Historians do not know exactly when Ivan the Viscous was born. The first mention of it dates back to 1542, when this booster wrote a letter of conciliation with the Kingdom of Poland. The whiskey was rather arrogant, he belonged to a notorious noble family. He built his career thanks to his own diligence, natural talents and the intercession of patrons. Contemporaries described him as an extremely eloquent person. The speaker’s abilities were very important for the diplomat, therefore it is not surprising that over time, Ivan Viskovaty headed precisely the Ambassadorial Order (prototype of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
Elevation
Until the middle of the 16th century, the entire diplomatic system of the Russian state was built around the Grand Duke. He could delegate certain powers individually, but no state institution existed.
The state of affairs in Moscow diplomacy of that time can be judged by the entries in the embassy books. They say that starting in 1549, Ivan the Terrible , recently married to the kingdom, ordered the Viskovati to accept official letters brought by foreign delegations. Then the first foreign trips of the official began. In the same 1549, he went to the Nogais and the ruler of Astrakhan Derbysh.
At the head of the Ambassadorial order
Compared with his colleagues, Ivan Viskovaty was also distinguished by a low rank. He was just booming. Ivan the Terrible, appreciating Viskovaty’s abilities, equated him with other more eminent diplomats - Fedor Mishurin and Menshik Putyanin. So the nobleman became a clerk. In the same year 1549, Ivan Viskovaty was suddenly appointed head of the diplomatic department. He became the first official of this kind in Russian history.
From that moment on, the Whiskey began active work, which for the most part came down to meetings with numerous foreign delegations. Ambassadors from the Nogai Horde, Lithuania, Poland, Kazan, Denmark, Germany, etc. came to the clerk. The unique status of the Whiskey was emphasized by the fact that he received high-ranking guests in person. For such meetings there was a special clerical hut. Ivan the Terrible himself mentioned in her letters.
Responsibilities of a Diplomat
In addition to meetings with ambassadors, Ivan Viskovaty was in charge of their correspondence with the tsar and the Boyar Duma. The clerk was present at all preliminary negotiations. In addition, he was involved in the organization of Russian embassies abroad.
During the tsar’s meetings with delegations, Viskovaty Ivan Mikhailovich kept the minutes of negotiations, and his notes were later included in the official chronicles. In addition, the sovereign entrusted him with the management of his own archive. This storehouse contained unique documents: all kinds of decrees of Moscow and other specific princes, family trees, papers of a foreign political nature, investigative materials, government records management.
The keeper of the state archive
The man who kept track of the royal archive should have had great responsibility. It was at Wiskowath that this repository was reorganized into a separate institution. The head of the Ambassadorial order had to work a lot with papers from the archive, since without them it was impossible to make inquiries about relations with other states and organize meetings with foreign delegates.
In 1547, Moscow experienced a terrible fire, which contemporaries called "great." The archive was also damaged in the fire. Caring for him and restoring valuable documents has become the paramount task of the Whiskey from the very beginning of his tenure as head of the diplomatic department.
Under the protection of the Zakharyins
The prosperous bureaucratic fate of Ivan Viskovaty was successful not only thanks to his own zeal. Behind him stood powerful patrons who patronized and helped their protégé. These were Zakharyins - relatives of the first wife of Ivan the Terrible Anastasia. Their rapprochement was facilitated by the conflict that erupted in the Kremlin in 1553. The young king was seriously ill, and his entourage was seriously afraid for the life of the sovereign. The viscous Ivan Mikhailovich suggested that the crown bearer draw up a spiritual testament. According to this document, in the event of the death of Ivan Vasilievich, the government should have passed to his six-month-old son Dmitry.
In a situation of uncertain future, the relatives of the Terrible Staritsky (including his cousin Vladimir Andreyevich, who claimed power), fearing the excessive strengthening of the enemy boyar clan, began to intrigue against the Zakharyins. As a result, half of the yard did not swear allegiance to the young Dmitry. Until the last, even the closest adviser to the tsar Alexei Adashev hesitated . But the Whiskey remained on the side of Dmitry (that is, the Zakharyins), for which they were always grateful to him. After some time, the king recovered. At all the boyars who did not want to support the claims of Dmitry, there was a black mark.
Eye of the Sovereign
In the middle of the XVI century, the main direction of Russian foreign policy was the east. In 1552, Grozny annexed Kazan, and in 1556 Astrakhan. At court, Aleksey Adashev was the main proponent of eastward advancement. Whiskey, although he accompanied the king in his Kazan campaign, with much greater zeal was engaged in Western affairs. It was he who stood at the origins of the emergence of diplomatic contacts between Russia and England. Muscovy (as it was called in Europe at that time) did not have access to the Baltic, therefore sea trade with the Old World was carried out through Arkhangelsk, which freezes in winter. In 1553, the English navigator Richard Chansler arrived there.
