Imperial National Conscience as International Recognition

Abstract

In the second half of the 17th century and under the conditions of the Westphalian system based on the principles of national state sovereignty, the relations between the empires existing since Middle Ages and Russia, that came to the imperial development scenario only in the New times, entered a new stage. The most morbid reaction to Russian imperial ambitions was demonstrated by the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. The most important task of Moscow tsars and their diplomats became the task to obtain the Roman Empire’s recognition of the equal status of its rulers and that of the Russian sovereigns. The present article describes how Moscow solved that problem. Special attention is paid to the issue of the Russian tsars titles; to the nuances of diplomatic etiquette related to the work of Russian embassies in the Holy Empire, as well as the reception of the imperial authorized representatives in Russia. In Russian domestic practice the titling of Russian tsars as emperors started with the Latin translation in the official documents addressed to the tsars of the Full Royal title. The specific problem in the relations of the two states remained their affiliation with different confessions. The article describes the attempts of the Holy Roman Empire to recognize the higher international status of Russian tsars in exchange for the permission to hold Catholic services in Russian territory without difficulty.