The technical and military progress of Russia was largely facilitated by foreigners, but at the same time, as many legends say, foreigners brought to our country interaction with some dark forces.
The magic of the Italian architect
One of the main symbols of Russia is the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin - the creation of the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti. And it all started with the fact that the Grand Duke of Moscow John III summoned the masons and instructed them to build a stone cathedral in the Kremlin. However, the stone walls erected by Russian craftsmen kept falling apart like a house of cards. The craftsmen only lamented and made excuses that they were hindered by the curse hanging over the construction site - Borovitsky Hill. Previously, the hill was called Witch Mountain, and the impression was that the evil spirits opposed the construction of an Orthodox church. However, the wife of Prince Sophia argued that it was not a curse and that real masters from abroad should be invited. The prince listened to his wife and gave the order to find him a good foreign architect. The Russian ambassador to Italy managed to persuade the architect Aristotle Fioravanti to go to distant cold Muscovy. In his homeland, Aristotle became famous for somehow magically straightening leaning towers and moving entire buildings from place to place. For example, in 1455 he moved the bell tower with all the bells. Such acts only strengthened the craftsman's reputation as a magician and warlock. Fioravanti had information that the Inquisition was collecting materials on him in order to condemn him for witchcraft, and therefore decided to agree to the ambassador's proposal. Such acts only strengthened the craftsman's reputation as a magician and warlock. Fioravanti had information that the Inquisition was collecting materials on him in order to condemn him for witchcraft, and therefore decided to agree to the ambassador's proposal. Such acts only strengthened the craftsman's reputation as a magician and warlock. Fioravanti had information that the Inquisition was collecting materials on him in order to condemn him for witchcraft, and therefore decided to agree to the ambassador's proposal.
The architect knew very well that the stability of a building depends on its foundation. Therefore, he ordered to dig deep ditches at the base of the future cathedral and drive oak piles there. During the excavation, the workers found many bones and several stone pagan idols. This confirmed the rumors that there used to be a pagan temple on Witch Mountain, where human sacrifices were practiced, and there was a cemetery of sorcerers nearby. John III, when they showed him a large stone idol found by the builders, ordered to split it into small pieces and drown it in the Moscow River. Perhaps the bones and idols buried in the ground were the conductors of evil spirits, who knows. But after removing them, she lost her power. The cathedral built by Fioravanti was not only beautiful but also reliable. It was solemnly consecrated on August 12, 1479. And the Italian architect was busy with other things. He developed a plan for a new stone Kremlin with a network of underground passages, and at the same time cast cannons and bells.
Curse and ghost
Fioravanti significantly promoted the development of artillery and coinage in Russia. But at the same time, Aristotle also managed to study alchemy, for which he equipped himself with a decent laboratory.
Several times the architect tried to go home or to Lithuania, but John really did not want to let him go, fearing that he would reveal to the enemies the secrets of the fortifications and hiding places of the Moscow Kremlin. Therefore, he increased and increased the salary of the Italian. But when he completed his mission and built the stone Kremlin, John probably decided to compensate for his expenses. Knowing about Fioravanti's alchemy studies through spies, the Grand Duke demanded that he reveal to him the secret of the Philosopher's Stone, with which one could turn lead into gold. According to legend, Aristotle refused to reveal the secret. Then John ordered to imprison the unfortunate man in one of the underground dungeons of the Kremlin. In response, Fioravanti cursed John III, his children, and all other Russian rulers who would rule from the Kremlin. At such news, the Grand Duke became angry and ordered the Italian architect to be immured forever along with his alchemical devices and black books.
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“Now let him get out with his magic,” John said with a grin.
However, Fioravanti's curse was not an empty phrase. And it began to "work" in a variety of forms. On the very first night after the architect was walled up, a terrible thunderstorm broke out, and lightning struck the dome of the cathedral he had built. Then various misfortunes and disasters began to happen in the Kremlin. And John III himself was tormented by nightmares. When darkness deepened in the chambers, he fancied the ghost of the haggard Fioravanti looking condemningly at him. The Grand Duke turned to healers for help, who consulted and announced that there was only one way to get rid of the ghost. It is necessary to open the dungeon of the Italian, drive an aspen stake into his heart, and then burn his body.
