The word diplomacy is of Greek-French origin and literally means "a leaf folded in half." Everyone is free to put their own meaning into it. First, the sheet is folded to hide what is written.
Secondly, to hide that nothing is written on the sheet. Finally, a folded leaf may mean that the goals of diplomatic efforts are half achieved by each side. As you can see, diplomacy is a delicate matter.
While the diplomats are talking, the guns are silent. But often diplomats continue to speak under the roar of cannonade. So the war is a defeat of diplomacy, however, not always deserved. It is no coincidence that the ambassadors are the first to know about the beginning of the war, and they are the first to pack their bags.
to the English ambassador Henry Watton owns the aphorism: "Ambassador is an honest man who is sent abroad to lie for the good of his homeland."
In ancient monuments national history there is no information about the existence of a special governing body for external relations.
IN Kievan Rus in solving cases foreign policy, as well as in internal management the princely squad took part. In North-Eastern Rus' - the boyar duma.
Correspondence was the responsibility of the clerks. But neither among the members of the squad and the Boyar Duma, nor among the clerks in ancient times there was no specialization.
A cohort of outstanding Russian career diplomats and intelligence officers during the reign of Ivan the Terrible was rightfully opened from 1549 by a special embassy clerk, Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty, who was specially in charge of embassy affairs. The origin and date of birth of this duma clerk are unknown to us.
At first, the thin-born Ivan Mikhailovich was not reputed to be the tsar's favorite, but after a few years he had a great influence on him and, thanks to his natural talents, rose to the highest high steps service ladder.
He even made speeches on behalf of Ivan IV. As they say, he wrote, he voiced. True, over time, these two functions were separated, so that what was written by one is attributed to the other.
Viskovatov, or Viskovaty Ivan Mikhailovich, was from the noble house of the Viskovatovs, the branch of the princes Meshchersky, the clerk of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, then the duma clerk and managed the embassy order since 1556 together with Alexei Adashev.
The tsar used him as a skilled diplomat in the most important matters of both domestic and foreign policy. So, on the issue of succession to the throne and on the case of the oath to the son of the Terrible, Dimitri Viskovaty is the confidant of the sovereign, and at the beginning of the Livonian War, he, together with Adashev, negotiates with the Livonian ambassadors.
In 1549, the embassy business was ordered to be transferred to Ivan Viskovaty. Probably, not without reason, Ivan IV entrusted him with the embassy business two years after he was married to the kingdom.
The first head of the Ambassadorial Order since 1549, Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty was the first head of the diplomatic service of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, in addition, he was responsible for leading foreign intelligence.
He led diplomatic preparations for the annexation of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, headed engineering work during the siege of Kazan, diplomatic correspondence for the preparation of the Livonian War and was in charge of Muscovy's foreign relations in the early years of the war.
From 1553 to 1561 - a printer, that is, the keeper of the main state seal, he is a zealous supporter of the Livonian War. For the same Livonian affairs, Viskovaty was at the embassy in Denmark, in 1563-1564, he communicated with the Crimea.
But as soon as Viskovaty sees a real war and assesses its consequences, he immediately becomes its consistent opponent.
Ambassadorial order it's central government agency, who led in 1549–1720 foreign policy, was in charge of the ransom and exchange of prisoners, ruled a number of territories in the southeast of the country and some categories of service people.
According to historians, the king loved this "excellent husband, outstanding in mind and many virtues of the chancellor, like himself." He, like no one else at court, knew how to delve into the texts of messages to Ivan the Terrible from foreign sovereigns and rulers, find the true meaning in them between the lines, interpret the content to the benefit of the tsar and the state.
For the first time the name of Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty was mentioned in the diplomatic affairs of 1542. It follows from them that he was a clerk and wrote a truce with Poland.
Ivan Mikhailovich was promoted due to his abilities and diligence. In addition, he had patrons: most likely, he was favored by the relatives of the first wife of Tsar Ivan IV Anastasia - Zakharyina.
Since January 1549, in the embassy books, there is more and more an indication that the tsar orders the letters brought by the ambassadors to accept Viskovaty. Probably, Ivan IV had reason when he ordered him to be in charge of the embassy business.
On January 2, 1549, he left for the Nogai ambassadors. January 17 - to the former Astrakhan Khan Derbysh. January 22 - with a response to the Lithuanian ambassadors. Then, in the presence of foreign ambassadors, the tsar ordered that the clerk Viskovaty be called a clerk. The official promotion took place a few months later and was associated with the appointment of Viskovaty as head of the Ambassadorial Department.
From 1549 to 1559, 32 embassies from different countries came to Moscow. Viskovaty participated in all negotiations. Ivan Mikhailovich, as the head of the Ambassadorial Department, was in charge of the correspondence of the tsar and the Boyar Duma with foreign ambassadors, participated in preliminary negotiations, resolved issues related to the arrival and stay of foreign diplomats in Moscow, and prepared Russian embassies for sending to different countries.
As a close sovereign, the clerk Viskovaty made notes, which were then used as blanks for the official chronicle. In addition, having become the head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz, Ivan Mikhailovich received the Tsar's Archive, which contained a huge number of handwritten books and various state acts of Moscow grand and specific princes, their genealogies, government records management, all foreign policy documentation, as well as various investigative materials.
