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.

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.

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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.

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