Ivan Tarasevich Gramotin

Birth date unknown; died in 1638. Russian diplomat; large landowner.

Under False Dmitrii I. from August 1605, Gramotin served as dumnyi d’iak (state secretary) at the Posol’skii Prikaz (Foreign Office). In 1608, under Tsar Vasilii Shuiskii, he transferred his support to False Dmitrii II. In 1610 he became the confidential agent of the Polish king Sigismund III. for whom he directed the Posol’skii Prikaz as keeper of the state seal; he was active in the Pomestnyi Prikaz (Office of Fiefs) and in the Boyar Duma. In 1612 he was sent by boyar traitors to Poland to hasten the crowning in Moscow of the Polish prince Wladystaw; he took part in Sigismund Ill’s campaign against Moscow. During 1612–17 he was in Poland, where he appears to have become closely associated with Patriarch Filaret; that is why, upon his return to Russia (about 1618), he was able to keep his previous titles. Gramotin’s intrigues finally provoked Filaret’s dissatisfaction, and he was exiled to Alatyr’ (1626–34). After his return to Moscow. Gramotin regained his influence at court.