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122-505: It used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries. It was dominated by Varangians who became known as the Rus' . For that reason, Staraya Ladoga is sometimes called the first capital of Russia, and is regarded as one of the original centers from which the name Rus ' spread to other territories inhabited by the East Slavs . Dendrochronology suggests that Ladoga

244-595: A citadel with five towers and several churches. After the town of Novaya Ladoga (New Ladoga) was founded in 1704 by Peter the Great , Ladoga became known as Staraya Ladoga and its importance decreased. The heart of Staraya Ladoga is an old fortress where the Ladozhka flows into the Volkhov. In earlier times, it was a strategic site because it was the only possible harbor for sea-vessels that could not navigate through

366-405: A base zone for rest and creative work. The restoring works continued 15 years from 1946. But Leningrad artists began to arrive to Staraya Ladoga from 1940s. It became a source of inspiration for Sergei Osipov , Gleb Savinov , Nikolai Timkov , Arseny Semionov and many others for many years. The House of Creativity «Staraya Ladoga began to operate permanently in the beginning of the 1960s after

488-635: A common interest in lizards . Together they went to see patients. He arrived in Utrecht on a barge and met stadtholder William III in a tavern. When he visited the States-General of the Netherlands he left the hall and the astonished attendees with his wig pulled over his head, according Massie. He visited Jan van der Heyden , the inventor of a fire hose . He collected paintings by Adam Silo with ships and seascapes . In October 1697,

610-524: A compound of vár 'pledge' or 'faith', and gengi 'companion', thus meaning 'sworn companion', 'confederate', extended to mean 'a foreigner who has taken service with a new lord by a treaty of fealty to him', or 'protégé'. Some scholars seem to assume a derivation from vár with the common suffix -ing . However, this suffix is inflected differently in Old Norse. Furthermore, the word is attested with -gangia and cognates in other Germanic languages in

732-559: A convent, where she gave up her name and her position as a member of the royal family. Meanwhile, he was a frequent guest in German quarter, where he met Anna and Willem Mons . In 1692 he sent Eberhard Isbrand Ides as envoy to the Kangxi Emperor of China. In 1693 he sailed to Solovetsky Monastery and accepted divine providence after surviving a storm. Still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power

854-647: A cook, a priest, six trumpeters, 70 soldiers from the Preobrazhensky regiment , four dwarfs and a monkey which he purchased in Amsterdam; Jacob Bruce accompanied him. Peter stayed at 21 Norfolk Street, Strand , and met with Bishop of Salisbury Gilbert Burnet and Thomas Osborne and posed for Sir Godfrey Kneller . He watched the proceedings within the Parliament from a rooftop window. At some time, he had an affair with actress Letitia Cross . He visited

976-613: A decree was issued that allowed factory owners, regardless of whether they had a noble rank, to buy serfs . Peter made a temporary peace with the Ottoman Empire that allowed him to keep the captured fort of Azov, and turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He sought to acquire control of the Baltic Sea, which had been taken by the Swedish Empire a half-century earlier. Peter declared war on Sweden, which

1098-582: A factory for the development in the Samara Oblast . In 1721 the shipyard Petrozavod and Petrodvorets Watch Factory was established. Some 3,500 new words—German, French, Dutch, English, Italian, Swedish in origin—entered Russian in Peter's period, roughly one-fourth of them shipping and naval terms. As part of his reforms, Peter started an industrialization effort that was slow but eventually successful. Russian manufacturing and main exports were based on

1220-477: A keen interest in The Education of a Christian Prince which offers advice to rulers on how to govern justly and wisely. He introduced into the concept of the autocrat's power the notion of the monarch 's duties. He considered it necessary to take care of his subjects, to protect them from enemies, to work for their benefit. Above all, he put the interests of Russia. He saw his mission in turning it into

1342-619: A more conventional approach and arranged his marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689. The marriage was a failure, and 10 years later, Peter forced his wife to become a nun and thus freed himself from the union. By the summer of 1689, Peter, planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns against the Crimean Khanate in an attempt to stop devastating Crimean Tatar raids into Russia's southern lands. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with some leaders of

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1464-586: A new state body known as the Governing Senate . Normally, the Boyar duma would have exercised power during his absence. Peter, however, mistrusted the boyars; he instead abolished the Duma and created a Senate of ten members. The Senate was founded as the highest state institution to supervise all judicial, financial and administrative affairs. Originally established only for the time of the monarch's absence,

1586-414: A power similar to Western countries, and subordinated his own life and the lives of his subjects to the realization of this idea. Gradually penetrated the idea that the task should be solved with the help of reforms, which will be carried out at the autocrat's will, who creates good and punishes evil. He considered the morality of a statesman separately from the morality of a private person and believed that

1708-724: A red ruby set in the left ear and ornamented dragons sewn on their chainmail shirts. In these years, Swedish men left to enlist in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in such numbers that a medieval Swedish law, Västgötalagen , from Västergötland declared no one could inherit while staying in "Greece"—the then Scandinavian term for the Byzantine Empire —to stop the emigration, especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians: Kievan Rus' c. 980–1060 and London 1018–1066 (the Þingalið ). Composed primarily of Scandinavians for

1830-578: A ship in Emmerich am Rhein and sailed to Zaandam, where he arrived on 18 August 1697. Peter studied saw-mills , manufacturing and shipbuilding in Zaandam but left after a week. He sailed to Amsterdam after he was recognized and attacked. The log-cabin he rented became the Czar Peter House . He sailed to Texel to see a fleet. Through the mediation of Nicolaas Witsen , an expert on Russia,

1952-406: A sword and a quill in one right hand") and courageous behavior he demonstrated to his subjects his personal positive example, showed how to act, fully devoting himself to the fulfillment of duty and service to the fatherland . Peter reigned for around 43 years. He implemented sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing Russia. Heavily influenced by his advisors, like Jacob Bruce , Peter reorganized

