131 above all because they expect an early peace, many of the Swedish officers were so comfortable practicing various crafts and trades in their camps that they were unwilling to leave that peaceful and secure existence for economically uncertain, and probably even more demanding, positions in St. Petersburg, and especially since they expected that peace would soon be concluded between Sweden and Russia.*^- The decisive reason for the poor results of the recruiting campaign, however, must have been the fact that the prisoners of war wished to avoid commitments which might in any way jeopardize their ability to return home. That these fears were not without basis would be confirmed later on. The peace treaty ratified by Sweden and Russia at Nystad in 1721 stipulated that all prisoners of war wishing to do so were to be allowed to return home, but that prisoners who had gone into debt had to pay off those debts or put up sufficient security before being allowed to leave their place of internment. The only exception to this rule was that prisoners of war who had converted to the Russian Orthodox faith were to remain in Russia, since they were considered by the Russians to have become Russian subjects upon their conversion.^^^ Indeed, an ukaz published in 1700 had stated that anyone allowing himself to be baptized in the Orthodox faith thereby obtained the legal status of a Russian subject.^^^ According to Izmailov, ” 371 Solov’ev, VIII, 454—455. No one has ever investigated systematically the situation of the Swedish prisoners in Russia on the basis of Russian archival materials. Concerning the fate of these prisoners of war, see Per Sörensson, “Grefwe Carl Piper och svenskarna i rysk fångenskap,” Karolinska förbundets årsbok (1912), 1—52; idem, “Svenska fångar i Ryssland 1700—1709,” Karolinska förbundets årsbok (1918), 143—156; idem, “De karolinska fångarnas hemfärd från Ryssland,” Karolinska förbundets årsbok (1923), 120—200; Helge Almquist, “Ryska fångar i Sverige och svenska i Ryssland 1700—1709. II. Svenskarna i Ryssland,” Karolinska förbundets årsbok (1943), 7—53; Gunnar Jarring, "Nytt material om de svenska krigsfångarna i Sibirien,” Karolinska förbundets årsbok (1975), 77—111; and Åberg. See also M. G. Novlianskaia, Filipp logann Stralenberg. Ego raboty po issledovaniiu Sibiri (Moscow & Leningrad, 1966), 7—24, which gives a general picture of the activities of the prisoners in Siberia. In this connection one can also quote the following observation concerning the situation of the imprisoned officers taken from Friedrich Christian von Weber, Das veränderte Russland (Frankfurt, 1721), 161; “Man rechnet der noch gefangenen Ober-Officiers iiber zwey tausend, und well kaum der zchende Theil von denselbcn aus eigenen Mitteln leben kan, so sind die iibrigen genothiget worden allerley Kiinste und Handwercke zu lernen, um dadurch ihr Brodt zu gewinnen. Es ist zu verwundern, auf wle viclerley Art und Weise diese guten Leute ihren Unterhalt suchen, und wie weit sie cs mit ihrer Hände Arbeit, die durch gantz Russland fell gehet, gebracht haben." PSZ, VI, no. 3,819, p. 428. Margarete Woltner, “Zur Frage der Untertanenschaft von Westeuropäern in Russland bis zur Zeit Peters des Grossen cinschliesslich,” Jahrbiicher fiir Geschichte Östeuropas, 3 (1938), 57. :ni 372 374
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