First estate: Aristocrats, boyars.
Rights: The upper class in the country. They owned lands, herds of cattle and serfs as personal property. Their power over the serfs was practically unlimited, and often any atrocities were committed against them. The rights of the boyars could be limited only by representatives of their own estate, or the royal family.
Responsibilities: To serve for the benefit of the state. This service consisted in holding public posts, that is, administrative activities, military and diplomatic activities. These are ministers, generals, governor-generals of large regions, ambassadors in major powers. For this they are called "service people"
Estate: nobles and boyar children(lower strata of aristocratic society)
Rights: Similar to the first estate, but they had few lands and lackeys, they obeyed the boyars in everything.
Responsibilities: Serving obligatory (until the 18th century) service for the benefit of the state. "Service people". Most often they occupied managerial positions of a lower rank. This class included officers, ambassadors of small principalities, more often Asian ones, governors and mayors of insignificant provinces.
Condition: Sagittarius
Rights: The lowest class of all "service people" was traditionally called "instrument people" (that is, those who were called up to the army from the outside). They received monetary and food salaries from the state, as well as the right to use land plots. They lived in the streltsy settlements on the outskirts of the city "posads". These are the wealthy segments of the population.
Responsibilities: Military service for the benefit of the state. This is the regular army of Russia. Their commanders were noblemen and boyar children. Sometimes the archers themselves became commanders (they were called "initial people")
Estate: Posad people(lower strata of city dwellers, commoners)Rights: Minimum. Submit to all the higher classes and work for them. These are artisans called "black people". Personally free.
Responsibilities: To serve the "tax"(a system of duties and taxes in favor of the state), for this they were called "tax people". It was most often quitrent or payment of taxes. For example, a city dweller served for some time in the service of a coachman and brought income from the service to the treasury. They did not have the right to own land, they lived in communities, the community owned the land, obeyed it.
Estate: Peasants
Rights: Minimum. Until the end of the 18th century, the peasants did not even have the right to complain about the cruelty to them of the state. Personally free. Also "Tight people", "black people", "black souls", residents of "black settlements".
Responsibilities: Work on communal land (they did not have private ownership of it), submit to the community, pay a lot of taxes to the treasury.
Estate: Serfs:
Rights: Zero. Full property of the master. They can be killed, maimed, sold or separated from the family by order of the master. The murder of a serf was not considered murder by law, the owner did not answer for it - only the killer of someone else's serf answered with a fine. The lowest class of the whole society. They did not even treat "hard people." They did not answer before the court for theft or other offense, because they were not considered subjects of the law, only the master could punish. They did not pay taxes to the treasury, the master decided everything for them.
Responsibilities: To work for a gentleman, to serve a corvée, that is, the amount of labor in favor of the owner, even unbearable. In general, the rights and obligations of a slave. It was possible to sell oneself into slaves for debts. They did menial work, sometimes handicraft.
19th century table of estates
Class: nobles
Rights: This is the feudal privileged class. A nobleman could simultaneously belong to the clergy. Until 1861, the nobles were mainly landowners in Russia - the owners of land and peasants. After the reform, the right to own people was taken away from them, but most of the lands and lands remained in their possession. They had their own estate self-government, freedom from corporal punishment, the exclusive right in the country to buy land.
Responsibilities: Officers were recruited from among the nobles, but the military and state service has not been compulsory since 1785. Local power - gubernatorial, city self-government in large cities, in the 19th century was exclusively from the nobility. Most of the nobles also sat in the zemstvos. There was a personal and hereditary nobility. The first was appointed for services to the Fatherland and could not be inherited.
Class: clergy.
Rights: They were freed from corporal punishment, taxes and duties, they had class self-government inside. The clergy were only half of one percent of the total population of the country. They were exempted from military service (and recruitment from their abolition during the reform of 1861).
Responsibilities: They served in churches - Russian Orthodox, Catholic or other denominations. Part of the clergy could inherit their estate. Some acquired it only for the duration of their lives. If the priest took off his rank, he returned to the estate in which he had been before taking the rank.
Condition: urban. It was divided into five very dissimilar states. These included honorary citizens of cities, merchants, philistines, artisans and workers. Merchants, in turn, were divided into guilds according to the degree of the number of privileges.
Rights: Merchants have the right to be called the merchant class only as long as they pay the fee to their guild. Honorary citizens, like nobles and clergy, were exempt from corporal punishment. Honorary citizens (not all) could transfer their fortune in the estate by inheritance.
Responsibilities: Workers and artisans (since they united in workshops, they were also called guild people, they had practically none of the privileges. The urban estate did not have the right to move to the villages (as well as the peasants were forbidden to move to the city). The urban estate paid the bulk of taxes in the country.
Estate: peasants
Rights: Peasants received personal freedom only in 1861. Prior to this, there were virtually no free peasants in Russia - they were all serfs. According to the principle of who they belonged to, the peasants were divided into landowners, state-owned, that is, state and property (belonged to the enterprise). They had the right to file complaints against their landowners for ill-treatment. They had the right to leave the village only with the consent of the landowner (or a representative of the administration). Those at their own discretion gave them passports.
Responsibilities: To work for the owner, serve a corvee, or, working outside his household, bring him quitrent in monetary terms. They didn't have land. The peasants received the right to own land or rent it from the landowner only after 1861.
