Sigismund von Herberstein

He was most noted for his extensive writing on the geography, history and customs of Russia, and contributed greatly to early Western European knowledge of that area.

Herberstein was born in 1486 in Vipava (German: Wippach) in the Duchy of Carniola, now in Slovenia, then part of the Habsburg monarchy.

In 1526, he was asked to produce a formal report on his experiences in Russia, but this remained relatively unnoticed in the archives until he was able to find time to revise and expand it, which he possibly started in the 1530s.

He investigated in depth both by questioning locals and by critically examining the scarce existing literature on Russia.

The result was his major work, a book written in Latin titled Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii ("Notes on Muscovite Affairs"), published in 1549.