At the end of the 15th - the first half of the 16th century, the Tsar's archive was under the jurisdiction of the grand ducal clerks, each of whom had a casket for current documentation. In the second half of the 16th century, the Royal Archives finally took shape as an independent institution headed by embassy clerks. The first of them was Viskovaty.
Solving diplomatic problems, Ivan Mikhailovich and his subordinates had to take into account the entire history of relations with other countries. Otherwise, it was impossible to make inquiries, make extracts, references to earlier negotiations and letters. Viskovaty systematized the documents of the state archive and organized its current office work.
A striking figure among such people is Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty - the first head of the Ambassadorial Department, about whom foreigners said that he "had no equal at that time in Moscow."
During his stay with an important diplomatic mission in July-August 1562 in Denmark, where it was necessary to persuade her to an alliance with Russia, during the Livonian War of 1558-1583, Viskovatov had to achieve his goal by acquiring agents of influence.
In other words, Viskovaty resorted to direct bribery the right people- the work is very delicate, since it was necessary to offer money to dignitaries, who were bound to take bribe gifts.
It would be very unpleasant if the dignitary refused and told where to go. Therefore, initially it was required to carry out a large preparatory work, finding out the tastes, requests, weaknesses of the intended object in order to make it work for itself.
Similar tricks - bribing influential dignitaries - will be used by Russian intelligence diplomats for a very long period of time.
In addition, Viskovaty was engaged in the analysis of important state reports, including working with messages to the tsar from abroad, preparing draft answers, planning further actions, using his own talents and wide erudition.
To obtain secret information, Ivan IV, with the help of Viskovaty, resorted to the help of defectors. “We have a large number of Moscow deserters in Lithuania, who, having found out our affairs, means and customs, freely return to their own while they are with us, secretly convey our plans to theirs.”
Among the Moscow defectors, who in the dark nights killed people in Vilna-Vilnius and freed their captive countrymen from dungeons, there was one priest who sent copies to his prince from contracts, decrees and other papers secretly obtained in the royal office.
Ivan IV appointed a reward for returning defectors, even empty and useless ones: "for a slave - freedom, for a commoner - nobility, for a debtor - forgiveness of debts, for a villain - absolution of guilt."
The main direction of foreign policy in the middle of the 16th century was the east. In 1552, the Kazan Khanate was conquered, in 1556 - Astrakhan. Viskovaty, although he accompanied the tsar in the Kazan campaign, but, according to the denunciation of the German oprichnik Heinrich Staden, who was in the service in Russia, “was not averse to the Crimean tsar taking the Russian land, was located to all the Tatars and helped them.” The tsar himself accused Viskovaty of "referring to the Crimea and inducing busurmanism in Rus'."
The head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz paid special attention to Russia's relations with Western Europe. In the second half of the 16th century, Russia, which did not have access to the Baltic Sea, maintained contact with Europe through the White Sea.
In 1553 Ivan IV invited the British to Moscow. After a magnificent reception, the English envoy Richard Chancellor received a friendly letter for King Edward VI.
Two years later, Chancellor came to Russia again with two agents of a trading company. After the official reception, negotiations with them were conducted by Viskovaty together with the best Moscow merchants.
Ivan Mikhailovich understood the importance of trade relations between Russia and England. As a result of his efforts, the British received a preferential charter with many privileges.
In gratitude for this, King Philip, who succeeded Edward VI on the throne, allowed Russian subjects to trade in England just as freely and duty-free, and took them under his protection.
Free entry into Russia was allowed for artists, artisans, various craftsmen, doctors, and miners. Friendly diplomatic relations between Russia and England, profitable trade, military and economic assistance continued until the second half of XVII century. The basis of such a strong alliance was laid by Viskovaty.
To establish wide economic ties With advanced countries Western Europe needed access to the Baltic Sea. This was hindered by Poland, Lithuania and the Livonian Order.
Dominance in the Baltic Sea was also sought by Sweden and Denmark. Moscow was especially annoyed by Livonia. Livonian merchants sought to control the entire trade movement, did not let Russian people go to the sea, and foreigners into Russia.
In 1558, Russian troops entered Livonia, and a war began that dragged on for 25 years. From the very first days of the war, two parties were formed in the government.
The tsar's favorite Adashev and his entourage considered it necessary to continue military operations in the south from Crimean Tatars and Turkey. The Moscow nobility, together with the head of the Ambassadorial Department, Viskovaty, stood up for the continuation of the Livonian War.
The nobility counted on new land distributions and the expansion of trade with the countries of Eastern and Western Europe. The victorious end of the war in Livonia was very close, but Adashev, who led the troops, did not take advantage of the favorable moment, and soon the offensive stopped.
The successes of the Russian troops in the Baltics alarmed Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Denmark, which also claimed the Livonian inheritance. They tried diplomatically to end the outbreak of war.
The main role in the conclusion of the truce of 1559 was played by mediation Danish king who sent an embassy to Moscow for negotiations.
During the negotiations, Viskovatyy resolutely stated that Denmark should not have accepted the complaints of the Livonians, subjects of the Moscow sovereign. According to the deacon, having turned to foreign states, the Livonians became like unfaithful servants who, having stolen the property of their master, sell his property to another.
