The First Treaties between the Moscow Grand Princes and the Habsburg Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire: Project and Reality
Abstract
The article deals with the first two treaties between the Moscow Grand Princes and the Habsburg Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire that were closed between 1490 and 1491 and 1514. They are analyzed on three levels.
The first is the actual text of the treaty as the result of difficult diplomatic talks, during which some consensus between the interests of the allies had to be achieved. The second aspect discussed if the discrepancy between the signatories' actual intentions and the commitments declared in the treaty.
Finally, the authoress presents a comparison of the treaty obligations with their fulfilment, that means how reality differed from the theory represented by the terms agreed in the treaty. This research is based on the study of original sources from the archives of the Posolskij prikaz (Ambassadorial office) in Moscow.
This is a published comprehensive set of sources of great value which is way more abundant compared to the meager documents of official Austrian archives.