27. And Jacob came to his father Isaac (for he was still alive) in Mamre, in Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron (in the land of Canaan), where Abraham and Isaac were sojourning. 28. And the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. 29. And Isaac gave up the ghost and died, and was gathered to his people when he was old.

Isaac Massa(Dutch: Isaac Abrahamszoon Massa, also Massart, Massaert) - Dutch merchant, traveler and diplomat. The envoy of the States General to the Moscow State greatly contributed to the prosperity of trade between the two countries. Author of memoirs describing the events of the Time of Troubles, which he witnessed while in Moscow in 1601-1609, and maps of Eastern Europe and Siberia. Massa’s experience and his knowledge of the Moscow state made the Dutchman one of the prominent “Kremlinologists” of his time.

Portrait of Isaac Massa by Frans Hals (1626, Art Gallery of Ontario)

Isaac Massa was born in Haarlem, most likely in 1587; the date of his birth is not precisely established, in the family of a wealthy cloth merchant, who moved from Liege to Haarlem shortly before his birth. His ancestors may have been Italian Protestants who fled their homeland at the beginning of the Reformation. In his message to the Estates General from Arkhangelsk dated August 2, 1614, Massa claims that his ancestors “shed their blood for the fatherland in France and in the Brabant wars,” and his father, “a modest and pious man, died fearing God in Haarlem, where he traded cloth.” His father died between 1610-1613, apparently in poverty, otherwise Isaac Massa, shortly before his father’s death, could not have called himself “a young man who lost everything for the sake of religion.”

In a letter to Moritz, Prince of Orange, to whom Massa dedicates his work, he mentions “all the great cruelties of the Spaniards,” which he partly “saw himself, and partly heard from his parents, which - God forbid! - they suffered too much,” apparently hinting at the siege and destruction of Haarlem by the Spaniards in 1572-1573.

In his parents' home and in general in childhood, he did not receive any education: “I was not taught either writing or science,” he says, “I owe my education mainly to myself.” Through self-education, he subsequently truly acquired a solid stock of knowledge. From childhood he was prepared for the silk trade. His parents sent him as a young man to Russia to study commerce.

He arrived here in 1601 and lived for eight years in Moscow itself, witnessed the second half of the reign of Boris Godunov, survived the capture of Moscow by False Dmitry. He was an eyewitness to many memorable events that took place here in those years: he saw the horrors of the famine of 1602, was present in 1605 g., while baiting bears, organized on the orders of False Dmitry in the back palace yard, he saw the corpse of the usurper lying on the ground.

While living in Moscow, Massa learned the Russian language and mastered it so well that he even translated a description of the victories of Prince Moritz of Nassau from Dutch into Russian. This knowledge was especially useful to him when he began to collect information about the geography of the northeastern outskirts of Russia, as well as historical materials, starting from the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

The Moscow events of the troubled era forced him in 1609, before the fall of Tsar Vasily Shuisky, to leave Moscow and go home by sea through Arkhangelsk along with other foreign merchants.

Returning to his homeland, he began to compile his “Brief News of the Beginning and Origin of Modern Wars and Troubles in Muscovy that occurred before 1610,” which he dedicated to Prince Moritz of Orange. He attached. to accompany his essay, a drawing of Moscow in pen, which he received from a Muscovite

Massa presented his work to Prince Moritz of Orange, in the hope that his diligence would not be ignored. Emphasizing his devotion and zeal to “provide service to the fatherland,” Massa hints to the prince with naive simplicity that “it is appropriate to help such zealous people, not those who have wealth, rich and pampered, but those who are still young, have nothing and strive gain eternal glory for your fatherland.” He even hopes to get an audience and convey “orally” everything that he knows about “Muscovy, about its shores, about the trips undertaken at the behest of the Moscow princes to China,” etc. There is no news about how Prince Moritz accepted this the book has not survived.

