed or broken ;
and he further prohibited the monasteries from receiving any
person, of what age soever, invested with a public employ-
ment. This regulation, however, has been repealed since his
time.
These alterations were at first received by the clergy with
freat disgust. A. certain priest declared in writing that
eter was Antichrist, because he would have no patriarch ;
and as the czar encouraged the typographical art, it helped
to spread a multitude of libels against him. But on the
other hand, there started up a priest, who replied that it was
impossible for the czar to be Aiitichrist, because the number
666 was not to be found in his name, and he had not the
sign of the beast. These murmurs were silenced by force of
terror and ridicule. Peter, in reality, gave more to the
church than he took from her ; for by degrees he rendered
the clerffy more regular and more learned. He founded
three coUeges at Moscow, in which the students were in-
structed in different languages, and where the youth de-
signed for the church were obliged to study. ^
One of the most necessary reformations was the abolition,
or at least the mitigation, of the three Lents ; an ancient
superstition of the Greek Church, no less pernicious to the
persons employed in the public service, and especially to the
soldiers, than the old one of not fighting on the Sabbath day
had been to the Jews. Accordingly the czar granted, at
least to his troops and his workmen, a dispensation from
observing these Lents; in which, though the people were
not permitted to eat, yet it was customary for them to get
drunk. He even dispensed with their abstaining from flesh
TOL. I. s
2M HX8T0BT OT JLVUWU^ [OT. XXL
sMt on fish iajB ; aad the ehmpltina^ botb in the toa and
Lueid Berrice^ were obUged to set the eonmide, whiek tiiej 4U
iftthout an J felnctance.
The calendar was an object of impoiiaiice. The refoUiea
of the year was ancieiutlj made in au countriee by the heada
of religion, not only on aoeotmt of the festxvala, but heraaifr
in former times scarce anjr but priests nndarsteod astronaany*
The Eussians began their year the Ist of September ; b4t
Peter erdaizied that thenceforward the yea* should oon-
nienci9, aa in this part of Europe, on tihe 1st of Jaannry.
This alteration took place in the year 1700^ at tiie opeoang
of the century, which he CMrdered to be odebrated by a ja*
bilee,. and by other giand solemnitieB*. The Tulgar admned
how the czar could be able to chaofe the course of tbe simu
Some obstinate people being persuaded that GK>d had created
the world in the month of September, eontinaed to observe
the old style; but the alteration took place in all the pisblie
oftoes^ in the court of chancery, and soon afkr thioi^^Mttt
tbe empire. Fet^ did not introduce the Gregorian ealen*
dar, becanMe it was rejected by the Esgliah mathemyauaana
of his day.
Marriages before that time were performed all^the ooa-
tom of the East, who:^ they do not see tiie bride iiU the
contract is signed, and they camiot fly £eom th^ wmrd.
This custom may be tolerated where polygamy is establiebady
and the women are confined ; but it cannot be auitabJb ta
countries where men are obliged to be satiafied with one
wife, and where divorces aore seldom allowed.
Tbe czar strove to accustcan his aobjeota to the manneni
and usages of the nations among whom he had traiveUed» and
from whom he had received the several masters who were
then employed in instrudong hia peopite^ It waa fit^ ha
thought^ that the Bussians should not be dressed in a dii^
ferent manner &om thc^e who were teadbin^; them the aria
a2id sciences. He found no difficulty in mtroducing the
western mode of dress, and the cuatom of shaving among
his courtiers ; but the bulk of the nation were more abib-
bom, so that he waa obliged to lay a tax on hmg eoata and
beards. Prom thk tax he exempted only the pri^a and the
peasants. Patterns of dethea were hung up at the galiea e£
towns ; and those who refused to pay were obliged to hare
in& groor^ g9ie(i^»" i)aj3 Yoltoii^; hut ^ gsoQtj ^e^aa^oofy
imos^ tbft ooiurti«r9> ther^ was rage un tbe baarto43f ti)b#
|M»ople, ikud theai^ lo^rry d!oing& provoked Uoody insivvnee**
titim> Ti»ej w«p^ noifc evcsok %eedml for tbe end in view ^ HhA
mfk^ of inutaim would bftve produ^Qd th^ d^ired cbftoge^
mia» dowl^r ii^deed^ but quite m effectually, B^eideSy. it w»j
be as]^^ with Levesque^ wiiy force tho SiUswamA to adopt sk
oestiuwe yulMx tliey are ob^ged to hide for sis: months m tlm
j«ar Txikiex a fuirred peUs^e? Why compel theia to sbaTO
tlu»k ciiiiis in order to wrap tbeia afterwards m. a fur eolhw ?
Xa ^ite of tlpA ukaB6# of Fetw I., the low^ Masses still retam
i^eir tueards aiibd their caftaus;, and they are able in conscK
(nt&HQOt tpi br^Te tb^ jao^ost Wktem^ eold witk impunity. Buti
w iflistom of dreiBsi»g soldiersr after the iashiou of teiaperaite
dm^ifaee, coetft BiAsaia a gseafe mwber of m»n iu sove^rei
Amo9g the- zai»ui^ details to which Peter denceiuded ^
tiie. paiurpose of remodeUJxkg the usages of society,, were those
which related to the conviyial meetiugs of peraooa of both
8es^0», ^hieh he oordered to be held after the manner of the
vest) whereas bef(»^ bis time the Bussiau womeuihad Uved
ixk sei^uaioii. Qe {^blisbed a code for the regulation, of
these. asgemiUw;, and in the preamble he espial W to hia
barbarians what was meant by that word in civilised
Europe. He decreed, that the assemblies should be held
three times a week in all houses of the nobility and mer-
chants in rotation; that each should be announced by a
* Accordii% to tlie sutliar ef the M^noihes StereMs ds la cour de
Petersbourg, the irrational practice alluded to in the text dates only
ten Hm reiga of Faiik. " Pr«¥leiisly to thM. time," he saya» «^ the
]bl98ifiQ ivrmy efi^red a pattern^ tft he followed » the heauty, $iiBtlk^y»
and coaTevience oi its dress, ecpiaJHy adapted to the cHmate and to toe
genius of the country. A wide pair of pantaloons of red cloth^ which
terraiQated in hoots of pHahle feather, and which was fastened hy a
giidlei ever a fed and gveen jacket; a tittle hetmet^ welit adapted te-a
aoU99r> with the hftir cnl short en the neeir,. hiil long aieogh to oomr
the ears, asd easily kept va. order, constituted the whole of the military
uniform. Tho soldier was diessed in the twinkli^^ ef 9^1 eye; for h%
had but two earments, and their size was. such es allowed nim to de-
fkmd iikBsdf tfOBi the cold hy additions undernesth without iafiribni^iDg
L tte vuffHtmiity of hit^e^ctenn]! «pi)eaa»nGe.'^
s2
260 HI8T0BT or BVflBIA. [OH. XXlt\
written card ; that every man of distinction, noble, ftnperior
officer, trader, person employed in the chancery, and master-
workman, especially ship carpenters and master shipwrights,^
should be admissitle to them with their wives, and might
enter and depart when they pleased, between four o'elook
and ten at night. The obligation of bowing to the com-
pany on entering and quitting the room was expresslly
enjoined. With respect to the host, it was ruled that, like
his company, he should be at full liberty to come and go,
to be seated, and to drink in the rooms, as soon as he should
have sufficiently provided them with chairs, liquors, and all
the means of amusement. The code even went so far as td
point out the place for the servants. It was further ordained,
that every traisgressor of the rules should be obliged in-
stantly to empty the great eagle, a large bottle full of brandy,
a grotesque punishment, which exists also among the Chinese;
This was not a very likely way to preserve the decencies of
social intercourse ; but these were little regarded by Peter.
He beat Mentchikof in a ball-room for dancing without
having taken off his sword.
"While Peter was thus beginning a new creation in the
interior of his dominions, he concluded an advantageous
truce for thirty years with the Turks, which left him free to
enter upon the fulfilment of his grand designs in the north.
CHAPTER XXII.
WAB WITH SWEDEN — ^BATTLE Or ISTABVA.
With the eighteenth century a momentous scene- wa?
opening on the frontiers of Sweden. One of the principal
causes of all the revolutions which happened from Ingria aar
far as Dresden, and which laid so many countries waste during
the space of eighteen years, was the abuse of the supreme
power, under Charles XI., king of Sweden, father of Chari.es
All. The greatest part of Livonia, with all Esthonia, had
been ceded by Poland to Charles XI., kiug of Sweden, who
succeeded Charles X. during the treaty of Oliva : it was ceded
in the customary manner, reserving to the inhabitants the
Jk3..l700] WAE WITH SWEPEK. 261
^ootiimaiK^ of all their privileges. But these being little rQ-
gfifded by Charles XI., John Eeinhold Fatkul, a Livonian
geatl^oany repaired to Stockholm, in 1692, at the head of six
deputies of the proyince, in order to laj the strongest, and,
at the same time, the most respectful remonstrances of the
people before the throne. Instead of an answer, the six
deputies were committed to prison, and Fatkul was con-
demned to lose both his honour and life. But he lost neither ;
for he made his escape out of prison, and remained for some
time in the country of Yaud in Switzerland. As soon as ha
heard that Augustus, elector of Saxony, had promised, upon
his accession to the throne of Poland, to recover the provinces
wrested £rom that kingdom, he hastened away to Dresden, in
ord^ to represent the facility of recovering Livonia, and of
difipossessing a young king, only in his eighteenth year, of
the conquests of *his ancestors.
• At the same time, the czar was meditating a scheme to
make himself master of Ingria and Oarelia. These pro-
TJAces formerly belonged to the Eussians ; but the Swedes
had conquered them at the time of the false Dmitris;
and preserved them since by treaties. Another war and new
treaties might restore them to Eussia. Fatkul went from
Dresden to Moscow, and having excited the two monarchsto
avenge his cause, he cemented a close union between them,
and forwarded their preparations for invading the several ter-
ritories situated to the east and south of Finland.
Frederic IV., the new king of Denmark, entered at the same
time into a league with the czar and Augustus against the
young king of Sweden, who seemed likely to be overpowered-
Fatkul had the pleasure of besieging the Swedes in Eiga,
the capital of Livonia; on which occasion he acted as major-
generaL
^^ czar marched an army of about sixty thousand mea
tiyv««?ds Ingria. True it is, that in this gr^t army there
were hardly more than twelve thousand ddsciplined troopSy
whom he had trained to war himself; these were his. two
r^fimients of guards, and a few others : the remainder con-
sisted of an ill-armed militia, with some Cossacks and Cir-
eassian Tatars : but he had a hundred and forty-five pieces of
cannon. He laid siege to Narva, a small town ia Ingria^
with a commodious ^bour; and there was the gre^st
262 HI8T0BT OF BVSBIA.. ^i&. XfiEt.
probability that the pkce would be taken in a ymjihaftt
time.
Sverf one knows how Charles XII.) who at tkat tiitta
WW not quite eighteen yean of age, wi1^8t»od his nnm^omi
enemies, and attacked them all successively ; how he n»ade a
descent upon BenmaTk, and finished the war witii that onmn
in less than six weeks ; how he sent suocoum to Bigta, asid
raised the sifege of that town ; and how he marched o^er ice
and snow in the month of November, against the Bussiaitt
who had laid siege to Narva.
The csar, confident of taking the town, \rm gone to N^iffv-
g6t>od, leaving the command of his aarmy, with instructions far
^e siege, to the prince of Croy, whose familjr was ongmdly
irom flanders, and who had lately entered into the osn^s
service. Prince Dolgoruki was commissary of the arasy.
The jealousy between these two dii^s, and the absence of tfae
czar, were in part the cause of the unparalleled ddeat at
Nttrva. Charles XII. having landed his troops at Pernan in
Livonia, in the month of October, marched northwatits
towards Eevel, and defeated in that neighbourhood an aid^-
tanced body of Bussians. Thence he continued his march,
and beat another. The fugitives fell back on their mmiBL
army, and spread consternation in the camp. Tet thiey weiK
now in the month of November; a&d the town of Nanp%
though unskOfuUy besieged, was upon the point of surrenAiaw
ing. The yotmg Hng of Sweden had not with him qu^ nine
thousand men ; and co«M bring no more than ten piecea of
cannon against the Bussian entrenohments, which were lined
with a hfundred and forty-five. According to ^Q the velations
of that time, the Bu&aian army amounted to eighty thoasani
fighting men, whil^ Charles had only nine thousand.
Charles did not hesitate to attack so great a force wilii
his smidl corps ; but availing himself of a violent stoitn jo£
snow and wind, which blew full in the front of the^nemfy,
he attacked tbeur entrenchments with the aid of a few pieoes
of casmon advantai^eously peeted, November 80, 1700. 3%ie
Bussians had not tnnfe to recover theaiBelYea, in the mid«t «f
that ckmd of snow, which was driven by the wind ^Biectly m
their ihces, so that they could not see the oannon that pli^fed
Dftost furbusly against them; besides, they had no
^^u^ the enemy's force was so inconsideiaMe.
JUM. 1700] B4TTLE OF JSUHrA. 288
Tb»4nike «b Crogr iv^nld gi^e lus orders ; find ininoe Boh
gomld wndbd not obey tkeiXL The lUrasittiis rose agamst
the Genmn olfiieezfi ; they masaacied the diike'^ seoretBoy,
wndak oolfiari Ljmi, and jroreraL otheiau Eadi mma quitted
litt yoit; md A ^ueral 'confofibn and panic were «diiused
tfafonghout- the army, The Swedish troopfs had thea nothing
mate to do than to lill anddeetrey a flying multitude. Some
of tfae fo^tiyoB Idirew themeelires inifeo ihb liveir of Narva,,
wiieie grea^ numbers of them were drowned ; others flung
um^ their acrmS) aad ^pegged for quaorter iupon their knees.
She duke de Gsoy, geni^nil Allaasd, and the (stermon officers,
dOM afiraad of the mutimooB Sussians than of the Swedes,
surrendered to count Steinbok. The kiaag of Sweden became
mflHrirer oi aU their aortillery. IQiirty thousand of the Tan-
fuiahed enemy hadd dowm their arms at his feet, and ifiled off
miJAi their heads snooveaced before hiaa. Prince Polgoruki, and
all the other SuBsian generals, surrendered as well as the <Ser-
mans; but did not ki^w, tiU some time acftar they had been
made priaoatsiiSi that they were ^anqmshed by eight thoueand
aien.
C^Kurles Xn. reaped aU the advantages that cofuld be
iamm from a s^i!iail victory: his treo|is seiaed immense
mngagiaes, and 120 Russian tronspoitB laden witk pro-
visions^ the enemy's poi^s were either evacuated or taken ;
in sherty i^ whdle ecaasktry was in the poseeesion of
the Siwedes. IRiarva was now delivered; the shattered
reaaaniB of the Bussian army durst n<^ show themsdves ;
and the Bussian frontier being open as far.as Pksko^ Chaoles
aight kwe terminated the war with Bussia as rapidly as he
bad finiafaed thafc wath Denmark, had he not turned aside
£nan his chief raiemy, and neglected his most favourable
efiportumty in order to avenge himself on king Augustus,
whose Saxons were posted on the lefb bank of the Dvina.
A Rasirian. bishop composed a form of prayer* to St.
Nichaibs on thiB oecasiaQ, whidi was pobliGly read in
ekprohes. This composition shows the spirit of the times,
and the gross igneianee of the country. It says positively,
tkat Idle £irii»ns and tendble Swedes were eascerers ; and
oemgplaiBB tliat the Bussians had been abandoned hy St.
Nicholas. " The prelates of that country," says Voltaire, '
* It 18 to be foand inToltaixe'i SSstoiy of Charles XIL
2M HIBTOKY 01* BVBSIA. [CH. XXIL
<' would not write such stuff at present ; and without any
offence to St. Nicholas, the Bussians soon perceived that
their business was to address themselyes to Peter.'*
The czar having quitted his army before Narva towards
the end of November, 1700, in order to concert matters
with the kin^ of Poland, was apprised upon the road of tbe
victory obtained by the Swedes. He was not at all di»'
pirited, but showed a firmness equal to the intrefudity
and valour of Charles XII. He deferred his interview
with Augustus, to apply a speedy remedy to the disordated
state of his affairs. The troops that had been in different
quarters rendezvoused at Novgorod, and marched thenoe
to Pleskof, upon lake Peipus.
After so signal a defeat, it was as much as the czar could
do to stand his ground. " I know very well," said he, " that
the Swedes will have the advantage of us a considerable
time, but they will teach us at length to beat them."
Having provided for the present emergency, and orderad
recruits to be raised on every side, he repaired with all
expedition to Moscow, to forward the casting of cannon.
AU his artillery had been taken before Narva ; and as he
wanted metal, he had recourse to the bells of the churches
and monasteries. Out of these were formed a hundred large
cannon, with one hundred and forty-three field-pieces, from
three to six pounders, besides mortars and howitzers; and
the whole was forwarded to Pleskof. In other countries tbe
sovereign commands, and his subjects execute his orders;
but here the czar was obliged to see everything done
himself. While he was making these preparations, he
entered into a negotiation with the kin^ of Denmark^ ^^
engaged to assist him with three regiments of foot and
three of cavalry, an engagement which that monarch durst
not observe.
No sooner was this treaty signed than he returned with
the greatest despatch to the seat of war, and had an
interview * with king Augustus, at Birzen, on the frontiers
of Gourland and Lithuania. His business was to eonSxfii
that prince in his resolution of maintaining the war against
Charles XII., and to prevail on the Polish diet to engage in
♦ February the 27th, 1701.
i-B. 1701] WAE IS POLAKD. 265
hiB qdarrel. Fatkul and a few Poles in the interest of tlieir
king were present at these conferences. Peter promised to
assist them with subsidies, and with an army of twenty
thousand men. Livonia was to be restored to Poland,
upon a supposition that the diet would act in conjunction
-With their king to recover that i>rovince ; but fear had a
stronger influence on the determinations of the diet than
the czar's proposals. The Poles were under an apprehension
of having their liberties restrained bj the Saxons iEUid
Bussians; and at the same time they had a still greater
dread of Charles Xll. Hence the majority determined not
to serve their king — that is, not to fight.
The court party were exasperated against the contrai^
fiiction; in short, the king's proposal to recover a consi-
derable province that had been wrested from Poland was
productive of a civil war throughout the kingdom. The czar
had therefore but a weak ally in Augustus, and the Saxoii
troops afforded him but very little assistance. Such terror
did uharles XII. inspire on every side, that Peter was obliged
■to depend entirely upon his own forces. From Courland he
hastened back to Moscow, to forward the performance of
his promise; and ordered prince Eepnin to march with a
body of four thousand men towards Eiga, upon the banks
of the Dvina, where the Saxon troops were entrenched.
The rapid success of the Swedes increased the general
terror of their arms. Charles having passed the Dvina, in
spite of the Saxons, who were advantageously posted on the
opposite bank, obtained a complete victory : he followed up
the blow by making himself master of all Courland ; and was
advancing with his victorious army into Lithuania, to animate
the Polish faction who had declared s^ainst Augustus.
Peter still pursued his great designs. General Patkul,
who had been the life and soul of the conferences at Birzen,
and had lately entered into his service, showed his zeal in
providing him with Overman officers, and in disciplining his
troops ; in short, he was a second Le Fort,* and finished what
the other had begun. The czar found relavs for all the officers,
and even for the common soldiers, whether Germans, Livo-
* Le Fort died ia 1699, at the age of forty-six. (joloyin succeeded
him as high admiraL Gordon also had died before this period.
S66 HIBTOBT 01* BITBBZA. [XS. :XML
warn, or PteleSylSwfc came io^erve in Us aDcmias; andtoak par-
ticulflr cm of everythangTCkiave to tflteir ai3ii»» dgAm,sai
aabsiateiice.
On the confineB of lo^omia and EBthwia, and weak af ikt
proTinee of Novgorod, laas 1^ hke Peipua^ from tkeaan^
aide of layoiiia it receives the river Velika; to the veaAwst^
it aemda forth the river Nai0va, which waabea tbe^vralk ofl^
town of Narva, in wiiose neighbourhood the Swedes obtained
tiieir fimiona victory. Thza lake ia Hoards of thirty leagues a
kngth; in some plaDcea twdve, and in others fifteen in baeadtiL
Here it was of the ntmost importance for tke czar to maoir
tain a fleet, in order to prevent the Swiediah veasela fipoaa in^
salting the province of Novgorod ; to be within m psoper
diatance for mmking a descent upon their coaeta ; and fV^^^
ally to train up anumber of seamen. During hbe year i^I,
Brter caused a hundred and ^&^ galleys, eaeh 'caorpug
about fifty men, to be built on this lake, and other teaaeU
were fitted out for irair upon lake Ladoga. Me diiaacted the
buildSig of these vessels himself, and aet all hia new sailoff
immediately to work. Those who had served in W^ v»<m
the Sea of Asof, were now employed in the nBighbouariioodw
tiio Baltic. Meanwhile he ire^uently made easeuisions to
Moacow, and to the other provmces, in order to testaUiBh
the regcQatiomi alreadv begun, or to introduce new in^
prcFvevkents. In 1702 he began to dig that great casnalwihich
was intended to unite the Don and the Ydga. Other ecna-
nnmicationa were to be carried on, by the help of (lakeSy
firom the Don to the Dvma, which empties itself inite the
!&ikie, in the neighbonrhood of Esga : but thaa latter project
teemed to be still at a great distance, for Eeter was far fi^
having Biga in his possession. Charles contiuiiied to rairage
Poknd, while Peter was introducbig thence, and from Saaxmj?
shepherds with their flocks, in order to have wool fit ibr the
manofEioturing of good doth: he greeted linen and paper
manufactories: by his orders greait numibers of bkcksmithS)
beaziers, armourers, and founders, with other aErtsfioers, ^^e^
invited from abroad.: and woikmai were employed to Mgis^
the mines of ^Siberia. Vhus at the same time he endeaffmvfiQ
to enrich and to defend his dominions.
Charles, eager to prosecute hia vktoriies, left a .sufficient
number of forces, as he imagined, np<m the frontiers 'of tbe
A.B. 1701] THE ETTSfilAirS JLOQTTIEB KRA.CTICB IN WAE. 267
He vm,B now ieteiimiied to <dbetfaiiMi6 king Augas^^os, ^ntid
then to pursue the czar with his yictorious ttrms aia ftit as
Mos^Qur.
