The First Russian Interpreters in Early Modern Sweden

Abstract

The article reconstructs lives of several Russian-language interpreters acting in Sweden during the reign of Gustav I Vasa (1523–1560) on the basis of Swedish and Russian archival sources. The socio-professional group of Russian-language interpreters (ryssetolkar) has been well known in Sweden since late 16th century, and its best times (mainly in the 17th century) are thoroughly studied by the Finnish historian Kari Tarkiainen. The authors suggest that the origins of this group should be sought in late 1530s — early 1540s, and that the Hanseatic environment might have played a part in this process at its earliest stage because the first interpreters known to us by names, Albrecht Tolck and Larens van Värnen, seem to have been of German origin, although we know very little of them. Three other ryssetolkar — Michel Andersson, Hans Larsson Skalm, and especially Bertil Jöransson (Jörensson, Göransson) — are somewhat better known. The authors conclude that close connections to Finland, especially to the castle of Viborg (Fin. Viipuri, Rus. Vyborg), were typical of the members of this socio- professional group at the very initial phase already. In addition, the sources of the period in question show that prospective interpreters could go to Russia to study Russian and that they sometimes were bound by family ties. The two latter features were not so prominent in the first half of the 16th century, but they would become very typical of the ryssetolkar community later on.