Telepnev Vasily Grigoryevich

The Telepnyov family comes from the princes Obolensky . According to the documents submitted to the Order of Order at the end of the 17th century, the Telepnyevs' origin looks more modest: they produced themselves from Stepan Telepnyov, a native of Poland, who moved to serve in the Moscow state in the 16th century. Brother Basil - Efim is mentioned as a clerk (1604) in Novgorod the Great.

The first mention of Vasily Grigoryevich Telepnev refers to when a messenger from the Holy Roman Empire Balthazar Merle was in Moscow (June 1604). The clerk, Vasily Telepnev, was ordered to take the “ dangerous letter ” to the messenger for the journey to Moscow, the imperial ambassador, to hand the tsar’s salary to the diplomat and return the cups that he had presented to Tsar Boris Godunov during the audience. The second time Vasily Grigoryevich was mentioned when he went to the courtyard of the Crimean messenger to negotiate the ransom of Russian prisoners brought with him to Moscow by this diplomat (October 14, 1604). Three months later, he again went to the Crimeans: “ on the order of the clerk Afanasy Vlasyev, Vasily Telepnev went to the Crimean courtyard for the agreement of the same polonyans ” (January 7, 1605). In the painting of the clerks of the Ambassadorial order, who served in the department under Vlasyev, Telepnev’s name does not appear, apparently, at that time he was one of the “young” ambassadorial clerks who, when compiling the list, were not renamed by name.

The following references are to the reign of False Dmitry I. The "New Tsar" granted the clerks the "old" ambassador clerk Pyotr Palitsyn, and Vasily Telepnev was transferred to the vacant seat: " And as the clerk Pyotr Palitsyn was ordered to be clerks, and Vasily Telepnev was replaced by the clerk, and his salary was local 500 chety, money 50 rubles ”(1605). Thus, Vasily Grigoryevich, who had previously served as a “young” clerk, was immediately transferred to the “old” clerk with the highest salary for the Moscow State command system, while he outstripped many of the clerks of the Ambassadorial order in career advancement who had much more significant experience and work experience. . As an old clerk, he walked the floor on behalf of False Dmitry I at the courtyard of the Polish envoy Gonsevsky. During the negotiations in Moscow (January 1608), Gonsevsky reminded the embassy clerk: “ And you, deacon Vasily, came to me in the Polish court, as I was sent from my sovereign to that celestial man and told me that he was your direct sovereign "a born, gracious and brave sovereign ."

It is impossible to determine the exact date of the award by the Dumy clerk to V. G. Telepnyov; it is generally accepted that he became the clerk of the clergy at the same time as the judge appointed the Ambassadors Order (1606). He was at the head of the foreign policy department throughout the reign of Tsar Vasily Shuisky. These four years were difficult for the Moscow state: the internal crisis was supplemented by a crisis in the sphere of foreign policy. Moscow was under siege twice: under its walls stood the rebel army of Ivan Bolotnikov (1606) and the army of False Dmitry II (July 1608 - March 1610). Despite the crisis, during the leadership of the Telepnyov Ambassadorial Order, foreign policy relations remained quite extensive: information was preserved about the arrival of diplomats from Poland, Sweden, the Crimea, the Habsburg empire, and the Nogai Horde to Moscow. Diplomatic missions were sent from Moscow to the Crimean Khanate, to the Don, letters were sent to England, Lubeck, to the Kumytsky prince. The Moscow government sought to maintain peace on its western borders, while avoiding ratification of the Russian-Swedish Tyavzinsky Treaty (1595), according to which the Moscow state refused claims to the Baltic lands. At the same time, Russia tried to establish relations with the Crimean Khanate and expand its influence in the Caucasus. In addition, it was necessary to achieve Poland’s confirmation of a 20-year truce, the circumstances of the overthrow of False Dmitry I (on the night of May 17, 1606), when many Poles were killed in Moscow, gave rise to fears.

