son of the czar Feodor. He presented himself to the Don Cossacks, who
brought him in chains to Dmitri, by whom he was promptly put to death.
Soon afterwards Marina, wife of the first Dmitri, who had been released,
with her father, by Shuiski, was brought into the camp of the pretender.
And here an interesting bit of comedy was played. Marina, rather than go
back to meet ridicule in Poland, was ready to become the wife of this
vulgar impostor, though she saw at once that he was not the man he
claimed to be.
She met him coldly at first, but at a second meeting she greeted him
with a great show of tenderness before the whole army, being glad, it
would appear, to regain her old position on any terms. The news that
Marina had recognized the pretender brought over numbers to his side,
and soon nearly all Russia had declared for him, the only cities holding
out being Moscow, Novgorod, and Smolensk.
The false Dmitri had now reached the summit of his fortunes. A rapid
decline followed. One of his generals, who laid siege to the monastery
of the Trinity, near Moscow, was repulsed. His partisans were defeated
in other quarters. Soon the whole aspect of the war changed. A new enemy
to Russia came into the field, Sigismund, King of Poland, who laid siege
to the strong city of Smolensk, while the army of the czar, which
marched to its relief, suffered an annihilating defeat.
This result closed the reign of Shuiski. An insurrection broke out in
Moscow, he was forced to become a monk, and in the end was delivered to
Sigismund and died in prison. Thus was Dmitri avenged. The new
condition of affairs proved as disastrous to the false Dmitri. His Poles
deserted him, his power vanished, and he descended to the level of a
mere Cossack robber. In December, 1610, murder ended his career.
Smolensk fell after a siege of eighteen months, but at the last moment a
powder magazine exploded and set fire to the city, and Sigismund became
master only of a heap of ruins. The Poles in Moscow, attacked by the
Russians, took possession of the Kremlin, burned down most of the city,
and massacred a hundred thousand of the people. Anarchy was rampant
everywhere. New chiefs appeared in all quarters. Each town declared for
itself. The Swedes took possession of Novgorod. A third Dmitri appeared,
and dwelt in state for a while, but was soon taken and hanged. The whole
great empire was in a state of frightful confusion, and seemed as if it
was about to fall to pieces.
From this fate it was saved by one of the common people, a butcher of
Nijni Novgorod, Kozma Minin by name. Brave, honest, patriotic, and
sensible, this man aroused his fellow-citizens, who took up arms for the
deliverance of their country. Other towns followed this example, an army
was raised with Prince Pojarski at its head, and Minin, the patriotic
butcher, seconded him in an administrative capacity, being hailed by the
people as "the elect of the whole Russian empire."
Driving the Poles before him, Pojarski entered Moscow, and in October,
1612, became master of the Kremlin. The impostors all disappeared;
Marina and her three-year-old son Ivan were captured, the child to be
hanged and she to end her eventful life in prison; anarchy vanished, and
peace returned to the realm.
The end came in 1613, when a national council was convened to choose a
new czar. Pojarski refused the crown, and Michael Romanof, a boy of
sixteen, scion of one of the noblest families of Russia, and allied to
the Ruriks by the female line, was elected czar. His descendants still
hold the throne.
[Illustration: CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION, MOSCOW, IN WHICH THE CZAR IS
CROWNED.]
_THE BOOKS OF ANCESTRY._
The noble families of Russia, for the most part descendants of the
Scandinavian adventurers who had come in with Rurik, were as proud in
their way as the descendants of the vikings who came to England under
William of Normandy. Their books of pedigree were kept with the most
scrupulous care, and in these were set down not only the genealogies of
the families, but every office that had been held by any ancestor, at
court, in the army, or in the administration.
With this there is no special fault to be found. It is as well,
doubtless, to keep the pedigrees of men as it is to keep those of horses
and dogs; though the animals, being ignorant of their records, are less
likely to make them a matter of pride and presumption. In Russia the
fact that certain men knew the names and standing of their ancestors led
to the most absurd consequences. The books of ancestry were constantly
appealed to for the support of foolish pretensions, and the nobles of
Russia strutted like so many peacocks in their insensate pride of
family.
