In the XVII-XVIII centuries. Europeans built their idea of Russia on the basis of the material of the book written by Adam Olearius. This traveler visited Muscovy three times. So Russia was called by the inhabitants of Western countries. Olearius left a detailed description of the life and orders of Russia. He made his notes during his stay at the embassy on his way to Persia.
Childhood and education
Traveler Adam Olearius was born on September 24, 1599 in the German town of Aschersleben. He came from a simple working-class family. His father was a tailor. The head of the family died shortly after the birth of his son. Despite everyday difficulties and poverty, Adam was able to enter the University of Leipzig. In 1627 he became a master of philosophy.
The young scientist began working at his native university, but his scientific career was interrupted due to the devastating Thirty Years' War. The bloodshed also affected Saxony. Adam Olearius decided not to risk his life and went north, where the war never reached. The philosopher took refuge at the court of Duke Friedrich III of Holstein. Olearius was not only a philosopher, but also an Orientalist, historian, physicist and mathematician. He knew oriental languages. The Duke appreciated theserare skills and left the scientist in his service.
First trip
In 1633 Frederick III sent his first embassy to Russia and Persia. The duke wanted to establish strong trade ties with these rich and vast countries, where rare and valuable goods for Europeans were sold. First of all, the Germans were interested in buying oriental silk. Philip von Kruzenshtern was placed at the head of the embassy mission, as well as the merchant Otto Brugman. Adam Olearius became a translator and secretary who recorded everything that happened to the Germans on their journey. It was this function that allowed him later to systematize his numerous notes and publish a book about Russia, which became extremely popular in Western Europe.
There were 36 people in the embassy in total. According to Adam Olearius, the path of diplomats ran through Riga, Narva and Novgorod. The Germans solemnly arrived in Moscow on August 14, 1634. The embassy stayed in the capital for 4 months. The Russian Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich (the first monarch of the Romanov dynasty) allowed foreigners to freely travel to Persia. However, this goal was already set for the next embassy. The first delegation, having received permission for the future, went home and returned to Gottorp in April 1635. According to the German scientist Adam Olearius, they were welcomed in Moscow with open arms. Mikhail Fedorovich was also interested in contacts with the Europeans, just as they themselves wanted to cooperate with the Russians. For four months in the city and a few more weeks inOn the road, Adam Olearius diligently recorded on paper everything he saw.
Second journey
Frederick III was pleased with the results of the first preliminary embassy. He was not going to stop there and set about organizing a second trip. This time, the scientist Adam Olearius became not only a secretary-translator, but also an adviser to the embassy. The Germans had to go literally to the ends of the world - to Asia, where even in the 17th century there were almost no Europeans.
According to Adam Olearius, the delegation left Hamburg by sea on October 22, 1635. On board the ship there were many gifts for the Russian Tsar and the Persian Shah Sefi I. But on the way, near the island of Gogland in the B altic Sea, the ship crashed against the rocks. All gifts and credentials were lost. People did not die, they hardly got to the shore of Gogland. Because of this misfortune, the Germans had to wander around the ports of the B altic Sea on random ships for about a month.
Finally, the ambassadors were in Revel. At the end of March 1636 they entered Moscow, and in June they moved to Persia. The embassy's route ran through Kolomna and Nizhny Novgorod. In the local port, the master of Lübeck built a ship for the Schleswigians in advance, on which they went down the Volga and ended up in the Caspian Sea. According to Adam Olearius, this transport was also used by merchants and fishermen who traded on this river rich in fish. And this time the embassy was not destined to complete its journey without incident. The storm that broke out threw the shipon the Azerbaijani coast near the town of Nizabat. At the end of December, the Germans reached the border Shemakha.
Stay in Persia and return home
Another four months they had to wait for the Shah's official permission to move on. According to the German scholar Adam Olearius, the ambassadors were ready for this, realizing that the habits and norms of the Eastern peoples are fundamentally different from those of Europe. In August 1637, the embassy arrived in Isfahan, the capital of Persia. It stayed there until the end of December. The way back lay through Astrakhan, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod. January 2, 1639 Adam Olearius was again in Moscow. The Russian Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich drew attention to him and offered to stay in Russia as a court scientist and astronomer. However, Olearius refused such an honor and returned to Germany in August 1639. In 1643, he again visited Moscow, although not on such a long visit. This was the last time Olearius visited Russia.
