Hasekura Tsunenaga (1571–1622) was a Japanese samurai and diplomat in the service of Date Masamune. He was the senior ambassador of Japan’s 1613 Keicho Embassy, a seven-year international expedition to the courts of Europe and New Spain organized to establish trade and diplomatic relationships with the Spanish and the Catholic Church. Tsunenaga was officially baptized upon reaching Spain in 1615. He took the name Philip Francis, after Spain’s King Philip III and the Order of Saint Francis respectively. His later visit to Rome that same year is the main subject of this article. Beyond his dying in Japan in 1622, the exact circumstances of his death are unknown.

The Latin texts in this article were transcribed by me from Google Books and Wikimedia Commons. The English translations are also mine with some notes. The one transcription of Date Masamune’s Latin letter that I could find, and the English translation that came with it, were both so tortuously written as to border on uselessness. I’ve done my best to salvage something intelligible out of both the English and original Latin. Also a special shout-out to Mischa Hooker for her help in transcription problems.

DATE MASAMUNE WRITES TO THE VATICAN

Selections of Date Masamune’s Letter to Pope Paul V

I. Magni et universalis sanctissimique totius orbis Patris Domini Papae Pauli V pedes, cum profunda summissione et reverentia, osculando Idate Masamune in imperio Iaponico Rex Oxu suppliciter dicimus.

I, Date Masamune, King of Oshu in the empire of Japan, while kissing, with the most profound submission and reverence the feet of His Holiness Paul V, the great, universal, and holy father of the world, say as a supplicant:

II. Cum venisset Pater frater Ludovicus Sotelo ordinis sancti Francisci religiosus ad meum regnum et christianam legem praedicasset meque invitavisset, ab eoque eam audivi et mysteria multa quae de ritu sunt et caeremoniis Christianis. Quae sane in corde recondens et cognoscens vera esse et salubria susciperem profitende, nisi me aliqua negotia disturbarent et inexcusabiles causae detinerent.

When Father Luis Sotelo, a monk of the order of Saint Francis, came to my kingdom, preached the Christian faith, and called upon me, I learned from him both about Christianity and the numerous mysteries connected with Christian rites and ceremonies. Laying these things up in my heart and understanding them to be true and good, I would have professed them openly, had not affairs and pressing matters frustrated and detained me.

III. Si tamen nunc ego non valeam, cupio saltem meos subditos Christianos fieri. Hoc ut feliciter eveniat, ad me mittas quaeso, Beatissime Pater, religiosos ordinis sancti Francisci, qui ‘de observantia’ nuncupantur: hos enim praecipue diligo et obsecro . Tua vero Altitudo ipsis ample concedere non horreat omnes licentios, favores et qualcumque alia media necessaria. Ego autem jam terram hanc ingressos adjuvare non desistam, sed in monasteriis aedificandis et in aliis rebus, quibus potero beneficiis, inserviam.

If I cannot do that now, I desire at the very least for my subjects to become Christians. To this end, I ask, Most Blessed Father, that you send to me monks of the order of Saint Francis, called of the Osservanza: I especially desire and ask for these men. Indeed, Your Highness should not hesitate to liberally grant them privileges, favors, and all other necessities. I shall not cease in helping them when they come to this land and will assist them in building monasteries and in other matters with whatever aid I can.

IV. Cuius rei causa ad te mitto praefatum Fratrem Ludovicum Sotelo legatum meum, a quo possis de corde meo sciscitari. Optime nam novit quae in eo sunt. Ipsi legato misso benevolas aures concedat et honorem praebeat Tua Beatitudo. Cui etiam comitabitur quidam nobilis eques domus meae nomine Hasekura Rokuyemon, qui similiter legatus meus existit , ut ambo obsequii et obedientiae causa ad sanctissimam usque Romanam curiam pervenientes tuos beatissimos pedes pro me osculentur

To this effect I send to you as my ambassador the aforementioned Father Luis Sotelo, from whom you may make inquiries regarding my character and disposition. I beg Your Holiness will please kindly listen to all he has to say and treat him with due honor. Accompanying Father Sotelo will be a noble samurai of my household named Hasekura Rokuyemon, who is also one of my ambassadors. This is so that together, coming all the way to the most holy Roman Curia, they may kiss your most blessed feet on my behalf in due homage and submission.

HASEKURA TSUNENAGA ARRIVES IN ROME

Accompanying the Japanese envoys to Europe was a Spanish Franciscan friar named Luis Sotelo (1574–1624). Sotelo had spent his entire career as a missionary and doctor in the Far East. Fluent in Japanese, he was a personal guest and favorite of Date Masamune, who protected him during the early phases of the Tokugawa Christian persecutions and dispatched him as a guide and interpreter for the Keicho Embassy. Sotelo later became the Bishop of Japan and was ultimately martyred there in 1624. His book De Ecclesiae Iaponicae Statu (On the Condition of the Japanese Church), published seven years after his death, is a memoir and religious treatise that details many of the challenges that Catholic missionaries faced in Japan. The selection below is from book’s opening, which provides an account of the Keicho Embassy’s reception in Rome in October, 1615.