In no other country has the question of precedence been carried to such
ridiculous lengths as it was in Russia in the days of the early
Romanofs. If a nobleman were appointed to a post at court or a position
in the army, he at once examined the books of ancestry to learn if the
officials under whom he would serve had fewer ancestors on record than
he. If such proved to be the case the office was refused, or accepted
under protest, the government being, metaphorically, forced to fall on
its knees to the haughtiness of its offended lordling.
The folly of the nobles went even farther than this. The height of their
genealogy counted for as much as its length. They would refuse to accept
positions under persons whose ancestors were shown by the books to have
been subordinate to theirs in the same positions. If it appeared that
the John of five centuries before had been under the Peter of that
period, the modern Peter was too proud to accept a similar position
under the modern John. And so it went, until court life became a
constant scene of bickering and discontent, and of murmurs at the most
trifling slights and neglects. In short, it became necessary that an
office of genealogy should be established at court, in which exact
copies of the family trees and service registers of the noble families
were kept, and the officers here employed found enough to keep them busy
in settling the endless disputes of their lordly clients.
In the reign of Theodore, the third czar of the Romanof dynasty, this
ridiculous sentiment reached its climax, and it became almost impossible
to appoint a wise man to office over a fool, if the fool's ancestors had
happened to hold the same office over those of the man of wisdom. The
fancy seemed to be held that folly and wisdom are handed down from
father to son, a conceit which is often the very reverse of the truth.
Theodore was a feeble youth, who reigned little more than five years,
yet in that time he managed to bury this folly out of sight. Annoyed by
the constant bickerings of courtiers and officials, he consulted with
his able minister, Prince Vassili Galitzin, and hit on a means of
ridding himself of the difficulty.
Proclamation was made that all the noble families of the kingdom should
deliver their service rolls into court by a fixed date, that they might
be cleared of certain errors which had unavoidably crept into them. The
order was obeyed, and a multitude of these precious documents were
brought into the palace halls of the czar. The heads of the noble
families and the higher clergy were now sent for, composing a proud
assembly, before whom the patriarch, who had received his instructions,
made an eloquent address. He ended by speaking of the claims to
precedence in the following words:
"They are a bitter source of every kind of evil; they render abortive
the most useful enterprises, in like manner as the tares stifle the good
grain; they have introduced, even into the hearts of families,
dissension, confusion, and hatred. But the pontiff comprehends the grand
design of his czar; God alone could have inspired it!"
Though utterly ignorant of what that design was, the grandees felt
compelled to express a warm approval of these words. At this Theodore,
who pretended to be enraptured by their unanimous applause, suddenly
rose, and, simulating a burst of patriotic enthusiasm, proclaimed the
abolition of all their hereditary claims.
"That the very recollection of them may be forever extinguished," he
exclaimed, "let all the papers relative to these titles be instantly
consumed."
The fire was already prepared, and by his orders the precious papers
were hurled into the flames before the anguished eyes of the nobles, who
did not dare in that despotic court to express their true feelings, and
strove to hide their dismay under hollow acclamations of assent.
As what they deemed their most valuable possessions were thus converted
to ashes before their eyes, the patriarch again rose, and declared an
anathema against any one who should dare to oppose this order of the
czar. An "Amen" that was like a groan came from the lips of the
horrified nobles, and precedence went up in flames.
The czar had no thought of effacing the noble families. New books were
prepared, in which their ancestry was described. But the absurd claims
which had caused such discord were forever abolished, and court life
thereafter proved smoother and easier in consequence of the iconoclastic
act of the czar Theodore.
_BOYHOOD OF PETER THE GREAT._
Peter the Great, grandson of the first emperor of the Romanof line, was
a man of such extraordinary power of body and mind, such a remarkable
combination of common sense, mental activity, advanced ideas, and
determination to lift Russia to a high place among the nations, with
cruelty, grossness, and infirmities of vice and passion, that his reign
of forty-three years fills as large a place in Russian history as do the
annals of all the preceding centuries, and the progress of Russia during
this short period was greater than in any other epoch of three or four
times its length.
