ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the return to their Moscovite homeland of aristocrats, peasants, and town dwellers, together with their descendants, who had deserted to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the fifteenth century. Although the Russian state and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania adhered to a common regime of reciprocal extradition of defectors, in practice during the “200-year war” between the two states, emigrants became political dissidents. Indeed, many escaped from the Russian state after having already become “inner emigrants”. Returning for various reasons to their homeland, they and their descendants often had to face accusations of being traitors. Ultimately, the Tsar decided whether a returning emigrant was to be executed as a traitor or reintegrated into Muscovite society. After the demise of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the tsars offered former servitors official diplomatic invitations to return to the tsar’s service. However, such ceremonial “returns” were full of risks and therefore rare.