Moscow. Isaac Massa's plan. 1606

During my entire stay in Moscow, I constantly made great efforts to get a correct image (conterfeyling) of the city of Moscow, but I did not succeed, because there are no artists there, and they do not care about them, since they have no understanding about it; True, there are icon painters and carvers there, but I did not dare to encourage them to make an image of Moscow for me, because I would probably be captured and tortured, suspecting that I was plotting some kind of treason. These people are so suspicious of such things that no one will dare to do anything like this; but at that time there lived in Moscow a certain nobleman who, during the siege of Krom, was wounded in the leg, as a result of which he was forced to sit at home all the time, and he became addicted to drawing; in his house, among the servants, there was an icon painter, who taught him how to draw, and by the way, he drew with a pen [an image] of Moscow. And this nobleman knew my master, from whom I learned trade, and I was sometimes sent to [the said nobleman] with damask and satin, which he bought, and often asked me about the customs of our country, also about our religion, about our princes and statesmen (overheeren), to which I answered in detail and also gave him engravings (printen) depicting the campaigns of his princely lordship as well as the battle of Turngut in Flanders and all the conquests made there, which so pleased and surprised him that he did not he knew what to give me in order to testify to his friendly disposition, and said: “Ask what you like, and I will give it to you, and when I can provide you with some service at court, then do not fail to take advantage of it”; and he ordered his wife to come out to me, so that I saw her, and she gave me a patterned scarf, and to show someone your wife means among the Muscovites the greatest honor that they can bestow, for they keep their wives locked up so that no one can see them. And since he [this nobleman] really wanted to give me something and was always glad to see me at his place, for I always told him [various] stories, as far as I knew them, I asked him to give me an image of Moscow. Hearing about this, he swore that if I quickly wanted his best horse, he would be more willing to give it to me, but since he considered me his true friend, he gave me an image of Moscow so that I would swear not to let any of the Muscovites know about it. and never mention his name, for he said: “This may cost me my life; when it is revealed that I took down the image of Moscow and gave it to a foreigner, then they will treat me as a traitor.” And I have attached this image, made with a pen, to this essay

Isaac Massa. BRIEF NEWS ABOUT THE BEGINNING AND ORIGIN OF MODERN WARS AND TROUBLES IN MOSCOW, WHICH HAPPENED BEFORE 1610 DURING A SHORT DURATION OF THE RULE OF SEVERAL GOVERNMENTS

Massa's narrative belongs to perhaps the most important foreign sources about the peasant war and intervention, which noble-bourgeois historiography designated as the Time of Troubles. A learned Jesuit, a famous historian of the “time of troubles,” P. Pierling, with undeniable passion, collected a fairly significant amount of evidence against the ardent Calvinist and enemy of Catholicism, Massa. But all the reproaches for the unreliability, inaccuracy, superficiality of judgments and erroneousness of Massa’s testimony come down to him only to Massa’s insufficient familiarity with diplomatic affairs and to a certain gullibility with which Massa spoke about miraculous signs, was ready to explain the entire history of the impostor by the power of evil spirits and admitted the action of the devil himself, with the help, of course, of the Jesuits.

One can doubt whether Massa visited the court and enjoyed the favor of the courtiers and clerks, as he assures in his dedication to Moritz of Orange. It is possible that he did not penetrate further than the vestibule and hallways and mainly communicated with the boyars and clerks, who by nature were very sociable, knowledgeable and greedy for news, and fed on rumors and stories circulating in the Dutch colony. One way or another, it seems that he had a wide circle of people who supplied him with all kinds of information about Moscow affairs. Massa sometimes gives several versions about the same event (for example, about Bolotnikov) and reports fairly accurate information about events that were attended by a obviously narrow circle of people (for example, receptions of Duke John, ambassadors of the Hansa); his descriptions of these techniques are close in detail to the reports and reports of the embassies themselves.

