Andrew Vinius

Andrei Andreyevich Winius (Russian Андрей Андреевич Виниус; * June 4, 1641 in Moscow, † 1717) was a Russian translator for Dutch in the rank of Duma Djak, the first Russian postmaster and started in 1700 earned at the reorganization of the Russian artillery in consequence of the lost battle of Narva against Sweden in the Great Northern War .. He was henceforth artillery inspector.

Life

Andrei was born the son of the Dutch merchant Winius Andries and his German wife. The Father Andreis left Holland in 1627, settled in Moscow, took part in the Orthodox faith and was an important counselor to the young Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The son of Andrei grew up in Moscow. He was baptized Orthodox at the age of 14 years and received a good education. In March 1664 he was employed at the embassy office as a translator for Dutch. He wrote and translated a number of books. In addition, he also served as a counselor of Tsar Alexei, and later by Peter I. (son of Alexei ).

He ran then because of a government concession, the Russian Post. Peter but eluded him this lucrative business on the grounds that Winius be overly concerned about his profits, had not taken sufficient account of the need of the state and in particular have failed to extend the mail service on unprofitable routes.

After the Battle of Narva in the overall Russian artillery park fell into Swedish hands. It had a replacement found to rapidly again to take the war against Sweden urgently. To the overseer of the artillery Winius was appointed, who managed to set up a fleet of 300 units within a year and that number to double within a further 18 months. Although Winius was almost 60 years old and complained about the disappearance of his powers, he undertook in the summer of 1702 a trip to Siberia where he opened up new iron ore exploitation.