Keeper of the Seal and diplomat : The Moscow correspondence of the Dyak of the Posolsky Prikaz (Head of the Foreign Office) V.Ya. Shchelkalov with the Imperial Ambassador Abraham von Donau

Abstract

The article is devoted to the diplomatic protocol and the process of preparing of cial foreign policy documents of the Moscow State. Among the new sources identi ed in the Vienna State Archives concerning the diplomatic mission of the imperial ambassador A. von Donau are original letters from Dyak V. Ya. Shchelkalov addressed to the imperial diplomat. The documents allow us to outline the range of topics discussed in Moscow and show that along with foreign policy topics during the negotiations, the parties also treated nancial issues concerning private individuals - subjects of the Empire and top of cials of the Russian state.The authors pay special attention to the design of the texts of the Vienna letters: rst, for example, the names of the addressee and sender are not disclosed, the address usual for a business or personal document is missing; the second, written on the “Alexandrian sheet”, opens with the “titles” of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich and Emperor Rudolf II, but they are followed by the names and “titles” of the author of the letter and the addressee of the message. The second letter is sealed with the personal seal of Dyak V. Ya. Shchelkalov. Seal impressions in Russia and other countries are still unknown. The circular inscription contains the name and title of its owner, and in the center of the seal there is a composition of two birds. It is probably an illustration of the parable “On Talkativeness”, which was widespread in medieval Russian literature. The seal is completely unique and characterizes the head of the Russian diplomatic service as a scribe and a high professional in his eld