had been despatched to the pope from the grand-prince, with a request that the latter might have the title of King of Russia bestowed upon him; but as it was not in the power of the pope, but of the emperor alone, to name kings, princes, and knights, he (Poppel) would interest himself with the emperor to gain him such title, since that was his wish; but that in such case the matter must be kept very secret, and that the king of Poland must know nothing about it. To this proposal, the grand-prince gave the ambassador for answer, “that he was, through God’s grace, sovereign of his own countries from the beginning and by right of his ancestors, and held his station from God, and prayed to God that it might be so preserved to him and his children; and as in times past he had never desired the nomination of any other power, so neither did he then.”
Poppel quitted Moscow in March 1489, and took his way home through Sweden and Denmark, in which countries also he had commissions from the emperor.
The account of his travels is probably still to be found among the imperial archives of Vienna.
See also respecting Poppel: Hormayr’s “Archiv für Geographie,” etc. Wien, 1819; No. 47.
(28.)
Georg von Thurn. 1490-1492.
Georg von Thurn was sent by Maximilian, king of the Romans, as ambassador to Moscow, where he arrived on the 10th of July 1490, and was received
