However, neither “living fire” nor the “countless” hordes of Khan Konchak could withstand the combined forces of the Russian knights, or their courage and valor. In this battle, the Russian warriors, led by the Kievan Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, won a brilliant victory: “But Konchak fled behind their back to the other side of the road, and [the Russians] only captured his concubine and the infidel who had the living fire. And he was brought to Svyatoslav with his entire apparatus, and their other warriors were either killed or taken into captivity.”
It is possible that this was when the secret of “living fire” became known to Russian warriors, and one can find indirect evidence of this in several chronicles. Thus, when the Kama Bulgars captured the ancient Russian city of Ustyug, Prince Georgy of Vladimir sent his brother Svyatoslav along with a strong home guard to keep the captors in check. In 1219, Russian forces successfully attacked the Kama Bulgar city of Oshel (modern Ashli), and as one chronicler wrote, “In front marched infantry with fire and axes, followed by archers... they came to the city, ignited it from all sides, and a great storm and smoke drew on them.”
Qizilbash Oil in Moscow
Medieval Russian written sources also contain the first mentions of the primitive production of oil on the territory of the Muscovite state. For example, the Dvina Chronicle (15th cent.) states that the tribe of Chudes, living on the banks of the Ukhta River in the north, collected oil from the river surface and used it for various household purposes.
However, the northern taiga wilderness could not be counted on to supply the regular oil deliveries required by the Russian capital during this period, so the eyes of domestic entrepreneurs turned to the south. Beginning in the 16th century, trading and customs books began to include records of petroleum from the Absheron peninsula, the so-called Qizilbash oil, which was brought to Moscow by traders from various lands. Thus, a section of the Trading Book [Torgovaya kniga] (1575–1610) entitled “Memoir on How to Sell Russian Goods to Foreigners” mentions that in the case of a successful trip to Shamakhy, Azerbaijan, the reader could contract to deliver more than 57 barrels of black oil to foreigners.
In those days, Shamakhy was the capital of the ancient feudal state of the Persian vassals known as Shirvanshahs. Shamakhy contained a Russian merchant colony that had existed since the 12th century and developed successful trade relations. The Russian merchants purchased oil in local containers—tuluks and suleyas (in leather bags with a capacity of about 36 pounds and bottles with a capacity of a little over 24 pounds, respectively)—and transported it by ship to Astrakhan. From Astrakhan, the oil was shipped up the Volga to the cities of Tsaritsyno, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, and other major Volga trading centers. Oil reached the capital of Muscovy primarily from Nizhny Novgorod via the Oka and Moskva (Moscow) Rivers. It also reached Arkhangelsk by a northern route via Vologda, and from there ships carrying Russian goods by sea delivered the cargo to Europe.
Data have survived showing that in 1636, after an inventory of reserves in Moscow, the state treasury contained 20 barrels of Qizilbash oil. It should be noted that in Russia, oil traders who had left the Qizilbash tribe of Afshars were called Qizilbashes, literally “Red Heads,” because they decorated their heads with enormous red-woven turbans.
The books of the Moscow trading house contain a record from 1694 of the shipment of oil from Baku and Astrakhan to Moscow by the Russian merchants Ivan Sveshnikov, Ivan Shaposhnikov, and Mikhail Pushnikov and the collection of duty on the goods.
Various Oil Projections
There is written evidence that petroleum was used again in warfare in Russia in the Middle Ages. The incendiary mixture for various weapons made by Russian masters at the Cannon and Grenade Works included not only sulfur, saltpeter, and camphor powder, but also turpentine, drying oil, pitch, linseed oil, and asphalt. These components were mixed with oil, yielding “fireballs” weighing about 1.8 pounds and arrows for destroying fortifications and burning ships, bridges, and siege towers. As for the quantity of “petroleum” munitions, it is possible to get a sense of the vast number of these weapons used by considering the inventory of remaining equipment of the Artillery Office following the Crimean campaign of 1689: 480 “fire lances,” 2,400 “fire-shooting arrows with finned lances,” and 100 “fireballs” in 1691.
In addition to armaments, oil was also used in Russia in the late 17th century to make compounds for firecrackers and fireworks for numerous secular holidays. Yet another application of oil can be found in the Russian medieval chronicles, in which the unique color and appearance of household objects of worship and Russian icons is attributed to the special composition of the paints used, which included petroleum. Icon painters were instructed to “make up any paint wax and apply drying oil and petroleum so that it will dry faster.... And when you apply drying oil to the icon and it becomes stiff, apply a little petroleum or turpentine with a finger and spread it. It will quickly adhere to the icon and will not run.”
There is also evidence that petroleum and its derivatives were widely used in medieval Russia for therapeutic purposes. Russian physicians used oil as a medication for certain skin diseases, and for joint diseases and rheumatism. This is documented in the 16th- and 17th-century manuscripts Book of Cures [Lechebnik], The Garden of Health Care [Sad zdravookhraneniya], The Home Pharmacopeia or Pharmacy [Farmakopeya ili apteka domashnyaya], and Stones and Herbs [O kamnyakh i travakh]. The manuscript Book of Cures advises: “If you smear patients with oil, then the disease will be relieved. White oil relieves disease that comes from cold. But black oil, which is not very pleasant, relieves cough and intestinal colic.” The same source recommends dripping oil into the eyes “of a person who has cataracts8 or whose tears are running.”
In 1692, the book Noord Oost en Tartarye [North and East Tat aria], written by Nicolaes Witsen, who lived for three years as part of the Dutch embassy to the court of Tsar Aleksey Mikhaylovich, was published in Amsterdam. This book contains the following noteworthy information: “The Ukhta River is a day away from Pechora.... On this river, a mile and a half from the portage, is a small place where oil that is black petroleum separates from the water.”
Leonty Kislyansky’s Discovery
In the 17th century, the Russian state was governed through a growing network of offices. These included the Embassy Office, which managed relations with foreign states and trade with foreign merchants; the Treasury Office, in charge of treasury trade and industry; and the Weapons Board, which manufactured, procured, and stored weapons and palace utensils. In 1637, the government formed the Siberian Office, which combined administrative, judicial, and financial functions in the administration of the extensive Siberian territories.