Wine at the Feasts of Moscow Sovereigns in the 16th–17th Centuries

ISSN 1019-3316, Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2022, Vol. 92, Suppl. 5, pp. S447–S456. © The Author(s), 2022. This article is an open access publication. Wine at the Feasts of Moscow Sovereigns in the 16th–17th Centuries D. A. Petrov Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117292 Russia e-mail: Received June 21, 2022; revised July 14, 2022; accepted July 14, 2022 Abstract—The extent of wine in Muscovy, primarily in the palace economy, is considered. On the basis of a comparison of materials from Russian records management and notes of foreigners, the use of wine in the embassy ceremonies (primarily at the reception of the ambassadors of the King of England in 1664) and in the celebration of important events in the life of the Russian society elite is elucidated. The problem of centralized importation, internal trade, and storage of wine is touched upon. The varieties of alcoholic beverages common in Russia are studied separately. The author comes to the conclusion that there had been a fairly wide range of wine varieties in Russia, despite the fact that tastes did not fundamentally change and the wine menu had been relatively stable for many decades. Keywords: sovereign’s court, embassy ceremonies, notes of foreigners, records management, gastronomy, wine DOI: 10.1134/S1019331622110107 The history of material culture includes the history of gastronomy. Unfortunately, there are no full studies on the history of Russian gastronomy; researchers still base their judgments on the work of scientists from the second half of the 19th century, such as A. Tereshchenko, N.I. Kostomarov, I.E. Zabelin, and M.I. Pylyaev.1 At the same time, the material on this issue is voluminous: documents of the tsar’s and patriarchal courts, embassy reports and memoirs of foreigners, monastic and private account books, and customs books. The first review of these sources was made as early as 1832 by P. Keppen.2 Unfortunately, researchers have not paid attention to this publication, which was very informative and complete for its time. There is no lesser amount of archaeological and ethnographic research on this topic. Attempts to describe this information already in our time 1 Tereshchenko, A., Life of the Russian people. M., 1993, pp. 117– 170; Kostomarov, N.I., Essay on domestic life and customs of the Great Russian people in the 16th and 17th centuries, St. Petersburg, 1860, pp. 81–92, 129–138; (Reprinted: M., 1992); Zabelin I.E., Domestic life of the Russian tsars in the XVI and XVII centuries (4th ed., the first one – in 1862); Pilyaev M.I., Old life, St. Petersburg, 1892, pp. 3–20. 2 Keppen P., On winemaking and wine trade in Russia, St. Petersburg, 1832, pp. С. 4–40. were made forty years ago,3 but the results can now be considered only as a preliminary sketch. Therefore, we are currently trying to start work on the preparation of materials4 that other researchers can use to fill such a significant gap in the history of Russian gastronomy, that is, in the history of art and material culture. One of these “bricks” of the future “building” is a real note. Obviously, our paper is only a “first touch” on the topic of grape wine consumption in Russia in the 12th–17th centuries and by no means claims to be complete. 3 About wine see: Artsikhovsky A.V. Food and utensils // Essays on Russian culture in the XIII–XV centuries. Part 1. Material culture. M., 1969. P. 304; Vdovina L.N. Food and utensils // Essays on Russian culture in the XVII century. Part 1. M., 1979. P. 228–229. 4 Petrov D. The mention of wine, mead, beer, malt and hops in Old-Russian birch bark letters // Fontes Slavia Orthodoxa III. Orthodox culture: History and modernity. Edited by E. Potekhina and A. Kravetsky. Centrum Badań Europy Wschodniej Uniwersytetu Warmińsko-Mazurskiego w Olsztynie. Olsztyn. 2016. Pp. 37–70; Petrov D.A. “Drinking” at the reception of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in honor of the English ambassador Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle on February 19, 1664. Part 1. Wine. Serving Ceremony. Wine assortment. Wine supply for the Palace. Wine storage // Valla. 2017. № 3 (3). Pp. 23–36. Electronic publication; Petrov D.A. Wine as part of the gifts of Novgorodians to the Grand Duke Ivan III, brought during the campaigns of 1475–1476 and 1478–1479 // Endless summer. Collection of articles in honor of Elena Alexandrovna Rybina. M. – Veliky Novgorod, 2018. Pp. 180–186. S447 S448 PETROV On February 19, 1664, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich received the ambassador of the King of England Charles II, Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle,5 and provided a feast in his honor in the Faceted Chamber. Researchers wrote about this embassy, but, as a rule, it is mentioned in connection with the gifts presented to the tsar and preserved to this day, and not because of any fairly detailed report on the reception procedure or description of the “menu” of the feast in the Faceted Chamber, which was mentioned by several researchers,6 but only Tereshchenko, who wrote his book 170 years ago, and Zabelin,7 who wrote about this 150 years ago, mentioned the composition of food and drink.8 The description of the reception of the Earl of the Carlisle seems to us quite interesting, a source that points out not only the diplomatic ceremony, but also the “tsar’s table”—the highest achievement of Russian cuisine of the 17th century. In addition, one of the participants of the embassy wrote memories of this trip,9 which makes it possible to see this event in a “binary” way. On the topic of interest to us, in the “Ranks” we find two passages—about the official feast on February 19, 1664, and about the meeting of the tsar and ambassador on April 22, 1664, which mention the wines served to the tsar and ambassador. We describe both the wines themselves and some of the circumstances of their existence in real life (ceremonial use, storage, and trade of wine). (1) The service ceremony. Feast on February 19, 1664. Wine was served at the feast in a special order. L.A. Yuzefovich, studying the 5 See: Palace ranks, published by the II Department of His Impe- rial Majesty’s Own Chancellery (hereinafter – PR). T. 3. (From 1645 to 1676). St. Petersburg. 1852. Stb. 572; Zuev M.N. Materials about the embassy of Carlisle 1663–1664 // Source study and historiography. Special historical disciplines. M., 1980. P. 35–36; Bantysh-Kamensky N.N. Review of the external relations of Russia (up to 1800) Part 1. M., 1894. P. 118; Soloviev S.M. History of Russia since ancient times. Book 6. V. 12. M., 1961. Pp. 535–537; Konovalov S. England and Russia: Three embassies 1662 – 5. Oxford Slavonic Papers. Volume X. 1962. 6 See Zagorodnyaya, I.A., “The Moscow Embassy Ceremony: English Diplomats at the Tsar’s Yard in the XVII Century” // Russia–Britain. On the 450th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations. M., 2003. P. 28–30; Labutina, T.L., Englishmen in pre-Petrine Russia. St. Petersburg, 2011, pp. 146– 147; Chernaya, L., Every (...truncated)