From the creation of the Russian centralized state and up to 1917, there were estates in Russia, the boundaries between which, as well as their rights and obligations, were legally determined and regulated by the government. Initially, in the XVII-XVII centuries. in Russia there were relatively numerous estate groups with a poorly developed corporate organization and not very clear distinctions between themselves in rights.
Later, in the course of Peter the Great's reforms, as well as as a result of the legislative activity of the successors of Emperor Peter I, especially Empress Catherine II, there was a consolidation of estates, the formation of estate-corporate organizations and institutions, and inter-class partitions became clearer. At the same time, the specifics of Russian society were wider than in many other European countries, the possibility of transition from one estate to another, including raising the estate status through the civil service, as well as the widespread inclusion of representatives of the peoples who entered Russia into the privileged estates. After the reforms of the 1860s. class differences began to gradually smooth out.
All estates of the Russian Empire were divided into privileged and taxable. The differences between them consisted in the rights to civil service and rank-and-file production, the rights to participate in public administration, the rights to self-government, the rights to court and serving sentences, the rights to property and commercial and industrial activities, and, finally, the rights to receive education.
The class position of each Russian subject was determined by his origin (by birth), as well as his official position, education and occupation (property status), i.e. could vary depending on promotion in the state - military or civil - service, receiving an order for official and out-of-service merit, graduating from a higher educational institution, the diploma of which gave the right to move to the upper class, and successful commercial and industrial activities. For women, an increase in class status was also possible through marriage with a representative of a higher class.
The state encouraged the inheritance of professions, which was manifested in the desire to provide an opportunity to receive special education at the expense of the treasury, primarily for the children of specialists in this field (mining engineers, for example). Since there were no rigid boundaries between the estates, their representatives could move from one estate to another: with the help of service, awards, education, or the successful conduct of any business. For serfs, for example, to send their children to educational institutions meant a free state for them in the future.
The functions of protecting and certifying the rights and privileges of all classes belonged exclusively to the Senate. He considered cases on the proof of the class rights of individuals and on the transition from one state to another. Especially many cases were postponed in the fund of the Senate for the protection of the rights of the nobility. He considered the evidence and asserted the rights to nobility and honorary titles of princes, counts and barons, issued letters, diplomas and other acts certifying these rights, compiled coats of arms and armorials of noble families and cities; was in charge of the affairs of the production for length of service in civil ranks up to the fifth grade inclusive. Since 1832, the Senate was entrusted with the assignment to honorary citizenship (personal and hereditary) and the issuance of relevant letters and certificates. The Senate also exercised control over the activities of noble deputy assemblies, city, merchant, petty-bourgeois and crafts societies.
Peasantry.
The peasantry, both in Muscovite Rus and in the Russian Empire, was the lowest taxable class, which constituted the vast majority of the population. In 1721, various groups of the dependent population were united into enlarged categories of state (state), palace, monastery and landlord peasants. At the same time, former black-mowed, yasak, etc. fell into the category of state-owned. peasants. All of them were united by feudal dependence directly on the state and the obligation to pay, along with the poll tax, a special (at first four hryvnia) tax, equated by law with the owner's duties. Palace peasants were directly dependent on the monarch and members of his family. After 1797 they formed the category of so-called appanage peasants. Monastic peasants after secularization formed a category of so-called economic (since until 1782 they were subordinate to the Collegium of Economy). Not fundamentally different from the state, paying the same duties and managed by the same government officials, they stood out among the peasants for their prosperity. Both the peasants themselves and the serfs fell into the number of the owner (landlord) peasants, and the position of these two categories in the 18th century. so close that all differences disappeared. Among the landlord peasants, there were plowed peasants, corvee and quitrent, and household peasants, but the transition from one group to another depended on the will of the owner.
All peasants were attached to their place of residence and their community, paid a poll tax, and sent recruiting and other natural duties, were subject to corporal punishment. The only guarantees of the landlord peasants from the arbitrariness of the owners was that the law protected their lives (the right of corporal punishment belonged to the owner), since 1797 the law on the three-day corvee was in force, which formally did not limit the corvee to 3 days, but in practice, as a rule, applied. In the first half of the XIX century. there were also rules prohibiting the sale of serfs without a family, the purchase of peasants without land, etc. For the state peasants, the opportunities were somewhat greater: the right to transfer to the tradesmen and write to the merchants (if there is a certificate of dismissal), the right to resettle, to new lands (with the permission of the local authorities, with little land).
After the reforms of the 1860s. the communal organization of the peasantry was preserved with mutual responsibility, the prohibition to leave the place of residence without a temporary passport and the prohibition to change the place of residence and enroll in other estates without dismissal from the community. The poll tax, abolished only at the beginning of the 20th century, their jurisdiction in petty cases to a special volost court, which retained, even after the abolition of corporal punishment under general law, the rod as a punishment, and in a number of administrative and judicial cases - land chiefs. After the peasants received the right to freely leave the community and the right to private ownership of land in 1906, their class isolation decreased.
Philistinism.
Philistinism - the main urban taxable estate in the Russian Empire - originates from the townspeople of Moscow Russia, united in black hundreds and settlements. The burghers were assigned to their urban societies, which they could leave only with temporary passports, and be transferred to others with the permission of the authorities. They paid a poll tax, were subject to recruitment duty and corporal punishment, did not have the right to enter the state service, and upon entering the military service did not enjoy the rights of volunteers.
