Pious barbarians under the tyrants’ rule: Muscovites in the "Universal cosmography" by Andr'e Th'evet (1575)

The article examines the image of Russians («Muscovites») in the «Universal Cosmography» (1575) by A. Thévet (1516–1592). Using data from the «Notes» by S. Herberstein (1549), he portrayed them as members of some «middle» cultural world. It was attributed neither to the savage-idolaters society nor to the Christian West, which stood on top of an imaginary hierarchy of civilizations. As a catholic, A. Thévet perceived the Muscovites as a people separated from the «true Church», but capable to union, pious and traditionalist. In other words he saw at the Muscovy, that the West during Reformation needed.