The Marselises family clan in the Russian North

The article tells about representatives of the Marselises, a merchant family, natives of the North German lands of the General States (the Dutch Republic). In the XXVII century, P. G. Marselis and his sons - Leonty, Peter (senior) and Peter (Jr.) - played a prominent role in the development of the export trade of the Moscow state. The Marsalises participated in political and diplomatic life of the country; they traded mast forest, fish, blubber and weapons in the North; near Tula they founded a metallurgical enterprise, and from the middle of 1660s they took part in the construction of mining factories in the lands of Olonets County. It is obvious that the “Mining” project on the territory of Obonezhye region, the search of copper ore in Foimoguba parish and organization of private industry created preconditions for a large state-owned metallurgical industry development later on the territory of Karelia. The analysis of the intricate subjects related to Olonets activities of the three “Peters” Marselises is of particular significance. No less important is the analysis of the little-explored history of the division of the Marselises’ property. The struggle for the tribal inheritance in the Onega lake region began after P. G. Marselis’ death in 1672 and subsequent deaths of P. Marselis (senior) in 1675, his son H. P. Marselis in 1690, and then P. Marselis (jr.) in 1696. The article is richly supplied by documents from a collection of significant Russian archives as well as by rare archival materials published in the anthologies “The Feudal Manufactory in Russia” and “Additions to Historical Acts”.