EMBASSY PRACTICES IN MEDIEVAL RUS (ACCORDING TO THE CHRONICLES OF THE 12th - 13th CENTURIES)

The article focuses on the diplomatic practices as they are reflected in the chronicles of medieval Rus. The political vicissitudes of that time resulted in a rising number of persons involved in negotiations and in an increasingly complicated system of princely interaction. These processes stimulated the development and differentiation of embassy missions. These can be divided into functionally different groups: initiating missions, like Larion's trip before the Battle of Lipitsa in 1216; confirming embassies, like the journey of the envoys of Izyaslav Mstislavich, Vladimir and Izyaslav Davidoviches to Svyatoslav Olgovich in 1149; missions that officially broke off diplomatic relations. This paper also pays attention to the language formulas of the princes' dialogues concerning embassies, such as "I am sending my envoy... and you send your envoy... ", and to other peculiarities of diplomatic missions described in the chronicles.