lettered by Abraham Ortelius, 1570
Place · polity

Muscovy

Moscow

What the sources say here: 3 passages

Daily lifeSteppe frontier of Muscovy and Lithuania1517-1526

The feigned flight, which they call a dance

Editorial contextHerberstein explains the classic steppe tactic: attack from a distance, pretend to flee, shoot backwards at the pursuers, then wheel round and charge. The Tartars fight in a wheeling circle rather than a battle line and, he says, call this manoeuvre 'a dance'. Without shield, lance or helmet they avoid close combat in narrow places.

they do not, however, continue this mode of warfare long, but pretending flight, take an opportunity while their enemies are pursuing them to discharge their arrows backwards, and then, when the ranks of the enemy are broken, turn their horses suddenly round and attack them.

Sigismund von Herberstein (translated by R. H. Major, 1851-52)
See the original page (p. 55)

About Tartar cavalry

Continue in this sourceHerberstein's Notes upon Russia (Muscovy and its Tartar neighbours)1517 to 1526 · 15 passages
The nameMuscovy1581 to 1582

Muscovites 'descended from Scythians and Tartars'

Editorial contextIn a hostile character sketch of the Muscovites, Possevino claims that most of them descend from or are mixed with Scythians and Tartars, which in his view explains their cunning and suspicion. He adds that the grand princes' pride grew from the time they freed themselves from the Tartars, 'whose tributaries they had been'. This is Counter-Reformation polemic, not ethnography.

These things are plainly seen in the Scythians and Tartars, from whom most of the Muscovites take their origin or of whom they are made up, so it is no wonder they have not yet put off that nature which piety has refined and overcome in other nations. ... Since these three things have been in the Grand Dukes of Muscovy above all from the time when they freed themselves from the Tartars, whose tributaries they had been

Working translation

Original wording

Ea in Schytis, & Tartaris perspicuè cernuntur, ex quibus cùm pleriq; Moscorum originem ducant, aut constent, mirum non est, quòd hactenus naturam illam non exuerint, quam pietas in alijs nationibus excoluit, ac vicit. … Quæ tria cùm in Magnis Moscouiæ Ducibus ab eo potissimùm tempore fuerint, quo se à Tartaris, quorum erant tributarij, in libertatem asseruerunt

Antonio Possevino, S.J. (Moscovia, Vilnius 1586)
See the original page

About Muscovites; Tartars as their supposed ancestors and former overlords

Keep in mind

A prejudiced generalisation; 'Scythians and Tartars' is a stock label for steppe peoples, not a genealogy he could check.

Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR garbled); long s normalized.

Continue in this sourceA papal envoy's report on Muscovy, bound with a Polish envoy's description of the Crimean Tatars1581 to 1582 · 20 passages
Daily lifeMuscovyc. 1570 to 1582

Raids that emptied the countryside

Editorial contextExplaining why Muscovy seemed half empty, Possevino lists plague, wars and the constant Tartar raids, including the burning of the capital twelve years earlier. Abandoned ploughland and young forest showed where people had once lived, while the north stayed well peopled because the Tartars never raided there. He checked this with Italian and Spanish captives freed through him who had walked across the country.

... and the continual raids of the Tartars, and the capital itself burned by them twelve years ago ... But the abandoned fields, and the young woods that have grown up everywhere, are signs of formerly more numerous inhabitants: although the regions that lie north of Moscow have a fairly dense population, because the Tartars have not raided there, and they enjoy a healthier climate.

Working translation

Original wording

Tartarorumq; continentes excursiones, ipsaq; ab ijsdem ante duodecim annos combusta Regia … At verò dedolati agri, & recentes Syluæ, quæ passim succreuerunt, indicia sunt frequentiorum anteà incolarum: licèt quæ regiones supra Moscuam versùs Septentrionem vergunt, eæ admodùm frequentes incolas habeant, quòd excursiones illuc Tartari non fecerint, & salubriore cœlo fruantur

Antonio Possevino, S.J. (Moscovia, Vilnius 1586)
See the original page

About Crimean and Nogai Tatars (raiders)

Keep in mind

Part observation, part report from freed Italian and Spanish captives; war with Poland and famine also emptied the land.

Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR garbled); long s normalized.

