Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Economic Research Institute Study paper

Volume

83

Issue

12

Publisher

Utah State University

Publication Date

4-1-1983

Rights

Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact the Institutional Repository Librarian at digitalcommons@usu.edu.

First Page

1

Last Page

231

Abstract

Of all impressions reported by foreign visitors to Russia from the mid-sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, perhaps the most dominant, recurring theme is the apparent absolute power of the Tsar over the affairs of the Empire and over the lives of his subjects. In a manner nearly obligatory, a succession of travelers commented on the omnipotence of the autocracy and on the arbitrary use of governmental power. Thus, as early as 1549 Emperors Maximilian I's and Charles V's ambassador to Moscow (1517 and 1526) Baron Sigismund von Herberstein remarked "lt is a matter of doubt whether the brutality of the people has made the prince a tyrant, or whether the people themselves have become thus brutal and cruel through the tyranny of their prince." Adam Olearius, who visited Russia four times between 1634 and 1643 as an emissary from the Duke of Holstein, had similar feelings about the Russian government.

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