DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0249
GREAT FIRE OF MOSCOW, IN MAY 1571.
219
smoke, who were talking of walling the gates, to prevent
the coming in of the Tartarians, who were expecting when
the fire went out. I and my interpreter being come out
of the magazine, found the ashes so hot, that we durst
scarce tread upon them; but, necessity compelling us, we
ran towards the chief gate, where we found 25 or 30 men
escaped from the fire, with whom, in a few hours, we
did wall that gate, and the rest, and kept a strict watch
all that night with some guns that had been preserved from
the fire. In the morning, seeing that the place was not
defensible, with so few people as we were, we sought the
means to get into the castle, whose entry was then inacces-
sible ; the governor was very glad to hear of our intention,
and cried to us, we should be very welcome ; but it was
a most difficult thing to come in, because the bridges were
all burnt, so that we were fain to get over the wall, hav-
ing instead of ladders, some high fir-trees thrown from the
castle to us : wherein, instead of rounds to get up, they had
made some notches with a hatchet, to keep us from sliding.
We got up then with much ado; for, besides the evident
inconveniency of those rough ladders, we did carry about
us the sum of 4000 thalers, besides some jewels, which was
a great hindrance to us to climb along those high trees; and
that, which did double our fear, was, that we saw before
our eyes some of our company, that had nothing but their
bodies to save, yet tumble down from the middle of those
high trees into the ditch, full of burnt bodies, so that we
could not tread but upon dead corpses, whose heaps were
so thick every where, that we could not avoid to tread
upon them, as if it had been a hill to climb up; and that
which did augment our trouble was, that in treading upon
them, the arms and legs broke like glass; the poor limbs
of these creatures being calcined, by the vehement heat of
the fire, and our feet sinking into those miserable bodies,
the blood and the filth did squirt in our faces, which begot
such a stench all the town over, that it was impossible to
subsist in it.
After
219
smoke, who were talking of walling the gates, to prevent
the coming in of the Tartarians, who were expecting when
the fire went out. I and my interpreter being come out
of the magazine, found the ashes so hot, that we durst
scarce tread upon them; but, necessity compelling us, we
ran towards the chief gate, where we found 25 or 30 men
escaped from the fire, with whom, in a few hours, we
did wall that gate, and the rest, and kept a strict watch
all that night with some guns that had been preserved from
the fire. In the morning, seeing that the place was not
defensible, with so few people as we were, we sought the
means to get into the castle, whose entry was then inacces-
sible ; the governor was very glad to hear of our intention,
and cried to us, we should be very welcome ; but it was
a most difficult thing to come in, because the bridges were
all burnt, so that we were fain to get over the wall, hav-
ing instead of ladders, some high fir-trees thrown from the
castle to us : wherein, instead of rounds to get up, they had
made some notches with a hatchet, to keep us from sliding.
We got up then with much ado; for, besides the evident
inconveniency of those rough ladders, we did carry about
us the sum of 4000 thalers, besides some jewels, which was
a great hindrance to us to climb along those high trees; and
that, which did double our fear, was, that we saw before
our eyes some of our company, that had nothing but their
bodies to save, yet tumble down from the middle of those
high trees into the ditch, full of burnt bodies, so that we
could not tread but upon dead corpses, whose heaps were
so thick every where, that we could not avoid to tread
upon them, as if it had been a hill to climb up; and that
which did augment our trouble was, that in treading upon
them, the arms and legs broke like glass; the poor limbs
of these creatures being calcined, by the vehement heat of
the fire, and our feet sinking into those miserable bodies,
the blood and the filth did squirt in our faces, which begot
such a stench all the town over, that it was impossible to
subsist in it.
After