¥kis yi^ar there happ^eA soine iitile >dkirtmshes bet^v^iRi
*be Ettssaiuis «ii4 Swedes, in which iSielartJter -were not iitwm
^ndorieuB; and eren when l^y had 4^ advaic^e, the
Busdians were teaming the art of wiur. Within a twelye-
mmtth after the baiisit^e ef Nnrvs, the csasp's t»Diopft were bo
grea<Jlymprovedinthe tiiilitaiydisdpfeie,t"ha*tii!ey dbtfiised
ft Tietorjr oT>0r one of the best ge^t^viais beloBgaasg to Obu^es
XII. ^* At kst/* 6aid Peter, ^' we can V«»t the Swedes wlwn
we we two to mts ; let vts hope that em long we i^uill be a
laatch Ibr them with eopal numbers."
Pcfter was 4tt Blei^bor, wheoBvoe lie ^eat out nunraiieKis <de-
taebnveiits on 'aHL sides to attack the Swedes. The likissiaaDLS
p«P9V^ "vicrtiorioiaa under l^e ocmnaMnd of a genend of ^mr
own nation. Bheremetef, by a j>Qdiciotis jnamosufrve, mat"
prmd severed otttHpftrties of Sehlippenbacli, Ite Swiedish
general, in 1^ neighboui^iood of Borpaft, on tiveftcntieiDof
Liyonia ; and at leng& obtained a rictc^ over ibe ^genend
himself. The Russians took four oolonis, ibr Iftie iQrst time,
fipom %he Swedes ; wtiioh was then tiiougiit a eonsidemble
number. The Swedish and the Itnssian fleets also had
several engagements on the lakes of Feipus amd Ladoga,
"whefe the former had ikiB same advantage as by lMBid^--K£iit
c^ €i8cz{>liiie and long practice, ¥et the RuneianB were
sometimes suoeessfol on boaird their gailleys:; and in agenexai
action upon Ofake Peipus, field-mapsfaal Sheremetef made
hniseif master of a Swedish frigate.
9f meatDS of iMs lake, the ovtst kept all UmimA and
Esthonia in oonetant al«rm ; his gdleys frnqueiiftly tiinuipfiffted
met several regyments to make a descent in those pto^noes;
^ the attempt did not prove favourable, they wew »-em-
foaiked ; if they had any advaatage, they impvo^«d iit. The
Swedes were twice defeated in the neighbeiialiood of Barpat
(June and July), wfe^lfceirarmswere jrosperoiisjerveirywlier©
else. 3ia all these eagagements the EuB^ans were superior in
number to the Swedes ; thereifibire, as Charles XIX. was vie*
torious in every Oliver quarter, he did not /give Mmwdlf any
ntieaBineSB albout the czior's saocess : but keidafoaid hare con*
268 HISTOBT 01* BVflSIA. [CB. Xtn.
sideied, that the numerouB forces of his rival were impftivnig
every daj in discipline, and might soon be a match for tbe
Swedish veterans.
While the two nations were thus engaged hj sea and
land towards Livonia^ Ingna, and Esthonia, tne czar recerred
intelligence that a Swedish fleet had sailed to the north seas
with a view to destroy Archangel : upon which he set out
for that city ; and the public was surprised to hear that he
was upon the banks of the frozen ocean when everybody
believed him to be at Moscow. He put the town into a
state of defence, prevented the Swedes from landing, drew
the plan of a citadel called the New Dvina, laid the fliet
stone, returned to Moscow, and thence to the seat of war.
Charles was advancing into Poland while the Bussians
were making conquests in Ingria and Livonia. Marshy
Sheremetef marched against the Swedish forces commaodea
by Schlippenbach, and obtained a victory over that geoksm
near the little river Embac; taking sixteen colours and
twenty pieces of cannon fjrom the enemy. Norberg 'sa^
this engagement happened on the Ist of December, 17015
but Peter's journal fixes it to the 19th of July, 1702.
The Bussian general continued his march, and laying the
whole country imder contribution, made himself master of
the little town of Marienburg, situated on the confines of
Livonia and Ingria. There are several jplaces of this name
in the north of Europe ; but this, though it no longer exist^
is more celebrated tnan all the rest, for the adventure of
the empress Catharine. The little town having surreoderod
at discretion, the Swedes, either through inadverteney <^
design, set fine to the magazines. The Bussians, provoked
at this behaviour, destroyed the town and carried off all the
inhabitants. Among the prisoners was a young womax^y^
native of Livonia, ^o had been left an orphan at three y^aM
of age, and had been brought up as a servant by M. Gluck,
the minister of the place. She was the very person who
afterwards became the sovereign of those who had taken
her captive, and who governed Bussia as the empress
Catharine I. Li 1702, being then in her seventeenth year,
she married a Swedish dragoon, who was obliged to leave her
two days afterwards to join his regiment, and she never
heard of him again until she was empress of Bussia. . Af^^
AJ>.'1702] THE SMPBESS OATHABIKE I. 269
tbe eapture of Marienburg, Sheremetef made lier his slare
^sd .^oncobine, kept her eeyen months, and then transferred
her to Mentchikof, at whose quarters she was seen by the
czar. Peter took her away with him, and discovering in her
a remarkable capacity to aid him in his reforming projects,
he married her — ^privately in 1707, and publicly in 1711.
^ There had been instances before this of private persons
laised to the throne: nothing was more common in Kussia,
and in all the Asiatic kingdoms, than marriages between
sovereigns and their subjects : but that a poor stranger, who
had been discovered amidst the ruins of a plundered town,
should become the absolute sovereign of that veiy empire
into which she was led captive, is an incident whicn fortune
and merit never before produced in the annals of the world.
The czar's arms were equally successful in Ingria ; for the
Bussian galleys on the lake Ladoga obliged the Swedish
lleet to retire to the other extremity of that great lake ;
thence they might observe the siege of Noteburg, which
funeral Sheremetef had undertaken by order of the czar,
hiis was an enterprise of much greater importance than
the Swedes imagined; as it might open a communication
with the Baltic, the constant aim of Peter the Great.
Noteburg' was a very strong town, situated in an island
on the lake Ladoga, which it entirely commands; so that
whoever possessed this place would of course be master of
the river JSTeva, which disembogues itself not far from that
apot into the Baltic. The Eussians battered the town night
and day, from the 18th of September to the 12th of October ;
and at length having made three breaches, gave the assault.
The Swedish garrison were reduced to a hundred men in a
QQndition to bear arms ; yet what is very extraordinary, they
ipafle a stand, and obtained an honourable capitulation upon
1^ breach (October 16th, 1702). Colonel Schlippenbach, the
governor, would not surrender the town but in)on condition
qf being permitted to send for two Swedish officers from the
Qeajrest post, in order to examine the breach ; and to inform
the king his master, that eighty-three soldiers, all that re-
mained of the garrison, besides a hundred and fifty-six sick
and wounded, £d not surrender to an entire army, till it was
impossible for them to make a longer resistance, or to pre-
serve the town. This instance alone shows what sort of an
mam tke ^sar had to eootoiid with,; aad how neooMrj ii
w«0 for him to iii»e hid utmost offort^ in cUfld^plmioc hid
]10 difltributoi some gold m^dala aoMttg hb ^^eers, «Dd
gwre rewards to all the Qomiiio& Boldien; eiscopt to a &w^
who were iMuushed for ramuog awaj from an aasautt: th^f
eoBkfftdes tpat in their faced, and afterwards ehoit them dead.
Tk» lortificatioos of Soteburg were repaured, aad its same
was ohan^ into that of Shlitss^biir^-^hlitfiBe]. in Qer*
man li^^jiog a het/^^iof thi^ i^aee is the kof of lagiia
a»d. Fiidaad. The ficst govemor was Metitohikof, the
paatrjeook's hoy,* »ow gvowa a veify good offioer^ and who
* ^^BriaeosMtntehikof vwalsoapsrBQQiidfladfrQn
gvee^ I wa« told the foUuiiring GMrcwnstaiieea of bia, timz-^Bfi waa born
of feotl^but rerj poor parents^ and they dyiog, left him TeryyouDg*
witiiout any education, insomnch that he could neiUier read nor write,
mer vrea cQd he tfll the day of his death: his porertj obliged him to
asok avrvkein Hoacoir, wher^ he wwb takes into the hooae of a yastoS^
oaok^who emploefed him ia crying inioco-pies about the streatss aaA
hariag a good Toice, he also sung b^ads, whereby he was so geperallr
known, that he had access into all the gentlemen^s houses. The czar»
hy ittrftation, was to dine one day at a boyar^s, or lord's hoQse, and
Mentchikof happening to be in the kitchen that dbfty, Qbaci»Ted 1ib0b<^
giwet direetioQf to hia cook about a diah o£ meat ]» taui tbo esar
w«i fond of, mod took notice that the bojar himself put some klod of
powder in it, by way of spice; taking particular notice of what meat
that dish was composed, ne took himself away to sing ballads, and
kipl sMiBlering in the streets tHi the czar ^anredy yrhen exalting 1h»
TOiGc^ hisjiuijesty took notiico of it, sent for him, and aaked«himif he
would sett his basket with his pi«s. The hogr repUtd» Jm had fpvor
ottly to sell the pies; as for the basket, he must tot ask hi* maaters.
leaye, but as eyerything belonged to his majesty, he needed only to 1*7
lus eoraraands upon him. This reply pleased the czar so much, ^At
he (urdered AltKauderto stay and attend him, whl^ he obj^ed wi<^
gmt joy. Mentobikof waited b^ad the esar'a <^air at d&nner, fad
seeing the before<'meQtk)ned dish served up and placed before him, in a
whisper begged his majesty not to eat thereof; the czar went into
another room with the boy and asked his reason Ibr what he had whto*
peied to him^ when he informed his majesty what he had observed hi
tho kil^hfoi, aud the bciyar's putting m the powder hims^ wxthflv^
the cook peiceiYin^ him, made him suspect that dish in particular; h&
therefore thought it his duty to put his majesty upon his guard. The
czar returned to the table without the least discomposure in his couo^
mmce, aad with Ms uamal oheerfuhiess; the boyar recomraended tltfS
dkifai tft him» wyaotf il was yery good? the osar ofteed the bej^^
n% 4awAby him (for it ia a eual^m iu, Mqacow for tlie mast^ of W^
maritod tins lioxiour hj l^AMmkg la^st gftllan% duaog tiMi
siege.
AJkev thi» oftrnpoigib. ef 1702, it was the ezar's wiU that
Sbeeftmetrf^aiid the ofiiioerawha had aigiialiced theioselvea
vmifsif hk Qommand^ should jmke a tiriiimphaiKt enkj into
Moseevr (I>eceffiber 17th^ 1702X All tha prisosiefs takeB ia
ibis empai^ marched in the traiB of the vietors i he£we
theon were easmd the Swedish eoloura and staodairdis, with
the flag tiAen on. hoaird the &i^te qh lake P^|ms. !BetfiEr,
as wast vsuail: wiib him cva all such oeeasioBs^ assumed only a
subordinate rank in the pageant, and affected to hold himaelf
responsible to his own representative, Eomodanofski, on
whom he had bestowed the title of vice-czar. Strange to
say, the man thus favoured by the radical reformer Peter
was an ultra-conserrati^e, £^ of Wind and bitter hatred
against all innovations. Bomodanofski was a thorough
SiWiaiaa of th^ old school, i^exant, ^oteequoj, a»d brutal*
Ifo wiaa pjceaidaBit of the oeuaeil of goivemiKieut^ and head of
the secret chancery, a horrible sort of stav-ebamb^, or state
inquisition, established by Ivan lY., and perfected by Alexis,
and w^iivb, M&e moedi tyraoiiiKeal institutions, produced ti!isOse
eidOla wluclk anrved as & pretext for its own coutiBaiianoeL
Bomndanoflfci^s fenociouA evudty was undcnbtedlya merit in
Bafier'si eyesi;. bvtt what gave Mm a bettor claim to eoufi"
denee vas his jigid inti^nty and uushakaUe fiddity to his
BaTeieig;D. S^stev used to mike a pubHc report to him of aU
his undertakingB and his most impcortairi: svicQesaee; all
petitioBs, miNueriailB^ aud other docume&ts addveflsed ta the
sovere^n, weve laeseated to this {ddaortom of a czar, who
pmately despatdbei them to the oonincil : amd when the
persoiia concexuad, on boI otoinijig what they desbed,
]iouse to wait at table when he eutectailos hisfHends), and putting some
<^H oa 8 plate, desired him^ to eat and 9bow him a good example. The
hoywty mith the utmost ofiadisioo, xeplied, that it did not become the
MRTaot to ««l with his master;, wJbereaiKia the plsAe wtaa tet down taa
dog, wba 0oon despatched its contents^ which in a vei^ short time
threw him into convulsions, and soon deprived him of life. The dog
being opened, the eflfect of the poison was clearly discovered, and t^
begpav was immedtately jecamd, bat waa fonad nest morning dead in
his had> wkaOi ameoM. all faitec 4i9e<iwi^:"--4feiiiM9».^ M^
Bnry Brua^ Jkmm iii* p. 77.
272 HI8T0BT OF B1TS8IA. [OH. XXHI.
complained to Peter, he answered coldly — ^<^It is not my
fault ; all depends on the czar of Moscow."
A refusal was not the only inconvenience which soitors
had to apprehend from the whimsical old brute Eomo-
danofski. He kept in his palace an enormous bear, tramidd
to a very curious trick. The animal presented to evenr one
who wished to speak with his master a glass of brandy, in
which there was a strong dose of pepper. "Whoever did not
drink off this liquor was sure to have his clothes torn to
pieces by the bear, and to be severely mauled into the
oargain.
CHAPTER XXni.
PITEBSBTTBO rOXTinDED — ^ZTABTA AKD DOBPi^T Ti.KlK— 1>**
PEATS AT GEMAITEBS AND PBATTSTADT — ^AUGXTSTTTS lOWB
THE OBOWK OP POLAKD.
The short stay which the czar made at Moscow in the
beginning of the winter 1702-3 was employed in seeing W*
new regulations executed ; in improving the civil as well m
the military government, and in founding various establish-
ments. Then, afber a visit to his naval works on the Sea ox
Asof, he hastened to the frontiers of Sweden to inspect the
ships which he had directed to be built in the doclq^ards of
Olonitz, between the lakes Ladoga and Onega. In ^
town he had erected some forges and founderies for the
making of arms : so that the place was filled with the biistie
of military preparations, while Moscow began to flourish ifl
the arts of peace. Thence he set out for Shlusselbnrg, ^
order to improve the fortifications.
"We have already noticed that Peter had thought prop^
to pass through all the military grades : he had been %
lieutenant of bombardiers under prince Mentchikof, before
this favourite was made governor of Shlusselburg ; and now
he took the rank of captain, and served under marshal
Sheremetef. Near the lake Ladoga, and not far from the
river Neva, there was a fortress, named Nientschantz. I*
was of the utmost importance for the czar to make himseli
Aa»» 1768] 71STSB8BUB0 lOUlTDXD. 27S
ififtster of tluB place, in order to secure his conqaests, and to
prosecute his other designs. He was obliged to lay siece t«
it hj land, and, at the same time, to prerent its receiving
aaokj succours hj water. Peter undertook to transport troops
in small barks, and to watch the Swedish convoys ; whue
Sheremetef had the care of the trenches. The citadd
surrendered: two Swedish vessels* came too late to re-
lieve it; and they were both taken by the czar. His
journal makes mention, that, as a reward for his service,
** the captain of bombardiers was created knight of the order
of St. Andrew, by admiral Golovin, first knight of the
order."
After he had taken Nientschantz, he resolved to build the
city of Petersburg, at the mouth of the Neva, upon the Gulf
oflHnland.
King Augustus's affairs were in a desperate state : the
Buecesnve victories of the Swedes in Poland had encou*
raged his enemies in their opposition; and even his friends
raevailed on him to dismiss a body of twenty thousand
Bussians with which his army had been reinforced. The
motive th^ alleged was, that this sacrifice would deprive the
maleontents of any pretext for joining the king of Sweden
but enemies are disarmed by force and encouraged by
indulgence. Those twenty thousand men, disciplined by
Patkul, did very great service in Livonia and Ingria, while
Augustus was losing his dominions. This reizSbrcement,
and especially the possession of Nientschantz, enabled the
czar to found his new capital.
It was in this desert and marshy spot of ground, which
o<N&munieates but one way with the continent, that he laid
the foundation of Petersburg.f The ruins of some of the
bastioDS at Nientschantz suppUed the first stones. He
began with erecting a small fort on Yassili Ostrof, an
ifiland which now stands in the midst of the city. The
Swedes took no heed of this settlement, formed in a
morass, and inaccessible to vessels of burden : but how great
i^ir surprise when they saw the fortifications advanced, a
town raised, and the Uttle island of Cronslot, situate over
against it, changed, in 1704, into the fortress of Gronstadt,
* May 12th, 1703.
t Petersburg was founded the 27th of May, 1703, on Whit Snndiiy.
TOL. I. T
C7A mmKeBY <3iw %vamx. [e
(imdflrlike-ofliiiumaf iBUelievtnllbelargertifleetBSMj]
side «t anchor!
ijn enterpnBe of tins miure seemed to lequive peaeefnl
.tamefli jet wbb exeooted in tbe iiasry md oonluffion of ymt:;
'workmen, of eretr eort weve csHed together foam Moseoir,
firatn Astrakhan, irom Kama, and the UlcrsDne to saust in
the building of the dl^. IN^either idie diffienliT^ of 'to
croundy which lie iraa obhged to drain and to ndae, nor tiie
lifltazice of anateriate, nor the nnfareseen obstacles iHbikiL
"oomstantiy arose in every branch of labour, nor the nrartaiii^
"wihieh carried off a prodigious number of worjsmen,* eould
shake the fixed resolution of the founder of this metimcdHu
in the space of two months a new town arose out ot the
gDOUid. It is true, it was no more than & duster of hnts,
with two brick houses, surrounded by ramparts; ibnt ibsa
was suiBGieaitt Hot a beginniiM;; time aaid perseverance
aoeomplished the Test. Petersburg had not been fbundfid
abo?e five imonths when a Butch yesscd came to trade Hieiai
the oa|rt»in received some presents for ^is encouralgeDMaKt ;
and the IKrtch soon learned the way to this harbour.
It was not enough for Peter to hme opened tiiis aisir
road to 'coaamerce aud industry ; it was necessary for ^nm to
force to init his astonished subjects, in spifceof theiir contraiy
habks and manners. !For this reason it was lihat he coter^
his seas, lakes, and riyers with yessels of every kind, whiich
he demanded ^m all classes of >the rich. He was resolved
that his subjects should thus be made pilots and sailors. It
was also with this purpose, of rendering maritiine the inland
people whom he had transferred to Petersbuorg, that he did
not throw a bridge ^over the Neva. He determined that the
new inhabitants >of its banks should cross that dangffl^ons
£i<?er only in sailing*baats, the art of guddsng which would,
he knew, boobi be ac^ired by them when thdr lives were at
stake.
Nor did he listen to i^e ccanplaints of all his other jmh'
Tinces, with respect to the remoteness of the situation whielL
he had chosen for his capital: a minous distance, whseh
couild not fail to occasion an excessive tardiness in ^
adaoinistratiYe and judicial comnranications. It was equally
in vain that his boyars urged their objections to the barren
* A. hnadred thoasond are said to have perished in the <fiist ysiir.
dU». 27M] JPlVKMBV&a SmFSlDED. 1^j5
and Awsmpy'soil, to the mclement climate, in yrbioh winter
ifeigned for eight months of the year, where rye was an
ariicie of garden culture, and a beehire a curiosity; to the
Neya, which was a mass of ice for four whole months, imd of
soch unequal depth that ships of war launched at Petersburg
could not descend it without the aid of machines to floatthem
orer the shoals, nor merchant vessels aaoend without being
iiOmed ; and to the port, capable, indeed, of containing three
Jrandred eail, but the egress from which, impeded by sands
noid Yocks, is so beset by dangers, that, before steam naviga*
tion ^as known, there was no possibility of accomplishing it
eaoept with certain favoursible winds.
Pister set at nought all these serious inconveniences, nor
did he take more heed of the fkeshaess of the water, which
fipresKl rspid dBcay in his ships, or of that eolitary tree on
which was marked the heignt of the great imoadation of
1680, and which he cut down with his own hand. That
iitkaome ^tness showed dearly that a storm of some hours'
duaitttMm from the west, by dnving 'back the waters of ike
Neva, would be eure to engulph the new city, which was
built txpon piles in a bottomless marsh.
8moe, however, be was thia obstinatdky determined to
i^hoose for his capital a spot so removed from the Test of his
<doiHinions, why did he not prefer the emiiijenoeB which fevere
in its immediate neighbourhood P The palaces, and most of
the ptd)lie estabiishments, mi^ht hare be^i built there out
of theifeach of danger ; and n Ike passion of the czar &r
imteting Holland, his first instructor, was so strong that, at
all risks, he mmt have somethm^ like that country, it was in
his power to extend this upper city to ike river, by adding a
lower city, in which he might have given a copy of Amster-
dam and its commerdal streets, condsting of canals between
%• double quay.
While Peter was directing the foundation of his new
capital, he took care to render it taaccessible to the enemy,
by making himself master of all the neighbouring posts. A
fiiwedish cdonel, named Oroniort, having stationed hie men
in the river Sestra, whence he threatened the growing town,
iPeter marched up to him with the two regiments <of guaods,
defeated the colonel's detachment, and obliged him to repass
the idver. When he had thus provided for the security of
t2
279 HI8T0BZ OF RUSSIA. [CH. XSXU,
the town he repaired to Olonitz, to order a number of smdli
Tesscjs to be put upon the stocks ; and returned to Peters-
burg on board a fngate which had been built by his direc-
tion, together with six transports for present use, till the
others could be finished. lie then surveyed and sounded
the coast himself, and fixed the spot on which the fort of'
Gronslot was to be erected: after making a model of it in
wood, he employed prince Mentchikof to carry it into
execution. This done, he set out for Moscow CSoy. 5),
intending to pass the winter in that city, and enforce
the several regulations and changes which he had made
in the laws, manners, and customs of Bussia. He like«
wise put his finances into a new or^er; after which be
expedited the works undertaken on the river Voroneje, at
Asof, and in a harbour which he was building upon the Sea
of Asof, under the fort of Taganrok.
Upon his return to Petersburg (March 30), finding the
new citadel of Gronslot, whose foundations had been laid in
the sea, entirely finished, he provided it with numerous
artillery. In order to establish himself in Ingria, and to
wipe off the disgrace received before Narva, he deemed it
necessary to make himself master of that city. While be
was malung the preparations for the siege, a small fleet of
Sw^sh brisantines appeared on the lake of Peipus, to
oppose his designs. The Eussian galleys came out to meet
them, a brisk engagement ensued, and the whole Swedish
squadron, carrying ninety^eight pieces of cannon, was taken.
After this victory the czar besieged Narva by sea and land,
and at the same time laid sie^e to Dorpat, in Esthom%
he himself incessantly going from one to the other, to
forward the attacks and £rect the different approaches.