2074-500: A tradition of faithful, oath-bound service (to death if necessary), and after the Norman Conquest of England there were many fighting men, who had lost their lands and former masters, looking for a living elsewhere. The Varangian Guard not only provided security for Byzantine emperors but participated in many wars involving Byzantium and often played a crucial role, since it was usually employed at critical moments of battle. By

2196-614: A visit to a friend's mansion near Nigtevecht , a silk manufacture and a paper-mill. At five in the morning he was received by Herman Boerhaave who showed Peter the Botanical Garden . In April 1717 he continued his travel to Austrian Netherlands , Dunkirk and Calais. In Paris he obtained many books, requested to become a member of the Academie de Sciences and visited the parliament, the Sorbonne and Madame Maintenon . Via

2318-467: Is confirmed by sagas and archaeological evidence, which suggests that Ladoga gradually evolved into a primarily Varangian settlement. At least two Swedish kings spent their youth in Ladoga, Stenkil and Inge I , and possibly also King Anund Gårdske . In the 12th and 13th centuries, Ladoga functioned as a trade outpost of the powerful Novgorod Republic . Later its trade significance declined and most of

2440-507: Is estimated that between 90% and 95% of all Arab dirhams found in Sweden passed through Ladoga. Ladoga's next mention in chronicles is dated 1019, when Ingigerd of Sweden married Yaroslav of Novgorod . Under the terms of their marriage settlement, Yaroslav ceded Ladoga to his wife, who appointed her father's cousin, the Swedish earl Ragnvald Ulfsson , to rule the town. This information

2562-572: Is primarily credited with the modernization of the country, quickly transforming it into a major European power. His administrative reforms, creating a Governing Senate in 1711, the Collegium in 1717 and the Table of Ranks in 1722 had a lasting impact on Russia, and many institutions of the Russian government trace their origins to his reign. Peter grew up at Izmaylovo Estate and was educated at

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2684-471: The Amusement Palace from an early age by several tutors commissioned by his father, most notably Nikita Zotov , Patrick Gordon , and Paul Menesius . When his father died in 1676, he left the sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the crippled Feodor III . Throughout this period, the government was largely run by Artamon Matveyev , an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of

2806-803: The Azov campaigns to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure. Peter returned to Moscow in November 1695 and began building a large navy in Voronezh . He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year. He appointed Alexander Gordon , who later would publish a biography on Peter. Peter used to hold all his important meetings and numerous celebrations in Le Fort 's palace. Peter knew that Russia could not face

2928-523: The Christianization of Kievan Rus' in 988. Coinciding with the general decline of the Viking Age , the influx of Scandinavians to Rus' stopped and Varangians were gradually assimilated by East Slavs by the late 11th century. Medieval Greek Βάραγγος Várangos and Old East Slavic варягъ varjagŭ ( Old Church Slavonic варѧгъ varęgŭ ) are derived from Old Norse væringi , originally

3050-526: The Curonians of Grobin faced an invasion by the Swedes at about the same date. It has been argued that the word Varangian , in its many forms, does not appear in primary sources until the eleventh century (though it does appear frequently in later sources describing earlier periods). This suggests that the term Rus ' was used broadly to denote Scandinavians until it became too firmly associated with

3172-760: The Danes , he incarcerated them. In 860, the Rus' under Askold and Dir launched their first attack on Constantinople from Kiev. The result of this attack is disputed, but the Varangians continued their efforts as they regularly sailed on their monoxyla down the Dnieper into the Black Sea . The Rus' raids into the Caspian Sea were recorded by Muslim authors in the 870s and in 910, 912, 913, 943, and later. Although

3294-743: The Greece Runestones . These were raised by former members of the Varangian Guard, or in their memory. A smaller group consists of the four Italy Runestones which commemorate members of the Varangian Guard who died in southern Italy. The oldest of the Greece runestones are six stones in the RAK style , which dates to the period before 1015 AD. The group consists of Skepptuna runestone U 358 , Västra Ledinge runestone U 518 , Nälberga runestone Sö 170 and Eriksstad runestone Sm 46 . One of

3416-623: The House of Creativity was widening, new buildings were built. They used it a whole-year. A dwelling there for 1–2 months was without any payment for the artists. All commitments on housing, food and travel were taken on by the Art Foundation of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic . The paintings created there were exposed in first-rate art exhibitions. It completed the collections of

3538-693: The Moscow Print Yard . In 1707, Tsar Peter I bought a fully equipped printing house in Holland , including staff. Peter replaced the Cyrillic numerals with Arabic numerals (1705–1710) and the Cyrillic font with a civil script (1708–1710). In 1708, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz became an advisor and offered to write new laws for the country. In December Russia was divided into eight governorates ( guberniya ). Matwei Petrowitsch Gagarin

3660-560: The Naryshkin family and one of Peter's greatest childhood benefactors. This position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family ( Maria Miloslavskaya was the first wife of Alexis I) and Naryshkin family ( Natalya Naryshkina was his second wife) over who should inherit the throne. He jointly ruled with his elder half-brother, Ivan V , until 1696. Ivan,

3782-781: The Ottoman and Swedish Empires . Despite initial difficulties, the wars were ultimately successful and led to expansion to the Sea of Azov and the Baltic Sea , thus laying the groundwork for the Imperial Russian Navy . His victory in the Great Northern War ended Sweden's era as a great power and was followed by the proclamation of the Russian Empire . Peter led a cultural revolution that replaced some of

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3904-691: The Palace of Saint-Cloud , the Grand Trianon at Versailles, Fontainebleau , Spa he travelled on to Maastricht , at that time one of the most important fortresses in Europe. He went back Amsterdam to attend a Treaty with France and Prussia on 15 August. He achieved a diplomatic success, and his international prestige, consolidated. Again he visited the Hortus Botanicus and left the city early September 1717, heading for Berlin. In October he

