The issue of dating disasters is not a secondary issue. If we consider worldwide catastrophes as a recurring phenomenon that has its own period, then, knowing the dates and period, we can determine the time of the coming cataclysm.
The axial arrays have not yet been sorted by date, but something can already be seen. Separated by dots different materials. Links to posts explaining the material are highlighted in blue.
The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was built in 1158. Focused on "-2". The former floor of the church is one and a half meters lower than the current one (the clergy were extremely lazy: they allowed the growth of the cultural layer) and is distinguished by charisma, style and stone.
Here, in Bogolyubovo, stands the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl. The building also dates back to the 12th century, oriented towards "-1". There is a legend about the artificial raising of the place under the church with an honest stone, but information about the excavation to study the foundation was not published, or was not carried out at all. We can assume that fundamental discoveries await us here too.
To the southwest, 10 km away, is the city of Vladimir - three temples are set to "-2":
Demetrius Cathedral, 1194;
St. George's Church, 1192;
Assumption Cathedral, 1155
The Cathedral of the Virgin Mary (I couldn’t find the date) and the Assumption Cathedral, built in 1644, are set to “-1”.
For this area we have “-2” until the end of the 12th century, and “-1” back in the 16th century.
Temples and sacred geography. Natural disaster of the Time of Troubles and Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda.
The center of the oprichnina, all churches (Raspyatskaya, 1560; Epiphany, 16th century; Intercession, 1509; Trinity, 1513; Assumption, 1570) are oriented towards "-1".
Here the position "-1" is obtained until the end of the 16th century.
Here Dmitry Kovalenko insists on 200 years, but I understand that the traveler was talking about a period of less than 200 years.
Total - the end of the 16th century.
The journey of Afanasy Nikitin beyond the equator in 1465-1472. India, it turns out was in the 15th century in the Southern Hemisphere.
Addition here.
Map of old trees in Russia speaks of a basic cut-off for tree age of 400 years. The Astrakhan oak tree did not fit in its 443 years, but after research into the methodology of the CDE became clear that the age of the oak is significantly overestimated.
Tree cutting dates back to the late 16th century.
In Yamal surviving settlements with wooden buildings date back to the 12th-14th centuries. "-1" correlates well.
Bugrovshiki cleared the mounds in Siberia. Rumors about the treasures of the Siberian mounds, increasingly reaching Europe, began to materialize in the 1710s. They went to Siberia at the end of the 16th century.
Is hundreds of years enough for rumors to spread?
Mendeleev D.I. (19th century): "Siberia is terrible because of the rumors about it". How long can word of mouth last, which is scary? When we were told about the Mongol-Tatar yoke in history lessons, were we scared? Half a thousand years erase fear. The event, which was closer, inspired fear of a catastrophe in legends. I would say the 17th century here.
"Old-timers" say that the creation of the world was “100” years ago.
Formation and expansion of a village in Mordovia in the 19th century.
Geologists were lowered into the mine, to a depth of three hundred meters, to the location of the skeleton. There really were a lot of bones. They were removed according to all the rules - with thin excavation knives, removing dirt with brushes.
The miners looked at the scientists in surprise. “We thought these were washers, but for some reason there were no holes for the bolts. We punched them with a pick and a chisel - there are no holes, and that’s it,” they said.
I cited this quote for the sake of an impressive fact.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Kalmyks had one prince(I believe there were no more than ten thousand Kalmyks to him). Then they multiplied over a million by the 19th century and their princes became like nettles.
The end of the 16th century became a period of hard times for Russian state. The deepest crisis has affected all spheres of life of the Russian people and the state: power, economics, ideology, and diplomatic relations.
Porukha in the 70-80s
The period of economic crisis in the Russian state coincided with the end of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The precondition for the decline of the country's economy was social factors: most of The population died during the oprichnina and the Livonian War; many peasants fled from tsarist oppression to the Siberian forests.
The tightening of serfdom and the abolition of St. George's Day led to massive popular unrest and uprisings. Peasants often organized robbery attacks on the estates of boyars and landowners. Flaw work force and the refusal of some peasants from agricultural work led to the fact that the area of uncultivated land accounted for more than 80% of the total.