Continue in this sourceA papal envoy's report on Muscovy, bound with a Polish envoy's description of the Crimean Tatars1581 to 1582 · 20 passages

On the old maps

Maps that name Muscovy.

Map: Carta marina, Carta marina, 15161516Carta marinaMap: Description of Russia, Muscovy and Tartary, by Anthony Jenkinson, London 1562, Jenkinson (1914 copy), 15621562Jenkinson (1914 copy)Description of Russia, Muscovy and Tartary, by Anthony…Map: New and complete description of Russia, Muscovy and Tartary, London 1562, Jenkinson, 15621562JenkinsonNew and complete description of Russia, Muscovy and Tartary…Map: Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae descriptio, auctore Antonio Jenkinsono Anglo, edita…, Ortelius, 15701570OrteliusRussiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae descriptio, auctore Antonio…Map: Kunyu quantu, Verbiest, 16741674VerbiestKunyu quantuMap: Map and likeness of the lands of all Siberia with Tobolsk and all the towns, dwellings…, Remezov, 1699–17011699–1701RemezovMap and likeness of the lands of all Siberia with Tobolsk and…

22 sources and maps name this place

  1. 1516exact year
    Carta marina
    MMartin WaldseemuellercompilationM044
  2. 1517exact year
    Treatise on the Two Sarmatias, Asian and European, and on what they contain
    WMaciej Miechowitainformant testimonyW235
  3. 1525exact year
    Little Book on the Embassy of Basil, Grand Prince of Muscovy, to Pope Clement VII, describing the country…
    WPaolo Giovio of Comoinformant testimonyW236
  4. 1549exact year
    Notes upon Russia
    WSigismund von HerbersteinmixedW035
  5. c. 1550approximate
    On the Customs of the Tartars, Lithuanians and Muscovites
    WMichalo the LithuanianfirsthandW232
  6. c. 1551–1553approximate
    History of Sahib Giray Khan
    WRemmal HocafirsthandW213
  7. 1559exact year
    Second Volume of Navigations and Voyages
    WGiovanni Battista RamusiocompilationW238
  8. 1562exact year
    Description of Russia, Muscovy and Tartary, by Anthony Jenkinson, London 1562
    MAnthony JenkinsonmixedM046
  9. 1562exact year
    New and complete description of Russia, Muscovy and Tartary, London 1562
    MAnthony JenkinsonmixedM081
  10. 1570exact year
    Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae descriptio, auctore Antonio Jenkinsono Anglo, edita Londini anno 1562
    MAbraham OrteliuscompilationM082
  11. 1578exact year
    Description of European Sarmatia, including Muscovy and part of Tartary
    WAlessandro Guagnini of Veronaclaimed or disputedW231
  12. 1582–1586a range
    Muscovy (report of the papal legation to Ivan IV, with the Commentarii on Muscovy and the Tatars)
    WAntonio Possevino, S.J.firsthandW233
  13. 1591exact year
    Of the Russe Common Wealth and Horsey's Travels, in Russia at the Close of the Sixteenth Century
    WGiles FletchermixedW036
  14. 1602exact year
    Kunyu wanguo quantu
    MMatteo Ricci SJ with Li ZhizaocompilationM118
  15. 1627exact year
    Book of the Great Map, or Ancient Map of the Russian State, renewed in the Razriad and written into a book in…
    WRazriadofficial or contemporary recordW167
  16. 1647exact year
    The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors … to Muscovy and Persia
    WAdam OleariusfirsthandW048
  17. 1674exact year
    Kunyu quantu
    MFerdinand Verbiest SJcompilationM102
  18. 1676exact year
    Three remarkable and very calamitous voyages through Italy, Greece, Livonia, Muscovy, Tartary, Media, Persia…
    WJan Janszoon StruysfirsthandW249
  19. 1699–1701a range
    Map and likeness of the lands of all Siberia with Tobolsk and all the towns, dwellings and steppes
    MSemen RemezovcompilationM099
  20. 1711exact year
    Travels through Muscovy, Persia and India, enriched with three hundred plates
    WCornelis de BruynfirsthandW251
  21. 1726exact year
    Preliminary Report on a Work Prepared for the Press concerning Great Tartary and the Kingdom of Siberia, with…
    WPhilipp Johann von StrahlenbergmixedW273
  22. c. 1785approximate
    Sankai yochi zenzu
    MNagakubo SekisuicompilationM103