Peter Petreius
Encyclopedia
Peer Peersson of Erlesunda, also known as Per Erlesund and by his Latinized pen name
Peter Petreius (Uppsala
, 1570 – October 28, 1622, Stockholm
) was a Swedish
diplomat, envoy to Muscovy and author of the History of the Grand Duchy of Muscovy (1615) that attempted to present a complete history of Russia from the foundation of Kievan Rus to the end of the Time of Troubles
.
priest; his father, Per-Benedict Persson, later became the Bishop of Västerås
and Linköping. Per Persson junior graduated from the King Johann School and joined the Magdeburg University. After a short period of dedicated studies Peersson slipped into a lifestyle of a rake
, indulging in drinking and duels; in 1593 he was expelled from the university and ended up in jail for debts. He managed to return to Sweden and joined the office of Duke Charles of Finland, who ascended to the throne in 1604 as Charles IX of Sweden
.
In 1601 Peersson left Sweden for a four-year reconnaissance tour of Muscovy in the guise of a doctor. His dispatches to the court were reproduced by Jacques Auguste de Thou
in his Historiarum sui temporis. Back in Sweden, Peersson compiled his dispatches into a Fair and true relation on recent Russian past from Ivan Grozny
to the ascension of Vasily Shuysky
. The book was based exclusively on Peersson's own experience and on the oral narratives by contemporary Russians (Vasily Shuysky, Maria Nagaya
and the retinue
of False Dmitriy I
) and Western witnesses (Caspar Fiedler, Conrad Bussow
). Peersson in real life tracked Bussow's activity with suspicion and recovered evidence of Bussow's treason that resulted in the defection of Swedish garrison in Narva
(his allegations are contested by modern authors, e.g. Orchard). Persson obtained the manuscript of Bussow's The Disturbed State of the Russian Realm (the first, 1614, version) and reused it in his own later works. Historians of the first half of 19th century incorrectly considered Peersson the primary source for Bussow's book until Arist Kunik (1849) and Sergey Solovyov
(1858) restored Bussow in his own rights.
In 1607–1608 Peersson returned to Moscow as the king's envoy, seeking a military alliance between Sweden and Muscovy. When the treaty was signed, Peersson joined the Swedish corps of Jacob De la Gardie
that was hired by tsar Vasily; he left Russia upon the completion of De la Gardie Campaign
and returned in 1612, to Novgorod. In 1615 he was spotted in Denmark and Poland, collecting intelligence for the upcoming War of 1617-1618
. In the same year he published his opus magnum
, the History of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In 1617 Persson was involved in signing the Treaty of Stolbovo
which was incorporated in the 1620 German edition of the History. His death in Stockholm
was, presumably, caused by plague.
on the streets of Moscow presented as eyewitness report). Peersson-Petreius was confident that Tsarevich Dimitri
was indeed killed in Uglich
in 1591; like Isaac Massa
, he condemned Boris Godunov
for arranging the murder, yet Persson's story contains an unrealistic scene of an arson
in Uglich and Moscow
, set up simultaneously to cover up the crime. False Dmitriy I
, according to Peersson, was indeed Grigory Otrepyev. Peersson's understanding of the general sequence of the Time of Troubles
and their causes is very close to modern mainstream theory, but his description of contemporary events outside his own and his direct sources' reach is regarded as only partially credible. Even the late 18th – early 19th century fiction authors criticized Peersonn for indiscriminate retelling of anecdotes of the Vegetable Lamb
sort and his apparent pro-Swedish bias: "...should we even allow that Petreius was not influenced in his judgement by the politics of his own court, yet, as an author, he is liable to great exception: for the numberless fictions and gross misrepresentations which he retails in his Chronicle, prove extreme proneness to credulity." His retelling of Kievan Rus chronicles, acquired through oral narrative, is loaded with extreme normanist attitude, and not reliable at all.
Peersson's account of social life in Russia, Eastern Orthodoxy, popular culture and traditions was harsh and unforgiving. It is nevertheless corroborated by independent, equally unforgiving memoirs by Giles Fletcher, the Elder
(1591) and Samuel Collins (1671) and is representative of the Protestant
view of contemporary Muscovy.
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Peter Petreius (Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
, 1570 – October 28, 1622, Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
) was a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
diplomat, envoy to Muscovy and author of the History of the Grand Duchy of Muscovy (1615) that attempted to present a complete history of Russia from the foundation of Kievan Rus to the end of the Time of Troubles
Time of Troubles
The Time of Troubles was a period of Russian history comprising the years of interregnum between the death of the last Russian Tsar of the Rurik Dynasty, Feodor Ivanovich, in 1598, and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613. In 1601-1603, Russia suffered a famine that killed one-third...