Apparently, he very early developed the ability to “very cleverly learn the secrets of other persons,” as Count Jacob Delagardie said about Mass in 1639, and neither lack of education, nor a very young age, nor the modest position of a trade clerk prevented him from obtaining completely reliable information about many historical events.

Boris Godunov

Boris was portly and stocky (onderset), short in stature, had a round face, his hair and beard were gray, however, he walked with difficulty due to gout, from which he often suffered, and this was because he had to stand and walk a lot, as usual happens to the Moscow boyars, for they are constantly forced to stay at the court and stand there for whole days near the king, without sitting down, for three or four days in a row; The Moscow boyars lead such a hard life; the higher they stand, the less peace they see and the more they live in fear and constraint, but they do not give up striving for elevation at all times.

Boris was very merciful and kind to foreigners, and he had a strong memory, and although he could neither read nor write, he nevertheless knew everything better than those who wrote a lot; he was fifty-five or fifty-six years old, and when everything went according to his will, he would have accomplished many great things; During [his reign] he greatly beautified Moscow, and also issued good laws and privileges, ordered guards and large slingshots to be placed at all intersections, which blocked the streets so that each was likened to a special city; He also ordered to walk with lanterns in the evenings under penalty of a fine of one taler for disobedience.

In a word, he, [Boris], was skilled in management (polityck) and loved to erect buildings; Even during the [reign] of Fedora, he built a high wall of flagstone around Moscow; also ordered to surround Smolensk with a wall; also on the border with Tataria he ordered the foundation of a fortified city, which he named after himself - Boris-city; but he trusted priests and monks more than his most devoted boyars, and also trusted too much flatterers (pluymstryckers) and earphones (oorblasers), and allowed himself to be seduced and became a tyrant and ordered the execution of all the noblest families, as was said, and most importantly the reason was that he allowed himself to be seduced by these scoundrels, as well as his cruel wife, for in himself he was not such a tyrant.

He was a great enemy of those who took bribes and gifts, and he ordered noble nobles and clerks to be publicly executed for this, but this did not help

Amsterdam, 1606. rice. P. Iode. The inscription on the portrait “Actual portrait of the Grand Duke of Muscovy, killed by his own subjects on May 18, 1606” Under the portrait “Dmitry the Grand Duke of Moscow.” False Dmitry is depicted with a mustache, wearing a fur hat with a feather and does not look like all his other portraits. 1606. A rare portrait of False Dmitry I, where he is depicted with a mustache and is unlike all his other portraits. (La legende de la vie et de la mort de Demetrius dernier grand Duc de Moscovie. Traducte nouvellement l "an 1606. Amsterdam,).

He [Dimitri] was a strong and stocky man (sterck onderset), without a beard, broad-shouldered, with a thick nose, near which there was a blue wart, yellow-faced, dark-skinned, had great strength in his hands, had a wide face and a large mouth, was courageous and undaunted, loved bloodshed, although he did not let it be noticed.

There was not a single boyar or clerk in Moscow who had not experienced his severity, and he had outlandish plans, for he was going to besiege Narva in the winter and would have done this if the boyars had not dissuaded him because of the inconvenient time [for the siege]. of the year]; He also sent, as we talked about when describing his life, a lot of ammunition and supplies to the city of Yelets, in order to first of all attack Tartary, but he secretly plotted to attack Poland in order to conquer it and expel the king or capture it through treason, and believed in this way to completely subjugate Poland to Muscovy.

First of all, many Poles advised him this, such as Sandomirsky, Vishnevetsky and others. In a word, he had great and outlandish plans, and he set out to exterminate all the Moscow boyars and [all] noble families, and appointed a day for that, and ordered many cannons to be gradually taken out of [the city] in order, as he said, to arrange a great a funny battle (groote scermutsinge uut genuchte), in which all the boyars were supposed to participate, and this was supposed to happen after the wedding, and all the nobles (pools heere), also captains and colonels, as well as Basmanov and all the adherents of [Dimitri], knew what they should do and whom each [of them] should kill and who should remain in Moscow and the Kremlin. And [Dimitri] himself had to be [outside the city] with all the cannons, the Polish army and his followers, and when he had succeeded in his intention, who would have dared to oppose him in Moscow, if all the ammunition was [Outside the city] and in in his hands? But God did not allow this to happen and made it so that the Muscovites turned out to be more agile than him and took him by surprise.