Schlippenbach, the Swedish general, was then in the
neighbourhood of Dorpat with about two thousand five
hundred men. The garrison expected every moment he
would attempt to throw succours mto the town. But Peter
prevented this design by an ingenious stratagem. He
ordered Swedish uniforms, colours, and standards for two
regiments of infantry, and one of cavalry. The pretended
Swedes attacked the trenches, and the Eussians feigned &
retreat ; the garrison were thereby deluded to make a sally
(June 27) ; the mock combatants joined their forces, and
K.tf. 1704] PBTBE TJLKES NAEVA. 277
fell upon the Swedes, one half of whom were killed, and the
6th6r half got back to the town. Schlippenbach came np
soon after, with intent to relieve it, but was ; entirely de-
feated. At length Dorpat was obliged to capitulate (July 28) ,
just as Peter was going to order a general assault.
'At the same time the czar received a considerable check
on the side of his new city of Petersburg; which did not,
however, hinder bim from going on with the buildings, nor
from pressing the siege of Narva. We have already men-
tibned that he had sent a supply of men and money to king
Augustus, whom Charles was stripping of his crown ; but
both those aids proved ineffectual. The Eussians having
joined the Lithuanians, who adhered to Augustus, were
entirely routed in Courland by Levenhaupt, the Swedish
general (July 31). Had the victors directed their efforts
towards Livonia, Esthonia, and Ingria, they might have de-
iholished the czar's new works, and baffled all his grand
designs. Peter was every day undermining the outwall of
Sweden, and Charles did not seem to regard him; being
Engaged in a pursuit less advantageous to his people but
more glorious to his arms.
On the 12th of July, 1704, a single colonel, at the head of
a Swedish detachment, had obliged the Polish nobility to
proceed to the nomination of a new king on the field of
election, called Kolo, in the neighbourhood of Warsaw.
The cardinal, primate, and several bishops submitted to the
will and pleasure of a Lutheran prince, notwithstanding the
menaces and excommunications of the supreme pontiff-
Stanislaus Leczinsky was elected, and Charles XII. caused
liim to be acknowledged as sovereign by a considerable part
of the Polish nation. In order that Charles might continue
t?o find occupation in Poland, Peter concluded a new treaty
with Aujgustus in Narva (30th Aug.) ; and while his rival
busied himself in making sovereigns, he employed his time
in beating the Swedish generals in Esthonia and Ingria ; and
in pressing the siege of Narva, which he carried by assault
on the 20th of August.
At the sacking of the town it was only by killing several
of his soldiers with his own sword that he succeeded in
saving his new subjects from their violence ; but his own
violence he was not able to control. At sight of count de
278 BXfTOBT OX RvumAi, [oh. waaa*
Hor% the govemor, who was hroudit to Urn a priaiim^ Ito
darfced forward, atiiiBk him in the me, and enuaimed, ^JHik
is j(m^ and jsou only, who arer the oaoae o€ so inanj <al»r
mities!' Onght yoa not to have capHulafced when you JUA
no hope of asststanee ?" Then throwing his swocd on tibet
table, '' Look at that blood," he eried ; ''it is not Swtedfah,
but Btissian ; that sword has saved the unfortunate inhafai**
tants who were sacrificed by your obstinaoy."
Peter now being master of all Ingria, conferred the goreni-*
ment of that province on Mentchikof. As soon as the season
approached for opening the campaign in Polaad (May, 1705),
he made haste to join the army, which he had assembled: on
the frontiers of Lithuania^ in order to assist Augustus. But
while he was thus endeavouring to support his ally, the
Swedes had fitted out a fieet, which threaimied the destaruex*
tion of his new settlements of Petersburg and Crosakt.
This squadron consisted of two^and-twenl^ ships of war,
canying fi-om fifty-four to sixty-four guns each, oesides six
frigates, two bomb-ketches, and two fire^hips. The land
forces on board the transports made a descent in the little
island of Kotin. Eut a Russian colonel, named Tolbogdoi,
having caused his regiment to lie flftt on their belliea winle
the Swedes were landing, ordered them to rise up of &
suddien; and they made so brisk and so regular a fire^aa
obliged the enemy to retreat in the ulanost confusion to
their ships, abandoning their dead, with the loss of thnee
hundred prisoners (June 17).
In ihe mean time, the Swedish fleet hovered still upon the
coast, and threatened Petersburg. The land forces made
another descent, and met with the like repulse. A body of
troops wero advancing at the same time by land m>m
Vyborg, under the command of Meidel, the Swedi^ gene-
ral, and had taken their rou^e by Shhisselburg. This was
the most formidable attack that Chades XII. mid yet nuuie
against the territories eiMier conquered or created by Peiier.
But the Swedes were repulsed on. every side, and Peters-
burg was saved (June 25).
The czar, on the other hand, was marching towards Oaax-
land, and purposing to penetrate as far as Biga.. His plan,
was to make* himself master of livonia, wiiile Charles tow^
pitted tiie reduction of Poland under the obedience of ther
nor Uflig. Bdter eontiaiuid: still at Yilna, ia Li&oaiua; and
XBBnbal ShefeaMtef was appsoaidiuig t(mnrds Mititau, tba
oajpi^ o£ CoHjrlMi; Imii ttoE» ha met ivii^h. Levenhaupt, a
gprnfival celelhndied &!! many i[iet(»ies. The two armies en^
giged a^ a place' called Gemffiiersrhof, or Qemauers. In
nattors depending on expemnee and dasQi{iUfie» the Swedes^
tiiOQ^ iniferioar in nujnbeir^ had alwf^s the adyaoiliage: the
BnasianB were entibrelj defeafbed,. sna lost aU their artiUejj
(Jiilnr;28>.
▲her threes defeaiia at OemacuBora, Jacobatsd^ and Narva^
fekev still seirieTed hia losses^ sad ey^n oon¥eited them to
kb adeattkagie ; for ]u&?enbaupt was so ill sapplied that ha
was mable to mointaia himself iix Couriand, and obliged to
zeiireai to Itiga. Aft^ the battle of Gtewauers, Feter marched
a large anmy iato Cou£land,.sat down before Mittau, made
huaacAf master of the tow% aoid laid siege to' the citadel,
which he took by capitulation (Sept. 14). At the taking of
Kamra, Feter had so ohaafciaed the pliiiuadering propensities of
has fiufisians^ that the soldiers now appointect to guard the
¥8SiIts in the- castle of Mifctam, the nsual bm^ing^plaoe of
the gsrnat diikes of Courland, finding that the bodies of tibiose
poBtnces had been, dragged out of their tombs afid stripped
of tfaeic ornaments, refused to undertake the change till
their had sent for a Swedish colonel to esamine the place,
who g«re them a certificate at^knowledging that the troops
of hie own nation had committed this oiiibir^.
During these transactions a report was spiiead thiK>nghou;t
the Bnasiatx empire that Petm: bad been totally defeatod at
the battle of Qemauers ; a repcart whiehi did him more mia*
ehief than the loss of the battle. The people of Astrakhan^
enlioldened by this fiilse intdligence to< revolib, and incited by
*son o£ one of the Strelitz who had beeui executed^ murdered
the go'nenior of the town, Peter was obliged to send his
best general, Sheremetef, with a body of fovcea to quell the
iwnirxectioni and punish the: riogleaders^
Ther czar seemed to. be now in a very preoamoua situation
from a Gombination of hostile circumsfcanoes : such as Charies's
l^aod fortune and valour ; the fooced neutrality of Denmark ;
the x«ebelliaii in Astrak&aia;. the discontent of a peonle seor
aiiUe of tiM vestraint, but not of the utility, of tlie latc^iie-
lacmatioa; the diaaffiactw of tiie nebilii^ in ewieeqjieiiea
280 HIB^BT OT BIT8STA. [CH.XXXZZ.
of t^eir being {subjected to mflitary discipline; and tte
exbsiued state of the revenue. Yet be never desponded.
He soon quelled the revolt ; then providing for the secmikf
of Ingria, and making himself master of the citadel of Mittaai,
in spite of the victorious Levenhaupt, who hadnot aaufi-
cient force to oppose him, he found himself at liberty to mardi
an army through Samogitia and Lithuania. After reinforcing
Augustus, he left him at Grodno, the capital of Lithuania,
and returned to Moscow (Dec. 30), where he had no sooner
arrived than he received advice that Charles XII. had carried
all before him, and was advancing towards Grodno in order
to attack the Bussian forces. Augustus had been obliged
to fly from Grodno, and to retire precipitately towards Saxomr
with four regiments of Eussian dragoons ; a step which both
weakened and discouraged the army of his protector. Bet^*
found all the avenues to Grodno occupied by the Swedes,
and his troops dispersed.
While be was assembling his scattered forces with, gceat
difficulty in Lithuania, the celebrated general Shull^nbuig,
in whom Augustus had placed bis last hopes, and who after*
wards acquired such glory in the defence of CorAi against
the Turks, was in full march towards Great Poland with
about twelve thousand Saxons and six thousand Eussians,
drawn from the body of troops with which the czar had
entrusted that unfortunate prince. ShuUemburg expected,
with some reason, that he should be able to save Augustus
from ruin ; he perceived that Charles XII. was employed on
the side of Lithuania, and that there was only a body of ten
thousand Swedes, under Eenschiid, to interrupt his march.
He therefore advanced with confidence towards the frontiers
of Silesia, the usual passage from Saxony to Upper Poland.
Upon his arrival in the neighbourhood of a little town <»&d
Fraustadt, on the frontiers of that kingdom, he met marshal
Eenschiid, who was come to give him battle.
There was a French regiment in the Saxon army who had
been taken prisoners at the famous battle of Hochstet, and
obliged to serve under king Augustus. They had the care
of the artillery ; and being not only admirers of the heroism
of Charles XII., but dissatisfied with their Saxon masters,
they laid down their arms as soon as they beheld the
enemy (Feb. 6) ; and desired to be admitted into the ser-
AJ9; 1706] BATTLB OF FEJLTTSTA^T. 281
vice of iiie king of Sweden, with whom they continued to
the end of the war. This was only a prelude to a complete
victory: out of the whole Eussian army hardly three bat-
talkms were saved ; every soldier that escaped was wounded ;
and as no quarter was granted, the remainder were all slain.
Nbrberg, the chaplain, states that the Swedish word at tliis
baitle was, in the name of God; and that of the Muscovites,
Mil all : but it was the Swedes that slaughtered all in the
name of Q-od.* The czar himself assures us in one of his
manifestoesf that man^ of his soldiers who had been taken
prisoners, as well Bussians as Cossacks and Calmucks, were
murdered in cold blood three days after the battle. The
irregular troops of both armies had accustomed the generals
to these cruelties ; greater were never committed in the most
barbarous ages. "I had the honour," says Voltaire, "of
hfiaring the fbllpwing anecdote from king Stanislaus himself:
That in one of the skirmishes which frequently happened in
Balaad, a Eussian officer, who had been his Mend, came after
the defeat of the corps under his command to put himself
luider his protection ; and that Steinbok, the Swedish general,
shot him dead with a pistol while he held him in his arms."
The EuBsians had now lost four pitched battles with the
Swedes, without reckoning the other victories of Charles
XII. in Poland. The czar's forces at GJrodno were in danger
of a greater disgrace, and of being entirely encompassed by
the enemy : but he fortunately assembled the several parts
of his army, and even strengthened them with new rein-
forcements. Being obliged to provide at the same time for
these forces and K)r the preservation of his conquests in
Lugna, he ordered his troops to march eastward, under the
command of prince Mentchikof, and thence southward as far
asJC^f.
; While his men were upon their march, he repaired to
Shlusselburg, Nairva, and Petersburg, and put those places in
the best posture of defence. Prom the Baltic he hurried to
the banks of the Dniepr, in order. to march back into Poland
by l^e way of Kief ; his constant aim being to prevent Charles
from reaping any benefit by his victories. At this time he
attempted a new conquest, that of Yyborg, the capital of
Carelia, on the Gulf of Finland (Oct.) ; but met with a dis-
f Vcdtaire. f The czar's mamfesto in the Ukrame, 1709.
ass nsooBx m vuwia. lorn. znn.
^ppobubmenfa^ for sueoourB amred«t a seasonable jiuiat«iej
BO tliaii he wbb ohliged to deaie^ fmm hia enterprise. Bia
rkal, Gharlee XIT.,. did not acquire a singlo proYinoe lar^
gaining ao many vict<»iea.' At tbat time he wae ia punait
of Auguatus in Saxony; intoit UDon humbling that piiaoe^
and crushing hint with hia whole weight ; but not at aU
solittitoua about recovering Ingria, which lud beenwiesled
fxmta him hj a Tanquiahed emm j.
The terror of Gharlea's arms was spread through Uwk
Poland, Silesia^ and Saxony:. King Auguatus'a whole fiumf^
Ida motiier, his wife, his son« and the pnnoipal nohilitj o£ the
oountry- had retired into Gtermaxxj. Aiiguatns now sued Sm
peace, choosing to aiirrendarhimBelfi to fiie dhaeretion of his
oou^oeror rather than into the acme of hia pnotector. He
was negotiating a treaty which stripped him of the crown of
B[>laad, and eoyered Mm at the same time wii& ignomiaty;
This tvewbjr he wa8> obliged to- conceal firom the Boswui
ganerals undar whose protection hb wae at that times m
Cdbnd; while Gharlee was prescribing laws, iii Leipaifl^«d
twampling npon his elactorate. Already had his plenipote'
tiaaee signed the fiital oonvention (Sept., 14) by which he
not only resigned the erowm of Poland, but poomised nsfer
more to assume the title of king; at the sanift time, he ao
kn0(wi9dged the regal dignity of Staxndaus,. renounced the
alliaaee of the czar, his benefactoHf ; and to coainlete bis
humiliation,^ engaged to deli'ver up into the hands of Gharles
XII. John E^nhold Patkul, the CBav's aottbaaaaflbr, and
gencKid m ihe Bussian aerriee, who> had: been fighting in bis
aBfenee^ Some time before this be had ordered Patkul to
be arrested npon Mee suspicions, contrary to the; hiiW of
natioiLs ; md now he yiolhtsd this law again by surrendeniig
him to his enemy. In signing this treaty which robbed hint
o£ hia honour and his crown, he Ukswiae endangered his
Hborty, becttuae he was then at the mercy of prince MeBitch»*
kof in Foananiai, and the few Saxon troopa he had with hist
were paid by the Russians.
Oppoaide to. pnnce Mentchifcof 'a quartera^ lay encamped a
Swediah acmy, leinfbreedby the Poles in Stanislana's'inteflest^
and cmnmandiBd by general MaderfeM. The prince not
knowing that Augustus was in treaty with the enemiea of
Bueaia,. proposed to attack them^ and Augustus. durat wt
A»l». 17071 DJLSTAJUNiT OXnODtTCT QE JLXTOrSTtJS.
lefose. The battle was fought in the neighbourhood of
Kalish, in the palatinate belonging to Staniskus (Nov. 19).
This was the &*st time that the Russians gained a pitched
battle i^g^st the trades ; and the whole humour was diui lo
prifioe: Mentchibof ; 4000 of thd. enemy were killed^ imd
2598 taken prisoners.
It is difficult to comprehend how Augustus could be pre-
vailed upon after this battle to naitify a treaty whioh d^mved
him of the whole benefit of so signal a Tuttoxy. Bat (Varies
waa triumphant in Siaxony, where his very name intimidatod
his enemies : bosidiss,. Augustus had htlie expectation of
being steadily supported by the Bussxans ; in shorty the
P<^h party in his enemy's interest were so strong, and
Augustus himself was so ill advised, that he signed thu &tal
convention. Neither did he stop hare : he wxote to IFinhsteiii,
his euFoy, a letter me&e shameful thanj the treaty iimeM, in
which he begged pardon tcm having obtained a vTctory, pco-
testing ''that the battle was fought against his wiU ; ^at
the I^skns and. the Poles,, his adhex^its^ had obliged hiia
ta lit ;: that with this design he had made some movemenis to
abandon Mentchikof ; that Maderfeld might hft^e beaten
him had he made a proper use of the opportunity ; tibdb he
would de^ver back all the Swedish prisoners, or break with
the Rusaimis ; in short, that he would give the kingof Sweden
aU pvop^ sati8iaet]on"--^or having dared to beat his troops.
These were two other drcumstances which compkted tiie
misfbrtunes of the king ef Poland, efector of Saxony, aind
plainly showed the ill use which Chaarles made of his sueeesEi.
The first was his obliging Augustus ta write a letter of con*
gratn^ation to the new king Stanislaus; the second was
terrible, he even eompelled Augustus to deli'ver up Patkul,
the czar's ambasoador,. into* his hands ;. and that miiusiier was
afterwards broken alive upon the wheel at Cksimir, in the
SKmbh of Septemiher, 1707. Notrberg, the ehapkan, adnuvw*
leches liiat the ordem fi>r his exe^ctibn were wriiitfla in
Chinrles's own hand.. Justly does. Yoltaire observe, that
ther law of natooe and nations were violated upon this ocea*
aicm hf the lanr of the longest sword. The spleniiQur of Vigh
achfeieementa used formerfy to: cover snch cruelttes^ but mam
thejr aseoD; iiidBUble stain to mililary gkry.
2M HISTOBT 07 BTTSSIA. [OH. TXXVi
CHAPTER XXIV.
OHABLES Xn. ISTADES ETTS8IA — BJLTTLB OP POLTJLVA —
BALTIC PBOTnrCBS COKQUBBEB — ^WAB WITH TUBKBT —
CAPITTJLATIOIT OP THE PBTTTH.
Chables was now triumphing at Altranstadt, in the
neighbourhood of Leipsic. The Protestant princes of the
empire flocked from all sides to yield him homage, and
sue for his protection. Ambassadors from most of the powers
in Europe courted his alliance. The emperor Josepn paid
implicit submissioli to his will. Peter then perceiving that
Augustus had renounced his protection and the Polish
throne, and that part of the nation had acknowledged
Stanislaus, began to listen to the proposal made to him by
Yolkova of choosing a third king.
Several paUtines were proposed at the diet of Lublin ;;
among the rest, prince Bagotski appeared upon the list, th^
same who had been long detained in prison in his youthful
days by the emperor Leopold, and who was his competitor
for the Hungarian throne after he had recovered his hberty.
This negotiation was pushed very far, and Poland was upon
the point of having three kings at a time. Prince Bagotski
not being able to succeed, Peter was inclined to confer the
crown on Siniafski, grand general of the republic, a man of
power and interest, and head of a third party, that would
neither acknowledge the dethroned king nor the person
elected by the contrary faction.
In the midst of these disturbances there was, according to
custom, some talk of peace. Besseval, the French envoy at
the court of Saxony, endeavoured to bring about a reconciKa-
tion between the czar and the king of Sweden. The Prench
government had a notion that if Charles made a peace with
the Muscovites and Poles he might possibly turn his arms'
against the emperor Joseph, with whom he was offended,
and to whom he had prescribed very severe terms during the
time he resided in Saxony. But Charles made answer, that he
would treat with the czar in the city of Moscow. Upon this
occasion it was that Peter said, " My brother Charles wants to
act the part of Alexander, but he shall not find me a Darius."
The Russians were still in Poland, and even at Warsaw,
A'.ir. 1707} CHABLES XEI. INTADES BrSSIA. 285
while the person who had been raised to the Polish throne
by Charles XII. was hardly acknowledged hj that nation.
In the mean time, Charles was enriching his troops with the
spoils of Saxony.
At length he began his march (Aug. 22, 1707) from his head-
quarters at Altranstadt, with an army of 4*5,000 men ; against
so great a force it was Tery unlikely that the czar should be
aUe to make a stand, since he had been entirely defeated by
ozd^SOOO Swedes at Narva. Charles boasted that ''his
whip would be sufficient to drive the Muscovite rabble before
him, not only out of Moscow, but from the world.*'
While the Swedish troops were passing, near the walls of
Dresden, Charles paid an extraordinary visit to king Augustus;
a visit which, according to Norberg, posterity will always
admire — at least, they will read the account of it witb some
surprise, for it was certainly running a great risk to trust
himself in the hands of a prince wKom he had stripped of his
kingdom. Thence he continued his march through Silesia,
autd at length re-entered Poland. That kingdom had been
espitirely ravaged by war, ruined by factions, and exposed to
all sorts of calamities. Charles was advancing through
Massovia, and chose the worst road he could take. The
inhabitants fled into the morasses, berag determined at least
to. make him purchase his passage. Six thousand peasants
deputed one of their body to speak to him ; this was an old
man, of a very extraordinary size and figure, clad in white,
and armed with two carbines. 'He addressed his discourse to
Charles, but as the Swedes did not rightly understand what
he said, they made no scruple to kill him in the presence of
their king, and in the middle of his harangue. The peasants
in a rage immediately withdrew, and took to their arms.
The Swedes seized on as many as they could find, and obliged
them to hang one another ; the last was forced to tie the
cooed, about his neck himself, and to be his own executioner.
All their habitations were reduced to ashes. This fact is
mentioned by Norberg, the chaplain, who was an eye-witness ;
so that^e can neither reject his testimony, nor help being
struck with horror isit such cruelty.
This new expedition was intended by Charles as a retaliation
upon Peter, who already looked upon the Baltic provinces as
a certain possession, and reckoned with such security upon
886 soMMXT ax vmmiM.. [ofi. ilxtk.
king AogmdniB, thtb he bycb ovtiadooked tin fononder cC
Ids ambMadoc Piibitekf, aaod fi»r rappesraiice aakB^ iBeter
took the mnuiL Bieps far Paticnl'B debveianoe ; but at 'iiaB
belieyed that he secretly acquiesced, because SLothmg xemiM.
ftem his npiesentfeatioin. Charks's phm of ioUofwmg ti^
SiUMttaiis twiugh -wastesy merasses, jmd forests, mto 1d»
faoart of a barboous country, wm approved of by no «cio;
Shenschiold, it is true, sa£B»ed himself to fsign aeqaieKenoe,
because he and fiper goremed the yoimg king by yielfic^
to his capridouB ind wilful schemes ; as soon, howerer, as
he, like an experienced general, wished to execute any judi-
cious plan in a proper military manner, the king noloager
liatened to hdm. According to CHiarles's deterrainatiaxi,
Lerenhaopt was to marck out of Li:v»nia and Cburiand,
through Lithuania^ and to join him at the Seresina, which has
onoe more become celebrated in our own days. He waa -to
give up Livonia, whidi had now been defended for seven
years, and wasted by :&iends and foes, to take along wiiii
him such cattle, hones, steores, and artillery as remained,
and advance with his king towards Moscow, whilst all was
in » state of hostility behind him inPbland and around him
in Bussia.