He said that the Moscow sovereigns were not accustomed to cede to anyone the lands they had conquered; they are ready for an alliance, but only not in order to sacrifice their acquisitions.
Viskovatyi hoped that his decisiveness would help Moscow defend its interests in the Baltics and force the European powers to recognize the Russian conquests made in the early years of the Livonian War. However, diplomatic success was not achieved; the situation was unfavorable for the Muscovite state.
In 1562, the Russian command launched major military operations against Lithuania. Ivan IV also took part in the campaign. Under the tsar there was an embassy field office, which instead of Viskovaty was headed by the clerk Andrey Vasiliev.
Remaining in Moscow, Viskovaty received the Danish embassy. As a result, a draft treaty was adopted, according to which Denmark refused to take part in hostilities against Russia.
In order to turn all his forces against Lithuania, Viskovaty took a step quite unexpected for a man of his rank and rank at that time.
On August 12, 1562, he left for Denmark himself to confirm the contractual record. Thanks to successful negotiations, an alliance treaty with Denmark and a 20-year truce with Sweden were concluded. The Livonian war continued with varying success.
In 1566, the great Polish embassy arrived in Moscow to negotiate a peace. Polish diplomats did not want to cede the seaport of Riga to Russia, and Russians to Poland - Polotsk and Smolensk.
The negotiations were in jeopardy. At a special Zemsky Sobor, Viskovaty recommended a truce without requiring Poland to cede the disputed Livonian cities, subject to the withdrawal of Polish troops from there and Poland's neutrality in the Livonian War.
But the participants Zemsky Cathedral opposed this and assured the government that for the sake of the complete conquest of Livonia, they are ready for any sacrifice.
In the future, Viskovaty's diplomatic sagacity paid off. Unsuccessful negotiations in 1566 contributed to the unification in 1569 at the Polish-Lithuanian Sejm in Lublin of Poland and Lithuania into a single large state - the Commonwealth.
Viskovaty was known as one of the most educated people in Russia. Under the Ambassadorial order, he created a library, which he himself constantly used.
Among the books collected there were works on geography, Russian chronicles, Polish and Lithuanian chronicles, works by Damascus and Chrysostom, the Koran, and so on.
He was so fluent in the style of church literature that at one time he even wrote letters on behalf of Metropolitan Macarius. Therefore, it is no coincidence that he was at the center of events related to the heresy case of Matvey Bashkin.
In late June - early July 1553, one of the radical religious thinkers of the 16th century, Matvei Bashkin, and his associates were condemned at a church council in Moscow.
Viskovaty also spoke at this council. In the presence of the tsar and the boyars, he accused the confessor of Tsar Sylvester and Archpriest Simeon of the Annunciation Cathedral of complicity with heretics. He also spoke out against innovations that, in his opinion, did not correspond to church canons of icon painting and were borrowed from the West.
But unexpectedly for himself, Viskovaty turned from an accuser into an accused. This is evidenced by the definition of the church council, given to "deacon Ivan Mikhailov for his spiritual correction" for the fact that for three years he "had doubts about his opinion about those holy honest icons, and yelled and revolted the people to the temptation and reproach of many."
On January 14, 1554, Viskovaty was excommunicated for three years. In the first year, he had to stand near the temple, repent and ask those entering the temple to pray for him; in the second - to enter the church only to listen to the divine scripture; in the third - to be in the church, but without the right to communicate. Rather rudely, he was instructed to "know his rank" and not imagine himself a "head", being a "leg".
The official position of Viskovaty did not change due to excommunication: he remained the head of the Ambassadorial Order. It is possible that the tsar himself patronized Ivan Mikhailovich.
On February 9, 1561, Ivan IV grants Viskovaty the title of printer - keeper of the state seal, calls him "his neighbor and faithful Duma member."
Since that time, Viskovaty in diplomatic documents is simultaneously referred to as a printer and a deacon. The German oprichnik Heinrich Staden testified: “Whoever received his signed letter should go to Ivan Viskovaty, who kept the seal. He is a proud man, and one who received a letter from him within a month could consider himself happy.
Viskovaty repeatedly made speeches on behalf of Ivan IV. So, in 1561, when the Swedes asked for a partial change in the practice of exchanging embassies between Moscow and Stockholm, he said: “That matter is more painful than anything, that the old man should destroy his ancestors.”
In diplomatic practice, excerpts from the documents of the Tsar's archives, references to examples of the past were often used. The ambassadors embellished their speech with quotations from biblical texts, proverbs and aphorisms.
After returning from Denmark in November 1563, Viskovaty was constantly appointed by the tsar to the boyar commissions for negotiations with foreign ambassadors, but practically did not deal with the clerical work of the Ambassadorial Order.
During Viskovaty's stay in Denmark, clerk Andrey Vasiliev began to be called "The Tsar's Majesty the Duma clerk" and retained this title in the future. Thus, in the summer of 1562, the business of the embassy clerk actually passed to Vasiliev. Viskovaty, as the head of the Ambassadorial Department, continued to be an adviser.
Documentary evidence of his activities upon his return from Denmark is scarce. Viskovaty, Vasiliev, and the protege of the Zakharyins, Nikita Funikov, who headed the Treasury Department, were holding important documents in their hands.