Only Buchinsky told him [Dimitri] that something was against the will of God and that he [Dimitri] should not do this, but, on the contrary, attract him with affection and give them [the boyars] such positions (officien) that they could not enter in force, and over time we would get used to it; but he, knowing Moscow customs better, said that it was impossible to rule the Muscovites in this way and it was necessary to rule them with severity, which is quite fair, for the Muscovites can be kept [in obedience] only by fear and coercion, and if they are given free rein, they will not what they don’t think about; For this reason, he considered it best to eliminate the boyars (opperste), so that he could then dispose of the bad, stupid people as he wished and lead them to what he would find useful.

And after his death this was a sure justification [for the Muscovites] before all the sovereigns, for after his death they found [a letter in which] everything was described, who was to be killed, and also which of the Poles he would appoint to take the places of the killed, and they read it publicly before all the people, who were very pleased and reassured by it, and a copy was sent to Poland and other states (oorden) to announce this publicly.

There is no doubt that if [everything] had happened according to his intention and on the advice of the Jesuits, he would have done a lot of evil and caused great misfortune to the whole world with the help of the Roman Curia (roomse raet), which alone was the mover of this. But God, who controls everything, turned these intentions into nothing, for which all true believers should thank him

Palace of False Dmitry I. Drawing by Isaac Massa. 1606

He ordered to build magnificent chambers (wooninge) over the great Kremlin wall, from where he could see the whole of Moscow, for they were erected on a high mountain, under which the Moscow River flowed, and he ordered to build two buildings, one next to the other, at an angle (gelyc eenen winckelhaeck) , one for the future queen, and the other for himself, and here is an approximately correct image of these chambers, erected at the top of the Kremlin wall in Moscow; and so the chambers stood on high triple walls (op de hooge mueren die 3 dubbel dick syn)

Inside these chambers described above, he ordered very expensive canopies lined with gold to be placed, and the walls to be hung with expensive brocade and beaten velvet, all nails, hooks, chains and door hinges to be covered with a thick layer of gilding; and he ordered the inside of the stoves to be skillfully lined with various magnificent decorations, and all the windows to be covered with excellent crimson cloth; He also ordered the construction of magnificent baths and beautiful towers; In addition, he also ordered the construction of a stable next to his chambers, although there was already one large stable at the [large] palace (palleyse); He also ordered the construction of many secret doors and passages in the palace described above, from which it can be seen that he followed the example of the tyrants, and at all times had concern (about this] (altyt wat op de leeden hadde).

Isaac Massa reports that the impostor indulged in unbridled debauchery in Moscow. His minions-pleasers P. Basmanov and M. Molchanov secretly brought pretty girls and beautiful nuns who liked him to the palace of the libertine king. When persuasion and money did not help, threats and violence were used. Talking about the debauchery and perverted inclinations of False Dmitry I, which greatly damaged his reputation, Isaac Massa wrote: “He was a libertine, for every night he corrupted a new maiden, did not honor the holy nuns and dishonored many of them in monasteries, thus desecrating the shrines, he also corrupted one noble young man from the house of the Khvorostinins, who belong to a noble family, and held this young man in great honor, for which he was very proud and allowed himself everything.”

