Ivan the Terrible once possessed one of the most formidable artillery parks in Europe. The cannon yard was actively formed under his grandfather Ivan III Vasilievich at the very end of the Russian Middle Ages. For the production of guns, resources were also needed, which were very rare for those times: tin and copper. How could artillery appear in the Grand Duchy of Moscow, if the listed metals were not mined in the country at that time?
Neither tin nor copper was mined in late medieval Russia. There were no representative mines in the entire Grand Duchy of Moscow. Even with iron ore there were considerable problems. The development of all of the above in Russia will begin only after the conquest of the Urals in the 17th century. But in the 15th century under Ivan Vasilievich one could only dream of such a thing. And although Russia (as, indeed, all other states) most of the time arrived in the ring of enemies, she also had very enterprising comrades in the north and west.
The rise of the Moscow principality took place against the background of the weakening of the Mongol yoke. Over the centuries, Moscow has been able to concentrate representative resources in its hands. All this allowed the rapidly rising principality to begin collecting the ancient lands of the Rurikovichs. The main opponent of Moscow was the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The confrontation pushed forward the processes of centralization, and also contributed to the development of its own production and the army. Russian princes began to actively invite European specialists in various fields. Including in the field of artillery. First of all, the Italians were named, who at that time were some of the best craftsmen in the world.
But the young Russian state, which was reviving after the era of feudal fragmentation and the Tatar yoke, had serious problems with resources, primarily with metals. The latter were vital for the production of firearms and, first of all, for artillery. The Grand Dukes solved the problem in the only available way - by trade.
The Russian principalities traditionally had old partnerships with the cities of the Hanseatic League, as well as with the lands in which Holland is located today. Subsequently, England will be added to the important trading partners of Russia, which in the 15th century will begin actively seek a new foothold for the fight against France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire Germanic nation. Thus, all the necessary rare goods, including tin and copper, will go to Russia along the northern route. Most of the latter were supplied as scrap.
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For example, the trading book "Chief of Russian Goods" of the 16th century has survived to this day. It contains records regarding resource prices. So, 1 Berkovets of tubular copper was bought in Russia for 14 rubles. Pelvic dammed copper was bought for 14.5 rubles. Kozarskaya copper was bought at 3 rubles per pound. It was not only metals that traveled along the northern route. They also carried books (most of them were textbooks), gunpowder, weapons, imported tools. All this made it possible to create, among other things, an impressive artillery park, which in turn became important the trump card of the Russian state in the struggle for regional domination in the battle with Lithuania, Poland and the Tatar khanates.
Continuing the topic, you can read about why Ivan the Terrible is not on the monument "Millennium of Russia" among other rulers.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/130321/58156/
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