Petty trade, various crafts, and work for hire were allowed for the townspeople. To engage in craft and trade, they had to enroll in workshops and guilds.
The organization of the petty-bourgeois class was finally established in 1785. In each city they formed a petty-bourgeois society, elected petty-bourgeois councils or petty-bourgeois elders and their assistants (uprava were introduced from 1870).
In the middle of the XIX century. the townspeople are exempted from corporal punishment, since 1866 - from the soul tax.
Belonging to the bourgeois class was hereditary. Enrollment in the philistines was open to persons obliged to choose a way of life, for state (after the abolition of serfdom - for all) peasants, but for the latter - only upon dismissal from society and permission from the authorities.
Guild (artisans).
Guilds as corporations of persons engaged in the same craft were established under Emperor Peter I. For the first time, a guild organization was established by the Instruction to the Chief Magistrate and the rules on registration in workshops. Subsequently, the rights of the guilds were clarified and confirmed by the Craft and City Regulations under Empress Catherine II.
Guilds were given a pre-emptive right to engage in certain types of crafts and sell their products. To engage in these crafts by persons of other classes, they were required to temporarily register in the workshop with the payment of appropriate fees. It was impossible to open a craft institution, keep workers and have a sign without registering in the shop.
Thus, all persons enrolled in the workshop were divided into temporary and eternal workshops. For the latter, belonging to a guild meant at the same time class affiliation. Full guild rights had only ever-shop.
After spending 3 to 5 years as apprentices, they could sign up as apprentices, and then, after submitting a sample of their work and having it approved by the guild (craft) council, they could become masters. For this they received special certificates. Only masters had the right to open establishments with hired workers and keep apprentices.
Guilds belonged to the number of taxable estates and were subject to poll tax, recruitment duty and corporal punishment.
Belonging to the guilds was assimilated at birth and upon entry into the guild, and was also passed on by the husband to his wife. But the children of the guilds, having reached the age of majority, had to be enrolled as apprentices, apprentices, masters, otherwise they would become philistines.
The guilds had their own corporate class organization. Each workshop had its own council (in small towns, since 1852, workshops could unite with subordination to the craft council). The guilds elected artisan heads, guild (or management) foremen and their comrades, apprentices elected and attorneys. Elections were to take place annually.
Merchants.
In Muscovite Russia, merchants stood out from the general mass of townspeople, divided into guests, merchants of the Living Room and Cloth Hundreds in Moscow and the "best people" in the cities, and the guests constituted the most privileged top of the merchant class.
Emperor Peter I, having singled out the merchant class from the general mass of citizens, introduced their division into guilds and city self-government. In 1724, the principles for attributing merchants to one or another guild were formulated: guilds that trade in petty goods and all sorts of food supplies, handicraft people of all kinds of skills and others like this; others, namely: all vile people who are hired, in menial jobs and the like, although they are citizens and have citizenship , except between noble and regular citizens are not listed. "
But the guild structure of the merchants, as well as the city self-government bodies, acquired its final form under Empress Catherine II. On March 17, 1775, it was established that merchants with a capital of more than 500 rubles should be divided into 3 guilds and pay to the treasury 1% of the capital declared by them, and be free from the poll tax. On May 25 of the same year, it was clarified that merchants who declared capital from 500 to 1,000 rubles should be registered in the third guild, from 1,000 to 10,000 rubles in the second, and more than 10,000 rubles in the first. At the same time, "the declaration of capital is left for voluntary testimony on the conscience of everyone." Those who could not declare for themselves a capital of at least 500 rubles did not have the right to be called merchants and enroll in a guild. In the future, the size of the guild capital increased. In 1785, for the 3rd guild, a capital was set from 1 to 5 thousand rubles, for the 2nd - from 5 to 10 thousand rubles, for the 1st - from 10 to 50 thousand rubles, in 1794, respectively, from 2 to 8 thousand rubles, from 8 to 16 thousand rubles. and from 16 to 50 thousand rubles, in 1807 - from 8 to 10 thousand rubles, from 20 to 50 thousand and more than 50 thousand rubles.
The letter of rights and benefits to the cities of the Russian Empire confirmed that "who declares more capital, he is given a place before those who declare less capital." Another, even more effective means of inducing merchants to declare capital in large amounts (within the limits of the guild norm) was the provision that in government contracts "confidence" manifests itself in proportion to the declared capital.
Depending on the guild, the merchants enjoyed various privileges and had various rights to trade and crafts. All merchants could pay the appropriate money instead of recruiting. The merchants of the first two guilds were exempted from corporal punishment. Merchants of the 1st guild had the right to foreign and domestic trade, the 2nd - to internal, the 3rd - to petty trade in cities and counties. Merchants of the 1st and 2nd guilds had the right to travel around the city in pairs, and the 3rd - only on one horse.
Persons of other classes could register in the guild on a temporary basis and, paying guild duties, retain their class status.
On October 26, 1800, the nobles were forbidden to enroll in the guild and enjoy the benefits assigned to one merchant, but on January 1, 1807, the right of the nobles to enroll in the guild was restored.
