On the salary features of the Ambassadorial servants in the early 18th century 

Alexey S. Sevostyanov, Researcher of the “Kostino Manor” department, Museum association “Museums of Korolev academic town” (1 Ilyicha street, Korolev, Moscow region, Russia), E-mail: Sev0styanov@yandex.ru 

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DOI

10.21685/2072-3024-2021-4-1 

Background. The Ambassadorial service was the forerunner of the modern Mini-stry of Foreign Affairs. The period of Peter the Great’s reign was saturated with domestic and foreign policy events, state institutions had to react quickly to the rapidly changing situation. Centuries later, the main foreign policy department has to solve the complex tasks set before it by the present. A detailed analysis of certain aspects of the Ambassadorial service internal activities, an assessment of the decisions taken, measures, will allow us to extract valuable experience for the present. Matherials and methods. To achieve the purpose of this research, the documents of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts reflecting the financial condition of the employees of the Ambassadorial service were selected. When working on this study, the author adhered to the principles of historicism and objectivity. Analytical methods were used while working with decrees that regulated the Ambassadorial servants’ salary and internal documents of this institution of a financial nature. The comparative method made it possible to compare the salaries of various categories of employees of the Ambassadorial service, the degree of influence on the real salary of Ambassadorial servants. Results. During the research, an analysis of the situation that arose in the Ambas-sadorial service after the introduction of the decree on the reduction of half of the salaries of employees of this institution was carried out. Based on the documents found, a calculation was made of the number of employees who were left with full salaries and the number of employees with reduced salaries. Petitions of the Ambassadorial servants were found with complaints about the reduction of salaries and decrees with decisions of the leadership seeking to resolve this situation. The documents cited in this article provide detailed information about the personnel of the Ambassadorial service and the salary of its servants in 1705–1706. Conclusions. Despite the severity of the decree requiring in the conditions of the Northern War to reduce the salaries to civil servants, the leadership of the Ambassadorial service tried not to aggravate the situation. The Ambassadorial servants during the war on duty, worked in other countries, were on frequent trips, carried out many assignments. Initially, a significant number of employees were allocated, to whom they decided not to reduce their salaries, and the complaints of employees with a request to pay the second half of their salaries were mostly decided in favor of the petitioners. 

Key words

Ambassadorial service, Ambassadorial field office, servants, salary, Northern War, St. Peterburg 

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