In the future, the merchant several times visited Russia. Each of his visits was accompanied by a traditional meeting with Ivan Viskovaty. The head of the Ambassadorial order met with Chansler in the company of the most influential and wealthy Russian merchants. It was, of course, about trade. The British sought to become monopolists in the Russian market, full of goods unique to Europeans. Important negotiations, where these issues were discussed, were carried out by Ivan Viskovaty. In the history of relations between the two countries, their first trade agreement played a fundamentally important and long-term role.
Whiskey and England
Merchants from Foggy Albion received a letter of preference, full of all kinds of privileges. They opened their own representative offices in several Russian cities. Moscow merchants also received a unique right to trade in Britain without duties.
Free entry to Russia was open to English masters, artisans, artists and physicians. It was Ivan Viskovaty who made a huge contribution to the emergence of such beneficial relations between the two powers. The fate of his agreements with the British was extremely successful: they lasted until the second half of the 17th century.
Livonian war supporter
The lack of their own Baltic ports and the desire to enter Western European markets pushed Ivan the Terrible to start a war against the Livonian Order, located on the territory of modern Estonia and Latvia. By that time, the best era of the knights was left behind. Their military organization was in serious decline, and the Russian tsar not without reason believed that it would be relatively easy to conquer the important Baltic cities: Riga, Derpt, Revel, Yuriev, Pernavu. In addition, the knights themselves provoked a conflict, not letting European merchants, craftsmen and goods into Russia. The logical war began in 1558 and dragged on for as long as 25 years.
The Livonian question split the king’s close associates into two parties. The first circle was headed by Adashev. His supporters believed that it was necessary first of all to increase their pressure on the southern Tatar khanates and the Ottoman Empire. Ivan Viskovaty and other boyars held the opposite point of view. They advocated the continuation of the war in the Baltic states to a victorious end.
Fiasco in the Baltic
At the first stage of the conflict with the knights, everything turned out exactly as Ivan Viskovaty wanted. The biography of this diplomat is an example of a politician who made the right decisions each time. So now the head of the Ambassadorial order has guessed. The Livonian Order was quickly defeated. The castles of the knights surrendered one after another. It seemed that the Baltic states are already in your pocket.
However, the successes of Russian weapons were seriously alarmed by neighboring western states. Poland, Lithuania, Denmark and Sweden also claimed the Livonian inheritance and did not intend to give the entire Baltic to Grozny. At first, the European powers tried to stop the war unfavorable to them through diplomatic means. Embassies reached Moscow. Met them, as expected, Ivan the Viscous. The photo of this diplomat was not preserved, but even without knowing his appearance and habits, we can safely assume that he skillfully defended the interests of his sovereign. The head of the Ambassadorial order consistently refused Western crafty mediation in conflict with the Livonian Order. Further victories of the Russian army in the Baltic states led to the frightened Poland and Lithuania united into one state - the Commonwealth. A new player in the international arena openly opposed Russia. Sweden soon declared war on Grozny. The Livonian war dragged on, and all the successes of Russian weapons were nullified. True, the second half of the conflict passed without the participation of Viskovaty. By this time, he had already become a victim of the repression of his own king.
Opal
The conflict between Grozny and the boyars began in 1560, when his first wife Anastasia suddenly died. Evil tongues spread rumors about her poisoning. Gradually, the king became suspicious, he was seized with paranoia and fear of betrayal. These phobias intensified when the closest adviser to the monarch Andrei Kurbsky fled abroad. The first heads flew in Moscow.
Boyars were imprisoned or executed on the most dubious denunciations and slander. In line for the reprisal was also the envy of many competitors, Ivan Viskovaty. A brief biography of the diplomat, however, suggests that he was able to avoid the wrath of his sovereign for a relatively long time.
Death
In 1570, against the backdrop of the defeats in Livonia, Grozny and his guardsmen decided to go on a hike to Novgorod, whose inhabitants they suspected of treason and sympathy for foreign enemies. After the bloodshed, the sad fate of Ivan the Viscous was also decided. In short, the repressive machine could not stop by itself. Starting terror against his own boyars, Grozny needed more and more traitors and traitors. And although to our time there were no documents that would explain how the decision was made on the Viscous, it can be assumed that he was slandered by the new favorites of the king: the guardsmen Malyuta Skuratov and Vasily Gryaznoy.
Shortly before the nobleman was removed from the leadership of the Ambassadorial order. In addition, one day Ivan Viskovaty openly tried to stand up for terrorized boyars. In response to the exhortations of the diplomat, Grozny erupted in an angry tirade. The whiskey was executed on July 25, 1570. He was accused of treacherous ties with the Crimean Khan and the Polish king.