4026-710: The Peredvizhniki group Vassily Maximov was born and laid to rest there. He portrayed scenes from an everyday life of peasants. Nicholas Roerich painted his studies there during the summer of 1899. He named this landscape the best of the Russian one. Valentin Serov , Konstantin Korovin , Boris Kustodiev also worked there. Alexander Samokhvalov was in Staraya Ladoga many times in 1924-1926. He took part in

4148-809: The Royal Mint four times; it is not clear whether he ever met Isaac Newton , the mint's warden , who introduced milling on the coinage. Peter was impressed by the Great Recoinage of 1696 , according to Massie. At some time he visited Spithead , Plymouth , with captain John Perry to watch a mock battle . In February he attended a Fleet Review in Deptford , and inspected the Woolwich Dockyard and Royal Arsenal with Anthony Deane . For three months he stayed at Sayes Court as

4270-655: The Viking Age , and there are many associated with the Varangian Guards. These Varangian runestones commemorate various fallen warriors through carved runes , and mention voyages to the East ( Austr ) or the Eastern route ( Austrvegr ), or to more specific eastern locations such as Garðaríki (what is today Russia and Ukraine). The losses that the Varangian Guard suffered are reflected by the largest group of runestones that talk of foreign voyages, such as those known as

4392-788: The Volga trade route (between the Varangians and the Muslims), connecting the Baltic to the Caspian Sea and the Dnieper and Dniester trade route (between Varangians and the Greeks) leading to the Black Sea and Constantinople . Those were the main important trade links at that time, connecting Medieval Europe with Abbasid Caliphates and the Byzantine Empire . Most of the silver coinage in

4514-537: The civil script , a reform of Russian orthography largely designed by himself. On the shores of the Neva River, he founded Saint Petersburg , a city famously dubbed by Francesco Algarotti as the "window to the West". In 1714, Peter relocated the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg, a status it retained until 1918. Peter had a great interest in plants, animals and minerals, in malformed creatures or exceptions to

4636-400: The law of nature for his cabinet of curiosities . He encouraged research of deformities, all along trying to debunk the superstitious fear of monsters . He promoted industrialization in the Russian Empire and higher education. The Russian Academy of Sciences and the Saint Petersburg State University were founded in 1724, and invited Christian Wolff and Willem 's Gravesande . Peter

4758-423: The 750s, Norse colonists played an important role in the early ethnogenesis of the Rus' people and in the formation of the Rus' Khaganate . The Varangians ( Varyags , in Old East Slavic ) are first mentioned by the Primary Chronicle as having exacted tribute from the Slavic and Finnic tribes in 859. It was the time of rapid expansion of the Vikings in Northern Europe; England began to pay Danegeld in 859, and

4880-560: The 9th century, traveling as merchants along the Volga trade route, selling furs, honey, and slaves, as well as luxury goods such as amber, Frankish swords, and walrus ivory. These goods were mostly exchanged for Arabic silver coins, called dirhams. Hoards of 9th-century Baghdad -minted silver coins have been found in Sweden, particularly in Gotland. Variations in the size of the coin hoards show that there were phases of increased importation of coins and sometime decades during which very few coins were imported. The economic relationship between

5002-403: The Black Sea, which would require expelling the Tatars from the surrounding areas. As part of an agreement with Poland that ceded Kiev to Russia, Peter was forced to wage war against the Crimean Khan and against the Khan's overlord, the Ottoman Sultan. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov , near the Don River . In the summer of 1695 Peter organized

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5124-404: The Byzantines to re-arrange their trading arrangements; militarily, the Varangians were usually defeated by the superior Byzantine forces, especially in the sea due to Byzantine use of Greek fire . The Varangian Guard ( Greek : Τάγμα των Βαράγγων, Tágma tōn Varángōn ) were a part of Byzantine Army and personal bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors from the 10th to the 14th centuries. Initially

5246-471: The Early Middle Ages; examples include Old English wærgenga , Old Frankish wargengus and Langobardic waregang . The reduction of the second part of the word could be parallel to that seen in Old Norse foringi 'leader', correspondent to Old English foregenga and Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌾𐌰 fauragaggja 'steward'. There are raised stone memorials called runestones throughout Scandinavia of which almost all are found in Sweden . Many date to

5368-405: The Great established the Olonets Shipyard at Lodeynoye Pole , where Russian frigate Shtandart was built. While the Poles fought the Swedes, Peter founded the city of Saint Petersburg on 29 June 1703 on Hare Island . He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg, which he intended to become Russia's capital, so that all stonemasons could participate in the construction of

5490-472: The Islamic world in the 9th and 10th centuries and the Rus merchants who went there to trade their goods for silver interacted with cultures and goods from the Islamic World, and also from China, India, and North Africa. The trade between the Rus and the lands south of the Black and Caspian seas made it possible for cultural interactions to take place between the Rus and the Islamic World. The account written by Ibn Fadlan about his 921–922 travels from Baghdad to

5612-416: The Miloslavskys (the clan of Ivan ) and their allies to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior. Sophia then acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat. From 1682 to 1689, Peter and his mother were banned to Preobrazhenskoye . At the age of 16, he discovered an English boat on

5734-404: The Ottoman Empire alone. In March 1697, he traveled "incognito" to Western Europe on an 18-month journey with a large Russian delegation—the so-called "Grand Embassy" . Peter was the first tsar to leave Russia for more than 100 years. He used a fake name, allowing him to escape social and diplomatic events, but since he was far taller than most others, he could not fool anyone. One goal was to seek

