The Russian, or Muscovite, Empire

The origin of the principal nations of Europe may be traced to three great distinct families: the Latins, the Teutons, and the Slavonians. The Italians, the French, the Spaniards and the Portuguese have derived civilization and language from the Latins, or Romans; the Germans, Swiss, Swedes, Danes, Hollanders and English from the Teutons; the Poles, Bulgarians and Russians from the Slavonians. The nations derived from the Latins were the earliest to receive civilization; those from the Germans were second; the Slavonians (also called Scythians) were the last.

As early as 400 B. C. some Slavonian tribes emigrated into Europe and made settlements upon the river Don. They were tribes of the patriarchal type, their chief employment being the rearing of cattle and the management of bees. It was not until the fifth century A. D. that the wild Slavonians, who overran what we now call European Russia, made any permanent settlement; these were at Novgorod and Kiev. The beginning of civilization soon brought them wealth, and wealth brought dissension. They began to feel the want of unity and good government, so in the ninth century some Slavonic tribes sent a message to the "Northmen" (Scandinavians): "Our land is great and bountiful, but there is no order in it; come and rule over us."

Thus invited, though some say as a Conqueror, Ruric, a Scandinavian chieftain, became "Prince of the tribes East of the Baltic Sea." These people were thenceforth called "Russians," from their leader, Ruric, of the Nurman (Norwegian) family of Russ. He established himself at Novgorod, and became the founder of the Russian monarchy in 862. The one thousandth anniversary of the founding of the Russian Empire was celebrated with great rejoicing at Novgorod in 1862.

The great-grandson of Ruric, Vladimir the Great, married the daughter of the Greek Emperor, in 988; Vladimir and his subjects then embraced Christianity. Thus Russia obtained her religion from the Eastern Church instead of from Rome, and has ever since belonged to the Greek, or Eastern Church.

The successors of Vladimir the Great divided the Russian dominions among the different heirs; this resulted in a decline of the Russian Empire. Ivan, the Great, consolidated the Empire again in the fifteenth century. Ivan IV., "The Terrible" (1533-1584), extended its territory to the Caspian Sea, and was the first to assume the title of "Czar." Czar is a Slav word, meaning King, though the sovereigns claim it to be the Russian form of Caesar. In 1606 the line of Ruric came to an end, having ruled for more than seven hundred years. After an interregnum, the Russians, in 1613, chose Michael Romanoff to be their Czar, and thus began the second dynasty, "the Romanoff," which has ruled ever since. Peter the Great, 1689, took the title "Emperor, or Czar, of all the Russias," and was the real founder of the present Russian Empire.

The eighteenth century might be called "Women's Century," from the noted women who ruled: Catherine I.; Anne; Elizabeth; Catherine II. The Czars of the nineteenth century are easily remembered: Alexander I. (1801-1825); Nicholas I. (1825-1855); Alexander II. (1855-1881); Alexander III. (1881-1894); Nicholas II., the present Emperor.

Moscow, called by the Russians Moskva, gets its name from the River Moskva, which means "Mossy Waters." The city dates from 1150, but has been nearly destroyed by fire many times. From the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries it was the capital of Russia, and is still the richest city. Like Vienna, it is built around a central city, the Kremlin, or inner city. It has been increased in grandeur for five hundred years, and is still surrounded by a wall with strong towers and five gates. The five gates of the old city are wonderful in themselves; the wall is seven thousand two hundred and eighty feet in circumference. Around the Kremlin the city spreads over a surface of about twenty-five miles. The churches of the city are said to number forty, and the bells in their glittering domes are almost innumerable; in no other city is there such music in the air as in "the Holy City of Moscow." There is a trinity of Cathedrals in the Kremlin: the Cathedral of the Assumption, in which the Emperors have been crowned for over three hundred years; the Cathedral of the Annunciation, in which they have been baptized and married; the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, in which they were buried until the time of Peter the Great. Here may be read the brief history of the ancient Czars. The remarkable Tower of the Kremlin, the Ivan Veliki, dates from 1590-1600. It consists of five stories and contains thirty-four bells, being really the Campanile of the three Cathedrals. The largest bell, called the Assumption, hangs in the first tier above the chapel St. John (Ivan), and is the largest suspended bell, weighing sixty-four tons. Next to this is a chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas, the patron Saint of Russia. The topmost tier contains two silver bells of exquisite tone. The tower is three hundred and twenty-five feet high, and can be ascended by four hundred and fifty steps. Napoleon and his Marshals viewed the city of Moscow from this tower. At the foot of the tower the largest bell ever cast, the Tzar Holokol, stands on a granite pedestal. It is sixty-five feet in circumference and twenty-five feet high. It is quite large enough for a chapel, and weighs four hundred and forty-four thousand pounds. It was cast by the order of Empress Anne, in 1733; it fell during a fire and lay buried in the earth until 1836, when it was raised to its present position by Nicholas I. The figures in relief are those of the Empress Anne and the Emperor Alexis, and on the scroll below are representations of the Saviour, the Virgin, and the Evangelists surrounded by Cherubim. The broken piece, which is seven feet high and two feet in thickness, weighs eleven tons. This bell was never rung; the breaking of it is said to have been caused by the ladies of Moscow throwing into it, while being cast, their precious jewels.