Despite this, the state continued to increase taxes. The number of deaths from hunger and infectious diseases has increased in the country. Ivan the Terrible made attempts to stabilize the situation in the state; taxation of landowners was reduced and the oprichnina was abolished. But still, stop economic crisis, which went down in history as “rukh”, did not succeed.
Enslavement of the peasantry at the end of the 16th century
It was during this period in the Russian state that Tsar Ivan the Terrible officially enshrined serfdom. The entire population of the Russian state was entered by name into special books, which indicated which landowner this or that person belonged to.
According to royal decree, peasants who escaped or refused to work on the land of the landowner were subject to severe punishment. According to many historians, this year marks the beginning of the formation of serfdom in Russia.
Also, at the legislative level, a provision was enshrined, following which debtors who were late in paying the debt automatically fell into serfdom from their creditor, without the right to further redeem their own freedom. The children of peasants living in serfdom became the property of the landowner, like their parents.
Russia under Fyodor Ivanovich
By the end of his reign, Tsar Ivan the Terrible was an exhausted old man and could not fully participate in governing the state. Supreme power in Russia belonged to boyar families close to the tsar. After his death, the sovereign did not leave worthy heirs.
took the throne younger son, Fedor Ivanovich soft man, who possessed absolutely no qualities that could make him a wise king.
Ivan Fedorovich was unable to eliminate the economic crisis and completely overcome external expansion, but to say that his reign did not bring positive results for the state would be wrong. Being religious person, the king was able to significantly raise the level spiritual development people.
During his reign, cities destroyed by foreign invaders were significantly transformed, primary schools at monasteries and churches.
In 1581, the eldest son Ivan Ivanovich died at the hands of Ivan 4, potential heirs to the throne 2: Fyodor Ivanovich and Dmitry - the son from his marriage with Maria Naga, born in 1579. Ivan 4 dies in 1584. Fyodor Ivanovich 1584-1598 becomes the heir. The most influential are: Boris Godunov, Ivan Mstislavsky, Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Yuryev. The main political struggle is taking place between several factions:
1. Bogdan Belsky and Nagiye, led by Maria Naga. The goal is to enthronement Dmitry. After the death of Dmitry, they were exiled to monasteries for massacres of innocent people.
2. Shuisky. The goal is maximum influence under Fedor Ivanovich.
3. Mstislavskys, led by Ivan Mstislavsky. The goal is maximum influence under Fedor Ivanovich. Later, Ivan Mstislavsky was exiled to the Belozersky Monastery.
4. Nikita Rom. Zakharyin-Yuryev and his family. After the death of N.R. In 1585 they lose significance.
5. Boris Godunov and his supporters. Reliance on the marriage of F.I. and Irina Godunova, B.G.’s sister. Since 1589, his protege Patriarch Job has become an important ally of Godunov. The goal is to maintain one’s influence and strengthen kinship with ruling dynasty. Under F.I. Boris Godunov was a stable boy and a close boyar, in fact, the ruler of the country.
May 15, 1591 – murder/suicide of Dmitry under unclear circumstances. The naked people are accused of killing B.G.'s people, and reprisals are committed against them. An official commission consisting of Vasily Shuisky, Andrei Kleshnin (B.G.’s man) and Gelasius decided to commit suicide in a fit of epilepsy. Maria Naguya is exiled to a monastery. Later, the Nagiye accuse Godunov of starting the Moscow fire in order to “distract from Dmitry’s death.” On May 7, 1598, Fyodor Ivanovich dies childless -> dynastic crisis. Boris announces that power has been bequeathed to Irina, and Job, Boris Godunov, Fyodor Nikitich Romanov have been appointed regents. Irina refuses and goes to the monastery; Boris is called king from the crowd, probably under the influence of Job. On February 17, 1598, the Zemsky Sobor was convened (474 people, 99 clergy and 272 servants, mostly Muscovites - Plat.). Godunov's opponents: You. Shuisky, Ivan Mstislavsky, Fed. Nikitich Romanov. Boris was elected to the kingdom under the influence of Job. On February 21, after much persuasion from Job, Irina and the council, Boris agrees to the kingdom. August 1, 1598 – letter of fidelity to Boris, his wife and children (an attempt to establish a new dynasty), September 1, 1598 – crowning of the kingdom 1598-1605.
8. Troubles. Beginning of the Romanov dynasty
After the death of Ivan the Terrible Zemsky Sobor, made up of service people, recognized Ivan IV's son Fyodor as tsar. In 1589, the patriarchate was introduced, which meant the independence of the Russian Orthodox Church from Constantinople. In 1597, “ summer lessons"- a five-year period for searching for fugitive peasants. In 1598, with the death of Fyodor Ivanovich and the suppression of the Rurik dynasty, the Zemsky Sobor elected Boris Godunov to the throne by a majority vote.
Beginning of the 17th century - the period of the Time of Troubles. The causes of the Troubles were the aggravation of social, class, dynastic and international relations at the end of the reign of Ivan IV and under his successors.
1) In the 1570s–1580s. the most developed in economically center (Moscow) and north-west (Novgorod and Pskov) of the country. As a result of the oprichnina and the Livonian War, part of the population fled, while others died. Central government In order to prevent the flight of peasants to the outskirts, it took the path of attaching peasants to the land of feudal landowners. In fact, a system of serfdom was established on a state scale. The introduction of serfdom led to an aggravation of social contradictions in the country and created conditions for mass popular uprisings.
2) After the death of Ivan IV the Terrible, there were no heirs capable of continuing his policies. During the reign of the mild-mannered Fyodor Ivanovich (1584–1598), the de facto ruler of the country was his guardian Boris Godunov. In 1591, in Uglich, under unclear circumstances, the last of the direct heirs to the throne, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Dmitry, died. Popular rumor attributed the organization of the murder to Boris Godunov. These events caused a dynastic crisis.
3) At the end of the 16th century. there is a strengthening of the neighbors of Muscovite Rus' - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden, Crimean Khanate, Ottoman Empire. The aggravation of international contradictions will be another reason for the events that broke out during the Time of Troubles.
During the Time of Troubles, the country was actually in a state of civil war, accompanied by Polish and Swedish intervention. Wide use We received rumors that Tsarevich Dmitry, who “miraculously escaped” in Uglich, was alive. In 1602, a man appeared in Lithuania posing as Tsarevich Dmitry. According to official version Moscow government of Boris Godunov, the man posing as Dmitry was the fugitive monk Grigory Otrepiev. He went down in history under the name of False Dmitry I.
In June 1605, the protege Polish gentry False Dmitry I entered Moscow. However, his policy caused discontent and common people, and boyars. As a result of a conspiracy among the boyars and an uprising of Muscovites in May 1606, False Dmitry was killed. The boyars proclaim Vasily Shuisky (1606–1610) tsar.
In 1606–1607 There is a popular uprising led by Ivan Bolotnikov. In the summer of 1606, Bolotnikov from Krom moved to Moscow. Along the way, a small detachment turned into a powerful army, which included peasants, townspeople and even detachments of nobles led by Prokopiy Lyapunov. The Bolotnikovites laid siege to Moscow for two months, but as a result of treason, some of the nobles were defeated by the troops of Vasily Shuisky. In March 1607, Shuisky issued the “Code on Peasants,” which introduced a 15-year period for searching fugitive peasants. Bolotnikov was driven back to Kaluga and besieged royal troops, however, broke out of the siege and retreated to Tula. The three-month siege of Tula was led by Vasily Shuisky himself. The Upa River was blocked by a dam and the fortress was flooded. After V. Shuisky promised to save the lives of the rebels, they opened the gates of Tula. Having broken his word, the king brutally dealt with the rebels. Bolotnikov was blinded and then drowned in an ice hole in the city of Kargopol.
While Shuisky was besieging Bolotnikov in Tula, a new impostor appeared in the Bryansk region. Relying on the support of the Polish gentry and the Vatican, in 1608 False Dmitry II marched from Poland to Russia. However, attempts to take Moscow ended in vain. False Dmitry II stopped 17 km from the Kremlin in the village of Tushino, for which he received the nickname “Tushino Thief”.
To fight the Tushins, Shuisky concluded an agreement with Sweden in February 1609. The Swedes contributed troops to fight " Tushino thief", and Russia renounced its claims to the Baltic coast.
