How London received Peter I, and what the Russian tsar learned in England

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

In March 1697, the Great Embassy of Peter I - 250 people - moved from Russia to Europe. The goal was to find allies and adopt the best European experience in order to make the country competitive. And if the first did not work out very well, then the second point was brilliantly executed. It is all the more surprising to know that the tsar himself was present in the delegation under an assumed name, and personally mastered all the basics of European sciences.

When Peter I arrived in London and where the retinue of His Imperial Majesty stayed

The Russian tsar and his embassy arrived in England on January 11, 1698. This was the period when England from an insignificant country turned into a major player on the world stage. The war with Louis, the main enemy of England, was ended (the Riswick Peace was concluded), thanks to which the Sun King remained within its former borders. The country's income from trade was still lower than that of France with its fertile lands. But England won at the expense of its insular position: while the people of France were languishing from harsh taxation, the accumulated funds from which went, among other things, to the maintenance of the fortress system, in England taxes were not so crushing, since the maintenance of the fleet was cheaper than the maintenance of land troops and ground fortifications.

There was an active development of the merchant fleet. The country's economy was surprisingly resilient and steadily strengthened, and the British fleet was gradually approaching the status of "master of the seas." London appeared before the eyes of the Russian tsar as a huge and highly developed city. The fact is that the whole bustling life of the country was concentrated in the capital, and every tenth inhabitant of the country was a Londoner. The city resembled a large anthill - just as tirelessly active and constantly busily bustling about. The rich, lively, dirty and even dangerous city surprised by its duality: coarse morals successfully "coexisted" in it (addiction to bloody spectacles - public executions and corporal punishment, love of rides with fire, animals and dwarfs, high crime rate) and gravitation towards culture, grace and beauty.

The sovereign stayed with the persons accompanying him first in London itself along Norfolk Street, in a modest little house with access to the river (there he was unofficially visited by the king), and later settled in Deptford, in the elegant mansion of John Evlin (a famous botanist, gardener and the author of historical notes). An intricately arranged and very beautiful park was laid out near the house - the pride of the owner. He himself and everyone who had previously lived here was asked to vacate the house for the entire stay of the Russian embassy. Peter I liked the house for its spaciousness and the fact that from the garden there was an exit to the river and the shipyard. Three months later, when the guests left their place of stay, the owner of the house discovered that little damage was done to the house and garden: damaged furniture, shot paintings, stained carpets and walls, broken locks and stove tiles, a trampled lawn. Material damage was reimbursed (£ 350) from the state treasury.

How England amazed the Russian Tsar

Russia needed knowledgeable people (shipbuilders, engineers, sailors). Peter did not consider it sufficient only to invite foreign specialists to work in these areas; it was important for him that more and more professionals in the relevant fields should appear among the Russian people. To achieve this goal, he sent young noble aristocrats to study abroad. And now he decided to go in person, so as not to lag behind them, and in practice, in practice, in everything that was of interest to him, to figure it out.

London and England as a whole could not help but amaze the Russian tsar, who set out to raise his country from a primitive agrarian level to European standards so that it could build interstate relations “on equal terms” with the leading world powers. The most attractive sight for Peter I was the "London Backwater" - the Poole commercial harbor, in which there were about two thousand ships. Docks and shipyards in the lower Thames are what became the center of attraction for the young king. Not finding the key to ship architecture in Holland, he found it in England. King William of Orange has kindly provided him with the opportunity to delve into the science of creating ships, to be for this wherever he wants. Especially for the Russian Tsar, King William III ordered a demonstration naval exercise. Peter met and became very friends with the designer of the Royal Transport yacht (it was built by order of the king for him personally) - Peregrine Osborne, Marquis of Carmarthen.

What systems did the Russian tsar study in Foggy Albion?

The official and cultural part of Peter's stay in London was limited to a single visit to Kensington Palace and a visit to the London theater. The rest of the time, hiding under a false name, he either learned the secrets of shipbuilding, or moved around the city, often on foot (even on cold winter days), visiting workshops and factories, studying the work of all kinds of devices, examining their drawings and technical descriptions. Looking, for example, at a watchmaker, bought a pocket watch from him, and then stayed with him for a long time, learning to disassemble and assemble them; seeing high-quality English coffins, he ordered to send one to Russia as a sample; bought stuffed swordfish and crocodile - a curiosity.

The Russian Tsar visited the Tower, the Astronomical Observatory and the Parliament (he found it nice that his subjects were telling the King the truth, but he found it impossible to adapt this experience in Russia). In addition, Peter I visited the English Mint, where, under the leadership of Isaac Newton, a new type of European coin was created. Over time, Peter I, returning from Europe, will carry out a monetary reform in Russia (1698-1704), at the entrance of which the Russian Mint will issue the same coin. But the Russian tsar will introduce an innovation - he will introduce the Decimal system of the monetary account (when 1 ruble = 100 kopecks, 1 dollar = 100 cents), which the whole world uses to this day. Before Peter, complete chaos reigned in money matters. For example, 1 pound equaled 20 shillings, 1 ruble - 33 altins and 2 money.

The Russian tsar left England on April 25, 1698. Before leaving, King William III of Orange asked Peter to allow him to paint the portrait of the Russian sovereign. This task was entrusted to the painter Gottfried Kneller.

Monument to Peter I in London - a great gift to the British from the Russian people

On June 5, 2001, the grand opening of the monument to Peter I, erected in memory of the stay of the Russian emperor in England at the end of the 17th century, took place in Deptford. Its author is Russian sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin. On the marble slab of the bronze monument there is an inscription: “Peter the Great. This monument is a gift of the Russian people and was erected in memory of the arrival of Peter the Great to this country in search of knowledge and experience. On a massive pedestal, the sculptor placed the huge body of the emperor with a small head, and next to it he placed a dwarf figurine with a globe and an empty throne.

But in the Russian army of that era even foreign noble persons dreamed of getting there.