Livonian War Research Articles

Participation of the Mari in the Livonian (1558–1583) and Russo-Swedish (1589–1595) Wars

This article discusses the history of the participation of the Mari warriors on the side of the Russian state in the wars in the Baltic states in the second half of the 16th century. Their number in the ranks of thousands of Moscow troops did not exceed several hundred people, however, but in all cases the Mari warriors were assigned to the Advanced regiment. The participation of the Mari in the Livonian War was mainly limited to horse raids and skirmishes with small enemy units. During the Russo-Swedish War (1589–1595) Mari for the first time took part in the storming of the fortress. Also, the Cheremis, like the rest of the warriors of the Moscow army, participated in the robbery and devastation of the Baltic lands. For citation: Svechnikov S.K. Participation of the Mari in the Livonian (1558–1583) and Russo-Swedish (1589–1595) Wars. From History and Culture of Peoples of the Middle Volga Region. 2024, vol.14, no.3, pp.34–51. https://doi.org/10.22378/2410-0765.2024-14-3.34-51 (In Russian)

Organization of Sea Voyages of Lubechan to Narva during the Livonian War (Based on the Book about the Narva Trade of the Nowgorodfahrer from Lubek)

Organization of Sea Voyages of Lubechan to Narva during the Livonian War (Based on the Book about the Narva Trade of the Nowgorodfahrer from Lubek)

M. И. Воротынский, Новосильский град и немилость государя

Introduction. The events of the second half of the XVI century, which unfolded around the town of Novosil, have a close connection with both the domestic and foreign policy situation that was relevant at that time. They were also connected with a number of not quite obvious aspects of the financial, administrative, status position of Prince Michael Vorotynsky. Tsar John Vasilyevich perceived him negatively, feared him as a potential "troublemaker", despite the obvious loyalty of the prince. This had a significant impact on the fate of this outstanding Russian politician and military commander and, as it seems, was closely connected with the fate of the family heritage of the Novosilsk lords. Materials and methods. The texts of the wills of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich and Prince Michael Vorotynsky, the messages to the prince and the tsar's reply messages on behalf of the prince to the leaders of Poland and Lithuania, information from Russian chronicles, data on the formation of military contingents, information of a historical and linguistic nature and the results of research on the era in question were used as source materials for the study. In this work, comparative-historical and system-analytical methods were used using an interdisciplinary approach. Results. The transfer of family lands into the possession of Michael Vorotynsky, issued as a "land exchange" with the sovereign, combined with the confiscation of property and the need to restore fortifications, as well as maintaining their combat readiness in the conditions of Crimean Tatar activity and the Livonian War, led to the actual ruin of the prince. The analysis of the published epistolary heritage of the epoch makes it possible to identify flaws in the generally accepted translation of the "correspondence of Ivan the Terrible" and to evaluate the semantic shades conveyed in it closely related to the city of Novosil in a slightly different way. Conclusions. The transfer, restoration and maintenance of the fortress of Novosilsk and a number of other fortifications at nonstate expense, the strengthening of the defense capability of the southern borders and the subsequent foreign policy epistolary registration of the status associated with them were part of a long intrigue against Prince Michael Vorotynsky, the author of which could be the Tsar of Russia Ivan Vasilyevich.

ОТКРЫТЫЕ ПИСЬМА МАГИСТРАТА ЛЮБЕКА 1594 Г. ИЗ РОССИЙСКОГО ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО АРХИВА ДРЕВНИХ АКТОВ

The article describes 16 open letters of the Lübeck City Council, kept in the Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents, and issued to the Hanseatic merchants travelling to Russia, and confirming the Hanseatic origin of the goods transported across the border. The contents of the open letters are analyzed to identify the main features of the Russian-Hanseatic trade after the end of the Livonian War and before the signing of the Trade Peace Agreement of 1603, which established the rules of the Hanseatic-Russian commodity exchange and the list of the German merchants’ privileges in the Russian markets. Much attention is paid directly to the merchants who were given the open letters to determine their connection with the Corporation of Lübeck’s “Novgorod guests” (Nowgorodfahrer), a Lübeck burghers’ large commercial association that occupied an important place in the Russian–Hanseatic trade of the late Middle Ages and the early Modern Times. The subject of research in that respect were manuscript materials from the Archives of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck have become the subject of the research work. Moreover, the 1594 open letters of the Lübeck Magistrate from the Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents are compared with the similar documents of the period under review from the Tallinn City Archives. The original text of one of the open letters is appended to the article, as well as the drawings of the possessory signs of the Hanseatic merchants depicted in the studied handwritten sources.

