Count Fyodor Alexeyevich Golovin (; 1650 – ) was a Russian statesman, diplomat, and military leader. During the reign of

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

, Golovin served as

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

from 1699–1706, and became the first

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of Russia. In addition to his political roles, he held the positions of

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

and general admiral, mostly holding the titles nominally and acting more in the capacity of a

military administrator A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

Biography

Golovin came from a family of Russian treasurers of Byzantine Greek descent.

Diplomatic career

During the regency of Sophia Alekseyevna, Golovin was sent on a diplomatic mission to the

Amur River The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...

region and entered into negotiations with the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

over border disputes with the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. ...

. In August 1689, he served as the Tsardom's representative in signing the

Treaty of Nerchinsk The Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689 was the first treaty between the Tsardom of Russia and the Qing dynasty of China after the defeat of Russia by Qing China at the Siege of Albazin in 1686. The Russians gave up the area north of the Amur River as ...

with the Qing. Upon his return to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, he was granted the title of

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

by Peter the Great, who had overthrown Sophia, his half-sister, in September 1689. In 1697, Golovin was appointed as one of three diplomats to head Peter's Grand Embassy to Western Europe, along with Franz Lefort, the chief ambassador, and Prokopii Voznitsyn. When Lefort died in 1699, Golovin succeeded him as general admiral. During this time, he also became the first person to be decorated with the newly instituted Order of St. Andrew.

Foreign minister

Upon Lefort's death in March 1699, Golovin succeeded him as ''de facto''

until he was officially appointed as the head of the Ambassadorial Chancellery in February 1700. In October 1699, Golovin and Peter Shafirov participated in a secret meeting between Peter and Johann Patkul, in which Russia allied themselves with

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Denmark–Norway Denmark–Norway (Danish language, Danish and Norwegian language, Norwegian: ) is a term for the 16th-to-19th-century multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (includ ...

, and the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in the upcoming

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

. At the start of the conflict, he was appointed as a

by Peter. In June 1700, Golovin helped successfully negotiate the signing of the Treaty of Constantinople with the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. The treaty extended Russian-Turkish peace for thirty years, and the Ottomans seceded the

Azov Azov (, ), previously known as Azak ( Turki/ Kypchak: ), is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town. The population is History Early settlements in the vici ...

region and additional territory in

Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...

to the Tsardom. The treaty secured the Tsardom's southern border with the Ottomans, and allowed it to focus more of its resources towards the Great Northern War until Ottoman involvement in 1710.

Death

Golovin died on , in Glukhov, on the road from Moscow to

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. His remains were transported to the Simonov Monastery.

References

Sources

* * Bushkovitch, Paul, A Concise History of Russia. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Golovin, Feodor Alekseyevich Foreign ministers of the Tsardom of Russia Chancellors of the Russian Empire Field marshals of Russia Imperial Russian Navy admirals Nobility from the Russian Empire 1650 births 1706 deaths 17th-century Russian military personnel 18th-century military personnel from the Russian Empire Russian people of Greek descent