SELECTION FROM LUIS SOTELO’S DE ECCLESIAE IAPONICAE STATU (1631; published posthumously)

Nempe me quondam Idate Masamune, qui regni Oxu (quod est in Orientali Iaponiae parte) gubernacula tenet, nec dum quidem per baptismum generato, sed tamen catachumeno, et qui Christianam fidem in suo regno praedicari cupiebat, simul cum alio suae Curiae optimate Philippo Francisco Faxecura Rokuyemon ad Romanam Curiam et qui tunc sedis culmen tenebat Papam Paulum V, qui ad caelos evolavit, legatum expeditum. Quo tandem cum anno salutis 1615 iuvante Deo pervenissemus, a Papa magno cum Cardinalium Sacri Collegii Antistitum ac Nobilium concursu, necnon et Romani populi ingenti laetitia et communi alacritate non modo benigne excepti, verum et humanissime … nos … auditi, recreati, et prout optabamus, quantocius expediti.

I had previously been sent as ambassador by the daimyo of Oshu in eastern Japan, Date Masamune, one who, though not reborn through baptism nevertheless had been catechized and wished for Christianity to be preached in his domain. I went together with another gentleman of Masamune’s court, Philip Francis Faxecura Rokuyemon, to the Roman Curia and the late Pope Paul V, who led the Apostolic See at that time. When, with God’s help, we finally arrived in 1615, we were not only received in great triumph and all-around eagerness by the pope and a large host of nobles and the bishops of the College of Cardinals, to say nothing of the Roman people, but we were most graciously heard, renewed, and — just as we wished — sent away all the more quickly.

HASEKURA TSUNENAGA IS GRANTED ROMAN CITIZENSHIP

Transcription of Hasekura’s Act of Citizenship

Preface: Quod Ludovicus Rentius, Vincentius Mutus de Papazurris, Iacobus Vellus, Almae Urbis conservatores de illustrissimo et excellentissimo Philippo Francisco Faxecura Rokuyemon Romana civitate ad Senatum retulere. S.P.Q.R de ea re ita fieri censuit:

What Ludovico Rentius, Vincentius Mutus de Papazurris, and Iacobus Vellus, Conservators of Rome, tabled to the Senate concerning the investing of the most noble and most excellent Philip Francis Hasekura Rokuyemon with Roman citizenship. Concerning the report, the Senate and the People of Rome agreed for it to be done as follows:

I. Quod in urbe Romana antiquissimis etiam illis regum temporibus usitatum est, sequentibus deinde annis res publica consuevit ne nostra quidem aetas omisit.

Not even our own age has forgotten the customs honored in Rome during the ancient monarchy and then upheld in later generations by the Republic.

II. Externos nempe viros virtute seu nobilitate insignes ad hanc almam Urbem ex orbe universo confluentes S.P.Q.R. non solum benigniter verum etiam munificenter amplexus, illos magnitudine Romani nominis desuper nativam propriamque nobilitatem cohonestando civitate Romana donavit ut viri virtute nobilitateque praestantes inter Romanos cives adsciti magno rei publicae nostrae usui atque ornamento fuissent vel esse aliquando possent.

Indeed, the Senate and the People of Rome graciously and no less liberally embraced foreigners of renowned virtue and nobility converging here to this gracious city from every part of the Earth. They invested those foreigners, out of the dignity of the Roman name and for the purpose of giving regard to their own worth and excellence, with Roman citizenship so that great and honorable men, now accepted among Roman citizens, would either be of great value and renown to the Republic now, or could be at some time in the future.

III. Nos igitur antiquissimi moris nostrumque maiorum eximia auctoritate permoti non omittendum putavimus inter cives patriciosque Romanos adscire illustrissimum et excellentissimum PHILIPPUM FRANCISCUM FAXECURA ROKUYEMON ex civitate seu curia Sandai regni Oxu in Iappone ortum:

Therefore we, prevailed upon by ancient custom and the distinguished counsel of our forefathers, did not think to pass over accepting among Rome’s citizens and nobility the most renowned and most excellent PHILIP FRANCIS FAXECURA ROKUYEMON, from the city of Sendai in Oshu, Japan:

IV. Cum ipse ex tam longinquis et remotissimis regionibus ad hanc almam Urbem venerit ORATOR ad sanctissimam dominum nostrum PAULUM QUINTUM BURGHESIUM ROMANUM PONTIFICEM MAXIMUM pro serenissimo IDATE MASAMUNE REGE OXU in imperio Iapponico ut Romanum pontificem catholicae et universalis ecclesiae PASTOREM totius orbis parentem et IESU CHRISTI FILII DEI OMNIPOTENTIS VICARIUM qua decet reverentia venerando ad accipiendam dicti regis ac regni tutelam paternamque curam hortaretur.