Military and Political Agitation of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against Ivan Terrible (Materials of Various Literary Monuments of Livonian War Era)

The Livonian War led to an increase in the number of anti-Moscow works in Europe. Western authors closely followed Russia’s successes and failures in the struggle for the redistribution of the Baltic states. The main target of criticism in propaganda texts was Ivan the Terrible, who was portrayed as an enemy of Europe, equal in power to the Turkish sultan. This article analyzes the features of the anti-Russian information campaign based on various genres of texts published in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The study of the statistical aspect of the circulation of pamphlets showed that during the later stages of the war, Polish-Lithuanian typographers significantly influenced the formation of the news field in Europe. The examined works of minor literary forms demonstrated that the description of the confrontation between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia was presented in the context of a defensive war. Due to the noticeable increase in the number of propaganda texts during the reign of Stefan Batory, it was concluded that the Polish king played a primary role in the information campaign to discredit Russia. Batory understood the power of printed propaganda and invested numerous resources in tarnishing the image of the Russian ruler. As a result, by the end of the war, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth managed to have a significant influence on the emerging negative image of Russia and its ruler in Europe.

How Holy War became Unholy

Abstract The Livonian war in the second half of the 16th century was understood by its participants within the Christian Providentialist discourse and was seen primarily through the optics of Christian ethics (the idea of sin and its punishment, the idea of ‘God’s penalty’ which every person has to pay as a potential sinner by undergoing pain and trials, the idea of retribution and reward for feats and sins, etc.). Since the war coincided with the aggravation of religious confrontations in the region (Catholics vs Protestants, the Orthodox vs Catholics and Protestants amongst themselves), there were attempts to turn the conflict into something bigger than a war over territories and political ambitions. But the idea of a religious war failed. For Europeans, the religious factor in the Livonian conflict had very little symbolic expression. No cults of Livonian saints, martyrs for the faith, etc. emerged. For the Orthodox Church a number of significant religious and propagandistic actions were organized at the beginning of the war (‘the Narva miracle,’ creation of hagiographic monuments, etc.) that glorified the victory of the Orthodox Cross and Russian arms. However, as the conflict developed, the significance of these actions faded and was reduced to local memory objects. The defense of Pskov from King Stephen Bathory in 1581 was the most resonant and significant event. Its image was embodied in many objects of both local and all-Russian historical memory, which retain their importance to the present day.

Image of Ivan Terrible in European Propaganda during Livonian War (Poetic Works of S. Wolf and J. Kokhanovsky)

The image of Ivan the Terrible in the propagandic European poetry of the Livonian War is considered. On the example of two poetic works “An elegiac poem about the campaign of His Majesty Stephen the First, the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania against Ivan Vasilyevich, the Grand Duke of Moscow” by the German author Samuil Wolf (1582) and “The Song of the Capture of Polotsk” by the Polish poet Jan Kokhanovsky (1580) the conclusion is made about the great interest of the European reader in the personality of the Moscow tsar. The analysis of these texts shows the grotesque image of Ivan the Terrible, formed under the influence of the “political order” coming from the Polish King Stefan Batory. It is also concluded that European propaganda played a negative role, contributed to the loss of the Muscovite state in the Livonian War. The indifference of the tsar himself to what was published about him in the West is also noted, this was the reason that Ivan the Terrible did not want to carry out reciprocal propaganda campaigns and limited himself in this regard to exculpatory and accusatory letters to S. Batory, A. M. Kurbsky and some European monarchs. “The Song of the Capture of Polotsk” was first translated into Russian by the author of the article and is published here in full.