5856-412: The Ottoman Empire. Russia had defeated what was considered to be one of the world's best militaries, and the victory overturned the view that Russia was militarily incompetent. In Poland, Augustus II was restored as King. Peter, overestimating the support he would receive from his Balkan allies, attacked the Ottoman Empire, initiating the Russo-Turkish War of 1710 . Peter's campaign in the Ottoman Empire

5978-431: The Ottoman Sultan. Peter failed to expand the anti-Ottoman alliance. In Riga, the local Swedish commander Erik Dahlbergh decided to pretend that he did not recognize Peter and did not allow him to inspect the fortifications. (Three years later, Peter would cite the inhospitable reception as one of the reasons for starting the Great Northern War). He met Frederick Casimir Kettler , the Duke of Courland. In Königsberg ,

6100-416: The Rus and the Islamic world developed quickly into a network of trading routes. Initially the Rus founded Staraya Ladoga as the first node from the Baltic to the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. By the end of the 9th century, Staraya Ladoga was replaced as the most important center by Novgorod. From these centers the Rus were able to send their goods as far as Baghdad. Baghdad was the political and cultural center of

6222-505: The Rus and the Muslims were interested in and fairly knowledgeable about each other's cultures. The geography of the Volga region and the relative lack of physical wealth available for stealing (compared to targets of Viking raids in the west) made raiding a less important aspect of the Rus/Varangian activities in the East. Some raiding was necessary to gain initial control of the towns and regions that they developed into centers of economic activities. The first small-scale raids took place in

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6344-475: The Rus' had predominantly peaceful trading relations with the Byzantines, the rulers of Kiev launched the relatively successful naval expedition of 907 and the abortive campaign of 941 against Constantinople, as well as the large-scale invasion of the Balkans by Sviatoslav I in 968–971. In 1043, Yaroslav sent his son Vladimir to attack Constantinople. The Byzantines destroyed the attacking vessels and defeated Vladimir These raids were successful in forcing

6466-626: The Rus' may have been written prior to 842. It is preserved in the Greek Life of St. George of Amastris , which speaks of a raid that had extended into Paphlagonia . Contemporary Byzantine presence of the Rus' is mentioned in the Frankish Annals of St. Bertin . These relate that a delegation from the court of the Byzantine emperor visited Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious at his court in Ingelheim in 839. In this delegation were two men who called themselves Rhos ( Rhos vocari dicebant ). Louis enquired about their origins and learnt that they were Swedes. Fearing that they were spies for their brothers,

6588-431: The Rus' might have ruled an earlier hypothetical polity known as the Rus' Khaganate . Rurik's relative Oleg conquered Kiev in 882 and established the state of Kievan Rus', which was later ruled by Rurik's descendants . Engaging in trade, piracy, and mercenary service, Varangians roamed the river systems and portages of Gardariki , as the areas north of the Black Sea were known in the Norse sagas . They controlled

6710-401: The Russian Church of the opportunity to regain a single spiritual leader. Reducing the number of monasteries, he converted all monasteries with less than 30 monks into schools or churches. He encouraged the development of private entrepreneurship, but under strict state control. He initiated the construction of canals by John Perry and implemented a monetary reform, using the decimal principle as

6832-425: The Russian army along modern lines and dreamed of making Russia a maritime power . He faced much opposition to these policies at home but brutally suppressed rebellions against his authority, including by the Streltsy , Bashkirs , Astrakhan , and the greatest civil uprising of his reign, the Bulavin Rebellion . In his process to westernize Russia, he wanted members of his family to marry other European royalty. In

6954-404: The Russian people as rude, unintelligent, stubborn in their sluggishness, a child, a lazy student. He highly appreciated the state's role in the life of society, saw it as an ideal instrument for achieving high goals, saw it as a universal institution for transforming people, with the help of violence and fear, into educated, conscious, law-abiding and useful to the whole society subjects. Peter had

7076-461: The Senate became a permanent body after his return. A special high official, the Ober-Procurator , served as the link between the ruler and the senate and acted, in Peter own words, as "the sovereign's eye". Without his signature no Senate decision could go into effect; the Senate became one of the most important institutions of Imperial Russia. In 1701, 1705 and 1712, Peter I issued decrees establishing an Engineering School in Sukharev Tower , which

7198-407: The Streltsy, who continually aroused disorder and dissent. Peter, warned by others from the Streltsy, escaped in the middle of the night to the impenetrable monastery of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra ; there he slowly gathered adherents who perceived he would win the power struggle. Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter

7320-574: The Strong abdicated in 1706. Swedish king Charles XII turned his attention to Russia, invading it in 1708. After crossing into Russia, Charles defeated Peter at Golovchin in July. In the Battle of Lesnaya , Charles suffered his first loss after Peter crushed a group of Swedish reinforcements marching from Riga . Deprived of this aid, Charles was forced to abandon his proposed march on Moscow. Charles XII refused to retreat to Poland or back to Sweden and instead invaded Ukraine . Peter withdrew his army southward, employing scorched earth , destroying along

7442-520: The Strong . Peter's visit was cut short, when he was informed of the second Streltsy uprising in June. The rebellion was easily crushed by General Gordon before Peter returned home early September. Peter nevertheless acted ruthlessly towards the mutineers; 4,600 rebels were sent to prison. Around 1,182 were tortured and executed, and Peter ordered that their bodies be publicly exhibited as a warning to future conspirators. The Streltsy were disbanded, and Peter's half-sister Sophia, who they sought to put on

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7564-452: The Tsar visited Delft and received an "eal viewer" from the microscopist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek . After the Peace of Ryswick he was invited by King of England to visit him. The Dutch regents considered the Tsar too inquisitive, and this affected their willingness to help the Russians. On 11 January 1698 ( O.S. ), Peter arrived at Victoria Embankment with four chamberlains, three interpreters ( Peter Shafirov , LeFort), two clock makers,

