This year we are celebrating the 407th anniversary of Russia's emergence from the terrible disaster - the Troubles, the accession of the Romanov dynasty. Although the situation is somewhat paradoxical. It is about the beginning of the dynasty, about the first Romanovs on the throne - Mikhail Fedorovich, Alexei Mikhailovich, Fedor Alekseevich and their era, most of our contemporaries know almost nothing. Muscovite Russia seems to be something gray and uninteresting. General ignorance, filth, poverty, slavery.
Whether it is abroad! Brilliant France, wise England, luxurious Italy, businesslike and orderly Germany … These are stereotypes. It seems that there is nothing to argue here. For example, the popular American historian Robert Massey points out bluntly about the 17th century: "The cultural backwardness of Russia was too obvious."
Obvious, what can I say! Evidence seems to be required. But … the fact of the matter is that such stereotypes are operated without proof! If we consider the real facts, then the whole "generally accepted" picture is spreading at the seams.
By the way, how was it formed, "generally recognized"?
Western authors have had (and have) an understandable tendency to embellish and varnish their past. Including, a very ugly technique is used for this. Praise your own while blaming someone else's. Well, the Russian historians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. were to a large extent infected with the "Westernism" fashionable at that time. The opposite tendency was characteristic of them. To belittle your own ancestors by adjusting to foreign opinions.
However, it was not even biased historical works that had a decisive influence on the formation of mass stereotypes, but fiction novels and films. After all, the 17th century was literally the most romantic century. It was then that the heroes of the most popular novels lived and acted, exciting the imagination of many generations of young people.
The swords of the musketeers rang. Richelieu, Mazarin and Cromwell wove cunning networks of political intrigue. Under the Jolly Roger, prototypes of Captain Blood, Flint and Silver roamed the seas. Thiel Ulenspiegel's friends fought for freedom. The Krakowiak danced and the companions-in-arms of Pan Volodyevsky fought with the enemies. A mysterious prisoner "iron mask" languished in prison. They were being rolled around the world by adventurers like Angelica. And in the American forests, "pioneers" and "trackers" lit pipes of peace with the leaders.
Images of courteous ladies, gallant gentlemen, scientists appear before our eyes. Well, remember at least the vivid pictures of how brave and sophisticated musketeers click their heels on the parquet floor of the Louvre or pace in a friendly line on the Parisian pavements!
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But in general, it would be worth considering - these are fantasies, and not even of historians, but of artistic authors. They have too little to do with historical reality. And sometimes they don't.
Yes, the West loved luxury and splendor. But they were achieved not at all due to scientific progress or more perfect social systems, but due to the extremely sharp squeezing of juices from their own common people and the robbery of colonies that began. And the brilliance, if you look at it, turned out to be doubtful.
If we talk about the same French musketeers, there were only 2 companies, they made up the king's personal guard. In addition to them, there were 2 guard regiments in France. Only they received salaries and wore uniforms - no other regular units existed in France.
The rest of the army was assembled from personal detachments of nobles, from mercenaries, and was a motley rabble. By the way, in contrast to Russia, where from the XVI century. there was a magnificent 10-thousandth archers corps.
It would be difficult for the Musketeers to clatter their heels on the parquet floors. Because in their time, the floors in the palaces were covered with straw. And the straw was changed once a week for a very prosaic reason. Forgive me for being frank, but there were no toilets in the west yet. Even in palaces. Even in the Louvre, Palais Royal, Versailles.
However, they appeared in England in 1581 - the British traded with the Russians and the Turks and borrowed a useful innovation. But other European states were in no hurry to adopt it. In France, even a hundred years later, pots were used, and special servants walked with them around the palace.
They were not enough at balls and receptions, gentlemen aristocrats relieved themselves in corners, ladies sat down under the stairs, and one of the German princesses complained: "The Palais Royal smelled of urine." Therefore, the kings had several palaces. From time to time they moved, and the abandoned residence was washed and cleaned.
But the Europeans did not differ in hygiene at all. They adopted the cult of purity much later, in the 19th century. - from the Chinese (in tropical climates, dirt led to dangerous infections). Although before the eyes of Western citizens there was an example of a healthier lifestyle: Russians went to the bathhouse at least twice a week.
But such a custom was described by foreign guests as exotic and "barbaric." The Dutch, French and Germans laughed at him. The British referred to their superstitions and taught that bathing leads to serious illnesses. It got to the point that they lamented - they say, frequent washing "spoils the complexion" of Russian women.
There were no baths or baths in the West, even in the royal chambers. Lice and fleas multiplied under the wigs and were considered quite normal. In England, the louse was called "the gentleman's companion." When King Henry VII of England was crowned, a controversy arose as to whether the extreme abundance of lice under the crown should be considered a good or bad omen?
