This issue of Annual is devoted to the role of the French and Swiss tutors in the culture and social life of European countries in modern times. The authors analyze various aspects of this phenomenon in general and describe biographies of the most prominent representatives of this profession. The section «Historiography» contains the materials of «round table» about the problems of studying the Patriotic War of 1812, where the most of leading Russian experts in this field have participated. There is also a bibliography of works on the history of France, published in Russia in 2010.