Bogushevich Simon (circa 1575-1648) False Dmitry. (circa 1606, State Historical Museum, Moscow)

Bogushevich Simon (circa 1575-1648) Tsarina Marina Mniszech in coronation robes.(circa 1606, State Historical Museum, Moscow)

On May 6, early in the morning, the queen was transported in a magnificent carriage from the monastery to the beautiful chambers prepared for her, and in the Kremlin a platform for trumpeters, flute players and drummers was built in front of the large dining room; It was also announced to all the archers, of whom there were eight thousand in number, that they should remain in the Kremlin during the entire wedding celebration, fully armed, and most of the German bodyguards and halberdiers were to maintain guards under the command of their captains and have loaded guns.

On May 8, all the bells rang, and all residents were forbidden to work, and everyone again put on the most beautiful outfits, and all the boyars in magnificent clothes went to the palace, as well as all the nobles and young gentlemen, dressed in dresses of gold brocade, studded with pearls, hung gold chains; and [privet] announced that the day of joy had come, for the Tsar and Grand Duke of All Rus' would marry and appear in royal grandeur, and the entire Kremlin was filled with boyars and nobles, both Poles and Muscovites, but all Polish guests (heeren), according to their custom, they had sabers with them; they were followed by servants with guns, and the Kremlin was surrounded by the aforementioned archers, eight thousand in number, all in caftans of red crimson cloth with long arques.

The entire path along which he had to walk was covered with red crimson cloth, [from the palace itself] to all the churches that he was supposed to visit; on top of the red cloth they also spread brocade in two panels; and first the patriarch and bishop of Novgorod came out, dressed in white robes, studded with pearls and precious stones, and together they carried the high royal crown into the Assumption Cathedral (ha de kercke Maria), after which they carried a golden dish and a golden cup, and immediately then Demetrius came out ; in front of him, a certain young nobleman carried a scepter and an orb, behind this, right in front of the king, another young nobleman, named Kurlyatov (Coerletof), carried a large naked sword; and the tsar was adorned with gold, pearls and diamonds, so that he could hardly walk, and he was led [by the arms] by Prince Fyodor Ivanovich Mstislavsky and Fyodor Nagy, and on his [the tsar’s] head was a large royal crown, glittering with rubies and diamonds, behind Walking with him was the Princess of Sandomierz, his bride, dressed with extreme splendor in gold, pearls and precious stones, with flowing hair and a wreath on her head woven from diamonds and valued by the royal jeweler, as I myself heard, at seventy thousand rubles, which is four hundred and ninety thousand guilders; and it was led by the wives of the aforementioned boyars who accompanied the tsar.

Walking ahead of the king on both sides were four men in white dresses studded with pearls, with large gilded axes on their shoulders; and these four, together with the sword-bearer, remained in front of the church until the king came out of it; and so they [the Tsar and Marina] reached the Assumption Cathedral, where they were married according to the Moscow rite by the Patriarch and Bishop of Novgorod, in the presence of all the clergy, Moscow and Polish nobles.

Bogushevich Simon. The wedding of False Dmitry and Marina Mnishek in Moscow on May 8, 1606. (around 1613, State Historical Museum, Moscow)

Oh, how the Muscovites were annoyed that the Poles entered their church with weapons and in hats with feathers, and if anyone had incited the Muscovites, they would have killed all [the Poles] on the spot, for their church was desecrated by what was in it The pagans entered, which they consider all peoples in the world to be, believing and firmly believing that only they are Christians, for this reason, in their blindness, they are very zealous for their faith.

There were strong guards in front of the Kremlin gates, the large gates were open, but no one dared to enter them except Poles, boyars, nobles and foreign merchants, and no one from the common people was allowed in, which annoyed everyone, because they believed that he himself had ordered it tsar, and that is very possible, because otherwise it would be impossible to move in the Kremlin.

When [the king and queen] left the church after the wedding, all the nobles also came out. Clerk Bogdan Sutupov, Afanasy Vlasov and Shuisky many times threw handfuls of gold along the path along which the tsar walked, holding his wife by the hand, and on her head she had a large royal crown, and they were both escorted upstairs by Polish and Moscow nobles and princesses.