As Oharles was entering Grodno (the 6th and 12i&
Pebruary, 1708), he learned tiiat Peter had caused all the
inhabitants of ^orva and Borpat to ^e carried off into lihe
interior of Bussia (they were only permitted to return in
1714) ; but this news made as litide impression upon ban
as the horrors oonmiitled by the Bussians in Einknd. !Erom
this moment forward his coaiduct became more -and more
incomprehensible, fie first continued his march through
bogs and forests in the most unfavourable season of iihe
year, then remained for the three beat months whidfy
inactive at BodeskiewioEe, and finally liberated the BuaauaaL
prisoners in May, who immediately reinforced the ememy^s
troops. He called Levenhaupt to his councils, wbo Jce-
mained with him sii weeks, and everytiiing was agreed
upon as to their future movements : but when Levenhaupt
returned to Livonia, and was advancing with his nmy,
Oharles, without any neoessify, forgot his promise to meet
him at the appointed plaoe. In the mean time, the king had
aet oufc in June ^omltodeskiewicze and passed the Beresina^
xjL 17d9] CHABLXi xn/fl mmmuK CAMPAiair. 28S
Ub 'dehurion was increased hj « fmltteBS ^ctoxr at tSo-
lovtchin (cm tk« 4tb of Jufy. Sie ftfterwarda took MM^
and veaeked the Dnkpr, passed over the rwer in <^e midst
of an unceasuig ocmtest eia>ned on by the iRnamans, who
wore anmnd bim in swarms, and who had |;ot some enpera*
eime an ^warfave iiom their repeated <c6Ui3io&8 with himself.
fPhey were, indeed, obHged to pay for their «xperieDDce iff
i^ sacrifice of the greater number of men, whilst iht
Blades lost comparatively few ; but Peter was easily >able
to replace his loss, whilst that of Charles was irreparable.
Whilst Charles passed theDniepr, and entered mto a close
alliance w^ the Cossacks of the Ukraine, who r^arded
Peter as 1^ enemy of their independence, the £assian army
was -separated inko three great drnsions, in order that ererv
diimion sent forward l^y Charles, or which might be adk
^anciDg to form a junction with ihim, might be overpowered
iyy a superior force. The consequences of this disposition
wese first felt by Lagercrona, and next by Levenhaupt.
Iiageremia had received orders to advance with a divi-
flion of troops into the Ukraine, whilst Charles continned
his matrch towards Smoleni^. This division was attacked
at Ddbro by Mentchikof (20th September, 1709) and
defeated, and every one expected that Charles, who was
in want of many necessary supplies, would wait the arrv?iEd
of Levonhaupt at the appointed place, when he at length
^Ited for a considerable time at the end of September and
i^e begfmning of October. Levenhaupt, <m this occasion,
gained for himself immortal renown. Surrounded on every
aide by the enemy, and obliged to march through wastes and
forosts, he reach^ the place, with all his baggage and artil-
lery, where he hoped to find Obarles. He found him not,
faiit, on the conh^ary, was attacked near Liesna b^ a
superior Bussian force; he irad only 10,000 men against
^,dOO ; he won the victory, but was obliged to leave behind
liiin his horses, cattle, provisions, and artillery ; in short, all
that he was to bring to Charles, in order to save his heroes
and their honoor by a hasty march. Chsirles's ccmduct on
tins occasion shows how very little idea he had of these
principles which ought to guide a commander; for Leven-
haupt fought this battle on the 9th of October, and on the
nth formed a jtmotion wxtii the army of the king.
HISTOBT 07 BUBRIA. [oh; XH^.
The march into the XTkraine, which threw Levenhaupt eom**
pletely into the hands of the Bussians, had been nndertakidn
by Charles bemuse Mazeppa, the hetman of the Cossadss,
now seyenty years old, had before supplied him with pro-
visions, and now invited him to join him. Charles was
neither acquainted with the unbounded plains of the Ukraine,
the relation of the different tribes of Cossacks to one
another, nor the influence which Mazeppa had amongst
them. Hitherto he had cruelly harassed the Cossacks, and
now he appeared among them at once, without having pie*
viously concluded any agreement either with them or their
hetman. Mazeppa, mdeed, with his army passed over iiie
Desna ; his followers, however, believed they were being led
against Charles, and deserted their hetman as soon as his
views were known, because they had more to fear from
Peter than to hope from Charles. The hetman joined tihe
Swedes with only 7000 men, but Charles prosecuted his
march and despised every warning. He passed the Desnia ;
the country on the further side became more and more
desolate, and appearances more melancholy, for the winter
was one of the most severe ; hundreds of brave Swedes were
frozen to death because Charles insisted upon pursuing his
march even in December and January. The civil war in
Poland in the mean time raged more violently than ever,
and Peter sent divisions of his Eussians to harass and per-
secute the partisans of Stanislaus. The three men who
stood in most immediate relation to the Swedish king, Piper,
Ehenschiold, and Levenhaupt, belonged, indeed, to the
greatest men of their centuiy; but they vrere sometimes
disunited in their opinions, and sometimes incensed und
harassed by the obstinacy of the king.
Mazeppa fell a sacrifice to his connexion with Charleid, liia
residence (Baturin) was destroyed by Mentchikof, and his
faithful Cossacks, upon Peter's demand, were obliged to
choose another hetman (November, 1708). Neither Piper
nor Mazeppa could move the obstinate king to relinquish his
march towards the ill-fortified city of Poltava. Mazieppa
represented to him in vain that, by an attack upon Poltava,
he would excite the Cossacks of the Palls (Zaporogues)
against him ; and Piper entreated him, to no purpose, to
draw nearer to the Poles, who were favourable to his caufie,
JlJ). 1709] BATTLE OF POLTAYA. 289
and to march towards theDniepr; he continued, however,
to sacrifice his men by his march, till, in February (1709), a
thaw set in. He was successful in gaining the favour of the
Zaporogues through their hetman, Horodenski; but fortune
had altogether forsaken the Swedes since Januaiy. In
that month they were in possession of Moprik ; in February,
the battles at Gbronodek and Eashevka were decided m
favour of the Eussians; in March, Sheremetef took Ga-
ditch, which was occupied by the Swedes, and thereby
gave a position to the TBussian army which could not but
OTove destructive to the Swedes, who were obliged to besiege
IPoltava without the necessary means, because their intract-
able king insisted upon the siege. In April and May, the
Swedes exerted themselves in vain in throwiijg up trenches
before the miserable fortifications of Poltava, whilst the
Eussians were inclosing them in a net. One part of the
Eussians had already passed the Vorskla in May, and Peter
had no sooner arrived, in the middle of June, than the whole
army passed the river, in order to offer a decisive engage-
ment to the invaders.
Ehenschiold acted as commander-in-chief at the battle of
Poltava; for Charles had received a dangerous wound in
his foot ten days before, and was unable to mount his
horse. The Swedes on this day performed miracles of
bravery, but everything was against them, for the Eussians
fought this time at least for their country, and had at length
gained experience in the field. The defeat of the Swedes is
easily explained, when it is known that they were in want of
all the munitions of war, even powder and lead, that they
were obliged to storm the enemy's fortifications in opposi-
tion to an overwhelming numerical force, and that Leven-
jbaupt and Ehenschiold were so much disunited in opinioD,
that the former, in his report of the engagement at Poltava,
makes the bitterest complaints against the cemmander-in-
d]tief, which have since that time been usually adopted by all
historians. Of the whole Swedish army, only 14,000 or
15,000 under Levenhaupt and Kreuz succeeded in erecting
an ill-fortified camp on the Dniepr, where they were shut up
by the Eussians and the river. This small force might pos-
sibly have succeeded in fighting its way into Poland, and
Ghiurles had at first adopted this determination; he was,
TOL. I. V
HiABOBr ov mmiAu [os. xxp^
however, m&. grmi trouble, indocdd to pass the Dmeipt,
andy aceompttmed by a small guard, to talce zefbge in Tur-
kej. His plaa was to reach the Bug amv the pasture kudB
whieh then bdlonged to the Tatars on fkm Black Sea, aid,
added by ike Tu^a and Idie Tatars, to make his iraj first to
Otehakof and then to Bender, whence he hoped to per-
soade the Turics to take part in tike Foiiak affiiir». As soon
aa the king had escaped (10th July, 1709), Levenhanpt,
mouoaing over the sacrifiee which the wilfulness of Chanes
had brought upon his Swedes, concluded a capitulation, in
virtue of which ail the baggage aad artilliery were suv^
rendered to the Busfidaos, together with the remnant of tihe
Swedish army, which, calculating l^ose who had been taken
prisoners in the battle, amounted in all to about 18,000
m^i.
Charles's flight to Bender, and his long residence of five
years in Turkey, were the most fitvoupable events which cooid
Bttve occurred for the accomplishment of Peter's great plans.
He waa now master in Poland. In the Swedish, G^rman^
and Prench adventurers who had been in Charles's army, he
received the very best instructors of his people. Among
those who entered into his service, there were experienced
officers, artillerymen, architects, and engineers. The Swedes,
wbo for thirteen years long were neither set at liberty nor
received from their impoverished country ihe usual support
of prison^fs of war, were distributed over the whcde of
Bussia, and sent far. into Siberia. They founded schools and
institutions, in order to get a livelihood, and used their know-
ledge and experience against their will for the promotion of
Peter's designs. This was the more uuportant^ as there was
not a man among those many thousand prisoners who was
not ia a condition to teach the Bussians to whom he came
something of immediate utility, drawn from his experience
in his native *land. Many never returned to their homes,
because they had raised up institutions, and commenced
xmdertakings which were aa advantageous to themselves as
to the Bussian empire.
The victory of Poltava was immediately followed by an-
other combination against Sweden. Augustus prepared to
reieover his throne ; and Peter met him at Thorn (October,
1709), where they entered into a secret alliance. Peter,
JuJ>, 1710] EESULTS or »HB TLCJOSX 0F POLTAVA. 201
without amy iiiea of fulfilling kia ^EL^aagemesoi^ pxomified
Liyonia to the Poles ; aad Augustus agreed in return that
Estbonia and all the other Baltic provinces E^ould be united
with EuBsia. This was kept secret; whilst publicly ihej
spoke only of a defensive alliance^ in which JPoIand, Prussia,
]>eniDark,. and Saxony were the contracting parties. Peter
alone was the gainer : Augustus travelled, caroused, gambled,
and o£Eended the Poles. The king of Denmark suffered a
disgraceful defeat in his attack on the southern provinces of
Sweden ; Prussia became afraid, and hesitated, whilst Peter
isieessantly followed up his own plans even in Polish Prussia.
He took Elbiog by storm, and kept possesion of it, although
the cession of that country had been promised, to the king of
Prussia; Russians were scattered about in every part of
Poland ; Riga was besieged, and after a brave deduce eta^-
tured (June, 1710). The same &te befel Vyborg, Kexholm,
Revel, Pemau, and the island of Oesel. Ey^i the German
posses&aons of Sweden w^e threatened simultaneously by
the Russians, Panes, Prussians, and Saxons.
In Moscow the year 1710 was ushered in with a solemnity
most agreeable to a people who had been a|)prehenfflve of
seeing their capital in possession of those very Swedes who
were now led through it in triumph. The artillery of the
vanquished, their colours and standards, their king's litter,
the soldiers, oflBlcers, generals, and ministers of the captive
Swedes, all on foot, moved in solemn procession under seven
magnificent arches, attended with the ringing of bells, the
sound of trumpets, volleys from a hundred pieces of cannon,
and the acclamations of an immense multitude. The victors
on horseback, with the generals at their head, and Peter in
his rank of major-general, closed the procession. At each
tsiumphal arch stood the deputies of the several orders of
the state ; and at the last was a chosen band of young noble-
men, the sons of boyars,in a Roman dress, who presented the
victorious monarch with a crown of laureL
This public festival was succeeded by another ceremony,
that afforded no less satisfaction than the former. In the
year 1708 happened an incident, the more disagreeable to
the Russians as Peter was at that time unprosperous in war.
Mateof, his ambassador to the court of London, having ob-
tained an audience of leave of queen Anne, was arrested for
u2
2d2 HI8T0BY OP BirSSIA. [OH. XXIY.
iebt, at the suit of some English merchants, and obliged to gire
bail. The merchants insisted that the laws of commerce were
of a superior nature to the privileges of ambassadors : on the
other hand Mateof, and all the other foreign ministers who
espoused his cause, maintained that their persons ought to
be sacred. Peter, by his letters to queen Anne, strongly-
insisted upon having satisfaction : but she could not comply
with his desire, since by the laws of England the merchants
had a right to sue for their just demands ; and there was no
law to exempt foreign ministers from being arrested for debt.
The murder of Fatkul, the czar's ambassaidor, who had been
executed the preceding year by order of Charles XII., was
in some measure an encouragement to the people of England
not to respect a character so grossly abused. The other
foreign ministers residing then in London, were obliged to
be bound for Mateof: and all that the queen could do in
favour of the czar, was to prevail on the parliament to pass
an act whereby it was no longer lawful to arrest an am-
bassador for debt ; but after the battle of Poltava it be-
came necessary to give a more public satisfaction to that
prince. The queen by a formal embassy made an excuse for
what had passed. Mr. Whitworth,* who was chosen for
this ceremony, opened his speech with the words : " Most
high and most mighty emperor." He told the czar that
the queen had imprisoned the persons who had presumed
to arrest his ambassador, and that the delinquents had been
lendered infamous. There was not a word of truth in this ;
but the acknowledgment was sufficient; and the title of
emperor, which the queen had not given Peter before the
battle of Poltava, plainly showed the degree of estimation to
which he was now raised in Europe.
The progress of the allies against Sweden was the cause
of no little uneasiness to the naval powers and the emperor
of G^ermany, who eagerly offered themselves as mediators.
Charles declared that he would willingly accept their media-
tion as to Denmark and Poland, but declined it altogether
with respect to Russia.
About this time Charles neither could nor ought to have
accepted any agreement in which the Russians were in-
• February 16, 1710. He was created Lord Whitworth by king
6eorgeL
A.3). 1711] CAMPAIttir OP THE PEUTH. 29S
eluded, because he began at length to see his cabals crowned
with success, and his hopes realised in Constantinople. The
Turks were vnlling to declare war against Sussia, and the
advantage was altogether on their side. Disputes had been
carried on between Peter and the Turks ever since 1704, on
the subject of the augmentation of his fleets in the Black
Sea, and the fortification of Asof and Taganrok ; but these
disputes had hitherto always been brought to a friendly
termination, and the Turks had at last (September, 1709)
formally renewed their treaty with the Eussians. When
Numan Kuprili afterwards caused a general war-cry in the
country hj his imprudence, the new grand vizier, Mehemet
Baltadschi, was obliged to make the necessary preparations
for war, and a declaration of hostilities was actually pub-
lished in November, 1710.
This occurred about the same time in which Peter had got
full possession of Livonia and Esthonia, and, by the conces-
sion of a constitution and privileges, had gained over the
nobility of both provinces to his cause ; and he was now
seeking in like manner to draw over the princes of Moldavia
and Yallachia to his interests. In a treaty agreed to at
Lutzk (April, 1711), Demetrius Cantemir promised his aid
to the Eussians in the Turkish war, and obtained in return
ail assurance of Eussian protection, and of the hereditary
descent in his family of the princely dignity of Moldavia.
In this year (1711) Peter anticipated the Turks in their
attack: he descended the Dniestr with his army, and ap-
peared to threaten Bender, but allowed himself to be allured
to the Pruth by the treacherous invitations of the hospo-
dars of Moldavia and Vallachia. Demetrius Cantemir and
Brancovan pretended that Peter would be able to seize upon
considerable Turkish magazines, situated on the further side
of the Pruth, although none had been established there ;
this led . him away from the Dniestr to the Pruth, and at
length induced him to pass that river. He now appeared
to be master of Moldavia and Vallachia, for he himself was
received with pomp in Jassy, and Sheremetef with his army
had been in Vallachia since March.
His jov, however, was short. The grand vizier, Mehemet
Baltadschi, with an unusually numerous army, and 100,000
Tatars, advanced to the Pruth, and threatened altogether to
294 HI8T0BT OP BUfiSIA. [CH. XXIV.
cat off Sheremetef ; Peter hastened to meet the TuiIcb, m
order to keep open the eommnnieationB and to assist hn
general. The Turks "wete in position near Ealtsc^i ; Peternas
&r from his own comitEy and destitute of provisions ; he
finally encamped (July, 1711) on a narrow piece of mund be-
tween the Fruth and a morass. In this imfayourabie poflitmi
of the Russians, the whole series of engagements which to^
plaee during two days, with single divisions, were entireiy
adverse to their cause, and the main Russian army was
obliged to retire into their camp; Konne and Janus and
their divisions were wholly separated from Peter, who um
himself quickly shut up on all sides. The Russian army had
in their rear the Khan of the Tatars; around thmn, die
river, the morass, and the Turkish army : the czar himself
was prostrated by a fearful attack of disease, and yet Ws
mind never showed itself greater than at this very moment.
His magnanimity on this occasion is proved by ms dedanir
tion sent to the Russian s^iate. ** I announoe to you," he
tdls th«n,^that deceived by false intelligence, and liirough
no &ult of mine, I am here shut up in my camp by a Turkirfi
army four times more numerous than my own, our provisions
cut off, and on the point of being cut to pieces or taken 'pn-
soners, unless Heaven comes to our aid in scnne tinexpeefced
manner. If it befal that I am taken by the Tm^, you wffl
no longer consider me your czar and lord, nor pay regard to
any order that may be brought you on my part, nd; ev€«i
though you may see my hand signed to it ; but you will wait
until I come myself in person. If I am destined to perish
here, and you receive w^-confiimed news of my death, then
you will cuoose for my success^ the worthiest «mony yo«."*
The Russian army asid their emperor now seemed tdtofy
lost, when Catharine, whom Peter had already made his wife,
but to whom he had not given the title or dignity of
empress, was i^e means of delivering them from thair
despair, an event which surprised no one -move that
Ohailes XIT, in Bender. Ohartes, in the most imprud^
* At this time Peter^s son AkxiB wnM tireotj-one yean of age. It
iserident that tiie idea of ezdudixig 1mi tern ti» tbraoe ind alpeady
takeaiiold of Ihe cbotIb mind.
▲•9« 1711] OAMXAiaV OF ISO SS17TH. 295
iBBimar, hsA ^eroualf izLsolted tke grand ymer by his
ioBoleiit and oontemptiums eondact, and eE^peciallj uyiB"
clining his invitation to visit him in his camp. Peter'awijfe,
Gathaxine, Icnew how to win the vizier's favosir hj hmniiia-
tiiMi axid presents. The peaee concludaed on the Fruth, wbaeh
Catharine efiecied, utiLI remains a riddle, because the preBents
wMdi she had it in her power to offer to him and his kiaga,
evesi if we add all that she could collect irom tiie soldiers
and officers to her own jewels and ftirs, seem qdte insignifi.-
eant for such a poipofie. Certain it is, however, that these
prBBents paved the way to a peace, and that it was aflber-
wards charged as a crime against the Turkish afficiak, ihat
the monej and vahiables were found in their possession.^
The unexpectBd news of negotiatdonB for peaee at length
dxew Charles into the Turkish head-quarters, but he was
unable to prevent the conclusion of the prelinunacies, or the
libaration of ihe Bussiaus from their grievous coiidition;
and in fact the peace was honourable and advantageous far
the Turks, who had taken the field for themselves, and
not for Sweden and Poland. In the preamble to the treat|^,
Feter admitted that he accepted it as an act of grace : tbzs
satisfied the pride of the Turks: Asof was to be r^stosed;
SLaminietz, Samara, Taganrok, were to be rased, and the
ItoBsian artillery was to be surEendered to the Turks. With
rei^ct to Charles, the solitary conditLan was inserted, for
farm's sake, that Peter was not to oppose his xetum to
* The case has been bo often ezamined, iskait we do aot xaeaa to
trouble our readers with an inquiry into the probability or improba-
bility of the bribery. Minute accounts of the circumstances stated
above will be found in the ** Hist Osman,* part vii. p. 157. A fuU
kii|iixry has also been made by Le Glerc, '* Hist, de la Bvssie Andemie''
(YeEBaaUes, 1784, 4to), voL lii. pp. 324-334. To the maayproofs Alrudy
g^ven, we shall add that of a oontemporaiy (liie same who had a yeary
singular adyenture with Catharine). Villebois relates the history of
the peace at great length. Catharine, he says, learned from Tolstoy's
letters the ararice of the kaimakan and the grand yiner, and she her-
sdf gave her inetruetions in the presence of Peter to an offioer of Iflie
guard, to whom she had entrusted the deliyery of the yalnables. Yil-
leSNUS says, that she not onJiy gave her own jewds and ftai, hat
that she rode through the ranks, and represented that there was now
no means of escape but orer a golden l)ridge, and thus moyed the
sdldien and cffioers to ooiriaffbute tiieirs.
296 HISTOBT OF BUSSLl. [OH. XXDT^
SwedeD, nor to obstruct it in any way; lie promised also to
interfere no further with the a&irs of the Poles and Cob«
sa^.
The czar had no sooner placed Sheremetef and his chan-
cellor as hostages in the hands of the Turks, as a pledge- of
the fulfilment of the preliminaries, than he hastened to
bring himself and his army into a place of security, to avoid
the chances of the vizier's change of opinion. The news of
a sudden and favourable peace was at first indeed received
in Constantinople with joy, but the representations of the
Swedish deputies, and of the enemies of the grand vizier who
had been won by them, combined with a report of the
presents which had been brought into the camp on the
xiight before the conclusion of the peace, quicWy altered the
sultan's opinion. The grand vizier s disgrace was not, how-
ever, communicated to him so long as he was at the head of
the army ; but no sooner had he arrived at Adrianople, and
the most dangerous portion of the troops been separated-
from him, than the storm broke out. Tne sultan deposed
Mehemet Baltadschi, and caused all those to be executed
who, under the influence of Russian presents, had either
advised the conclusion of a peace, or had proposed its con-
ditions.
Peter in the mean time had fulfilled none of those con-
ditions. He left his troops in Poland, and relied upon
cabals, upon bribery, and the grand vizier and his friends.
This last hope was now, indeed, wholly frustrated by the
deposition of the vizier, and a new declaration of war fol-
lowed in the course of the succeeding month (December,
1711), founded especiallv upon the czar's non-compliancy
with the conditions of the peace, because he had delayed
rasing the fortresses, and made no arrangements for declaring'
that portion of the Ukraine independent, which was inha-
bited by the Cossacks under the protection of the Turks.
England and Holland, in the mean time, tried to work in
opposition to the Swedes and French in ConstantinoplO'
Eussian money flowed into the hands of the avaricious
Turkish officials, whilst Charles abused the rights of hosp-
tality in Bender ; and in order to extort loans by his ob-
stinacy, he offered opposition by force and arms, when an
attempt was made to compel him to return to his kingdoxo.