The character of the man showed in the boy, and while a mere child he
began those steps of progress which were continued throughout his life.
He had two brothers, both older than he, and sons of a different mother,
so that the throne seemed far from his grasp. But Theodore, the oldest
of the three, died after a brief reign, leaving no heirs to the throne.
Ivan, the second son, was an imbecile, nearly blind, and subject to
epileptic fits. The clergy and grandees, in consequence, looked upon
Peter as the most promising successor to the throne. But he was still
only a child, not yet ten years of age.
The czar Alexis had left also several daughters; but in those days the
fate of princesses of the blood was a harsh one. They were not permitted
to marry, and were consigned to convents, where they knew nothing of
what was passing in the busy world without. One of the daughters, Sophia
by name, had escaped from this fate. At her earnest request she was
taken from the convent and permitted to nurse her sickly brother
Theodore.
She was a woman of high intelligence, bold and ambitious by nature, and
during her residence in court learned much of the politics of the empire
and took some part in its government. After the death of Theodore she
contrived to have herself named regent for her two brothers, Ivan being
plainly unfit to rule, and Peter too young.
There are many stories told about her, of which probably the half are
not true. It is said that she kept her young brother at a distance from
Moscow, where she surrounded him with ministers of evil, whose business
it was to encourage him in riot and dissipation, to the end that he
might become a moral monster, odious and insupportable to the nation at
large. Such a course had been pursued with Ivan the Terrible, and to it
was largely due his incredible iniquity.
If Sophia had really any such purpose in view, she was playing with
edge-tools. She quite mistook the character of her young brother, and
forgot that the same rule may work differently in different cases. The
steps taken to make the boy base, if really so intended, aided to make
him great. His morals were corrupted, his health was impaired, and his
heart hardened by the excesses of his youth, but his removal from the
palace atmosphere of flattery and effeminacy tended to make him
self-reliant, while his free life in the country and the activity which
it encouraged helped to develop the native energy of his character.
It is probable that Sophia had no such intention to corrupt the nature
of the child, for she showed no ill will against him. It was apparently
to his mother, rather than to his sister, that his residence in the
country was due, and he was obliged to go frequently to Moscow, to take
part in ceremonial affairs, while his name was used in all public
documents, many of which he was required to sign.
From early life the boy had shown himself active, intelligent, quick to
learn, and full of curiosity. He was particularly interested in military
affairs, and playing at soldiers was one of the leading diversions of
his youth. Only a day or two after a great riot in Moscow, in which
numbers of nobles were slaughtered, and in which the child had looked
unmoved into the savage faces of the rioters, he sent to the arsenal for
drums, banners, and arms. Uniforms and wooden cannon were supplied him,
and on his eleventh birthday--in 1683--he was allowed to have some real
guns, with which he fired salutes.
From his country home at Preobrajensk messengers came almost daily to
Moscow for powder, lead, and shot; small brass and iron cannon were
supplied the boy, and drummer-boys, selected from the different
regiments, were sent to him. Thus he was allowed to play at soldier to
his heart's content.
A company was formed from the younger domestics of the place, fifty in
number, the officers being sons of the boyars or lords. But these were
required by the alert boy to pass through all the grades of the service,
which he also did himself, serving successively as private, sergeant,
lieutenant, and captain, and finally as colonel of the regiment which
grew from this youthful company. Peter called his company "the guards,"
but it was known in Moscow as the "pleasure company," or "troops for
sport." In time, however, it grew into the Preobrajensky Guards, a
celebrated regiment which is still kept up as the first regiment of the
Russian Imperial Guard, and of which the emperor is always the colonel.
Another company, formed on the same plan in an adjoining village, became
the Semenofsky Regiment. From these rudiments grew the present Russian
army.
These military exercises soon ceased to be child's play to the active
lad. He gave himself no rest from his prescribed duties, stood his watch
in turn, shared in the labors of the camp, slept in the tents of his
comrades, and partook of their fare. He used to lead his company on long
marches, during which the strictest discipline was maintained, and the
camps at night were guarded as in an enemy's country.
