Civilizational Choice. Scottish aristocrat Paul Menzies (Pavel Gavrilovich Menesius) - the first mentor of the Tsar-reformer Peter Romanov

The article explores the role of the Scottish aristocrat Paul Menzies (Pavel Gavrilovich Menezius) (1637-1694) in the early education of the Russian tsar-reformer Peter Alexeevich Romanov. The history of the appearance of the young Scotsman-northern, who received a brilliant education in Europe, in the Moscow kingdom, his military and diplomatic career is traced. It is suggested that the special place occupied by Paul Menezesius in the old Moscow elite was due not only to his unconditional intellectual abilities, but mainly to his proximity to the “chancellor” Artamon Matveev and the new father-in-law of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, K.P. Naryshkin, and his family, first of all to Peter's mother Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina. The role of Menzies-Menesius in the formation of the “North European” worldview of young Peter Romanov is confirmed by the unprecedented honors that were given by Tsar Peter at the burial of Paul Menesius in the “foreign” cemetery in Maryina Roshcha in 1694.