Report of a foreign traveller on coins, measures, and prices in early sixteenth century Russia (V. Potin)

The original text of some notes, dated 1518, by Dietrich Schonberg, a confidential agent of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, is published in a somewhat abridged form (in parts little concerned with numismatics); it is accompanied by a Russian translation and some critical comments of the author of the present paper. Schonberg visited Muscovy twice, in 1517 and 1518; his text is a report on all matters of interest to a party engaged in active trade relations with Russia. It contains information on the principal items of Russian foreign trade, on systems of weights and measures in use in Moscow, Pskov, and Novgorod; on conditions of travel, the toll money, etc. Of great importance to numismatic studies is Schonberg's evidence concerning Russian coin systems, and the value of foreign money (Hungarian ducats, Prussian marks and groschen, etc.) in Russian currency of the period. Schonberg's report, so far but little studied, is an important source of historical knowledge.