ABSTRACT
In 1721, towards the end of the reign of Peter the Great, the Baltic provinces were incorporated into the Russian Empire. Since the Middle Ages the area had been under the rule of a German landowning aristocracy, and henceforth the Baltic became Russia’s cultural and economic link with the West, its citizens in the course of time becoming bicultural and bilingual. Among the businessmen from northern Europe attracted there by the expansion of trade was the founding father of the Russian Medtner family.
