What are Russian surnames of noble origin? Titles of the highest nobility in the Russian Empire

Boyars and nobles are representatives of the privileged classes that arose in Rus' during the period of princely rule. They were part of the prince's inner circle and formed the basis of his squad, but they had different powers and had different positions in feudal society. According to historians, the boyar class was formed by the beginning of the 11th century and retained leadership for six centuries. The first information about nobles was recorded in the Laurentian Chronicle; more detailed ones are found in birch bark documents of the 12th – 13th centuries.

Who are the boyars and nobles
Comparison of boyars and nobles
The difference between a boyar and a nobleman

Who are the boyars and nobles

Boyars are close associates of the prince, the highest layer of feudal lords in ancient Rus'. Until the end of the 12th century, the boyar title was granted; later it was inherited. The boyars consisted of the senior princely squad, which controlled the army and disposed of the lands that came into princely possession as a result of military seizures.

Nobles were people from the junior squad taken into service at the prince’s court, who carried out military, economic and monetary assignments for the right to use the land plot together with the peasants assigned to it. Since the 15th century, the nobility began to be inherited, as well as the land granted to the nobleman by the prince for personal merit and military valor.
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Comparison of boyars and nobles

What is the difference between a boyar and a nobleman?

The boyars were descendants of the tribal nobility, had their own lands, and often their own squad, which, in conditions of feudal fragmentation, allowed them to compete with the princely power. The richest and most influential boyars took part in the princely Duma as advisers to the prince; the solution of important state and judicial issues, as well as the settlement of internecine conflicts, often depended on their opinion.

At the prince's court, there were boyars accepted into the select circle, who managed the affairs of the prince and his palace household. Depending on their duties, they received the position of butler, steward, treasurer, groom or falconer, which was considered especially honorable and brought considerable income to the boyar. Payment for such service was called “feeding”, since it was issued for the maintenance of the boyar’s family and his servants.

The difference between a boyar and a nobleman

The boyars, who disposed of his distant lands on behalf of the prince and controlled the collection of taxes, were called worthwhile. From the princely treasury they received funds “on the road”, intended for travel expenses and encouraging boyar zeal.

The introduced and respectable boyars were the main managers of the princely court and belonged to the top of the feudal hierarchy. They were called senior boyars, distinguishing them from those who were part of the younger princely squad, but were not distinguished by their birth and wealth.

In addition to performing service, the duties of the boyars included the creation of a militia in the event of military operations and its full content at your own expense. This applied not only to introduced and worthwhile boyars, but also to sedentary zemstvo boyars who did not serve at the princely court.

Boyar service was voluntary. Serving boyars from the senior squad had the right to move to another prince.

With the growing influence of the boyars on public administration, already in the 12th century, at the princely courts, the most devoted small boyars and boyar children began to be recruited from among the junior squad for military service and to carry out the personal orders of the prince. From the word dvor comes the name of a new class that for several centuries played an important role in the fate of the Russian state - the nobility.

The princely charters of the 13th-14th centuries contain the first mentions of service people who were at the prince’s court and were rewarded with land plots and gold treasury for their work. The land was given to the nobleman for temporary use, but remained the property of the prince. Only in the 15th century did nobles gain the right to transfer land by inheritance or as a dowry.

In the 17th century, during the reign of Peter I, the most important privilege was established for the nobles - ownership of inherited property, regardless of service. The class of boyars was abolished, and the rights of the nobles were officially proclaimed on February 18, 1762 by the manifesto of Peter III. They were finally secured by a charter from Catherine II in 1785.
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The difference between a boyar and a nobleman

Boyars are representatives of the highest service class, formed from large feudal lords who owned their own lands. The nobles were in the service of the prince or senior boyar. Until the 15th century, they could not inherit the granted lands.
The boyars had the right to vote in the princely Duma. In the pre-Petrine period, the influence of the nobles on public administration was not so noticeable.
The boyars could move to the service of another prince. Nobles accepted into service had no right to leave it without the permission of the prince.
In the feudal hierarchy that developed in Rus', the boyars occupied a dominant position from the 10th to the beginning of the 17th century. The positions of the nobility were finally established during the period government reforms, started by Peter I. Read more:
stages of formation of the noble class in Rus'

The emergence of the nobility

The historian Buganov believes that the origins of the nobility must be sought back in the era of military democracy, when the Eastern Slavs developed - under tribal, clan elders, then princes, military leaders - groups of people close to them: senior and junior warriors, the bravest, the most efficient, and gradually and richer due to military spoils and princely awards.

They treated the prince as a comrade, were his advisers and therefore shared power with him. But “in relation to the prince, the squad was extremely fickle. The warriors moved from prince to prince, disappeared, and new ones appeared. There was no connection between the warrior and the prince and the zemstvo boyars, independent of the prince.”

Since in ancient times public service was no different from personal service to the prince, this explains that a variety of categories of the population were part of the prince’s servants, including warriors. A number of servants-combatants helped the prince in different areas his activities. Along with free people, slaves also served the prince, of whom there were even a majority. These are tiuns, housekeepers, treasurers, and villagers. They, as not free, cannot leave the service or refuse this or that assignment. As a result, they are closely associated with their prince, who valued the loyalty of his servants, trusting them more than free servants. Such a different attitude with the strengthening of princely power led to the fact that the free service began to gradually be restructured according to the involuntary type.

Another name for them is yard people. From the above it is clear that from the first moment this term arose, nobles were both free servants and slaves. At first their position was low. They fight, judge, collect taxes, but their powers do not extend beyond that. Proximity to the prince attracted noble people to the court staff. The children of the boyars began their careers at the princely court as part of the junior squad, since living near the prince meant living “close to mercy.” Among the children and youths there could also be young people of boyar origin, as well as children of boyars. From the 13th century, for example, there are direct indications that among the ranks of court servants were the children of boyars.

In addition to the vigilantes, the localities had their own landowning nobility. Kievan Rus already knows the great princes, simply princes, who sat not in Kiev, but in less significant centers: then - the princely and zemstvo boyars (from about the 12th century they merged into a single class), “greater” and “lesser”. They constitute the service elite of the emerging class of feudal lords, descendants of the tribal nobility.