Polish king Sigismund III ordered the nobles to leave Tushino and go to Smolensk. The Tushino camp collapsed. False Dmitry II fled to Kaluga, where he was soon killed. The Tushino boyars invited the son of the Polish king, Tsarevich Vladislav, to the Moscow throne.
In the summer of 1610, a coup took place in Moscow. Shuisky was overthrown, the boyars led by F. I. Mstislavsky seized power. This government was called the “Seven Boyars”. Despite the protests of Patriarch Hermogenes, the “Seven Boyars” concluded an agreement to call Tsarevich Vladislav to the Russian throne and allowed Polish interventionists into the Kremlin.
The catastrophic situation stirred up the patriotic feelings of the Russian people. At the beginning of 1611, the First civil uprising led by P. Lyapunov, besieged Moscow, but due to internal disagreements between the participants, it fell apart, and Prokopiy Lyapunov was killed.
Swedish troops, freed from treaty obligations after the overthrow of Shuisky, captured a significant part of the north of Russia, including Novgorod, besieged Pskov, and the Poles, after almost two years of siege, captured Smolensk. The Polish king Sigismund III announced that he himself would become the Russian Tsar, and Russia will enter to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In the fall of 1611, the Second People's Militia was formed on the initiative of the Nizhny Novgorod posad elder Kuzma Minin and headed by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. In 1612 Moscow was liberated from the Poles.
In February 1613, Mikhail Romanov was elected to the throne by the Zemsky Sobor.
9. " Rebellious Age": Popular movements in the 17th century
The 17th century is a time of uprisings, riots and popular movements.
Many of them were caused by specific circumstances, often by erroneous actions of the authorities.
After the Time of Troubles, the government, which was experiencing financial difficulties and needed funds to wage wars in order to return the lands lost during the Time of Troubles, in addition to the permanent tax, resorted to emergency monetary levies and indirect taxes. In a country devastated by the events of the Time of Troubles, payment of emergency taxes was often impossible due to poverty and the insolvency of the Russian population. Arrears to the treasury were growing.
In 1646, the government of Alexei Mikhailovich again increased indirect taxes, raising the price of salt fourfold. But instead of replenishing the treasury, there is a reduction in income again, because the people were unable to buy salt at new price. In 1647, the government abolished the tax, but it was decided to collect arrears for three years by any means.
This decision resulted in an open uprising in Moscow in June 1648, called the “Salt Riot.” For several days Moscow was in revolt: they burned, killed, robbed everyone who was considered the culprit of the people's troubles. The townspeople were joined by archers and gunners, and some nobles. The uprising was suppressed only with the help of bribed archers, whose salaries were increased.
The uprising, which frightened the authorities, largely contributed to the convening of the Zemsky Sobor in 1649 and the adoption Cathedral Code- new code of laws.
« Salt riot“in Moscow was not the only one. In the 1630s - 1650s, uprisings took place in more than 30 Russian cities: Veliky Ustyug, Voronezh, Novgorod, Pskov, Kursk, Vladimir, Siberian cities.
These uprisings did not ease the situation of the people. IN mid-17th century century, tax burden increased even more. The wars that Russia waged with Sweden and Poland required money; funds were also needed for maintenance state apparatus.
Looking for a way out of trouble financial situation Russian government In 1654, instead of silver coins, copper coins were minted at the same price. So much copper money was issued that it became worthless. The high cost of food led to famine. Driven to despair, the Moscow townspeople rebelled in the summer of 1662. It was brutally suppressed, but the government, to calm the people, was forced to stop minting copper money, which was again replaced by silver.
In a series of these and other speeches, the movement of Stepan Razin, which in the historiography of Soviet times was usually called the “peasant war,” stands out. But even if you move away from class approach Soviet times, it should still be noted that Razin’s uprising was the largest uprising of the 17th century, with big actions two armies, military plans and real threat to the Moscow government from the rebels.
The intensification of feudal exploitation, the formalization of serfdom, and the growth of tax oppression intensified the flight of peasants to the outskirts of the country, to areas inaccessible to the government.
One of the places where the fugitive peasants went was the Don, where they became free people. IN Cossack regions Since ancient times, there has been a custom not to extradite fugitives who come there.
