Title of the article:

BORIS GODUNOV AS A DIPLOMAT: A LETTER OF THE TSAR BORIS FEDOROVICH TO THE GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY FERDINAND I IN THE CONTEXT OF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE OF RUSSIAN TSARS

Author(s):

Nataliya B. Kardanova 

Information about the author/authors

Nataliya B. Kardanova — DSc in Philology, Associate Professor, University of Genoa, place of Saint Sabina, 2, 16124 Genoa, Italy. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2280-6000. E-mail: natasha.kardanova@gmail.com

Section

Theory and history of culture

Year

2021

Volume

Vol. 61

Pages

pp. 64–91

Received

August 18, 2020

Date of publication

September 28, 2021

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2021-61-64-91

Index UDK

008

Index BBK

71+83(2)+66.4(2)

Abstract

The complex figure of Boris Godunov, receiving mixed assessments of contemporaries and descendants, is still attracting attention of researchers. The author aims to answer the question of how Boris Godunov is portrayed in diplomatic correspondence, in particular in his letter of 6 June 1601 in response to the Tuscan Duke Ferdinando Medici. The Duke's petition for assistance to one of his subjects, a Tuscan merchant who wanted to trade in Russia, was rightly perceived in Moscow as a proposal to establish not only trade, but also diplomatic relations between the two states. That is why the communicative task of Godunov's response message is to convince the addressee of readiness for such a relationship; it determined the structure of his letter and selection of stylistic features. As the paper shows, Tsar Boris Fedorovich appears as a ruler who inherited the throne of the Rurik dynasty, yet realizes the peculiarity of his position, maintaining a high authority of Russian Czars and of the Moscow state, who is kind and polite with a foreign addressee and speaks to him in the language implying a system of ethical and ideological attitudes and social relationships of Russia of that time.

Keywords

Boris Godunov, Grand Duke of Tuscany, diplomatic letter.

References

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