All these princes, great, “light”, “great” and “lesser”, boyars, also with the corresponding gradations, are nobles, or more precisely, their highest layer, nobility. Representatives of this service elite, according to chronicles, Russian Pravda and other sources, act as princely men - senior warriors, senior officials of the princely administration. They constitute his highest council, the Boyar Duma, receive from him part of the tributes and other fees, land and smerds, and have the right to leave from one overlord to another.

Lower down the service hierarchical ladder were free and unfree, who served the prince's court and his household, both domain and national. These are youths - junior warriors, princely officials; children's, large and small; servants (also junior warriors, personal servants of princes, executors of their household errands). All of them are free, independent people. The lowest level is occupied by the courtyard people themselves, or nobles, people both free and dependent, among them are serfs and younger youths.

The first mentions of the nobles themselves date back to the last quarter of the 13th-13th centuries. In the Laurentian Chronicle under 1174 they are mentioned in connection with the murder of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Andrei Bogolyubsky: his own “merciful people” dealt with him. The Novgorod Chronicle also calls them: “their almswomen.” This term, according to M. N. Tikhomirov, implies “a special category of princely servants employed directly in the palace household.”

The term “nobleman” appears in the chronicles of the last quarter of the 13th century: in Laurentian, Novgorod I; in the Novgorod acts of 1264, 1270. So by the 13th century. the word "almoner" was replaced by "nobleman".

Thus, the first component of the future service class appeared - the squad. She helped the prince in state affairs, economic activity and managed his household. They were free people, especially close to the prince-monarch.

In those days, there was still no difference in the social status of people close to the prince. One might even say that the very concept of service, as unchanging duty and loyalty, originated and was brought up in a servile environment.

Nobles are members of the state administrative apparatus, holders, owners of lands and the people who inhabited them. So we can talk about the existence in the XIII-XIV centuries. nobles as a class category.
Nobility in pre-Petrine Rus'

In the 13th century the Mongols conquered Russia. They imposed taxes on everyone and included everyone in the census, without distinguishing between combatants and zemstvos. Having been formed earlier, several great principalities acquired greater autonomy; the same princely families always reigned in them, so that the prince’s squad soon disappeared into the zemshchina, even the name of the squad disappeared. Together with the zemstvo boyars, the vigilantes formed the highest class among the people - the boyars. Instead of the former warriors, service people began to gather around the princes.

Of all the great principalities, only Moscow managed to strengthen itself at the expense of others and become their leader. The appanages gradually disappeared, having joined Moscow, the entire service class rushed to serve the Moscow Grand Duke, even appanage princes entered his service, first being in contractual relations with him, and then becoming his subjects. When the Moscow Grand Dukes became strong enough and already had many service people in their service, they could boldly go out to fight the boyars, trying to destroy their rights that limited the princely power. The right of service people to leave the prince was destroyed: any transition was considered treason and was punished. These boyars were assigned to the service; It was no longer possible for them to leave; there was nothing to do - they had to serve their prince. Vasily the Dark called the older service people boyar children, the lower ones - nobles, and the word “boyar” became a rank that had to be served. Thus, service to the prince was placed above descent from the ancient boyars. Now the former boyars had to achieve official significance at the prince’s court, and their family significance now meant nothing.

As the Moscow state strengthened and its borders expanded, the influx of nobility into the court staff of the Moscow sovereigns intensified. The number of the court staff increased significantly from the second half of the 15th century, as other principalities annexed to Moscow and with the courtyard servants of the former principalities being added to the Moscow court.

Around this time, the sovereign has at his disposal such a number of court servants or nobles that it becomes too crowded for all of them to live at court. In addition, with compulsory service, they had to have the means to serve it. Hence the manorial system: the nobles were located on the sovereign's land, plots of which were transferred to them for use under the condition of service. This is how noble landowners appeared.

In this new capacity, the nobles still continue to stand lower than the boyars and the boyars’ children, who, as a reward for their service, receive food or lands as their patrimony. The difference continues to exist between the compulsory service of nobles and the free service of boyars and boyar children. But the Moscow princes very early began to struggle with the disadvantages of free service, mainly with the freedom of departure. Recognizing this freedom in numerous inter-princely agreements, in practice they fight against it in every possible way, applying various “sanctions” to the “departures”: they take away their estates, lower their service honor and other penalties, including the death penalty. To prevent departure, the Moscow government takes suspects’ records of “non-departure,” guaranteeing such records with bail and cash deposits. When, by the beginning of the 16th century, almost all other principalities were annexed to Moscow, there was nowhere to leave except Lithuania, and leaving for a foreign state was, from the government’s point of view, treason. This view also penetrates into the service environment: repentant exiles ask the sovereign to remove from their name the “nasty” that has weighed on them since their departure.

In the 16th century, freedom of departure no longer existed, and at the same time free service lost its significance: for free servants, the obligation to serve arose and, according to the type of service, differences between nobles and boyars began to disappear. Another difference, in social status, also gradually smoothed out during the 16th century. Boyars and boyar children already from the end of the 15th century. receive estates, at first, however, only in exceptional cases. John III confiscated the estates from the Novgorod boyars in 1484 and 1489 and allocated them with estates in Moscow and other districts. He distributed the confiscated estates on the estate to the Moscow boyar children. John IV in 1550 ordered that 1,000 boyar children be placed in the Moscow district and allocate estates to the boyars who did not have estates or estates in the area.

Ivan the Terrible placed service value even higher than family value. The highest class of service people was named after the former lower service people, the nobles, to show that everything for a service person depended on his service to the king, and to erase the memory of him from the ancient all-powerful boyars. The lower service people, as if to “humiliate” the new nobles, were called boyar children, although they were from the boyars.

In the first half of the 16th century. in official acts, boyar children are always ranked higher than nobles, although in reality they were legally equalized, and in fact the position of boyar children often forced them to even become slaves. From the second half of the 16th century. boyar children are already called nobles, and when both of these terms are found side by side, the nobles are often placed above the boyar children. In the 17th century This is already the usual order.

The triumph of one term over the other marks the final victory of the court service of the nobles over the once free service of the boyars' children.

