On the contents of Niklas Warkotsch’s 1594 report in the light of his Moscow missions

• Authors: Vladimir Panov

Title variants

RU

К содержанию сообщения Николая Варкоча 1594 г. в свете его московской миссии

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article treats the origin and contents of a report from 19 March 1594 written by Niklas Warkotsch, the envoy of the Roman-German empire. It provides evidence that this is a description of Warkotsch’s second mission to Moscow, and not the third as has been claimed by Friedrich von Adelung. From the analysis and comparison of Austrian and Russian primary sources it transpires that this document is a description of the delegation sent in 1593–1594 to Moscow. During this mission Warkotsch was negotiating for a broad anti-Turkish coalition and for the support for the Holy Roman Empire’s military ambitions. According to some opinions, the imperial legate then also unintentionally hastened the demise of the head of Russian diplomacy, Andrey Shchelkalov. The overall purpose of Warkotsch’s mission, concisely described in this article, was to strengthen relations with Moscow as well as to foster their shared opposition to Poland and later also to the Turks. Despite this, neither an alliance between the empire and Russia nor a broad-based anti-Turkish coalition were ever created, which was due to the variances in the two sides’ political interests and in their manners of tackling political problems, and not at all on account of mistakes made by Warkotsch

Keywords

EN

Niklas Warkotsch; Holy Roman Empire; Habsburgs and Russia; 16th century diplomacy

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovanský přehled: historická revue pro dějiny střední, východní a jihovýchodní Evropy (Slavonic Review: Review for Central, Eastern and Southeastern European history)
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 105
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 277-292
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Vladimir Panov

• Slovanský přehled, redakce, Historický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Prosecká 76, 190 00 Praha 9, Czech Republic