For seeing that he came from the most distant and far-flung of places to this gracious city as AMBASSADOR to our most holy sovereign POPE PAUL V BORGHESE OF ROME on behalf of the most serene IDATE MASAMUNE, LORD OF OSHU in the Japanese Empire with the intent of asking with due reverence the Roman pontiff, MINISTER of the Catholic and universal Church, parent of the entire world, and VICAR OF JESUS CHRIST SON OF GOD ALMIGHTY towards receiving for himself [i.e. Pope Paul V] the charge and paternal care of the aforementioned lord and kingdom [i.e. Date Masamune and Oshu]

V. Ea propter S.P.Q.R ut cum ipso strictissimo amoris nexu colligetur praefatum illustrissimum et excellentissimum PHILIPPUM FRANCISCUM FAXECURA ROKUYEMON amplissimo munere ROMANAE CIVITATIS decorandum et in senatoriam ordinem merito cooptandum censuit.

On that account, the Senate and the People of Rome, so that it may be bound by the strictest tie of affection has ordained that the aforementioned most noble and excellent PHILIP FRANCIS FAXECURA ROKUYEMON be decorated with the renowned gift of ROMAN CITIZENSHIP and rightfully elected into the senatorial order.

VI. Quam voluntatem ac sententiam singulari omnium consensu ac laetitia comprobatam per scribas eiusdem sacri senatus in publicas litteras ac aeternam memoriam referri [?eidem?] S.P.Q.R ita placuit ut beneficium honoremque non magis dare quam accipere videatur. Anno ab urbe condita MMCCCLXVI et ab orbe redempto MDCXV, XII KAL DECEMBRIS

This desire and judgment, approved unanimously and with pleasure, the Senate and the People of Rome has thus resolved, through the scribes of this same sacred Senate, to be set down in writing and everlasting memory so that it may appear not to give honor and favor so much as to accept it to itself. November 20th, 1615, the 2,366th year since the founding of Rome.

The Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (Notes on Muscovite Affairs, Notes on the Muscovites, or Notes on Russia), written by the Austro-Slovene diplomat Sigismund von Herberstein in 1549, was the first authoritative historical and ethnographic account of East Slavic civilization to be published in Western Europe. Herberstein had twice served (1517–1518 & 1526–1527) as an ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, or Muscovy. His high-level position there in the Moscow court, coupled with his command of Slavic languages, gave him a level of access to Russia beyond the reach of the region’s previous western visitors. Herberstein wrote in the spirit of Herodotus and Pliny the Elder, compiling the history, politics, culture, religion, geography, military affairs, and natural history of the Russian world together with an account of his own time there as imperial ambassador. The best-selling work marked a watershed in Russian historiography and remained a western European authority on the Russian world for decades.

The following selections from the Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii are taken from Herberstein’s account of a 1526 state dinner at the Kremlin with fellow imperial ambassador Count Leonardo de Noguerol and Czar Vasili III, about whom you can learn more from Herberstein (in Latin!) here. Take a stop here if you would like your banquet bloody, courtesy of a Ukrainian saint and warrior princess.

This English translation was completed in 1851 by Richard Henry Major for the Hakluyt Society. His edition, published in two volumes, has been digitized by Google Books and is also available in physical form from Cambridge University Press. The Latin text was transcribed by me from a 16th-century codex of the Commentarii digitized by Google Books.

I. A CZAR’S INVITATION: “Prandebis mecum.”

Salutatione exposita cum paulisper sedissemus, invitaverat ordine utrumque nostrum princeps hisce verbis: “prandebis mecum.” In priore mea legatione, ut hoc quoque adjiciam, iuxta illorum consuetudinem me hoc modo invitaverat: “Sigismunde, comedes sal et panem nostrum nobiscum.” Mox dein vocatis ad se procuratoribus nostris, nescio quid illis demissa voce dixerat, a quibus vicissim admoniti interpres, “Surgite,” inquiunt, “eamus in aliam habitationem.”

After the salutation had been gone through and we had been some time seated, the prince invited each of us in rotation with these words: “You will dine with me.” I may here add that, in my first embassy, he had, according to their custom, invited me in this manner: “Sigismund, thou wilt eat our salt and bread with us.” Presently after, he called our caterers to him and spoke to them in a low voice, but I know not what he said. But each of them in his turn gave instruction to the interpreters, who said to us: “Arise, let us retire to another house.”

II. SETTING THE TABLE

Constituto porro prandii apparatu principe fratribusque ac consiliariis iam discumbentibus in cenaculum ipsi cum essemus deducti, continuo consiliarii ceterique omnes ordine nobis assurrexerant, quibus vicisim morem eorum edocti, priusquam consederant gratias caput ad omnes partes inclinando egimus locumque in accubitu quem nobis ipse princeps manu designabat cepimus. Ceterum tabulae in cenaculo circum circa adornatae erant. In medio stabat abacus gravis diversis aureis et argenteis poculis. … Ex opposito principis in alia tabula nos sedebamus atque parvo intervallo interposito familiares ac servitores nostri. … In tabulis posita erant vascula quorum alia aceto, alia pipere, alia sale repleta erant.