But now only a few nobles had the lot to serve at the sovereign’s court or at least near the court: most nobles carried out this service in the cities. This noble service was military and became compulsory. In 1556, John IV “carried out the established service from the estates and estates”: from 100 quarters of the land an armed man on horseback was to be deployed. It is now impossible to negotiate about service: it is determined by decree. Lists began to be kept for all service people: first, from the middle of the 15th century, only for the more important court ranks (boyar books), and from the middle of the 16th century. - and for all others (lists of nobles and boyar children by city). The purpose of these lists is to alert military forces. Therefore, in the lists of the nobility it was indicated about each serving person, “how he will be horsed and armed and peopled in the sovereign’s service,” and in addition, local salaries and the amount of monetary salary were shown. To compile such lists, periodic reviews or examinations of nobles in cities were carried out. For each city, salarymen were selected from among the nobles, who compiled information about each serving person about his property, previous service and the service he could serve. Based on this data, the analysis of the nobles took place. The difference between them is that the former served as soldiers and regiments, while the latter served as ordinary soldiers.

The oldest indications about such layouts date back to the 30s of the 16th century. Along with the introduction of lists of nobles, it gradually became the norm that only children of the nobility could be included in the number of city nobles, and in the 16th century there were already regulations that “servants of boyars and non-servants of any rank, fathers of children and brothers and nephews and plowed men should have no one as children of boyars they didn’t call the layouts, and they didn’t set up their salaries as local ones.” This marked the beginning of the nobility. If qualitative differences are noticeable among city nobles, then the greater the difference between them and the nobles recorded according to the Moscow list. Moscow nobles are significantly higher than the city nobles, and for each of the latter there has always been a goal to be included in the list of Moscow nobles. The advantages of the Moscow nobles boiled down to the fact that their service took place in front of the sovereign, and all the highest court and Duma ranks were recruited from among them. The beginning of this category of nobles was laid by John IV, who in 1550 ordered a thousand children of boyars and the best servants to be placed near Moscow. Later, the composition of this Moscow guard was replenished both by the descendants of these elected servants and by some of the elected city nobles. The children of the largest Moscow nobles began their service as Moscow nobles, and then, depending on their birth, received appointments to one or another court rank, starting with the solicitor and ending with the highest Duma ranks. Some of the Moscow nobles directly complained to the boyars. In addition to the Moscow nobles, the royal court had an extensive staff of courtiers. Since the 17th century many of them were converted to a simple court rank, to which Moscow nobles were elevated as a form of distinction.

Thus, the title of Moscow nobleman was also the main one for higher ranks.

Contingent of nobles of the 17th century. presented a very motley picture. It included descendants of princely families, old boyars, children of boyars and ordinary nobles, whose ancestors were often slaves all their lives. Therefore, people of pedigree among the nobility, who retained their place in the highest ruling class, looked with the same contempt on the unborn and seedy nobles as they did on other classes of the lower population, and in localism they even developed a special procedure for protecting their social and official position from comparison and rapprochement with thin and seedy nobles.

Summarizing the development of the noble class in the pre-Petrine period, we can conclude that the Mongol yoke brought the squad closer to the zemstvo boyars and destroyed their independence, which was the reason for their transformation into the service class, along with the squad, which at that time occupied key positions in the government of the country.

Then, as a result of the introduction of the estate system, along with the noble landowners, landowner-boyars and boyar children appeared. So there were no longer any legal barriers for the nobles to become votchinniki.

The Tsar relied on the nobles in the fight against the boyars at this time. So he becomes somewhat dependent on them.

At the end of the 17th century. nothing in common could exist between such different elements as bloodlines and high-born nobles, nothing united them, therefore in those days there were a lot of contradictions within the service class.

Before Peter I, the Moscow government carried out intensive legislative and administrative development of class duties for the nobles, for the service of which they were provided with certain benefits or benefits, which later turned into their class rights

The origins of the formation of the Russian nobility go back to ancient times. During the era of military democracy, the Eastern Slavs formed groups of people close to tribal clan elders, later princes and military leaders. Basically, this category of people usually includes warriors, senior and junior, the bravest, most efficient, who later became rich due to military booty and princely awards.

The senior squad consisted of princely men, or boyars, the youngest - of children, or youths.

The oldest collective name for the junior squad, grid or gridba (Scandinavian grid - yard servant) was later replaced by the word yard or servants. According to V.O. Klyuchevsky, this squad, together with its prince, came from among the armed merchants of large cities. In the 11th century, it was not yet distinguished from this merchantry by sharp features, either political or economic. The squad of the principality constituted, in fact, the military class. On the other hand, the squad served the prince as an instrument of governance: members of the senior squad, the boyars, constituted the prince’s Duma, his state council. It also included the “city elders,” that is, the elected military authorities of the city of Kyiv and other cities. Thus, the issue of accepting Christianity was decided by the prince in consultation with the boyars and “city elders.”

In addition to the vigilantes, the localities had their own landowning nobility. Kievan Rus already knows the great princes, simply princes, who sat not in Kiev, but in less significant centers: then the princely and zemstvo boyars (from about the 12th century they merged into a single class), “greater” and “lesser”, with relations of vassalage and subvassalage. They constitute the service elite of the birth class of feudal lords, descendants of the tribal nobility.

With the increase in princely families, the service class of warriors increased in number. Therefore, the older and rich younger princes had quite numerous courts. Each prince had his own squad, and according to V.O. Klyuchevsky, in the second half of the 12th century there were several dozen, if not a hundred, such princes. The squad still had a mixed tribal composition. In the 10th-11th centuries it was still dominated by the Varangians. In the 12th century, it included other third-party elements (eastern and western). The unity of the princely family allowed the warrior to move from prince to prince, and the unity of the land - from region to region. In view of this mobility of the boyars, land ownership slowly developed. In the 11th-12th centuries, the lands of boyars and junior warriors were already allocated, but they did not constitute the main economic interest for service people. The warriors preferred other sources of income, including from trade and the prince’s salary. Thus, service people, not tied to their place of service and to the family of one prince, did not form stable local interests in any area, nor did they develop strong dynastic ties.

So, the nobility was divided into the following levels:

1) the highest stratum, nobility in the role of princely men, senior warriors, senior officials of the princely administration. It was these freemen, especially close to the prince-monarch, who made up his highest council, the Boyar Duma, received from him part of the tribute and other fees, land and smerds, and had the right to leave from one overlord to another.
2) youths - junior warriors, princely officials (as a rule, court officials); servants (also junior warriors, personal servants of princes, executors of their economic orders); court servants, subordinate to the courtier. This entire large and motley crowd served the prince’s court and his vast household.
3) the lower layer - the actual courtyard people or nobles, people both free and dependent; among them are serfs (slaves) and younger youths.

