THE RISE OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
PUBLISHER’S ANNOUNCEMENT
A RECORD AND A STUDY
1558-1899
Author of “China in Decay”
Spectator.—“It is well that the vaguealarm generally inspired in the average Englishmanby the thought of Russian successes inAsia should be replaced by exact knowledge.Books without number have already beenwritten upon the several phases of the Russianadvance, but Mr. Krausse’s volume is, wethink, the first concise presentation in Englishof its entire history.”
9 Henrietta St., Covent Garden, W.C.
RUSSIA
under the
EARLY RURIKOVITCH PRINCES
THE RISE
OF
THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
BY
HECTOR H. MUNRO
remontait plus haut dans son histoire.”—Le Père Pierling.
LONDON
GRANT RICHARDS
1900
PREFACE
With the exception of a translation of Rambaud’ssomewhat disjointed work, there is no detailed historyof Russia in the English language at all approachingmodern standards. The reigns of Petr the Great andof some of his successors down to the present day—aperiod covering only 200 years—have been minutelydealt with, but the earlier history of a nation withwhom we are coming ever closer into contact is to theEnglish reader almost a blank. Whether the worknow submitted will adequately fill the gap remains tobe seen; such is its object.
The rule observed with regard to the rendering ofnames of places and persons has been to follow the spellingof the country to which they belong as closely aspossible. The spelling of Russian words employed, andcuriously distorted, by English and other historians, hasbeen brought back to its native forms. There is nosatisfactory reason, for instance, why the two final lettersof boyarin should be dropped, or why they should[viii]reappear tacked on to the equally Russian word Kreml.Moskva is scarce