Abstract: The XV – XVII centuries mark the intensification of trade, political and cultural contacts between the European countries and the Russian State. The large territory of the country, geographical peculiarities, road network, trade and political interests required long winter travels from the Europeans. The final data array, which describes the experience of European travelers is comprised of 27 essays and  reflects 32 visits or stay in the territory of the Russian State. From the representative range of sources, the author determines the characteristics of winters, assessments of the quality of winter roads, descriptions of clothes and road equipment, main methods of transportation, stories about the peculiarities of winter indoor and outdoor night lodging, common and uncommon methods against cold weather, and methods of treating freeze burns. The subjectivity or objectivity of “winter” testimonies of the foreigners was established in accordance with the climatic characteristics of simultaneous regional winter seasons in the texts of the Russian chronicles. The results of analysis of the natural and climatic conditions in Europe and the Russian State against the background of changes in heliophysical parameters allow asserting that European travelers of the so-called period of “Little Ice Age” came from the region with longer or colder winters. In the European part of the Russian State, abnormal freezing temperatures were marked later and not so longstanding. Over the three centuries of winter travels to Muscovy and trips to the domains of the tsar, the Europeans have adopted the experience and technologies of the local population, as well as developed the original recommendations for foreigners, who desired to live and work in the conditions of the “Russian winter”. A new stage in adaptation of economic activity and everyday life of the population to the impact of cold climate would become possible after the emergence of new types of transport and improvement of communication system in Modern Age.

Abstract: This article presents an overview of the data on the history of Pskov and Pskovian land, collected on the basis of English and French diplomatic testimonies of the XVI – early XVII centuries. The author analyzes the routes of ambassadorial missions, diplomatic ceremony, geographical records and descriptions of the city of Pskov, data on military events and trade provided by the foreign diplomats who visited the Tsardom of Russia. For the first tie is examined the attendance of Pskov by Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle in July 1664. The source foundation contains the official documents, reports, and diaries of the participants of French and English diplomatic missions to the Russian State. The applied historical-genetic method allows tracing the evolution of representations of the English and French diplomats about the Pskovian land as a part of the Tsardom of Russia throughout the XVI – XVII centuries. Located on the border of Muscovy, Pskov and Pskovian land often attracted attention of the foreign diplomats due to its economic and military potential.