Nobility in Russia- an estate that arose in the 12th century in Rus', and then, gradually changing, continued to exist in the Russian kingdom and the Russian Empire. In the 18th and early 20th centuries, representatives of the noble class determined the development trends of Russian culture, socio-political thought, and made up the majority of the country's bureaucratic apparatus. After the February Revolution, the nobility in Russia disappeared forever as a class and completely lost its social and other privileges.

Nobility in Rus'

The nobility in Russia arose in the 12th century. By the beginning of the century, the princely squad, which previously represented a single service corporation, broke up into regional communities. Only a part of the warriors were constantly in the service of the prince. In the 12th century they began to organize themselves into princely courts. The court, like the squad in former times, consisted of two groups: the older (boyars) and the younger (nobles). The nobles, unlike the boyars, were directly connected with the prince and his household.

Since the 14th century, nobles received land for their service. In the XIV-XVI centuries, the strengthening of the position of the Russian nobility occurred primarily due to the acquisition of land under the condition of military service. A layer of landowners appeared. At the end of the 15th century, after the annexation of the Novgorod land and the Tver principality, the vacated lands of local patrimonial lands were distributed to nobles on the condition of service. With the introduction of the manorial system, the legal basis of which was enshrined in the Code of Laws of 1497, the nobles turned into suppliers of feudal militia, which the boyars had previously been.

In the 16th century, nobles were often called “serving people for the fatherland.” At that time, the noble class had not yet developed in Russia, so the nobles represented only one of the privileged strata of Russian society. The highest stratum of the ruling class were the boyars. The boyar stratum included members of only a few dozen aristocratic families. A lower position was occupied by the “Moscow nobles”, who were part of the sovereign’s court. Throughout the 16th century, the size of the court and its role increased. The lowest rung of the hierarchical ladder was occupied by “urban boyar children.” They united into a county noble corporation and served “from their county.” The tops of the emerging noble class were united by the sovereign's court - a single national institution that was finally formed by the middle of the 16th century. The court included “children of the boyars” - “nobles”, they were appointed to military and administrative positions. In the middle and second half of the 16th century, these were “boyar children” only of North-Eastern Rus'. Thus, the position of the “children of the boyars” varied in different territories.

In February 1549, speaking at the first Zemstvo Council, Ivan IV the Terrible outlined a course towards building a centralized autocratic monarchy based on the nobility as opposed to the old boyar aristocracy. The following year, a selected thousand Moscow nobles were endowed with estates in a zone of 60-70 km around Moscow. The Service Code of 1555 actually equalized the rights of the nobles with the boyars, including the right of inheritance.

The Council Code of 1649 secured the right of nobles to perpetual possession and indefinite search for fugitive peasants. This inextricably linked the noble stratum with the emerging serfdom.

Russian nobility inXVIIIcentury

In 1722, Emperor Peter I introduced the Table of Ranks - a law on the procedure for civil service, based on Western European models. The granting of old aristocratic titles was stopped - this put an end to the boyars. From that time on, the word “boyar”, later changed to “master”, began to be used only in common parlance and meant any aristocrat in general. Nobility ceased to be the basis for conferring a rank - priority was given to serviceability. “For this reason, we do not allow anyone of any rank,” Peter I emphasized, “until they show us and the fatherland any services.” Back in 1721, the emperor granted the right to nobility to all officers and their children. The table of ranks gave the right to public service, and therefore to receive the nobility, representatives of the merchants, townspeople, commoners, state peasants. A division into hereditary and personal nobility was introduced. The number of nobility fit for service was determined through inspections of adult nobles and minors, which often took place under Peter I. The Heraldry, established in 1722, was in charge of keeping records of nobles and their service.

Under Peter I, most of the nobles were illiterate. Under threat of a ban on marriage and enlistment as soldiers, the emperor sent them to study abroad. At the same time, a system of domestic noble educational institutions was taking shape. The Engineering School in Moscow and the Artillery School in St. Petersburg (1712), the Naval Academy (1715), the Engineering School in St. Petersburg (1719), the Cadet Corps (1732, from 1752 - the Land Noble Cadet Corps), the Naval Noble Cadet Corps were established (1752), Page Corps (1759), Artillery and Engineering Cadet Gentry Corps (1769). In the second half of the 18th century, nobles began to send their children to be raised in noble boarding schools. To prepare for the civil service, the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum (from 1844 - Aleksandrovsky), the School of Law (1835) and other institutions were opened in 1811. Many children continued to be educated at home with tutors.

For some time, nobles were obliged to serve for life from the age of 15. In 1736, service was limited to 25 years; in 1740, nobles were given the opportunity to choose between civil and military service. In 1762, with the Manifesto on the Freedom of the Nobility of Peter III, the obligation to serve was abolished, although it was restored the following year by Catherine II, who came to power. In 1785, with the adoption of the “Charter of Grant to the Nobility,” this obligation was again abolished. Freed from compulsory public service, the nobles were essentially freed from any obligations to the state and the monarch. At the same time, nobles received the right to leave Russia and enter foreign service. The formation of a layer of local nobility began, permanently residing on their estates. The nobles began to gradually withdraw from participation in political life, many were engaged in industry and trade, supported various enterprises. By decree of 1766, the Institute of Leaders of the Nobility was established.

Already in the 18th century, the nobility began to play a key role in the development of secular national culture. By order of the nobles, palaces and mansions were built in major cities, architectural ensembles on estates, works of painters and sculptors were created. Theaters and libraries were under the care of the nobles. Most of the prominent writers and composers of the Russian Empire came from the nobility.

Russian nobility inXIX- beginningXXcentury

In the first half of the 19th century, nobles played a leading role in the development of social thought and activity social movements Russian Empire. The range of their views was extremely wide. After the Patriotic War of 1812, republican sentiments began to spread among the nobility. The nobles joined Masonic and secret anti-government organizations, in 1825 they formed the majority among the Decembrists, then prevailed in the ranks of Westerners and Slavophiles.

