Ambassadorial order - the first sprouts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

In Ancient Russia, central government bodies were called orders. They were also called chambers and courtyards, huts and palaces, thirds and quarters. It is assumed that orders as state institutions arose involuntarily, and the first mention of them in this role is found in 1512 in a letter sent to the Vladimir Assumption Monastery by the Grand Duke of All Russia Vasily III.

A certain number of people were ordered to do some specific things - this is how the definition of "order" appeared. The newly established orders acted on behalf of the sovereign and were the highest government places. Complaints about their actions were considered only by the king or the royal duma. Orders are the initial stages of current ministries.

Origination and purpose

The ambassadorial order arose in 1549 under Ivan IV. It existed until 1720. The Code of Laws of 1550 Ivan the Terrible introduces a system of command administration, which was designed to provide for state needs. Almost 200 yearsthe framework of this system was preserved and was replaced only under the Great Reformer Peter I. The duties of the newly created order included relations with other states, ransoms and the exchange of prisoners, and supervision of certain groups of "service people", for example, the Don Cossacks.

Main Functions

The ambassadorial order was also involved in the administration of some lands in the south and east of the state. His responsibility included sending Russian missions abroad and receiving foreign missions. Foreign merchants were subordinate to him, throughout their stay on our territory.

Preparation of texts of international negotiations was also imputed to the duties of the order. He controlled the diplomatic missions.

Organ structure

Initially, the Embassy order consisted of a duma clerk, under whose command were his "comrade" (deputy), 15-17 clerks (lowest administrative rank) and several interpreters (translators). At the head of the newly created institution was the Order Clerk, also known as the Ambassador Clerk. In those days, civil servants (in addition to clergymen) were called clerks, in particular, heads of orders or junior ranks in the boyar duma.

Structure gaining weight

The first Ambassadorial order was headed by Ivan Mikhailovich Viskovatov, who before this appointment served as an ambassador, a duma clerk, and was the keeper of the state seal. He was at the head of the order until his death in 1570. With the growth of the international weight of Russiathe importance of the Ambassadorial Order also increased, its staff increased significantly - in 1689, 53 clerks instead of 17 and 22 translators plus 17 interpreters (interpreter) served in it.

By the end of the 17th century, the Posolsky Prikaz gained so much strength that it became one of the most important components of the central state apparatus of Russia. In this century, he has gone from the Chancellery for Foreign Relations to a state structure with significant independence and the broadest powers.

Major milestones

The entire period of the existence of the Ambassadorial Order can be conditionally decomposed in accordance with the three epochal periods of that time. This is the Time of Troubles, the restoration of the Russian monarchy under Mikhail Romanov, the first Russian tsar from this dynasty, and the heyday of statehood that came under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

Outstanding Representatives

From 1621, Ivan Tarasevich Gramotin, then head of the Ambassadorial Department, began to prepare for the tsar systematic information about the state of affairs in other countries. They were drawn from the periodicals of the countries, as well as from the observations and conclusions of the ambassadors. These "Vestovye letters" were essentially the first Russian newspaper. It is necessary to say a few words separately about this eighth chapter of the Ambassadorial Order. He began his career as a clerk, and three times under different kings he held the highest post of the Ambassadorial Department. In the Time of Troubles, he was one of the most prominent political figures.

Povytya

The structure of the order was divided into sections,in charge of office work on territorial grounds (povytya). There were five in total. The functions of the Ambassadorial Order, according to these five administrative parts, were distributed as follows - the first part included the countries of Western Europe - England and France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the Papal State. The second povyt de alt with relations with Sweden, Poland and Wallachia (the south of modern Romania), Moldova, Turkey and the Crimea, Holland, Hamburg.

Relations with Denmark, Brandenburg and Courland were handled by the 3rd department in the order, which was in charge of the office work of these countries. Persia, Armenia, India and the Kalmyk state were under the jurisdiction of the 4th povyt. The last fifth was in charge of relations with China, Bukhara, Khiva, the Zhungar state and Georgia.

The volume of work is growing

From the very moment when the Ambassadorial Order was established, he was charged with the overall management of the country's foreign policy. Since the second half of the 17th century, the following orders are directly subordinate to him - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Smolensk and Little Russia. The archive of the most important external and internal political documents accumulated over time was also stored here.

Order chapters

With the growth of the international importance of Russia, the clerk of the Ambassadorial Order is replaced by a representative of the highest feudal class of the country - the boyar, and the institution itself has been called the “State Order of the Embassy Press” since 1670.

For everythingDuring the existence of the Ambassadorial Order, 19 leaders were replaced as its head. The last was the count and first chancellor of the Russian Empire, an associate of Peter the Great, Gabriel Ivanovich Golovkin. As a result of the reforms of Peter I, the Embassy Office was created, which in 1720 was replaced by the Collegium of Foreign Affairs.