On reaching his thirteenth year the boy took further steps in his
military education, building a small fortress, whose remains are still
preserved. This was constructed with great care, and took nearly a year
to build. At the suggestion of a German officer it was named Pressburg,
the name being given with much ceremony, Peter leading from Moscow a
procession of most of the court officials and nobles to take part in the
performance.
These military sports were not enough for the active mind of the boy,
who kept himself busy at a dozen labors. He used to hammer and forge in
the blacksmith's shop, became an expert with the lathe, and learned the
art of printing and binding books. He built himself a wheelbarrow and
other articles which he needed, and at a later date it was said that he
"knew excellently well fourteen trades."
When in Moscow, Peter spent much of his time in the foreign quarter,
joining his associates there in the beer, wine, and tobacco of which
they were specially fond, and questioning them about a thousand subjects
unknown to the Russians, thus acquiring a wide knowledge of men and
affairs. He troubled himself little about rank or position, making a
companion of any one, high or low, from whom anything could be learned,
while any mechanical curiosity particularly attracted him.
A sextant and astrolabe were brought him from France, of whose use no
one could inform him, though he asked all whom he met. At length a Dutch
merchant, Franz Timmermann by name, was brought him, who measured with
the instrument the distance to a neighboring house.
Peter was delighted, and eagerly asked to be taught how to use the
instrument himself.
"It is not so easy," replied Timmermann; "you must first learn
arithmetic and geometry."
Here was a new incentive. The boy at once set to work, spending all his
leisure time, day and night, over these studies, to which he afterwards
added geography and fortification. It was in this desultory way that his
education was gained, no regular course of training being prescribed,
and his strong self-will breaking through all family discipline.
We may end here what we have to say about the boy's military activity.
His army gradually grew until it numbered five thousand men, mainly
foreigners, who were commanded by General Gordon, a Scotch officer.
Lefort, a Swiss, who had become one of Peter's favorite companions, now
undertook to raise an army of twelve thousand men. He succeeded in this,
and unexpectedly found himself made general of this force.
It is, however, of the boy's activity in naval affairs that we must now
speak. Timmermann had become one of his constant companions, and was
always teaching him something new. One day in 1688, when Peter was
sixteen years old, he was wandering about one of the country estates of
the throne, near the village of Ismailovo. An old building in the
flax-yard attracted his attention, and he asked one of the servants what
it was.
"It is a storehouse," the man said, "in which was put all the rubbish
that was left after the death of Nikita Romanof, who used to live here."
Peter at once, curious to see this "rubbish," had the doors opened, went
in, and looked about. In one corner, bottom upward, lay a boat, very
different in build from the flat-bottomed, square-sterned boats which
were in use on the Russian rivers.
"What is that?" he asked.
"It is an English boat," said Timmermann.
"But what is it good for? Is it better than our boats?" demanded Peter.
"Yes. If you had sails for it, you would find that it would not only go
with the wind, but against the wind."
"Against the wind! Is that possible? How can it be possible?"
With his usual impatience, the boy wanted to try it at once. But the
boat proved to be too rotten for use. It would need to be repaired and
tarred, and a mast and sails would have to be made.
Where could these be had? Who could make them? Timmermann was able to
tell him. Some thirty years before, a number of Dutch ship-carpenters
had been brought from Holland and had built some vessels on the Volga
River for the czar Alexis. These had been burned by a brigand, and
Brandt, the builder, had returned to Moscow, where he still worked as a
joiner. In those days it was easier to get into Russia than to get out
again, foreigners who entered the land being held there as virtual
prisoners. Even General Gordon tried in vain to get back to his native
land.
Old Brandt was found, looked over the boat, put it in order, and
launched it on a neighboring stream. To Peter's surprise and delight, he
saw the boat moving under sail up and down the river, turning to right
and left in obedience to the helm. Greatly excited, he called on Brandt
to stop, jumped in, and, under the old man's directions, began to manage
the boat himself.