In the 19th century, the nobles continued to lose contact with the land, the most important and often the only source The income of the nobility was a salary. In local government bodies and zemstvos, the nobles retained leading positions - thus, the district leaders of the nobility actually headed the district administrations. After the peasant reform of 1861, the socio-economic position of the nobility weakened. The area of land owned by the nobles decreased by an average of approximately 0.68 million dessiatines per year. The agrarian crisis of the late 19th century and the development of capitalism in Russia worsened the situation of the nobles. The counter-reforms of the 1880s-1890s again strengthened the role of the nobility in local government. Attempts were made to support the economic situation of the nobles: in 1885, the Noble Bank appeared, which provided them with loans on preferential terms. Despite this and other supporting measures, the number of landowners among the nobility was declining: if in 1861 landowners made up 88% of the entire class, then in 1905 - 30-40%. By 1915, small-scale aristocratic land ownership (and it constituted the overwhelming majority) had almost completely disappeared.

In 1906-1917, nobles took an active part in the work of the State Duma, being members of various political parties. In 1906, the local nobles united into the political organization “United Nobility”, which defended the historically established privileges of the nobility and local land ownership.

After the February Revolution, the nobility ceased to play an independent political role, despite the fact that its representatives were part of the Provisional Government. After October revolution In 1917, the estates in the RSFSR were liquidated by the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee “On the destruction of estates and civil ranks” of November 10, 1917. The Decree on Land, adopted on November 8 of the same year, deprived the nobles of land ownership. A significant part of the nobles during the Revolution and Civil War emigrated from the country. At Soviet power in the 1920s - 1930s, many people from the noble class were subjected to persecution and repression.

Classification and numbers

The nobility was divided into ancient (descendants of ancient princely and boyar families), titled (princes, counts, barons), hereditary (nobility passed on to the legal heirs), pillar, placeless (received without allocating and securing lands) and personal (received for personal merits, including upon reaching grade 14 in the civil service, but not inherited). Personal nobility was introduced by Peter I in order to weaken the isolation of the noble class.

Among the hereditary nobility, differences remained between titled and untitled nobles (the latter constituted the majority). The “pillar” nobles, who could prove more than a century of antiquity of their family, were held in high esteem. Most titles did not formally give the holders special rights, but in fact contributed to their career advancement.

In 1782, there were over 108 thousand nobles in Russia, which accounted for 0.79% of the population. After the adoption of the “Charter of Grant to the Nobility,” their number increased significantly: in 1795, there were 362 thousand nobles in the Russian Empire, or 2.22% of the population. In 1858, there were 609,973 hereditary nobles and 276,809 personal and official nobles in the country, in 1870 - 544,188 and 316,994, respectively. According to data from 1877-1878, there were 114,716 noble landowners in the European part of Russia. In 1858, hereditary nobles made up 0.76% of the population of the Great Russian provinces of the Russian Empire. This was two times less than in the then Great Britain, France, Austria and Prussia.

As the borders of the Russian Empire expanded, the nobility grew more and more a large number dissimilar elements. The Moscow Great Russian nobility was joined by the Baltic nobility, the Ukrainian Cossack nobility of the annexed provinces, the Polish and Lithuanian gentry, the Bessarabian nobility, the Georgian, Armenian, foreign nobility, the Finnish knighthood, the Tatar Murzas. In terms of property, the nobility was also not homogeneous. In 1777, 59% of the estate was made up of small-land nobility (20 male serfs each), 25% - average nobility (from 20 to 100 souls), 16% - large-land nobility (from 100 souls). Some nobles owned tens of thousands of serfs.

Acquisition of nobility

Hereditary nobility was acquired in four ways: 1) by grant at the special discretion of the autocratic government; 2) ranks in active service; 3) as a result of an award for “service distinction” by Russian orders; 4) descendants of particularly distinguished personal nobles and eminent citizens. Basically, nobility was acquired through service. In 1722-1845, hereditary nobility was given for service to the first rank of chief officer in military service and the rank of collegiate assessor in civilian service, as well as when awarded any of the Russian orders (since 1831 - except for the Polish Order Virturi Militari); in 1845-1856 - for service to the rank of major and state councilor, and for awarding the Orders of St. George, St. Vladimir of all degrees and first degrees of other orders; in 1856-1900 - for length of service to the rank of colonel, captain of the 1st rank, actual state councilor. Since 1900, according to the Order of St. Vladimir, hereditary nobility could only be obtained starting from the 3rd degree.

A personal title of nobility was assigned at the highest discretion. It extended to the spouse, but was not passed on to offspring. The rights of personal nobility were enjoyed by widows of clergymen of the Orthodox and Armenian-Gregorian confession who did not belong to the hereditary nobility. To obtain personal nobility, one had to either serve in civilian active service to the rank of 9th class (titular councilor) or in the military - to the rank of 14th class, that is, first chief officer, or receive the Order of St. Anne II, III and IV degrees (after 1845), St. Stanislaus II and III degrees (after 1855), St. Vladimir IV degrees (1900).

Descendants of personal nobles who had served “unimpeachably” in the ranks for at least 20 years had the right to apply for hereditary nobility until May 28, 1900, when the corresponding article of the law was repealed.

Hereditary nobility was transmitted by inheritance and as a result of marriage through the male line, but a female noblewoman who married a non-nobleman could not transfer noble rights to her spouse and children born in marriage, although she herself continued to remain a noblewoman. The extension of noble dignity to children born before the granting of nobility depended on the “highest discretion.” In 1874, all restrictions concerning children born in a taxable state were abolished.

Privileges of the nobility

IN different periods At the time, the Russian nobility had the following privileges: 1) the right to own inhabited estates (until 1861); 2) freedom from compulsory service (until the introduction of all-class military service in 1874); 3) freedom from zemstvo duties (until the second half of the 19th century century); 4) the right to enter the civil service and study in privileged educational institutions; 5) the right of corporate organization. Each hereditary nobleman was entered in the genealogical book of the province where he had real estate. Those who did not have real estate were entered into the books of the provinces where their ancestors owned estates. Those who received nobility through a rank or award of an order themselves chose the province in whose book they would be included. This could be done until 1904. Personal nobles were not included in the genealogical book - in 1854 they were recorded in the fifth part of the city philistine register along with honorary citizens.