John decided to do so. However, when the dungeon was opened, they were surprised to find that the remains of the prisoner were not there. In some unknown way, Aristotle disappeared from the stone bag. It was clearly not without evil spirits. Orthodox priests declared that the devil himself dragged the Italian into hell. But, apparently, he took only the corporeal shell, since the soul of Fioravanti continues to wander restlessly through the labyrinths of the Kremlin. As if recalling a curse, the ghost of the Italian architect appears to the Russian rulers before their death. They say that one of the reasons that prompted Peter I to move the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg was the desire not to meet with the ghost of Aristotle Fioravanti and to avoid his curse.
Cunning healer
Ivan the Terrible also warmed a foreign warlock beside him, only not as an architect, but as a doctor. Elysius Bomelius, an English physician and adventurer, who was called Elisha Bombelius at the court of the Russian Tsar, at first enjoyed the boundless favor of John. Not only because he treated him, but also because he unquestioningly carried out the delicate orders of the sovereign. They say that in 1572, Bombelius, by order of Ivan the Terrible, poisoned about a hundred guardsmen. Perhaps, in mastering the arts to heal and mortify Elisha, the witchcraft, to which he was addicted, helped.
But somehow the king was informed that Bomelius was in secret correspondence with the kings of Sweden and Poland.
The English doctor was tortured on a rack for a long time: they twisted his arms out of the joints, dislocated his legs, cut his back with wire whips, then tied him to a wooden post and made a fire under it. And Bomelius admitted not only what he was accused of, but also said a lot of unnecessary things.
After that, they took pity on him. The half-dead Elisha Bombelius was taken by sleigh to the prison, and there he died of his wounds.
Descendants of Scottish kings
In 1647, William the Bruce, a representative of a glorious Scottish family, came to Russia. Among his ancestors were both national heroes and kings. But after Scotland lost its independence, it was not safe for the Bruce family to live in their homeland. William went for a better life in distant cold Russia. And she became a second home for him and his children. In Russia, William Bruce lived for 33 years and distinguished himself more than once in the service in the Russian army. There he eventually received the rank of colonel and the position of regiment commander..
But the career of his youngest son Yakov was even more successful in Russia. He participated in two Crimean, two Azov and Prug campaigns. Proved himself a hero during the Northern War, Jacob Bruce actually revived the Russian artillery defeated in the Battle of Narva. He developed a special tactics for conducting artillery fire, which contributed to the glorious victory of Russian weapons at Poltava. Peter I noted the merits of Jacob Bruce by conferring on him the rank of General Feldzheichmeister and awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.
Thanks to military merits, Jacob Bruce acquired an exceptional position in society. In his house on Meshchanskaya street near the Sukharev tower, he was engaged in some kind of mysterious experiments. There were persistent rumors that the reclusive Bruce was hanging with the devil, practicing witchcraft and black magic in his house. In any case, his house was notorious.
The legend has survived that Bruce possessed perhaps the most mysterious book in the world - the Necronomicon. Thanks to this book, Jacob allegedly mastered the secret of "dead" and "living water", the action of which he tried on his old lackey. First, Bruce killed and dismembered the poor fellow. Then he sprinkled “dead” water on him, and the footman's body grew together, then he sprinkled the “alive” one, and the old man came to life, and at the same time he also became younger by more than a dozen years. After notifying the footman where the vials with magic waters were hidden, Bruce ordered him to revive him after the death of his master. But when Jacob Bruce died, the footman took out the flasks, sat, thought … and decided not to revive Bruce. Since then, Bruce's ghost knows no rest, is looking for an unfaithful lackey and along the way takes revenge on all living things.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Bruce's estate in Glinki was acquired by the merchants Usachevs, who soon went bankrupt. They were replaced by the merchants Alekseevs - and also went bankrupt. The estate became the property of the Kolosov merchants, and they quickly became impoverished. Failures followed all subsequent owners of Bruce's house. They say that the restless ghost of the warlock general is to blame.
Oleg Loginov