In the previous article, we quoted a famous British writer John Evelyn whose property Peter I destroyed while living in it for three months. Notably, John Evelyn always mentioned Peter I in his Diary as Tzar of Moscovy. It is also worth keeping in mind that John Evelyn was very close to the court of the British royals almost all his life. For example, some 36 years before Peter’s visit to England, J. Evelyn had the following entry in his Diary: “29th December, 1662. Saw the audience of the Muscovy Ambassador, which was with extraordinary state, his retinue being numerous, all clad in vests of several colors, with buskins, after the Eastern manner!” While the word ‘Russia‘ is mentioned in the Diary a couple of times, it appears it was something different from Moscovy. For example, here is an entry in the Diary dated April, 21: “The Czar of Moscovy went from my house towards Russia.” As can be seen, for an educated Westerner, Peter was the Tzar of some part of Russia only and the name of that part was ‘Moscovy‘ (Grand Duchy of Muscovy). Things would change after the ill-fated Poltava Battle at which joint Swedish-Ukrainian forces suffered defeat.
The current war Russia wages against Ukraine is about history and legacy as well and the Ukraine’s Total Recall article explains why. Without Kyiv and Ukraine, the formation that calls itself ‘Russia” is legally just an Eastern-type Moscovy. (After Russia’s defeat in the current war, Ukraine should demand that Russia should return to its historically correct name – Moscovy. Ukraine appears to have started this process officially (read the Yahoo News article) and Moscow’s reaction is priceless – it shows that Ukraine is doing the right thing and has hit the right spot.) Why?
- It restores historical justice
- it removes Muscovy’s justification of invading other coutries on the ground of “historic lands”
“Gardariki, Ukraine” e-book explains why Moscovy has no relation to Kyiv Rus.