On March 27, 1800, in order to encourage merchants who distinguished themselves in trading activities, the rank of commerce adviser was established, equated to the 8th class of the civil service, and then manufactory adviser with similar rights. On January 1, 1807, the honorary title of first-class merchants was also introduced, which included merchants of the 1st guild, conducting only wholesale trade. Merchants who had wholesale and retail trade at the same time or held farms and contracts were not entitled to this title. First-class merchants had the right to travel around the city, both in pairs and in quadruplets, and even had the right to visit the court (but only in person, without family members).
The manifesto of November 14, 1824 established new rules and benefits for the merchants. In particular, for the merchants of the 1st guild, the right to engage in banking, enter into government contracts for any amount, etc. was confirmed. The right of merchants of the 2nd guild to trade abroad was limited to 300,000 rubles. per year, and for the 3rd guild such trade was prohibited. Contracts and buyouts, as well as private contracts for merchants of the 2nd guild, were limited to the amount of 50 thousand rubles, banking business was prohibited. For merchants of the 3rd guild, the right to start factories was limited to light industry and the number of employees up to 32. It was confirmed that a merchant of the 1st guild, engaged only in wholesale or foreign trade, is called a first-class merchant or merchant. Those engaged in banking could also be called bankers. Those who spent 12 years in a row in the 1st guild received the right to be awarded the title of commerce or manufactory adviser. At the same time, it was emphasized that "monetary donations and concessions under contracts do not give the right to be awarded ranks and orders" - this required special merits, for example, in the field of charity. Merchants of the 1st guild, who had been in it for less than 12 years, also had the right to ask for their children to be enrolled in the civil service as chief officer children, as well as for their admission to various educational institutions, including universities, without dismissal from society. . Merchants of the 1st guild received the right to wear the uniforms of the province in which they were registered. The manifesto emphasized: "In general, the merchants of the 1st guild are not revered as a taxable state, but constitute a special class of honorable people in the state." It was also noted here that the merchants of the 1st guild are obliged to accept only the positions of city heads and assessors of the chambers (judicial), conscientious courts and orders of public charity, as well as deputies of trade and directors of banks and their offices and church elders, and from the choice to all other public positions have the right to refuse; for merchants of the 2nd guild, the positions of burgomasters, ratmans and members of shipping massacres were added to this list, for the 3rd - city elders, members of six-voice dumas, deputies at different places. For all other city posts, the townspeople were to be elected, if the merchants did not wish to accept them.
On January 1, 1863, a new guild system was introduced. Occupations in trade and crafts became available to persons of all classes without enrolling in a guild, subject to payment of all trade and craft certificates, but without class guild rights. At the same time, wholesale trade was assigned to the 1st guild, and retail trade to the 2nd. Merchants of the 1st guild had the right to engage in wholesale and retail trade everywhere, contracts and deliveries without restrictions, the maintenance of factories and factories, the 2nd - to retail trade at the place of recording, the maintenance of factories, factories and craft establishments, contracts and deliveries in the amount of no more than 15 thousand rubles. At the same time, the owner of a factory or factory with machines or more than 16 employees had to take a guild certificate of at least the 2nd guild, joint-stock companies - of the 1st guild.
Thus, belonging to the merchant class was determined by the value of the declared capital. Merchants' children and unseparated brothers, as well as merchants' wives, belonged to the merchant class (they were recorded on one certificate). Merchant widows and orphans retained this right, but without engaging in trade. Merchant children who had reached the age of majority had to re-register in the guild for a separate certificate upon separation or transferred to the burghers. Unseparated merchant children and brothers were to be called not merchants, but merchant sons, etc. The transition from guild to guild and from merchants to philistines was free. The transfer of merchants from city to city was allowed provided that there were no arrears in guild and city fees and that a certificate of discharge was taken. Entry of merchant children into the civil service (except for the children of merchants of the 1st guild) was not allowed if such a right was not acquired by education.
The corporate class organization of the merchant class existed in the form of merchant elders and their assistants elected annually, whose duties included maintaining guild lists, taking care of the benefits and needs of the merchant class, and so on. This position was considered in the 14th grade of the civil service. Since 1870, the merchant elders were approved by the governors. Belonging to the merchant class was combined with belonging to honorary citizenship.
honorary citizenship.
The category of eminent citizens includes three groups of citizens: those who have merit in the elective city service (not included in the public service system and not included in the Table of Ranks), scientists, artists, musicians (until the end of the 18th century, neither the Academy of Sciences nor the Academy of Arts were included in the Table of Ranks system) and, finally, the top of the merchant class. Representatives of these three, heterogeneous, in fact, groups were united by the fact that, not being able to achieve public service, they could claim certain class privileges personally and wished to extend them to their offspring.
Eminent citizens were exempted from corporal punishment and recruitment duty. They were allowed to have country yards and gardens (except for settled estates) and travel around the city in pairs and quadruplets (the privilege of the "noble estate"), it was not forbidden to have and start factories, plants, sea and river ships. The title of eminent citizens was inherited, which made them a pronounced class group. The grandchildren of eminent citizens, whose fathers and grandfathers carried this title impeccably, upon reaching 30 years of age, could ask for the nobility.
This class category did not last long. On January 1, 1807, the title of eminent citizens for merchants was abolished "as mixing heterogeneous virtues." At the same time, it was left as a distinction for scientists and artists, but since by that time scientists were included in the system of public service, giving personal and hereditary nobility, this title ceased to be relevant and practically disappeared.