And in France, already at the end of the 17th century, in the era of Louis XIV, a collection of rules of good manners taught that when visiting at the table you should not brush your hair so as not to share your insects with neighbors. The same collection instructed gentlemen and ladies, which does not interfere with washing your hands at least once a day (!). Better yet, rinse your face too.
It was the untidiness that gave birth to the famous French perfumery. Drowning out the smells of sweat and unwashed body, aristocrats generously poured perfume - they then resembled strong colognes. And to hide dirt, pimples and blackheads, the ladies sprinkled a thick layer of powder on their faces, shoulders and chest. They were also fond of rubbing, creams and elixirs from the most dubious components, often bringing themselves to eczema and erysipelas.
By the way, in the Moscow Museum-Estate of the Romanovs on Varvarka, pay attention to one exhibit. A fork found during excavations in Moscow. In our country, forks have been used since the days of Kievan Rus. In Europe, they ate with their hands.
In Italy, forks appeared at the end of the 16th century, and in France they were introduced only in the 18th century. And the beds were made of huge sizes. Husband, wife, children fit into them, together with the family they could put a guest. And the servants and apprentices spent the night on the floor, side by side.
And the speech of the Europeans was very different from the refined turns, familiar to us from novels and films. Memoirists convey the direct speech of aristocrats with many extremely obscene words, and only in translations are they replaced with allegories. By the way, this was typical in later times. German or English ladies expressed themselves in such a way that the boatswain's ears would faint, and in Russian retellings, an exalted and courtly vocabulary appeared.
As for the chivalrous attitude towards ladies, then these ideas migrated into our minds from the novels of the 19th century. And in the Renaissance, the German poet Reimer von Tsvetten recommended that husbands "take a club and stretch their wife on the back, but harder, with all her might, so that she feels her master and does not get angry." The book "On Evil Women" taught that "the donkey, the woman and the nut need blows."
Even the nobles frankly, for money, sold their beautiful daughters to kings, princes, aristocrats. Such deals were not considered shameful, but extremely profitable. After all, the lover of a high-ranking person opened the way to a career and the enrichment of relatives, she was showered with gifts. But they could give to someone else, resell, beat.
King Henry VIII of England, in fits of bad mood, beat his favorites so much that they were "out of order" for several weeks. The norms of gallantry did not apply to commoners at all. They were treated like a subject for use.
The economy of the European countries remained predominantly agricultural. Peasants made up 90-95% of the population. There were few large cities - Paris (400 thousand inhabitants), London (200 thousand), Rome (110 thousand) Other centers - Stockholm, Copenhagen, Bristol, Amsterdam, Vienna, Warsaw, were limited to 20-40 thousand inhabitants, and the population of most cities did not exceed 1-5 thousand. But their common and characteristic feature was dirt and crowding (up to 1000 people per hectare).
The houses were squeezed into the narrow space of the fortress walls, they were built in 3-4 floors, and the width of most of the streets did not exceed 2 meters. The carriages did not pass through them. People made their way on horseback, on foot, and the rich were carried by servants in sedan chairs.
Even in Paris, only one street was paved, the Boulevard Cours la Réine was the only place where the nobility chose to “show themselves”. Other streets were not paved, had no sidewalks, and in the middle of each there was a ditch, where waste was thrown out of the windows and the contents of pots splashed out (after all, there were no toilets in the houses either).
And the land in the city was expensive, and in order to occupy a smaller area, the second floor had a ledge above the first, the third above the second, and the street looked like a tunnel, where there was not enough light and air, and fumes from waste accumulated.
Travelers, approaching a large city, felt the stench from afar. Although the townspeople got used to it and did not notice him. Unsanitary conditions caused terrible epidemics. Smallpox was rolled about once every 5 years. Plague, dysentery, and malaria were also present. Only one of the epidemics, 1630-1631, claimed 1.5 million lives in France.
In the Italian cities of Turin, Venice, Verona, Milan in the same years, from a third to a half of the inhabitants died out. Infant mortality was very high, one of two babies survived, the rest died out from disease and malnutrition. And people over 50 were considered old. They really wore out, the poor from deprivation, the rich from excesses.
On all the roads and in the cities themselves, robbers raged. Their ranks were replenished by ruined noblemen and impoverished peasants. In Paris, every morning 15-20 robbed corpses were picked up. But if the bandits (or rebels) were caught, they dealt mercilessly.
Public executions in all European countries were a frequent and popular sight. People left their affairs, brought wives and children. Peddlers scurried about in the crowd, offering goodies and drinks. Noble gentlemen and ladies rented windows and balconies of the nearest houses, and in England stands specially built for spectators (with paid seats).
