Information about the oprichnina in the European narrative: to the question of textual borrowings

The paper provides a genetic analysis of the European narrative about the Oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible: A. Schlichting, I. Taube and E. Kruse, G. Staden, A. Guagnini, P. Oderborn. The assumption is substantiated that the source for individual fragments of the works of A. Schlichting, A. Guagnini and P. Oderborn was a common text that has not reached us (possibly avvissi), creatively revised by these authors. The origin of information in the writings of foreigners is established, a hypothesis about textual borrowings and the relationship of texts is proposed. The conclusion is substantiated about a significant proportion of the literary component in these sources, which requires a special source analysis when using them as sources on the history of the Oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible.