Grigory Karpovich Kotoshikhin (russian: Григорий Карпович Котошихин) ( 1630 – November 1667) was a Russian diplomat,

podyachy A Podyachy or podyachiy (; from the Greek ''hypodiakonos,'' "assistant servant") was an office (bureaucratic) occupation in ''prikazes'' (local and upper governmental offices) and lesser local offices of Russia in 15th-18th centuries. As an anach ...

of the Posolsky Prikaz, and writer. In 1658–61, Grigory Kotoshikhin was one of those sent on a

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

to negotiate the Treaty of Valiesar and Treaty of Cardis with

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. In the spring of 1664, he was dispatched to see Prince Yakov Cherkassky and take charge of his army's clerical work. In August, however, Grigory Kotoshikhin defected to the Lithuanians and moved to

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

. After that, he went to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

via

Narva Narva, russian: Нарва is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in Ida-Viru county, at the eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia international border. With 5 ...

and was admitted to the Swedish service. Kotoshikhin converted from Orthodoxy to Lutheran Protestantism and adopted the name Ivan-Alexander Selitsky. In the fall of 1667, he was executed at

for killing, while drunk, the owner of the house where he had been living. Grigory Kotoshikhin authored a work called ''On Russia during the Reign of Alexey Mikhailovich''Google Books
(first published in 1840), which represents a valuable source of history of the mid-17th century

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotoshikin Grigory 1667 deaths Converts to Lutheranism from Eastern Orthodoxy People executed by the Swedish Empire People executed for murder Tsardom of Russia people Russian defectors Diplomats of the Russian Empire Russian people executed abroad Year of birth unknown 17th-century executions by Sweden Former Russian Orthodox Christians 1630 births