Peter Shafirov

Who was Peter Shafirov?

Baron Peter Pavlovich Shafirov, Russian statesman, one of the ablest coadjutors of Peter the Great.

Shafirov was born into the family of Pavel Shafirov, a translator in the Russian Foreign Office, of Polish Jewish extraction. Pavel Shafirov's parents were residents of Smolensk, they converted to Russian Orthodox Christianity after Smolensk 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. Made a baron and raised to the rank of vice-chancellor, he displayed diplomatic talents of the highest order.

During the unlucky campaign of 1711, he succeeded against all expectations in concluding the peace of the Pruth. Peter left him in the hands of the Turks as a hostage, and on the rupture 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.