История одной мистификации… Хотя нет – даже двух мистификаций…

Уже много лет среди отечественных любителей истории «гуляют» рассказы о чудо-коллекции некого Соттера, в которой хранятся куча редчайший вещей на петровскую эпоху, в т.ч. русские и шведские гренадерские шапки. Некоторые «знатоки» на рассказах о том, что они якобы видели или точно знают о предметах из этой коллекции, даже успели стать «экспертами», правда в пределах строго определенных веб-форумов. Ибо вне форумов и посиделок за пивом с такими же «знатоками» распространяться об этих вещах вряд ли стоит… Причина сему предельна проста: НИКТО за пределами России об этой частной шведской коллекции НЕ ЗНАЕТ (для шведов известия о ней открытие, точнее они слышали о ней, но только от «видных петровских реконструкторов») и НИКТО и НИКОГДА ее не видел…  

Swedish High Sea Fleet 1789

Unexpectedly I found a list of Swedish fleet in my archive. The source is unknown (maybe Courier magazine?)

Desperately looking for anyone who has seen Sotter’s collection or knows any profound info about it!

Dear blog visitors,

I heard a lot of rumors about Sotter’s private collection. Popular version is that it includes several Russian GNW grenadier caps & other items. But I can’t find anyone who saw the collection or knows any details/profound info.

I know that my blog is visited by people from many countries. If anybody knows any details about Sotter’s collection please let me know in Comments to this post or by e-mail: gromoboy (at) mail.ru

Looking forward to your reply,

Vlad

Polish-Saxon uniform of 1729

In 1729 Polish king & Saxon Kurfurst August introduced new uniform pattern both for Saxon & Polish-Lithuanian armies. Below is a plate with uniforms of the Polish regiment of Crown Guard (Gwardia Piesza). Interesting moment: the units was raised in 1717. The previous regiment of the Crown Guard was renamed into Crown Prince (Krolewecza) because of its support of Stanislaw Leshinski during GNW 

Sukhotin Dragoons colors lost at Jakobstadt in 1704




Company color of Sukhotin Dragoons (revers)

Lost on July 251700 at Jakobstadt

(State Trophy Collection, Army Museum, Stokholm)



Company color of Sukhotin Dragoons (avers)
Lost on July 251700 at Jakobstadt
(State Trophy Collection, Army Museum, Stokholm)

Swedish Trophy Collection has colours of Sukhotin (Tverskoy) Dragoons. It lost its regimental and two company colours at Jakobstadt on 25 July 1704. The Regimental colour is 90x140 cm, white with golden state eagle under 3 crowns. Company’s colors are a dark yellow silk, 59x68 cm. On one side is St. Iokin the Warrior with 6 stars, on the other a golden cross. Also, there is a note (in Russian) on both sides: “драгунскаго полку полковника Григорiя Андреевича Сухотина» = “Colonel Grigoriy Sukhotin’s Dragoon regiment”. These colours are interesting because of the saint’s image. It is the only known instance of the use of a saint’s image on a colour from Peter’s reign. The use of an image of a saint was more common in the 17th Century. Sukhotin took over the regiment in March 1703 in Novgorod, so the colours were manufactured soon after that. By the end of 1704, Sukhotin’s Dragoons got 3 new colours of unknown pattern as a replacement for those lost at Jakobstadt.



Regimental color of Sukhotin Dragoons
Lost on July 251700 at Jakobstadt
(State Trophy Collection, Army Museum, Stokholm)

Belavenetc (Белавенец П.И. Краткая записка о старых русских знаменах. СПб,  1911, с. 46) mistook & decided that avers & reverse of the company’s color belonged to 2 different colors. He assumed that the side with the saint’s image was regimental color & the side with the cross was company’s.  

Swedish army at Lagena on 19/29 Nov of 1700 (Inspection of the Royal army the day before Narva battle)

Carl XII combined his troops landed at Pernau with Welling’s Corps at Rujen in the end of October. By the beginning of November 3 foot (Halsinge, Abo tremanning, Tavastehus teremmaning) & 1 cavalry (Abo tremanning) were transferred from Finland to Reval. They joined the main army about 10 of Nov at Wesenberg. The final inspection at Lagena the day before the battle presented 101 coys & 10 battalions, totaled 10,537 men with 37 cannons.

