And the The Welcome to Russian History Retold, episode 156, Life on the Russian Country Estate Part 1. Last time we covered the final years of Leon Trotsky's life.

Now we go an entirely different direction by covering the everyday life on a Russian country estate from the 17th century to the 20th century before the Russian Revolution.

Yes, I know I had said last time that this episode would cover the life of Leo Tolstoy, but I've had to

hold off on that yet again because of the delay in getting all the biographical material

on the great author.

It will likely be held off until spring of 2015.

When those of us in the West think about a country estate, we think of a laid-back life, sitting

on a porch, sipping ice tea, and living in a large manor house with servants

and little to worry about.

Such was not the life on a country estate in Russia, and definitely not in the early 17th century. Before the time of

Peter the Great, a Russian estate was a pretty pitiful place. Muscovite Russia

was a backward society, just coming out of the Mongol yoke and the time of troubles.

The Romanovs had just taken over, but their hold-on power was tenuous at best.

The majority of people were highly xenophobic, believing anything outside

of the Muscovide culture was sacrilegious and was to be shunned. They were far more

Asiatic than European, having been cut off for more than 250 years.

In Europe, the nobility lived in homes far more luxurious than the average peasant.

Not so in Russia.

Many boyars lived in houses not much better than the serfs.

Well, that might be hard to believe,

we luckily have a firsthand account made by a foreigner when

Adam Ollieres, the Duke of Holstein's envoy to Muscovey during the 1630s and 40s. His writings give us an in-depth view of what life was like back then. His

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