Notes upon Russia/Volume 1/Introduction

INTRODUCTION.

When the following "Notes upon Russia" are presented to the reader as the earliest description of that country, the statement, though substantially and for all essential purposes correct, must not be allowed to pass without a word of modification. As we shall presently take occasion to show, the Baron Sigismund von Herberstein was preceded by numerous travellers to Russia, the record of whose peregrinations could scarcely have been handed down to us without some slight allusion to the character of the country they visited; yet from none of them have we received anything that could with reason be referred to as an authentic description of the country and its people, derived, as all such descriptions should be, from lengthened personal observation and industrious inquiry. The present work, however, which embodies the experience and observations of a sagacious and pains-taking man, during two periods of residence, in all about sixteen months, in Moscow, as ambassador from the Emperor of Germany to the Tzar, has won for its author so high a reputation for correctness and minuteness of detail, that he has been thought by many (and one of the number is the learned historian, August Ludwig Schlözer himself) worthy of the designation of the "Discoverer of Russia". The "Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii" has been a standing book of reference for all subsequent historians of the great empire of the north; and it is not without good reason that the distinguished biographer of Herberstein, Friedrich Adelung (to whose works, as quoted below,^[1] the editor is mainly indebted for the materials of this introduction) expresses his surprise that a work of such importance should so long have remained untranslated, either into the Polish, the French, the Dutch, or the English languages. Especially is this expression of astonishment applicable, as he justly observes, to England and Holland,--countries which have for nearly three centuries maintained commercial relations with the Russian empire. The scope of the work comprises brief but interesting, and in many cases highly amusing, sketches of the history, antiquities, geography, and productions of the country, with the religion, form of government, peculiarities in matters of warfare, trade, domestic habits, and amusements of the people.

The advantages possessed by Herberstein for collecting all the materials requisite for the supply of this extensive range of information, were various and important. In the first place, may be mentioned the clear-sightedness and experience which his residence in foreign courts had superadded to his own naturally keen understanding; add to this, the intercourse which his position as ambassador at Moscow enabled him to cultivate with the best informed and most intelligent people of the metropolis. Independent of these advantages, which enabled him to sift and scrutinize the accounts which might be supplied to him from the descriptions of others, he possessed a fund of information in the men who were assigned to him as interpreters. These persons, named Gregor Istoma, Vlas, and Dmitrii, had themselves made considerable journeys in their native country, and the results of their several observations in these journeys were communicated to Herberstein by the first-mentioned of the three in writing. Our author likewise had the benefit of being acquainted with several foreigners who had long resided in Russia, among whom should especially be mentioned the minister and confidant of the Grand Duke, often spoken of in his work under the name of George the Little. Another source of information may also be mentioned as proving serviceable to Herberstein in the composition of a work which has conferred immortality upon his name; namely, a considerable number of manuscript annals, to which he makes especial reference, under the title of " Literae cujusdam Warlami Prioris Huttiniensis Monasterii", anno 7034 [A.D. 1525].

Before we proceed to give an account of the bibliography of the work before us, it may be desirable to vindicate its value by laying before the reader a list of the various travellers to Russia who preceded Herberstein, and more especially of those authors, whether travellers or otherwise, who anticipated him, in making allusion, however slightly, to the history, geography, natural history, or customs of the country.

Although a bibliographical account of the narratives of these early travellers will occupy a considerable space in this introduction, and though in some cases their travels only partially refer to Russia, it is hoped that the details we are about to give will not be considered inappropriate, and that by members of the Hakluyt Society at least they will be regarded as both interesting and important.

They are principally derived from the researches of Adelung, as given in his "Kritisch Literärische Uebersicht der Reisenden in Russlandl bis 1700" (St. Petersburg, 1846, 4to.), but have received considerable additions and alterations from the editor of the present volume. The first traveller in the list is--

(1.)

Ohthere. 890.

Ohthere, a northman, of whom we know little more than that he was born in Helgoland, was a man of substance, and undertook several voyages, one of which was from Norway towards the extreme northern coasts, in the course of which he became acquainted with the Finns and Bjarmier, or Permians, in the north-east of European Russia. In one of these voyages he must have reached the shores of England, which was at that time governed by Alfred the Great. This famous prince collected^[2] all the attainable geographical accounts of the then known world, which, together with the narration of Ohthere's voyages and that of Wulfstan (who, it is possible, became acquainted with Ohthere in the course of his voyages, or resided with him in England), he included in his valuable Anglo-Saxon translation of the Hormista of Paulus Orosius. The beautifully written and well-preserved original of this work is to be found in the Cottonian collection of manuscripts in the British Museum. It was published under the title--

The Anglo-Saxon version from the historian Orosius, by Alfred the Great. Together with an English translation from the Anglo-Saxon. By Dailies Barrington; London, 1773; 8vo.