7686-410: The Volkhov River. The fortress was rebuilt at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1703, Peter the Great founded the town of Novaya Ladoga (New Ladoga) closer to the bank of Lake Ladoga. The ancient fortress thenceforth declined and came to be known as Staraya Ladoga (Old Ladoga), in order to distinguish it from the new town. The reconstruction of one of the towers of Staraya Ladoga's fortress

7808-524: The West came from the East via those routes. Attracted by the riches of Constantinople, the Varangian Rus' began the Rus'-Byzantine Wars , some of which resulted in advantageous trade treaties. At least from the early 10th century, many Varangians served as mercenaries in the Byzantine Army , constituting the elite Varangian Guard (the bodyguards of Byzantine emperors ). Eventually most of them, in Byzantium and in Eastern Europe, were converted from Norse paganism to Orthodox Christianity , culminating in

7930-462: The administration; the ministries were also reduced in number. This provoked fierce reactions. Sophia , one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, led a rebellion of the streltsy (Russia's elite military corps) in April–May 1682. In the subsequent conflict, some of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered, including Artamon Matveyev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence. The streltsy made it possible for Sophia,

8052-436: The aid of European monarchs, but Peter's hopes were dashed. France was a traditional ally of the Ottoman Sultan, and Austria was eager to maintain peace in the east while conducting its own wars in the west. Peter, furthermore, had chosen an inopportune moment: the Europeans at the time were more concerned about the War of the Spanish Succession over who would succeed the childless King Charles II of Spain than about fighting

8174-545: The basis of the monetary system (1698-–1704). Peter attracted many foreign specialists and opened an educational institution for surgery , led by Nicolaas Bidloo . In 1701, the Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation was founded, led by Jacob Bruce ; for fifteen years, naval officers, surveyors, engineers, and gunners were educated there. In 1700, Jan Thesingh (-1701) received a monopoly on printing and importing books, maps and prints into Russia for fifteen years. In 1701 he appointed Fedor Polikarpov-Orlov as head of

8296-417: The capital of the Bulghar kingdom gives details which can reveal the cultural interaction between the two groups. Ibn Fadlan gives a vivid description of the daily habits of the Rus, as well as the only known first-person account of the complicated ship-burning funeral ceremony. Certain details in his account, especially the dialogue of the ceremonies and his personal conversations with Rus individuals, show that

8418-443: The court apothecary; Johann Daniel Schumacher was appointed secretary and librarian of the Kunstkamera . The country's first scientific library was opened in his palace in the Summer Garden. Peter ordered the development of Aptekarsky Island , headquarters for the Medical Clerical Office and the Main Pharmacy. Gottlieb Schober was commissioned to examine hot springs and discovered rich deposits of sulfur ; Peter immediately set up

8540-420: The end of April 1698 he left after being shown how to make watches, and carpeting coffins. Back in Holland he visited Harderwijk and Cleves. The Embassy next went to Leipzig, Dresden, where he met with the Queen of Poland . Three times he visited the Kunstsammlung , then Königstein Fortress , Prague, Vienna, to pay a visit to Leopold I . At Rava-Ruska , he crossed the border and Peter spoke with Augustus II

8662-428: The estate, had it restored and learned to sail. He received a sextant , but did not know how to use it. Peter was fascinated by sundials . Therefore, he began a search for a foreign expert in the German Quarter . Peter befriended Andrew Vinius , a bibliophile, who taught him Dutch and two Dutch carpenters, Frans Timmerman and Karsten Brandt. Peter studied arithmetic, geometry, and military sciences ( fortification ). He

8784-797: The finish of the restoration. It was an important center of the art life of Russia for 30 years. Such artists as Evsey Moiseenko , Alexander Samokhvalov , Vecheslav Zagonek , Dmitry Belyaev , Vladimir Ovchinnikov , Boris Ugarov , Boris Shamanov , Vsevolod Bazhenov , Piotr Buchkin , Zlata Bizova , Taisia Afonina , Marina Kozlovskaya , Dmitry Maevsky , Alexander Semionov , Arseny Semionov , Irina Dobrekova , Vladimir Sakson , Gleb Savinov , Elena Zhukova , Sergei Zakharov , Ivan Varichev , Veniamin Borisov , Valery Vatenin , Ivan Godlevsky , Vladimir Krantz , Lazar Yazgur , Irina Dobrekova , Piotr Fomin and many other Leningrad and other regions painters and graphic artists worked there. In 1970-1980 as

8906-518: The first hundred years, the guard increasingly included Anglo-Saxons after the successful Norman Conquest of England. By the time of Emperor Alexios Komnenos in the late 11th century, the Varangian Guard was largely recruited from Anglo-Saxons and "others who had suffered at the hands of the Vikings and their cousins the Normans". The Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic peoples shared with the Vikings

9028-539: The forces of Charles XII, rather than employ a slow methodical siege, attacked immediately using a blinding snowstorm to their advantage. After the battle, Charles XII decided to concentrate his forces against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which gave Peter time to reorganize the Russian army and conquered Nyenschantz in the Ingrian campaign . Bidloo had to organize a military hospital. Robert Bruce

9150-418: The genius Leibniz . Blumentrost and Areskine accompanied him. In early December Peter arrived in Amsterdam and visited Nicolaas Witsen . He bought the anatomic and herbarium collection of Frederik Ruysch , Levinus Vincent and Albertus Seba . He obtained many paintings among other from Maria Sibylla Merian for his Kunstkamera and Rembrandt's "David and Jonathan" for Peterhof Palace . He paid