The title “your honor” was common to all nobles. There were also family titles: baronial (baron), count ("your honor"), princely ("your excellency") and so on. The serving nobles had titles and uniforms corresponding to their ranks in the civil or military department, while the non-serving nobles wore the uniforms of the provinces where they had estates or were registered. Every nobleman had the right to wear a sword. The privilege of hereditary nobles was the right to a family coat of arms. The coat of arms of each noble family was approved by the highest authority, its appearance it could not be changed without a special highest command. In 1797, the General Arms Book of the noble families of the Russian Empire was created, which contained drawings and descriptions of the coats of arms of various families.

Until 1863, one of the privileges of the nobles was the inability to subject them to corporal punishment, either in court or while in custody. In the post-reform period, this privilege became simply a right. The Laws on Estates, issued in 1876, contained an article exempting nobles from personal taxes. In 1883, after the abolition of the poll tax under the Law of May 14, 1883, this article was no longer needed, and it no longer appeared in the 1899 edition.

The word “nobleman” itself means: “courtier” or “person from the princely court.” The nobility was the highest class of society.
In Russia, the nobility was formed in the XII-XIII centuries, mainly from representatives of the military service class. Starting from the 14th century, nobles received land plots for their service, and family surnames most often came from their names - Shuisky, Vorotynsky, Obolensky, Vyazemsky, Meshchersky, Ryazan, Galitsky, Smolensky, Yaroslavl, Rostov, Belozersky, Suzdal, Smolensky, Moscow, Tver... Other noble surnames came from the nicknames of their bearers: Gagarins, Humpbacks, Glazatyes, Lykovs. Some princely surnames were a combination of the name of the appanage and a nickname: for example, Lobanov-Rostovsky.
At the end of the 15th century, surnames began to appear in the lists of the Russian nobility foreign origin- they belonged to immigrants from Greece, Poland, Lithuania, Asia and Western Europe who had aristocratic origins and moved to Russia. Here we can mention such names as Fonvizins, Lermontovs, Yusupovs, Akhmatovs, Kara-Murzas, Karamzins, Kudinovs.
Boyars often received surnames from the baptismal name or nickname of the ancestor and included possessive suffixes. Such boyar surnames include the Petrovs, Smirnovs, Ignatovs, Yuryevs, Medvedevs, Apukhtins, Gavrilins, Ilyins.
The royal family of the Romanovs is of the same origin. Their ancestor was a boyar from the time of Ivan Kalita, Andrei Kobyla. He had three sons: Semyon Zherebets, Alexander Elka
Kobylin and Fedor Koshka. Their descendants received the surnames Zherebtsov, Kobylin and Koshkin, respectively. One of the great-grandsons of Fyodor Koshka, Yakov Zakharovich Koshkin, became the founder of the noble family of the Yakovlevs, and his brother Yuri Zakharovich began to be called Zakharyin-Koshkin. The latter’s son’s name was Roman Zakharyin-Yuryev. His son Nikita Romanovich and his daughter Anastasia, the first wife of Ivan the Terrible, bore the same surname. However, the children and grandchildren of Nikita Romanovich became the Romanovs after their grandfather. This surname was borne by his son Fyodor Nikitich (Patriarch Filaret) and the founder of the last Russian royal dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich.
In the era of Peter the Great, the nobility was replenished by representatives of the non-military classes, who received their titles as a result of promotion in public service. One of them was, for example, an associate of Peter I, Alexander Menshikov, who from birth had a “low” origin, but was awarded the princely title by the tsar. In 1785, by decree of Catherine II, special privileges were established for nobles.

What is nobility? The hereditary class of the people is the highest, that is, awarded with great advantages regarding property and private freedom.

The word "nobleman" literally means "a person from the princely court" or "courtier". The nobles were taken into the service of the prince to carry out various administrative, judicial and other assignments.

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From the end of the 12th century, nobles constituted the lowest stratum of the nobility, directly associated with the prince and his household, in contrast to the boyars. In the era of Vsevolod the Big Nest, after the defeat of the old Rostov boyars in 1174, the nobles, together with the townspeople, temporarily became the main social and military support of the princely power.

Rise of the nobility

From the 14th century, nobles began to receive land for their service: a class of landowners appeared - landowners. Later they were allowed to purchase land.
After the annexation of the Novgorod land and the Tver principality (late 15th century) and the eviction of patrimonial lands from the central regions, the lands thus vacated were distributed to the nobles under the condition of service (see estate).
The Code of Law of 1497 limited the right of peasants to move (see serfdom).
In February 1549, the first Zemsky Sobor took place in the Kremlin Palace. Ivan IV gave a speech at it. Inspired by the ideas of the nobleman Ivan Semyonovich Peresvetov, the tsar set a course for building a centralized monarchy (autocracy) based on the nobility, which implied a fight against the old (boyar) aristocracy. He publicly accused the boyars of abuse of power and called on everyone to joint activities to strengthen the unity of the Russian state.
In 1550 chosen thousand Moscow nobles (1071 people) were placed within 60-70 km around Moscow.
The Code of Service of 1555 actually equalized the rights of the nobility with the boyars, including the right of inheritance.
After the annexation of the Kazan Khanate (mid-16th century) and the eviction of the patrimonial people from the oprichnina region, declared the property of the tsar, the lands thus vacated were distributed to the nobles under the condition of service.
In the 1580s, reserved summers were introduced.
The Council Code of 1649 secured the right of nobles to perpetual possession and indefinite search for fugitive peasants.

The strengthening of the Russian nobility in the period of the XIV-XVI centuries occurred mainly due to the acquisition of land under the condition of military service, which actually turned the nobles into suppliers of feudal militia by analogy with Western European knighthood and the Russian boyars of the previous era. The local system, introduced with the aim of strengthening the army in a situation where the level of socio-economic development of the country did not yet allow centrally equipping the army (unlike, for example, France, where kings from the 14th century began to attract knighthood to the army on the basis of monetary payment, first periodically, and from the end of the 15th century - on a permanent basis), turned into serfdom, which limited the flow of labor into the cities and slowed down the development of capitalist relations in general.