On May 7, 1570, Ivan IV received Lithuanian ambassadors in Moscow, and “they had two meetings: the first meeting, the printer Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty came out of the canteen on the locker, and the clerk Andrey Shchelkalov.” In June 1570, Viskovaty participated in the negotiations of the boyar commission with the Polish ambassadors in Moscow, and on June 22 he presented the diploma to the ambassadors.
In addition, he prepared draft answers, assessed the situation on a particular issue, and planned further actions. His professionalism and erudition greatly contributed, in particular, to the development of Russian-British relations and the establishment of free trade.
He actively studied the situation in the Baltic States, personally negotiated in 1562 in Denmark in order to weaken the union of the states opposing Russia - Poland, Sweden, Livonia, Denmark. He concluded an alliance treaty with her and a twenty-year truce with Sweden.
Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty managed to do a lot, until Ivan the Terrible put an end to his career. The situation in the country became more and more tense. The sick tsar saw treachery and conspiracies everywhere. The Oprichnaya Duma decided to march into the western regions. In January 1570, a punitive expedition staged a brutal pogrom in Novgorod.
Immediately after the return of the tsar from Novgorod, the so-called Moscow case of the highest order officials was started, according to which, among others, Viskovaty's brother, Tretyak, was arrested and executed.
Ivan Mikhailovich explained himself to the tsar, urging him to stop the bloodshed. Painfully suspicious, Ivan IV decided that opposition had formed against him.
Viskovaty persistently advised the tsar that he "in particular should not exterminate his boyars, and asked him to think about who he would continue not only to fight, but also to live with, if he executed so many brave people."
In response to the words of Viskovaty, the tsar burst into threats: "I have not yet exterminated you, but I have just begun, but I will try to eradicate all of you so that your memory will not remain."
He was indiscriminately accused of participating in a boyar conspiracy, relations with Poland, Turkey and the Crimea, falsely accused of treason and sentenced to death penalty.
Soon more than 300 people were charged, including almost all the chief clerks of the Moscow orders. On the square in Kitai-Gorod, in the presence of the tsar himself, Viskovaty was first read accusatory points: that he was conspiring to surrender Novgorod and Pskov to the Polish king Sigismund, wanted to put Staritsky on the throne, treacherously communicated with the Turkish sultan, who was offered to take Kazan and Astrakhan , and called the Crimean Khan to devastate Russia.
On July 25, 1570, the great diplomat was executed in the market square. At first, the guardsmen tried to force him to publicly confess his crimes and ask the king for mercy.
Viskovaty began a speech to the people, in which he called these accusations impudent slanders, but he was not allowed to speak. But him last words were: "Damn you bloodsuckers, along with your king."
After a proud refusal, Ivan Mikhailovich was crucified on a log cross and dismembered alive in front of the tsar and the crowd. Following Viskovaty, more than 100 people were executed, including his former assistant, the head of the Ambassadorial Order Vasiliev and the state treasurer Funikov, who was boiled and poured with boiling water.
The wife of Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty was deprived of her entire fortune, exiled to a monastery and forcibly tonsured a nun. So the life of Viskovaty ended tragically, about which the compiler of the Livonian Chronicle Russov wrote: “Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty - the finest person, the like of which was not at that time in Moscow: foreign ambassadors were very surprised at his mind and art as a Muscovite who did not study anything.
Describing the execution of Viskovaty, the Polish chronicler Alexander Gvagnini concluded: “Such is the end of an excellent husband, outstanding in mind and many virtues, the chancellor of the Grand Duke, who will no longer be equal in the Muscovite state.”
Since 1583, by decree of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, “commemoration of the disgraced” began to be regularly held in all the monasteries of Rus'. One of the first in the tragic memorial list was Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty.
This was the beginning of a mass purge of personnel, which, in less extreme forms, stretches through the centuries. So no diplomacy saves from the highest wrath. Later, the Ambassadorial Order was replaced by Peter I with the Collegium of Foreign Affairs.
The Gospel of Luke says, "The lamp of the body is the eye." When an outstanding diplomat of the XVII century. Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin called the Posolsky Prikaz "the eye of all great Russia", he certainly had grounds for this. In essence, the Ambassadorial Order, which collected extensive information about the life of the peoples of other countries and about events in Russia itself, gave the Russians the opportunity to "see" the world around them.
By the end of the XV century. the young Muscovite state, having united the Russian principalities and freed itself from the Mongol-Tatar yoke, begins to play an independent role in international politics. The 16th century set new tasks for him: it was necessary to fight for the western and southwestern Russian lands that became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; get wide and reliable access to the Baltic Sea, overcoming the resistance of Poland, Lithuania and the Livonian Order; strengthen the southern and eastern borders of the state. A wide field of activity opened up for Russian diplomacy. Its increased activity (about 170 embassies were sent to Lithuania in the first half of the 16th century alone) required the creation of a special institution that would be in charge of foreign affairs and unite people who were in the diplomatic service.
The Posolsky Prikaz became such an institution. Its creation was facilitated by the fact that already at the end of the 15th century. there was a stable hierarchy of officials involved in foreign affairs (embassy clerks, their assistants - clerks), a special type of foreign policy documentation appeared ("ambassadorial books"); the rules of the embassy service, the embassy ceremonial, and a special diplomatic language were formed. Formation
Ambassadorial clerk.