ТИТУЛЬНАЯ ГЕРАЛЬДИКА МОСКОВСКОГО ЦАРСТВА И ЗАПАДНОЕВРОПЕЙСКАЯ ГЕРАЛЬДИЧЕСКАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ

The article analyzes the history of the influence of the European heraldic tradition on the titular heraldry of the Moscow Tsardom of the 16th – 17th centuries. There are two stages of such influence with its own characteristic features for each. The first stage was associated with the formation of the first complex of titular coats of arms, which were presented on the Great Seal of Ivan IV, made in the late 1570s. Among the 24 titular coats of arms of the Great Seal, five coats of arms were borrowed from the heraldry of the Baltic States and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They meant those territories that were annexed during the Livonian War or claimed by Ivan IV. Seals and even coins of that time acted as sources of heraldic images. From them images were transferred to the Great Seal without any changes. In other words, it was a direct borrowing of European coats of arms into the heraldry of Russia. The second stage is connected with the creation in 1672 of the tsar’s “Titulyarnik” (Titular Book), the first Russian compilation of coats of arms. Of the 33 coats of arms of the “Titulyarnik”, nine were directly borrowed from European heraldry (mainly from the heraldry of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). However, the methods of borrowing were more diverse. In addition to the direct transfer of the armorial figures, the coats of arms were changed, Christian symbols was strengthened in them. On the other hand, coats of arms could be borrowed on the principle of belonging to a certain category of territories. Finally, another way was to borrow either individual armorial figures or heraldic compositions. Such a variety of ways of borrowing clearly testifies to the increased heraldic culture of the Muscovy by the end of the 17th century.

All The Grand Duke’s Lenders: Creditors of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1555 to 1569

This article gives an analysis of the borrowing statistics of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for the early part of the Livonian War (1555–1569), until the Union of Lublin, and the social characteristics of the people and groups of people who became the most prominent lenders. The borrowing in question was conducted via pledge lordships. For the examined period, we have registered 160 pledge-lordship contracts with a stated pledge amount totalling 515,667 sexagenas of Lithuanian groats. Of these, 149 pledge-lordship contracts totalling 496,709 sexagenas were from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania proper. In comparison with the earlier period, between 1502 and 1522, revenue from pledges with a known face value increased ninefold. The total amount borrowed for this period was equal to approximately three times the yearly wartime treasury revenue. The most prolific lenders were members of the established elite. Altogether, members of eight noble houses provided 32.4% of the entire amount lent to the state using pledges. Compared to the earlier period in terms of lenders was the first appearance of burghers (Vilnius, Gdansk, Livonian) as lenders, as they were granted pledge-lordship contracts.

G.S. Treuer’s ‘Apology’ of Tsar Ivan the Terrible as a Tool for Forming a Positive Image of the Russian Monarchy in Europe in the Petrine Era

The article presents an analysis of the historical, political and philosophical work of outstanding German scientist, Professor Gottlieb Samuel Treuer “Apology of Ivan Vasilyevich II, Grand Duke of Moscow, usually falsely accused of tyranny,” published in Vienna in 1711. It was found that this work was one of the first papers, one way or another devoted to Russian history, published in the West in the Petrine era. During the Great Northern War the tendency to compare the reign of Ivan the Terrible and Peter I was quite clear, due to the fact that the “Baltic issue” remained valid for Russia more than a century after the failures in the Livonian War. The Russian propaganda in Europe needed to present Ivan the Terrible as a great ruler, without excessive cruelty and tyranny. The analysis conducted by the author showed that Treuer brilliantly coped with the task. In his work he proved that all the actions of Ivan the Terrible were justified by the public necessity and the morals of the Russian people. The “Apology of Ivan Vasilyevich” also contributed to the fact that some representatives of German scientific thought got carried away by Russian history. Among them were, in particular, G.F. Miller and A.L. Schlözer.

The Practice of Dedicating Churches by Tsar Ivan the Terrible During the Livonian War

The article analyzes for the first time the practice of dedicating churches by Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Churches that he ordered to be built in the conquered cities of Livonia in 1577. This practice characterizes some features of the Tsar’s religiosity. In most cases, when choosing such dedications, he was guided by the church calendar, but he did it arbitrarily, following his personal preferences. These preferences were expressed in the fact that the tsar dedicated a significant part of the churches to the Mother of God and Russian saints.

The Image of the Enemy: Poles and Lithuanians in Russian Literary and Chancery Sources of the Late 16th and Early 17th Centuries

The paper inte nds to highlight what the learned Muscovite perception of Russia’s Western neighbour, Poland Lithuania was in an era of intensive conflict represented by the Livonian War (1558 1583) and the Time of Troubles (1598 1613). The sources analysed convey the mes sage that the wars waged by Russia were religious wars. The paper gives the outlines of the emergence of the anti Latin attitude in Russia from the 13 th century on and explores the appearance of the stereotype, the “Polish Lithuanian people” common in the sources of early 17 th century Muscovy.

