The Secret History of Moscow’s Rise: The Venetian Trail and the Oprichnina

However, none of this comes even close to the real causes. A crucial part of the story — a covert foreign economic and political operation — has been ignored. It was through this scheme that Moscow was ultimately grafted onto the Western world as a raw-material appendage.

A key role in this process was played by the Venetian-turned-English trade and financial group, which took form as “The Muscovy Company.” This consortium, shielded by an English royal charter, essentially functioned as a financial institution affiliated with the Venetian oligarchy — the most experienced and cynical of all European mercantile elites of the time.

📜 Moscow for Sale: The Economic Logic Behind the Oprichnina

The Venetians didn’t just buy furs in Muscovy. They bought influence. The “Muscovy Company,” which received unique trading privileges from Ivan the Terrible in 1555, became an instrument for deeper intrusion into the power structure. In exchange for deliveries of weapons, money, and mercenaries — Ivan effectively handed over his lands for foreign colonization in a soft form.

Desperately needing a professional army and funds for the Livonian war (which served the interests of the “Muscovy Company”), he began systematically recruiting foreign Hofleute, knights, and adventurers, promising them land and estates instead of pay. Since the land was not unoccupied, the only way the usurper could quickly meet these obligations was by taking it from the boyars. This is how the oprichnina came into being.

In 1572, a 7,500-strong mercenary corps was formed in Livonia under the command of Yuri Frantzbekov (Jürgen Fransenbach). His estate was located near Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda — the tsar’s residence and the center of oprichnina terror. These mercenaries took part in wars against the Crimean Khan and in the Swedish campaign.

🏰 Land for Blood

The foreign mercenaries, in return for loyal service, received not only land and serfs, but also the status of Muscovite aristocracy. They weren’t simply paid salaries — they were granted land allotments that could be passed down to heirs. Thus arose a special fund of “service foreigners”: Ruthenians, Poles, Lithuanians, Serbs, Greeks, Germans — all compactly settled across strategic districts from Romanovsky to Rylsky.

This is precisely why the Muscovite service nobility of later times proudly disassociated itself from indigenous Tatar lineage. Many of them truly were descendants of those same Hofleute who had arrived via the Muscovy Company.

⚔️ Time of Troubles and the Role of Venetian Investors

After the assassination of False Dmitry, the Muscovite aristocracy wasn’t just fighting for the throne. Foreign money again became the decisive factor that “saved Moscow” from the Slavic incursion.

In 1608, Prince Skopin-Shuisky hired a corps of mercenaries from the Swedes. After the Battle of Klushino, part of these Hofleute remained in Muscovy. Some joined the famous “company of Bely Germans,” actively participating in the defense of Moscow.

The main financial flow came through Arkhangelsk, where British ships unloaded. In 1612, Englishmen, Scots, and Frenchmen engaged in battle against the Ruthenians, Poles, and their allies. Among them was Prince Arthur Aston, who was granted 2,200 desyatinas of land for his service, while his son received even more and an annual cash stipend.

A key detail: it was British and Venetian money that financed the formation of Minin and Pozharsky’s (Beklemishev’s) militia. Essentially, this was private military funding involving Tatar mercenaries. This explains the rapid formation of the militia and the successful retaking of Moscow in 1612.

🏦 Who Was Behind the Muscovy Company?

The company was founded in 1555 by Venetian merchants, including Sebastian Cabot and Richard Chancellor, with the goal of establishing trade ties with Moscow.

The company received monopoly rights for trade with Muscovy, allowing it to control the export of English goods such as wool and metals, and the import of Russian products like furs and hemp.

Trade was conducted through the port of Arkhangelsk, which became a key hub in Anglo-Muscovite relations.

The Muscovy Company served as a prototype for future English trade corporations like the East India Company and played a vital role in the development of English mercantilism.

Formally, the Muscovy Company was English. But it was financed and insured through Venice and Genoa — via the banks of the Giustiniani, Cornaro, and Pisani families. The company’s shareholders had close ties to the English court, while logistics were handled by experienced merchant-adventurers from Antwerp.

Antwerp families like the de Castros, de Moraeses, Gomeses, and Pisanis played a key role in trade with Moscow and maintained close relations with both English and Venetian houses.

In the 16th century, Moscow was viewed exclusively as a colony — a “new India”: vast, untapped, and potentially rich. Trade with it passed through Arkhangelsk, and licenses were issued only to selected companies, among them the Muscovy Company, which actively attracted capital and intermediaries from Antwerp.

In other words, Moscow was absorbed into a geo-economic operation, in which its tsardom became not a true autocracy, but a frontier zone of Venetian–English capitalism.

🧬 Conclusion: The Genetic Matrix of the Muscovite Elite

By the mid-17th century, a significant portion of the Muscovite aristocracy no longer had Slavic origins. Hence the urge to “distance themselves from the Tatars,” to invent myths of “blue blood,” and to fabricate noble lineages.

Moscow didn’t simply survive European influence. It was constructed and built with Venetian money — designed as a project where mercenaries, money, and land grants became the foundation of a new ruling class.

📌 Bottom line: if the Horde gave Moscow its form, Venice gave it its content.
The Oprichnina was not merely a domestic reform — it was a method of servicing external debt.