The Time of Troubles made adjustments in relations with neighboring states, and this turning point occurred precisely during the leadership of the Ambassadorial Order of V. G. Telepnev. As a result of the active support of the Polish gentry False Dmitry II (mid 1608), Moscow's foreign policy took an anti-Polish orientation and the final change of orientation occurred (1609) when the army of the Polish king Sigismund III invaded the territory of Russia, which forced Tsar Vasily Shuisky to seek help from outside. Already in the summer (1608) there was a rapprochement between Russia and Sweden, which ended with the signing of an agreement (February 1609), according to which Sweden, in exchange for the border Korel uyezd, pledged to support Vasily Shuisky in the fight against False Dmitry II. V. G. Telepnev received in the Ambassadorial order (August 21, 1609) Swedish mercenaries who arrived in Moscow for a salary and participated in two audiences given to him by the tsar. Participated in further negotiations with the Swedish ambassadors (early 1610). Letters with a diploma (author Telepnev) were sent to the Nogai Horde, trying to get help from Prince Ishterik (March 1610), and the result of this mission was the departure of a part of the Horde by the Nogai prince to help Vasily Shuisky. Contacts with the Crimean Khanate were intensified, and if earlier diplomats rejected the Khan’s offer to help fight the rebels, then starting (from 1608) they themselves asked for it.

Telepnev also had to solve private issues: he was investigating the case (September 1609 - March 1610) regarding the petition of the Nogai ambassador Nuragmet to the interpreter Tyutnev, who took the saber from the ambassador and did not pay money for it, as a result of which the money was returned to the Nogai.

After the overthrow of Tsar Vasily Shuisky, V. G. Telepnev joined the boyar group advocating the election of the Polish prince Vladislav to the Russian throne. At the talks (August 05, 1610), the issue of inviting Prince Vladislav to the throne was discussed, with Vasily Telepnev reading out the conditions set by the Russian side to the hetman Zholkevsky. V. G. Telepnyov went to Zholkevsky for the second time (August 13, 1610) and on behalf of the Moscow government he demanded that Vladislav convert to Orthodoxy and the Polish troops retreat from Smolensk.

In the future, V. G. Telepnyov is mentioned in the document as the “ Chancellor ” (August 28, 1610), and in March as the Duma clerk of the Ambassadorial order.

The last mention of Vasily Grigoryevich refers (March 1611), when, by order of Prince Vladislav, an order was sent to send money " .... to the Ambassadorial order to the printer and to the duma clerk to Ivan Gramotin and to Vasily Telepnev . ” According to this letter, he remained in the Ambassadorial order with the rank of Duma clerk until March 1611, but Gramotin was the head of the diplomatic department.

To present Sigismund III , a list of Duma nobles and clerks, known for their devotion to Tsar V.I. Shuisky, was compiled, the name of V.G. Telepnev in the clerical list was second, after the name of the head of the Rank Order of Vasily Yanov (1610). The name of V. G. Telepnev is mentioned in the book of the Moscow table (1627) which says: " Under Vasily Shuisky .... in the Ambassadorial order there was a duma clerk Vasily Telepnev and Vasily Telepnev was less than Vasily Yanov . ”

In communicating with foreign diplomats, Vasily Grigorievich was not always able to follow the rules of embassy etiquette and sometimes behaved rudely. Polish ambassadors (April 1606) appealed to the members of the response commission with a complaint against Telepnev: “. ... and it was done in our own eyes that he, Vasily, Pan Mikolai did not dishonor just a word and wave his hand at him and that he dishonored not the ambassador .. And if he will be here boyars and we don’t have to talk about anything with him ” ^{[ 1] [2]} .

• Brother - Duma clerk Telepnev Efim Grigorievich .
• Son: Stepan - a tenant (1617/18), solicitor (1623), steward (1627).
• Son: Yuri - a tenant (1617/18), a stolnik (1628), a Moscow nobleman (1635).
• The son of Nicephorus is a tenant (1620/21), a Moscow nobleman (1634).
• Son: Danila - a tenant (1628), solicitor (1633). ^[3]

• N.P. Likhachev . Bit clerks of the XVI century. SPb. 1888
• Comp. V.V. Pokhlebkin . Foreign policy of Russia, Russia and the USSR for 1000 years in names, facts, dates. Vol. No. 1. Publ. International relationships.