The First Romanovs. (1613-1725)

Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028446767 Cornell University Library DK 114.B16 First Romanovs. (1613-1725 3 1924 028 446 767 THE FIRST ROMANOVS. êtnuXJ ,(/? V.Xuissoru/TL 'mpcralor Jraler atruoLJ Mter- a, ^r^c^t at tAe Oê of // : The First Romanovs. (1613— 1725.) A HISTORY OF MOSCOVITE CIVILISATION AND THE RISE OF MODERN RUSSIA UNDER PETER THE GREAT AND HIS FORERUNNERS. By R. NISBET BAIN. fntH ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO., Ltd., 16, JAMES STREET, HAYMARKET, 1905- BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIOGE.' MY MOTHER. INTRODUCTION. It will be my endeavour, in the following pages, to describe the social, ecclesiastical, and political conditions of Eastern Europe from 1613 to 1725, and trace the gradual transformation, during the seventeenth century, of the semi-mOpastic, semi-barbarous Tsardom of Moscovy into the modern Russian State. The emergence of the unlooked-for and unwelcome Empire of the Tsars in the Old World was an event not inferior in importance to the discovery of the unsuspected Continents of the New, and the manner of its advent was even stranger than the advent itself. Like all periods of sudden transition, the century which divides the age of Ivan the Great from the age of Peter the Great has its own peculiar interest, abounding, as it does, in singular contradictions and picturesque contrasts. Throughout this period. East and West, savagery and civilisation strive incessantly for the mastery, and sinister and colossal shapes> fit representatives of wildly contending, elemental forces, flit phantasmagorically across the dirty ways; of the twilight scene. And, if it is one of the most interesting, this seventeenth century in Moscovy is also one of the most important periods of modern European history, for, explore-d with intelligence and patience, it can be made to yield up the deep-lying explanations of many things that trouble or bewilder us in the Tsar's domains to-day, e.g., the backwardness of the peqple, the veneration for the Throne, the venality and inefficiency of the public service, the vices and the failures, the ambitions and the exploits, of Holy Russia. Finally, the subject possesses the rare and crowning merit of almost absolute novelty. We have some few manuals of Russian history ; we know something, by this time, of Peter — viii INTRODUCTION. Ivan the Great ; we are even learning to know something about the Terrible. But seventeenth century Moscovy is still, to most of us, a terra incognita. The talismaniq keys which alone can unlock for us its treasures are the Russian and Polish languages, and, unfortunately, the very few among: us who possess these talismans seem willing to use them for almost every purpose except the purpose of historical research. I may remark as to Peter the Great that in these pages he has been treated, not biographically, but historically. He is regarded, primarily, as the last and greatest of a series of native pioneers who lightened his task by prepairing the way for him men like Orduin-Nashchokin, Artamon Matyeev, Nikon, Rtish- chev, Pososhkov, and Vasily Golitsuin—all of whom, in their degree, as we shall see, contributed to Jay the foundations of modern Russia. Many anecdotes concerning Peter, which may readily be found elsewhere, must not, therefore, be looked for in these pages. But no detail, however trivial, which can explain the policy or illuminate the character of the first Russian Emperor has been omitted. The Great Northern War, more- over, and the one-and -twenty years of European diplomacy of which it was the focus, have for the first time been examined by the double light of Scandinavian and Slavonic documents in order that the fullest justice might be done to both the pro- tagonists in the titanic struggle, and also that the effect of the struggle on their contemporaries (for it resulted in the establish- ment of modern Europe), might be more impartially and comprehensively set forth. People sometimes talk glibly enough of the necessity for Russia of constitutional government in the Western sense of the word. Such amiable enthusiasts wauld do well to ponder the words of one whose very obiter dicta on any historical subject must ever be authoritative, and who took a peculiarly keen and intelligent interest in Russian affairs— I allude to the late Dr. Mandell Creighton. We are told in the recently published " biography of the great bishop that : What he had observed and heard convinced him of the absurdity of Englishmen attempting to suggest schemes of reform, for Russia or to solve her problems, Her conditions, her civilisation, the character of INTRODUCTION. ix her people, he saw to be so different from ours that it was vain to apply our standards to her." Be that as it may, it is an indis- putable historical fact that Russia owes everything to the Tsars —her prosperity, her greatness, her Empire, her very existence. The Tsars have made many mistakes, and the mistakes of an autocracy must always be more glaringly obvious than the mistakes of any other form of government ; but any impartial critic, taking a broad historical view of the one hundred and ninety- eight years during which the Romanovs have held sway, must admit that no other European dynasty has so conscientiously, and on the whole so successfully, done its duty. R. NiSBET Bain. February, 1905. CONTENTS. CHAF. PAGE I. INTRODUCTORY .