The gold was the best, [from coins] the size of a thaler to the smallest ones, a pfennig.

As soon as the king went upstairs [to the palace], kettledrums, flutes and trumpets immediately sounded so deafeningly that nothing could be heard or seen, and the king and his wife were led to the throne, which was all made of gilded silver. And steps led up to it, and next to it stood the same throne on which the queen sat, and in front of them stood a table; There were many tables placed below, at which nobles and ladies sat, and everyone was treated like a king; Moreover, [during the feast] beautiful music was heard on various instruments, and [the musicians] stood on platforms built in the same chamber and decorated with great splendor, and these musicians were brought from Poland by Voivode Sandomierz, among them were Poles, Italians, and Germans and the Brabantians, and at the feast there was great joy, accompanied by sweet harmony.

But many misfortunes also happened that day, which were taken by many as a bad omen, for the king lost a diamond worth thirty thousand thalers from his finger. Also, Voivode Sandomierzki felt sick at the table, so he was taken home in a carriage; and in the Kremlin, one Pole was wounded by archers standing guard, and many took this for a bad sign, but did not talk [about it].

Even Pearling, whose article was the only attempt at a detailed critical analysis of Massa's work, with all his hostility to Massa, feeling obliged to show some historical impartiality, admits that Massa's personal observations for the most part stand up to scrutiny and only a few of them should be discarded.

Finally, very remarkable are the accusations recorded by Massa against False Demetrius, or, as he puts it, “the articles in which the reasons for the murder of the crowned king were set out.”

It is very noteworthy that most of the massa’s even not entirely reliable news finds a parallel in Russian sources, chronicles and chronographs and, therefore, has some kind of common oral tradition behind it. Thus, the incorrect and erroneous judgments of the Massa find explanations not in his bad faith, but in the hundred-year-old Moscow popular rumor, in the alarming rumors and excited stories that reached him

Massa's book never saw the light of day during the author's lifetime. However, he managed to publish two articles about Siberia, which were included in the collection of the Dutch geographer Hessel Gerrits, Description of the Land: Samoyeds in Tartary, published in 1612 in Amsterdam. Massa's articles included a map

The data collected by Massa show that he was not alien to geographical and ethnographic interests in general and felt a special inclination towards the science of geology. In any case, that by the end of his first stay in Moscow, thanks to one Russian who traveled to Siberia under Boris Godunov, as well as his acquaintance with the courtiers and clerks of the orders, with whom he constantly tried to maintain friendly relations, Massa already had quite extensive and accurate information about Siberia. Incidentally, probably in 1608, Massa received an offer from the Dutch merchant Isaac Lemaire to take part as a factor in an expedition to find the North-East Sea Route, but refused this offer. The reasons for this refusal were stated by himself in his news about the roads from Muscovy to the East: “I know very well and can prove it that this northern route is closed and that everyone who wants to open it will fail in their attempts.” Le Maire's expedition left the Netherlands on May 5, 1608. Massa refused this offer.

Isaac Massa, Caerte van "t Noorderste Russen, Samojeden, ende Tingoesen Landt (1612)
Source A Short History of the Beginnings and Origins of These Present Wars in Moscow under the Reign of Various Sovereigns down to the Year 1610 by Isaac Massa

Isaac Massa. The newest map of Russia. Dutch map from 1638. Lukomorye shown; on the North of Russia.

Massa probably returned to Russia in 1612 with the rank of ambassador to the states general. In the resolution of the Estates General of May 23, 1614, he was already called “a young man living in Muscovy.” And in the article list of Massa’s stay in Moscow on January 4, 1615, it is noted: “And the Dutch envoy Isaac Abramov says that he has not been in the Dutch land for a long time.”