A,I>. 1712-13] PEACE WITH TUBKET. 297
The Eo^lisli and Dutch were bo fortunate in their labours,
as ta bring about another peace before the opening of the
campaign in the next spring (1712), but Peter was as little
in earnest about the fulfilment of its conditions with respect
to the Ukraine as he had been in the previous treaty.
Charles and his fidends used all their endeavoiurs for seven
months to bring about a new war, and to make the sultan
su^iciouB of his ministers. In autumn their efforts appeared
to nave been crowned with success. The vizier who had
concluded the last peace was also degraded, and his successor,
seven days after his appointment (19th November, 1712),
published a third declaration of war against the Russians.
Charles, however, gained nothing by this step, for the new
grand vizier and the sultan continually and seriously im»
portuned him to hasten his departure from Turkey. Finally,
his hopes of being able to invade Poland with a Turkish
army were completely frustrated by a new treaty of peace
which was concluded between Russia and Turkey, under
English and Dutch mediation, in May, 1713.
CHAPTEE XXV.
PBTBB'S AOQTJISITIOirS IK THB NOBTH — OPEEATIOITS IW PO-
HEBAKIA, &C. STEIKBOCK AKD HIS ABMY MADE PBIS01<rBBS
— IICTBIOTJES or GOBTZ — ^NAVAL VICTOBT OP ALAND.
The imfortunate campaign of the Pruth was of worse con-
sequence to the czar than the battle of Narva ; by that defeat
he had profited so as to recover all his losses and dispossess
Charles XII. of In^a; but by the treaty of Paltschi,
besides losing all his harbours and fortresses on the Sea
of Asof, he was also to renounce the sovereignty of the
Black Sea. His enterprises still afforded him a large field
for action ; and he alone, before the end of the war with
Charles XII., reaped the &uit of his vigorous efforts and his
numerous sacrifices. He founded the empire which was to
inherit the title and the power of Charlemagne, whilst the
Soman empire, which the ktter had founded, was become the
derision of the world.
298 BIMtOVY OF Birssii. [ge. ±xv.
. Beter had oremm Livonia, Esthonia, Zngria, Ganik, and
pntof Einlaiiid; and bj tlie mairiage of hia nieoe, aaitaftev-
waids appeared, brought Couiriiand into subjection to Bnsaia.
"Hm nieoe Anna was married to Frederick William, dnfae of
Gmniand, on which occasion the life and cnatoms of the
time, espedallj in the north, were exhibited in all tiieir
barbarity. The newly-mamed duke was obliged to indulge
to aach an extent in immoderate drinking during ^e
festivitieB consequent upon the marriage, that he brought
his life to an early termination (January, 1711). The car
ayailed himself of this unexpected deatii to exclude ihe
brotiier of the deceased duke, to daim the province as a
settlement on the widow, and cause the administration to
be earned on in the name of tiie grand-duchess. The custom
of immoderate drinking, which proved &tal to the duke of
Oourland, was taken ^vantage of by Peter, as w^ aa by
diplomatists in general, to promote their political objeets.
B!e compelled ms guests, according to Bussian usage, to
drink brandy, that he might the more easily extract tiie
secrets of his nobles and the foreign ambassadors, or destroy
them.*
Peter would very willingly have established a firm footing
in Germany ; and the campaign of the two kings of Poland
and Denmark, which ended unsuccessfully, as well as the
dispute which soon afber occurred between the duk» of
Mecklenburg and his nobles, seemed to him to ofier ^ fitting
opportunity. Peter had been in Oarlsbad in the summer of
lyll ; he afterwards travelled to Dresden, and married his
son Alexis, heir to his throne, to a princess of Wolf(Mibuttel,
sister-in-law of the emperor Oharles VI.; and finally, when
* VilleboiB, who eKa^gerates aofhing, W«her m hu '' JUtered
KnaBla," and BasiewitK, aie inexhaustible in Anecdotes with xespect
to immoderate drinldng. Yillebois informs us how he was sent by
Peter to Catharine, who gave him an audience in bed, that he took
improper liberties with her in a fit of drunkenness, was arrested and
condemned, "pour deux ans k hi ^haine," but was really kept to no
labour, and shortiy a^berwaids veitcsed to atU hia oflEieea, baoane
i^ater seeded bis aerrioes. He atates eziaretsly, that Peter wtts m the
habit cf canningly extractmg secrets from his guests when intoxicated,
and writing them down in his pocket-book, and that he removed
many a man out of the way who had revealed bis mind in -^taa
A»D. 1712] STEHTBOCK DSFBATfl THE BAXJOlfS AND DA37ES. ^99
tfae Banes, tlireateoaed by tlid Swedes, retreated to Holdtekii
be sent a Busaiaa axmj ixader Mentcbikof, GalitziB,.Bepmii,
and Bailee, to Pocnerania, in ocder to jodn and aAsiat tbe
SaxoiDfi in the sieges of Stettin and Stralsiand. Peter bad
then still hopes ^at it woiiLd be possible to iarain Alexis
for A ruler, and gave him ohaige of the campaign. He 1^
Mentchikof with the army as his own substitute, recommanded
hijn to provide magazines, to spare the conntiy, and to
puziish every act of violence with death. This, however, was
all to no purpose, as Mentchikof emulated the common Bua-
aians in robbery and destruction. He compelled the inha-
bitants of Dankzig to pa^ him 400,000 dollars, and Peter
escorted 100,000 &om l^a ; but again, in the oommenoe-
ment of the following year, oiSered the emperor of Germany
30,000 Eussians to serve against Erance, if he would confer
upcm him the rank of a member of the empire, and invest
hLn with livonia as an imperial fief. This will explain the
reason why Louis XIV., or his banker, in the following year,
helped Steinbeck out of his perplexity, when he had no
money to pay his troops, however little Charles XII. oon-
ceraoed himself about France.
Count Steinbeck, general of Charles's army, little eipecited
such a aupply at a time when his troops -weaee on the poiiit
of breaking out into a mutiny. Seemg the storm gather
about him, and having nothing but promises to avert it,
fearing aLso to be hemmed in by thnee anaues of Russiasui,
Duieog and Saxons, he had proposed a 4)eB8ation of anns, And
sent a courier to Bendinr, representing to the king the d^
plcffable atate of his affairs, and informing him that tiie
gRoposal of the armistice was a step of absohite necessity.
The courier had not been gone l^iree days, when SteinbDck
leeeived fram the Paris banker two hundred thousand crowns ;
whiish, in a desolate country, and at that time •especially, was
an inunense treasure. Elate with this supply, he encouraged
his army, procured stores and reoruiks, ana saw himself at the
head of twelve thoiteand men, so that inrtead of seeking Sox a
BUfiuenfiian of azans, all his thoughts w^?e bent <m fightukg.
Steinbocdc now inarched along the Wismar load towards
the combined troops of the Eussians, Saxons, and Danes ^ he
soon found himself near the Danish and Saaon armies, the
Bussians being three leagues behind. The czar aent.thjee
800 HI8T0BT OP BUSSIA. [CH. JiXT.
couriers dose after each other to the king of Denmark, de-
sirina^ him to wait his coming up, and representing the danger
of fighting the Swedes without a superiority in number. Hie
king of Denmark, averse to sharing the honour of a victory
of which he had made himself sure, advanced against thie
Swedes, and attacked them near a place called Gadebusch.
This action was a fresh instance of the .extreme enmity be*
tween the Swedes and Danes, the officers of both nations
furiously rushing on each other, and falling dead with mutual
wounds.
Steinbock had gained the victory before the Eussians could
reach the field of battle ; but this victory was like that which
had given a moment's comfort to king Augustus, when in
the course of his misfortunes he had won the battle of
Kalish against the Swedes, who were everywhere conquerors.
The victory of Kalish aggravated Augustus's losses, and that
of G^adebusch only retarded the ruin of Steinbock and his
armv.
The king of Sweden, on advice of Steinbeck's victory,
imagined his afiairs again on a good footing. He even be-
lieved that he should be able to bring the Ottoman empire
to declare a new war against the czar. In this hope he ordered
Steinbock to march into Poland, ever flattering himself, on
the least success, that the times of Narva, when he used to
give law, were returning : these imaginations were soon after
quashed by the affair at Bender, and his captivity in Turkey.
All the consequence of the victory of Gadebusch was the
reducing to ashes in the night the little town of Altona, in-
habited by traders and manufacturers ; a defenceless place^ .
and which, not having taken arms, should not have been
molested. It was totally destroyed : several of the inhabi-
tants perished in the flames, and others, especially the aged,
and children, who had fled from the conflagration, died with
fatigue and cold at the gates of Hamburg.* This horrible
and petty advantage was all that Steinbock obtained ; the
Bussians, Danes, and Saxons pursued him so closely after
his victory, that he was obliged to solicit shelter for himself
and his army in Tonningen, a fortified place in Holstein.
* Norberg, the king's chaplain and oonfessor, in his history, coolly
says, that general Steinbock set fire to the town only because he had
not carriages to bring away the fomitnie.
A.D. 1712] AFPAIBS or HOLSTJBnT. 801
Holstein was at that time one of the most desolated
countries in the north, and its sovereign one of the most
nnhappy princes ; he was Charles the Twelfth's own nephew*
It was for his father, brother-in-law to this monarch, that
Charles before the battle of T^arva had carried his arms to
Copenhagen itself; and it was for him that he had made the
treaty of Travendal, by which the dukes of Holstein recovered
their rights. The king of Denmark and the duke of Holstein-
Gottorp were of the same house ; yet the duke, nephew to
Charles XII. and his presumptive heir, had an hereditary
aversion to the king of Denmark, who was oppressing him in
his minority. The bishop of Lubeck, a brother of his father's,
and administrator of this unfortunate pupil's dominions, saw
himself between the Swedish army, which he durst not assist,
and the Eussian, Danish, and Saxon army, which threatened
extremities. Endeavours, however, were to be used for saving
Charles's troops, without giving offence to the king of Den-
mark, who was now become master of the country, and drain-
ingit of all its substance.
The bishop-administrator of Holstein was entirely governed
by the famous baron Gortz, the most crafty and enter-
prising of men. Gortz had a private conference with Stein-
bock at Usum, and promised nim he would deliver into his
hands the fortress of Tonningen, without bringing into ques-
tion the bishop-administrator his master ; and at the same
time the king of Denmark received assurances from him that
it should not be delivered up. Steinbock appeared before
Tonningen ; the governor refused to open the gates : this
prevented all cause of complaint from tne king of Denmark
against the bishop-administrator ; but Gortz caused an order
for admitting the Swedish army into Tonningen to be made
Qjit in the name of the young duke. Stamke, the cabinet
secretary, added the duke's signature : thus Gortz only im-
plicated a child, who had no right as yet to give orders : at
the same time he served the king of Sweden, whose favour
he was courting, and he obliged the bishop-administrator, his
master, who appeared not to consent to the admission of the
Swedish army. The governor of Tonningen, who was easily
practised on, delivered up the town to the Swedes ; and Gortz
cleared himself as well as he could with the king of Denmark,
protesting that all had been done contrary to his advice.
802 HISTOBT 07 BTTSSIA. [CH. XXV.
T&0iigh the Swedisli army ttbs thu^ receired, part into the
town and part under its cannon, yet this did not saye it :
general Steinbock was obliged to surrender liimself prisoner
of war with eleven thousand men, as about sixteen thousand
had surrepdered after the battle of Poltava. It was agreed
that Steinbeck, with his ofBAers and soldiers, might be ran-
somed or exdianged ; Steinbeck's ransom was settled at eight
thousand imperial crowns ; an inconsiderable sum, jet for
want of it that general remained a prisoner at Copenhagen
till his death. The territories of Holstein continued under
the discretion of an incensed conqueror; and the young dtdte
was the object of the king- of Denmark's revenge, for ^e
abuse which GOrtz had made of his name. Thus Charles the
Twelfth's whole family became inyolved in his misfortunes.
GKirtz, though his schemes were baffled, still intent on
aeting a capital part in this confasion, reassumed a project
he had entertained of procuring a neutrality for the OTedish
possessionB in Germany.
The king of Denmark was at the gates of Tcmningen;
Gtforge, elector of Hanover, coveted the duchies of Bremen
and Verden, with the town of Stade ; Erederiek "William, the
new Mug of Prussia, had cast his eye on Stettin ; and Peter I.
was preparing to make himself master of Finland. Thus a
Ssrtition was projected of all Charles the Twelfth's foreign
ominions ; but the problem Gortz proposed to himself was to
reconcile such a variety of interests with their neutrality.
He negotiated, at the same time, with all the princes con-
cerned : day and night he was posting from one province to
another; he prevailed with the governor of Bremen and
Verden to deliver up those two duchies to the elector of
Hanover in sequestration, lest the Danes might seize on
them for themselves. By his address with the king of
Prussia, that prince consented to take on him the seques-
tration of Stettin and "Wismar, jointly with Holstein ; by
which means the king of Denmark would no longer molest
Holstein, nor get entrance into Tonningen. It was certainly
an odd way of serving Charles XII. to put his territories
and strong places into the hands of those who might keep
them for ever ; but Gortz, by putting those powers in pos-
se'ssion of the towns, by way of hostage, forced them to a
neutrality, at least for some time ; hoping that afterwards
jus. 1713] wsiOOTiAXLOiSB a:b&ut BTETTrsr. 30i
Hanover aad BeandieiibuTg Bu^t be induced ta dedaxe &r
SwedeiiL He waa also bringiiig into bis views tbe king of
Foknd, wbose rained dominions stood in immediate need of
peace : in ^bort, be was for rendering binuielf a necessary
maa t& all tbe princes. He dispose^ of Cbarles tbe Twelftb's
potBUQony as a guardian, wbo i^ save one part of tbe estate
of a pupil redueed to distress, and incapable of transacting
his i^Sairs bimseJf, sacrifices tbe otber. All tbis be did witb^-
out aay formal legation, witbout any otber autbority for bis
procedures tban a commission from tbe bisbop of Lubeck^
wbo bimaelf was in no way autbcaised by Cbarles.
At first all tbings went well ; G-ortz concluded a treaty
witb tbe king of Prussia (June, 1713), by wbicb tbis monarcb
engaged, on bolding Stettin in sequestration^ to preserve tbe
xest of Fomerania for Cbarles XII. In conaequ^iee of tbis
treaty, €K)rtz proposed to Meyerfeld, governor of Pomerania,
for tbe fecilitating of a peace, to deliver up Stettin to tbe king
of Prussia, believing tbe Swede, wbo was governor of Stettin,
ncdgbt be as pliant as the Holsteiner governor of Tonningen ;
but Cbarles' s officers were not used to obey such orders.
Meyerfeld ansfwesed, tbat if Stettiu was entered, it sbould be
over bis body and tbe ruins of tbe plaee. He acquainted bis
master with l^s strange overture: tbe couxier found Cbarles
a captive of Bemirtasb, afber bis adventure at Bender. It
was then questioned wbetber Cbarles would not be detained
prisoner in Turkey all bis life, and be sent to some island in
tbe Arcbipelago or Asia. Cbarles, in bis obscure confine*
ment, sent to Meyerfeld tbe y&j same order be bad sent to
Steinboek; tbat be must die sooner tban submit to tbe
enemy ; and be as inflexible as bimself.
GOrtz seeing tbat aU bis measures were disconcerted by
tbe governor of Stettin, wbo would not bear of any neutrality
or sequestration, formed tbe project not only of baving Stettin
sequsestrated, but also Stralsund; and be found means to
brmg tbe king of Poland, elector of Saxony, into a like
treaty for St^und, as be bad made witb tbe elector of
Brandenbua^ for Stettiu. He clearly saw it was impossible
for tbe Swedes to keep tbose places witbout money and an
azmy; and by tbese sequestrations be boped to remove tiie-
scourge of war from all tbe nortb. Denmark itself listened
to G-ortz's negotiations. Pnnce Mentcbikof, tbe ezar-s gene-
804 HI8T0BT OF BVBSIi.. [OH. XXV.
Tal and favourite, eagerly came to his lure, being made to
believe that Holstein might be giyen up to his mastw the
czar : he cajoled that monarch with the plan of drawing a
canal from Holstein into the Baltic, an undertaking than
which nothing could have been thought of more to the turtje
of that enterprising founder ; and especially with the aequi-
cdtion of a new power in becoming one of the princes of the
German empire, and thus being entitled to a vote at the
diet of Eatisbon, which he could always second with a gdod
army.
The many different forms this volunteer negotiator as-
sumed, the various ways he turned himself, and the many
parts he acted, are without a parallel. He even enga^d
prince Mentchikof to destroy that same city of Stettin which
that general was for saving, and to bombard it, that Meyet-
feld the governor might be obliged to deliver it up <hi se-
questration. Thus he ventured to offend the king of Sweden,
whom he desired to please, and whom, indeed, to his misfor-
tune, he afterwards pleased too much.
The king of Prussia seeing that a Eussian army was bom-
barding Stettin, began to fear that the place was lost to him,
and would fall into the hands of Eussia. This was the verj
point to which Qortz wanted to bring him. Prince Ment-
chikof wanting money, he procured him a loan of four hun-
dred thousand crowns from the king of Prussia, and after-
wards had the governor of the place treated with, when tbs
^[uestion was put to him : Which had you rather see, Stettin
in ashes under the dominion of Eussia, or entrusted to the
king of Prussia, who will restore it to the king your nw**^
The commandant at length complied. Mentchikof enter^
the city, and having received tne four hundred thousand
crowns, delivered it up with all its districts to the Icing or
Prussia, who, for form's sake, admitted two Holstein ba^"
lions into it ; but this part of Pomerania was never restored-
Saron Gortz, after setting so many springs in motioftj
could not prevail on the Danes to spare the prpvince of Hol-
stein, and lay aside their design on Tonningen. He failed id
what seemed to be his chief scope ; but in everything else be
succeeded, and especially in becoming a person of importance
in the north, which Was indeed his main design. ,
The elector, of Hanover had already secured Bremen 9m
a;I>. 17141 ITAVAL VICTOET OP ALAITD. . 305
Yerden, Charles XII. being dispossessed of itY4Jie Saxons
were before his city of Wismar ; Stettin was in the hands of
the king of Prussia ; the Bussians were going to besiege
Stralsund, in conjunction with the Saxons, who were already
in the island of Eugen ; and the czar, in the midst of so many
negotiations about neutralities and partitions, had made a
descent in Finland. After having hunself pointed the artil«
lery before Stralsund, leaving the rest to his allies and prince
Mentchikof, he embarked in the month of May on board a
fifty-gun ship built from a model of his own at Petersburg,
Slid steered for Finland, followed by ninety-two galleys and
one hundred and ten half-galleys, with sixteen thousand land
forces.
The descent was made at Helsingfors (May 22, 1713);
the difficulties were many, yet it succeeded : an attack was
made by way of diversion on one part, whilst the descent
was carried on in another ; thus the troops landed, and took
the town. The czar pushing his success, made himself master
of Borgo and Abo, and commanded the whole coast. The
Swedes seemed now destitute of any further resource ; this
happening at that very time when the Swedish army under
Stembock had surrendered prisoners of war.
Prince Galitzin, one of Peter's generals, advanced from
Helsingfors, where the czar had landed, into the centre of
the country, to the town of Tavasthus, a post which covered
Bothnia, and was defended by some Swedish regiments, with
eight thousand militia. An action ensued (March 13, 1714)
in which the Eussians gained a complete victory, and dis-
persed the whole Swedish army ; they afterwards penetrated
as far as Yasa, making themselves master of the country to
the extent of fourscore leagues.
The Swedes had still a naval force with which they kept
the sea. . Peter, desirous above all things to signalise a navy
ef his own forming, had left Petersburg, and got together a
fleet of sixteen ships of the Ene, with one hundred and
eighty galleys fit for working through the rocks which
surround the isle of Aland, and other islands not far fr^m
the coast of Sweden. Here he met with the Swedish fleet,
which in large ships was much stronger than his, but in gal-
leys inferior, consequently better adapted to fight in open dea
tlian among rocks ; this was a superiority which the czar owe4
VOL. I. X
aOe HX0nWT OW smiKU. [CK. ZXXi
eoimiy to his'owii gesahuL He Bervad in his fletft as mkf-
Bduimt, and rec^ved orders 'firom adnanl Aprudsu Fete
daaiied to posBeu hiaiflelf of the ide of Alalia, wkiek k Irafc
tivelve lei^ea from Sweden ; jb. order to do thia he iKae to
pass withxD isight of the Swed^ fleet: this bold atteiDpt'wai
executed ; the gallejs deaied tiieir waj under the easmfn
cannon, wkidi indeed was not wdl served. The Eosoaas
got into Aland, and tiiis coast being almost erorywhere tvSL
ef rocks, eig^ity-four gallejs were dragged along a plank
road across ihd isthmos of Hango, and knnched again in ibe
sea. &eiiBchild, the Swedish admiral, oondttded he BhonU
have little difficulty in taking or sinking these eighi^gallejrs:
he therefore advanced towards them, but was receiyed m&.
snch a jBie as made a most terrible slaughter annoiig his
soldiers and sailors; his gaUeys and prames, with tibe sh^
on board of which he had his flag, wece taken, and ho
himsdf esoa^ang in a boat, was wounded, and at kngtk
obliged to surrender (August 8). He was brought on
board the galley which the czar himself manfleuYEed; the
remainder of the Swedish fleet got safe to Sweden, but tlv
eonstemation was such, that even Stockhoibn did not tiiink
itself safe. Neislot, the only fortress nemadning to tbe
Swedes on the western coast of Finland, was at ihe nmoe
tixne reduced by colonel Sbuvalc^ after a most obstinaie
nesastanoe.
