Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Note on names, dates, and transliteration
- Chronology
- List of abbreviations
- 1 The era of Vladimir I
- 2 Princes and politics (1015–1125)
- 3 Kievan Rusˈ society
- 4 Kievan Rusˈ: the final century
- 5 The Golden Horde
- 6 The Russian lands within the Golden Horde
- 7 The Daniilovich ascension
- 8 The unification and centralization of Muscovy
- 9 Muscovite domestic consolidation
- 10 Foreign policy and foreign trade
- 11 Ivan IV the Terrible
- 12 Conclusions and controversies
- Select bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Medieval Textbooks
10 - Foreign policy and foreign trade
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Note on names, dates, and transliteration
- Chronology
- List of abbreviations
- 1 The era of Vladimir I
- 2 Princes and politics (1015–1125)
- 3 Kievan Rusˈ society
- 4 Kievan Rusˈ: the final century
- 5 The Golden Horde
- 6 The Russian lands within the Golden Horde
- 7 The Daniilovich ascension
- 8 The unification and centralization of Muscovy
- 9 Muscovite domestic consolidation
- 10 Foreign policy and foreign trade
- 11 Ivan IV the Terrible
- 12 Conclusions and controversies
- Select bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Medieval Textbooks
Summary
During the reign of Ivan III Muscovy conducted diplomatic relations with a wide range of polities. The grand prince exchanged diplomats with heads of state who were as diverse as the Muslim shahs in the Caucasus and the pope at the Vatican; whose realms were as geographically widespread as Denmark in northwestern Europe, Moldova in southeastern Europe, and Shirvan in the Caucasus; and whose power was as varied as that of the rulers of city-states of Italy and the Holy Roman and Ottoman emperors. Some of the diplomats representing Muscovy were Italians and Greeks, who were employed by the grand prince for their familiarity with other societies, political systems, and languages. Others were his own court servitors, usually below the duma ranks, and staff personnel. Their activities were overseen by the administrative staff that kept records of their instructions, messages received from abroad, and agreements concluded with foreign rulers.
Muscovy's most intense relations, however, were conducted with its immediate neighbors, Lithuania, Livonia, and Sweden, and also the Tatar khanates that replaced the Golden Horde. The centralized administrative apparatus and the pomestˈe-based army, which evolved during the reigns of Ivan III and Vasily III, were the instruments the grand princes used to implement their foreign policies. Those policies, which included economic as well as political and military components, were generated by the decline of the Russian principalities' mighty neighbors and the creation of conditions that allowed Muscovite expansion to take place.
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- Medieval Russia, 980–1584 , pp. 336 - 363Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007