Baron Peter or Pyotr Pavlovich Shafirov (; 1670 – 1 March 1739) was a Russian statesman and a prominent coadjutor of Peter the Great. He served as the head of the Posolsky prikaz (foreign ministry) from 1706 to 1708 and as the president of the Commerce Collegium from 1725 to 1728 and again from 1733 to 1736.

Early life and career

Shafirov was born into a Polish Jewish family. His father, Pavel Shafirov, was a translator in the Russian department of foreign affairs, whose parents converted to the Russian Orthodox Church after Smolensk was ceded to Russia by Poland in 1654.

Peter Shafirov first made himself useful by his extraordinary knowledge of foreign languages. He began his service in the Posolsky prikaz (foreign ministry) in 1691. a historical tract on the war with Charles XII. Shafirov detailed some of the greatest exploits of the tsar-regenerator.

References

Sources

Further reading

  • Cracraft, James. "Diplomatic and Bureaucratic Revolutions". in The Revolution of Peter the Great (Harvard University Press, 2003)
  • Butler, W. E. "Shafirov: Diplomatist of Petrine Russia." History Today (Oct 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 10, pp 699–704 online.