The action of Aland, next to that of Poltava, was the most
glorious of Peter's life. Now master of Finland, tikd gpTeO!'
ment of which he left to prince GaUtEdn, after triumphixxg
over the whole naval force of Swedra, he returned to Peton-
bui^; the tempestuous season not allowing his longer sfci^
in the seas of iWand and Bothnia. On his way homewaBl,
a ^torm arose, which threatened to swallow up both the
victors and the vanquished. Peter threw himself iiito a
boat, contended with the tempest during a passage of two
sea le^uea, amidst deep darkness and umumerable reefii^
reached a port, lighted a beacon, and thus saved the whols
of his victoiy . Petersburg then witnessed another tnumphfll
procession. In this fi|)ectacle, the first ezhibitian was tiD0
bringing into Cronslot harbour of nine Swedish pliejih
seven prames crowded with prdsonors, ^md admiral lSx»
sdiild's ship.
iu1»^ 1714] HBIRBB'S WLASAS&tm. 90t
BuBfiaii fitg^ship had cm boavd i^e caonon, ccdours,
and BtaaiMdapdfl isakem in Hbe conquest of iHslaiid. Al tbese
spoils were carried to Petersburg, the EnuMnaa army xnaEdhiag
ioL Older ai baifetie. The triumphal ardi, whidh the cz&r,
accordi&g to custom, had himself designed, 'was deeoraitod
with idle emblems of «11 his Tietories ; under it passed ike
eooquaxirs, headed hj admiral Apraxin ; the esar iollomeSi
hska as Tear^admiral, and the oi^er officers aco(!HFding to their
isasBk ; ihey^ weee all presented to the vice-czar Bomadoncxfski,
who distributed gold medals among the officers, and. every
soldier and sailor had one of silver. The Swedish prisoners
also passed under this arch : and admiral Erenschild imme-
diately followed the czar, his conqueror. On coming to the
throne, where the vice-czar sat, admiral Apraxin presented
to him rear-admiral Peter, who, in obedience to a command
from the throne, submitted an oral report of the engage-
ment. Apra.xin th^i solicited for his comrade the rank <0f
vice-admiral, in recampense of his services: this elaim,
which had been once before preferred and i^tjected, wm now
admitted without demur.
After this august comedy, Peter, resuming the caar, tiius
addressed the Eussians around him: — "Priends," said he,
" irhieh of you, only thirty years ago^ would ever have
thought that a day would come when you and I should
build vessels on the Baltic ; when we should found a city in
tlittt country, conquered by our toils tmd our Talour, and
should see so many Eussians become victorious soldiers and
skiMul sailors ? Could you possibly have foreseen that such
a multitude of highly-instructed men, industrious artificer?,
and distinguished .artists, would come from various parts of
Borope to make the arts flourish in our native land ; ttiat
we should impress foreign powers wilih such respect for us ;
in one word, that so much glory was destined for tis ?
" History shows us that <3Teece was anciently the asylum
of 'ail the sciences; and that, driven from that beanitifid
coimiay by the revolutions of the times, they spread over
Itafy, and thence into all the nations of Europe. Jt -was in
eonsequence of the negligence of our ancestors i^at iiiey
stopped short in Poland, and conld not reach us ; but at one
time the Oermans and Poles were jdunged into the same
darkness of ignorance in which we languished till a recent
x2
806 HISTOBT or BV88IA. [CH. ZXYI.
period. It was hj the ezertioius of their sovereigns that their
e^es were opened ; they have inherited the sciences, the polity,
and the arts of Greece.
" Our turn is at last copie, if you will second me in my
undertaking, if you will add labour to obedience. The
transmigration of the sciences and arts may be compared to
the circulation of the blood. I hope that the hour will come
when, abandoning Germany, France, and England, they wfll
remain some time with us, in their way back to Greece, their
country."
CHAPTEE XXVI.
OHABLES Xn. LTBEBAtED FBOM CA.PTITITX — POLlXiCAIr
ASPECT OP ETJBOPB AT THAT PEBIOD— PBOJECT OP PBACK
BETWEEN THE CZAB AlH) THE KING OP SWEDEN — PETEB'S
SECOND VISIT TO HOLLAND — CABALS OP ALBEBONI XS1>
GOBTZ.
The regency of Stockholm, exasperated by the deplorable
state of affairs and the absence or the king, had at length
come to a resolution to consult him no longer, and imme-
diately after the czar's naval victory, they had asked the
victor's passport for an officer, who was to carrv proposals of
peace. A passport was sent ; but just then princess Ubica-
liconora, Cnarles the Twelfth's sister, received advice that the
king her brother was at length preparing to leave Turkey^
and come in person to defend his countrv. This put a stop
to the negotiator's journey. Charles, after a stay in Turk^'
of five years and some months, left it towards the end ci
October, 1714, and reached Stralsund November 22. ^^
Gortz was soon with him, and though the author of part rf
his misfortunes, he justified himse^ so artfully, and hud
before the king such brilliant hopes, that he riveted himself'
in his confidence, as he had gained that of all the ministers
and princes with whom he had negotiated. He brought mfl*
to believe that he would detach the czar's allies from him>
the consequence of which must be an honourable peace, or,
A.D. 1715] POLITICAL ASPEOT OP XXTBOFE. 809
at least, an equal war. Prom this moment Gortz obtained a
mucli greater sway over the mind of Charles than ever count
Piper could do.
Charles found Europe in a very different state from that
in which he had left it. Anne, queen of England, died soon
afber making a peace with Erance ; Louis XIY. had secured
Spain to his grandson, and obliged the^ emperor of Germany,
Charles YI., and the Dutch to conclude a peace. The affairs
of the north had undergone a greater change; Peter was
become arbiter in that part of the world. The elector of
Hanover, who had succeeded to the throne of England,
aimed at enlarging his territories in Germanjj^ at the
expense of Sweden, whose German possessions were the
conquests of the great Gustavus. The king of Denmark
was bent on recovering Schonen, the best province of
Sweden, and which had formerly belonged to the Danes.
The king of Prussia, as heir to the dukes of Pomerania,
claimed, at least, part of that province : on the other hand,
the house of Holstein, oppressed by the king of Denmark ;
and the duke of Mecklenburg, who was in a manner at
open war with his subjects, solicited the protection of Peter.
The king of Poland, elector. of Saxony, was desirous that
Courland might be annexed to Poland. Thus from the
Elbe to the Baltic Sea, Peter was the support, as Charles
had been the terror, of all the princes.
Many were the negotiations set on foot since Charles's
return, but without any progress ; he thought that he could
assemble a sufficient number of men of war, and not be
afraid of the czar's maritime force ; and in the land war he
relied on his courage. As to the expenses, GkJrtz, who was
suddenly made prime minister, persuaded him they might
be defrayed with copper coin, raised to ninety-six times
above its natural value, which is certainly a prodigy in the
history of government. But so early as the Ist of April,
1715, Peter's ships took the first Swedish privateers which
put to sea ;' and a Russian army marched into Pomerania.
. The Prussians, Danes, and Saxons joined their forces be-
fore Stralsund (April, 1715), and Charles, after returning
from his prisons of Demirtash and Demirtoca, found him-
self besieged on the shore of the Baltic.
It waq during this famous siege of Stralsund, that the
tl6 SlfTOST OV EVMIiL. [Cff. ZXm
new Uag of SaglMtfl p«rch«ed of thekmg of SeDixMikfiOf
SQO^jOOO Germm downs tW promeo of BvoraeBi and Yci*
den^ which the Danes had taken from Charlos-XIl. TkoB
oWloft'B domiiiionB wiero bought and sold, wUlat he was
dafendiTtg Stnkimd ineh hj imbt* At last, the place Mng
Boducod to a heap of rains, his offieers artfully fcffced him
tot quit it : when no was safe, Buker his geneni dahyerei up
t&ooe ruins to the king of Prusflia (DecemJber 15) .
Peter was satitJed with haying Lif?<!niia, Esthonia, OsmH^
snd Ingria, which he looked on as protvinees of his domisdonS}
and with homng further added to them almost idl Finlaad,
which waa as & aecurilj in ease a peaee eould be broo^
about, tn the month of April of tito saBoae year (l7l&)y he
had married a daughter of hia brother's to CJliarleB-Leof«W,
duke of Mecklenburg. Thu» all the prinees of the n(»!th
were either his allies or hia creatures. He awed king An*
giifltus's enemies in Poland : one of his anniefl, of about
eighteen thousand men, easily dispevaed all those combi^
tiona so often shooting vep in that seminaay of liberty ari
anarchy ; and the Turks, faithful to treaties^ left his powns
and Ma desigjos thor full range*
In this flourishing eonditi<»i, almost erery ^y produced
new establiahments relating to the navy, army, cemsserce,
or the Ittws : he himself d^w up a military eode for i^e in-
fantry. He was founding a nayal academy at Petersbiffg*
Lange was setting out for China by the way of Siberifl on
commercial improyements ; engineers were lipiskg downa^
throughout the whole empire. The superb seat of Petershfl*
was building : and at the same time forts were erecting <^
the Irtish ; ikei depredations of the tribes of Bukaria "^^
cheeked ; and in another part, the Kuban TalaB» war© k*f*
inawCi. .
The measure of his proi^erity seemed to be MeA up tl0fl
J ear, a son being bom to him by his wi& Cathavine^ JT
eir to his dommions in a son of prhuze Alexis; bui of ts«
former he was soon depriyed by death,, and we nhell see, i&
the tci^aL &te of Alesk, i^at the 1»rth of his naa^eam
not be aecovmted a happiness. ^.
Thecnuritza'a delarery intertupted the journeys i» ''^■'^
she continually attended her husbaiid bom by land and ^'^
MJfi, 171&] FBTB&'V nOOHD lOITS XBT EITBOPE. SIX
biek^ OK the first jreooTcny of her aiieiigtli, ete aecomf
bba IB new expediticouk
Wismar was then besieged by all the ezir'ff aUiesi. This
town W88 uiothep of those Gevmim aequisitioz» whidi the
peace of Westphalia had aeeored ta the Swedes ; yot at
IdDgthj like Stralstmdy ^ was obliged to Bunendear. The
czar's aUies lost no time m makixig themsdres master^of it
before his troops arrived ; but Peter himself coming before
i&e town after tbe eapitolationy whidi had been tnuisaoted
without him, made the garrison prnoners of war (Feb., 1716).
He highly resented that his allies should leare to tiie king of
Denmark a town which should naturally belons^ to the duike
ef Meddenburg, the prince on whom he had bestowed his
niece; and this resentment, of which Gortz soon availed
hinself, gare the first rise to his project fsNT a peace between
tiw czar and Charles the Twelfth, Gortz, from tbis moment,
represented to Peter the Gbeat that Sweden was sufficiently
weakened, and that Denmark and Prussia ought not to lie
too mueh aggrandised. The czar was precisely of the same
ofonion ; thenceforth he acted indolently against Sweden ;
and Charles the Twelfth being eTerywh^e unfortunate in
Germany, resolved to carry the war into Norway ; one of
those desperate steps which success alone can justirf-.
The czar, in the mean time, undertook a second tour
through Europe. The first he had made as a person who
sought information in the arts and manufaetures ; the- second
he performed as a prince desirous of coming at the secrets of
foreign eoujrts. He carried hie consort to Copenhagen, Lu-
beck, Scfawerin, and Keustadt ; he had a meeting with the
king of Prussia at the smaU town of Aversbui^, thence they
proceeded to Hamburg, and Altona, lately burnt by tlbs
Swedes, but now partly rebuilt. At Iraigth he reached
AiMBterdam, and the little dweUing at Sardam, where
abemt eighteen years before he had learned the art of ship-
buitding'; he now found it improved into a complete and
pleasant structure, still known by the name of the prineeU
hduae. It may be judged with what joy and fondness he was
received by a. community of traders and mariners, whiose
companion he had been : they looked on the victor of PidtarfS
aatbeirpvpil, who had founded toide and nav%ation in his
812 HIBTOBT 07 B1788Ii. [CB.. XXTXi
wnpiie, and had leamt among them to gain naval Tictodes ;
they accounted him as one of their fellow-citizenB laiaed to
the imperial dignity.
The czaritza had remained at Schwerin, being far advanced
in her third pregnancy since her marriage ; however, she W8S
no sooner able to travel than she proceeded to Holland after
the czar. At Wesel she was delivered of a prince, who died
the next day. With us it is not customary for a woman to
travel immediately after her lying-in ; but the czaritza withia
ten days reached Amsterdam.
The czar continued three months in Holland. The Ha^e^
ever since the peace of Kimeguen, Byswick, and Utrecht,liad
been reputed the centre of the negotiations of Europe, and
was chiefly inhabited by ministers from all courts, and hj^
travellers resorting thither to improve themselves in this
universal academy of politics. A great revolution in Europe
was then on the anvil ; the czar, who was privy to the ae#
sign, prolonged his stay in the ^Netherlands, that he wi^at
be nearer at hand to see at once what intrigues were carry*
ing on in the south and in the north, and to prepare for toe
part it would become him to act. He perceived that hia
allies were not a little jealous of his power ; and that, very
often, friends are more troublesome than enemies.
Mecklenburg was one of the principal causes of those
unavoidable variances between neighbouring princes, in a
division of conquests. Peter was not wiling the Danes
should take Wismar for themselves, and much less that they
should demolish its fortifications ; yet had they done both.
The duke of Mecklenburg, to whom he had married hia
niece, was openly protected by him against the nobility of
the country ; and they, on the other hand, had a patron in:
the king of England. Peter also began to be verv mQcb:
displeased with the king of Poland, or rather with his fi^
minister, count Fleming, who was for throwing off theyokft
ef dependency which had been imposed by force and acta of
benevolence.
The courts of England and Poland, Denmark and Hoi*
atein, Mecklenburg and Brandenbui^, were distracted with
intrigues and cabals. >
At the end of the year 1716, and the beginning of 1717,
Oortz, who, according to Bassewitz's Memoirs, was weary of
AJ>. 1717] OABiJ^B 07 GOBTZ AKD ALBSBOyi. 313
the bare name of counsellor of Holstein, and of being onlj a
eiandestine plenipotentiary of Charles the Twelfth, mid been
the first mover of all these intrigues ; and he now resolved to
make use of them for raising commotions in Europe. His
scheme was to reconcile Charles XII. and the czar, and
unite them, with a view of replacing Stanislaus on the throne
of Poland ; and dispossessing the king of England, George
the Eirst, of Bremen and Yerden, and even driving him firom
the British throne, which would disable him £rom ever ag*
grandising himself with the spoils of Charles.
There was at the same time a minister of his temper, who
aimed at the overthrow of England and Erance ; this was
oardinal Alberoni, whose sway iu Spain exceeded that of
Gortz in Sweden ; bold and enterprising as himself, but with
mnch more power, being at the head of an opulent king*
dom, and paying his creatures in other coin than copper.
Gortz, from the distant shores of the Baltic, soon formed
connexions with the court of Madrid ; both Alberoni and he
diligently corresponded with all the English fugitives who
had declared for the Stuart family. The Swedish minister
posted into all the countries where he could meet with any
of king George's enemies, as Germany, Holland, Elanders,
Lorrain, and, towards the close of the year 1716, to Paris.
Cardinal Alberoni began with sending him to Paris a mil-
lion of Erench livres, that he might begin to fire ike travn^
as. Alberoni expressed himself.
Gortz was for having Charles make considerable conces-
sions to Peter, and indemnify himself on his enemies, that
he might have his hands free to attempt a descent in Scot-
land, whilst the partisans of the Stuarts, after so many fruit-
less insurrections, should take up arms in England. The
accomplishment of these projects required that the king of
Ibgland should be deprived of his greatest support, the
regent of Erance. That Erance should be united with the
king of England against the grandson of Louis XIY., whom,
at such an immense expense and effusion of blood, it had
placed on the throne of Spain against the combination of so
many powerful enemies, was something extraordinary; but
at that time everything was out of its natural course, and
the interest of the regent was not that of the kingdom.
Alberoni was already machinating a conspiracy in France
914 KifflromT or mswKUL. [m, xxvi.
agSDHt tkevegent. Tlie plan of this Tasi enterpmejm-Bff
Boeaesr ferme^ tlian the fouxicbitioiis for eoKMhiciiBg it wm
hod QoT^ bem^ fint in the secret, iras to go* into Italy, iat
die^se, in etdeir to confier with the 'Prdtem&e in the nei^-
bomrhood of Borne; thence ha was to hasten haek tolto
Hague, to see the czar; and he was to put &e ffniftfiiiig hnd
to all with ike king of ^eden.
The Swedish minister had returned to Holland, at the end
of the jear 1716^ with bills of exchange from Alberani, sbA
the credentials of a plenipotentiary from Charles. It i»
reiy certain that the Bretender's party was to haTe risen on
C^iarles's making a descent firom Norway into the north of
Seo^snd. This prince, wlto had not been able to preserve
has dominions in Germany, was going to iuTsde those at
another. And thus after the pnsoo of DiBfflirtash, and tlaie
mhes of 8tralsund, he would crown the son of JameS' at
London,, as he had placed ^nislaus on the thrcme at
"VFaoracw.
It IS certain that Peter was acquainted with the pkn,
a» appears from the letters which ^ssed between GKM
and CPylleBboi:^, the Swedish minister in London, which wsie
seised upon, and are new printed. Besides^ it is kzsows
that Peter not cmly negotiated with Gortz through prince
Knrakin, but that he also kept up coommnicatiofis with the
partisans of the Pretender in Scotland and England, through
his Scotch physician Erskine ; and also tlmt he was Teiy
nra«h offended with the I>ut6h for arresting Gortz, and was
i2&£giMnt with the English for pablishing the intereepted
eorrespondenee, in which his name occurred. The ezar
19$B so enraged at king Greorge, that he not only lou^y
and publidy abused him, hat they carefully aToiled
fadir other, when Qearger came twice to^ HoUand duriisg
Plater's sojourn in that country (1717), Peter exp«reriy
exeused his conduet towards the Duteh ambassador, whom
he caused to be arrested, and whose papers he erdered to^
be seized, by alleging that the Dut^ had arrested €K)rta. It-
is clear that Peter took more interest, and participated mcs^
daeply tkui Charles XII., in the cabals between Mbet^m
ana Oortz, the partisans of the Bpetender and the maleontents
in !Beanoe, because one of the chirf points of the preUmi-'
AJs. 1717] OABAiA oer aoosz aieei albeboni. 315
oorieff of pane agreed npoia: \fy Peter (in Lofee) aiuHrtij
IwjBmre^CiiiirlBs's d«iih,Triatestoth^ Insddstkm
ta tiDby Coace states, l^t at astill later period Alberoni sent
the doke of Ormond to Bossia, to enter into a eloae alliance
in&. Peter. A modem Ereixch historian is not &r from th«
trodi in dedaxing that the whole of these cabals were a
swindle on the part of the scsndadous and extravagsnt Oorfcz,
who was inexhaustible in schemes ; for he, Gyllenborg, Spaire,
and others, tmdonbtedlj ayailed tiiemselyes of the credidity
of the Jacobites, in order to obtain 20,000 guineas in England,
and 100,000 livres from the opponents of Gkorge in Enuoce.
Gjllenborg, the ambassador in London, was a principal
mover in the whole scheme. When the Banes by accident
found the letters which related to it in a Swedish ship, the
SngUsh caused a counterfeit to be made of the Swedish seal,
opened all the ambassador's letters^ and finally arrested ihe
minister himself (9th Februaiy, 1717) ; and the Butch, at
their request, seized upon the person of €K»tz.
Charles XII. caused liie English ambassador Jackson to
be arrested, and exchanged him for G-jUenborg. He fcarbade
the Butch consul the court ; the duke of Holsteis interested
himself also in favour of Gortz, but the states of Ghxeldres
had abreadj set him at liberty, and formally promised him
tlieur protection. Grortz drove from the place of his confine*
ment into Amheim in a coach drawn by sis horses, and
tiizew money amongst the people, who thereupon eheered
f<» the Idng of Sweden. The czar sdemnly denied all
pavtieipcdion in the cabals, and even took a journey to Paris
(MiBy,.17l7X where Louis XIY. had refused his visit on his
first joomey. The regent would undoubtedly rather not
have seen lum in his capital, nevertheless he gave Mm an
hanourable and ceremonioua reception. But from ihe mo-
ment of his arrival all these vain pomps were rejected by the
esar; tiiey hid from him the usefdl thinga which he wished
to ebaeswe. ^ I am a soldier," he said ; '^In^ead and beer are
all I want ; I like small rooms better than large. I ^ not
wish to* move about in state and tire so maziy people.'' He
xefmd the apartments prepared f^r him in the Loimre, and
tock up hid abode in idie Maxsis, at tiie Hdtel Lesdiguiiafe,
bekn^gmg to MaDrehal Yilleroi. But for all hk desire to avoid
816 HI8T0BY OF BUS8IA. [OH. XZTI.
cesremonj and adulation, he could not entirely escape from the
ingenious stratagems of French politeness. Happening to
dine with the Duke d'Antin at his ch&teau of retitbourg,
three leagues from Paris, he perceived after the entertain-
ment that his own portrait, painted on the spot, had been just
put up in the dining-room, and he could not but feel that the
French, above any other people in the world, knew how to
receive so noble a guest.
He was still more surprised, when, going to see medals
struck in that long gallery of the Louvre, where all the king's
artists have such megant apartments, a medal, on being
struck, fell on the floor, and the czar eagerly stooping to
take it up, found it to be a medal of himself, and on the
reverse a Fame, with these words of Yirgil, so suitable to
Peter the Great, Vires acquirit eundo: a delicate and noble
allusion, and equally adapted to his travels and reputation*
The Bussian monarch, and all his attendants, were presented,
with some of these medals in gold. On his visiting the artists,
all the finest pieces were laid at his feet, with an humble
request that he would deign to accept of them. And when
he went to see the tapestry of the Gobelins, the carpets of
the Savonnerie, the working rooms of the king's sculptors,
painters, goldsmiths, and mathematical instrument makers ;
whatever seemed particularly to engage his eye, was offered
to him in the king's name. Peter being a mechanic, an
artist, and a geometrician, went to the Academy of Sciences,
where, with his own hand, he corrected several geographical
errors in the maps they showed him of his dominions, and
especially those of the Caspian Sea. He was pleased also to
become one of the members, and afterwards kept up a con-
stant correspondence with that illustrious body.
On visiting the Sorbonne the czar was possessed with a
fierce rapture at the sight of cardinal Bichelieu's tomb, the
beauty of which masterpiece of sculpture scarcely attracted his
eye ; his admiration was engrossed oy the iihage of a minister
whose policy, cruel, crafty, and inflexible, had crushed the
aristocracy of France, and made the throne despotic. He
embraced the statue with this exclamation, — " Greai man, I
would have given t%ee one half ^ my dominions, to learn qf
thee how to govern the other *^ Before he left Paris, he inti-
mated his desire to see Madame de Maintenon, who was then
A.P. 1717] PETEH'S VISIT TO FBAKOB. 317
drawing near her end. His silence at her bedside showed
that his visit was prompted by no grmpathy with the intole-
rant and superstitious widow of Louis XIY., though his
curiosity may have been moved by the sort of similarity
between the marriage of Louis and his own. Sut between
the king of Prance and him there was this difference ; the
latter had publicly espoused a heroine, and Louis only an
agreeable woman, and that in private.
la this journey Peter did not take the czaritza with him,
fearing the incumbrances of ceremony, and the curiosity of a
court, little qualified to estimate the merit of a woman, who,
from the banks of the Pruth to the shores of Finland, had, at
her husband's side, faced death both by sea and land. In
truth, the Prench of that time had no sense of Peter's great
qualities or of his utilitarian efforts ; his peculiarities and his
barijarism, however, surprised them, and his rude and brutal
enjoyments appeared not less to disclose total moral depravity
than the unheard-of excesses of their regent, who was the very
genius of sin. Nature, vigour, a sense for everything profitable
or agreeable, and an unceasing activity for the improvement
of his people, distinguished Peter, notwithstanding all his
moral corruption : such qualities could not be at that time
so jnstly estimated in Paris aa they were after the revolution.
