HSE Publishing House

This publication brings to the readers a Russian translation of a secret diary kept in German in 1654 – 1664 by Christoph (in Russia — Vasiliy) Bousch, a translator in Russian service. The author tells about the fighting during the Russo-Polish War of 1654 – 1657, the conduct of Russian troops in the conquered territories, the fate of Polish prisoners in Russia, the events at the tsar’s court, the debasement of coins, the uprisings and political struggle in Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, large fires, outbreaks of plague, and other disasters. He gives a detailed account of the receptions of foreign ambassadors in the Kremlin and the negotiations between Russian diplomats and Polish and Swedish representatives. Although the bulk of entries reflect a view from Moscow, the author of the diary who had personally experienced Russian captivity, hides neither his complex feelings towards the “Muscovites” whom he was forced to serve, nor his sympathy for the “Poles”. The diary contains valuable information on the history of Eastern Europe in the seventeenth century, and it also offers unique insights into how a foreigner in the tsar’s service saw the political and cultural realities of the Russian state and its foreign policy.
The book is addressed to historians, culturologists, philologists.