Mysterious card of Tsarevich Godunov

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

It is officially believed that the first maps of the territory of Russia were made by foreigners using Russian protographs that were lost later. Moreover, the first maps of the Russian state or Muscovy entered the cultural circulation of Europeans only in the middle of the 16th century.

One of the first properly Russian maps of Russia is the "Map of Fyodor Godunov". It is believed to have been compiled by him or under his direction.

Published in Amsterdam from manuscripts in 1613 by the prominent cartographer of the time, Hessel Gerrits. The sheet printed by Gerrits also included an inset with a plan of Moscow.

At the same time, in Russia, in fact, they learned about the map only in the late 18th - early 19th centuries. The famous collector of antiquities Count A. I. Musin-Pushkin in 1782 acquired in Moscow a version of a map engraved in 1651 (by another Dutch cartographer Nicholas Piscator (1618-1679), also known as Vischer or Fischer), and presented it to Empress Catherine II.

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin contributed to the growing popularity of the card. In the play "Boris Godunov" the prince is just busy drawing a map …

The map suddenly became interesting for historians and collectors, its content was closely studied, research was written about it (E. Shmurlo, 1832; N. Ustryalov, 1859; I. Stebnitsky, 1889). When Emperor Paul I established the famous Depot of maps (1801), a copy of the map, previously owned by Catherine II, entered the Depot, and at the beginning of the twentieth century, the military cartographer Colonel Deiriard engraved a copy from it, on which all the names and inscriptions were translated into Russian.

But, the more often the card was played, the more questions it caused.

The expanded name of the card is placed in a luxurious cartouche (located in the lower left corner of the card) in the form of a shield, framed by the sovereign attributes of the Moscow state:

Literal translation of the full title: “MAP OF RUSSIA, made from a manuscript compiled with the assistance of Fedor, the son of Tsar Boris, and brought to the rivers Dvina and Sukhona, as much as possible by us multiplied by many other maps and news and the Great Ruler, Tsar and Grand Duke Michael Fedorovich of All Russia, Autocrat of Vladimir, Moscow and Novgorod; The Tsar of Kazan, the Tsar of Astrakhan, the Tsar of Siberia, the Ruler of Pskov, the Grand Duke of Smolensk, Tver, Yugorsk, Perm, Vyatka, Bulgar, etc., as well as the Ruler and Grand Duke of the Nova-city of Nizov lands, etc. King of Georgia and others: dedicated to Gessel Gerard in 1614

The map is drawn in a simple conical projection, known since the time of Ptolemy, the meridians and parallels are drawn at 5 degrees. The northern polar circle is plotted, longitude is counted from Ferro Island, the map is oriented to the North.

In the upper left (northwestern) corner of the map there is an inset plan of Moscow, which, in contrast to the main map, is oriented to the west - southwest (as indicated by the card located in the lower right corner of the inset). All objects of the plan (buildings, churches, internal walls enclosing the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod, and external walls surrounding the city, gardens, rivers with tributaries, bridges) are given in perspective, from a bird's eye view, which gives the plan a special expressiveness. Parts of the city and the most significant buildings are indicated by letters (parts of the city - in uppercase, buildings - in lowercase), the decoding of which is given next to them. The list of sights of Moscow at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries is as follows:

A. Kremlin-city, Palace of the Emperor

V. Kitay-gorod, middle town

D. Skorodom, outer city (Earthen city)

C. Tsar-city, Tsar's city (White city)

E. Streletskaya Sloboda or Soldiers' Street

a. City order

b. Patriarchal House

c. Temple of Michael the Archangel, tomb of emperors (the letter was mistakenly placed at the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great)

d. Execution Ground, where public prayer services take place and royal decrees are announced

e. Merchant shops (shopping arcade)

f. City Courts

g. Foundry House (Cannon Yard)

h. Horse square (horse market)

i. City baths

k. Wood yard (wood market)

l. Tsaritsyn Garden

m. Stables.

The plan is enclosed in a frame, along the lower edge of which there is an inscription in Latin: “Moscva. Ad architypum Foedori Borissowitsi "(" Moscow. By order of Fyodor Borisovich "). The plan is so interesting that if it were published independently, it would not be inferior in scientific significance to the map of the entire state. On the right edge of the map, inside the frame, a panoramic plan of the city of Arkhangelsk is shown in the form of a small inset, enclosed in an oval, above which there is a linear scale in Russian versts, and under which a linear scale in German miles is indicated. Three figures in Russian clothing - types of Muscovites - are engraved directly above the view of Arkhangelsk.

The map shows the so-called "notch line" - the defensive line of Muscovy, built by Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. The line of sightings, stretching from the headwaters of the Psel River in the North region to the Volga sections located south of the city of Saratov, served as protection against raids. This is evidenced by the author's comment on the map:

“Zaseka, consisting of cut down groves and ramparts, fenced off by Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich to keep raids from Crimean Tartars ».

The map contains geographic comments: “ Crimea or Tartaria Perekopskaya"," Tanais, now the Don River, the border between Europe and Asia ", there are also inscriptions with ethnological information:" Cheremis Nagorny, so named because they live in mountainous places "or" Cheremis meadow, so named from sheaves of hay."

It is believed that, despite the errors, for the beginning of the 17th century, the map was (and for several decades remained) the most accurate map of the Russian state. The map of Hessel Gerrits differs from all the previous ones in the greater accuracy of the information, both in general outline and in details.

The Russian origin of Gerrits' map is not questioned by historians, while, as always, the originals of the Russian maps from which it was copied have not been found by anyone. The question remains open as to how Gerrits, who had never been to Russia, obtained Russian material.

1. Tobolsk is the capital of Siberia. This is the designation of the only city in Tartary

2. Volga RA-river. The name of the Volga River: Wolga olim Rha - Volga, formerly Ra (lat.)

3. Piebald Horde. A strange military formation near Tobolsk

You can buy a gift version of the card using this link: old cards.rf