CEREMONIALUL DE PRIMIRE AL SOLIILOR STRĂINE ÎN ȚARA MOLDOVEI, SECOLELE XVI-XVII

Abstract

The diplomatic ceremony played an important role in the political and diplomatic life at the court of Moldovan rulers in the 16th-17th centuries. The documents use the term of “obicei” (“custom”) to describe it, which proves that at the court of Moldovan rulers there was a system of unwritten rules, based on experience and precedents and which represented the diplomatic protocol. These rules remained in the collective memory and were handed down from generation to generation through servants of the court chancellery, court nobility, heralds and even the lords themselves. The diplomatic ceremony had several stages: welcoming the guests at the border and then at the entrance to the capital, the audience, the banquet, the negotiation sessions, the final audience and the departure. The diplomatic ceremony in Moldova was a “custom” adjusted to the changes taking place in international political life and in society. In the 17th century, these changes were even more noticeable. Like in other European countries, in Moldova this “custom” was gradually formalized and transformed into a diplomatic ceremony and protocol characteristic of the modern era.