By the mid-60s, the Don had accumulated a large number of fugitives.
Unlike the old ones Don Cossacks these newly arrived people (they began to be called “golytba”, “golutvenny Cossacks”) did not receive a salary. Cossacks were forbidden to plow the land on the Don, fearing that agriculture would turn the Cossacks into peasants and lead to their enslavement by Moscow.
“Golytba” actively participated in campaigns against the Crimea and Turkey, which provided rich booty (“campaigns for zipuns”).
In 1658 - 1660 the Turks and Crimean Tatars blocked the exit to Azov and Black Sea. The Caspian coast increasingly became the target of Cossack attacks.
In 1666, a detachment of 500 Cossacks led by Ataman Vasily Us undertook a campaign from the Don through Voronezh to Tula to offer the government their services in connection with the war between Russia and Poland, wanting to gain a livelihood from military service. On the way, the detachment was joined by many peasants and townspeople. The detachment grew to 3 thousand people.
A large, well-armed government army was assembled against the Usovites, forcing the rebels to retreat to the Don. Many of the participants in Vasily Us’s campaign subsequently joined Stepan Razin’s army.
In 1667, the “golutvennye Cossacks” went to the Caspian Sea on a “campaign for zipuns” led by S.T. Razin. They captured the Yaitsky town (now Uralsk), making it theirs stronghold. In 1668 - 1669, the Razins subjected devastating raids West Coast Caspian, having defeated the fleet of the Iranian Shah, and returned to the Don with rich booty. This campaign did not go beyond the usual Cossack campaign for booty.
In the spring of 1670 S. Razin began new trip to the Volga, in which the Cossacks, peasants, townspeople, and the large non-Russian population of the Volga region took part.
The main goal of the campaign was Moscow, the route was the Volga. Among the rebels there were strong sentiments of naive monarchism and faith in a good king. Their anger was directed against the governors, boyars, nobles, and all rich people. The rebels tortured, brutally executed, burned the houses of the rich, plundered their property, freeing the common people from taxes and serfdom.
The rebels captured Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan, Saratov and Samara. Only the capture of Simbirsk was delayed. Thus, the uprising covered a vast territory from the lower Volga to Nizhny Novgorod, from Ukraine to the Trans-Volga region.
Only in the spring of 1671 high voltage forces of a 30,000-strong army against the 20,000-strong army of S.T. Razin's government was able to lift the siege of Simbirsk and crush the uprising.
Razin himself was captured by wealthy, house-loving Cossacks, handed over to the government and executed in the summer of 1671. Individual rebel detachments fought with the tsarist troops until the fall of 1671.
Analyzing the reasons for the defeat of the uprising, researchers, first of all, note the low level military organization; disunity of the rebels; the diversity of goals and demands of various social and national strata of participants in the armed struggle.
Uprising S.T. Razin forced the government to look for ways to strengthen the existing system. The power of local governors is strengthening, reforms in the army have continued; The transition to a system of household taxation begins.
One of the forms of protest in the 17th century was the schismatic movement.
In 1653, on the initiative of Patriarch Nikon, a reform was carried out in the Russian Orthodox Church, designed to eliminate discrepancies in books and rituals that had accumulated over many centuries.
Correction of church books according to Greek models began. Instead of the Old Russian one, Greek rituals were introduced: two fingers were replaced by three fingers, and a four-pointed cross instead of an eight-pointed one was declared a symbol of faith.
The innovations were consolidated by the Council of the Russian Clergy in 1654, and in 1655 approved by the Patriarch of Constantinople on behalf of all Eastern Orthodox churches.
However, the reform, carried out hastily, without preparing Russian society for it, caused strong confrontation among the Russian clergy and believers. In 1656, the defenders of the old rites, whose recognized leader was Archpriest Avvakum, were excommunicated from the church. But this measure did not help. A movement of Old Believers arose who created their own church organizations. Thus, a split occurred in the Russian Orthodox Church. Old Believers, fleeing persecution, went to distant forests and beyond the Volga, where they founded schismatic communities - monasteries. The response to the persecution was mass self-immolation and starvation.
The Old Believers movement acquired and social character. The old faith became a sign in the struggle against the strengthening of serfdom.
