Freiherr Sigmund von Herberstein (1486–1566)
Comentari della Moscovia [Commentaries on Muscovy]
Venice: Giovanni Battista Pedrezzano, 1550
NYPL, Rare Books Division

Sigmund von Herberstein was without a doubt the best and most popular expert on Muscovy in Europe – his Commentaries appeared in more than twelve editions in various languages in the 16th century alone. He was familiar with a Slavic language, so he could converse with the Russians after a fashion, and as a senior diplomat for the Habsburgs, he was afforded audiences with the highest authorities (Grand Prince Vasilii III; r. 1505–33, depicted here, was one of Herberstein’s hosts). He also possessed a sharp eye for ethnographic detail.

Herberstein provides one of the most comprehensive portraits of 16th-century Muscovite society and customs provided by an eyewitness, covering everything – geography, the postal system, customs, rites and ceremonies, social and gender status, and even coinage.

Herberstein's observations as to the depth of Muscovite attachment to Orthodox Christianity (and hostility to Roman Catholicism) were particularly insightful, as many in the west still considered reunification of the eastern and western churches, under the authority of the pope in Rome, a possibility.