Liberation

Abstract

Extraordinarily high wages had attracted Jan Struys to work in Muscovy, but, rather than riches, he had found himself in the summer of 1670 a precious commodity as slave to Muslim masters in a place far from home and hearth. His endurance and pluckiness, however, and a good dose of luck and human compassion came to his rescue when all seemed lost. As the previous chapter showed, man was not always wolf to man even in this age in which have-nots everywhere were routinely brutalized by those in power. Soon after his transfer to the Polish envoy’s service, men far above Struys in the Dutch social hierarchy bothered to seek his full release. Struys regained his freedom (his servitude to Gurdziecki lasted altogether an entire year) thanks to the far-reaching influence and money of the Dutch East India Company. A Christian and Dutch sense of obligation to one’s fellows in need, and a patronage system in which the stronger had the duty to protect the weaker, underscored this effort. But the VOC’s service was not free of charge: he was obliged to pay the Company back for the money it had paid enabling his release. Reimbursing the Company for its debts, he came home after five years of travels, in October 1673, at which point Reysen comes to a close.