The Embassy of Lazar Baranovych to Moscow in 1684: Gifts, Requests, and Other Expenses

The paper offers the materials of Lazar Baranovych’s embassy to Moscow in 1684. This is the first publication of the documents. They include three letters of Baranovych to tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseyevich, the regent Sophia Alekseyevna and Prince Vasilii Vasil’evich Golitsyn; their replies; records of expenditures, and the record of a court case about the robbery of the envoys. The letters mostly concern themselves with books that Baranovych’s envoys brought to Moscow and some favors that the archbishop expected in return. The material informs us about the circulation of books in the early 1680, diplomatic gift-giving and networking. The documents also serve as a fine example of office administration concerning Moscow-Ukrainian relations.