Dear Lords! Today a newly granted gentleman named Mr. Marck (De Merik.) arrived here from England as the royal ambassador. Last year he was here as a servant (dienner) for merchants in the English campaign. What the assignment given to him is, I will find out about this in Moscow. I believe that the goal of this embassy is to oust us from this country, which they have already achieved more than once. But I think that they will not succeed. I will resist them with all my might and means, under the auspices of you, My Gracious Sovereigns; let it cost 1000 pounds. erased! I will present to the Tsar that my Gracious Lords will do everything possible to reconcile him with Sweden; further, that we will petition the Turks for the release of Moscow prisoners, and that the Sultan (Groote Herr) order the Crimean Tatars not to make any more raids on the Moscow state and make peace with Moscow. Most of all, I will try to show how great the benefits the king has received so far from the Dutch merchants are; that ten times more can be expected from them if we are granted the permission we asked for in the negotiations to freely trade in the Caspian Sea. If all this is stated and agreed upon properly, if the princes are cajoled so that they whisper to the Tsar in our favor, then I am sure that we will be successful, despite the pomp and boasting of the naked English campaign. The retinue of this ambassador, or better yet, the newly minted gentleman, is very numerous, but his figure refuses to assume the cavalier's position: he looks like a peasant, which, however, he always was. The English are dressed magnificently, like royalty; the nobles of his retinue were recruited from everywhere; His servants, numbering up to twenty, wear red clothes; with him are four pages, three footmen and three or four others who voluntarily joined the embassy.

But let us, the Dutch, live to appear in our black velvet, long caftans with gold chains, then as far as I know the Russians, we will make the best impression and attract them to us. The British were dressed up like comedians.

Franz Hals. Wedding portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrice van der Laen. (1622, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Franz Hals painted several portraits of Mass, of which the most famous are the double portrait of Mass with his wife (1622) and the single

Subsequently, Massa more than once carried out important diplomatic assignments for his government, until 1634 often traveling from Muscovy to Holland and back. He died in 1635.

Frans Hals (1582/1583-1666) Portrait of Isaac Abrahamsz. Massa. (circa 1635, San Diego Museum of Art)

A.K. Tolstoy used Massa’s book when he wrote the last part of his trilogy “Boris Godunov”. In a letter to M. M. Stasyulevich dated November 28, 1849, he wrote: “Finally, the trilogy is ready, and, it seems, the individual parts are fugen sich recht sauber zusammen. Only, if it comes to publishing all three tragedies together, it will be necessary to remake Boris’s wife in the Death of John, whom I presented in the last tragedy not according to the chronicles, but according to the legend of the Dutchman Mass. This way she comes out more original and more striking, like a worthy daughter of Malyuta. I think Kostomarov will be pleased with her”

Massa’s notes “on wars and unrest in Muscovy” were first published only in 1866.

The Isaac Massa Foundation in Groningen aims to stimulate scientific and cultural contacts between the Russian Federation and the Netherlands.

Abel Tasman - Dutch navigator
Part 3 -
Part 4 - "The Adventures of the Dutch in Russia." Isaac Massa - “Kremlinologist” of the 17th century
Part 5 -
Part 6 -
Part 7 -

History of the Moscow Troubles

The Massa manuscript is kept in The Hague. The Dutch text was published in the publication of the Archaeographic Commission (“Tales of Foreign Writers about Russia”, vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1868). The first Russian translation appeared in 1874. In 1937 it was revised and provided with commentaries.

Portraits of Massa by Frans Hals

Franz Hals painted several portraits of Mass, of which the most famous are the double portrait of Mass with his wife (1622) and the single portrait (1626).

Essays

• Isaac Massa.(Russian) . Eastern Literature. Retrieved March 12, 2010. .