9272-500: The guard was composed of Varangians who came from Kievan Rus'. Immigrants from Scandinavia (predominantly immigrants from Sweden but also elements from Denmark and Norway ) kept an almost entirely Norse cast to the organization until the late 11th century. According to the late Swedish historian Alf Henrikson in his book Svensk Historia ( History of Sweden ), the Norse Varangian guardsmen were recognised by long hair,

9394-639: The guest of John Evelyn , a member of the Royal Society . He was trained on a telescope at the Greenwich Observatory by John Flamsteed . Peter communicated with Thomas Story and William Penn about their position that believers should not join the military. King William III presented a schooner with a whole crew to Peter I in exchange for the monopoly right of English merchants to trade tobacco in Russia (see Charles Whitworth ). At

9516-694: The late 13th century, Varangians were mostly ethnically assimilated by Byzantines, though the guard operated until at least the mid-14th century, and in 1400 there were still some people identifying themselves as "Varangians" in Constantinople. Primary sources Additional secondary sources Peter the Great Peter I ( [ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪt͡ɕ] ; Russian : Пётр I Алексеевич , romanized :  Pyotr I Alekseyevich ; 9 June [ O.S. 30 May] 1672 – 8 February [ O.S. 28 January] 1725),

9638-463: The late 9th and early 10th centuries. The Rus' undertook the first large-scale expedition in 913; having arrived on 500 ships, they pillaged Gorgan , in the territory of present-day Iran , and the adjacent areas, taking slaves and goods. On their return, the northern raiders were attacked and defeated by Khazar Muslims in the Volga Delta , and those who escaped were killed by the local tribes on

9760-619: The later runestones in the Pr4 style is Ed runestone U 112 , a large boulder at the western shore of the lake of Ed. It tells that Ragnvaldr, the captain of the Varangian Guard, had returned home where he had the inscriptions made in memory of his dead mother. The youngest runestones, in the Pr5 style , such as Ed runestone U 104 (presently in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford ), are dated to

9882-663: The main museums of Soviet Union and numerous private collections of Russia and abroad. Also it became a base of an extensive collection of painting, graphics and sculpture of the museum “Staraya Ladoga”. Financing of the House of Creativity stopped at the beginning of the 1990s on the breakup of the USSR and after the liquidation of the Art Foundation. It stopped welcoming artists and was closed. Varangians The Varangians ( / v ə ˈ r æ n dʒ i ə n z / ) were Viking conquerors, traders and settlers, mostly from present-day Sweden . The Varangians settled in

10004-406: The middle Volga . During their next expedition in 943, the Rus' captured Barda , the capital of Arran , in the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan . The Rus' stayed there for several months, killing many inhabitants of the city and amassing substantial plunder. It was only an outbreak of dysentery among the Rus' that forced them to depart with their spoils. Sviatoslav , prince of Kiev, commanded

10126-467: The mining and lumber industries. In 1719, the privileges of miners were enshrined in law with the Berg Privilege, which allowed representatives of all classes to search for ores and build metallurgical plants. At the same time, manufacturers and artisans were exempted from state taxes and recruiting , and their houses were exempt from the post of troops. The law also guaranteed the inheritance of

10248-680: The new city. While the city was being built along the Neva he lived in a modest three-room log cabin (with a study but without a fire-place) which had to make room for the first version of the Winter Palace . The first buildings which appeared were a shipyard at the Admiralty , Kronstadt (1704-1706) and the Peter and Paul Fortress (1706). Peter took his whole family on a boat trip to Kronstadt. Following several defeats, Polish King Augustus II

10370-738: The next attack, which destroyed the Khazar state in 965. Sviatoslav's campaign established Rus' control over the north–south trade routes, helping to alter the demographics of the region. Raids continued through the time period with the last Scandinavian attempt to reestablish the route to the Caspian Sea led by Ingvar the Far-Travelled in 1041. While there, Varangians took part in the Georgian-Byzantine Battle of Sasireti in Georgia (1042). The earliest Byzantine record of

10492-399: The ownership of factories, proclaimed industrial activity a matter of state importance and protected manufacturers from interference in their affairs by local authorities. The same law established the Collegium of Mining , and managed the entire mining and metallurgical industry , and local administrations. The Demidovs became the first Russian exporters of iron to Western Europe . In 1721,

10614-555: The past, his ancestors had been snubbed at the idea; however, it was proving fruitful. He negotiated with Frederick William, Duke of Courland to marry his niece, Anna Ivanovna . He used the wedding in order to launch his new capital, St Petersburg, where he had already ordered building projects of westernized palaces and buildings. Peter hired Italian and German architects to design it. He attracted Domenico Trezzini , Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli , Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond and Andreas Schlüter . To improve his nation's position on

10736-529: The period 1080–1130, after which runestones became unfashionable. The Varangians returned home with some influence from Byzantine culture, as exemplified by the Byzantine cross carved on the early eleventh-century Risbyle runestone U 161 , and which today is the coat-of-arms of Täby , a trimunicipal locality and the seat of Täby Municipality in Stockholm County, Sweden. The runes were made by

10858-461: The population engaged in fishing in the 15th century. After new fortresses such as Oreshek and Korela were constructed in the 14th century further to the west of Ladoga, the town's military significance also decreased. Ladoga belonged to Vodskaya Pyatina of the Republic and contained eighty-four homesteads in the 15th century; most of the land belonged to the church. The Novgorodians built there

10980-508: The possibility of future joint ventures with the Knights, including action against the Turks and the possibility of a future Russian naval base. On 12 September 1698, Peter officially founded the first Russian Navy base, Taganrog on the Sea of Azov . In 1699, Peter changed the date of the celebration of the new year from 1 September to 1 January. Traditionally, the years were reckoned from

11102-530: The powerful state of Kievan Rus' were laid. There are several huge tumuli , or royal funerary barrows, at the outskirts of Ladoga. One of them is said to be Rurik's grave, and another one—that of his successor Oleg . The Heimskringla and other Norse sources mention that in the late 990s Eric Haakonsson of Norway raided the coast and set the town ablaze. Ladoga was the most important trading center in Eastern Europe from about 800 to 900 CE, and it

