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135
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CHARLES VI OF HABSBURG; TURINETTI, Ercole, Marquis Priero (1…
See original version (Italian)
135
-
CHARLES VI OF HABSBURG; TURINETTI, Ercole, Marquis Priero (1…
See original version (Italian)
Estimate €600 - €1,000
Voluntary lot
Description
CHARLES VI OF HABSBURG; TURINETTI, Ercole, Marquis Priero (1658–1738). Diplomatic dossier concerning the flight and return to Russia of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich. 1718.
An extraordinary account of early eighteenth-century European diplomacy, concerning one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the Romanov dynasty: the flight of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich (1690–1718), son of Tsar Peter the Great, who sought refuge at the Habsburg Imperial court in 1716 following his irreparable break with his father. The prince’s presence within Imperial territory provoked a serious diplomatic crisis between Vienna and St Petersburg, resolved only after lengthy negotiations culminating in Alexei’s voluntary return to Russia in 1718, where he was arrested and tried for high treason, dying a few months later whilst proceedings were still under way. In the letter, Charles VI rejects accusations made by the Russian court that the Imperial government had induced or compelled the prince to return to his homeland. The Emperor maintains, instead, that Alexei acted of his own free will, stating that the Habsburg monarchy would not have prevented him from remaining under its protection had he chosen to remain in exile. The document thus constitutes an official declaration of the Imperial position on one of the most sensitive diplomatic controversies of the reign. Of particular interest are the French translation, in the language of European diplomacy, and the accompanying letter addressed to the Marquis of Priero, a leading figure in Habsburg foreign policy, enabling him to make use of the rescript in his dealings with the European courts. The collection effectively documents the workings of the Imperial Chancery, illustrating the transition from the official Latin text to its diplomatic circulation in French. A rare and significant collection of documents, combining the historical importance of the affair of Tsarevich Alexei with direct evidence of the diplomatic activity of the Viennese court in the years immediately following the War of the Spanish Succession, and providing a valuable source for the history of relations between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Russian Empire in the first quarter of the eighteenth century.
A manuscript dossier comprising 5 leaves in Latin and French (c. 320 × 200 mm), including: an official letter from Charles VI dated Laxenburg, 8 May 1718, addressed to the Marquis of Priero and bearing the official red wax seal; an unofficial copy of the same text in Latin; a contemporary French translation; a covering letter from the Imperial Chancery addressed to Ercole Giuseppe Ludovico Turinetti; and a copy in French of the Marquis’s reply. (5)
See original version (Italian)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
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