The most powerful protest against church reform manifested itself in the Solovetsky uprising. Rich and Famous Solovetsky Monastery openly refused to recognize all the innovations introduced by Nikon and to obey the decisions of the Council. An army was sent to Solovki, but the monks secluded themselves in the monastery and put up armed resistance. The siege of the monastery began, which lasted about eight years (1668 - 1676). The monks' stand for the old faith served as an example for many.
After suppression Solovetsky uprising persecution of schismatics intensified. In 1682, Habakkuk and many of his supporters were burned. In 1684, a decree followed, according to which the Old Believers were to be tortured, and in case of disobedience, burned. However, these measures did not eliminate the movement of supporters of the old faith.
IN late XVII centuries Russia was shocked Streltsy riots. By this time, in connection with the creation of regiments of the new system, the role of the archers had decreased, they lost many privileges. The Sagittarius not only carried military service, but also actively engaged economic activity. The arbitrariness of the Streltsy colonels, frequent delays in salaries, the obligation to pay taxes and duties on trades, the growth of property inequality among them - all caused discontent among the Streltsy.
The boyars cleverly took advantage of this discontent in the struggle for power after the death of Fyodor Alekseevich, provoking Streltsy riots 1682, 1689 and 1696.
The result of the rebellions and the active participation of the Streltsy in the political struggle around the throne was a radical reform of the army carried out by Peter I and which led to the disbandment of the Streltsy troops.
Urban and peasant uprisings, Streltsy and schismatic riots were reported, according to V.O. Klyuchevsky, “anxious character XVII century" The demands of the rebels attracted the government's attention to pressing, pressing problems and pushed it towards reforms.
Giles Fletcher was a clergyman's son who received excellent education at Eton and Cambridge, LL.D., elected Member of Parliament. In 1586, he was appointed to the post of "remembrancer" (a kind of secretary of state) of the City of London (a wealthy merchant area). This was an important post through which all official communications between the Lord Mayor of the City and royal court. In 1588, as he was well acquainted with commercial affairs The Moscow company of London merchants was assigned to head the embassy to Russia to resolve misunderstandings with the Russian government that arose due to the company's activities.
After Fletcher returned to England, between official business, wrote the book “About the Russian State”. In 1591 it was printed, and already in next year Its entire circulation was confiscated by the verdict of the royal court and burned by the hand of the executioner.
Colleagues' complaint against Fletcher
The immediate reason for the court's decision was a petition from the merchants of the Moscow Company pointing out the harmful nature of the book, which could cause damage to the company's affairs. According to the petitioners, if the Russian authorities find out about this book, they may be offended by those passages where they spoke about the despotic nature of the Russian state and the slavery of its subjects, about the predatory collection of taxes, about lawlessness in court, about disorder in the army, etc. , and so on. In addition, the book, according to the merchants, contained unacceptable and offensive references to the father of the living king (i.e., Ivan the Terrible) and powerful nobles. The fact is that Fletcher did not limit himself to describing his embassy, but described in detail and characterized the Russian order as he saw it.
Of the entire circulation, only 23 copies survived, on the basis of which further reprints were made.
Moscow company and Fletcher's mission
The London Muscovy Company was founded in 1555 for a monopoly of trade with Russia. IN short term she received benefits unheard of for foreigners from the Russian government and became quite rich by exporting iron, flax, timber, potash, hemp, resin and other types of raw materials from Russia. Compounds English merchants stood by major cities North (Kholmogoram, Vologda, Yaroslavl, etc.), as well as in Moscow. The British enjoyed the right of extraterritoriality in Russia. For Ivan the Terrible, who waged the Livonian War, trade with England was a welcome “window to Europe” at that time. The king, fearing conspiracies against his life, even negotiated with Queen of England Elizabeth I about possible political asylum.
There were some misunderstandings. English merchants often behaved very arrogantly, did not pay the Russians for the transactions they made, and in addition, with their monopoly, they undermined the income of Russian boyars and merchants who would like to sell handicraft products on their own. Even under Ivan the Terrible, the British were transferred to a common jurisdiction for all foreigners; they were denied the privilege of trading through Russia with the countries of the East. English merchants owed Russian creditors total 23,343 rubles and 52 1⁄2 kopecks. In the summer of 1588, a Livonian Roman Bekman came to London with a complaint against them on behalf of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. Fletcher arrived in Moscow with a “response” in November of the same year.