The embassy order took place during the first half of the 16th century, when the system of state administration was taking shape, which received the name of the order (see the article “Administration system in the Moscow state. Orders”).
It is believed that the Ambassadorial Order was created in 1549, when the first of the heads of this department known to us, Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovaty, took office. Under him, the “embassy hut” was located in the Kremlin, on the square, not far from the place where the Ivan the Great Bell Tower was later built. She remained there until the 1970s. 17th century Then, for the Moscow orders, a new two-story building was erected, in which the Embassy Chamber stood out for its height and rich decorations on the facade. In addition, already in the XVI century. in Moscow there were special courtyards to accommodate the most frequently visiting ambassadors (Crimean, Nogai, Polish-Lithuanian and English), and at the beginning of the 17th century. The embassy court was built near the Kremlin, in Kitay-gorod.
Boss Ambassadorial order - the head of the foreign affairs department. He could be a duma clerk (in the beginning) or then more and more often - a boyar, a close boyar, that is, a person especially trusted by the tsar. IN early XVIII V. - chancellor, i.e., the highest official of the first rank in the state, the second person after the king in management. This clearly shows the growing role of foreign affairs in the overall state leadership in Russia.
Chief's comrades Order.
At the beginning, in the 16th century, they were clerks, in the 17th century, clerks, but not duma, but only embassies, at the end of the 17th century, boyars. The comrade (i.e., deputy) of the head of the Order was, as a rule, one, although it could be from one to three at the same time, or in parallel, or sequentially. At least one of them had to have such competence that, if necessary, he could replace the head either as acting or as the actual head of the Order.
Povytya- departments or departments of the Ambassadorial order. Usually from the middle XVII century there were five raisings, although at the beginning, in the 16th century, there were only two or three of them, in the first half of the 17th century. - four, and by the end of the XVII - beginning of the XVIII century. there were even six.
At the same time, despite the stable number of appointments, cases were distributed among them in different ways, i.e., firstly, separate departments included different periods different countries, and secondly, administrative and economic functions were distributed differently between departments in different periods. However, the basic principle of dividing into departments from the very beginning of the existence of the Russian Foreign Ministry was regional studies.
At the head of the povyt was an old clerk, that is, the eldest of the clerks who worked in the povyt. In total, there were five old clerks in the Ambassadorial Order - strictly according to the number of povytiy. Each senior clerk was subordinate to 4 more junior clerks, from the last quarter of the 17th century. they began to be divided into middle clerks, junior (or young) clerks and new non-commissioned, or "new" ones - trainees, trainees appointed to the ranks without salary, so that they "keep an eye on things", i.e. for training. The total number of personnel engaged in this way in diplomatic work in the central office of the Posolsky Prikaz was as follows: 5 old clerks - heads of departments (povyty), 10-12 juniors. Since 1689, states have been established: 5 old, 20 middle and young, and 5 new, that is, a total of 30 people. However, in practice, foreign policy cadres were always short of funds due to the lack of trained persons, and they were part of the Ambassadorial Prikaz in different time from 18 to 28 people. It was on them, on this small number of people, that the main burden of foreign policy work for a century and a half lay.
When distributing functions from the old clerk (head of department) to the assistant (i.e., the junior clerk who had just transferred to this rank from among the trainee trainees, or “newcomers”), the consistently pursued principle of differentiation was maintained in strict dependence on knowledge and work experience . This was reflected primarily in the pay of diplomats. It ranged from 1600 rubles. (for the head of the department) up to 50 rubles. per year (for the referent) in comparable prices for late XIX V. On Last year work of the Posolsky Prikaz (1701), before its actual liquidation, 6 old clerks, 7 middle and 11 young clerks worked in it, which gives some idea of the distribution of roles.
Distribution of responsibilities between the ranks. Povytia (departments) each dealt with a certain number of countries, like. usually far from equal. It depended at each historical stage on a specific state international relations, from the presence of frequently changing contractors (partners), i.e. foreign powers with which Russia maintained relations, from the real significance and hence from the actual amount of work with this or that country, from the competence of individual old clerks, from their specific knowledge of certain countries and, last but not least, from the will of the tsar and the head of the order and their discretion about what should be the “equal” load for the workers of each rank, what criteria were guided by this, and on what grounds it was determined in each specific historical period and compared.
If we take into account all these complex circumstances, then for us the structure of changes that has never been constant, but has changed and formed in a confused and unsystematic way, will become explainable. Although the basis of the work of povyty already from the end of the XVI century. the principle of specialization of departments by country clearly prevailed, but the very arrangement of these countries in povite, their combination may seem to us meaningless, fantastic and simply inconvenient if we do not take into account the above circumstances and approach the assessment of the work of the then departments of the Ambassadorial Order from a modern point of view . Departments (povytya) were initially called by the names of their chiefs-clerks: Alekseev's povytya, Volkov's, Gubin's povytya, then by numbers; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, So, already in the middle of the 17th century. (1646) there were 4 povyts (in the 70s. - 5, in the 90s - 6). Responsibilities were distributed among them as follows:
1st generation: Kyzylbashi (Dagestan, Azerbaijani khanates, Persia), Denmark, Holland.
