The Diplomacy of Aleksei Mikhailovich’s Ambassadorial Prikaz toward Pope Clement X: New Details

This article is devoted to the embassy dispatched by Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich to Pope Clement X (1670–1676) with the aim of shaping a broad coalition of Christian European states against the Ottoman Empire, which in 1672 had launched a successful war against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, seized Kamenets, and concluded the highly favourable Peace of Buczacz. In Russian historiography, a consensus has taken hold that the atmosphere of fear in European capitals over a further Ottoman advance was exploited by the boyar A. S. Matveev, then head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz, to stage a diplomatic demonstration that brought Russia onto the front stage of European politics. At the same time, the outcomes of the mission are assessed very cautiously, despite the fact that on 28 August 1673 the tsar’s courier, Pavel Gavrilovich Menesius (Paul Menzies), was granted an official papal audience, held several unofficial meetings, and received valuable gifts. A prevailing view also holds that the main objective of the negotiations from the Holy See’s side was the persistent but highly unrealistic hope of reunifying the Churches, which was once again shattered. The published document, preserved in the Archive of SPbII RAN, makes it possible to introduce substantial corrections into the established interpretations. The letter sent on 9 September 1673 by the nephew of the Roman pope, Cardinal Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri, to the apostolic nuncio in Madrid, Galeazzo Marescotti, regarding the reception of the tsar’s courier in Rome, testifies that the Holy See intended to use the mere fact of negotiations with Russia as leverage over European capitals, in order to draw them more actively into opposition against the Ottoman Empire under its own aegis. Thus, one can speak of a situational convergence of Moscow’s and Rome’s diplomatic interests, which were above all of a demonstrative character.