Yet some of the most earnest minds in France. admired
the experienced glance and skilful hand with which he se-
lected the objects worthy of his attention, and the masters
virhom he engaged to instruct his people ; and his preference
of the useful arts and sciences, to examine which he repeatedly
visited the artists and manufacturers whose merit he had dis-
cerned. "His questions to learned men and to artists,"
they say, " uniformly gave proof of his knowledge, and excited
admiration of the sagacity of an enlarged mind, which was
^ prompt to comprehend information, as it was eager to
learn."
In his rapid journey through France, Peter would often
stop, quit his carriage, and stray into the fields to converse
with common husbandmen. He made them explain the use of
their agricultural implements, and took sketches of them with
his own hand. The dress of one of them having attracted
his notice, he stopped to interrogate him, and then, turning
to his followers, " Look," he said, " at this good country
818 mucDOBT oat bubbu. [ex. zxvx.
wise, akd monej to boot. Eemind me lof this when «e ado
in BiUMda agauL I iriil endearour te atfinninte our priedB
by this example, md, by teaddng tbem to till the soil, ]
tbma from flieir sbtk and vrd^ednesa/^ They i
howeYei; to tUb di^ as ignoiant and beiotted as erer.
Peter's negotiaizionB vitii ihe regent led to a treaty, to
which Prussia afterwards aoceded, wihich wms oompoBed m
the general ezpiesaions and teehsueal langnage of diplama-
tists, but which liad really cko signifieance. HefwmB^
to Holland, Peter renewed hia eonneisGHi with Gocta;
he e^en held a peracmal meeting wi& him in Loo {Axigas^
1717), enfceved into negotiations wiidi C/harleB, aaad a plaoe
was appoanted fin* a congress to agssee upon a trea% of
peaoe. Xhe Btutsiui troops had been withdrawn from Q&b^
mKaj sinee July, with the exception of dOOO, who wtse
nommally in the service of the duke of Mecklenburg, asid
by whose instrumentality he «o oppressed his nobks, and
espedaUT the poor city of Bostock, that ihe empire was at
length obliged to afford them aid and proteddan. Otorix had
at that time a Siussisn pasn^ort from reter; he first resided
in the neighbourhood of Berlin, then in Dsesden; staged
for a short time in Bevel, and hastened thenoe to Sweden,
where he Cffinsulted with the king as to the means of satis-
fying Peter. Peter had united his army on iske frontieis
of jFinlandiand in Poland, in order to be able, according to
drcumstanoes, either to act against king Augustus in favcmr
of Btauislaufi, or against Charles Xll. The negotLationB
between Peter's plenipotentiaries and ike Swedes, of which
no one knew iihe secret conditions except G-ortz and his friend .
GyHeuborg, b^;an in May (1718) at Lofoe, one of the Aland
JsiandB, and w^e entrusted by the czar to his most confi*-
dential friends and adyisers, Bruce and Ostermann, alone.
The world was astonished, when Peter once more !»•
mained wholly quiet, and Charles directed his entire ferce
i^ainst iN'orwajr ; and still more, when it was nndeersto^d
that preLiminanes had been signed between Sweden and
Bnssia, in which the interestB of Denmark, Hanov^, and
Saxony had been altogether sacrifieed by Bussia. "WhoeYm!
reads these preliminarieB cannot repress a certain degree ^
admioation m Gortz's e&ill, because it is evident that he was
jUI. 1718] AIJ9XI8 DlfttHHSBITSD. Sit
aboHi; soaceeB&llf to extiioate Mb maeto fi%>m \hoao diA*
oultieB ixdx) which hia obBtinacy had plunged him. Cbadm^
oXL^thifi ooeasLOD^ sacrificed all the veioaking fiti:Bngth of his
facave natioxi in a thoughtless and -wholly uaabss moooi^ m
the Norwegian mountaans; but kii^ Gj^eoirge, who had
learned from Paris something of the plaa&s which were beii^
forged agauaat him, and of the preliminaries whidli (had been
signed hj Oatecnuum and Grorte, beeame serioualjr alarmed si;
the eabals of the Swedish king, and sought to win him over
to his cause. Wl^^oi, howeyeir, aU. attempts to induce Swedea
to enter iato Begotiationfi proved yarn, in Mapr (1718)
admiral Norris, with an English fieel^ appeared in the
Bouad, as Charles was making praparations to iuyade SToiv
waj. But iN'oms remained inactive ; the negotiations went
en smoothly; and Alberoni and Ghortz concluded that they
were on the -eye of throwing all Europe into confusion, when
a random shot from the y^orks of Fredeoickshall quashed all
their in^ojects. Charles XII* was kiUed (Dec. U 1718);
the Spanish fieerf; was beaten by the English ; the conspiracy
&mented in Erance was disooy^ed and preyented ; Alberoni
was diivien out of Spain, and Gortz beheaded at Stockholm^
CHAPTEE XXVn.
ZB3B GJ5JUKETITCH ALEXIS DISINBDBITBn — - AXISSXYTAJBOM
xBoxraHs TO tbux, coKnjsMin&n ^o seath, unyToim^cE^
JBT HIS EATHES.
The czar amyed at Petersburg from his foreign tour on
tibe 21st October, 1717. Twenty years before he had sig-
nalised his return from a first yisit to ciyilised countries by
the inhuman butchery of the StreHtz, and now he was about
to giye stiU more appaUiug eyidence of the deep deprayify of
bia heart.
Peter's early ayersion to Eydokhia had a most deplcorable
influence on ^exis, the son she bore him in 1690. The dis-
sensions betwean the father and the mother speedily 4imir
nished the father's affection for Alexis. Moreoyer, as Pete's
irast labours preyented him &om paying much attention to
HISTOBT 01* BUBSIA. [OH. XXTH.
the education of his son, Alexis at first grew up tinder female
tuition, and then fell into tbe hands of some of the clergy^
under whose guidance he daily conceiyed a greater abhoiv
rence for his father. This being observed by Peter, he put
an end to the spiritual education, and appointed Mentchikof
superintendent of the princess preceptors.
Mentchikof was no friend to Alexis, and the latter had been
early inspired by his mother with contempt and aversion for
the favourite of his father. The tutors who were now placed
about the prince were not able to eradicate the prejudices
impressed on his mind from his infancy, and now grown in-
veterate ; besides, he had an imconquerable dislike to them
as foreigners. The future sovereign of so vast an empire,
that was now reformed in all its parts, and by prosperous
wars still further enlarged ; the heir of a throne, whose jpos-
sessor ruled over many millions of people, had been brought
up from his birth as if designed for a Eussian bishop ; theology
continued to be his favourite study : with a capacity for those
sciences which are useful in government, he discovered no in-
clination to them. Moreover, he addicted himself early in
life to drunkenness and other excesses. There were not
wanting such as flattered his perverse dispositions, by repre-
senting to him that the Bussian nation was dissatisfied with
his father, that it was impossible for him to be suffered long
in his career of innovation, that even his life was not likely to
hold out against so many fatigues, with many other things of
a like nature. The conduct of Alexis, particularly his indo-
lence and sloth, were highly displeasing to Peter. Ment-
chikof, from political motives, to preserve himself and Ca-
tharine, was constantly employed m fanning the czar's re-
sentment, while the adherents of Alexis, on the other hand,
seized every opportunity to increase the aversion of the prince^
who, from his very cradle, had never known what it was to
love, and had only dreaded, his father, Alexis even at times
gave plain intimations that he would hereafter undo all that
his father was so sedulously bringing about. iN'ay, when the
latter, in 1711, appointed the prince regent during his ab-
sence, in the campaign of the Pruth, Alexis made it his first
business to alter many things in behalf of the clergy, so as
clearly to evince in what school he had been brought up.
The czar was in hopes to reform his son by uniting him
A.D. 1718] JIXEXIS DISnrHEBITED. 821
"With a worthy consort ; but even this attempt proved fruit-
less. The princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbttttel, who was
selected for his bride, and to whom Alexis was married at
Torgau, in 1711, notwithstanding all her eminent qualities of
mind and heart, and her great beauty, could make no impres-
sion on*him, and sank under the load of grief, brought on by
this unhappy connexion, soon after giving birth to a prince,
who was called by the name of his grandfather, Peter (1716)*
By a continuance in his dissolute mode of life, by his bad
behaviour towards his spouse, and his intercourse with persons
who were notorious for their hatred of Peter and his reforms,
Alexis seemed bent upon augmenting his father's disjpleasure.
After the death of the princess, Peter wrote his son a
letter, the conclusion of which ran thus : — " I will still wait
awhile, to see if you will amend; if not, know that I will
deprive you of the succession, as a useless limb is cut off.
Do not imagine I am only frightening you ; nor would I have
you rely on the title of being my eldest son ; for since I do
not spare my own life for the good of iny country and the
-prosperity of my people, why should I spare yours ? I shall
rather commit them to a stranger deserving such a trust,
than to my own undeserving offspring."
At this very juncture the empress Catharine was delivered
of a prince, who died in 1719. Whether the above letter
disheartened Alexis, or whether it was imprudence or bad
advice, he wrote to his father that he renounced the crown,
and all hopes of reigning. " God is my witness," said he,
"and I swear upon my soul, that I will never claim the
euccession : I commit, my children into your hands, and for
myself desire only a subsistence during life."
His father wrote to him a second time. "I observe,"
-days he, " that all you speak of in the letter is the succession,
as if 1 stood in need of your consent. I have represented to
you what grief your behaviour has given me for so many
'years, and not a word do you say of it ; the exhortations of a
' father make no impression on you. I have brought myself
to write to you once more ; but for the last time. If you
despise my counsels now I am living, what regard will be
paid to them after my death ? Though vou may now mean
not to violate your promises, yet those fcushy beards will be
able to wind you as they please, and force you to break your
VOL. I. X
•imi. It Ib yo«L tjliose ;p0opli9 relj on* Tottt iucr^uo gvati-
tode t0 iHa ^o gore 70a hh. Since wa lurra been: of
proper sge, did you ever aflsist him^ in has ktbours? B& yoii
nel find fttnlfe miik, do yoa not dstest ercvythihg, Ida "ifor tbe
^«Kid of my people P I lia^ all tbe roaeon in t&e -world to
believe thist;, if yon sorvive me, you will o^rtbrow «3i tbnt I
'hwme been dcring. Amend, mmce j&9snKM wosrtiiy of tiie
•neoesBion, or tvm monk. Let me likvo year msswer eitlier
in Ym^ixg, or personaiiy, at I mil deal with you as a male-
f«etor."
Tbong'k this letter was harsh, 1^* prinee m%ht bffre easify
answ^ted, i^at he would alter his bekmoiir; but be aniy
aofiminted his father, in a few lines, ikst be would torn
This assurance did not appear natural ; and it is some*
IMng s^ange ihal^ the czar, going to tnwrel, shnruM knve
behind him a son so obstinalbe : but this: very joaraey proves
thaft the czar was in no manner of apprehenskm of a conspi-
racy ^m his son. He went to 9ee him before he set out
fop Germany and France ; the prince being iil, or H^gning
to: be so, received him in bed, amd confirmed to him, by <fce
most solemn oaths, that he would retire into a eouTent, The
€Ktr garve hkn six months for deliberation, and set out with
his consort.
He had scarcely reached Copenhagen when he received
ad^ee (which was no more Iman & might wefi expeoQ
that Alexis admitted into his presence only evil-ndnded
persons, who humoured his discontent: on this the «Bar
wrote to him, that he must choose ihe convent or istt
throne ; and if he valued the succession) to eotae to him at
Copenhagen.
The prince's confidants instilled into him a suspicion IMt
it would be dangerous for him to put himself into the hands
of a provoked father and a motheivin-kw, without so mRseh
as one friend to advisfe with. He therefore feigned that he
was going to wait on his &ther at Copenhagen, but took the
road to Vienna, and threw himself on the protection of ike
emperor Charles VI., his brother-in-law, intending to coa*-
tinue at his court till the czar's death.
I'his was an adventure eomething like that of Louis XI.,
who, whilst he was dauphin, withdrew from the court of
CUudes yil., hifi &&er, to tbe dohe of Biu^imdj. Looiib
'W0y indeed^ mndi inoxie cuipablls than the osaceyiiiGl^ by
3DBaEvyiag ia diirect opposition to bis father, laifiiiig troopa,
wad aseUiig refuge mth a prirucey his &ther'» nainiral enemj-,
and iuiT«r returning to eour Iv not even at tiie king's repeated
fiatseaticffi.
Akxk^ gdl the conjtnuy, had m^ned purely ia obedienoe
to the czar's orcbr, and had no^ revoliied, nor raised troops ;
Heiitheir, isdeed, had he withdrawn to a prince in anywise nis
fiither's enemy ; and on the Qrtsk ktter he reoeiYed &om his
&tiier, he went and threw himseU: at his feet. I^or Peter, on
meeivmg advice that his son had been at Vienna, and had
nonoved tihence to Naples,, then belon^ng to the emperor
Charles YI^ sent Bomanacf, a captain of the guaards, and
lEoisiKM, a privy*€oiiiicilliw, with a letter in hki own hand,
dated from Spa, the 21st of July, N.S. 1717. They found
the pEince^at Naples, ia tbe caside of St. Mmo, and deliv^sred
him the letter, whid^ was as fellows :
'' Inow write to you, andfDir the last time, to let
you know that y^u had b»it comply witih my will, which
Xcistoi and Bomanzof will make known to yea. 0*i your
c^edience, I assure you, and promise before God, that IwiU
fmi punish you.; so far from tt^ that if you re^wru,, I laiH love
you better Ulum ever. But if you. do not, by \ditue <£ the
pcswer I have received from God as your father, I pronounce
agBinst you my eternal curse ; and as your sovereign, I
aesure yon I shall find ways to punish you ; in which I hope,
as my cause is just, Gk)d will take it in hand, and assist me
in revenging it.
" B^nember fiur&er, that I never used compulsion with
you. Was I under any obligation to leave you to your own
option P Had I been for fosrcing you, was not i^ power in
my hand ? At a word, I shouM have been ob^ed."
Belying on the faith thus solemnly given by a father and
a sovereign, Alexis returned to Bussia. On the 11th of
IFebroary, 1717, N.S., he reached Moscow, where the czar
then was, and had a long conference in private with his
&ther. A report immediately was spread through the city
that a reconcLuation had taken place between the father and
jsosL, and that everything was forgot ; but the very next day
the regiments of guards were ordered und^ arms^ aad th^
t2
824 HIBTOBY OT BtTBSIA. [CH. XXTH.
great bell of Moscow tolled. The boyars and privy-councillors
were summoned t6 the castle ; the bishops, the archimandrites,
and two monks of the order of- St. Basil, professors of
diyinity, met in the cathedral. Alexis was carried into the
castle before his father without a sword, and as a prisoner ;
he immediately prostrated himself, and with a flooa of tears
delivered to his father a writing, in which he acknowledgecl
his crimes, declared himself unworthy of the succession, and
asked only his life. The czar, raising him up, led him to
a closet, where he put several questions to him, declaring,
that if he concealed anything relating to his escape, his head
should answer for it. Afterwards the prince was brought
back into the council-chamber, where the czar's declaration,
which had been drawn up beforehand, was publicly read.
The father in this piece reproached his son with his mani*
fold vices, his remissness in improving himself, his intimacy
with the sticklers for ancient customs, his misbehaviour
towards his consort : " he has,'* says he, " violated conjugal
faith, taking ujp with a low-bom wench, whilst his wife was
living." idexis might fairly have pleaded that in this kind
of debauchery he came immeasurably short of his father's
example.
He afterwards reproaches him with going to Vienna, and
putting himself under the emperor's protection. He says,
that Alexis had slandered his father, intimating to the
emperor Charles VI. that he was persecuted ; and that a
longer stay in Muscovy was dangerous, unless he renounced
the succession; nay, that he went so far as to desire the
emperor openly to defend him by force of arms.
It is hardly conceivable how the emperor, on such an
account, could have made war with the czar, and how^
between an incensed father and a refractory son, he cotil4
interpose in any other manner than by good offices. In fad/,
Charles VI. had only entertained the prince, and, on the czar^s
demanding him, he was sent back.
In this tremendous piece Peter adds, that Alexis had
made the emperor believe that his life was not safe if he
returned into Eussia. Now the event but too fully justified
that fear; for on the prince's return he was condemned to
death, notwithstanding an explicit promise of pardon and
greater affection.
AJ)» 1718] ALEXIS dishtheaiteb. 325
" Such was the manner,'* the czar continues, " in which
our son returned ; and though his flight and his calumnies
deserved death, those crimes our fatherly affection forgives :
but his notorious unworthiness and immorality wiH not
allow us, in conscience, to leave him the succession to the
empire, it being too manifest that hj his iU conduct the
glory of the nation would be subverted, so as to occasion the
C>8S of all the provinces recovered by our arms. Our
subjects would be extremely to be pitied; since, leaving
them under such a successor would be plunging them into a
condition much worse than any they have ever experienced.
" Accordingly, by our paternal power, in virtue of which,
according to the laws of our empire, every private subject of
ours can at pleasure disinherit a son, and pursuant to our
prerogative as sovereign, and in regard to the welfare of our
dominions, we for ever deprive our said son Alexis of the
right of succeeding after us to the throne of Eussia, on
account of his crimes and unworthiness ; even though not a
single person of our family should exist at the time of our
decease.
" And we constitute, appoint, and declare, in the want of
a more aged successor, our second son Peter, * young as he
is^ successor to the said throne after us.
^' Accursed be our above-mentioned son Alexis, if ever, at
any time, he shall claim the said succession, or go about to
procure it.
" "We also require of our faithful subjects, ecclesiastics or
seculars, as well as every other state, and the whole nation,
that, pursuant to this appointment, and our will, they
acknowledge and consider our said son Peter, nominated by
us to the succession, as our lawful successor, and that, con-
formably to this present ordinance, they confirm the whole
by oath at the ^tar, on the Holy Gospels, and kissing the
cross.
" And all those who shall, at any time whatever, oppose
this our will, and who, from the date hereof, shall dare to
consider our son Alexis as successor, or {issist him to that
end, we declare them traitors to us and their country, and
we have ordered these presents to be everywhere published,
that no person may plead ignorance. Given at Moscow, the
* Son of the empress Qatharine; he died April 15, 1719.
S26 KIBTOBT OF WWWIA, [OH. XSCnii
IStih of FebnisMrjr, N.S. 1718. Signed mth our hand, ahd
sealed irith ocu* seal."
If t^efle instramentB -wbm not in readiness beforebmd,
l^ef ^n^re 'oerfcohily drown up irith extreme devpatek ; for
prmoe AlesiB did not return till the llth, and his disin-
heritaince, in fflrronr of Catharine's son, is dsfced the 10th«
The prince, on his side, signed a reniinesatioiL to ikB
^ccessioci. ** I acknowledge," he said, ^' this exehiaion to
be jurt ; I have deserved it by my'tinworthiness, and I swear,
in the name of the sacred and almighty Trinity, to submit
myself in ereiything to ray father's will."
This being done, all the ministers and gresit men present
took the oaths excluding prince Al^s from the crown, and
acknowledging prince Peter to be the undoubted suocesBor
to it ; engaging to stand by him with their Hres, against ail
that i^homd dare appose him ; and that they never wodkd^
under any pretence whatever, adhere to prince Alexis, cr
assidt him in the recovery of Ws forfeited nghta. The same
oath was afterwards administered to the army and navy, at
home and abroad, and to every subject of the Bussian em-
pire. Even after all this, Alexis was still immured in a
fortress. There, every day and every nighty violating Ms
sworn faith, everyr noble feeKng, all the laws of nature, asod
those laws which he had himself given to his empire,* an
absolate &ther armed himself against a too confiding son
with a political inquisition, which equalled the religions in-
quisitioii in its insidious atrocity. He tortured the pusilla-
nimous mind of this ho^less being with every fear that
heaven and earth can inspure ; he compelled him to impeach
firiends, relations, and even the mother who bore him ; anti
to accuse and condemn himself to death, under pain of deaih !
This protracted (srime hidted finre months. It had its
paroxysms. The first two were marked by the exile and
spoliation of several grandees, the disinheriting of a aiaket,
the confinement and scourging of Peter's "firat wife, and the
execution of his brother-in-law ; but all this was too HtiEle
for the anmtiable cruelty of the inhuman czar.
Olebof, i^ paramour of the divorced czaritza, was impaled
in the midst of a scafibld, Hhe feor comers o£ which were
4> See in Ids Code or Concordance cff the -liaws, dfaap. vL att. 1, 2, 6,
8, &c -
43.. 1718] Ai^Bxu MsgrTnawBaft. ^
ispskod % &&J9tfia(ld'0f >a taahop^abograi:, and tiro digiufcaijes,
yxh^ h^A been, broken em the wlkeal and decapitat^dr !Bhifi
iHwdibld acaSold w^as iliBeilf sacroimded .bj,a..e]rcle of tnuafa
o£ ttEeos, on .wliiek.m^e iha& fifty priesta and oikee GkHnem
had bfiea b^lneadfidt
Tim wm^ i^deed^ itakiag a temble ^esagesmc^ s^xm thme
wboy dt :was jsaid^by tbeir superalitioud obstinacy, had i£x.
duced this unbending hasat W iJ»e jaee^sii^y of saen&ii^.
1^8 son or kta aaupiiEe! a pususbajH^t which /vrcus a tbousBixd
tiiQ^ more <;iidpabte tihan the offence; for what motiye eaa-
furnish an excuse fo;? suoh atsocitiQf^? SisKt it seema as
thoi^gbv impelled' by t^ ooapicioua inatijotet ^ uimatiuml
ga^armneoitsy Petcip bad dsstinateily pecsistetd in aeeJas^ and
finding a coi^isdej. wb^re. there existed nothing but an.
inart .QppoaitioiL efmaimeirSy wbudi hoped mi waited 6xt Jbb
death that it might he hrof^ghi intot a^on.
And, nef^Qirthelfiaa^ this direful butehory has fousid flat-
teneirs ! The viotor of PoUava biuns^ ^oiied in. it , as a
yietozy^ '' When," said he, "fire meets wikth skaw, it loon*-
sunnes it ; but when it meets with iroo^ it mnat go eiat."
