T R A V E L S I N T O R U S S I A .
BOOK
III. papers*, as they contain a complete hiftorical feries of
'the alliances, connection, correfpondence, and commerce,
between Ruffia and England, could not fail of forming a
very interefting publication, i f they were printed in chronological
order, and interfperfed with hiftorical obferva-
tions.
I had fcarcely time to take a glance of the numerous ftate-
papers which relate to the other European powers; but the
keeper of the archives did not omit pointing out to me one
document of great importance in the hiftory of Ruffia; I allude
to the famous letter, written in the German tongue f,
from Maximilian I. emperor of Germany, to Vaffili Ivano-
vitch, confirming a treaty of alliance offenfive and defeniive
againft Sigifmond king o f Poland. The difpatch, which is
dated Auguft the 4th, 15 14 , and is ratified with the feal of
the golden-bull, is remarkable becaufe Maximilian addreffes
Vaffili by calling him Kayfor und Herrfdher aller RufTen ;
Emperor and ruler of all the Ruffias. This deed, which was
difcovered by baron Shavirof in the archives.about the beginning
of this century, is faid to have firft fuggefted to
Peter the idea of afiuming the appellation of emperor, and
of formally demanding that it fhould never be omitted by
the European courts. The demand gave rife to various negotiations,
and occafioned a curious controverfy among the
learned, concerning the rife and progrefs of the titles by
which the monarchs of this country have been diftinguifhed.
* Thefe papers appeared fo curious, to tome richer traveller the happinefs of
that foon after my arrival at Peteriburgh, I difplaying to the public this treafure of p°"
obtained, by the kind interceffion o f Sir litical information.
James Harris, permiffion from count Panin -{• The reader will find a copy of 'the
to have them copied. But the demands o f original German in Weber’s Verändertes
the copyift being greatly difproportionate Rufsland, v. I. p. 357.; and.« faithful trau-
.«to my finances, I was unwillingly obliged flation in Perry’s State o f Ruffia, p. 258.
. to* relinquiih my defign ; and 1 muft leave
From
From their refearches, it,appeared that the early fovereigns
of.Ruffia were called great-duke, and that Vaffili Ivanovitch* v
was probably the firft who ftyled himfelf tzar, an expreffion
which, in the Sclavonian language, fignifies king ; and that
his fucceflbrs continued to bear within their own dominions
that title as the moft honourable appellation, until Peter the
Great firft took, that of Povelitel, or emperor. It is neverthe-
lefs as certain, that the foreign courts f in their intercourfe
with that of Mofcow, ftyled the fovereigns indifcriminately
great-duke, tzar, and emperor | i With refpedt to England
in particular, we know for certain, that, in Chancellor’s Account
of Ruffia,. fo early as the middle of the fixteenth century,
Ivan Vaffilievitch II. is called lord and emperor of all
Ruffia; and in the Englifh difpatches, from the reign of
Elizabeth to that of Anne, he is generally addrefied under
the fame appellation. We may at the fame time remark,
that when the European powers ftyled the tzar
emperor of Mufcovy, they by no means intended to give him
a title fimilar to that which was peculiar to the emperor of
Germany ; but they beftowed upon him that appellation a s .
upon an Afiatic fovereign, in the fame manner as we now fay
the emperors of China and Japan. When Peter, therefore,.
determined to affume the title of emperor, he found no difficulty
in proving that it had been confirmed upon his prede-
ceffors by moft of the European,powersyet, when he was.
The appellation o f tzar was not taken, ed with the titles born by thefe two foveas
fome authors fuppofe, from the Tartars, reigns. Other authors fuppofe that his foil *
when Ivan conquered Cafan, for the prince Ivan was the firft who aflumed the title o f '•
of Cafan was called Khan. tzar.
f This is aflerted upon the politive tefti- % According to Mayerberg, the title o f
mony of Herberftein, aud his authority is Alexey Michaelovitch prefixed to his Code
unqueftionable, becaufe, as he was twice o f Laws, was “ T z a r , et Magnus Dux,
embalTador to Mofcow, the firft time to “ totius Ruffia; Autrocator.” Iter in-.Mof,..
Vaffili ivanovitch, and afterwards to Ivan p, 113,
Vaffilievitch II. he muft have been acquaint-
7 defirous *
V.