The Prehistory of Innovations in The Russian Funeral Ceremony (Vasily M. Tyapkin at the Burial of Jan II Kazimierz and Michał Wiśniowiecki)

Abstract

There is an opinion that the fi rst detailed description of certain aspects of the Western (royal) funeral rite appeared in Russia along with a description of the funeral procession in 1558-1559 of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Much more information contain reports of the Russian diplomat Vasily M. Tyapkin, who visited the burial of Kings Jan II Kazimierz and Michał Wiśniowiecki in Rzeczpospolita (1674, 1676). A unique example in Russian diplomatic practice of the age, these recordings expanded the ideas of the anatomical aspects of the funeral ritual, its public character, the use of state symbols, military paraphernalia, music, etc. Many of the things listed by the resident were used later in the Western-style funerals of Peter the Great’s associate Franz Lefort, in the “sad ceremonies” as a whole of the eighteenth and partly nineteenth centuries. This Moscow diplomat’s information also complements sources, in particular, on some aspects of the action with the heart of King Michał. The thoroughness of fi xing all the procedures suggests that Tyapkin used some ready-made sources of information, which really existed. Tyapkin’s reports, which were abundant in details, anticipated many innovations of Peter I and his followers, showed that Peter’s reforms of the funeral ritual could have a Polish-Lithuanian source.