CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN IVAN THE TERRIBLE AND STEFAN BATORY (1576-1584): SOURCE EVIDENCE, HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE LETTERS
The article examines the manuscript tradition of 115 diplomatic letters between the Russian State and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the middle of 1576 - beginning of 1584. The textual study leads to the conclusion that major part of the correspondence needs reconstruction on the basis of the whole extant evidence including not only the ambassadorial copy-books of the Posolsky Prikaz and the Lithuanian Metrics, but also the 17<sup>th</sup> - 19<sup>th</sup> centuries collections, silva rerum, military service (Razriad) books, and separate copies from archival collections of Russia and Europe.