*. I II. TSAR MICHAEL AND THE PATRIARCH PHILARET. I613—1645 37 III. THE UNIATES AND THE COSSACKS. 1580—1651 68 IV. THE REIGN OF TSAU ALEXIUS TO THE PEACE OF ANDRUS- SOWO. 1645—1667 g6 V. NIKON AND AVVAKUM, OR THE RELÎOUS LIFE OF OLD MOSCOW. 1652— 1681 120 VI. THE LATTER YEARS OF TSAR ALEXIUS.- 1667— 1676 163 -VII. THE REIGN OF THEODORE III. AND THE REGENCY OF SOPHIA. 1676— l68g ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 191 VIII. THE APPRENTICESHIP OF PETER. l68g— 1699 217 IX. THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR FROM THE SECRET TREATY OF PREOBRAZHENSKOE TO THE BATTLE OF POLTAVA. 170O — T7O9 239 X. THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR, FROM TH^ BATTLE OF POLTAVA TO THE PEACE OF NYSTAD. 1709^1721 273 XI. THE REFORMS AND THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE REGENERATOR IN THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. I7OO— I72I ... 302 xii CONTENTS. CHAF. PAGE XII. THE CASE OF THE TSAREVICH ALEXIUS. 169O— 1718 34° XIII. WESTERN DIPLOMACY, AND THE FAR A^ND THE NEAR EAST. 1719—1725 368 XJV. INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION AND THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF RUSSIA IN THE LAST YEARS OF THE REGENERATOR. 1721—1725 379 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FACING PAGE PETER THE GREAT AT THE AGE OF FORTY-ONE Frontispiece. PLAN OF MOSCOW IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY TSAR MICHAEI 37 TSAR ALEXIUS ... 1 06 ORDUIN-NASHCHOKIN 114 ARTAMON MATVYEEV 163 THEODORE III igi TSAREVNA SOPHIA 208 PETER IN HIS SIXTEENTH YEAR 217 — THE FIRST ROMANOVS. CHAPTER I. Introductory*. Geographical Distinction between Eastern and Western Europe—Natural Disadvantages of the Russian Nation—An Autocracy Inevitable Prejudicial Influence of Eastern Christianity—Semi-Monastic Family -Life—Indivisibility of the Secular and the Religious Life—The Tsar a sort of Grand Lama—Festivals and Ceremonies—The Court^The Boyare and other Official Personages — The Prikazui — Their Nature and Origin — ' ' Tyranny of the Family — Myestnichestvo — The ' Serving People ' — The zGorod and the Posad — Moscow—The Voevoda ^'Loca.l Government — The " Tax-paying People "—Puritanism of the GovernmentÂmusements of the Court—Minstrels—Tale-tellers—^Jesters—Dwarfs—Hunting—The Bear Sports—Banquets — Drunkenness — Immorality^Ruffianism — Rudeness of -Manners—The Moscovite Abroad—Condition of the Women—Their Seclusion and Inferiority—Reception of Guests—The Perfect Housewife—Wife and Husband Murder. A CURIOUS observer scrutinising, for the first time, the map of Europe, must inevitably be struck by the singular contrast presented by the physical conformation bf its eastern and its western halves. The western half is remarkable for its long, irregular, indented coast-line, ramified by peninsulas and diversified by islands, while numerous moyntain ranges intersect its fertile plains and naturally subdivide them into so many distinct and independent units. The sea, too, is not very remote from even its most central portions, and broad, navigable rivers supply an easy means of access thereto on the north, south, and west. Entirely different are the natural features of Eastern Europe. There we find endless plains, whose rivers terminate R. B 2 THE FIRST ROMANOVS. in vast land-locked lakes, and whose most salient feature is a monotonous sameness. Obviously the nation which should occupy, for want of a better territory, this immense and remote eastern wilderness, must start at a disadvantage in the race for empire as compared with the nations which were fortunate enough to be the first to occupy the more favoured western lands with their contiguity to the sea, their natural boundaries, their more temperate climate, and their superior facilities of internal communication, to say nothing of the intercourse and the com- petition of close neighbourhood which so powerfully contributed to lay the foundations of modern civilisation. The nation which Mother Nature, from the very outset, thus treated in so step- motherly a fashion was the Russian nation. Vastness of territory and paucity of population, too much land and too few hands to cultivate it profitably—these were the primary conditions which prevented the normal development of barbarous Russia. Land was almost valueless and feudalism impossible in a country where the prince and his comrades* roamed perpetually from place to place, levying tribute in kind from the surrounding savages, and varying the pleasures of the chase with an occasional raid upon the weak and wealthy Royal City.t as the Slavs called Constantinople.

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