11224-543: The purported creation of the World , but after Peter's reforms, they were to be counted from the birth of Christ . Thus, in the year 7207 of the old Russian calendar, Peter proclaimed that the Julian Calendar was in effect and the year was 1700. On the death of Lefort in 1699, Menshikov succeeded him as Peter's prime favourite and confidant. In 1700, Peter I prevented the election of a new patriarch and deprived

11346-556: The quarrelsome Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin with which Peter wanted an alliance. He obtained the assistance of the Frederick William I of Prussia who sieged the strong Swedish fortress Wismar . In Altona he met with Danish diplomats, supporting Prussia. He sailed to Copenhagen heading an allied fleet. In Wittenberg he visited the monastery, where Luther lived. In May he went on to Bad Pyrmont , and, because of his physical problems he stayed at this spa. There he met with

11468-477: The restoration of the St. George's Church. That experience gave a great deal to the artist, he wrote. It helped him to understand the effect of joining a monumental painting with the architectural forms. In result of this dwelling in that place painter made his "Staraya Ladoga" (1924) and "Family of Fisherman"(1926, Russian Museum ) In February 1945 the ex-estate of the prince Shakhovskoy was given to Leningrad artists as

11590-687: The runemaster Viking Ulf of Borresta , see Orkesta runestone U 344 , in memory of another Ulf, in Skålhamra, and at the request of the latter's father. In the 9th century, the Rus ' operated the Volga trade route , which connected Northern Rus ( Garðaríki ) with the Middle East ( Serkland ). The Volga route declined by the end of the century, and the Dnieper and Dniester routes rapidly overtook it in importance. Apart from Ladoga and Novgorod , Gnyozdovo and Gotland were major centers for Varangian trade. Having settled Aldeigja (Ladoga) in

11712-478: The same year, Peter also sought to end arranged marriages , which were the norm among the Russian nobility , because he thought such a practice was barbaric and led to domestic violence, since the partners usually resented each other. In 1698, Peter sent a delegation to Malta , under boyar Boris Sheremetev , to observe the training and abilities of the Knights of Malta and their fleet . Sheremetev investigated

11834-632: The seas, Peter sought more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the White Sea at Arkhangelsk . The Baltic Sea was at the time controlled by Sweden in the north, while the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea were controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Empire respectively in the south. The country's need for metal was exacerbated by the outbreak of wars for access to the Black and Baltic Seas. Peter attempted to acquire control of

11956-519: The south came from the area of modern Sweden. The Varangians left rune stones in their native Sweden that tell of their journeys to what is today Russia, Ukraine, Greece, and Belarus. Most of these rune stones can be seen today, and are a telling piece of historical evidence. The Varangian runestones tell of many notable Varangian expeditions, and even account for the fates of individual warriors and travelers. The Rus' initially appeared in Serkland in

12078-584: The southern half of modern Estonia ), driving the Swedes out of Finland . In 1714, the Russian fleet won the Battle of Gangut . During the Great Wrath most of Finland was occupied by Russian forces. In January 1716, Tsar Peter traveled in the Baltic region to discuss peace negotiations and how to protect the sea trade route from the Swedes. He visited Riga, Königsberg and Danzig . There his niece married

12200-502: The southern shores of the Caspian Sea, all the way to Baghdad . Tellingly, the oldest Arabian Middle Age coin in Europe was unearthed in Ladoga. According to the Hypatian Codex that was created at the end of the 13th century, the legendary Varangian leader Rurik arrived at Ladoga in 862 and made it his capital. Rurik later moved to Novgorod and subsequently his successors moved from there to Kiev where foundations for

12322-412: The sovereign in the name of state interests can go to murder, violence, forgery and deceit. He went through the naval service, starting from the lowest ranks: bombardier (1695), captain (1696), colonel (1706), schout-bij-nacht (1709), vice-admiral (1714), admiral (1721). By hard daily work (according to the figurative expression of Peter the Great himself, he was simultaneously "forced to hold

12444-449: The subsequent elite of Kievan Rus who assimilated Slavic culture. At that point, the new term Varangian was increasingly preferred to name Scandinavians, probably mostly from what is now Sweden, plying the river routes between the Baltic and the Black and Caspian Seas. Due largely to geographic considerations, it is often argued that most of the Varangians who traveled and settled in the lands of eastern Baltic, modern Russia and lands to

12566-550: The territories of present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine from the 8th and 9th centuries, and established the state of Kievan Rus' as well as the principalities of Polotsk and Turov . They also formed the Byzantine Varangian Guard . According to the 12th-century Primary Chronicle , a group of Varangians known as the Rus' settled in Novgorod in 862 under the leadership of Rurik . Before Rurik,

12688-529: The throne, was kept in strictest seclusion at Novodevichy Convent . Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials to wear European clothing (no caftans ) and cut off their long beards, causing Boyars and Old Believers , who were very fond of their beards, great upset. Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual beard tax of one hundred rubles . In

12810-588: The traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, Westernized , and based on radical Enlightenment . In December 1699, he introduced the Julian calendar , which replaced the Byzantine calendar that was long used in Russia, but the Russian Orthodox Church was particularly resistant to this change. In 1703, he introduced the first Russian newspaper, Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti , and ordered

12932-513: The tsar engaged many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights, and seamen—including Cornelis Cruys , a vice-admiral who became, under Franz Lefort , the tsar's advisor in maritime affairs; engineer Menno van Coehoorn refused. Peter put his knowledge of shipbuilding to use in helping build Russia's navy. Peter and Witsen visited Frederik Ruysch who had all the specimens exposed in five rooms. He taught Peter how to catch butterflies and how to preserve them. They also had