Since Fletcher denied the Moscow Company's debts and brought with him demands to expand its privileges, the negotiations ended in nothing. The Tsar instructed the Duma clerk Andrei Shchelkalov to negotiate with the Englishman, who himself was a creditor of London merchants, and in addition hated the Tsar's favorite Boris Godunov, a well-wisher of the British. Fletcher was sent from Moscow to Vologda in May 1589, and he was allowed to go home only after another three months.
Party biases and personal grievances
The course of Fletcher's mission shows that in Russia at that time two parties were intensely fighting, which can be called pro-English and anti-English. Fletcher was unlucky to arrive at the moment when the second one temporarily intensified. The later ambassadors, who arrived when the first party led by Godunov prevailed, met with an incomparably better reception.
But Fletcher did not care about the struggle of the Russian parties. Sitting in Vologda, in conversations over mugs of Russian mead disgusting to the English taste, he poured out his complaints in conversations with his compatriot Jerome Horsey (Horsey) and met his complete sympathy. Horsey had previously carried out secret orders for Ivan the Terrible and his son Fyodor, but now he had fallen out of favor and was exiled to his homeland along with Fletcher. Horsey, who first came to Russia in 1573, became Fletcher’s main informant about those “Muscovite” affairs that Fletcher could not witness.
Horsey also (later Fletcher) published several works about Russia, in which he described the events of the era of Ivan the Terrible. “The king enjoyed bathing his hands and heart in blood, inventing new tortures and torments, sentencing to death those who provoked his anger, and especially those of the nobility who were most devoted and loved by his subjects,” this phrase is from Horsey’s notes , With light hand Karamzin in the 19th century, became a mainstream characterization of Ivan the Terrible. Fletcher added little to it, except that he extended it from the individual to the entire image of Russian rule.
Should we believe everything that foreigners write about us?
It is interesting that after the burning and until 1856, all editions of Fletcher’s book in England were published with censored notes, depending on what purpose was pursued by the publisher. Thus, in 1643, all Fletcher’s descriptions of the Russian kingdom were restored, but the dedication to Queen Elizabeth was removed - England was then experiencing a revolution. The first in Russia full translation Fletcher's books became possible only after the abolition of censorship in 1906, although Karamzin still made full use of its English (incomplete) editions.
Obviously, such a long ban attracted the attention of many researchers to Fletcher’s work as some kind of “secret knowledge.” But the prohibition is also understandable: in Russia we have always been inclined to accept, not without criticism, the judgments of noble foreigners about us. Karamzin did not escape this temptation either.
It is unlikely that Fletcher, given the unfortunate circumstances of his visit and the unenviable role in which he was placed by his own government, can be considered a source of objective information about Russia. Horsey, who also fell into disgrace at that moment, could not be such an impartial observer. It is clear that many customs of the Russian state must have seemed incomprehensible to the foreigner of that time, and what was alien caused rejection. Russian diplomats also did not particularly favor the then European order in their surviving notes. It is even more strange that there are still some of our compatriots who take these Englishmen at their word, as “gentlemen,” and do not even try to critically analyze their evidence, but pass it off as the truth in last resort O Russia XVI centuries.
After the death of Ivan the Terrible in March 1584, his son Fyodor, a sickly and feeble-minded man, took over the throne. Governance of the state was concentrated in the hands of a few people who made up the so-called regency or guardianship council. It included representatives of the large feudal nobility (I.F. Mstislavsky, I.P. Shuisky, N.I. Zakharyin-Yuryev) and noble figures who emerged at the end of the reign of Ivan IV (B.Ya. Belsky, B.F. Godunov ).
Unanimity in decision government issues this council did not last long. The first signs of a new outbreak political struggle for power appeared just a few days after the death of Ivan the Terrible, when Velsky, in alliance with the Nagi (relatives of the last wife of Ivan IV), tried to seize power. This attempt ended in disgrace for Velsky (he was sent by the governor to Nizhny Novgorod) and the exile of Nagikh (along with Grozny’s young son Dmitry) to Uglich.