When the preparations for dinner were made and the prince, his brothers, and the councillors were already seated, upon our being shown into the banqueting room, the councillors and all the others immediately arose in deference to us. We, in our turn, having been informed of their habits, before they sat down, offered our thanks to them by bowing on all sides and took a place at the table which the prince himself indicated to us with his hand. The tables were arranged around the banqueting-room. In the middle stood a table laden with a variety of gold and silver goblets. … We sat at another table opposite the prince, with our friends and attendants at a small distance from us. … On the tables were placed vessels, some filled with vinegar, some with pepper, and others with salt.

III. BREAD AND SALT

Interim omnibus discumbentibus, princeps quendam ex suis ministris vocaverat ac duo sibi oblonga panis frusta dederat, inquiens: “Da Leonhardo Comiti et Sigismundo.” Hunc panem minister assumpto secum interprete ordine utrisque nostrum ita obtulit: Leonharde comes, Magnus Dominus Basilius Dei gratia Rex et Dominus totius Russiae et Magnus Dux facit tibi gratiam suam et mittit tibi panem de sua tabula.” … Porro pane ipso princeps suam erga aliquem gratiam, sale vero amorem ostendit. Neque vero maiorem honorem potest alicui exhibere in suo convivio quam si alicui sal de sua tabula mittit.

Meantime, when all were seated, the prince called one of his servants to him and, giving him two long pieces of bread, said: “Give this to Count Leonhard, and this to Sigismund.” The servant, taking the interpreter with him, accordingly presented the bread to each of us in rotation accompanied by the following speech: “O Count Leonardo, the Grand Duke Vasiley, by the grace of God, King and Lord of all Russia, and Grand Duke, extends his favour to thee, and sends thee bread from his own table.” … Bread is used by the prince to express his favour towards anybody, but when he sends salt, it is intended to express his affection — indeed it is not possible for him to show greater honour to any one at an entertainment given by himself than by sending him salt from his own table.

IV. PASS THE SWAN, PLEASE: “Olim lacus colueram …”

Tandem pro cibo dapiferi … aquam vitae qua ab initio prandii semper bibunt dein cignos assos, quos fere pro primo ferculo quoties carne vescuntur hospitibus apponere solent, attulerunt. Princeps [cignos] cultello pungens, qui nam melior aliisque esset preferendi, explorabat eosque continuo aufferre iusserat. … Porro cum assos cignos ceperam, apponebant accetum addito sale et pipere. Iis enim loco embammatis seu iusculi utuntur. Lac praeterea acidum in eundem usum appositum, item cucumeres salsi ad haec pruna eadem ratione condita. Prandii tempore e mensa non removentur. Eadem ratio in aliis inferendis ferculis servatur, nisi quod rursus assatura non efferantur. … Omnia et singula vasa in quibus cibus, potus, acetum, piper, sal et alia apposita vidimus, dicunt esse ex puro auro. Id quod ex pondere verum apparebat. … [princeps] prandet aliquando tres aut quattour horas. In prima mea legatione etiam ad unam usque noctis horam prandebamus. Quemadmodum enim de rebus dubiis consultantes saepe totum diem consumunt neque digrediuntur nisi re prius mature deliberata constitutaque. Ita conviviis pariter seu commissationibus integrum absumunt nonnumquam diem intendentibusque tandem tenebris secedunt.

At length the servers going out for food … first brought in brandy, which they always drink at the commencement of the dinner. Then they brought in roasted swans, which it is almost always their custom to lay before their guests for the first dish whenever they eat meat … [the prince] pierced [the swans] with his knife to try which was the best and which he would choose in preference to the rest and immediately ordered them to be taken away … When we began to eat the roast swans, they placed vinegar on the table with salt and pepper mixed in it, which they used instead of sauce or gravy. Sour milk was also placed on the table for the same purpose with pickled cucumbers and prunes cooked with the same object, which are not removed during dinner time. The same fashion is observed in bringing in the other dishes unless they be again taken away to be cooked … They say that each and every vessel which we looked upon, in which were placed meat, the drinks, the vinegar, the pepper, the salt, and all the other things which were set upon the table, were of pure gold; and from their weight this would seem to be true … The grand-prince sometimes spends three or four hours over dinner. During my first embassy, our dinner was prolonged till one o’clock in the morning. For just in the same manner as they often spend the whole day in deliberating over matters involving doubt and difficulty and do not leave it till it has been maturely discussed and decided upon, so also they will sometimes consume a whole day over their banquets and convivial meetings and only retire when darkness overtakes them.

