Diplomatic Ceremonial in the Practice of the Relations of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the State of Moscow (at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century)

We have devoted this article to the investigation of various instances of ceremonial behaviour encountered in the practice of the diplomatic communication of the GDL and the State of Moscow and recorded in sources. In structurally dividing the general model of the diplomatic ceremonial, we discussed the functions of its various stages and evaluated the influence of the norms of international communication on the form of the ceremonies. The ceremonial is recorded fairly fragmentally in the diplomatic documents of the early period so that the information of later periods, which has been accumulated in sources and studies by historians, had to be used for the construction of many stages. The activities of legations abroad, from the very crossing of the state border until the end of the mission, were cloaked by various procedures: ceremonies and rituals, which restricted and regulated each stage of a mission. As in the diplomatic practice of many other countries, so in that of Lithuania and Moscow, old customs existed for meeting envoys at the state border. During the first official meeting, the presentation of both sides took place as well as the communication of ceremonial greetings in the name of ruler receiving them to the members of the legation. The last stop of the legation was made in the vicinity of the country’s capital. Here courtiers with a train would arrive from the city to meet them. This last place in the state of Moscow was regulated for the entire range of diplomats and a change in its location could mean changes in the political situation in the relations between Vilnius and Moscow. The meeting was organised in accordance with the hierarchal principle: the titles and stations of the persons meeting them had to correspond to the stations and status of the diplomats. The activities of a legation after it stopped in the country’s capital began with its first audience, i. e. the state reception by the ruler.[...]Vytauto Didžiojo universiteta