The urgently convened Zemsky Sobor strengthened Fyodor's accession to the throne and supported the actions of the regency council, in which real power was concentrated in the hands of the Tsar's uncle Nikita Romanovich Yuryev. But he soon fell ill and already in August 1584 retired from political affairs and died in 1586. The head of the Council becomes former member The chosen one is pleased(the only survivor) and the head of the Zemstvo Duma in the early 80s, the oldest boyar Ivan Fedorovich Mstislavsky.
At the same time, Boris Fedorovich Godunov’s struggle for primacy in the Council began. Godunov was Tsar Fyodor's brother-in-law (brother of his wife Irina). He managed to convince the gullible king of preparing a conspiracy against him and achieved the removal of Mstislavsky from power. In the summer of 1585, old Mstislavsky was removed from Moscow, and then forcibly tonsured and exiled to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery (where he died in 1586). After this, the only obstacle to the concentration of power in the hands of Godunov was the descendant of the Rostov-Suzdal princes Ivan Petrovich Shuisky. Through a series of skillful maneuvers (among which the largest was the removal of the Shuisky supporter, Metropolitan Dionysius, from the metropolis and his replacement by the Rostov Archbishop Job, a supporter of Godunov, as well as the execution of representatives of the upper ranks of the Moscow settlement - “guests” who came out in support of Shuisky), Godunov managed to turn the tsar against Shuisky and achieve “the sovereign’s disgrace” fell on him. In the fall of 1586, Shuisky was exiled to Beloozero and forcibly tonsured. At the end of 1588, he died at the hands of an assassin, perhaps not without Godunov’s knowledge.
As a result, by the beginning of 1587, Boris Godunov remained the only member of the Council and occupied first place in the state after the Tsar. If we take into account Fedor’s inability to govern the state, then Godunov becomes the sole ruler of the country. Soon he receives the title of “ruler, servant and equestrian boyar and courtyard governor and keeper of the great states, the kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan” and occupies a position in the state in which his dominance could not meet with opposition from anyone.
At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, Russia was experiencing a political and socio-economic crisis. Livonian War And Tatar invasion, as well as the oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible, contributed to the intensification of the crisis and the growth of discontent. This was the reason for the beginning of the Time of Troubles in Russia. 1598 -1613 - a period in Russian history called Time of Troubles. Until the first period of unrest, which was characterized by the struggle for the throne of various claimants, and the appearance of False Dmitry I in 1605, Russia was ruled by Boris Godunov.
At the same time, at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, the formation of the Russian state, which developed along with world civilization, was completed. It was the time of the Great geographical discoveries(America was discovered in 1493), the beginning of the era of capitalism in European countries (the first in Europe began in the Netherlands bourgeois revolution 1566-1609). But the development of the Russian state took place under unique conditions. There was a process of development of new territories of Siberia, the Volga region, the Wild Field (on the rivers Dnieper, Don, Middle and Lower Volga, Yaika), the country did not have access to the seas, the economy was in the nature of a subsistence economy, based on the dominance of the feudal order of the boyar estate. On southern outskirts In Russia, in the second half of the 16th century, Cossacks (from runaway peasants) began to appear.
By the end of the 16th century, there were approximately 220 cities in Russia. The largest of them was Moscow, and the most important and developed were Novgorod and Vologda, Kazan and Yaroslavl, Kaluga and Tula, Astrakhan and Veliky Ustyug. Production was closely related to the availability of local raw materials and was of a natural-geographical nature, for example, in Yaroslavl and Kazan it developed leather production, Vologda produced a large amount of salt, Tula and Novgorod specialized in metal production. Stone construction was carried out in Moscow, the Cannon Yard, the Cloth Yard, and the Armory Chamber were built.
An outstanding event in the history of Russia in the 16th century was the emergence of Russian printing (the book “Apostle” was published in 1564). The church had a great influence on the spiritual life of society. In painting, the model was the work of Andrei Rublev; the architecture of that time was characterized by the construction of tented churches (without pillars, supported only by the foundation) - St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, the Church of the Ascension in the village of Kolomenskoye, the Church of John the Baptist in the village of Dyakovo.