Передумови здійснення московського проєкту "Відродження православної церкви" в Русі-Україні (кінець XVI - перші десятиліття XVII століття)

The new conceptual key, based on historical and dogmatic-canonical sources, examines the preconditions of the event, which is known in historiography as the "revival of the Orthodox Church" or "Orthodox hierarchy" in Ruthenia in 1620 within three components – the interest of the Moscow state in restoring / creating an alternative to the legitimate Ruthenian Union Church ununited Orthodox Church, the attitude of Polish authorities to the union process in Ruthenia and the peculiarities of the opposition of the ununited Orthodox Church supporters in Ruthenia itself to the unifying church movement. The Union (Unija) of the Ruthenian Church with the Catholic Church, laid down unique conditions for the іnternal strengthening of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita) and significantly complicated the possibility of Moscow's expansion into Europe. This was all the more significant because Moscow's military defeats lasted from the 1580s (Livonian War) to the 1630s. The situation of military-political isolation and humiliation of international status threatened Moscow to be supplemented by ideological and confessional isolation. Under these circumstances, the Moscow state relied on the possibility of internal weakening of the Commonwealth by maintaining and developing relations with the Ruthenian clergy and church fraternities that opposed the union with Rome and sought to restore the legitimacy of the ununited Orthodox Church in Ruthenia. Also in the first decades of the XVII century the ununited Orthodox clergy, representing the ancient Eastern patriarchates in the Ottoman Empire, became more active. With the loss of the schism of the church hierarchy, foreign clergy, especially the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Jerusalem, were able to influence the situation and interfere in the church life of Ruthenia. In particular, the efforts of the Metropolitan of Sofia Neophyte in 1612 in the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Monastery created an alternative center of church life and administration, which was at the local level in opposition to the legitimate Metropolitan of Kiev Ruthenian Union Church (Hypatius Potius, 1541–1613). As the foreign non-aligned Orthodox clergy of the Eastern Patriarchates were closely linked to Moscow in receiving financial assistance and mutual political cooperation, Muscovy gained an additional tool to influence Ruthenia and, indirectly, the Commonwealth. It was the foreign Orthodox hierarchs – Patriarch Theophanes III of Jerusalem, Metropolitan Neophyte of Sofia, Bishop Avrahamii of Stragon in 1620 who ordained new hierarchs for the ununited Orthodox Church in Ruthenia. Led by the secretly ordained Kyiv Metropolitan Yov Boretsky, the new hierarchy was already entirely focused on cooperation with Moscow, financially dependent on Moscow and dependent on ideological and political cooperation with schismatic Moscow.

The problem of teaching controversial issues of history in a comprehensive school on the example of the Livonian War

В статье автор акцентирует внимание на возможных проблемах при преподавании Ливонской войны в школе. Делает вывод о необходимости корректировки терминологии, причин, итогов, временных рамок для правильного понимания и значения данного исторического события.

Die Reichstagsteilnahme des livländischen Deutschordenszweiges und seine Beziehungen mit dem deutschen Zweig (ca. 1520‒1560)

The participation of the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order at the Imperial Diets and its relations with the German branch (from the 1520s to the 1550s) This article discusses the relations of Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order with the German branch from the secularization of Prussia (1525) to the beginning of the Livonian War (1558), and concentrates on the topics that were connected with the participation of the Order at the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire. Before the aforementioned period, the branches had very few direct connections, and relations of the Livonian branch with the Empire were usually mediated by the Grand Master of the Order. After 1525, the German Master largely took over the role of a mediator, as he became the acting head of the Order and had close relations with the central Imperial institutions. The latter became increasingly important for the Livonian Master, who became an Imperial prince most probably on the 24th of December 1526. This enabled him to participate in the Imperial Diets. At the Diets, the branches represented their interests usually separately. This was partially caused by the fact that these diverged quite strongly: while the German branch aspired for the recuperation of Prussia, tried to protect the Order’s possessions from increasing intrusions of German princes, and paid the Turkish taxes to obtain support from the Emperor; the Livonian branch wanted to obtain support against the Russian threat and rivals inside Livonia, while also trying to avoid paying Imperial taxes. Additionally, the Duke of Prussia was the neighbour of Livonia with whom the Livonian branch usually tried to maintain normal relations. Nevertheless, the branches communicated quite actively during the Diets and supported each other, at least in a rhetorical capacity. Additionally, Livonian envoys normally went firstly to the German Master for consultations and headed to the Diets only thereafter. Thus, the communication was quite vivid, but did not leave many marks to the official documentation, as especially the Livonian branch preferred to represent itself as a separate and independent member of the Empire in front of the Imperial Estates.