Apogee of the nobility

The possibility of obtaining nobility through service created a massive layer of unplaced nobles who were entirely dependent on service. In general, the Russian nobility represented an extremely heterogeneous environment; In addition to the rich princely families (by the end of the 19th century, about 250 families were taken into account), there was also a vast layer of small-scale nobles (who had less than 21 souls of male serfs, often 5-6), who could not provide themselves with an existence worthy of their class, and hoped only for positions. The mere possession of estates and serfs did not automatically mean high incomes. There were even cases when nobles, having no other means of subsistence, personally plowed the land.

Subsequently, the nobles received one benefit after another:

In 1731, landowners were given the right to collect poll taxes from serfs;
Anna Ioannovna, with a manifesto of 1736, limited noble service to 25 years;
In 1746, Elizaveta Petrovna forbade anyone other than nobles from buying peasants and land;
In 1754, the Noble Bank was established, issuing loans in amounts up to 10,000 rubles at 6% per year;
On February 18, 1762, Peter III signed the “Manifesto on the granting of liberty and freedom to the Russian nobility,” which freed him from compulsory service; within 10 years, up to 10 thousand nobles retire from the army;
Catherine II, carrying out the Provincial Reform of 1775, actually transfers local power into the hands of elected representatives of the nobility, and introduces the post of district marshal of the nobility;
The charter granted to the nobility on April 21, 1785 finally freed the nobles from compulsory service, formalizing the organization of local self-government of the nobility. The nobles became a privileged class, no longer obligated to serve the state and not paying taxes, but having many rights (the exclusive right to own land and peasants, the right to engage in industry and trade, freedom from corporal punishment, the right to their own class self-government).

The charter granted to the nobility turned the noble landowner into the main local agent of the government; he is responsible for the selection of recruits, collection of taxes from peasants, supervision of public morality, etc., acting on his estate, in the words of N. M. Karamzin, as a “governor general in a small form” and “hereditary chief of police” [ ] .

The right to class self-government also became a special privilege of the nobles. The state's attitude towards him was twofold. Along with the support of noble self-government, its fragmentation was artificially maintained - district organizations were not subordinate to provincial ones, and until 1905 there was no all-Russian noble organization.

The actual liberation of the nobles by Catherine II from compulsory service while maintaining serfdom for the peasants created a huge gap between the nobles and the people. This contradiction gave rise to rumors among the peasantry that Peter III was allegedly going to free the peasants (or “transfer them to the treasury”), for which he was killed. The pressure of the nobles on the peasantry became one of the reasons for Pugachev’s uprising. The anger of the peasants was expressed in mass pogroms of nobles under the slogan “Cut the pillars and the fence will fall down on its own” In the summer of 1774 alone, about three thousand nobles and government officials were killed by peasants. Emelyan Pugachev in his “manifesto” directly stated that “whose former nobles in their estates and vodchinas were opponents of our power and troublemakers of the empire and despoilers of the peasants, to catch, execute and hang, and to do the same as they, not having Christianity in themselves, did to you, the peasants”.

Receiving “noble liberties” in 1785 was the apogee of the power of the Russian nobility. Then began " Golden autumn": the transformation of the higher nobility into a "leisure class" (at the cost of gradual exclusion from political life) and the slow ruin of the lower nobility. Strictly speaking, the “lower” nobility was not particularly ruined, simply because there was often no one to “ruin” - most of the service nobles were without place [ ] .

Decline of the nobility

Over time, the state begins to limit the massive influx of non-nobles into the nobility, made possible due to the length of service of the ranks. Especially to satisfy the ambitions of such non-nobles, an “intermediate” class of honorary citizens was established. It was formed on April 10, 1832, and received such important privileges of the noble class as exemption from poll tax, conscription and corporal punishment.

The circle of persons who had the right to honorary citizenship expanded over time - children of personal nobles, merchants of the first guild, commerce - and manufacturing advisers, artists, graduates of a number of educational institutions, children of Orthodox clergy.

A wave of peasant riots during the Crimean War (peasants enlisted in the militia during the war, hoping to be liberated from serfdom, but this did not happen) leads Alexander II to the idea that “It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for the time when it itself begins to be abolished from below”.

Acquisition of nobility

Hereditary nobility

Hereditary (inherited) nobility was acquired in four ways:

In 1722-1845, hereditary nobility was given, starting: in military service - from class XIV, in civil service - from class VIII of the Table of Ranks and when awarded any order of the Russian Empire (since 1831 - with the exception of the Polish Order Virtuti Militari).

Since 1845, due to the devaluation of ranks caused by the fact that promotions were given not for merit, but for length of service, the bar for joining the nobility was raised: for the military - to Class VIII (the rank of major) and for civil officials - to Class V ( State Councilor), for awarding the orders of St. George and St. Vladimir of any degree and the first degrees of the orders of St. Anna and St. Stanislav. In the period 1856-1917, nobility was given to those who had risen to the rank of army colonel or naval captain of the 1st rank (VI class) and active civil councilor (IV class). Thus, from the middle of the 19th century, the main way to obtain nobility was to receive an order. Most often, the nobility was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class, which was massively complained to civil officials of the 7th class based on length of service, as well as for charitable donations. Since 1900, hereditary nobility under the Order of St. Vladimir could only be obtained starting from the 3rd degree. At the same time, it became more difficult for officials to get promotion to class IV (it was required to serve at least 5 years in class V, having a position corresponding to this rank and a total period of service in class ranks of at least 20 years).

For a long time, it was permissible to apply for the award of hereditary nobility if the father and grandfather of the applicant had personal nobility, having served it in the ranks of chief officers. The right to acquire hereditary nobility by the descendants of personal nobles and eminent citizens remained until the beginning of the 20th century. The article of the law on the receipt of hereditary nobility by a son upon reaching adulthood and entering the service if his grandfather and father were “unimpeachably” in the service in ranks that brought personal nobility for at least 20 years each, was abolished by the Decree of May 28, 1900. In the Laws on Estates of the 1899 edition, there was no previously valid provision that if eminent citizens - grandfather and father - “retained their eminence without blemish,” then their eldest grandson could apply for hereditary nobility, subject to his unblemished service and reaching the age of 30.

By 1917, there were about 1,300,000 hereditary nobles in the Russian Empire, which accounted for less than 1% of the population.

Personal nobility

A special position was occupied by personal nobles, who appeared simultaneously with the Table of Ranks.

