17th-Century Ambassadorial Relations between Russia and Central Asian Nomads: The Official Status of Russian Diplomats Analyzed

Introduction. The paper provides a first historiographic insight into official ranks and social status of Russian diplomats to have been dispatched on diplomatic missions to leaders of nomadic military/political associations across Northern Central Asia in the 17th century. Goals. The study aims to determine essentials of how the Tsardom of Russia tended to perceive its counterparties’ status through the analysis of official positions and social backgrounds of Russian diplomats. Materials and methods. The article analyzes a wide range of published and unpublished documents, systemizes and generalizes qualitative and quantitative data pertaining to official ranks of Russian diplomats discovered in records management papers, such as Tsar’s ukazes, nakazes and reminder nakazes, as well as those referred to as stateyny spisok (list of officers) and otpiska voevody (governor’s report). Results. The work reveals diplomatic missions to Kirghiz and Teleut lands, Dzungaria and Mongolia were usually headed by offsprings of the nobility (deti boyarskie) and regular servicemen (nachalnye lyudi) — Cossack leaders, atamans, squadron (pyatidesyatnik) and section (desyatnik) commanders. However, it was not that rare when such diplomatic endeavors were entrusted to servicemen of lower ranks and, occasionally, representatives of indigenous (non-Russian) populations. Conclusions. In terms of 16th–17th century Russian ambassadorial semiotics, the choice of diplomats from commoners and those characterized by lower social status was definitely purposeful and aimed at demonstrating that Turkic and Mongolian nomadic rulers were to enjoy fewer honors due to a higher standing of the Russian Tsar. Since the Tsardom of Muscovy was seeking to gain control over the nomadic military/political alliances of Northern Central Asia and bring nomadic elites under ‘the higher hand of the monarch’, the appointments of lower-ranked servicemen as heads of diplomatic missions were to meet the goals (and logic) of Russian expansionist policy. Low ranks of dispatched diplomats indicated not only the Russian Tsar’s political superiority over nomadic rulers but also attested to that Russians already tended to perceive nomads as potential subjects of the Tsar.