The State Administration of the German Colonies of the Russian Empire in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

German migration to the Russian state has a long history. Between the sixteenth and the mid-eighteenth centuries, prisoners of war captured during the Livonian War (1558–1583) and persons invited to Russia by the Muscovite grand princes and Russian tsars (Ivan III, Ivan IV, Peter I, etc.) settled in Russia. In the second half of the eighteenth century, the resettlement of Germans became part of the state’s migration policy, which determined the fate of one of the empire’s most numerous ethnic minorities for many decades. This article deals with changes to the administration of German rural settlements in the Russian Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century. This period was important for the legal status of foreign colonies due to the adoption of the Statute of Colonies of 1857, which provided detailed regulation of the rights and obligations of foreign colonists. One of the tasks of the political, economic, and social reforms of the 1860s–1870s was the unification of the rural population and the elimination of the social exclusivity of foreign colonists. A pragmatic approach regarding the use of colonists for the settlement and rational development of empty territories brought positive results for these regions. The analysis here makes it possible to consider the measures taken by the Russian authorities to streamline the legislation, norms, and rules for the economic, administrative, everyday, and spiritual life of German colonists. With the help of comparative analysis, the authors study changes in state policy towards foreign colonists and the abolition of privileges as a result of the adoption of the law “the supremely approved rules about the management of settler-owners (former colonists)” on 4 June 1871. The study makes it possible to assess the impact of large-scale administrative changes on various spheres of life and activities of the German colonists, a separate category of the Russian Empire’s population.

РЕЧЬ АЛЬБРЕХТА БРАНДЕНБУРГСКОГО НА КОРОНАЦИИ СИГИЗМУНДА II АВГУСТА И МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЕ ОТНОШЕНИЯ В ПРИБАЛТИКЕ В XVI В.

The struggle for control over trade routes in the Baltic Sea, which began in the 16th century, has left a controversial mark in the history of the Baltic states. On the one hand, it launched the processes of the formation of new state models, and on the other hand, it led to an internal crisis and the decline of some Baltic states, one of which was the Old Livonia. This article presents a previously unpublished document reflecting an important stage in the actualization of the system of ties between the figure of the Polish-Lithuanian monarch and the archbishops of Riga. This political and legal concept was used by Sigismund II Augustus to expand political influence and substantiate the legitimacy of his actions in Livonia on the eve and at the initial stage of the Livonian War. The prerogative of patronage of the Jagiellons connected to the medieval tradition and had a seignorial-paternalistic basis, subsequently playing the role of a legal basis for the final registration of citizenship relations. The document can be used to reconstruct the features of political consciousness characteristic of the legal field in the 16th century, as well as to expand ideas about the dynamics of the development of state and legal systems in the earlier modern era.