Personal nobility was acquired:

by award, when a person was elevated to the nobility personally not by order of service, but by special highest discretion;
ranks in service - in order to receive personal nobility, according to the Manifesto of June 11, 1845 “On the procedure for acquiring nobility through service”, it was necessary to rise to active service: civil - to the rank of 9th class (titular councilor), military - the first chief officer rank (XIV Class). In addition, persons who received the rank of IV class or colonel not in active service, but upon retirement, were also recognized as personal and not hereditary nobles;
by the award of an order - upon the award of the Order of St. Anne II, III or IV degree any time after July 22, 1845, St. Stanislav II or III degree any time after June 28, 1855, St. Vladimir IV degree any time after May 28, 1900 . Persons of merchant rank, awarded Russian orders between October 30, 1826 and April 10, 1832, and the Order of St. Stanislaus from November 17, 1831 to April 10, 1832, were also recognized as personal nobles. Subsequently, for persons of merchant rank, the path to obtaining personal nobility through the award of orders was closed, and only personal or hereditary nobility was recognized for them. honorary citizenship.

Personal nobility was passed on by marriage from husband to wife, but was not communicated to children and offspring. The rights of personal nobility were enjoyed by widows of clergymen of the Orthodox and Armenian-Gregorian confession who did not belong to the hereditary nobility. The largest number of personal nobles were among mid-level officers and officials. According to estimates in 1858, total number personal nobles and non-noble officials (who had lower class ranks according to the Table of Ranks, as well as small clerical employees), also included in this group, including wives and minor children, amounted to 276,809 people, and according to the 1897 census there were already 486,963 people.

N. M. Korkunov noted in 1909:

It is impossible not to pay attention to the extreme ease of achieving the nobility for persons who have received higher education, especially academic degrees, and for persons serving in scientific and educational departments. Higher education gives the right to promotion directly to the ranks of XII, X or IX class; academic degree Doctors are even entitled to the rank of VIII class. Those enjoying the rights of the educational service are confirmed in ranks directly according to the class of the position and can be promoted to two ranks above the class of the position. Thus, we can say that in our country everyone who has received a higher education and served their homeland in some way becomes a nobleman. True, until recently this was somewhat limited by the fact that the receipt of ranks and orders is connected only with public service. An educated zemstvo figure, therefore, could not become a nobleman. But now this restriction has disappeared. The zemstvo regulations of 1890 granted civil service rights to members of zemstvo councils. Thanks to this, a university candidate who has served at least one three years as a member of the zemstvo government receives the rank of IX class and with it personal nobility. Even members of zemstvo councils from persons who do not enjoy the right to enter the civil service, after three years of service, can be nominated by the governor for promotion to the first class rank.

Transfer of hereditary nobility by inheritance

Hereditary nobility was passed on through inheritance and through marriage through the male line. Each nobleman communicated his noble dignity to his wife and children. A noblewoman, marrying a representative of another class, could not transfer the rights of nobility to her husband and children, but she herself remained a noblewoman.

The extension of noble dignity to children born before the granting of nobility depended on the “highest discretion.” The issue of children born before their fathers received a rank or order, which gave the right of hereditary nobility, was resolved in different ways. By the highest approved opinion of the State Council of March 5, 1874, the restrictions concerning children born in a taxable state, including those born in a lower military and working rank, were abolished.

Nobility after 1917

The award of nobility and titles of the Russian Empire was continued after the October Revolution by the heads of the Russian Imperial House in exile.

Privileges of the nobility

The nobility had the following privileges:

right of ownership of inhabited estates (until 1861),
freedom from compulsory service (in 1762-1874, later all-class military service was introduced),
freedom from zemstvo duties (until the second half of the 19th century),
the right to enter the civil service and to receive education in privileged educational institutions (children of nobles from parts 5 and 6 of the genealogy book and children of persons with a rank of at least IV class were admitted to the Corps of Pages, the Imperial Alexandrovsky Lyceum, and the Imperial School of Law),
law of corporate organization.
admission to military service immediately to the rank of officer (when a commoner had to rise to it).

Each hereditary nobleman was recorded in the genealogical book of the province where he had real estate. According to the Highest Decree of May 28, 1900, the inclusion of landless nobles in the provincial genealogical books was granted to the assembly of leaders and deputies of the nobility. At the same time, those who did not have real estate were entered into the register of the province where their ancestors owned the estate.

Those who received nobility directly through a rank or award were entered into the register of the province they wished to go to, even if they did not have any property there. This provision existed until the Decree of June 6, 1904 “On the procedure for maintaining genealogical books for nobles who were not recorded in the genealogical books in the provinces,” according to which the herald master was entrusted with maintaining a genealogical book common to the entire empire, where they began to enter nobles who did not own real estate or who owned it in the provinces where there were no noble institutions, as well as those who acquired the rights of hereditary nobility of Jews who, on the basis of the Decree of May 28, 1900, were not subject to inclusion in the provincial noble genealogical books.

Personal nobles were not included in the genealogical book. Since 1854, they, along with honorary citizens, were recorded in the fifth part of the city philistine register.

Nobles had the right to carry a sword. The title “your honor” was common to all nobles. There were also family titles of the nobility - baronial (baron), count and princely (your excellency), as well as other titles. If the serving nobles had titles and uniforms that corresponded to their ranks in the civil or military department, then the non-serving nobleman retained the right to wear the uniform of the province where he had an estate or was registered, as well as the right “by his nickname to be written as both the landowner of his estates and the patrimonial landowner , hereditary and granted estates."

One of the privileges that belonged exclusively to hereditary nobles was the right to have a family coat of arms. Coats of arms were approved for each noble family by the highest authority and then remained forever (changes could be made only by special highest order). The general armorial of the noble families of the Russian Empire was created by the Decree of January 20 (31) of the year. It was compiled by the Department of Heraldry and contained drawings and descriptions of the coats of arms of each family.

According to a series of laws from April 21, 1785 to April 17, 1863, hereditary, personal, and foreign nobles could not be subjected to corporal punishment, both in court and during detention. However, as a result of the gradual liberation of other segments of the population from corporal punishment, this privilege of the nobles in the post-reform period ceased to be a privilege.

The 1876 edition of the Laws on Estates contained an article on the exemption of nobles from personal taxes. However, due to the abolition of the poll tax under the Law of May 14, 1883, this article turned out to be unnecessary and was no longer present in the 1899 edition.

Notes

Literature

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