.
Biography
Peer Peersson was born in the family of Uppsala CathedralUppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral is a cathedral located centrally in the city of Uppsala, Sweden. It dates back to the late 13th century and at a height of 118.7 m is the tallest church building in Scandinavia. Originally built under Roman Catholicism and used for coronations of the Swedish monarch, since the...
priest; his father, Per-Benedict Persson, later became the Bishop of Västerås
Diocese of Västerås
Attribution The entry cites:**Historiskt-geographiskt och statistiskt Lexikon ofver Sverige, VII , 316-18;**FANT, Scriptores rerum Svecicarum ;...
and Linköping. Per Persson junior graduated from the King Johann School and joined the Magdeburg University. After a short period of dedicated studies Peersson slipped into a lifestyle of a rake
Rake (character)
A rake, short for rakehell, is a historic term applied to a man who is habituated to immoral conduct, frequently a heartless womanizer. Often a rake was a man who wasted his fortune on gambling, wine, women and song, incurring lavish debts in the process...
, indulging in drinking and duels; in 1593 he was expelled from the university and ended up in jail for debts. He managed to return to Sweden and joined the office of Duke Charles of Finland, who ascended to the throne in 1604 as Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...
.
In 1601 Peersson left Sweden for a four-year reconnaissance tour of Muscovy in the guise of a doctor. His dispatches to the court were reproduced by Jacques Auguste de Thou
Jacques Auguste de Thou
Jacques Auguste de Thou was a French historian, book collector and president of the Parlement de Paris.-Life:...
in his Historiarum sui temporis. Back in Sweden, Peersson compiled his dispatches into a Fair and true relation on recent Russian past from Ivan Grozny
Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
to the ascension of Vasily Shuysky
Vasili IV of Russia
Vasili IV of Russia was Tsar of Russia between 1606 and 1610 after the murder of False Dmitriy I. His reign fell during the Time of Troubles....
. The book was based exclusively on Peersson's own experience and on the oral narratives by contemporary Russians (Vasily Shuysky, Maria Nagaya
Maria Nagaya
Maria Feodorovna Nagaya was a Russian tsarina and eighth wife of Ivan the Terrible.Maria married Ivan IV in 1581 and a year later gave birth to their son Dmitry. After the Tsar's death in 1584, Nagaya, her son and her brothers were sent into exile to Uglich by Boris Godunov, where she lived...
and the retinue
Retinue
A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble or royal personage, a suite of "retainers".-Etymology:...
of False Dmitriy I
False Dmitriy I
False Dmitriy I was the Tsar of Russia from 21 July 1605 until his death on 17 May 1606 under the name of Dimitriy Ioannovich . He is sometimes referred to under the usurped title of Dmitriy II...
) and Western witnesses (Caspar Fiedler, Conrad Bussow
Conrad Bussow
Conrad Bussow was a German mercenary from Lower Saxony who lived in Riga in 1590s and in Muscovy in 1600–1611. In 1614–1617 Bussow compiled The Disturbed State of the Russian Realm, an eye-witness history of the Time of Troubles...
). Peersson in real life tracked Bussow's activity with suspicion and recovered evidence of Bussow's treason that resulted in the defection of Swedish garrison in Narva
Narva
Narva is the third largest city in Estonia. It is located at the eastern extreme point of Estonia, by the Russian border, on the Narva River which drains Lake Peipus.-Early history:...
(his allegations are contested by modern authors, e.g. Orchard). Persson obtained the manuscript of Bussow's The Disturbed State of the Russian Realm (the first, 1614, version) and reused it in his own later works. Historians of the first half of 19th century incorrectly considered Peersson the primary source for Bussow's book until Arist Kunik (1849) and Sergey Solovyov
Sergey Solovyov
Sergey Mikhaylovich Solovyov was one of the greatest Russian historians whose influence on the next generation of Russian historians was paramount. His son Vladimir Solovyov was one of the most influential Russian philosophers...
(1858) restored Bussow in his own rights.
