Courland Problem in the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire Under Catherine I: Russian-Polish-Courland Relations After the Grodno Sejm of 1726

Introduction. This article is devoted to the study of private subjects of the Courland crisis of the turn of 1726–1727, which united different states that had geopolitical interests in the Baltic region. The events that took place in Courland after the Polish Grodno Sejm (September 28 – November 9, 1726) on the eve of the arrival of a special investigative commission in Mitawa are being reconstructed. Methods and materials. The source base was made up of documents related to the mission of the General-Chief of Police A.M. Devieir, sent to Mitawa in early 1727, and complexes of private correspondence of Russian statesmen and envoys in Courland and Poland involved in resolving this foreign policy issue. A detailed study of this source complex allows not only the reconstruction of the events that took place in Courland but also the tracing of the strategies of the behavior of governments as the Courland issue is resolved. Analysis. The actions of the Courland, Russian, and Polish political elites are considered regarding the decision on the preservation or abolition of “ancient” rights and autonomies and the accession or non-accession of the Duchy of Courland and Semigalia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the general political context, the mission of A.M. Devieir and his contacts with the Courland elite and Moritz of Saxony, who claimed the Courland throne, are analyzed. Based on the reports of the tsarist envoys in Mitawa, the verdicts of the Courland sejm, which took place from February 22 to March 4, 1727, are reconstructed. Results. As a result, it is emphasized that the confirmation of the previous status of Courland and Semigalia before the death of Ferdinand Ketler, despite the actions of interested parties, seemed the only correct decision in the current political situation. At the conclusion of the article, a translation of the instruction of Captain E. von Medem, which he received on March 1, 1727, from the deputies of the Courland Seymic for presentation at the Senate Collegium in Warsaw, is published for the first time.