2nd generation: Bukhara, Yurgench (Khanate of Khiva), India, Crimea.
3rd generation: Sweden, Moldova, Greek authorities (i.e. Patriarch of Constantinople, Metropolitan of Kiev).
4th generation: Lithuania and the Turkish sultan.
Inclusion of Moscow's relations with Denmark and Azerbaijan (Persia) in one department, which is “incomprehensible” at the present time, is in fact explained by the fact that these countries were in constant, stable friendly relations with Russia, and therefore the employees of this department had to develop and cultivate a certain diplomatic language, a certain soft, polite, respectful form of address in the preparation of documents.
On the contrary, in the 4th level, where it was necessary to speak rather harshly, but at the same time without breaking loose and not allowing insults, with two "eternal" enemies of Russia - with the Sultan and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, with Russia's most unpredictable neighbors - naturally , other qualities should have been developed among diplomats. Flexibility to change the form of relations on the go was not allowed by either tradition or prescription; and everything that concerned a change in policy was decided by the tsar, his Duma, and the strict observance of the instructions was left to the lot of the officials of the Ambassadorial Order. That is why all shades of diplomatic relations - from hostile to varying degrees of friendliness - were divided into five possible categories, and the distribution of countries in these categories changed depending on specific historical circumstances. So, for example, having quarreled with the Moldavian ruler, the tsar could order to transfer the conduct of business with Moldavia to the 4th povyt, and this was already enough, because the officials of this povyt would automatically write to the Moldavian ruler in the same tone and in the same spirit as the Turkish Sultan or Grand Duke of Lithuania. Retraining employees of the same department, changing forms of work depending on the situation, was considered in the 16th and 17th centuries. extremely inconvenient and impractical: the clerks themselves could get confused, and this would be detrimental to the prestige of the king. The king did not have to change his orders in such a way that this change of policy was noticeable to his subjects: they were used to everything being unchanged and stable, otherwise they would either get lost or, conversely, lose respect for power as a stable institution. Only in the 80s. XVII century., When at the head of the Ambassadorial order began to be placed European educated people and when the very nature and intensity of European affairs begin to differ too sharply from Asian affairs, and besides, the language factor begins to play an increasingly important role, knowledge of individual European and Asian languages, while previously it was enough to know two or three "international" - Church Slavonic (for all Slavic and Orthodox countries), Latin (for all Western European) and Greek (for all Eastern and for relations with church hierarchs - the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Metropolitan of Kiev), the breakdown of the affairs of individual povyty begins to acquire a modern regional character.
1st class: The Holy See, the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, Spain, France, England and all matters of protocol.
2nd generation: Sweden, Poland, Wallachia, Moldavia, Turkey, Crimea, Holland, Hamburg, Hanseatic cities, Greeks and visits of the "Greek authorities" (Patriarch of Constantinople).
3rd litigation: Denmark, Brandenburg, Courland and all matters related to the jurisdiction technical support relations: translators, interpreters, dragomans, scribes, gold painters.
4th line: Persia, Armenia, India, the Kalmyk state, the Don Cossacks, as well as everything related to communications: diplomatic mail and mail in general, couriers, messengers, messengers, messengers, the security service for diplomatic workers (“reprisal cases” ) and sales office.
5th generation: China, Bukhara, Urgench (Khiva), Siberian Kalmyks (Chzhungar state), Georgia and providing equipment for embassy workers and decorating receptions (clothing, lace, linen factories etc.).
Thus, in the 80s, XVII century, three departments dealt with European affairs, and two - with Asian ones. Here there was already a more rational organization of diplomatic work, in which the specialization of workers was possible not only in the form of work, but also in the country, in the very content of diplomatic work. Yet even at the end of the seventeenth century have not yet come to a decision on the separation from the diplomatic work of all auxiliary departments - security, communications, economic services, trade missions. They were given "to the load" little by little for each of the main promotions, not realizing to save the diplomats from the functions of caretaker or security guards that were not characteristic of them.
This structure remains, in fact, until the very end of the existence of the Ambassadorial order, for back in 1701-1702. there was the following division into povyts (departments), where, on the one hand, a shift towards even greater rationality in the division of countries is visible, and on the other hand, blind adherence to tradition in preserving the old order: 1st povyt: Papal Throne, German Empire, France , England, Portugal, Florence, Italy, Venice, electors of Germany, as well as protocol (ceremonial) business and medical support (quarantines, doctors, pharmacists).
2nd generation: Greek questions (Constantinople), Denmark, Brandenburg, Courland, as well as security issues (bailiffs and watchmen) and technical support (translators, interpreters, scribes, gold scribes, etc.).
3rd generation: Poland, Sweden, Holland, Turkey, Crimea, Moldavia, Wallachia. (It is easy to see that all the most important, key foreign policy relations of that time were united in this department, the tsar himself was often interested in this and led his affairs, and therefore both European and Asian affairs related to military-strategic and military-foreign policy issues were combined here. : it was the department of neighboring countries on western border empire.) Holland got into this company for two reasons: firstly, it was a country that was distinguished at that time by the tsar himself (Peter I), and secondly, it was closely connected with the solution of military-diplomatic issues, from there came all naval equipment and training necessary for the wars of Peter I at sea with both Turkey and Sweden; in addition, Holland competed with Sweden in trade in the Baltic.
