Baron Peter Pavlovich Shafirov (russian: Пётр Павлович Шафиров; 1670–1739) was a Russian statesman and a prominent coadjutor of Peter the Great.

Early life and career

Shafirov was born into a

Polish Jew The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

ish family. His father, Pavel Shafirov, was a translator in the Russian Foreign Office, whose parents converted to the Russian Orthodox Church after

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...

was ceded to Russia by Poland in 1654. Peter Shafirov first made himself useful by his extraordinary knowledge of foreign languages. He was the chief translator in the Russian Foreign Office for many years, subsequently accompanying Tsar Peter on his travels. He was raised to the Russian nobility as a baron and received the rank of vice-chancellor. He was considered a diplomat of the highest order.

Diplomatic missions

Shafirov concluded the

Peace of the Pruth The Treaty of the Pruth was signed on the banks of the river Prut between the Ottoman Empire and the Tsardom of Russia on 23 July 1711 ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1710–1711. The treaty was a political victory for the Ottoman Empire. The ...

during the campaign of 1711. Peter left him in the hands of the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

as a hostage, and on the breaking of the peace he was imprisoned in the Seven Towers. Finally, however, with the aid of the British and Dutch ambassadors, he defeated the diplomacy of Charles XII of Sweden and his agents, and confirmed the good relations between Russia and Turkey by the treaty of Adrianople (June 1713). In 1718, Shafirov was appointed vice-president of the department of Foreign Affairs, and a senator.

Sentencing and end of life

In 1723, however, he was deprived of all his offices and sentenced to death. The capital sentence was commuted at the last minute to banishment, first to Siberia and then to Novgorod. Embezzlement and disorderly conduct in the senate were the offences charged against Shafirov. On the death of Peter, Shafirov was released from prison and commissioned to write the biography of his late master. However, the successful rivalry of his supplanter,

Andrei Osterman Count Andrey Ivanovich Osterman (''Heinrich Johann Friedrich Ostermann''; russian: Андрей Иванович Остерман) (9 June 1686 31 May 1747) was a German-born Russian statesman who came to prominence under Tsar Peter I of Russia ...

, prevented Shafirov from holding any high office during the last fourteen years of his life.

Works

In 1717, he authored a treatise entitled ''A discourse concerning the just causes of the war between Sweden and Russia'', a historical tract on the war with Charles XII. Shafirov detailed some of the greatest exploits of the tsar-regenerator.

Early life and career

Diplomatic missions

Sentencing and end of life

Works

References

Further reading