Russia has always been, and now it remains too incomprehensible for the civilized West. The way of life of a Russian person, customs, morals have always caused bewilderment among foreigners. And this is at best. In the worst case - irritation, anger, and sometimes fear.
“The testimonies of foreigners had a decisive influence on the formation of the hating beliefs of 'historical science'. Starting with Karamzin, Russian historians reproduced in their writings all the filth and filth that foreign "guests" poured over Russia, without making the slightest attempt to objectively and unbiasedly figure out where the conscientious eyewitness testimonies turn into purposeful and deliberate lies on religious, political and personal reasons"
Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga John (Snychev).
Indeed, our Russia has always been, and even now remains too incomprehensible for the civilized West. The way of life of a Russian person, customs, morals have always caused bewilderment among foreigners. And this is at best. In the worst case - irritation, anger, and sometimes fear. Returning home, home, most of them, not bothering with objectivity of reasoning and searching for the reasons for such misunderstanding, began to scribble memoirs, the content of which was an open hostility to the life of the Russian people. The scheme for writing such memoirs or travel notes is not original: not clear means bad, wrong. For the sake of justice, it must be said that some of the "memoirists" were simply mistaken due to their limited outlook. But the erring ones can be forgiven for their mistakes, they are nothing compared to such,as the French émigré Marquis de Custine with his notorious "Letters from Russia", Jesuit monk Anthony Possevin, author of the myth about the murder of his son by the Russian Tsar John IV "for involvement in conspirators" and other horror stories about the atrocities of the tsar. It is not difficult to establish the reason for Possevin's malicious slander: Ivan the Terrible was literally formidable (that is, strict) just in relation to foreigners, what could everyone wish for the rulers who allowed and allowed to squander our Russia at different times. Ivan the Terrible was literally formidable (that is, strict) just in relation to foreigners, what could I wish all the rulers who allowed and allowed to squander our Russia at different times. Ivan the Terrible was literally formidable (that is, strict) just in relation to foreigners, what could I wish all the rulers who allowed and allowed to squander our Russia at different times.
Anthony Possevin arrived in Moscow in 1581 as a mediator in the negotiations between the Russian tsar and the Polish king Stephen Bathory, although he had a completely different secret assignment - during the negotiations, to achieve the subordination of the Russian Church to the papal throne. However, Possevin's brilliantly conceived mission failed, thanks to the prudence of our king. One can imagine how the "toad" was "strangled" by Possevin who returned home from resentment against the Russian Tsar for his shameful defeat. This was the reason for filthy libels against the tsar and all of Russia. This is not annoying. Well, I would have scoffed on paper for my own pleasure, got it back and that's fine. The paper will endure. It's a shame that these incredible myths of his about the "monster" on the Russian throne (as well as the painful fantasies of the Marquis de Custine) were readily copied and are being rewritten to this day by unscrupulous Russian historians. Apparently, according to the principle "the worse the better."
And on these "chroniclers of Russian history" the list is not exhausted. Delving deeper into ancient history, you can find notes by the ambassador of the Baghdad caliph IBN-Batut, who lived in Russia from 1321 to 1377, the works of the imperial ambassador to the court of Vasily III Herberstein or the Dutchman de Bruin during the reign of Peter I.
We will also include Heinrich Staden, a Westphalian guest during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, who, after returning from Russia, sat down to "Description of the country and the administration of the Muscovites" and "Project for the conquest of Russia" (no more, no less!). Academician Veselovsky called these "works" of his "the incoherent story of a barely literate adventurer." It would seem that you can talk about something good even incoherently. But no, he has the same horror stories: heartbreaking "testimonies" of cruel killings, robberies and other lawlessness of the "Grand Duke". It can be seen that life in Russia was not sweet for those who came to our country, driven by the call "Drang nach Osten." It was this call that traditionally warmed the hearts of German crowned heads and Catholic prelates. The only strange thing is that the "creative legacy" of people like Heinrich Staden,can be taken seriously as evidence of the customs and life of the Russian people and its tsar.