4th tribe: Persia, Armenia, Don Cossacks, Hanseatic cities, Riga, regulation of the position of foreign merchants in Russia - dealt with the affairs of neutral countries.
5th generation: Georgia - Kartalinia and Georgia - Imereti, China, Central Asia - Bukhara, Urgench (Khiva) - had a purely Asian character.
6th povyte: Separately, issues of relations with the North and Siberia, the so-called. Stroganov affairs, that is, for the first time the government took into its own hands a vast area of relations with the Siberian and northern peoples, which began to be in charge from the 15th century. in fact, various private individuals by personal proxy of the king. As a result, Russia's relations with the peoples of Siberia, including with various local (native) states, acquired distorted, colonial-coercive forms, proceeding not even from the state, but from private individuals who for centuries allowed arbitrariness for narrowly selfish purposes. Such were the relations with the Great Permian, Vymsky, Pelymsky, Kondinsky, Lyapinsky, Obdorsky, Surgut “principalities”, i.e. with the local state-tribal formations of the Mansi (Vogul) and Khanty (Ostyak) peoples, as well as with the Zhungar, Oirat and others tribal unions and states (khanates) located from the Urals to the borders of the Chinese Empire. Beginning in 1700, relations in this region were for the first time placed under the direct control of the state and therefore were included in the jurisdiction of the Posolsky Prikaz, its special, b-th, povyt.
Such was the structure of the Russian Foreign Ministry before its reorganization into the Collegium of Foreign Affairs.
In addition to the diplomats of the central office, various auxiliary workers constantly worked in the Embassy Prikaz, ensuring the technical implementation of diplomatic missions and acts.
1. translators- so called only translators from various foreign languages, who produced Russian texts of foreign letters and verified the identity of the texts of Russian treaties with their foreign version.
In addition to the actual diplomatic work, they were also busy compiling various reference and educational "state books". So, it was in the Ambassadorial Prikaz that the “Titular Book”, “Cosmography”, the collection of church-state canonical rules and laws “Vasiliologion” and other books that were enduring encyclopedic in nature and also associated with processing and collecting information from foreign sources were compiled. The interpreters were, in fact, the first press attaches of the then Foreign Ministry.
The number of translators from the moment the Posolsky Prikaz was organized until its dissolution at the beginning of the 18th century It fluctuated greatly, but grew all the time as the volume of work and the number of countries that entered into diplomatic relations with Moscow grew. There were from 10 to 20 translators from languages (payment from three to five times higher than interpreters, interpreters):
1) Greek classical (ancient Greek, or Hellenic);
2) Greek colloquial (modern Greek);
3) Volosh (Valakh, Romanian);
4) Latin (classical);
5) Caesar's Latin (that is, from Vulgar Latin);
6) Polish;
7) Dutch;
8) English;
9) Caesar (Austrian-German);
10) Tatar;
11) Kalmyk;
12) Turkish (Turkish);
13) Arabic;
14) German (Lower Saxon);
15) Swedish.
2. Tolmachi- in total from 12 to 16. Everyone knew from 2 to 4 languages. Combinations: Tatar, Turkish and Italian - common for that time, as well as Latin, Polish, German. Translated from the following languages.
The Posolsky Prikaz was one of the central state bodies of Russia in the mid-16th and early 18th centuries, which carried out general management and ongoing work on relations with foreign states.
The Posolsky Prikaz was one of the central state bodies of Russia in the mid-16th and early 18th centuries, which carried out general management and ongoing work on relations with foreign states. It was formed at the beginning of 1549 in connection with the transfer of "embassy affairs" to I. M. Viskovaty. The main functions of the Ambassadorial Order were: sending Russian embassies abroad and receiving foreign embassies, preparing texts of "mandates" for Russian ambassadors, agreements, negotiating, from the beginning of the 18th century. - Appointment and control over the actions of permanent Russian diplomatic representatives abroad.
The embassy order was in charge of foreign merchants during their stay in Russia. In addition, the Posolsky Prikaz was engaged in the ransom and exchange of Russian prisoners, ruled a number of territories in the south-east. country, was in charge of the Don Cossacks and service Tatars-landlords of the central counties. Depending on the Ambassadorial order in the 2nd half of the 17th century. were the Little Russian order, the order of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Smolensk order.
Board of the order in the 17th century. usually headed the Novgorod couple (see Cheti), as well as the Vladimir quarter and the Galician quarter. The order kept state seals (applied to diplomatic and internal political acts), state archive, which included the most important foreign and domestic political documentation. The appearance in the 17th century is associated with the order. a number of official historical and political works. In addition to his board (from 2-3 to 5-6 people), the structure of the order included clerks, clerks, translators and gold painters. Structurally, the Posolsky order was divided into povytya on a territorial-state basis. In the 16-17 centuries. The ambassadorial order was headed by the most prominent Russian diplomats - Viskovaty, A. Ya. and V. Ya. Shchelkalov, A. I. Ivanov, A. L. Ordin-Nashchokin, A. S. Matveev, V. V. Golitsyn and others.