In general, the trip was a failure. It cost the duchy a lot of money, but no agreements on trade with Persia through the territory of Russia were agreed. In addition, the head of the embassy, Otto Brugmann, abused his powers, which caused him to have a conflict with his colleagues. After returning home, the German scientist Adam Olearius became the prosecutor at the trial against his former boss. Brugman was executed for excessive spending and failure to comply with the Duke's decrees.
Book of Olearius
In 1647, Olearius's book Description of the Journey toMuscovy”, in which he outlined the full chronology of his voyage to the east. The book immediately became wildly popular. The ideas of Europeans about Russia were the most vague, and they greedily absorbed any information about this distant country. The work of Olearius for a long time was the most meaningful and rich in details. Every page of the book showed his knowledge, erudition and observation. The work has been translated into many European languages. In part, Olearius's book has become a source of tenacious stereotypes about Muscovy with its unkempt and strange order.
Apart from everything else, drawings made on copper, depicting pictures of Russian life outlandish for Europeans, acquired special value. Adam Olearius himself became their author. Transportation and leisurely travel made it possible to take with us all the necessary tools. The drawings were created right during the journey in the wake of fresh impressions. Finished them already in Germany. In Europe, drawings depicting the inhabitants of Muscovy were completed. Especially for this, Olearius brought Russian national costumes home, and used compatriot models dressed in foreign dresses and caftans as nature.
The appearance of Russians
The book of Olearius was divided into many chapters, each of which de alt with one or another aspect of Russian life. Separately, the author described the appearance and clothing of the inhabitants of Muscovy. Long hair relied only on the ministers of the church. The nobles had to regularlyget a haircut. Women loved to blush and whiten, and much more Europeans, which immediately caught the eye of a native of Germany.
Olearius considered men's clothing to be very similar to Greek. Wide shirts and trousers were widespread, on which narrow and long camisoles were worn, hanging down to the knees. Each man wore a hat, by the form of which it was possible to determine the social affiliation of a person. Princes, boyars and state advisers did not take them off even during public meetings. Hats for them were made of expensive fox or sable fur. Ordinary townspeople wore white felt hats in summer, and cloth hats in winter.
Russian boots made of morocco or yuft, short and pointed at the front, resembled Polish shoes. According to the scientist Adam Olearius, the girls walked in high-heeled shoes. Women's costumes were very similar to men's, only their outer garments were somewhat wider and were bordered with gold-colored laces and braids.
Nutrition and well-being of Muscovites
The German scientist made a lot of notes about the life and well-being of Russians. The ubiquitous Adam Olearius was very interested in all this. According to the German scientist, the inhabitants of Muscovy were much poorer than the Germans. Even the aristocracy, which owned towers and palaces, built them only in the last thirty years, and before that they themselves lived rather poorly. Speaking about this period, Olearius had in mind the Time of Troubles, when Russia was devastated by the civil war and the Polish intervention.
DailyThe diet of commoners consisted of turnips, cereals, cabbage, cucumbers, s alted and fresh fish. While the average European had "delicious foods and treats", the Russians did not know and did not try any of this. Olearius noted that the magnificent pastures of Muscovy produced good lamb, beef and pork. However, the Russians ate little meat, since in their Orthodox calendar almost half a year fell on a strict fast. It was replaced with various fish dishes mixed with vegetables.
Olearius was surprised at the special appearance of Russian cookies, which were called pirogues. In Muscovy there was a lot of sturgeon caviar, which was transported in barrels on carts and sledges. According to scientist Adam Olearius, these vehicles were also used to deliver other products that were not produced in cities.
Government
Olearius described the political system of Russia in particular detail. First of all, he noted the slavish position of the supreme nobles in relation to their king, which, in turn, was transferred to lower officials and, finally, to commoners.
In the 17th century, corporal punishment was widespread in Russia. They were used even in relation to aristocrats and rich merchants, who, for example, missed an audience with the sovereign for a disrespectful reason. The attitude towards the king as a god was instilled from the earliest years. Adults inspired this norm to their children, and those, in turn, to their children. In Europe, such orders are already a thing of the past.