But the West was so used to blood and death that they were not enough to intimidate criminals. The most painful reprisals were invented. Under British law, a "qualified execution" was relied on for treason. The man was hanged, but not to death, pulled out of the noose, opened the stomach, cut off the genitals, cut off the arms and legs, and finally the head.
In 1660 S. Pince described: “I went to Charing Cross to see how Major General Harrison was hanged, released his entrails and quartered there. At the same time, he looked as cheerful as possible in a similar position. Finally they finished with him and showed his head and heart to the people - loud exultant shouts were heard.
In the same England, for other crimes, gradually, one by one, they put weights on the chest of the condemned until he expires. In France, Germany and Sweden, the wheel was often used. The counterfeiters were boiled alive in a cauldron, or molten metal was poured down their throats. In Poland, criminals were impaled, roasted in a copper bull, and hung on a hook under the rib. In Italy, the skull was broken with a mallet. Decapitation and the gallows were all too common.
A traveler in Italy wrote: "We saw so many bodies hanged along the road that the journey becomes unpleasant." And in England they hanged vagabonds and petty thieves who stole objects worth 5 pence and more. The judges were handed down solely by the magistrate, and in every city on market days, another batch of guilty ones was harassed.
Western science and universities are often emphasized. But they forget or deliberately ignore some of the little things. The concepts of science at that time were very different from those of today. In universities of the XVI-XVII centuries. studied theology, jurisprudence, and in some - medicine. There were no natural sciences in the universities. True, we did physics. But it (the science of the structure of nature) was considered humanitarian, and they crammed it according to Aristotle. And mathematics was studied purely according to Euclid, Europe did not know any other mathematics.
As a result, the universities produced empty scholastics and judges' hookers. Well, medicine remained in its infancy. Bloodletting and laxatives were considered universally recognized remedies for various diseases. King Henry II, wounded by a spear in the eye and brain, was given a laxative and bloodletted. Francis II, with suppuration of an abscess behind the ear, was given enemas, and in addition, the outlet of pus was closed and gangrene was caused.
Laxatives brought Queen Margot to death for pneumonia. Since childhood, Louis XIII suffered from stomach catarrh - he was provided with anemia by bloodletting. And Cardinal Richelieu was tortured with daily enemas for hemorrhoids. But they were treated by the best doctors!
The Europeans referred to the field of "science" as magic, alchemy, astrology, demonology. Astronomy was the first to develop from the natural sciences - it became a "by-product" of the then fashionable astrology. And any serious research has long remained the lot of solo enthusiasts.
What kind of scientific level can we talk about if in 1600 Giordano Bruno was burned in Rome, in 1616 Copernicus's work "On the circulation of heavenly bodies" was banned, in 1633 Galileo was forced to renounce the evidence of the Earth's rotation. Similarly, the founder of the theory of blood circulation, Miguel Servet, was burned in Geneva. Vesalius for his work "On the Structure of the Human Body" was starved to death in prison.
And at the same time in all Western countries enthusiastically burned "witches". The peak of the terrible bacchanalia fell by no means in the "dark" times of the Middle Ages, but just in the "brilliant" 17th century. Women were sent to the fires by the hundreds. And universities were actively involved in this! It was they who gave the "scientists" conclusions about the guilt of the "witches" and made good money on such scientific research.
Well, now let's compare with Russia, at least in general terms.
During the reign of the first Romanovs, it developed energetically and dynamically. It was often visited by foreign merchants and diplomats. Their impressions speak for themselves. For example, the English ambassador Carlyle was impressed by the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich, called the Russian court the most beautiful and majestic "among all Christian monarchs."
They also admired the wealth.
“From the inside, the palaces are so adorned and hung with Persian carpets, so delightfully crafted in gold, silver and silks that you don’t know from surprise where to direct your eyes. There you can see such a collection of gold, precious stones, pearls and magnificent objects that there is no way to describe everything”(Ayrman).
Moscow made an indelible impression on all the guests. It was called "the richest and most beautiful city in the world" (Perry). The Hungarian traveler Ercole Zani wrote:
“I am surprised by the enormity of the city. It surpasses any European or Asian … The city is home to an uncountable multitude of people - some number one million, while others, more knowledgeable, more than 700 thousand. Undoubtedly, it is three times larger than the Paris and London I have seen … Although most of the buildings there are made of wood, they are quite beautiful outside and, interspersed with the boyars' mansions, present a wonderful view. The streets are wide and straight, many vast squares; It is laid out with thick round solid logs …”.
The impressions of foreigners have reached us not only about the capital. They described "many large and magnificent cities in their own way" (Olearius), "populous, beautiful, peculiar architecture" (Juan the Persian). Celebrated "temples, gracefully and magnificently decorated" (Kampenze). “It is impossible to express how magnificent the picture is when you look at these brilliant chapters ascending to heaven” (Lisek).