Tbm he cooU^ walked about in the midst of the tonneiits
inflictedby his oxder! He had repeatedly examined ^Hefaof
und^ toistuse, making him walk bopefoot aLong planks: set
with insoi spikes. Sttill proonpted by a restless fereeity, he
ascended the scaffold to questicm faia vietiin agabsi when he
was fixed on the stake. Glebof, made a sign to him to ag»-
proaeh, and spat in his facou
Moscow itself was a piasoner ; to quit it withouit the ezaiffi
leaiFe was a capital mme; its catijeeoas were erdeaed, under
paki of death, to act the part of i^es adud infarmers agadnst
eac^ other. The principal victun, meanwhile, had been
dragged from the prisons of Moscow to those of Faterabmi^.
Th^*e the czar laboured indefiaitigably to tdi^tuie the mind
of his son, and to wring from him even the sLi^test par->
tieulars which he could recollect of his past irritatian,
intractability, or rdbellLon ; he noted them oown eai^ da^r
with a hombfe exactness, triu^iphing in eadi. avowm,
numberiskg e^eiy sig^ and every tear, summing up Idie
whole in a de^stable account, and struggling jl^ eonmart
inta a capital crime all those fleeting thoi^ts and aU those :
regrets, not one of which had assumed the shape of action.
828 HI8T0BT 07 BVB8IA« [C]^ Xtm.
When ftfc lengthy by dint of putlong his own oonsiaraetio&
on these confessions, he supposed tiiat he had made some-
thing out of nothing, he hastened to summon the most
eminent of his skres. He described to them hia accursefL
work ; he set pkinlj before their view all its ferodoua and
tyrannical iniquity, with the hideous candour of a mind which
was blinded to the phiinest principles of natural justice by
the self-idolatry of absolute sovereignty.
The court sat firom the 25th of June to the 5th of July.
It is needless to go through all the futile details of the pro-
ceedings ; a few specimens may suffice.
One of the articles which were fastened upon to justify
the condemnation of the prince, was a letter m>m M. Beyer,
the emperor's resident at Petersburg, written after the
prince's elopement : the substance of tUs letter was, that the
Bussion army in Mecklenburg had mutinied ; that several
officers talked of sending the new czaritza and her son to
the prison where the repudiated czaritza was confined, and
of placing Alexis on the throne when it should be baown •
where he was. Now it is true there had been a mutiny in
that armv of the czar's, but it was soon suppressed, and
nothing further appeared. Alexis could have had no part
in exciting or have encouraged it ; a foreigner spoke of these
reports as a piece of news ; the letter was not directed to
prmce Alexis, he had only a copy of it, and that sent him
from Vienna. "
The czar, however, among other interrogatories drawn up
with his own hand, put the following to his son : " When
you saw by Beyer's letter that there was a revolt in th^
Mecklenburg army, you were glad of it ; I apprehend you
had some view, and that you would have dedared for the
rebels even in mj lifetime ?"
This was questioning the prince on his secret sentiments,
which, if they may be owned to a father, who, by his
counsels, would rectify them, may be concealed from a
judge, as he is to determine only from attested facts : the
hidden sentiments of the heart are not within the cognisance
of a court of judicature. Alexis might have denied them,
or easily have thrown a veil over them — ^he was not obliged
to lay open his mind; yet he answered, and in writing:
XJB» 1718] * TBlAIi or ALEXIS. 320
" Had the lebels invited me in voar lifetime, I should pro-
ba^ have joined them had they oeen strong enough.*'
Imt he should spontaneously give such an answer is
iiloonceiTable ; and no less extraordinaiy was it to condemn
him for thoughts which he might have had in regard to a
case which never happened.
Another charge was founded on a rough draft, in the
prince's own hand, of a letter written from Vienna to the
senators and archbishops of Kussia, and containing the
words : " The continual injuries which I have undeservedly
suffered, have obliged me to quit my country ; it was very
narrowly 1 escaped being shut up in a convent ; they who
have confined my mother were about using me in the same
manner. I am under the protection of a great prince until
it please Gk>d that I may return to my country. It is my
denre you will not fon^e me at preaentJ* The words
at present, which might have been looked on as seditious,
were drawn through with a pen, and afterwards replaced
with his own hand; then again effaced; which showed a
young man under perturbation, giving himself up to his
reaesntment one minute, and repenting of it the next. Only
the rough draft of these letters was found, for they never
came to hand, being stopped by the court of Vienna ; another
and no inconsiderable proof that this court had no thought
of quarrelling with that of Eussia, and supporting the son
agamst the father with an armed force.
One of the witnesses deposed that he had heard Alexis
say: '^ 1 will say something to the bishops, and they will
tell it among the priests, and the priests to their parishioners,
and I shall be placed on the tlirone, even though it were
against my will." What punishment does a man deserve
for words which he intends to say some day or other ?
The distressed prince, recollecting within himself what-
ever might conduce to his ruin, at length owned that, in
confession to the arch-priest Yakof, he had accused himself
before Qod, " that he had wished his father's death ;" and
that the confessor made answer, " God will forgive you; it
is no more than what we all wish." All proofs derived firom
auricular confession are, by the canons of the church, not to
be received at the bar ; these are secrets between God and
a99 Hia«9BY4>VHVMiA. ^ [OH. XXVil^
the pcBntfiiiJk: tka Ozoek Ghuj^h belieTM Ao. moate thaa ttie
Latin, that thk pmate and aacted oonreq^aDdaaeabetwafia;
a ai«kner and tb^ Deitf appertaina to humaa law. Xakof,
hf9wever, waa jait to tbe tortuve, and owned what the peinee
Iv^ ceToaled; but he refuaed to give the nanea of the
persons to whom he alluded when he aaid, '' we aU wiah Sat
the 'Char's death." It was a very vncoiiimoik oiremnataBfie
to pee the ^onfee^or aeenaed hj his penut^it, And th»,
pi^t^iit by hia jniatvess. Another singularity in this affiair
wAi^ that the arehfaiahqp of Beaan hanring been entangled m
the acemaationa, ea aecoimt ^ the aermon whieh he had
preaehed in fayour of the eaareviteh, at the firat appearaaoe
of l^e eaiff's indignati(»i against his son ; this pnnoe^ in hia
ilitecrogatoinesy ownted that he relied on that .prelate; yet
thia ¥ery arohhiehc^ of Beaan was at the head of the eeole*
siaatioal judges^ whom the oaar eonaulted on the pieaent ar-
raignment.
An essential remark offers itself m thia moBstroiis trial.:,
in Alexia's answers to kis iather'a £rst intervogatoiy, he
owned that when he was at Yienna, where he £d n(>k see
the emp^aror, he Sip^d to oonnt S<^oiaboixib a. loud of tiasi
bedchamber, who sud to him^ " The emperor will not foraake
you ; and) at a proper season, after your father's demise^ he
will assist you with an armed force to aeeend tiae throne."
" My anawec waa^" added the aceused prinoe, '' that ia not
what I ask : all I desire is, that the empercnr will he pleased
to-gcaaat me hia potection." Thia d^sition is p]jun and
naturaly amd carmes with it a great appeocanee of lonith': Ibc
to have aaked troops of the emperor to go and dethrone his
&ther, would hawe been the very height c^ foUy; and
nobody would have daved to niention such an abaurd pre^
posal dther to pince !EIagene, to the couiaicil,, or to the
emperor. This deposition was in the month of ]Febru«iy,
and four months atto, on the 1st of July, towarda the coiir'
elusion of these pinooedures, the czarevitch, in his kat
aoawer, is made to aay in writing.: ^' Intruding in nothing,
t^ imitate my faiiher, I endeavoured to come at the ^teu)*
cession At any xate whatever. I was for having it by
foiceign aasiatuiQe ; and if I had got my ends» a^d ibk
eoQ^^Ofor hfkii done teiai he ^vommd «asa--4e prpeuse me
the crown of Eussia, even by open force, I would have
mrecl noiUoig to >haTe secnired iiDirfldlf ht jAiq mioaesaifiix,
Wot iBslafBGiB, hid the empeior sskea SMi, in retmra, aome^ lof
my eouaixj iitrmm foor hk flemee agamst iSikj df (his imeimeify .
cat hxge «oxm of maa&fy I would hn^e done eterprizkmg Ime
would, trr^n to Idae givii^.gxsBat pceaeixla to hift mionifilerB and
g0iien)s. I woAild, at mj own ezipenae, have mamtaiiied .tiie
muoUaiy troops with whieh he woukL haye Mapfdied me^ to
pub mo in the poBaeesioix of the erawn of Baeda ; aamd, in
short, I would Itaye stuck at nothing to have carcied n^f
poiat.**
This last .depositum of the prinoe j» manifeatlj -wes^
fosced ; it shows on the very fade of it that he atroine t»
rmkB himself thought guilty ; and what he says dashes wi&
tmth ia a capital point He sa^s, that the emperor <had.
promised him to procure him the crotm hy open force, whoA.
was false, dount Sekmhom had giren mm hopes tihait,
after the death of the osiair, his impeml majesty would heip
him to assert the daim of his bir^bi ; but the eimperarlhimadf
had not made any promise : in a word, the case waa^ inot ia».
revolt against his father, hut to succeed him en his demise-.
In this last interrogation, he says what he helienies he
should haye done in ease of a contest for his inkentaflaee-;
an mhecitanee whieh he had not judirially senounced befoire
his journey to Ydaona and Haplses : now we see .him depoato^
a Becoad time, not what he has done, and what may be made
ofanmious to the rigour of the law, but wbatfc he fancies he
mig^t cfm day have done, * and whed;, ai oouarse, oomes ndt
within the cogoisance of any eouzt of justice. Hei« we see
him aceufidng : himself twice of secret thcnights^ which he
might have had hereafter. The whole world does not affoiid
02le single instance of a man tried and condemoo^d fbr
tiransitory ideas, starting iup in his mind, and neyer oommu*
cated to any one lining. There is not a court of justice in
Europe where a man accusing himself of criminal thoughts
woula be minded 7 and it is said, tibat Gkid himself does not
pimieih th^n, unless accampaDied with a determinatiDn of
a^ will.
When, hy his lengthened aeeusation, the absidute master
thought he had isreyecabiy c<mdemned, h& called upon this
s^es to decide, ^^They had," he eaelaimad, f' heard tfid
long enumeration of crimes, such as were almost unheard
882 HisroBY ov kussia. [ch. xxviu
of in the world, of wbich his son had been guilty- towaida
him, who was his &ther and his soY^eign. Thej were well
aware that to himself alone belonged the right to give jud^-
menty nevertheless he asked their assistance ; for he stood m
fear of eternal perdition, and the more so as he had promised
forgiveness to his son, and had sworn it to him by the decrees
of God. It therefore remained with them to do justice,
without considering his birth, without paying any r^eard to
his person, that the country might not oe endangerea." It
is true that with this clear and terrible order he mixed np a
few words, which bear the mark of clumsy cunning* ^' They
ought,'' he said, ^ to give judgment without flattenng him, or
fearing to Ml under his displeasure, in case they should
decide that his son was deserving of only a slight punish-
ment."
The slaves comprehended their master ; they saw what waa
the horrible assistance which he wanted from them ; accords
ingly, the priests who were consulted replied merely by,
quotations m)m their sacred books, choosing in equal num**
ber those which condemned and those which pardoned, an4
not daring to throw any weight into the scale, not ^en that
sworn promise of the czar, of which they feared to remind
him. But they did remind him in their preamble, that the
absolute soverei^ of Bussia had no need to consult any other
authority than his own good pleasure. This^reamble was fol<>
lowed by a quotation mm Leviticus, in which it is said, that
whoever curseth his father or mother, shall be punished with
death ; and another from the Oospel of St. IM^tthew, which
makes mention of this rigorous law in Leviticus : after several
other citations, they concluded in these words :
"If his majesty is inclined to punish the delinquent^
according to his actions and the measure of his guilt, he haS'
before him examples from the Old Testament ; if he be in«
clined to spare, he has the pattern of Christ himself, kindly,
receiving the penitent prodigal, dismissing the woman taken
in adultery, wno, by the law, was to be stoned ; and delight-"
ing in mercy more than sacrifice. He has the example of •
Bavid, who is solicitous for the safety of Absalom his son,
though an open rebel, recommending nimtothe commanders
of his army, who insisted on giving him battle, ^ Spare mf
A.D, 1718] 3CTTBDSB or AIiIXIS. 383
§on Ahsahm ;' tlie father was for showing him mercer, hut
divine jusHee did not tpare him.
*^ The czar's heart is in the hands of God ; let him choose
tiiat tb which God shall incline him."
At the same time, the grandees of the state, to the number
df a hundred and twen^-four, yielded implicit obedience.
They pronounced sentence of death unanimously, and with-
out hesitation : but their decree* condemned themselves &r
more than it did their victim. We see in it the disgust-
ing efforts of this throng of slaves labouring to efface the per-
jury of their master ; while their mendacity being addea to
his own but makes it stand out with still more striking pro-
minence.
* For his own part he inflexibly completed his work : nothing
made him pause ; neither the time which had elapsed since
his wrath was excited, nor remorse, nor the repentance of a
wretched being, nor trembling, submissive, suppliant weak-
ness ! In one word, everything which usually, even betwe^a
alien enemies, is capable of appeasing and disarming, was
j^werless to sofben the heart of a father towards his child.
He had been his son's accuser and his judge, — he chose also
to be his executioner! On the 7th of (Tidy, 1718, the very
^y after the passing of the sentence, he went, attended by
all his nobles, to receive the last tears of his son, and to
mingle his own with them ; and, at the moment when he was
imagined to be at last melted to pity, at that moment he sent
for the " strong potion" which he himself had ordered to be
prepared ! Impatient for its arrival, he hurried it by a second
message ; he presented it to him as a salutary medicine ! and
did not retire — with " a very dismal countenance," it is true—
till he had poisoned the unfortunate creature who was still
ittiploring his forgiveness. The death of his victim, who ex-
pired in dreadful convulsions some hours afterwards, he then
attributed to the terror with which his sentence had inspired
him ! This was the flimsy veil with which he sought to cover
all these enormities from the eyes of those who were about
bim — he deemed it sufficient for their brutalised manners ;
he, besides, commanded their silence upon the subject, and
was so well obeyed, that, but for the memoirs of a foreigner,
who was a witness, an actor even, in this horrible drama, his-
* See Appendix.
SM xanamY on W99MLL. [osL:xsxaL
ter jnmkl ior mer hme remnned in ignoraner of Ukl fiaal
and terrible particulars. H«ve m- ibd atatanenfe xnads by
Fflfcac BJsnry bnuwr
'' On the next da^p^ bia Majesty*, attended ftf all tfaft: wmh
tfln and biabopBy vitk sevaral oldiera of kigh nak, i^enit to
ifaa Snt, and •nteied the iqiavtinenbi 'wbze the carevitoii
vaa kept pnaoner. Same UttU time tker€qfter, fnan^l
Wtj^ came tmt^ tmd ordered me to goto Mr^Bem't, Ike
irmjffuty whoee o^ waa hard bfy and tell Mm to make ike
sOTBMr STBOV e mkiak he had heepohoy «r the primee was tken
nemfUl, When I ddaiaered thie messa^ to Mr. Bear^ ie
tmnmd qm/ter ptde, and fdl a ehaking and trembUngy amd «p-
peared in the utmost oonjusiony which surprised mem «i«cil
ilktt lasJM him what was the matter with hkn;^ hut he was
tunable to return me smg askswer. In the meam time Ae mas^
skid kimse^ eame in, mueh in the same eondiHon 10M £b
dim^giaiy eaying, he oufht to hmee been more esqKditiomj m
tie prinee was very til of an apopdeetic fit, tfpon thiedtB
dn^giut deUtered him a sileer cup wUk a coster^ which ^
. marshal himself carried into i^ prinee* s apartmmitSy etamm^
m§ mli the woff as he weni Uke onm drunk. Aboat huf an
bour after, tbe ezar with all bia attendanta -wi&fl^w witii
TeiT dismal eountenaacea : and wben thejr ivent, tiier mot^
dbu ordered me to attend at tbe piinoe's apartment^ and in
ease of aoj alteration, to inform bim immediateiy tfaeKeafl
Tbera were at that tinie two pbysidans and two anrgeona
in waitine, witb wbom and tbe officers on goard I dism on
wbat bad oeen dceased for tbe prince's dimoier. The ^ijr*
meLODS were eaUed in immediately after to attend Ibe pxinoB,
who was struggling out of one convulsion into anethoTy aasA^
after great agonies, expired at five o'clock in tbe aftemodn.
I went directiy to inform tbe manual, and be went that
moment to acquaint bis majesty, wbo ordered tbe corpse to
be embowelled; after wbicb it was laid in a coffin covered
witb bbk^ velvet, and a paH of ricb gold tissne spread oirer
it ; it was then carried out of i^e fort to tbe cbnrdi of the
Holy Trinity, where tbe corpse lay in state till tbe lltb in
ikie evening, wben it was carried back to 1^ fort, and de^-
posited in the royal biirying vault, next tbe eoffin of the
princess, bis late consort; on wbicb occasion,. the czarand
— aritza, and the chief of tb» nobility, followed in procession.
'VWoovimw'tbe fB{>ortfl HM ^re spreMt i^oiuMn&iag 'Ids
desttn Ikmm ffmn otii poUscly, tiiat on bewring hnr sen*-
tan0i of <iei/6k pronounoed^ the droad ^bcteot thsf&w hiik
m^^ spoplefffcic it, of ^vhsdi.iie diod. Twf fern hMemd
he ^tkiM natural detah; Ua it was dmifferouB fir peeph to
mmk m thegr thm^. The miniBteiro of the enperdr md
tm filtaibBB 0f Bi<riiBid weue forbid the eourt fbr Bpeakkig
tkeir ndnda too free2j on thm oocasioa ; aiid upon Gomplauit
ignifirt tiiem, botii weiexecaUed."*
it had ali ateng hiMn eas^ to foresee that iilie t»l< of
idecu woiild h»re a tn^c temnination. Had his iifeheen
sprenly Peter would hai^ gacmed notlaag by Ms coiidemnai-
imni, ensept tibo odium of horbi^ gratuitouriy taic^ upon
UoBeif to pvocme it. The oivil death of Alexis wooid Bot
Ymm hmdmed him fixna ijenving and B]KoeecBiig> hie iiiUief ,
if his abrogwiiod lights were reohnned and sapported bgr a
straig'par^; or even without such svpport he wouMihwre
anoBded the thronie at the time when his son was naBed< to
m allnr Idve death of CMiarine. It was necessary to^ the
aeeemplishniBnt of the cssr's Assigns that Alesds shoidd die.
Bete; who is said to have shed tears over hie Tietint hetbve
he was inuncdated) and when he was in his coffin;^ did not
^evBBi spare* hiv memery, The murdered prince wm hardty in
hia gmPTO ere ;the auirdeTer hanisgued the senate, vaun^ong
his own iniexoTaUe justice, and declaring his dead son to ha^
baai ''the£dsest and most ungrateful being Ukat imagina-
tfon oo\M conoei^." Eour years afterwards, in 1722, fearing
that on his decease the minority of the sen of Alexis might
TsniTe the hopes of his mother and of the old Russian party
^ Whoerer will take the troabfe to read these memoirs of an offieor
iAd waa about the person of Bster L,. and "whose near xelatioii was one
^f tileaiest useful genarals of that reformer, will he conyinced of the
veracity of his narratiye. The artless simpUcity of his whole hoc^ and
the author*s constant admiration of the czar, strengthen the melancholy
conrictian which arises from the perusal of tiie above quoted passage.
Sbartbr after the execution, P. H. Bruoe was entrusted wlt& the edaea-
tkxn of the son of the unfortunate Alexia. Lederc, who was on the
spot, and a witness of this crime, quotes Bruce in his history, and ea-
tertains no doubt of the sad y^acity of his narrative, which he gives
at fUU length. ** It is certain,'* writes Voltaire, " that his son died the
dage^er the pamng €f^ sentence, and thai the czar had -at Moscow one of
the Jmest pharmaceuticcU establishments ik ^Surcpe.**
:&iaT0BT or bubsia. [ott. xxm.
he declared by an ukase (as Ivan in. had done in his letter
to the Pskoyians) '' that the reigning sovereign had the abso-
lute right to dispose of the throne to whomsoever he pleased."
Of all his innovations, not a few of which were pemidous,
this was the worst and most indefensible. It abolished a
custom which, being consecrated by several centuries of <ime,
had more than the force of any les^ enactment, and which
made the throne of Bussia heremtary. By rendering the
order of succession uncertain, he opened up m his empire an
abundant source of troubles, consputicies, and revolutions*.
There were other judicial proceedings in this fatal je&t,
but they were instituted against actual offenders. The czar
discovered that the measures he had adopted to check the
knavish propensities of his high functionaries had been of no
avail, and that enormous depredations were committed upon
the resources of the state. A military commission was ap-
pointed to try the delinquents, the principal of whom were
men who had already been pardoned for the same crime:
prince Gagarin, governor of Siberia, prince Mentchikof, ihe
nrst subject in the empire, admiral count Aprazin and his
brother, general Bruce, and prince YolkonsKi, governor of
Archangel* They were all convicted of peculation ; Gagarin
was beheaded, Volkonski shot ; the rest were let off for pecu-
niary fines and the usual castigation administered by the czar
with his walking-stick. Thus lightly did Peter deal with the
enemies of his people, after pimishing with inhuman rigour
his own son and others who had personally offended him by
a few indiscretions.
Mentchikof, so ofben convicted, and punished rather as a
rascally valet than as a guilty minister, was always incorri-
gible. The senate had ample proof of his peculations, but not
one of its members durst raise his voice to call the &vottrite
to account. All they could venture to do was, to draw up^^a
tabular statement of his depredations ; and this was laid on
the table opposite the czar's seat. Peter saw the paper, cast
his eye over it, but seemed to pay no attention to its con-
tents. The paper remained constantly in the same place.
At last one day as Tolstoi was seated in the senate beside the
czar, he made bold to ask what his majesty thought of that
document. " Nothing," replied Peter, " but that Mentchikof
will always be Mentchikof."
A.I>. 1718] THB HOCE COKOLATE. 387
CHAPTEE XXVni.
THE BITBLSSQUB OP THE COKOLATE— HTSTITirTIOlirS OF THE
TEAB 1718 — ^PBAOB OE IITTSTADT — PETEB's EESTAl^OIAL BE-
60VB0EB.
The appalling episode we Itaye just related was so far from
engrossing the thoughts of the czar, that it hardhr inter-
rupted the course of his ordinary occupations, ifaj, as if
to darken still more the tragic horrors of the year 1718, by
mingling with them the coarsest and most disgusting buf-
foonery, it was in that yery year he instituted the crapulous
burlesque of the Conclave.
T 
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