October 19, 1831, in connection with the "analysis" of the gentry, with the exclusion of a significant mass of the petty gentry from among the nobles and their registration in single-palaces and urban estates, those of them, "who apply in any scientific occupations" - doctors, teachers, artists, etc., as well as having legalized certificates for a lawyer's title, "to distinguish themselves from those engaged in petty-bourgeois trade or in the service and other lower occupations" received the title of honorary citizens. Then, on December 1, 1831, it was clarified that among the artists, only painters, lithographers, engravers, and so on should be included in this title. carvers on stones and metals, architects, sculptors, etc., who have a diploma or a certificate from the Academy.
The Manifesto of April 10, 1832 introduced a new class of honorary citizens throughout the empire, divided, like the nobles, into hereditary and personal. The number of hereditary honorary citizens included children of personal nobles, children of persons who received the title of hereditary honorary citizen, i.e. born in this state, merchants awarded the titles of commerce and manufactories-advisers, merchants awarded (after 1826) one of the Russian orders, as well as merchants who spent 10 years in the 1st guild or 20 years in the 2nd and not falling into bankruptcy. Persons who graduated from Russian universities, artists of free states, graduated from the Academy of Arts or received a diploma as an artist of the Academy, foreign scientists, artists, as well as trading capitalists and owners of significant manufacturing and factory establishments, even if they were not were Russian subjects. Hereditary honorary citizenship could complain "for differences in the sciences" to persons who already have personal honorary citizenship, persons with doctoral or master's degrees, students of the Academy of Arts 10 years after graduation "for differences in the arts" and foreigners who accepted Russian citizenship and who have been in it for 10 years (if they have previously received the title of personal honorary citizen).
The title of hereditary honorary citizen was inherited. The husband communicated honorary citizenship to his wife if she belonged by birth to one of the lower classes, and the widow did not lose this title with the death of her husband.
Approval of hereditary honorary citizenship and the issuance of charters for him were entrusted to Heraldry.
Honorary citizens enjoyed freedom from the poll tax, from recruitment duty, from standing and corporal punishment. They had the right to participate in city elections and be elected to public positions not lower than those to which merchants of the 1st and 2nd guilds are elected. Honorary citizens had the right to use this name in all acts.
Lost honorary citizenship in court, in case of malicious bankruptcy; some rights of honorary citizens were lost when enrolling in craft workshops.
In 1833, it was confirmed that honorary citizens were not included in the general census, and special lists were kept for each city. In the future, the circle of persons who had the right to honorary citizenship was specified and expanded. In 1836, it was established that only university graduates who had received a degree at the end of their studies could apply for personal honorary citizenship. In 1839, the right to honorary citizenship was granted to artists of the imperial theaters (1st category, who served a certain period on stage). In the same year, pupils of the highest commercial boarding school in St. Petersburg received this right (personally). In 1844, the right to receive honorary citizenship was extended to employees of the Russian-American Company (from the estates that did not have the right to public service). In 1845, the right to hereditary honorary citizenship of merchants who received the orders of St. Vladimir and St. Anna was confirmed. Since 1845, civil ranks from the 14th to the 10th grade began to bring hereditary honorary citizenship. In 1848, the right to receive honorary citizenship (personal) was extended to graduates of the Lazarev Institute. In 1849, doctors, pharmacists and veterinarians were added to honorary citizens. In the same year, the right to personal honorary citizenship was granted to graduates of gymnasiums to the children of personal honorary citizens, merchants and townspeople. In 1849, personal honorary citizens received the opportunity to enter military service as volunteers. In 1850, the right to be awarded the title of personal honorary citizen was given to Jews who were on special assignments under the governor-general in the Pale of Settlement ("learned Jews under the governors"). Subsequently, the rights of hereditary honorary citizens to enter the civil service were clarified, and the range of educational institutions, the completion of which gave the right to personal honorary citizenship, was expanded. In 1862, technologists of the 1st category and process engineers who graduated from the St. Petersburg Technological Institute received the right to honorary citizenship. In 1865, it was established that from now on, merchants of the 1st guild are elevated to hereditary honorary citizenship after staying in it "in a row" for at least 20 years. In 1866, the right to receive hereditary honorary citizenship was granted to merchants of the 1st and 2nd guilds, who bought estates in the Western provinces for at least 15 thousand rubles.
Representatives of the top citizens and clerics of some peoples and localities of Russia were also ranked as honorary citizenship: Tiflis first-class mokalaks, residents of the cities of Anapa, Novorossiysk, Poti, Petrovsk and Sukhum, on the proposal of the authorities for special merits, zaisangs from the Kalmyks of Astrakhan and Stavropol provinces, not having ranks and owning hereditary aimaks (hereditary honorary citizenship, those who did not receive personal citizenship), Karaites who held the spiritual positions of gahams (hereditary), gazzans and shamases (personally) for at least 12 years, etc.