Very important moment: Swedish BO at Narva includes 21 “battalions”. But they are “field formations”, not org units. For example, Livgardet till fot was of 4 battalions, 16 coys. At Narva they formed 6 “field battalions” of 4-4-2-2-2-2 coys (total 16). See Notes for details

	Regiment	Commander		Coys	Men	Notes
Infantry
1	Livgardet till  fot	generalmajoren  friherre Knut Posse		16	1700	(1)
2	Dalregementet	översten   greve   Magnus Stenbock

Pskov Streltzy in 1700 campaign. Changes in their structure in 1630-1700s & colors in 1700.

Novgorod Division (Corps) under Prince Trubetskoy at Narva in 1700 included 2 Prikazes (regiments) of Streltzy from Pskov: Yuri Westov & Vasiliy Kozodavlev. They were of 5 “sotnia” (unit/coy of 100 men) each. Local Streltzy garrison in Pskov appeared in 16 century. In 1620-90s it’s strength increased from 1,000 to 2,000:

Company color of the 1st Pskov Streltzy Prikaz
under Ivan Kokoshkin, made in 1693
Lost in October 1700 at Izmen
(State Trophy Collection, Army Museum, Stokholm)

1626/27 – 2 Prikazes each of 5 Sotnia, totaled 1,000 Streltzy

1633 – 2 Prikazes (P. Nogin & N. Annenkov) each of 5 Sotnia, totaled 1,000 Streltzy plus started the forming of the 3^rd Prikaz under F. Khomutov

1644 – 3 Prikazes (V. Kolobov, P. Turov & N. Loginov) totaled 13 Sotnia, 1,300 men

1653 – 3 Prikazes (I. Bukhvostov, I. Sumorokov, E. Ofrosimov), 13 Sotnia, real strength 1,010 men

1655 – 3 Prikazes (G. Veliashev, V. Butenev, I. Sumorokov) each of 5 Sotnia

1656 – 4^th Prikaz created

1667 – 4 Prikazes (S. Sverbeev, A. Obrutin, M. Kozin, B. Kniazyn), 20 Sotnia, real strength 1,572 men

Company color of Pskov Streltzy
under D. Zagoskin (1699)
Lost in November 1700 at Narva
(Petrelli T.J. Narvatrofeer. Uppsala-Stockholm, 1907. Pl 1)

1677 - 4 Prikazes, 20 Sotnia

1680 – 5 Prikazes, 20 Sotnia (5, 2, 4, 5 & 4 per Prikaz). 5^th Prikaz created from ex-soldiers of Novgorod foot regiment of New Model raised in 1657.

1687 – 4 Prikazes (S. Kozodavlev, S. Trofimov, V. Belevtcov, G. Burdukevich), 20 Sotnia, 2,000 men. 1^st Prikaz had rights & privileges of Moscow Streltzy. Ex-soldiers from the disbanded 5^th Prikaz were in the 4^th Prikaz.

1699 – 2 Prikazes (D. Zagoskin, Y. Westov), 20 Sotnia, 1,919 real strength

In 1700 2 Prikazes of 1,000 were converted into 4 of 500. Two of them (Y. Westov, V. Kozodavlev) were at Narva, one was in expedition to Izmen & one, evidently, stayed in Pechory.

Colors of Pskov Streltzy are described in details in the Inventory of Pskov of 1699. Zagoskin’s Prikaz colors were decorated with State Eagle & images of saints. All 11 (regimental + 10 company’s) were of an individual pattern. Westov’s colors were azur & decorated with Pskov arms.  

Swedish forces landed in Pernau on 10/11 of October 1700

Carl XII landed in Pernau with 10 mounted coys, 10 battalions & about 340 artillerymen, totaled about 4 700. The strength is estimated & based on the inspection dated Nov 18 (the day before Narva battle)

	Troop	Coys	Est strength
1	Drabantkåren	2	150
2	Kunglig Majestäts Livregemente dragoner	8	520
		10	670
Infantry
	Kunglig Majestäts Livgardet till fot	16	1700
	Dalregementet	8	670
	Västmanlands regemente	8	560
	Närke-Värmlands regemente	8	740
		40	3 670
	Artillery		340

Polish infantry uniforms 1717-20s

The Seim of 1717 approved a new staff of Polish-Lithuanian army. Polish infantry consisted of 6 regiments & 3 choragwies, totalled 4 996 men (8 000 portions). First their uniforms was not regulated strong, but in 1720s they received the same uniforms as Saxons (red coats with lapels & cuffs in regimental color).