V. BOTTOMS UP: “Nunc est bibendum …”

Convivas saepe et ferculis et potu honorat. A prandio in negotiis gravioribus nihil agit. Quin finito prandio dicere solet oratoribus: ‘Ite nunc.’ Dimissos illi ipsi, qui eos in aulam deduxerant, rursus in diversoria reducunt, seque mandatum habere dicunt ibi ut maneant illosque exhilarent. Afferuntur argentea pocula et certa vascula multa, cum certo potu, omnesque in hoc student, quo temulentos eos faciant. … ita autem bibitur: qui incipit, sumit poculum ac in medium habitationis procedit, stans aperto capite, festivo sermone exponit, pro cuius salute bibendum sit, addit. Singuli itaque ad medium habitationis ire ac evacuatis poculis in suum redire locum coguntur. Qui vero longiorerm compotationem effugere velit, fingat se necesse est temulentum aut somno oppressum esse, aut saltem post multa exiccata pocula se amplius nequamque bibere posse affirmet. Etenim non credunt convivas bene acceptos ac laute tractatos, nisi temulenti reddantur. Hunc morem communiter nobiles et quibus permissum est medonem ac cervisiam bibere observant.

The prince often honours his guests by sending them dishes and drink. He never meddles with matters of serious moment during dinner, but when the dinner is over, it is his custom to say to the ambassadors: “Now you may depart.” When thus dismissed, they are escorted back to their hotels by the same persons who had conducted them to the palace, who state that they have orders to remain with them in the hotel to make merry with them. Silver goblets and various other vessels containing liquor are then produced and all strive to make each other drunk. … The drinking is done in this fashion. He who proposes the toast takes his cup and goes into the middle of the room and, standing with his head uncovered, pronounces in a festive speech the name of him whose health he wishes to drink and what he has to say on his behalf. Then after emptying the cup, he turns it upside down over his head so that all may see that he has emptied it and that he sincerely gave the health of the person in honour of whom the toast was drunk. He then goes to the top of the table and orders many cups to be filled and then hands each man his cup, pronouncing the name of the party whose health is to be drunk, on which each is obliged to go into the middle of the room and, after emptying his cup, to return to his place. He who wishes to escape too long a drinking-bout must pretend that he is drunk or sleepy or at least declare that, having already emptied many cups, he cannot drink any more. For they do not think that their guests are well received or hospitably treated, unless they are sent home drunk. It is the common practice for the nobles and those who are permitted to drink mead and beer, to observe this fashion.

Gabe Kuhl holds a B.A. in Classics from Randolph College. He worked as a Rome Fellow with the Paideia Institute (2017–2018) and later taught in Macedonia with the Peace Corps. He currently lives and works in Arlington, Virginia.

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The Autocrat of the Dinner-Table was originally published in In Medias Res on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (Notes on Muscovite Affairs, Notes on the Muscovites, or Notes on Russia), written by the Austro-Slovene diplomat Sigismund von Herberstein in 1549, was the first authoritative historical and ethnographic account of East Slavic civilization to be published in Western Europe. Herberstein had twice served (1517–1518 & 1526–1527) as the Holy Roman Empire’s ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, or Muscovy. His high-level position there in the Moscow court, coupled with his command of Slavic languages, gave him a level of access to Russia beyond the reach of the region’s previous western visitors. Herberstein wrote in the spirit of Herodotus and Pliny the Elder, compiling the history, politics, culture, religion, geography, military affairs, and natural history of the Russian world together with an account of his own time there as imperial ambassador. The best-selling work marked a watershed in Russian historiography and remained a western European authority on the Russian world for decades. [For Herberstein’s Latin comments on Grand Princess Olga of Kiev, see here.]

The following selections from the Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii are biographical sketches of figures from the history of Kievan Rus (c. 880 A.D — 1240 A.D), the first unified East Slavic state, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow (1267 A.D — 1547 A.D), one of its successors and the nucleus of the later Russian Empire and today’s Russian Federation. The English translation used was completed in 1851 by Richard Henry Major for the Hakluyt Society. His edition, published in two volumes, has been digitized by Google Books and is also available in physical form from Cambridge University Press. The Latin text was transcribed by me from a 16th-century codex of the Commentarii digitized by Google Books.

SADDLE FOR MY PILLOW: GRAND PRINCE SVIATOSLAV I IGOREVICH “THE BRAVE” (r. 964–972)

WARRIOR PRINCE: “Svuatoslaus, nobili genere natus, fuit magna vi et animi et corporis … Corpus patiens inediae, algoris, vigiliae supra quam cuiquam credibile est.”

[Olha] Svuatoslaum autem filium ad baptismum nequaquam perducere potuit, qui, cum adolevisset, strenuus ac promptus statim omnes bellicos labores periculaque consueta non detrectavit. In bello nulla impedimenta, ne vasa quidem coquinaria exercitui suo permisit. Carnibus tostis dumtaxat utebatur, humi requiescens, sella capiti subiecta. Vicit Bulgaros, ad Danuvium usque progressus.