As a result, at the beginning of the XX century. hereditary honorary citizens by birth included children of personal nobles, chief officers, officials and clergymen, granted the orders of St. Stanislav and St. Anna (except for the 1st degrees), children of clergymen of the Orthodox and Armenian-Gregorian confession, children of church clerks ( deacons, sextons and psalmists), who completed the course in theological seminaries and academies and received academic degrees and titles there, the children of Protestant preachers, the children of persons who have impeccably served for 20 years as the Transcaucasian sheikh-ul-Islam or the Transcaucasian mufti, Kalmyk zaisangs, not having ranks and owning hereditary aimaks, and, of course, children of hereditary honorary citizens, and personal honorary citizens by birth included those adopted by nobles and hereditary honorary citizens, widows of church clerks of the Orthodox and Armenian-Gregorian confessions, children of the highest Transcaucasian Muslim clergy, if their parents performed impeccable service in t 2 years, zaisangs from the Kalmyks of the Astrakhan and Stavropol provinces, who have neither ranks nor hereditary aimaks.
Personal honorary citizenship could be requested for 10 years of useful activity, and after staying for 10 years in personal honorary citizenship, hereditary honorary citizenship could also be requested for the same activity.
Hereditary honorary citizenship was awarded to those who graduated from some educational institutions, commerce and manufactory advisers, merchants who received one of the Russian orders, merchants of the 1st guild who had been in it for at least 20 years, artists of the imperial theaters of the 1st category who had served for at least 15 years, fleet conductors who have served for at least 20 years, Karaite hahams who have been in office for at least 12 years. Personal honorary citizenship, in addition to the persons already mentioned, was received by those who entered the civil service during production at the rank of 14th class, completed the course in some educational institutions, were dismissed from the civil service with the rank of 14th class and received a senior officer upon retirement from military service ranks, managers of rural handicraft workshops and masters of these institutions after serving, respectively, 5 and 10 years, managers, masters and teachers of technical and handicraft training workshops of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, who have served 10 years, masters and master technicians of lower craft schools of the Ministry of Public Education , who also served at least 10 years, artists of the imperial theaters of the 1st category, who served 10 years on stage, fleet conductors who served 10 years, persons with navigational ranks and sailed for at least 5 years, ship mechanics who sailed for 5 years, honorary guardians Jewish educational institutions who have held this position for at least 15 years, "scientists e vrei under the governors" for special merits after serving for at least 15 years, masters of the imperial Peterhof Lapidary Factory, who served for at least 10 years, and some other categories of persons.
If honorary citizenship belonged to a given person by birthright, it did not require special confirmation; if it was awarded, a decision of the Department of Heraldry of the Senate and a letter from the Senate were required.
Belonging to honorary citizens could be combined with being in other classes - the merchants and the clergy - and did not depend on the type of activity (until 1891, only entering some workshops deprived the honorary citizen of some of the advantages of his title).
There was no corporate organization of honorary citizens.
Aliens.
Aliens were a special category of subjects within the law of the Russian Empire.
According to the Code of Laws on States, foreigners were divided into:
* Siberian foreigners;
* Samoyeds of the Arkhangelsk province;
* nomadic foreigners of the Stavropol province;
* Kalmyks, nomadic in the Astrakhan and Stavropol provinces;
* Kirghiz of the Inner Horde;
* foreigners of Akmola, Semipalatinsk, Semirechensk, Ural and Turgai
areas;
* foreigners of the Turkestan region;
* non-native population of the Transcaspian region;
* highlanders of the Caucasus;
The "Charter on the management of foreigners" divided foreigners into "sedentary", "nomadic" and "vagrant" and, according to this division, determined their administrative and legal status. The mountaineers of the Caucasus and the non-native population of the Transcaspian region (Turkmen) were subject to the so-called military-people's administration.
Foreigners.
The appearance of foreigners in the Russian Empire, mainly from Western Europe, began as early as the time of Muscovite Russia, which needed foreign military specialists to organize “foreign regiments”. With the beginning of the reforms of Emperor Peter I, the migration of foreigners becomes massive. As of the beginning of the XX century. a foreigner wishing to enter the Russian citizenship, had to first pass the "placement". The newcomer filed a petition addressed to the local governor about the purpose of the placement and the nature of his occupation, then a petition was submitted to the Minister of the Interior for acceptance into Russian citizenship, and the reception of Jews and dervishes was prohibited. In addition, any entry into the Russian Empire of Jews and Jesuits could be carried out only with the special permission of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs and Finance. At the end of the five-year “placement”, a foreigner could receive citizenship by “rooting” (naturalization), and receive full rights, for example, the right to join merchant guilds and acquire real estate. Foreigners who did not receive Russian citizenship could enter the civil service, but only "on the academic side", in mining.
Cossacks.
The Cossacks in the Russian Empire were a special military estate (more precisely, a class group) that stood apart from the others. The estate rights and obligations of the Cossacks were based on the principle of corporate ownership of military lands and freedom from duties, subject to compulsory military service. The class organization of the Cossacks coincided with the military. Under elective local self-government, the Cossacks were subordinate to the wax atamans (military ataman or nakazny), who enjoyed the rights of the commander of the military district or the governor general. Since 1827, the heir to the throne was considered the supreme ataman of all Cossack troops.
By the beginning of the XX century. in Russia there were 11 Cossack troops, as well as Cossack settlements in 2 provinces.
Under the ataman, a military headquarters operated, in the field the atamans of departments (on the Don - district ones) were in charge, in the villages - the village atamans elected by the stanitsa gatherings.
Belonging to the Cossack class was hereditary, although formally, registration in the Cossack troops for persons of other classes was not excluded.
During the service, the Cossacks could reach the ranks and orders of the nobility. In this case, belonging to the nobility was combined with belonging to the Cossacks.
Clergy.
