MAGNUS IN MOSCOW
MAGNUS IN MOSCOW

Summary/Abstract: This article provides an overview of the negotiations conducted in Moscow in June 1570 between Tsar Ivan the Terrible and Duke Magnus von Holstein, the aspiring ruler of Livonia who had acquired the Bishoprics of Ösel-Wiek and Courland some time before. These talks led to the proclamation of the vassal Kingdom of Livonia and an open war between Russia/Magnus and Sweden. The article focuses on the course of the negotiations, pressurising tactics employed by the Russian side, and other colourful details, and discusses the role of Livonians in these events. The sources used in this article, though in the most part available in print format, have hitherto remained obscure, and there has been no exhaustive analysis of these negotiations and their outcome.

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