Sections of the Early 18th Century Ditch at Fort Umrevinsky

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-100
Author(s):  
A. P. Borodovsky

This article describes identified sections of an early 18th century ditch at Fort Umrevinsky in the Upper Ob Basin. Such protective structures mark a certain stage in the evolution of military engineering in the era of Peter the Great (1694–1725) in southwestern Siberia. The design of the earliest parts of the preserved ditches allows us to address the influence of European fortification on Early Modern Russian defensive architecture. Several factors affecting the depth and profile of early 18th century ditches at Umrevinsky are discussed. They include seasonality of specialized trenching tools and the adoption and transformation of European fortification principles by 17th and early 18th Russian military engineers. At Umrevinsky, apart from the specific profile of the ditch, specialized tools were revealed, similar to those mentioned in documents on 18th century fortification. Also, specific features of the preserved parts of the ditch mirror the utmost irregularity in adoption of de Vauban’s fortification principles of the Tsardom of Muscovy, including Siberia. Our finds at Fort Umrevinsky supplement the scarce descriptions of Siberian forts in Russian documents.

2021 ◽  
pp. 096777202110532
Author(s):  
Dmitry Iskhakovich Mustafin ◽  
Maria Dmitrievna Sanatko ◽  
Iain Orr McDonald ◽  
Clive Wright

The Scottish doctor Robert Erskine (1677–1718) became Chief Doctor of Russia and personal physician to Tsar Peter the Great. Extensive archival material documents his remarkable career. From schooling in the village of Alva and apprenticeship to an Edinburgh apothecary, he went on to study medicine in Paris and Utrecht and was admitted to the Royal Society in London. Recruited into the service of the Tsar, to whom he became a trusted friend and counsellor, Erskine played a central role in the modernisation of Russian medicine, pharmacy and natural science in the early 18th century. His untimely death at age 41 was marked with a state funeral in St Petersburg. Some historians in Russia assert that in their country, the development of medicine and the natural sciences took place without the transitional stages of iatrochemistry and iatrophysics which characterised the shift in scientific thinking throughout Europe in the early modern period. This study of archival records shows that Erskine held iatrophysical and iatrochemical views in common with his European contemporaries. His influence ensured that Russia was thoroughly involved in European developments in science and medicine in the 18th century.


2019 ◽  
pp. 134-197
Author(s):  
V.E. . Sergei

The article is dedicated to the history of the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Signal Corps. The author examines the main stages of the museums formation, starting with the foundation of the Arsenal, established in St. Petersburg at the orders of Peter the Great on August 29th 1703 for the safekeeping and preservation of memory, for eternal glory of unique arms and military trophies. In 1756, on the base of the Arsenals collection, the General Inspector of Artillery Count P.I. created the Memorial Hall, set up at the Arsenal, on St. Petersburgs Liteyny Avenue. By the end of the 18th century the collection included over 6,000 exhibits. In 1868 the Memorial Hall was transferred to the New Arsenal, at the Crownwork of the Petropavlovsky Fortress, and renamed the Artillery Museum (since 1903 the Artillery Historical Museum). A large part of the credit for the development and popularization of the collection must be given to the historian N.E. Brandenburg, the man rightly considered the founder of Russias military museums, who was the chief curator from 1872 to 1903. During the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars a significant part of the museums holdings were evacuated to Yaroslavl and Novosibirsk. Thanks to the undying devotion of the museums staff, it not only survived, but increased its collection. In the 1960s over 100,000 exhibits were transferred from the holdings of the Central Historical Museum of Military Engineering and the Military Signal Corps Museum. In 1991 the collection also received the entire Museum of General Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov, transferred from the Polish town of Bolesawjec. The Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Signal Coprs is now one of the largest museums of military history in the world. It holds an invaluable collection of artillery and ammunition, of firearms and cold steel arms, military engineering and signal technology, military banners, uniforms, a rich collection of paintings and graphic works, orders and medals, as well as extensive archives, all dedicated to the history of Russian artillery and the feats of our nations defenders.Статья посвящена истории создания ВоенноИсторического музея артиллерии, инженерных войск и войск связи. Автор рассматривает основные этапы становления музея, начиная с основания Арсенала, созданного в СанктПетербурге по приказу Петра I 29 августа 1703 года для хранения и сохранения памяти, во имя вечной славы уникального оружия и военных трофеев. В 1756 году на базе коллекции Арсенала генеральный инспектор артиллерии граф П. И. создал мемориальный зал, установленный при Арсенале, на Литейном проспекте СанктПетербурга. К концу 18 века коллекция насчитывала более 6000 экспонатов. В 1868 году Мемориальный зал был перенесен в Новый Арсенал, на венец Петропавловской крепости, и переименован в Артиллерийский музей (с 1903 года Артиллерийский Исторический музей). Большая заслуга в развитии и популяризации коллекции принадлежит историку Н.Е. Бранденбургу, человеку, по праву считавшемуся основателем российских военных музеев, который был главным хранителем с 1872 по 1903 год. В годы Гражданской и Великой Отечественной войн значительная часть фондов музея была эвакуирована в Ярославль и Новосибирск. Благодаря неусыпной преданности сотрудников музея, он не только сохранился, но и пополнил свою коллекцию. В 1960х годах более 100 000 экспонатов были переданы из фондов Центрального исторического военноинженерного музея и Музея войск связи. В 1991 году коллекцию также получил весь музей генералфельдмаршала М. И. Кутузова, переданный из польского города Болеславец. Военноисторический музей артиллерии, инженерных войск и войск связи в настоящее время является одним из крупнейших музеев военной истории в мире. Здесь хранится бесценная коллекция артиллерии и боеприпасов, огнестрельного и холодного оружия, военной техники и сигнальной техники, военных знамен, обмундирования, богатая коллекция живописных и графических работ, орденов и медалей, а также обширные архивы, посвященные истории русской артиллерии и подвигам защитников нашего народа.