The clergy was considered a privileged, honorary class in Russia in all periods of its history.
The rights, basically similar to the Orthodox clergy, were used in Russia by the clergy of the Armenian Gregorian Church.
Regarding the class affiliation and special class rights of the Roman Catholic clergy, due to the obligatory celibacy in the Catholic Church, there was no question.
The Protestant clergy enjoyed the rights of honorary citizens.
Clerics of non-Christian confessions either received honorary citizenship after a certain period of performance of their duties (Muslim clergy), or did not have any special class rights, except for those that belonged to them by birth (Jewish clergy), or enjoyed the rights stipulated in special provisions on foreigners (Lamaist clergy).
Nobility.
The main privileged class of the Russian Empire was finally formed in the 18th century. It was based on the privileged class groups of the so-called "serving ranks in the homeland" (ie, by origin) that were in Muscovite Russia. The highest of them were the so-called "duma ranks" - duma boyars, okolnichie, nobles and duma clerks, and belonging to each of the listed class groups was determined both by origin and by the passage of the "state service". It was possible to reach the boyars by serving, for example, from the Moscow nobles. At the same time, not a single son of a duma boyar began his service directly from this rank - he first had to visit at least the stolniks. Then came the ranks of Moscow: stewards, lawyers, Moscow nobles and residents. Below the Moscow ones were the city ranks: elected nobles (or choice), children of the boyar courtyards and children of the boyar policemen. They differed among themselves not only in "fatherland", but also in the nature of the service and property status. Duma ranks headed the state apparatus. Moscow officials carried out court service, made up the so-called "sovereign regiment" (a kind of guard), were appointed to senior positions in the army and in the local administration. All of them had significant estates or were endowed with estates near Moscow. The elected nobles were sent in turn to serve at the court and in Moscow, and also served "distant service", i.e. went on long trips and carried out administrative duties far from the county in which their estates were located. Boyar yard children also carried out long-distance service. The children of the boyar policemen, due to their property status, could not carry out long-distance service. They carried out police or siege service, making up the garrisons of their county towns.
All these groups were distinguished by the fact that they inherited their service (and could move up along it) and had hereditary estates, or, upon reaching adulthood, were assigned estates, which were a reward for their service.
The intermediate class groups included the so-called service people according to the instrument, i.e. recruited or mobilized by the government into archers, gunners, zatinshchiks, reiters, spearmen, etc., and their children could also inherit the service of their fathers, but this service was not privileged and did not provide opportunities for hierarchical elevation. For this service, a monetary reward was given. Land (during the border service) was given to the so-called "vopchie dachas", i.e. not in the estate, but as if in a communal possession. At the same time, at least in practice, their ownership by serfs and even peasants was not ruled out.
Another intermediate group were clerks of various categories, who formed the basis of the bureaucratic machine of the Moscow state, who were recruited into the service voluntarily and received monetary rewards for their service. Service people were free from taxes that fell with all their weight on taxable people, but none of them, from the city son of a boyar to a Duma boyar, was exempt from corporal punishment and at any moment could be deprived of their rank, all rights and property. service" for all service people was obligatory, and it was possible to get rid of it
only for diseases, wounds and old age.
The only title available in Muscovite Russia - the prince - did not give any special advantages, except for the title itself, and often did not mean either a high position in the ranks or large landed property. Belonging to service people in the fatherland - nobles and boyar children - was recorded in the so-called dozens, i.e. lists of service people compiled during their reviews, analysis and layout, as well as in the data books of the Local Order, which indicated the size of the estates given to service people.
The essence of Peter's reforms in relation to the nobility was that, firstly, all categories of service people in the fatherland merged into one "noble gentry estate", and each member of this estate from birth was equal to everyone else, and all differences were determined by the difference in position on the career ladder, according to the Table of Ranks, secondly, the acquisition of the nobility by the service was legalized and formally regulated (the nobility gave the first chief officer rank in military service and the rank of 8th class - collegiate assessor - in civil service), thirdly , each member of this class was obliged to be in the public service, military or civil, up to old age or loss of health, fourthly, the correspondence between military and civilian ranks, unified in the table of ranks, was established, fifthly, all differences were finally eliminated between estates as a form of conditional possession and fiefdoms on the basis of a single right of inheritance and a single duty to serve. Numerous small intermediate groups of the "old services of the people" were deprived of their privileges by one decisive act and assigned to the state peasants.
The nobility was, first of all, a service estate with the formal equality of all members of this estate and a fundamentally open character, which made it possible to include in the ranks of the estate the most successful representatives of the lower classes in public service.
Titles: the original princely title for Russia and the new ones - count and baronial - had the meaning of only honorary generic names and, apart from the rights to title, did not provide any special rights and privileges to their bearers.
The special privileges of the nobility in relation to the court and the order of serving punishments were not formally legalized, but rather existed in practice. The nobles were not exempted from corporal punishment.
With regard to property rights, the most important privilege of the nobility was the monopoly on the ownership of populated estates and householders, although this monopoly was still insufficiently regulated and absolute.
The realization of the privileged position of the nobility in the field of education was the establishment in 1732 of the gentry corps.
