thorough knowledge of their religious books. Finally, we do possess considerable direct evidence of education in Muscovite Russia.
Some education remained and developed in towns, in the many monasteries, and among the clergy generally. While much of it must have been of an extremely elementary character, more advanced schools appeared in the seventeenth century, especially after the acquisition of Ukraine by Muscovy. In Kiev in Ukraine, which was more open to the West, and where Orthodoxy had to defend itself against Catholicism, Metropolitan Peter Mogila, or Mohila, founded an Academy modeled on Jesuit colleges in 1631. In Moscow in 1648-49, a boyar Theodore Rtishchev built a monastery and invited some thirty Kievan monks to teach Slavonic, Latin, Greek, rhetoric, philosophy, and other disciplines. In 1666 Simeon of Polotsk established a school where he taught Latin and the humanities. After his death the school was re-established by his student, Sylvester Medvedev. In 1683 a school that offered Greek was opened in conjunction with a printing office and eventually contained up to two hundred and thirty students. Later in the 1680's the Medvedev and the printing press
schools combined to form the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy, headed by learned Greek monks, the Lichud brothers, Ioannicius and Sofronius. As planned, the Academy was to protect the faith and to control knowledge as well as disseminate it. While Kiev and Moscow clearly stood out as centers of Russian enlightenment, some relatively advanced teaching also went on in such places as the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery and the cities of Novgorod and Kharkov.
The Muscovite school curriculum resembled closely, at corresponding levels, that of medieval Europe. In particular, it included almost no study of science and technology. Of the humanities, history fared best. In the sixteenth and, especially, the seventeenth centuries Russian textbooks in such fields as arithmetic, history, and grammar, dictionaries, and even elementary encyclopedias made their appearance, and toward the end of the period Sylvester Medvedev compiled the first Russian bibliography.
Even if we make full allowance for Muscovite enlightenment, the fact remains that in a great many ways Muscovy lagged behind the West. Russia experienced no Renaissance and no Reformation, and it took no part in the maritime discoveries and the scientific and technological advances of the early modern period. Deficiencies became most apparent in war and in such practical matters as medicine and mining. They extended, however, into virtually every field. It should be noted that the Muscovite government showed a continuous and increasing interest in the West and in the many things that it had to offer. Muscovite society too, in spite of all the parochialism and prejudice, began gradually to learn from 'the heretics.'
Diplomacy constituted one obvious contact between the Muscovite state and other European countries. Although we traced the highlights of Russian foreign relations in preceding chapters, we should note here that these relations repeatedly included distant lands, such as England and Holland, as well as neighbors like Poland and Sweden, and that they dealt with many matters. For instance, an English merchant, Sir John Merrick, helped to negotiate the Treaty of Stolbovo between Sweden and Russia. Or, less happily, after the execution of Charles I, Tsar Alexis restricted English traders to Archangel, and he helped the king's son, later Charles II, with money and grain. Diplomatic correspondence published by Konova-lov in the
Many foreigners came to Muscovy and stayed. The number continued to increase after the first large influx in the reign of Ivan III. At the end of the sixteenth century foreigners in Muscovite service could be counted in hundreds, and even thousands if we include Poles, Lithuanians, and
Ukrainians, while the foreign section of the tsar's army consisted of 2,500 men. The Time of Troubles reduced these numbers, but with the reign of Michael the influx of foreigners resumed. In 1652 Tsar Alexis assigned them a northeastern suburb of Moscow, the so-called
The importance of the foreign community, in particular for the economic development of the country, far exceeded its numbers. In addition to handling Russia's foreign trade, the newcomers began to establish a variety of manufactures and industries. Sir John Merrick, already mentioned as a diplomat, concentrated on producing hemp and tow. Andrew Vinius, a Dutchman, organized the industrial processing of iron ore and built the first modern ironworks in Muscovy. A Swede established a glass factory near Moscow. Others manufactured such items as gunpowder and paper. Second-generation foreigners often proved particularly adept at advancing both the economy of Russia and their own fortunes. Foreigners also acted as military experts, physicians, and other specialists.
Slowly the Russians turned to Western ways. In addition to reading and even writing secular stories, constructing baroque buildings, and painting portraits, as indicated above, they began to eat salad and asparagus, to snuff and smoke tobacco in spite of all the prohibitions, and to cultivate roses. Western clothing gained in popularity; some audacious persons also trimmed their hair and beards. In 1664 the postal service appeared, based on a Western model. And in the reign of Tsar Theodore a proposal was advanced to deal with the poor 'according to the new European manner.'
The stage was set for Peter the Great. In conclusion, however, it might be added that the reformer's wholesale condemnation of the existing order, although highly unusual, also had certain precedents in the Muscovite past. Not to mention the religious jeremiads, the secular writers often complained that there was no justice in the land even when praising the Muscovite form of government, as in the case of Peresvetov. More radical critics included Prince Ivan Khvorostinin, who died in 1625 and has been described as the first Russian free-thinker, George Krizanic, and Gregory Kotoshikhin. Krizanic, a Croatian and a Catholic priest, spent eighteen years in the realm of the tsars, from 1659 to 1677, and wrote there some nine books on religious, philosophical, linguistic, and political subjects. He combined an extremely high regard for Russia as the natural leader and savior of Slavdom with a sweeping condemnation of its glaring defects and, above all, its abysmal ignorance. Krizanic's writings were apparently known to the Russian ruling circles. Kotoshikhin, an official in the foreign office,
escaped to Sweden in 1664 after some personal trouble. There - before being executed in 1667 for the murder of his landlord - he wrote a sweeping denunciation of his native land. Kotoshikhin emphasized Muscovite pride, deceit, and, again, the isolation and ignorance of the people. As it turned out, the system that he condemned did not long outlast him.
Part V: IMPERIAL RUSSIA
XX
THE REIGN OF PETER THE GREAT, 1682-1725
Now an academician, now a hero, Now a seafarer, now a carpenter, He, with an all-encompassing soul, Was on the throne an eternal worker.
If we consider the matter thoroughly, then, in justice, we must be called not
Peter the Great's reign began a new epoch in Russian history, known variously as the Imperial Age because of the new designation of ruler and land, the St. Petersburg Era because of the new capital, or the All-Russian
