Editors’ foreword

Abstract

Dear readers!

We bring to your attention the first issue of the third volume of the “Caurus” scientific journal. Most of it consists of the results of current research announced during the breakout sessions of the International Scientific and Practical Conference “IV Baltic Historical Readings. Disagreements and conflicts in the Baltic Communication Space in the Middle Ages and Modern Times”. The publication of the conference materials is expected to continue in subsequent issues of the journal.

The issue opens with an article by Yu. I. Tsareva (Moscow) devoted to the sources of legal regulation of commercial activities of foreign merchants in England. An important place in the study is occupied by the analysis of the degree of influence of the Crown and Parliament on the trade privileges of foreign merchants in England, primarily on the number of duties that determined the trade profitability, as well as the contradictions between the king and the House of Commons on these issues. The author also pays great attention to the regulation of the commercial activities of the Steelyard, one of the four Hanseatic offices located in London.

The article by I. O. Tyumentsev (Volgograd) and N. E. Tyumentseva (Volgograd) is devoted to the Russian-Swedish alliance and the actions of the Swedish expeditionary force during the Time of Troubles and is somewhat controversial in nature. The authors entered into a polemic with Swedish historiography on the issue of the influence of Swedish troops on the victory over the supporters of False Dmitry II. In addition, the authors challenged the opinion which existed in Soviet historiography about the nature of the Swedish intervention in the territories of the Russian Northwest, defining it as open. At the same time, the authors also highlighted the positive aspects of the Russian-Swedish union.

A.V. Vostrov's research (St. Petersburg) is devoted to the transformation of the system of land roads of the Neva lands and the Karelian Isthmus during the 17th century. A wide range of written sources of Russian and Swedish origin, including references to cartographic material, allowed the author to restore a dense network of land communications within the Novgorod land and neighboring Finnish territories. The author managed to trace the transformation of the land communications system throughout the 17th century on the Karelian Isthmus and in the Neva lands and identify general trends in their development, primarily related to the growth of the military-strategic importance of the region in the politics of Sweden and Russia, which was especially clearly manifested on the Swedish side, in particular, in the construction of fortresses, especially Niena, and in the organization of the postal service.

The article by A. R. Dzhioeva (St. Petersburg) provides an overview of maps and plans of a part of the Collection of handwritten maps and the Collection of Peter the Great of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences relating to the Baltic region of the first half of the 18th century. The author reviewed geographical and hydrographic monuments, civil engineering projects and architectural drawings, the materials of foreign origin and original domestic works, military landscape and topographic maps and plans and fortification drawings are especially highlighted. Also, based on watermarks, the author has made attribution of a number of sources. It is important to note that the author fits the appearance of certain cartographic materials into the foreign policy context of the Russian state history or into domestic economic development projects.

The section with sources contains an article by A. V. Ushakov (Veliky Novgorod), which reflects the results of the researcher's search work to identify documents containing information about the business activities of the Revalfahrer Corporation in the collection of letters from the Lubeck City Council to the magistrate in Reval, stored in the Tallinn City Archive. They present the specifics of the interaction of the Revalfahrer with the Lubeck City Council, the mechanism for hiring soldiers on merchant ships and the specifics of paying them salaries, as well as the specifics of chartering merchant ships. The full transcriptions of four letters from Magistrate Lubeck to Revel are placed by the author in the Appendix to this article and are annotated in Russian, as well as the necessary comments.

The section of the journal devoted to reviews of scientific events opens with a message by V. V. Grokhotova (Veliky Novgorod), which presents a report on the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Summer School "The Russian Northwest and the Hansa in the light of interdisciplinary research", held from July 2 to 9, 2023 at the Humanitarian Institute of Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University. The review presents the topics of lectures and practical exercises that were offered to the participants of the summer school, as well as the nature of the excursions organized within the framework of the school.

1. V. Sazonov (Moscow) and A.V. Savchenko (Moscow) presented an overview of the round table of young scientists "Dialogue between East and West in the Middle Ages: Politics, Economics, Culture", held on November 3, 2023 at Moscow Pedagogical State University. The review outlines not only the topics of the reports presented at the round table, but also presents the main results of relevant research presented by the participants.

Dear readers, we hasten to inform you that since 2023, the editorial board of the “Caurus” journal has changed the frequency of issues. Focusing on the requirements of the Higher Attestation Commission, the “Caurus” journal shifts to four issues per year. As before, all readers will be provided with free access to the full texts of all published materials on the official website of the online periodical.

M. B. Bessudnova, A. V. Ushakov