[Olga] could not, however, by any means persuade her son Sviatoslav to be baptized, who on arriving at manhood proved to be strong and active, and shrunk from no warlike exertion or danger to which warriors were accustomed. He permitted his army to carry no baggage, not even cooking utensils, and himself ate nothing but roast meat, and was accustomed to sleep upon the ground with only a saddle for his pillow. He carried his arms as far as the Danube and conquered the Bulgarians.

HIS SPEECH TO HIS ARMY: “… fortiter contra illos pugnando aut mortem oppetere aut gloriam reportare certum est.”

Basilio et Constantino regibus bellum denuntiat. … Post, cum uterque exercitus convenisset, Rhuteni Graecorum multitudine terrentur. Quos cum pavidos videret, Svuatoslaus inquit, “Quia locum non video, Rhuteni, qui nos capere tuto posset, terram autem Russiae tradere inimicis numquam in animum induxi, fortiter contra illos pugnando aut mortem oppetere aut gloriam reportare certum est. Etenim si strenue pugnando occubuero nominis immortalitatem, si vero fugiam, perpetuam inde ignominiam sum relaturus. Et cum hostium multitudine circumventus effugere nobis non licet, stabo ergo firmiter caputque meum in prima acie pro patria omnibus periculis obiciam.” Cui milites, “Ubi caput tuum ibi et nostrum.” Mox confirmato milite in adversum hostem raptus, magno impetu facto, victor evadit.

He then declared war against the kings Basil and Constantine … At length, when both were confronted, the Russians became terrified at the host of the Greeks. But Sviatoslav, seeing their fear, thus addressed them: “ Since, O Russians, I see no place into which we can retreat with safety and as, at the same time, it has never entered into my thoughts to surrender the soil of Russia to our enemies, I am resolved either to die or win renown by fighting bravely against them. For if I die fighting valiantly, my name will be immortal. Whereas if I flee, I shall carry with me eternal disgrace. And since it is not possible for one who is surrounded by a host of enemies to escape, it is determination to stand firmly , and at all risks to expose myself in the foremost rank for the sake of my country.” The soldiers replied: “Wheresoever thou leadest we will follow.” Having thus restored the confidence of his army, he rushed upon the enemy with a terrific onslaught and bore away the victory.

HIS DEATH: “… vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.”

Quem tandem anno mundi 6480 (972) Cures princeps Pieczenigorum ex insidiis interfecit. Ex cranio eius poculum faciens, auro circumdato, litteris in hanc sententiam signavit: “Quaerendo aliena omisit propria.”

Finally, in the year of the world 6480 (972) , Cures, a prince of the Pieczenigi, caught him in an ambush and slew him and made a goblet of his skull surrounded with a golden rim, on which was engraved this sentence: “By seeking the possessions of others he lost his own.”

AN ASPECT OF TERROR: GRAND DUKE IVAN III VASILIYEVICH “THE GREAT” (r. 1462–1506)

THE FIRST CZAR: “… monarcham denique se totius Russiae appellare cepit.”

[Ioannes III Magnam ducem Michaelem Tverensem] sororium expulit et occupavit magnum ducatum Tverensem deinde etiam Novuogardiam magnam, cui postea omnes alii principes, magnitudine rerum a se gestarum commoti seu timore perculsi, serviebant. Rebus deinde feliciter procedentibus titulum magni ducis Vuolodimeriae Moscoviae et Novuogardiae sibi usurpare, monarcham denique se totius Russiae appellare cepit.

Mulieribus porro usque adeo infensus erat ut eius conspectu, si quae forte obviam sibi venissent, tantum non exanimarentur. Pauperibus a potentioribus oppressis iniuriaque affectis aditus ad eum non patebat. In prandio plerumque adeo se potu ingurgitabat ut somno opprimeretur, invitatis interim omnibus timore perculsis silentibusque, experrectus oculos tergere ac tum primum iocari et hilarem se convivis exhibere solebat.

[Ivan III] drove out his brother-in law the Grand Duke of Tver and took possession first of that Grand Duchy and then even of great Novgorod. After that, all the other princes, being moved by the grandeur of his achievements or stricken with fear, became subject to him. As affairs continued to prosper with him, he began to assume the title of Grand Duke of Vladimir, Moscow, and Novgorod and finally began declaring himself monarch of all Russia.

He was so hostile to women that if any women met him by chance, they almost always fainted with terror at the sight of him. No access was allowed to him for poor men, who were oppressed by the more powerful or unjustly treated. He generally drank so excessively at dinner as to fall asleep and, while his guests were all struck with terror and sitting in silence, he would awake, rub his eyes, and then first begin to joke and make merry with them.

GOD’S EXECUTOR: GRAND DUKE VASILI III IVANOVICH (r. 1505–1533)

A PALACE COUP: “dominationem raptum ivit … intus summa adipiscendi libido.”

