The Ambassador’s Report of Zakharia Meyer on the Trip to Moscow

A previously unpublished 16th-century diplomatic report by Zakhariah Meyer of Lübeck reveals the successful initiation of a strategic program to strengthen the Hanseatic League's position in Western European trade with Russia. Meyer’s account, preserved in the Archives of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, documents his missions to Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich’s court in 1586–1587 and includes original German texts of tsarist letters, translations of correspondence between the tsar and Russian governors, and Meyer’s petitions. The report highlights Lübeck’s efforts to bypass Livonian intermediaries—disrupted by the Livonian War—and asserts its leadership in supplying Russian exports to Europe. Additionally, it provides rare insights into the operations and administrative dependencies of Hanseatic trading courts in Novgorod and Pskov, contrasting them with their autonomous heyday. This work sheds light on the League’s late 16th-century transformation and its diplomatic maneuvers during a pivotal period.

Bessudnova, M. B. (2021). The Ambassador’s Report of Zakharia Meyer on the Trip to Moscow. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History, 66(4), 1349–1378. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu02.2021.418