145
The Life of a Russian Ambassador in Istanbul in a Historical –Fictional
Context
According to historians, this “young, dynamic and witty” commander
was able to impress Petro I and was invited to Moscow in 1696 by the Tsar to
participate in the second Azov campaign. It is known that the Russian Tsar was
interested in the Turkish Navy and the new Naval Law enacted in 1701 as well as
the Turkish Castles on Black Sea (Arunova, 2006, p.27).
Following the Azov Campaign, Petro I sent a committee of 37 people
including Tolstoy to various cities in Europe both to represent Russian and have
naval education in spring 1697.
About P. A. Tolstoy’s European trip, researchers suggest various ideas. It
has been thought for a long time that he willingly went abroad to show that he
improved himself in line with the reformist Tsar’s innovations. The reason for this
was that Tolstoy was 52 years old when he set off to Europe. However, there was
no age difference between P. A. Tolstoy and his companions and there were a few
people who were in their 40’s, as N. P Pavlov-Silvanski stated. Therefore, the Tsar
chose the ambassadors from the officers commissioned at the court (Pavlov-
Silvanski, 1910, p.12). The Ambassador states in his work Courtier P. A. Tolstoy’s
European Trip Notes 1697-1699:
In 30 January 205,
Petr Andreyevich Tolstoy was assigned with an official letter
in his name by the Embassy Officers (Tolstoy,1992, p.6)
.
Tsar Petro I introduced the new calendar. While the Russians were in 7208
AD, Europeans celebrated 1700 (Molçanov, p.123).
Thus, Tolstoy departed from Moscow on 16 January 1697. They travelled
by carts and the journey was long. When the traveller arrived in Smolensk town
(Poland border, E.İ.), he sent most of his assistants back and continued to Sileziya
on horseback. He arrived in Wien two months later (22 May, E.İ.). After having
stayed for 6 days, he set off again and reached Venice which was determined as the
final destination of the journey on 11 June. He had an education on mathematics
and navigation.
After having stayed on a ship in the Adriatic for about two months, P.A.
Tolstoy landed in March 1698 and travelled to the Northern Italy on land. In June,
the ambassador visited the Dalmatia and Raguza Principality by sea and travelled
to the
south.
Later, he went to Bari and got a navigation certificate from the captain of
a ship and travelled to Napoli by land. He went to the western shores of Italy on a
ship and set off to Malta. On sea, Tolstoy witnessed Maltese mariners’
preparations for a battle with three Turkish ships and wrote it down in his diary:
We prepared the ship and weapons for the battle as required and waited until 12
o’clock; we saw the Turkish ships in about 10 verst distance, then the ships slowly
passed us and set sail (Tolstoy, 1992, p.155)
.
A few days later, Tolstoy’s ship boarded in Malta and there the Russian
Ambassador was welcomed by the Administrator of Maltese Community. He
wandered around the island, and war ships, navy, the churches and places were
shown to him. After taking the necessary information and documents from Malta,
he went back to Napoli.