[Ioannes III] suscepit ex Maria filium Ioannem nomine … Mortua priore coniuge Maria, [Ioannes III] alteram uxorem duxit Sophiam … ex qua suscepit quinque filios: Gabrielem, Demetrium, Georgium, Simeonem, et Andream … Ioanni primogenito monarchatum reservavit … Primogenitus Ioannes moritur relicto filio Demetrio, quem avus in patris mortui locum, iuxta consuetudinem, monarchatu investiverat.

Aiunt Sophiam hanc fuisse astutissimam, cuius impulsu dux multa fecit. Inter cetera induxisse maritum perhibetur ut Demetrium nepotem monarchatu moveret inque eius locum praeficeret Gabrielem. Persuasus namque dux ab uxore Demetrium in vincula coniecit detinetque. Tandem moriens eundem ad se adduci iubet. “Care,” inquit, “nepos, peccavi in deum et te quod carceribus mancipatum te afflixi teque iusta haereditate spoliavi. Iniuriam igitur a me tibi illatam, obsecro, mihi remitte. Liber abi iureque tuo utere.” Demetrius hac oratione permotus noxam avo facile condonat. Egressus autem Gabrielis patrui iussu comprehenditur inque carceres conicitur. Alii fame illum ac frigore, pars fumo suffocatum putant. Gabriel vivente Demetrio gubernatorem se gessit. Eo vere mortuo principatum tenuit non inauguratus, Gabrielis dumtaxat in Basilii nomine commutato.

He [Ivan III] had by Mary a son, also named Ivan … After the death of his first wife Mary, he [Ivan III] married Sophia … By her he had five sons: Gabriel, Dimitry, George, Simeon, and Andrew … To Ivan the eldest he reserved the sovereignty … Ivan the eldest died, leaving a son, Dimitry. And his grandfather invested him with the sovereignty, according to custom, in place of his late father.

They say that this Sophia was a very artful woman and had considerable influence over the actions of the grand duke. Among other things she is reported to have induced her husband to remove his grandson Dimitry from the sovereignty and to elevate Gabriel to his place. For the duke, overruled by his wife, cast Dimitry into prison and kept him there, until at length on his deathbed he ordered him to be brought to him and thus addressed him : “Dear grandson, I have sinned against God and thee, inasmuch as I have afflicted thee with imprisonment and have deprived thee of thy just inheritance. I beseech thee forgive me the injury I have done thee, depart in freedom and enjoy thy right.” Dimitry, affected by this address, readily forgave his grandfather the injury, but as he went out he was seized by command of his step-uncle Gabriel and thrown into prison. Some think that he was murdered by starvation and cold, and others that he was suffocated with smoke. Gabriel acted as regent during the life of Dimitry, but after his death he retained the sovereignty without having been inaugurated, merely changing his name of Gabriel to that of Vasili.

THE AUTOCRAT: “Executorem denique voluntatis divinae credunt.”

[Basilius III] patrem multis rebus imitatus est. Ea quae sibi reliquerat pater integra custodivit. Ad haec multas provincias non tam bello, in quo erat infelicior, quam industria imperio suo adiecit. … Auctoritate sua tam in spirituales quam saeculares utitur. Libere ac ex voluntate sua de omnium et vita et bonis constituit. Consiliariorum quos habet nullus est tantae authoritatis qui dissentire aut sibi in re aliqua resistere audeat. Fatentur publice voluntatem principis, Dei esse voluntatem, et quicquid princips egerit, ex voluntate Dei agere. Ob id etiam clavigerum et cubicularium Dei appellant. Executorem denique voluntatis divinae credunt.

[Vasili III] imitated his father in many things. All the dominions that his father had left him he not only kept entire but added thereto many provinces besides, not so much by war, in which he had but little success, as by industry. … He use his authority as much over ecclesiastics as laymen and holds unlimited control over the lives and property of all his subjects. Not one of his counsellors has sufficient authority to dare to oppose him or even differ from him on any subject. They openly confess that the will of the prince is the will of God and that whatever the prince does he does by the will of God. On this account they call him God’s key-bearer and chamberlain and, in short, they believe that he is the executor of the divine will.

Gabe Kuhl holds a B.A. in Classics from Randolph College. He worked as a Rome Fellow with the Paideia Institute (2017–2018) and later taught in Macedonia with the Peace Corps. He currently lives and works in Arlington, Virginia.

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Lives of the Czars, Caesars of the Third Rome was originally published in In Medias Res on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (Notes on Muscovite Affairs, Notes on the Muscovites, or Notes on Russia), written by the Austro-Slovene diplomat Sigismund von Herberstein in 1549, was the first authoritative historical and ethnographic account of East Slavic civilization to be published in Western Europe. Herberstein had twice served (1517–1518 & 1526–1527) as the Holy Roman Empire’s ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, or Muscovy. His high-level position there in the Moscow court, coupled with his command of Slavic languages, gave him a level of access to Russia beyond the reach of the region’s previous western visitors. Herberstein wrote in the spirit of Herodotus and Pliny the Elder, compiling the history, politics, culture, religion, geography, military affairs, and natural history of the Russian world together with an account of his own time there as imperial ambassador. The best-selling work marked a watershed in Russian historiography and remained a western European authority on the Russian world for decades.