Russian cities were much more spacious than in Europe, each house had large courtyards with gardens, from spring to autumn they were buried in flowers and greenery. The streets were three times wider than in the West. And not only in Moscow, but also in other cities, in order to avoid dirt, they were covered with logs and paved with flat wooden blocks.
Russian craftsmen were awarded the highest ratings of their contemporaries: “Their cities are rich with craftsmen diligent in different kinds” (Michalon Litvin). There were schools at monasteries and temples - they were arranged by Ivan the Terrible. And there were also higher educational institutions that trained qualified officials and clergy. Under Alexei Mikhailovich, there were 5 of them in Moscow.
There was urban transport, cabs - until the end of the 17th century. foreigners talked about them as a curiosity, they had not yet had such a thing. They also did not have the Yamskaya post office, which connected remote areas.
“There is good order on the big roads. In different places, special peasants are kept, who must be ready with several horses (there are 40-50 horses per village and more), so that upon receiving the Grand Duke's order, they can immediately harness the horses and hurry on (Olearius). It took 6 days to get from Moscow to Novgorod.
Travelers reported "many rich villages" (Adams). “The land is all well sown with bread, which residents bring to Moscow in such quantities that it seems surprising. Every morning you can see 700 to 800 sledges going there with bread and some with fish”(Chancellor). And the Russians lived very well!
Without exception, all foreigners who have visited Russia painted pictures of almost fabulous prosperity in comparison with their native countries!
The land "abounds in pastures and is well cultivated … There is a lot of cow oil, like all kinds of dairy products, thanks to the great abundance of animals, large and small" (Tjapolo). Mentioned "an abundance of grain and cattle" (Perkamota), "an abundance of vital supplies that would do honor even to the most luxurious table" (Lisek).
And the abundance was available!
“There are no poor people in this country, because food is so cheap that people go out on the road to look for someone to give them to” (Juan of Persia - obviously referring to the distribution of alms). "In general, in all of Russia, due to the fertile soil, food is very cheap" (Olearius). Barbaro, Fletcher, Pavel Aleppsky, Margeret, Contarini also wrote about low prices. They were amazed that meat is so cheap that it is not even sold by weight, "but in carcasses or cut by eye." Chickens and ducks were often sold in the hundreds or forty.
The people had money. Peasant women wore large silver earrings (Fletcher, Brembach). The Danish ambassador Rode reported that "even women of modest origin sew an outfit of taffeta or Damascus and adorn it on all sides with gold or silver lace."
They described the Moscow crowd, where “there were many women adorned with pearls and hung with precious stones” (Massa). Probably, the crowd was not crowded with boyars. Meyerberg came to the conclusion: "In Moscow there is such an abundance of all things necessary for life, convenience and luxury, and even obtained at a reasonable price, that it has nothing to envy of any country in the world." And the German diplomat Geiss, speaking about "Russian wealth", stated: "But in Germany, perhaps, they would not have believed."
Of course, prosperity was not ensured by the climate and not by any special fertility. How could our northern regions be before the harvests of Europe! Wealth was achieved by the extraordinary diligence and skills of peasants and artisans. But it was also achieved by the wise policy of the government.
Since the Time of Troubles, Russia has not known catastrophic civil strife, devastating enemy invasions (Razin's uprising in its scale and consequences could not be compared with the French Fronde or the English revolution). The Tsar's army invariably crushed any enemies.
And the government did not rob the people. All foreign guests admit that taxes in Russia were much lower than abroad. The people did not go broke. This was not an accidental phenomenon, but a purposeful policy.
Adam Olearius wrote about Alexei Mikhailovich that he was “a very pious sovereign who, like his father, does not want to allow even one of his peasants to become impoverished. If any of them becomes impoverished due to a poor grain harvest or other accidents and misfortunes, then he, whether he is a royal or boyar peasant, is given an allowance from the order or the office in whose jurisdiction he is, and, in general, attention is paid to his activities so that he could recover again, pay off his debt and pay taxes to his superiors."
Merchants, peasants, and artisans had the opportunity to expand their farms and put children on their feet. As a result, the entire state was the winner.
By the way, epidemics also happened much less frequently than in "civilized" Europe. "In Russia, in general, the people are healthy and durable … they have heard little about epidemic diseases … very old people are often found here" (Olearius).
And if we continue to compare, then the blood flowed much less. “A crime is rarely punishable by death” (Herberstein); “The laws on criminals and thieves are the opposite of English. Can't be hanged for the first crime”(Chancellor).
They were executed only for the most terrible crimes, and death sentences were approved only in Moscow - personally by the tsar and the Boyar Duma. And our ancestors never knew such sadistic follies as massive witch hunts …
This is how tales about wild and downtrodden Russia - and about an enlightened, refined Europe - scatter.
Author: Valery Shambarov