But the river was too narrow and the water too shallow for easy
sailing, and the energetic boy had the boat dragged overland to a large
pond, where it went better, but still not to his satisfaction. Where was
a better body of water? He was told that there was a large lake about
fifty miles away, but that it would be easier to build a new boat than
to drag the English boat that distance.
"Can you do that?" asked the eager boy.
"Yes, sire," said Brandt, "but I will need many things."
"Oh, that does not matter at all," said Peter. "We can have anything."
No time was lost. Brandt, with one of his old comrades and Timmermann,
went to work at once in the woods bordering the lake, Peter working with
them when he could get away from Moscow, where he was frequently needed.
It took time. Timber had to be prepared, a hut built to live in, and a
dock to launch the boats, which were built on a larger scale than the
small English craft. Thus it was not until the following spring that the
new boats were ready to launch.
Peter meanwhile had been married. But the charms of his wife could not
keep him from his beloved boats. Back he went, aided in completing and
launching the new craft, and took such delight in sailing them about the
lake that he could hardly be induced to return to Moscow for important
duties.
In this humble way began the Russian navy, which had grown to large
proportions before Peter died. The little English boat, which some think
was one sent by Queen Elizabeth to Ivan the Terrible, has ever since
Peter's time been known as the "Grand-sire of the Russian navy." It is
kept with the greatest care in a small brick building within the
fortress at St. Petersburg, and was one of the principal objects of
interest in the great parade in that city in 1870 on the two hundredth
anniversary of Peter's birth.
It will suffice to say, in conclusion, that shortly after these events
Peter became the reigning czar, and turned from sport to earnest. Sophia
had enjoyed so long the pleasure of ruling that her ambition grew with
its exercise, and she sought to retain her position as long as possible.
It is even said that she laid a plot to assassinate Peter, so that only
the feeble Ivan should be left. The boy, told that assassins were
seeking him, fled for his life. His fright seems to have been
groundless, but it made him an undying enemy of his sister. The affair
ended in the bulk of the nobility and soldiery turning to his side and
in Sophia being obliged to leave the throne for a convent, where she
spent the remainder of her life in the misery of strict seclusion.
[Illustration: ALEXANDER III., CZAR OF RUSSIA.]
_CARPENTER PETER OF ZAANDAM._
On the banks of the river Zaan, about five miles from Amsterdam, lies
the picturesque little town of Zaandam, with its cottages of blue,
green, and pink, half hidden among the trees, while a multitude of
windmills surround the town like so many monuments to thrift and
enterprise. Here, two centuries ago, ship-building was conducted on a
great scale, the timber being sawed by windmill power, while the workmen
were so numerous that a vessel was often on the sea in five weeks after
the keel had been laid.
To this place, in August, 1697, came a workman of foreign birth, who
found humble quarters in a small frame hut and entered himself as a
ship-carpenter at the wharf of Lynst Rogge. There was nothing specially
noticeable about the stranger, who wore a workman's dress and a
tarpaulin hat. But with him were some comrades dressed in the strange
garb of Russia, who attracted the attention of the people.
As for the new workman, he did not long escape curious looks. The rumor
had got about that no less a personage than the Czar of Russia was in
the town, and it began to be suspected that this unobtrusive stranger
might be the man, so that it was not long before inquisitive eyes began
to follow him wherever he went. The rumor soon brought large crowds
from Amsterdam, whose presence made the streets of the small Dutch town
anything but comfortable.
It was well known that Peter I., Czar of Russia, was travelling through
the nations of the West. A large embassy, composed of several hundred
people, some of them the highest officials of the court, had left the
Muscovite kingdom, and visited the several courts and large cities on
their route, being everywhere received with the greatest distinction.
But the czar did not appear openly among them. He was there in disguise,
but had given strict orders that his presence should not be revealed. He
hated crowds, hated adulation, and wished only to be let alone to see
and learn all he could. So while the ambassadors were receiving the
highest honors of kingdoms and courts and bowing and parading to their
hearts' content, the czar kept himself in the background as an amused
spectator, thought by most observers to be one of the servants of the
gorgeous train.