385 The counterpart of the Swedish kanslikollegium in the Russian prikaz organization was the Posol'skii prikaz, or ambassadorial prikaz, which supervised diplomatic and commercial relations with foreign powers.*^ This prikaz was normally headed by a dumnyi d'iak, but even hoiare were known to hold this post for brief periods of time.*^ Aside from the dumnyi d'iak or boiarin, the prikaz was staffed by so-called d'iaki, as were the other prikazy. The d'iaki in the Posol’skii prikaz had a great deal of influence, since nothing could be undertaken without their knowledge and participation, and since they themselves could deal with, and decide upon, those matters not requiring a decision of the tsar and the Duma, Even when the tsar’s decision was required, it was they who drew up the reports to be presented to him.-" The number of d'iaki in the PosoVskii prikaz was relatively small, amounting to only six or seven individuals,^^ while there were many more so-called pod’iachie, or clerks, numbering as many as forty in 1686/87.-- The basic task of this latter group was to make clean copies of documents, but in addition to them there were interpreters {tolmachi) and translators {perevodchiki). No formal regulation or instructions governed the activities of the PosoPskii prikaz. During the second half of the seventeenth century, however, permanent sections, or povyt'ia, developed in the prikaz, among which responsibilities were primarily distributed along geographical lines. At the beginning of the eighteenth century there were five povyt'ia, three of which were responsible for relations with Europe and two of which dealt with Asia.-^ These various sections had no designations reflecting their functions, but were rather referred to as the first povyPe, the second povyPe, and so on, or simply bore the name of the official who headed them, such as the povyt'e Alekseeva or povyPe Nefimonova.-^ As did the kanslikollegium in Sweden, the PosoPskii prikaz also administered the seals of the realm. The great seal and the lesser seal were used for the S. A. Belokurov, O posol'skom prikaze (Moscow, 1906), 36. Ibid., 42—46. One of the boiare who sometimes headed the Posol’skii prikaz was Sofia Alekseevna’s confidant. Prince V. V. Golitsyn, who served as its head between 1682 and 1689. E. N. Kusheva & N. V. Ustiugov, “Moskva—politicheskii i administrativnyi tsentr," in S. V. Bakhrushin et at., eds., Istoriia Moskvy (9 v., Moscow, 1952—1959), 1, 550. Belokurov, 122—129. N. F. Demidova, “Biurokratizatsiia gosudarstvennogo apparata absoliutizma v XVII—XVIII vv.,” in N. M. Druzhinin, ed., Absolintizm v Rossii {XVII—XVIII vv.). Sbornik statei k JO-letiin so dnia rozhdeniia i 40-letiiu nauchnoi i pedagogicheskoi deiatel’nosti B. B. Kafengauza (Moscow, 1964), 216. -•'* Belokurov, 51—52. Ibid., 53. 25 - Peterson
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