Which of the foreigners became a key figure in the history of Russia: Famous inhabitants of the German settlement

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

This small area in the center of modern Moscow once played a great role in the history of the state. And it's not about the Kremlin; changes took place thanks to those who appeared and lived in the refuge of foreigners - the German settlement. A couple of centuries - and Russia, Russia has changed almost beyond recognition. Not by chance - thanks to "Little Europe" by the Kukui stream.

Foreigners - where did they come from and where they stayed to live

Indeed, the Russian state of the first half of the 16th century and it two hundred years later are like two different worlds. The country owed many changes in social life, of course, to the rulers. Ivan IV the Terrible thoroughly redrawn both the political map and the legal and regulatory framework of the Russian state. He was also very supportive of foreigners.

A large number of them were brought by military campaigns: after the Livonian War, the tsar ensured the influx of a large number of prisoners of war into Moscow. Not everyone stayed in the capital, some went to other Russian cities. And in the capital, for the construction of housing, foreigners were given a place not far from the mouth of the Yauza River, and there a suburb arose for the "guests of the capital" - the German settlement. The Germans, of course, were not those who belonged to this nationality - such a name was borne by all the "dumb" who did not speak Russian.

The German settlement on the outskirts of Moscow was not a novelty for the city: even the father of Ivan the Terrible, Vasily III, arranged in Moscow for foreigners who came from European countries for military service in the Russian kingdom. This is how the settlement of Nalivka arose in the area between modern Polyanka and Yakimanka. During the attack on Moscow by the Crimean Khan Devlet Girey in 1571, the settlement was burned down.

Foreigners liked it in Moscow, especially since the authorities created quite comfortable living conditions for the guests. So much so that even Muscovites themselves were displeased. In 1578, in connection with constant complaints about the "Germans", the tsar defeated the settlement, expelling the inhabitants from there, according to eyewitnesses of that time, "what the mother gave birth to."

Under Godunov, foreign guests and craftsmen lived in Moscow comfortably: the new tsar loved the culture and the inhabitants of Europe, provided them with all kinds of patronage. German merchants, for example, under the new ruler enjoyed the same rights as the Russians.

German settlement by the Kukui brook

But for a long time Tsar Boris did not have a chance to rule, troubled times came, and the settlements of foreigners were again destroyed. However, the Germans were in no hurry to leave Russia. They settled in cities far from Moscow, built houses near the capital's Pogany Ponds, on Sivtsevoy Vrazhka.

What attracted Russian life to visiting foreigners? First of all, work: the Germans were excellent in both trade and craft. Sewing a dress among the Germans was considered a worthy solution even in the royal chambers. This distinguished even the boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, the one who later became Patriarch Filaret and provided Russia with a three-hundred-year rule of the Romanovs.

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich highly appreciated foreign books and received his education, including from the Moscow Germans. In 1652, a new German settlement arose, mainly as a reaction to complaints from residents: enterprising foreigners not only traded with Muscovites, but also somehow "interfered" with the usual way of life of the Muscovites themselves, disturbed their peace, and therefore were again resettled outside the city …

Novonemetskaya settlement, which took place to the north and west of the Yauza River and east of the Chechera River, was named "Kukuy" - in honor of the stream flowing nearby. The settlement soon grew to two hundred households, according to the census of 1665. The British and the Dutch, the Swedes and the Danes, the Italians and the Germans themselves lived there. Physicians, wine merchants, watchmakers, tailors, shoemakers, but for the most part they were military men who served under the banners of the Russian kingdom. And also - their wives and children who came from Europe after the fathers of families or who appeared already here, in Russia.

They were built and lived as was customary in their homeland - when reading the descriptions of the German settlement, it is difficult not to be surprised at the uniformity and accuracy with which foreign settlers set up their town. Straight clean streets, houses with gabled roofs, gardens and front gardens - "on the model of German cities." By the end of the 17th century, four churches appeared in the German Sloboda: one Catholic, two Lutheran, and one for Calvinists and Anglicans.

Tsar Peter I saw this in the German settlement, who from childhood gazed at the picturesque and so unlike Moscow houses that could be seen from the road to the village of Pokrovskoye, the residence of the Romanovs.

How, thanks to foreigners, the Russian state has changed almost beyond recognition

In the special love of Peter Alekseevich for the life of the German settlement, one can find quite specific reasons. First of all, it was a different world - in contrast to the hostility and political intrigues that were familiar to the young king of the world, which accompanied his childhood and growing up. In the settlement, he was met easily, without ranks, the best European wines were poured here and delicious treats were served, there was someone to talk to and something to learn.

And Peter's passion for crafts, for mastering various skills and creating various curiosities with his own hands again and again led him "to the Germans." And he was lucky with the company: the Swiss Franz Lefort was not only an interesting conversationalist, not only had an excellent swordsmanship, but also knew how to arrange a fun evening or a ball, where there were jokes and interesting conversations, and women - another exotic feature of "little Europe" …

Because the fair sex in those days was closed access to fun parties, young ladies and their older relatives spent their time at home locked up, unable to appear where guests feast. And in terms of outfits, Russian women were inferior to Europeans. It is no wonder that, having traveled to visit Lefort, Peter was seriously carried away by Anna Mons, the daughter of a wine merchant, with whom he maintained close relations for more than a dozen years.

Patrick Gordon, a military leader from Scotland, gave the king the opportunity to seriously reflect on the structure of the army and navy - we know what this ultimately led to. Peter decided on an adventure unprecedented in those days - to go to Europe for the knowledge and skills of shipbuilding and other crafts, and after returning from the Great Embassy, Russia began to change its appearance by leaps and bounds.

With the order to wear European dress, with the introduction of the rule on the mandatory presence of noble wives at assemblies, Tsar Peter not only set a new format for social life, he also provided orders for friends from the German settlement. However, it was not only tailors who found a place in the future that Peter created. The first Russian order - the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called - was made by the jeweler Yakov Westphal, and the Pharmaceutical Order was headed by Doctor Areskin by the Tsar's decision.

This was in the first quarter of the 18th century. Already the next generation of residents of the settlement dissolved in Russian society, and "little Europe" itself eventually became a part of the capital. It is symbolic that it was in the house on the territory of the former Sloboda in 1799 that the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was born.

And in continuation of the topic, a story about why did the Grand Embassy of Peter I go to Europe, and what did the police officer Peter Mikhailov do on the trip?