English. The most noble and famous travels of Marcus Paulus, one of the nobilitie of the State of Venice, in the east partes of the world, as Armenia, Persia, Arabia, Tartary, with many other kingdoms and provinces. No lesse pleasant than profitable, as appeareth by the table or contents of this booke. Most necessary for all sortes of persons, and especially for travellers. Translated into English (by John Frampton). London, 1579; 4to.

A translation by Samuel Purchas, in his "Pilgrimes," from the text of Ramusio.

Another, in the "Bibliotheca Navigantium" of Harris, likewise from the text of Ramusio.

We have next to quote the excellent and well known edition of Mr. Marsden, likewise translated from Ramusio, entitled—

The travels of Marco Polo, a Venetian, in the thirteenth century. Being a description, by that early traveller, of remarkable places and things in the eastern parts of the world. Translated from the Italian, with notes, by William Marsden, F.R.S., etc. With a map. London, 1818, 4to.

And finally, an edition entitled—

The Travels of Marco Polo, greatly amended and enlarged from valuable early manuscripts, recently published by the French Society of Geography, and in Italy by Count Baldelli Boni. With copious notes, illustrating the routes and observations of the author, and comparing them with those of more recent travellers. By Hugh Murray, F.R.S.E. Two maps and a vignette. New York, 1845; small 8vo.

Herberstein himself says that they placed persons in the house who were considered noble, and whose office it was to keep close watch that nobody should come or go without their knowledge. The general cause of this precaution was to be ascribed to the spirit of the times, but Herberstein himself had partly caused it by an inadvertence which he lays to his own charge. He had been very anxious to gain all the information he could respecting Moscow; he began to do this, as he himself acknowledges, too early, and even on the day of his arrival he made various inquiries of his interpreter, and told him that such information would be very interesting to his countrymen. At the same time he offered to give him information of other countries, and to explain to him the maps which he had brought with him, by which of course he caused suspicion, and was observed so closely that nobody was allowed to visit him unless two or more of his watchful attendants were permitted to be present, and to hear what was said. Afterwards he was more cautious, and was obliged to adopt a very circuitous process when he wanted to gain any information. On the 20th of April he was informed that the grand-prince wished to see him on the following day. Early in the morning several noblemen on horseback were sent to his house to escort him. The nearer he came to the Kremlin, the more the procession increased. All the shops were closed, and the crowding of the curious at such a rare sight was so great that force was necessary to make a passage through them. When they came near the steps of the palace, the grooms leading Herberstein's horse would not allow him to ride near it, but he spurred the horse as near as possible to the steps, in his desire to claim a peculiar honour for his master. Here he was received by the councillors of the grand-prince, who offered him their hands, and saluted him. On the stairs a greater number of courtiers joined the procession. In the ante-room many well-dressed noblemen were sitting and standing, of whom however none spoke to him, or took the least notice of him. In the first state-room were several nobles dressed in silk and brocade. In the second, were the young princes, with other high people, who wore caps richly adorned with pearls and jewels. From this room he was led Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/137 Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/138 Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/139 Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/140 Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/141 had already received from the emperor a new commission, which was to take him to Hungary, it being again reported that the count John of Zips was to be appointed regent during the king's minority. Maximilian hastened to prevent this innovation as dangerous to his own claims, and being himself the tutor of the young king, he appointed an extraordinary embassy to Hungary, of which Herberstein was a member. The ambassadors met in Vienna, and without delay hastened to Buda, where just at that time the diet was sitting.^[4] The king of Poland being also a guardian of the young king, sent Andreas Tanznitski and the Provost Carnorovski. From the pope likewise a delegate was sent, brother Nicolas, of the noble family of Schonberg, a Dominican, who had possessed the unlimited confidence of Leo the Tenth even when he was a cardinal. At the commencement of the negotiations, this cunning priest showed himself so much in the interest of the emperor, that Herberstein himself says, "I thought he was a godsend." Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/143 Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/144 Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/145 the Golden Fleece, which Charles the Fifth celebrated with great pomp. The emperor on that occasion gave him in reward for his services the uncommon distinction of allowing him to add to his own arms those of the archduke of Austria, and of the king of Castile, and to bear as his crest the portraits of the Roman emperor, of the king of Spain, and the czar of Russia. From the Netherlands Herberstein went to Nuremberg, where at the imperial diet he had to represent the archduke Ferdinand. Subsequent to this he was employed upon various commissions: first at Stuttgard, twice to Prague, then to Nordlingen, where the Swabian diet was held, then twice to Hungary, where he succeeded in bringing about an amicable relation between the archduke Ferdinand and king Louis of Hungary.