13054-417: The tsar was apprenticed for two months to an artillery engineer. (Decrees were issued on the construction of the first Ural blast furnace plants.) In July he met Sophia of Hanover at Coppenbrügge castle. She described him: "The tsar is a tall, handsome man, with an attractive face. He has a lively mind is very witty. Only, someone so well endowed by nature could be a little better mannered." Peter rented

13176-586: The tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in shipyard, belonging to the Dutch East India Company , for a period of four months, under the supervision of Gerrit Claesz Pool . The diligent and capable tsar assisted in the construction of an East Indiaman Peter and Paul specially laid down for him. Peter felt that the ship's carpenters in Holland worked too much by eye and lacked accurate construction drawings. During his stay

13298-475: The way anything that could assist the Swedes. Deprived of local supplies, the Swedish army was forced to halt its advance in the winter of 1708–1709. In the summer of 1709, they resumed their efforts to capture Russian-ruled Ukraine , culminating in the Battle of Poltava on 27 June. The battle was a decisive defeat for the Swedish forces, ending Charles' campaign in Ukraine and forcing him south to seek refuge in

13420-404: Was Tsar of all Russia from 1682, and the first Emperor of all Russia , known as Peter the Great , from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V until 1696. From this year, Peter was an absolute monarch , an autocrat who remained the ultimate authority and organized a well-ordered police state . Most of Peter's reign was consumed by long wars against

13542-415: Was appointed commander-in-chief of St. Petersburg. After the defeat at Narva, Peter I gave the order to melt the church bells into cannons and mortars. In 1701, Peter ordered the construction of Novodvinsk Fortress north of Archangelsk. Everybody was convinced they knew: his Majesty will wage war. In the siege of Nöteborg Russian forces captured the Swedish fortress, renamed Shlisselburg . In 1702 Peter

13664-546: Was at the time led by the young King Charles XII . Sweden was also opposed by Denmark–Norway , Saxony , and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The Preobrazhensky regiment took part in all major battles of the Great Northern War. Russia was ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the Battle of Narva in 1700. In the conflict,

13786-533: Was constructed mainly in the 17th century. Staraya Ladoga's barrows, architectural monuments, and romantic views of the Volkhov River have always been drawing attention of Russian painters. There were the artists Ivan Aivazovsky , Orest Kiprensky , Aleksander Orłowski , Ivan Ivanov , Alexey Venetsianov and many others in the 19th century. A future member of the Imperial Academy of Arts and

13908-524: Was disastrous, and in the ensuing Treaty of the Pruth , Peter was forced to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697. In return, the Sultan expelled Charles XII. The Ottomans called him Mad Peter ( Turkish : deli Petro ), for his willingness to sacrifice large numbers of his troops in wartime. Peter's northern armies took the Swedish province of Livonia (the northern half of modern Latvia , and

14030-585: Was founded in 753. Until 950, it was one of the most important trading ports of Eastern Europe. Merchant vessels sailed from the Baltic Sea through Ladoga to Novgorod and then to Constantinople or the Caspian Sea . This route is known as the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks . An alternative way led down the Volga River along the Volga trade route to the Khazar capital of Atil , and then to

14152-410: Was instead exercised by his mother. It was only when Natalya died in 1694 that Peter, then aged 22, became an independent sovereign. Formally, Ivan V was a co-ruler with Peter, though being ineffective. Peter became the sole ruler when Ivan died in 1696 without male offspring. Peter grew to be extremely tall, especially for the time period, reportedly standing 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m). He

14274-474: Was next in line but was weakminded and blind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) chose the 10-year-old Peter to become tsar, with his mother as regent . A hole was cut in the back of the throne, so that she, literally behind the scenes, could whisper to the two boys. The "Moscow Grand Discharge" started in 1677 and was completed in 1688; it affected noble families with high ranks in

14396-471: Was not interested in a musical education but liked fireworks and drumming. Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name; Boris Golitsyn and Fyodor Apraksin played an important role. He engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding in Pereslavl-Zalessky and sailing at Lake Pleshcheyevo , as well as mock battles with his toy army . Peter's mother sought to force him to adopt

14518-520: Was scheduled to be completed in 2010. The mid-12th-century churches of St. George and of Mary's Assumption stand in all their original glory. Inside St. George's , some magnificent 12th-century frescoes are still visible. In addition, there is a mid-12th-century church of St. Climent, which stands in ruins. There is also the Assumption Nunnery/Monastery, and a monastery , dedicated to St. Nicholas which

14640-492: Was seen as a "second Goliath " or Samson . Saint-Simon described him in 1717 as "tall, well-formed and slim... with a look both bewildered and fierce". Peter had noticeable facial tics, and he may have suffered from neck spasm . As a young man, Peter I adopted the Protestant model of existence in a pragmatic world of competition and personal success, which largely shaped the philosophy of his reformism . He perceived

14762-441: Was supposed to recruit up to 100 students, but had only 23. Therefore, he issued another decree in 1714 calling for compulsory education , which dictated that all Russian 10- to 15-year-old children of the nobility, government clerks, and lesser-ranked officials must learn basic arithmetic, trigonometry and geometry , and should be tested on the subjects at the end of their studies. Areskine , an iatrochemist , became head of

14884-700: Was the first governor of Siberia. Peter was visited by Cornelis de Bruijn , who spent six years in Russia and made drawings of the Kremlin. In 1711, Peter visited elector August II of Poland in Dresden, Carlsbad and Torgau where his son Aleksei married. In 1713 he visited Hamburg, sieged Tönningen with his allies. He then traveled to Hanover and was a guest of Duke Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in Salzdahlum . From Danzig he sailed to Riga, Helsingfors and Turku . In 1711, Peter established by decree

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