Samuel Collins

Collins, Samuel 

Died before 1671. Physician to Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich; an Englishman.

Collins studied medicine at Oxford and Cambridge. He was invited to Russia in 1659. He was in the service to the tsar until June 28, 1666. Collins left notes that contain a great deal of information on the tsar’s court, Moscow, Siberia and its inhabitants, and the religion, rituals, and customs of the people. He devoted much attention to trade, in particular the decline of English and the growth of Dutch commerce with Russia in the 1660’s. Collins’ notes were first published in London in 1671.

WORKS

“Nyneshnee sostoianie Rossii, izlozhennoe v pis’me k drugu, zhitel’stvuiushchemu v Londone.” Chteniia v Obshchestve istorii i drevnostei Rossiiskikh, 1846, book 1, sec. 3.