Posolskii prikaz: Kolybel rossiiskoi diplomatii (review)

Nikolai Rogozhin of the Institute of Russian History in Moscow has written a new book on one of the most important Muscovite administrative bodies, the Foreign Chancellery (Posol´skii prikaz). Rogozhin is a leading expert on the archives of the Foreign Chancellery, and he has published extensively on its diplomatic documentation. One of his earlier books was devoted to the Foreign Chancellery's activities until the year 1605.¹ Rogozhin's new book covers several major themes: the history of the Foreign Chancellery from the Time of Troubles (Smuta, conventionally from 1606) until the beginning of the 18th century (chapter 1); the staff of the chancellery in the 17th century (chapter 2); and the reconstruction of the chancellery archives during the period under consideration (chapter 3). This study is a functional analysis that examines the chancellery hierarchy and the makeup of its personnel and their administrative responsibilities. The author thus follows in his work the methodology of the classic studies of the Foreign Chancellery by Vladimir Savva and Sergei Belokurov.² For his reconstruction of the documentation of the chancellery, Rogozhin compares the existing ambassadorial books (posol´skie knigi) from the collections of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Records (RGADA) with the 17th-century inventories of the chancellery archives. This research method, which allows the historian to restore information on lost records, proved to be efficient in the author's previous study of the Foreign Chancellery in the 16th century.

In the introduction, Rogozhin places the activities of the Foreign Chancellery in the historical context of 17th-century Muscovy. At that time, the Foreign Chancellery was responsible for handling diplomatic affairs and for some tasks relating to foreign policy, such as ransoming captives and administering certain categories of non-Russians residing in Muscovy. Rogozhin points out the flexibility, efficiency, and functionality of the chancellery system. At the same time, some built-in features of the system contributed to its institutional collapse in the early 18th century. These included a lack of centralized funding; the overlapping functions of various bodies; the insufficient unification and specialization of the chancelleries; the archaic system of producing documents; the overloading of the chancellery system during the Northern War (1700–21); the crisis of the Muscovite military machine based on service landholding and the consequent decline of the Military Chancellery (Razriad); and the abolition of the Patriarchate and the collapse of the system of the patriarch's chancelleries. These general observations on the decline of the chancellery system are followed by a review of the historiography and of the archival sources on the history of the Foreign Chancellery.

In chapter 1, Rogozhin argues that the Time of Troubles was a turning point in the history of the Foreign Chancellery, which was deeply affected by the turbulent political events and experienced a profound influence of Polish diplomatic practice. According to the author, even after the restoration of autocracy under Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov (1613–45), the Foreign Chancellery continued to use in its work some elements of European diplomatic practice, which were apparently borrowed from Poland by the head of the chancellery, Ivan Taras´evich Gramotin. The reigns of Aleksei Mikhailovich (1645–76) and Fedor Alekseevich (1676–82) saw the heyday of the Foreign Chancellery. It began to perform more diverse functions, its structure grew more complex and its document-producing system became more elaborate. The chancellery also actively contributed to the cultural and ideological activities of the central authorities. Its heads substantially increased their status in the central administration. The officials working in the chancellery acquired specialized knowledge, such as command of foreign languages, and tended to remain somewhat isolated from the staff of other chancelleries. Rogozhin examines the hierarchy of officials in the Foreign Chancellery, their incomes in kind and cash, and the location of their private houses. He also provides insight into the organization of work in the chancellery, including some elements of its budget, the physical space it occupied, and its working hours.

Chapter 2 is...