2017 ◽  
pp. 0-0
Author(s):  
Vitaly G. Bezrogov

The article discusses one of the first Muscovy primers printed in the early 18th century and used for over fifty years. The primer’s structure and its overall concept are analysed in detail. The article also considers the primer’s dictionary section and the theological concept which allowed to offer Russian students a three-language study book containing study materials in three languages (Church Slavonic, Greek, and Latin) but one Orthodox credo. Close reading methods allowed the author to consider such type of early Modern primers as a tool for strict confessional religious education and not for wider purposes.


Daphnis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-359
Author(s):  
Antje Arnold

‘Entertainment’ in the Early Modern Age is preferably situated in so called literary ‘salons’. The article aims to develop a theory of ‘Unterhaltung’ from a study that traces the spatial conditions and effects of entertainment. It sheds light on the case of Madeleine de Scudéry, who embodied conversational theory and practice and therefore became a role-model for early 18th century Germany. Her “carte de tendre” distributed the popular game of pre-sensitive conversation. This is embedded in Scudérys novel Clélie that influenced both poetics and ‘entertainment’ theories.


2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
S. Douglas Olson

Abstract This paper examines the phenomenon of individual Athenians adopting elements of Persian clothing, making use of exotic items such as gold and silver drinking vessels, and the like, by comparison to what I argue is a similar sort of contact and exchange involving the European fabric trade and evolving standards of dress and fashion in the Early Modern Atlantic. The ancient literary and archaeological sources discussed document the reaction of a relatively insignificant, marginal people (the Greeks) to the dress practices of a more powerful and arguably far more sophisticated imperial power (the Persians). I suggest that an appreciation of the character and intentions of the much better documented encounter between the English court and Amerindian ambassadors who visited it in the early 18th century provides a potentially useful corrective to the indigenous perspective of our Athenian sources.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 865-882
Author(s):  
Miroslav Daniš ◽  

The uprising of Francis II Rákóczi in 1703–1711 is a frequently debated topic in European historiographies (especially in Hungarian, Slovak and Polish). For the Slovak historiography (since its beginning), anti-Habsburg uprisings in the 17th and early 18th centuries has been a key issue. There is a number of works that deal with the last anti-Habsburg uprising in Hungary in detail. The aim of this study is to examine the mentioned events through the prism of a different historical source, the Russian newspaper “Vedomosti”, which in 1703 to 1711 captured relatively detailed information about the uprising of Francis II Rákóczi. The first report about the anti-Habsburg uprising in Russian Journal “Vedomosti” was published in October 1703. Most reports describe military operations on the Slovak territory, which makes their content interesting for Slovak historiography. The study analyses the problems of international relations and political interests of the Imperial Russian court with regard to Francis II Rákóczi in the context of sources, scholarly literature as well as information from the newspaper itself. Reports of the Francis II. Rákóczi’s uprising in the Russian periodical from 1703–1711 may not be of key importance to the scholarly research of the uprising itself, but they demonstrate the interest of the Russian diplomacy in the events in Central Europe and Hungarian anti-Habsburg rebellions in the context of European policy in the early 18th century. After the conclusion of the treaty of Satmár, Francis II Rákóczi remained interesting for European politics, even in a different context. After 1711, Tsar Peter the Great invited F.Rákóczi and his supporters to immigrate to Russia. However, such an option was unacceptable to F.Rákóczi himself.


Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ildiko Sz. Kristof

The present study is the translation of Chapter 3 of the book of Ildikó Sz. Kristóf, entitled “Ördögi mesterséget nem cselekedtem.” A boszorkányüldözés társadalmi és kulturális háttere a kora újkori Debrecenben és Bihar vármegyében (“I have not done any diabolic deeds.” The Social and Cultural Foundation of Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Debrecen and Bihar County) published in Debrecen, Hungary in 1998. The book examined the witch-hunting in Bihar county and its largest city, the headquarters of the Calvinist church in Eastern Hungary between 1575 and 1766. During this period, 217 trials were conducted against 303 accused, and the book explored the social and religious foundations of the accusations. The witch-hunts in Bihar county were of rather small size (1–3 accused per annum) and intensity. A possible explanation for this relative mildness could be provided by a complex consideration of legal, religious, and local social circumstances. Chapter 3, published here in English, discusses Hungarian Calvinist demonology which remained rather sceptical about the concepts of diabolical witchcraft (e.g., the “covenant” or pact with the devil, the witches’ attendance at regular meetings (sabbath), etc.) throughout the early modern era. The author has studied several Calvinist treatises of theology published between the late 16th and the early 18th century by the printing press of Debrecen, those, for example, of Péter Mélius (1562), Tamás Félegyházi (1579), Péter Margitai Láni (1617), János Kecskeméti Alexis (1621), Mátyás Nógrádi (1651), Johannes Mediomontanus (1656), Pál Csehi (1656), István Diószegi Kis (1679; 1681), Gellért Kabai Bodor (1678) and Imre Pápai Páriz (1719). According to her findings, Calvinist demonology, although regarded the wordly interventions of the devil of limited scope (excepting, perhaps, the Puritans of the 1650s/1680s), urged the expurgation of the various forms of everyday magic from urban and village life. The suspicion of witchcraft fell especially on the practitioners of benevolent magic (popular healers/”wise women”, midwives, fortune-tellers, etc.) who were presumed to challenge and offend divine providence. The official religious considerations sometimes seem to have coincided with folk beliefs and explanations of misfortune concerning, among others, the plague epidemic in which witchcraft played an important role.


2020 ◽  
pp. 223-235
Author(s):  
Vladimir T. Tepkeev ◽  
◽  
Evgeny V. Bembeev ◽  

The article addresses written evidence of the Russian-Kalmyk relations in the early 18th century. It is to introduce into scientific use new documentary sources belonging that period when the epistolary written tradition of the Kalmyk nobility was at its apogee. While studying these sources, not only a brief historical description of the period has been provided, but also methods of paleographic identification of manuscripts and archaeographic analysis of the monuments of Old Kalmyk writing have been used. The article publishes transliteration, translation, and two copies of the original letters of Kalmyk Khan Ayuka: one addressed to the Emperor Peter Alekseevich, another to the Chancellor Gavriil Ivanovich Golovkin. Both letters have been found in the Kalmyk Affairs Foundation of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. The letters were delivered to Moscow by the Kalmyk embassy led by Hojim (1714). Until now their contents have remained unknown to the wide array of researchers. The documents contain information on the difficult situation on the Russo-Turkish frontier after the signing of the Adrianople Peace Treaty in 1713. Participation of the 20,000 Kalmyk cavalry in the Kuban campaign against the Nogais (1711) incited the latter to retaliate. Kalmyk areas on the Lower Volga were constantly threatened the Kuban Nogais, which forced Ayuka Khan to ask for Russian military assistance. A distinctive feature of these sources is the fact that they are written in the old-Kalmyk writing “Todo bichig” (“clear writing”) and end with a red square stamp granted to Ayuka Khan by Dalai Lama VI in 1698. The letters are phrased in the traditional epistolary genre typical of the official correspondence of the Kalmyk nobility of the time: despite their brevity, they brim with truth, life, dynamism, and tension. Further identification and investigation of the Kalmyk letters in the Russian archives should be a comprehensive effort of various specialists, thus setting a promising trend in the scholarship.


Slovene ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-309
Author(s):  
Ekaterina A. Skvortcova

The journal created by David Fassmann (1683–1744), Gespräche in dem Reiche derer Todten, edited in Leipzig, was a huge success. Each of the 240 issues presents a dialogue between two historical figures from the afterworld. In the 83rd–86th Entrevuë, the interlocutors are Peter the Great and Ivan the Terrible. The texts of the four conversations were thoroughly examined by Eckhard Matthes (1987). The present paper explores how the illustrations to the 83rd–86th Entrevuë visualize the texts, which is significant as they were an important instrument for disseminating certain notions about Russia. While the illustration to the first dialogue of the suite juxtaposes Peter and Ivan, the illustration to the second one emphasizes the similarities between them. So the image of the “tyrant” and “barbarian” Ivan becomes a reference point with which a reader is urged to compare Peter’s deeds, seeing not only the differences but also the similarities. This greatly contributes to the creation of the multifaceted image of Russia of the early 18th century. The characters of the second illustration—a tiger and an executioner—can be identified as Ivan and Peter only if the reader takes into consideration an epigram to the illustration, the illustration to the previous dialogue, the text of the next Entrevuë, and facts about the execution of the strel’tsy known from other texts and images, about which Fassmann remains silent in the spirit of ars dissimulandi, which was typical for baroque culture. The paper offers an attempt to trace the iconography of the tyrant as a tiger. In the frontispiece to the 85th Entrevuë, a secretary bringing news from the world of the living and a portrait of Catherine I emphasize the connection of the past and the present, i.e., history and policy. Finally, the illustration to the last dialogue of the series returns to the glorification of Peter the Great declared in the first dialogue.


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