Herberstein wrote on many topics, and here is one of them: the exploits of the regent Olga of Kiev.

The following selections from the Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii are from Herberstein’s biographical sketch of Grand Princess Olga of Kiev, an important figure in the history of Kievan Rus (c. 880 A.D — 1240 A.D), the first unified East Slavic state. The English translation used was completed in 1851 by Richard Henry Major for the Hakluyt Society. His edition, published in two volumes, has been digitized by Google Books and is also available in physical form from Cambridge University Press. The Latin text was transcribed by me from a 16th-century codex of the Commentarii digitized by Google Books.

GRAND PRINCESS OLGA OF KIEV (c. 900–969)

VENGEANCE ON THE DREVLIANS I: “Sit vobis terra gravis.”

Igor, ducta ex Plescovia uxore Olha, imperare cepit, qui cum exercitu suo longius progrediens, Heracleam et Nicomediam usque pervenisset, tandem bello superatus aufugit. Post a Malditto Drevulianorum principe, in quodam loco Coreste nomine, ubi etiam sepultus est, occiditur. Filius autem Svuatoslaus, quem infantem reliquit, cum per aetatem imperare non posset, interim mater Olha regno praefuit. Ad quam cum Drevuliani viginti internuntios misissent cum mandatis ut eorum principi nuberet, Olha nuntios Drevulianorum vivos obrui iussit suosque interim legatos ad eos misit, nimirum si se principem et dominam expectarent, ut plures atque praestantiores procos mitterent.

Igor, who had married a wife from Plescov named Olga, took the reins of government. This prince proceeded with his forces still further than his predecessor and reached Heraclea and Nicomedia. At length, however, he was overthrown in battle and fled. He met his death subsequently at the hand of Maldittus, a prince of the Drevlians, at a place called Ciresti and was there buried. As his son Sviatoslav, whom he left an infant, could not reign on account of his tender age, his mother Olga became regent in the interim. And on one occasion, when the Drevlians sent twenty messengers to her with commands that she should marry their prince, Olga first ordered the messengers of the Drevlians to be buried alive and then dispatched messengers of her own to them to say that if they wished her to be their princess and mistress, they should send a greater number of wooers and of higher rank.

VENGEANCE ON THE DREVLIANS II: “… balneus flammis urit torrentibus magnus”

Mox alios selectos quinquaginta viros ad se missos in balneo combussit aliosque legatos iterum misit, qui adventum suum annunciarent iuberentque apparare aquam mulsam aliaque ex more ad parentandum marito defuncto necessaria. Porro ad Drevulianos cum venisset, maritum deplanxit Drevulianos inebriavit, quinque milia illorum occidit. Mox Chiovu reversa, exercitum conscripsit, contra Drevulianos progressa, victoriam reportavit: fugientes in castra persecuta, obsidione ad integrum annum pressit.

After this, she scalded to death in a bath fifty picked men that had been sent to her and again sent other messengers to announce their arrival and ordered that they should prepare some aqua mulsa and other things which were usually considered necessary in providing for the obsequies of a deceased husband. Moreover, when she came to the Drevlians, she held a mourning for her husband and, having made the Drevlians drunk, slew five thousand of them. She then returned to Kiev, raised an army, and, proceeding against the Drevlians, oppressed them with a siege which lasted a whole year, during which she persecuted those who fled to her camp and finally obtained the victory.

VENGEANCE ON THE DREVLIANS III: “Passer, deliciae meae …”

Post, interpositis conditionibus, tributum illis de qualibet domo tres videlicet columbas totidemque passeres imperat. Acceptasque in tributum aves, continuo alligatis sub alas igneis quibusdam instrumentis, dimittit. Advolantes columbae ad aedes consuetas redeunt revolantque castrum incendunt. Inflammato iam castro diffugientes aut occiduntur aut capti venduntur. Occupatis itaque omnibus Drevulianorum castris, ulta mariti mortem Chiovuiam revertitur.

Terms of peace being afterwards agreed upon, she demanded a tribute from every house of three pigeons and as many sparrows and, upon receiving the birds, she sent them back with various combustible materials fastened under their wings. The birds, being released, made their way for their accustomed homes, and, flying back to the fortresses, set fire to them while those who fled from the conflagration were either slain or taken prisoners and sold. When she had taken possession of all the fortresses of the Drevlians and revenged the death of her husband, she returned to Kiev.

Gabe Kuhl holds a B.A. in Classics from Randolph College. He worked as a Rome Fellow with the Paideia Institute (2017–2018) and later taught in Macedonia with the Peace Corps. He currently lives and works in Arlington, Virginia.

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Fire and Blood: Grand Princess Olga of Kiev was originally published in In Medias Res on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.