ВПЛИВ ЛІВОНСЬКОЇ ВІЙНИ НА ВСТАНОВЛЕННЯ САМОДЕРЖАВНОЇ МОНАРХІЇ В МОСКОВСЬКІЙ ДЕРЖАВІ В ДРУГІЙ ПОЛОВИНІ XVI СТОЛІТТЯ

Мета статті полягає в розкритті деяких аспектів, пов’язаних із проведенням російською владою політики возз’єднання західноросійських (білоруських) і південноросійських (українських) земель у складі Московської дер- жави. Автор вважає, що після розпаду Золотої Орди Московська держава прагнула зайняти місце, що звільнило полюса геополітичної сили в прикордонні Східної Європи та Північно-Західної Азії. Однак на роль гегемона східноєвропейського простору також претендувала польсько-литовська унія. У дослідженні автором розглядаються основні передумови встановлення самодержавного ладу в Московській державі та спроби з боку царської влади проводити політику об’єднання східнослов’янських земель. Акцентується увага на тому, що основні причини, які призвели до Лівонської війни, були зумовлені конфліктом між Московсь- кою державою та Великим князівством Литовським через західноросійські й південноросійські території. Уряд Великого князівства Литовського прагнув не допустити посилення Московської держави з її виходом до Балтійського моря. Автор вважає, що утвердження опричнини було пов’язане з потрясіннями Російсько-Литовської війни та пер- шими важкими ураженнями царських військ. Це був репресивний захід, спрямований проти служивих людей, які становили основну масу емігрантів, що прямувала до Великого князівства Литовського. З XV століття й аж до кінця XVII століття відбувалася досить напружена боротьба за представників стану військовиків між польсь- ко-литовською унією та Московською державою. Оцінка подій XVI століття дає автору змогу зазначити, що основним напрямом зовнішньої політики Московської держави був західний, за якого російський уряд прагнув возз’єднати західноросійські землі та про- водив експансію в Прибалтиці. Натомість на півдні та сході Москва вела оборонні війни.

Rīgas humānistu motīvs Roalda Dobrovenska romānā „Magnus, dāņu princis”

The novel “Magnus, the Danish Prince” by the Russian diaspora in Latvia writer Roald Dobrovensky is seen as a specific example of a biographical and historical genre, which embodies the historical experience of different eras and nations in the confrontation of globalisation and national self-determination. At the heart of the novel are the Livonian War and the historical role and human destiny of Magnus (1540–1683) – the Danish prince of the Oldenburg dynasty, the first and the only king of Livonia. The motif of Riga’s humanists is seen both as one of the main ideological driving forces of the novel and as a marginal reflection in Magnus’s life story. Acknowledged historical sources have been used in the creation of the novel: Baltazar Rusov’s “Livonian Chronicle”; Nikolai Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State”; Alexander Janov’s “Russia: 1462–1584. The Beginning of the Tragedy. Notes of the Nature and Formation of Russian Statehood” etc. In connection with the concept of Riga humanists, another fictitious document created by the writer Dobrovensky himself is especially important, namely, the diary of Johann Birke – Magnus’s interpreter, a person with a double identity, “half-Latvian”, “half-German”. It is a message of an alternative to the well-known historical documents, which allows to turn the Livonian historical narrative in the direction of “letocentrism” and raises the issue of the ethnic identity of Riga’s humanists. Along with the deconstruction of the historically documented image of Livonian King Magnus, the thematic structure of the novel is dominated by identity aspects related to the Livonian historical narrative. Dobrovensky, with his novel, raises an important question – what does the medieval Livonia, Europe’s common intellectual heritage, mean for contemporary Latvia and the human society at large? Dobrovensky’s work is also a significant challenge in strengthening emotional ties with Livonia (which were weakened in the early stages of national historiography due to conflicts over the founding of nation-states).

Livonia and depiction of Russians at Imperial diets before the Livonian Warr

The paper observes depictions of the Russians and the Grand Duchy of Moscow at the Imperial Diets from the beginning of the 15th century to the 1550s. The Russians could be presented as schismatics or even infidels that threaten (Western) Christendom just like Ottoman Turks; or as fellow Christians with whom church union or at least a political alliance might be possible. Russian-related topics were usually presented by central branch of the Teutonic Order, the King of Poland or Livonian territories, who used negative depiction as a rhetorical tool to achieve certain political goals. Both the Order and Poland used the Russians in Teutonic-Polish conflict over Prussia, in which case they were described and compared with non-Christian enemies: the Tatars and the Turks. Additionally, the Order often claimed that in order to help Livonia, it should be exempted from taxes, or that possessions and lands should be reinstated to it. The Livonians used Russian threat rhetoric also to get exempted of some Imperial obligations, especially taxes, and with a clear success. Sometimes, the Livonians asked direct help against Moscow, but without success even during the war times. Partially, it might be connected with the competing narrative: since the 1490s, Moscow was then and again proposed as possible ally against Turks. Then, interest towards Moscow also rose in the Empire due to contacts between King Maximilian I with Ivan III and Vasiliy III. In the end, neither of these two narratives became dominant at the Imperial Diets before the Livonian War, and even during the war, when Anti-Russian propaganda was intensified, the positive narrative persisted; perhaps because it already had quite long roots.