Regiments:
1. Gwardii Pieszej (24 coys, each of 70 men, incl. 53 soldiers)
2. Krolowej (8 coys, each of 77 men, incl. 62 soldiers)

Bad news... Northernwars.com is closed...

Dan Schoor wrote me that he had closed his outstanding site http://www.northenwars.com/. It was the best web-site about Northern wars 1600-1700s...  That's such a pitty...

New Zeughause magazine (# 37) has been published

New issue of Zeughause magasine with my article about Colors of the Russian army in Narva campaign of 1700 has been published. In couple of months I will place here in the blog it's English summary

Polish cavalry uniforms 1700-17

One more plate by unknown author. It presents uniforms of the Polish cavalry during GNW. Polish dragoons were in fact usual line cavalry. Arkebuzeria were equal to cuirassiers.
In 1700 arkabuzeria numbered about 800 men in 6 choragwies, dragonia - 2,300 men in 3 regiments & 3 frei companies. (Wimmer. p. 137)

Polish infantry uniforms 1717

In my archive I found a set of the plates with Polish-Lithuanian uniforms 1717-94. I obtained them in 2003 & now I don't remember how it happened. The author is unknown.
The plate is based on the drawings from Gembarzewski Bronislaw, Zolnierz polski. Ubior, uzbrojenie i oporzadzenie. T. 2 od r. 1697 do r. 1794.

Russian BO at Narva on 19/30 Nov, 1700 by Fer & Wolff.

There is no any Russian documents about Russian BO at Narva on 19/30 Nov, 1700. The only available data are from Swedish side. As far as I know the earliest plan with Russian BO was made by Nicolas de Fer (1646-1720) in 1701 in Paris.

Plan de Narva... 30 Novembre 1700
by N. de Fer, Paris, 1701
(Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal)

The best known map is from Adlerfeld’s The military history of Charles XII, King of Sweden (1740). It was was made by Zacharias Wolff (1667-1726), an engineer in the Holstein army. In 1700 he was Oberstleutnant and Vice-Commandant of Tonning fortress. So, he didn’t participate in the Narwa battle. The sources he based on are unknown. The exact date of his map is also unknown.

Plan de la ville de Narva... 20 de November 1700
by Z. von Wolff, no data

Comparison of the Fer’s & Wolff’s BOs with list of Russian troops participated in the Narva campaign.

Important note: troops in Fer’s & Wolff’s plans are given in battle order; Russian sources don’t have any BO, only a list of troops

#	N. de Fer		Z. Wolff’s BO	Russian sources	Comments
		Right flank (Golovin’s Division)
1	Preobrazenskiy		Preobrazenskiy	Preobrazenskiy	In beg. Of 1700: 1st half of 3rd Moscow Vyborni regiment
2	Semenovskiy		Semenovskiy	Semenovskiy	In beg. Of 1700: 2ndt half of 3rd Moscow Vyborni regiment
3	Fliverck		Fliverck	Fliverck
4	Schnevens		Schnevens	Schnevens	Dragoons
5	Ivanicki		Ivanicki	Ivanicki
6	Meves		Meves	Meves

Swedish forces in Baltic provinces, Sept 1700

The table below is combined from several sources.

	Regiment	Coys	Strength	Comments
Riga garrison under FM E. Dahlberg
	Abo inf. Reg.	3	400	In Spring 1701 – 376 men
	Bjorneborg inf. Reg.	2	250	In Spring 1701 – 224 men
	Tavastehus inf. Reg.	2	250	In Spring 1701 – 243 men
	Savolaks inf. Reg.	3	350	In Spring 1701 – 313 men
	Viborg inf. Reg.	3	250	In Spring 1701 – 328 men
	Nyland inf. Reg.	3	400	In Spring 1701 – 364 men
	Osterbotten inf. Reg.	8	850	In Spring 1701 – 824 men
	Guvernementsregementet i Riga	8	850
	Garnisonsregementet i Riga	8	750
	Livland Adelsfan	4	320
	A coy from Finish regiment	1	70
		40+5	4 750	Estimated strength
Corps under G-o-C O. Welling at Rujen
	Combined Finish IR under G.A. Mellin	8	950	Formed from detached coys of Riga garrison
	Abo cav. Reg.	8	900	On 18/29 Nov: 750 men in 7 coys
	Nyland Cav. Reg.	8	750
	Karelska Cav. Reg.	8	700