Well, okay, let's not talk about sad things anymore. Let's remember an example from the area of curiosities. One of the next writers about "wild Russia" in his travel notes told his compatriots with disgust that in Russian taverns they eat … fish strips. Such an indelible impression was made on the foreigner by our "yushka", our beloved Russian ear. By the way, even now many people are shocked by our gastronomic affections. For example, Americans are simply in a stupor at the sight of such favorite products of all of us as jellied meat, squash caviar, dried roach …
Promotional video:
Reflections on this topic led me to the idea of acquainting readers with excerpts from the "travel diaries" of our writer D. I. Fonvizin, which, unfortunately, are not very popular. After all, they can best illustrate what kind of “history” about their country young Italians and Frenchmen would study today if historians “copied” it from the notes of D. I. Fonvizin. Also, as we will now see, very impressionable. So…
“Italy, Bozen, October 5, 1784
Bozen lies in a pit. Half of its inhabitants are Germans and the other half Italians. (…) The way of life is Italian, that is, a lot of swagger. The floors are stone and dirty; the linen is disgusting; bread that the poor do not eat with us; their pure water is that we have slops. In a word, we, seeing this threshold of Italy, were in awe. In the morning, taking the mail, we set off from stingy Bozen to Trent. (…) Which made us even more despondent. The best restaurant has a stench, an uncleanness, an abomination. (…) I do not understand why the Venetian rule is praised, when on the most fertile land the people suffer hunger. In our life, not only have we not eaten, we have not even seen such disgusting bread that we ate in Verona and that all the noble people eat here. The reason for this is the greed of the rulers. It is forbidden to bake bread in houses, and bakers pay the police for allowing them to mix tolerable flour with bad flour, not to mentionthat they don't know how to bake bread. The most annoying thing is that the slightest indignation against the Venetian government is punished very severely. Verona is a crowded city and, like Italian cities, not smelly, but sour. Everywhere smells of sour cabbage. Out of habit, I suffered a lot, refraining from vomiting. The stench comes from the rotten grapes kept in the cellars; and the cellars of every house face the street and the windows are open."
“Italy, Rome, December 7, 1784
Before Italy, I could not imagine that it was possible to spend their time in such unbearable boredom as Italians live. At the converse (meeting of business people - ed.) People come to talk; and with whom to talk and what? Out of a hundred people, there are not two with whom it would be possible to say a word like with smart people. (…) Of course, their meal is not worth a quarter of a ruble in the evening. (…) My banker, a wealthy man, gave me lunch and invited a large company for me. I, sitting at the table, blushed for him: his dinner party was incomparably worse than my daily dinner in a tavern. (…) My footage, otherwise I do not report about them (Italians - ed.), Sir, beggars. To tell the truth, poverty is unparalleled here: beggars stop at every step; there is no bread, no clothes, no shoes. All are almost naked and skinny as skeletons. (…) Thieves, crooks,there are a great many deceivers here; killing is almost daily here. (…) Italians are all evil beyond measure and cowards are the meanest. (…) There are so few honest people in all of Italy that one can live for several years and never meet a single one. People of the most famous breed are not ashamed to deceive in the most vile way. (…) In Italy, the breed and the title do not oblige at all to good behavior: the indecent houses are filled with countesses. (…) I know neither more fertile country, nor hungry people. Italy proves that in a bad government, with all the abundance of the fruits of the earth, you can be the old beggars. "(…) In Italy, the breed and the title do not oblige at all to good behavior: the indecent houses are filled with countesses. (…) I know neither more fertile country, nor hungry people. Italy proves that in a bad government, with all the abundance of the fruits of the earth, you can be the old beggars. "(…) In Italy, the breed and the title do not oblige at all to good behavior: the indecent houses are filled with countesses. (…) I know neither more fertile country, nor hungry people. Italy proves that in a bad government, with all the abundance of the fruits of the earth, you can be the old beggars."
France. Montpellier, December 31, 1777
At five o'clock every Monday we go to a concert, and from there we have supper at the Count of Perigord. (…) To give you a more detailed idea of the tables here, I will describe them spaciously. Table linen in all of France is so disgusting that the noble ones have festive ones incomparably worse than the one that is served in our poor houses on weekdays. It is so thick and so badly washed that it is disgusting to wipe your mouth. I could not help but express my surprise that at such a good table I see such nasty linen. To this, they apologize to me: “They don’t eat it,” and that for this there is no need to be good linen. Think what a stupid conclusion: for the fact that napkins are not eaten, there is no need for them to be white. In addition to the thickness of the napkins, the holes were sewn up with blue threads! There is not even so much intelligence to sew them up with whites. (…)
The firewood here is very expensive in comparison with ours; I pay twenty rubles a month for two fireplaces; but it’s ridiculous to think of any thoughts about me here because the fire in my fireplace is not translated: “A monstrous rich man, a lucky man. Croesus! Senator of Russia! What a great lord! " Here is the review that I am honored with!"
One can guess why Fonvizin's "Travel Diaries" are not popular with us. Our people do not like to delve into "dirty linen", to savor the unsightly. I also experienced some awkwardness when I was rewriting these lines of the writer. But it was necessary to make this comparison in order to rejoice at the prudence of Western scholars who tactfully studied and wrote the history of Italy and France. For some reason, self-flagellation and self-deprecation has become the lot of unscrupulous Russian historians.