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Notes

Literature

• Tales of foreign writers about Russia, published by the Archaeographic Commission. Volume 2
• Massa I./ Isaac Massa; Translation, notes and introductory article by A. A. Morozov; translation of poems by V. A. Sorgenfrey. - M.: OGIZ - State. socio-economic publishing house, 1937. - 208, p. - (Foreign travelers about Russia). - 10,000 copies.(in translation)
• Grigoriev S. V. Biographical Dictionary. Natural science and technology in Karelia. - Petrozavodsk: Karelia, 1973. - P. 154-155. - 269 p. - 1000 copies.
• / Comp. M. P. Alekseev; Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. - Novosibirsk: Science, 2006. - 504 p.

Links

• Keuning, Johannes (1953). "". Imago Mundi(Routledge) 10 : 65–79. DOI:10.1080/03085695308592034. Retrieved 11-01-2010.

Passage characterizing Massa, Isaac

The conversation continued in the living room.
- Ah! chere,” said the countess, “and in my life tout n”est pas rose. Don’t I see that du train, que nous allons, [not everything is roses. - given our way of life,] our condition will not last long for us! And "It's all a club, and its kindness. We live in the village, do we really relax? Theatres, hunting and God knows what. But what can I say about me! Well, how did you arrange all this? I'm often surprised at you, Annette, how it's possible You, at your age, ride alone in a carriage, to Moscow, to St. Petersburg, to all the ministers, to all the nobility, you know how to get along with everyone, I’m surprised! Well, how did this work out? I don’t know how to do any of this.
- Oh, my soul! - answered Princess Anna Mikhailovna. “God forbid you know how hard it is to remain a widow without support and with a son whom you love to the point of adoration.” “You’ll learn everything,” she continued with some pride. – My process taught me. If I need to see one of these aces, I write a note: “princesse une telle [princess so-and-so] wants to see so-and-so,” and I drive myself in a cab at least two, at least three times, at least four times, until I achieve what I need. I don't care what anyone thinks about me.
- Well, well, who did you ask about Borenka? – asked the Countess. - After all, yours is already a guard officer, and Nikolushka is a cadet. There is no one to bother. Who did you ask?
- Prince Vasily. He was very nice. Now I agreed to everything, reported to the sovereign,” Princess Anna Mikhailovna said with delight, completely forgetting all the humiliation she went through to achieve her goal.
- That he has aged, Prince Vasily? – asked the Countess. – I haven’t seen him since our theaters at the Rumyantsevs’. And I think he forgot about me. “Il me faisait la cour, [He was trailing after me,” the countess recalled with a smile.
“Still the same,” answered Anna Mikhailovna, “kind, crumbling.” Les grandeurs ne lui ont pas touriene la tete du tout. [The high position did not turn his head at all.] “I regret that I can do too little for you, dear princess,” he tells me, “order.” No, he is a nice man and a wonderful family member. But you know, Nathalieie, my love for my son. I don't know what I wouldn't do to make him happy. “And my circumstances are so bad,” Anna Mikhailovna continued with sadness and lowering her voice, “so bad that I am now in the most terrible situation. My miserable process is eating up everything I have and is not moving. I don’t have, you can imagine, a la lettre [literally], I don’t have a dime of money, and I don’t know what to outfit Boris with. “She took out a handkerchief and began to cry. “I need five hundred rubles, but I have one twenty-five-ruble note.” I am in this position... My only hope now is Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov. If he does not want to support his godson - after all, he baptized Borya - and assign him something for his maintenance, then all my troubles will be lost: I will have nothing to outfit him with.
The Countess shed tears and silently thought about something.
“I often think, maybe this is a sin,” said the princess, “and I often think: Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhoy lives alone... this is a huge fortune... and what does he live for? Life is a burden for him, but Borya is just beginning to live.
“He will probably leave something for Boris,” said the countess.
- God knows, chere amie! [dear friend!] These rich people and nobles are so selfish. But I’ll still go to him now with Boris and tell him straight out what’s going on. Let them think what they want about me, I really don’t care when my son’s fate depends on it. - The princess stood up. - Now it’s two o’clock, and at four o’clock you have lunch. I'll have time to go.