With education in the early 18th century. The Embassy office (at first traveling, then permanent in St. Petersburg), the role of the Ambassadorial order is gradually falling. Abolished in 1720. Replaced by the College of Foreign Affairs.
Lit .: Belokurov S. A., On the ambassadorial order, M., 1906; Leontiev A.K., Formation of the command system of government in the Russian state, M., 1961.
Head of the Ambassadorial Department - Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin
Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin (1664 - January 28, 1705, Moscow) - boyar, head of the Ambassadorial Department, brother of Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, uncle of Tsar Peter the Great.
Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin.
Unknown Russian artist of the second half of the 17th century. Armory School.
Natalya Kirillovna Romanova, nee Naryshkina, sister of Lev Kirillovich
He was born in 1664 and in 1682 he was already a steward when the well-known archery riot broke out. The brutal murder of the brothers and, in general, the hatred of the archers for the Naryshkin family threatened with death for Lev Kirillovich, since the archers demanded the extradition of him and many other Naryshkins.
Streltsy Uprising from the collection of the State Historical Museum
Shooter riot. 1682. Revolt of archers in Moscow. Engraving by N. Kislovsky. Late 1860s
Saved from death, however, at the insistence of the rebels, he was forced to go into exile. Returning to Moscow, Naryshkin began to play a prominent role, thanks to the influence he enjoyed with his sister, the queen. He and Prince Boris Golitsyn were the people closest to her.
Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn
Portrait fantasy of a contemporary artist
Around this time, Lev Kirillovich was granted a boyar. The ambitious plans of Sophia led in 1689 to a new streltsy conspiracy, directed mainly against Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna and persons close to her, especially against her brother Lev Kirillovich. The plot was revealed and Naryshkin escaped from the danger that threatened him. Getting more and more powerful, he quarreled with Boris Golitsyn and armed Natalya Kirillovna against him, thanks to which Golitsyn soon completely lost all significance, and Lev Kirillovich took one of the first places among the persons who were at the head of the government.
Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin
In 1690 he was appointed head of the Ambassadorial Department, which he managed until 1702. In 1697, when Peter left on his first trip abroad, a Council of four boyars was established to govern the state, and its first member, after Prince. F. Yu. Romodanovsky, Lev Kirillovich was appointed.
Prince Fyodor Yurievich Romodanovsky
The clash over power with the Lopukhins, relatives of the young queen, ended quite favorably for Naryshkin, since the Lopukhins were completely removed from business. In 1699, when the boyar Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin was appointed admiral general, foreign affairs were also assigned to him, and Lev Kirillovich lost his primacy in public administration. During Golovin's absence, he managed the Posolsky Prikaz, but no longer enjoyed influence.
Fedor Alekseevich Golovin
One of the closest associates of Peter I, head of the Foreign Ministry (President of the Embassy Affairs), General Admiral (1699) and the first General Field Marshal in Russia (1700). At various times, he also managed the Naval Order, the Armory, the Gold and Silver Chambers, the Siberian Viceroyalty, the Yamsky Order and the Mint. The first holder of the highest state award - the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (March 10, 1699).
Death and legacy
In his notes, Prince B. I. Kurakin characterizes Naryshkin as follows: “there was a man of a much average mind and intemperate to drink, also a proud man, and although not a villain, only not inclined and did good to many without reason, but according to bizaria (from fr bizarrerie - whim) of his humor. (from French humeur - mood) "
L.K. Naryshkin, in addition to a huge amount of land and, by the way, the famous Kuntsov, acquired by him from A.A. Matveev, owned the Tula iron factories, where iron parts were prepared for the ships of the Azov fleet, and in 1705 - cannonballs, bombs and etc.
Family
Lev Kirillovich was the only one of the brothers of Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna who left offspring that existed until the beginning of the 20th century. He was married twice and had 9 children:
1 wife since September 3, 1684 Praskovya Feodorovna NN(d. 08/02/1701), was buried in the church of the Bogolyubskaya Mother of God of the Vysokopetrovsky monastery in Moscow.
Agrafena Lvovna (168. -1709), was the first wife of Chancellor Prince A. M. Cherkassky (1680-1741).
Prince Alexei Mikhailovich Cherkassky (September 28, 1680, Moscow - November 4, 1742, Moscow) - Russian statesman, under Peter I the Siberian governor (in 1719-1724). Under Anna Ioannovna, one of the three cabinet ministers. From 1740 - Chancellor Russian Empire. The richest landowner in Russia in terms of the number of souls, the last in the senior line of the Cherkassky family. According to the characteristics of Prince M. M. Shcherbatov, “a silent, quiet man, whose mind never shone in great ranks, everywhere showed caution”
Artist Ivan Petrovich Argunov
Praskovya Lvovna (d. 1718), girl.
Alexandra Lvovna (169. -1730), was married to Cabinet Minister A.P. Volynsky, who was executed in 1740.
Artemy Petrovich Volynsky (1689 - June 27, 1740, St. Petersburg) - Russian statesman and diplomat. In 1719-1730 Astrakhan and Kazan governor. In 1722 he strengthened his position by marriage with a cousin of Peter the Great. Since 1738, the Cabinet Minister of Empress Anna Ioannovna. Opponent of "Bironism". At the head of a circle of nobles, he drafted state reorganization projects. Executed.