In 1607–1608 Peersson returned to Moscow as the king's envoy, seeking a military alliance between Sweden and Muscovy. When the treaty was signed, Peersson joined the Swedish corps of Jacob De la Gardie
Jacob De la Gardie
Field Marshal and Count Jacob Pontusson De la Gardie was a statesman and a soldier of the Swedish Empire....
that was hired by tsar Vasily; he left Russia upon the completion of De la Gardie Campaign
De la Gardie Campaign
The De la Gardie Campaign refers to the actions of a 15,000-strong Swedish military unit, commanded by Jacob De la Gardie and Evert Horn in alliance with the Russian commander Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Polish–Muscovite War...
and returned in 1612, to Novgorod. In 1615 he was spotted in Denmark and Poland, collecting intelligence for the upcoming War of 1617-1618
Polish–Swedish War (1617–1618)
The Polish–Swedish War was a phase of the longer Polish–Swedish War of 1600 to 1629. It continued the war of 1600–1611 and was an attempt by Sweden to take Polish pressure off Russia. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was then also fighting Tartars and the Ottoman Empire...
. In the same year he published his opus magnum
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
, the History of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In 1617 Persson was involved in signing the Treaty of Stolbovo
Treaty of Stolbovo
The Treaty of Stolbovo is a peace treaty of 1617 that ended the Ingrian War, fought between Sweden and Russia.After nearly two months of negotiations, representatives from Sweden and Russia met at the village of Stolbova, south of Lake Ladoga, on 27 February 1617.From the outset, Sweden had gone...
which was incorporated in the 1620 German edition of the History. His death in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
was, presumably, caused by plague.
Critical assessment
Modern Russian historians agree that the facts that occurred during Peersson's stay in Moscow were, generally, retold reliably although sometimes exaggerated (e. g. scenes of cannibalismCannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
on the streets of Moscow presented as eyewitness report). Peersson-Petreius was confident that Tsarevich Dimitri
Tsarevich Dimitri
Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich, also known as Tsarevich Demetrius, Tsarevich Dimitri, Dmitry of Uglich, and Dmitry of Moscow, was a Russian tsarevich, son of Ivan the Terrible and Maria Nagaya.-Life:...
was indeed killed in Uglich
Uglich
Uglich is a historic town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, which stands on the Volga River. Population: A local tradition dates the town's origins to 937. It was first documented in 1148 as Ugliche Pole...
in 1591; like Isaac Massa
Isaac Massa
Isaac Abrahamszoon Massa was a Dutch grain trader, traveller and diplomat, the envoy to Muscovy, author of memoirs witnessing the Time of Troubles and the maps of Eastern Europe and Siberia. He was married to Beatrix van der Laen...
, he condemned Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov
Boris Fyodorovich Godunov was de facto regent of Russia from c. 1585 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605. The end of his reign saw Russia descend into the Time of Troubles.-Early years:...
for arranging the murder, yet Persson's story contains an unrealistic scene of an arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
in Uglich and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, set up simultaneously to cover up the crime. False Dmitriy I
False Dmitriy I
False Dmitriy I was the Tsar of Russia from 21 July 1605 until his death on 17 May 1606 under the name of Dimitriy Ioannovich . He is sometimes referred to under the usurped title of Dmitriy II...
, according to Peersson, was indeed Grigory Otrepyev. Peersson's understanding of the general sequence of the Time of Troubles
Time of Troubles
The Time of Troubles was a period of Russian history comprising the years of interregnum between the death of the last Russian Tsar of the Rurik Dynasty, Feodor Ivanovich, in 1598, and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613. In 1601-1603, Russia suffered a famine that killed one-third...
and their causes is very close to modern mainstream theory, but his description of contemporary events outside his own and his direct sources' reach is regarded as only partially credible. Even the late 18th – early 19th century fiction authors criticized Peersonn for indiscriminate retelling of anecdotes of the Vegetable Lamb
Vegetable Lamb of Tartary
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary is a legendary zoophyte of central Asia, believed to grow sheep as its fruit. The sheep were connected to the plant by an umbilical cord and grazed the land around the plant...
sort and his apparent pro-Swedish bias: "...should we even allow that Petreius was not influenced in his judgement by the politics of his own court, yet, as an author, he is liable to great exception: for the numberless fictions and gross misrepresentations which he retails in his Chronicle, prove extreme proneness to credulity." His retelling of Kievan Rus chronicles, acquired through oral narrative, is loaded with extreme normanist attitude, and not reliable at all.
Peersson's account of social life in Russia, Eastern Orthodoxy, popular culture and traditions was harsh and unforgiving. It is nevertheless corroborated by independent, equally unforgiving memoirs by Giles Fletcher, the Elder
Giles Fletcher, the Elder
Giles Fletcher, the Elder was an English poet and diplomat, member of the English Parliament.Giles Fletcher was the son of Richard Fletcher, vicar of Bishop's Stortford. He spent his early life at Cranbrook before entering Eton College about 1561...
(1591) and Samuel Collins (1671) and is representative of the Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
view of contemporary Muscovy.