It was not till this year that Herberstein's marriage with Helena von Saurau, which had been arranged in 1521, could be solemnized. In his Latin autobiography, he mentions his marriage in these few words:—"Hoc anno uxorem duxi"; and, as has been mentioned above, he never speaks about his wife's family, nor of his wife, nor had he any children. But she survived him by nine years, and died in 1575.

It only remains for the editor to express his great obligations to his friend William Brenchley Rye, Esq. of the British Museum, both for his obliging contribution of the etching of the grand-prince, which forms the frontispiece of the second volume, and also for most valuable assistance in this introduction, and more especially in the bibliography, which forms so considerable a portion of it.

↑ Siegmund Freiherr von Herberstein mit besonderer Rucksicht auf seine Reisen in Russland. St. Petersburg, 1818, 8vo.
Kritisch Literarische Uebersicht der Reisenden in Russland bis 1700. St. Petersburg, 1846, 4to.
↑ See "Asserus de rebus gestis Alfredi in Anglica, Hibernica, etc., scripta, ex bibliotheca Camdeni. Auctore Silvestro Giraldo (properly Giraldus de Barry, but better known as Giraldus Cambrensis, born 1146, in Wales). Francf. 1602, fol., p. 5.
↑ Very circumstantial accounts of King Alfred's work, and Ohthere, will be found in Beckmann's Litter. d. ält. Reisebeschr. Th. i, p. 450, etc.
↑ Hungarian invention of coaches.—Herberstein, in his autobiography, published by Kovachich, 1805, when alluding to his journey to Hungary, speaks of coaches under the name of cotschien or kotzschi wägnen, and adds: "They are so called after a village ten miles distant from Buda (Kotsee, Kotsch, now Kitser); they are drawn by three horses, which run abreast of each other, and at those times when there is little or no ice on the ground. They carry four persons along with the driver, and it is indeed a very agreeable conveyance—so that any one can convey his bed, clothes, eatables and drinkables, and other conveniences, provided the load be not a heavy one." See also upon this subject, Beckmann's Hist. of Inventions, where Herberstein's work on Russia is quoted, but not the above passage, which was not then published.

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[1] Siegmund Freiherr von Herberstein mit besonderer Rucksicht auf seine Reisen in Russland. St. Petersburg, 1818, 8vo.
Kritisch Literarische Uebersicht der Reisenden in Russland bis 1700. St. Petersburg, 1846, 4to.

[2] See "Asserus de rebus gestis Alfredi in Anglica, Hibernica, etc., scripta, ex bibliotheca Camdeni. Auctore Silvestro Giraldo (properly Giraldus de Barry, but better known as Giraldus Cambrensis, born 1146, in Wales). Francf. 1602, fol., p. 5.

[3] Very circumstantial accounts of King Alfred's work, and Ohthere, will be found in Beckmann's Litter. d. ält. Reisebeschr. Th. i, p. 450, etc.

[4] Hungarian invention of coaches.—Herberstein, in his autobiography, published by Kovachich, 1805, when alluding to his journey to Hungary, speaks of coaches under the name of cotschien or kotzschi wägnen, and adds: "They are so called after a village ten miles distant from Buda (Kotsee, Kotsch, now Kitser); they are drawn by three horses, which run abreast of each other, and at those times when there is little or no ice on the ground. They carry four persons along with the driver, and it is indeed a very agreeable conveyance—so that any one can convey his bed, clothes, eatables and drinkables, and other conveniences, provided the load be not a heavy one." See also upon this subject, Beckmann's Hist. of Inventions, where Herberstein's work on Russia is quoted, but not the above passage, which was not then published.

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