Stepan Razin is perhaps the second Russian person after Ivan the Terrible to whom such close attention was paid in Europe. Like the tsar, the head of the rebels appeared before the Europeans in a rather frightening form.
At first, even more was written about Stenka Razin in the West than in Russia itself. And it is no coincidence. European diplomats, traders, and travelers were literally stunned by the scale of the insurrectionary movement, led by the unrestrained chieftain. Europe knew nothing of the kind.
It should be noted that information about Razin's uprising was often used in information warfare, which is why the course of hostilities was covered mainly in periodicals of those countries with which Russia had tense relations. For example, the Swedish Chimes wrote a lot about facts that were unattractive for the Russian government. Alexei Mikhailovich even expressed dissatisfaction about this, saying that publications about the thief Stenka appeared in the Svei publications, based solely on inaccurate rumors and belittling the honor of the royal majesty.
The most active reports about Stepan Razin began to be published from the beginning of 1671, when the uprising reached its climax. Things got to the point that in Hamburg, they began to mint medals depicting the main Russian rebel. However, Razin looked very caricatured on them: stocky, fat, with massive buttocks and a large belly. And his face looked more like the fabulist Aesop.
In the periodicals, Razin, on the contrary, was presented as a formidable rebel. So, in September 1670 published in Riga "Northern Mercury", referring to the Europeans who had visited Moscow, wrote that Razin holds in his hands two khanates - Astrakhan and Kazan - and takes one city after another. According to the author, ataman Razin was able to attract up to 700 Cossacks to his side, after which he began to kill those who seemed to him insufficiently loyal.
After Razin seized the Astrakhan treasures and other riches, the author of "Northern Mercury" continued, he hired "all the Germans and Swedes there", as well as "former Polish prisoners" and brought the smartest to himself, "appointed them state advisers" … According to the Riga chronicler, the chieftain was able to gather an army of 100 thousand people. Although this statement looks like a clear exaggeration.
For all the ugly appearance and despotism that were mentioned in European publications, Razin was often portrayed as a man of great intelligence, capable of doing something special. He honored his sovereign and did not plan anything against him, and if he spoke, then against the governor Yuri Dolgorukov and some of his officers, they noted in the West.
Of great interest to us is a letter-report from a certain unknown Englishman, who described in every detail the battle that was victorious for the tsarist troops with the rebels. The author of the letter, apparently a confidant (factor) of a certain English subject, was in Russia from the fall of 1670 to April 1671, and therefore was quite immersed in the atmosphere of what was happening in the state.
Promotional video:
“For a long time we have been here every day in fear,” expecting that “any minute we will be inhumanly deprived of our life,” the factor shared his feelings. He also expressed the hope that such trials would not befall England in the future.
The Englishman described the course of the battle, the defeat of Razin's troops and the capture of the ataman himself. Despite the thoroughness of the presentation, it sinned with inaccuracies. So, neither Alexei Mikhailovich, nor Prince Dolgorukov took part in the decisive battle. Among the leaders of the Razins, there was no cleric - the mysterious Patriarch Demainzone, which the author of the letter mentions.
Another Englishman, Thomas Hebdon, a confidant of the British Russian Company, conveyed the events of the uprising in a more restrained manner, although his letter contained a story about the execution of the main rebel, at which he happened to be present. The eyewitness does not hide his satisfaction in connection with the justice done, emphasizing that Razin's quartering is "a death worthy of such a villain." But in general, Hebdon reported everything impartially, showing no sympathy for either Razin or the king.
The Dutch officer L. Fabricius, who apparently trained the Razin people to shoot cannons, demonstrates a sharp rejection of the actions of the insurgents in his "Notes". In his memoirs, written 15 years after the events, the author angrily attacked the rebels, calling them "vile canals", "bloodthirsty dogs" and "murderers."
Johann Justus Marcius of Mühlhausen spoke of the rebellious Cossacks in the same spirit in the pages of his "Dissertation on the S. Razin Uprising" (1674). Razin for him was the source of all troubles. Maricius wrote that he was too self-confident and did not know the measure in the manifestation of his cruelty, subjecting many decent people to torture and death, including priests. Paying tribute to Razin's courage during the execution, the author noted that "the one who betrayed his sovereign did not deserve another end."
Taras Repin