Olearius, studying the position of the boyars, noted that they serve the tsar not only in public affairs, butalso in courts and offices. So the German, out of habit, called the orders - the predecessors of the Russian ministries. In total, Olearius counted 33 offices. He also noted the severity of the Moscow courts. If a person was convicted of stealing, they began to torture him to find out if he had stolen something else. The executioners beat with a whip, tore out the nostrils, etc.
The most frequent courts were the courts of debts and debtors. As a rule, such people were assigned a period during which they could legally pay the required amount. If the debtor did not fit into this period, then he was sent to a special debtor's prison. Such prisoners were taken out into the street every day in front of the office building and punished by beating their shins with sticks.
Orthodox Church
There were a huge number of churches in Moscow in the 17th century, as noted by Adam Olearius. Bishops every year initiated the construction of new churches. Olearius counted 4,000 clergy in the Russian capital, with a total population of about 200,000 people. The monks walked around the city in long black caftans, over which were cloaks of the same color. Their other obligatory attributes were hoods (bonnets) and staves.
In order to become a priest, a man had to pass an attestation, that is, pass exams and convince the commission that he can read, write and sing. There were many more monks in Muscovy than in European countries. This was noted by Adam Olearius. Moscow bishops took care of many monasteries located not only in Moscow, but alsoscattered throughout the country outside the cities. The German in his book emphasized that the Russian priests adopted a lot from the Byzantine Orthodox Church, and some of their orders were contrary to Catholic customs. For example, priests could marry and raise children, while in the West it was impossible to start a family. Newborns were baptized immediately after birth. Moreover, not only the clergy in their families did this, but also all the common people. Such a hasty baptism was necessary from the consideration that all people are born in sin, and only a cleansing rite can save a child from filth.
Bishops moved around Moscow in special sledges covered with black cloth. According to Adam Olearius, this transport emphasized the special position of the passenger. A little later, under Alexei Mikhailovich, carriages appeared, which the patriarchs and metropolitans began to use. If all secular people worshiped the king as a god, then the monarch himself had to strictly perform all church rites, and in this he did not differ from his subjects. The Russians of the 17th century closely followed the calendar. Every Sunday was celebrated with a festive service in the temple, and even the king could not help but come there or be in the church with his head covered.
Volga region
Russians, Tatars and Germans lived in Nizhny Novgorod in the 17th century. Thus, it was the easternmost city where the Lutherans had a church and were free to practice their religion. When Adam Olearius arrived there, the German community consisted of a hundred people. Foreigners came to Nizhny Novgorod for various reasons. Alonewere engaged in brewing, others were military officers, and still others were distillers.
Ships from all over the Volga region arrived in Nizhny Novgorod. According to Adam Olearius, this transport was used by the "Cheremis Tatars" (that is, the Mari) who lived downstream of the Volga. The German scientist left a curious essay about them. Cheremis, originally from the right bank of the Volga, were called upland. They lived in simple huts, ate game, honey, and also thanks to cattle breeding.
It is interesting that Olearius in his book called the local natives "robber, treacherous and enchanting people." Surely he transferred to paper those rumors that were popular among the Volga Russian commoners who were afraid of the Cheremis. Such notoriety was due to the fact that many of them remained pagans in the 17th century.
The last years of Adam Olearius
Most of his life Olearius spent in Schleswig. He lived at the duke's court, was his mathematician and librarian. In 1651, he was entrusted with the most important project - the creation of the Gottorp Globe. At the time of its appearance, it was the largest in the world (its diameter reached three meters). The frame, load-bearing structures and mechanisms were made under the direction of Olearius for several years. Frederick III, who initiated the project, did not live to see the opening of the globe. It was introduced to the public by the next Duke Christian Albrecht.
The globe had an internal cavity in which they placed a table and a bench for 12 people. You could enter through the door. On the outside, a map of the Earth was drawn. Inside was a planetarium with constellations. The design was unique. Two cards could spin at the same time. Under Peter I, the globe was presented to Russia. It was kept in the Kunstkamera and burned down in a fire in 1747. From the miracle of engineering and cartographic thought, only the door was preserved, which at that moment was stored in the basement. A copy of the original model was later created.
Besides the book about Russia and the planetarium, Adam Olearius had many other undertakings. He wrote prose, translated fiction, and even compiled the manuscript of a Persian dictionary. But most of all, the scientist remained known precisely because of his journey to the east and notes about Russia. Adam Olearius died in 1671.
