The Grand Embassy () was a Russian diplomatic mission to Western Europe from 9 March 1697 to 25 August 1698 led by Peter the Great.
Description
In 1697 and 1698, Peter the Great embarked on his Grand Embassy. The primary goal of the mission was to strengthen and broaden the Holy League, Russia's alliance with a number of European countries against the Ottoman Empire in the Russian struggle for the northern coastline of the Black Sea. The tsar also sought to hire foreign specialists for Russian service and to acquire military weapons.
Officially, the Grand Embassy was headed by the "grand ambassadors" Franz Lefort, Fedor Golovin and Prokopy Voznitsyn. In fact, it was led by Peter himself, who went along incognito under the name of Peter Mikhailov. At Peter was one of the tallest men in Europe, a fact very hard to disguise.
Peter conducted negotiations with Friedrich Casimir Kettler, the Duke of Courland, and concluded an alliance with King Frederick I of Prussia. He arrived in the Dutch Republic mid-August 1697, where he worked incognito as a shipbuilder from 1 September.
On 1 September Peter watched a mock fight which was repeated on his request several weeks later. While visiting the Amsterdam he learned to draw ships and to etch from Adam Silo and Ludolf Bakhuysen, painters of seascapes. Witsen introduced him to Frederik Ruysch, who taught him how to do sections, pull his subjects' teeth, and to catch butterflies. He met with Jan van der Heyden, the inventor of the fire hose. He visited Jacob de Wilde, who had a well-known collection of gems and coins, and his daughter Maria de Wilde made an engraving of the meeting between Peter and her father, providing visual evidence of "the beginning of the West European classical tradition in Russia". The Great Embassy visited the States General of the Netherlands to gain support against the Ottoman Empire in the Second Russo-Turkish War. When Peter did not receive this support, he left the hall and the astonished attendees, with his wig pulled over his head. On 16 January 1698 Peter organized a farewell party and invited Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen, who had to sit between Lefort and the Tsar and drink.
On 11 September or 9 November 1697 Peter met with William III, who governed both the Netherlands and England, and the States-General in October of that year. William was in Utrecht at the time. The encounter between the two rulers was recognized as a significant event (a medal to commemorate the occasion was created). In his desire for an alliance, Peter was prepared to support William in the Nine Years' War against France even though the final treaty would be signed nine days later.
Peter failed to expand the anti-Ottoman alliance. The Grand Embassy had to limit itself to acquiring different equipment and hiring foreign specialists especially in military and naval affairs. In October 1697, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek visited the Tsar on his boat, moored in the Schie or at the Arsenaal. On this occasion he presented the Tsar with an "eel-viewer", so Peter could study blood circulation whenever he wanted.
On invitation from William, Peter visited England in 1698. He left on 18 January 1698 from Hellevoetsluis and stayed for 105 days.
Visit to England
Peter and part of the Embassy arrived in England on 11 January 1698 (Old Style), and left on 21 April. His entourage included four chamberlains, three interpreters, two clocksmiths, a cook, a priest, six trumpeters, 70 soldiers as tall as their monarch, four dwarves, and a monkey. The party landed at the Watergate to York House, built in 1672 by George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.
Peter met with King William and his court frequently on informal bases, keeping to his preferred method of traveling through Europe. By February, the English king inquired on the date of Peter's departure after tactics of cutting the Russians daily allowances and denying their requests for horse and a carriage didn't work. The Russian czar eventually picked a date in end of April.
At the behest of the king, Peregrine Osborne, Marquess of Carmarthen (later Duke of Leeds) designed a yacht for him, which was named the Royal Transport. Carmarthen also became a drinking companion to the tsar. Peter was delighted that the Englishman could keep up with his consumption of alcohol. A legend was created of their drinking: the pub the two men frequented changed its name to Czar of Muscovy (the establishment no longer in existence but a street in London, Muscovy Street, today bears its name from that heritage)