Finally, all the rights and advantages of the Russian nobility were formalized by the Charter to the nobility, approved by Empress Catherine II on April 21, 1785. This act formulated the very concept of the nobility as a hereditary privileged service class. It established the procedure for acquiring and proving the nobility, its special rights and benefits, including freedom from taxes and corporal punishment, as well as from compulsory service. This act established a noble corporate organization with local noble elected bodies. And Catherine's provincial reform of 1775 somewhat earlier secured the right of the nobility to elect candidates for a number of local administrative and judicial posts.
The charter granted to the nobility finally secured the monopoly of this class on the possession of "serf souls". The same act for the first time legalized such a category as personal nobles. The basic rights and privileges granted to the nobility by the Letter of Complaint remained, with some clarifications and changes, in force until the reforms of the 1860s, and, according to a number of provisions, until 1917.
Hereditary nobility, by the very meaning of the definition of this class, was inherited and thus acquired by the descendants of the nobles at birth. Women of non-noble origin acquired the nobility when they married a nobleman. At the same time, they did not lose their noble rights when they entered into a second marriage in the event of widowhood. At the same time, women of noble origin did not lose their noble dignity when they married a non-nobleman, although children from such a marriage inherited their father's estate.
The table of ranks determined the procedure for acquiring nobility by service: achieving the first chief officer rank in military service and the rank of 8th class in civilian service. On May 18, 1788, it was forbidden to assign hereditary nobility to persons who received the military chief officer rank upon retirement, but did not serve in this rank. The Manifesto of July 11, 1845 raised the bar for achieving nobility by service: from now on, hereditary nobility was assigned only to those who received the first headquarters officer rank (major, 8th class) in military service, and the rank of 5th class (civilian) in the civil service
adviser), and these ranks had to be received in active service, and not upon retirement. Personal nobility was assigned in military service to those who received the rank of chief officer, and in civilian service - ranks from the 9th to the 6th class (from titular to collegiate adviser). From December 9, 1856, the hereditary nobility in military service began to bring the rank of colonel (captain of the 1st rank in the navy), and in civilian service - a real state adviser.
The charter granted to the nobility pointed to another source of acquiring noble dignity - the awarding of one of the Russian orders.
On October 30, 1826, the State Council decided in its opinion that "in disgust from misunderstandings about ranks and orders, to the persons of the merchant class most graciously bestowed" henceforth such awards should be brought only by personal, and not hereditary nobility.
On February 27, 1830, the State Council confirmed that the children of officials of non-nobles and clergy who received orders, born before the award of this award to their fathers, enjoy the rights of the nobility, as well as the children of merchants who received orders before October 30, 1826. But according to the new the statute of the Order of St. Anne, approved on July 22, 1845, the rights of the hereditary nobility were relied only on those awarded the 1st degree of this order; by decree of June 28, 1855, the same restriction was established for the Order of St. Stanislav. Thus, only among the orders of St. Vladimir (except for merchants) and St. George all degrees gave the right to hereditary nobility. From May 28, 1900, only the Order of St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree began to give the right to hereditary nobility.
Another restriction on the right to receive nobility by order was the procedure by which hereditary nobility was awarded only to those awarded orders for active service, and not for non-official distinctions, for example, for charity.
A number of other restrictions periodically arose: for example, the prohibition to rank among the hereditary nobility the ranks of the former Bashkir army, awarded with any orders, representatives of the Roman Catholic clergy, awarded the Order of St. Stanislav (the Orthodox clergy were not awarded this order), etc. In 1900 Persons of the Jewish confession were deprived of the right to acquire nobility by ranks in the service and the award of orders.
Grandchildren of personal nobles (i.e., descendants of two generations of persons who received personal nobility and were in the service of at least 20 years each), the eldest grandchildren of eminent citizens (a title that existed from 1785 to 1807) to reaching the age of 30, if their grandfathers, fathers, and they themselves "retained eminence impeccably", as well as - according to tradition, not legally formalized - merchants of the 1st guild on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of their company. So, for example, the founders and owners of the Trekhgornaya manufactory, the Prokhorovs, received the nobility.
Special rules were in effect for a number of intermediate groups. Since the impoverished descendants of ancient noble families (under Emperor Peter I, some of them were enrolled in single palaces to avoid compulsory service), who had letters of nobility, were also among the one-palace residents, on May 5, 1801, they were granted the right to find and prove the noble dignity lost by their ancestors . But already after 3 years it was customary to consider their evidence "with all severity", while observing that people who had lost it "for guilt and serving out of service" were not admitted to the nobility. On December 28, 1816, the State Council recognized that proof of the presence of noble ancestors for the one-palace is not enough, it is also necessary to achieve nobility through service. To do this, the single-dvortsam, who provided evidence of their origin from a noble family, were given the right to enter military service with exemption from duties and promotion to the first chief officer rank after 6 years. After the introduction in 1874 of universal military service, the odnodvortsam was granted the right to restore the nobility lost by their ancestors (if there is appropriate evidence, confirmed by the certificate of the noble assembly of their province) by entering military service as volunteers and receiving an officer rank in the general order provided for volunteers.
In 1831, the Polish gentry, who had not formalized the Russian nobility since the time of the annexation of the Western provinces to Russia by presenting the evidence provided for by the Letter of Complaint, was recorded as a single-palace or "citizen". On July 3, 1845, the rules on the return of the nobility to the single-palaces were extended to persons belonging to the former Polish gentry.
When new territories were annexed to Russia, the local nobility, as a rule, was included in the Russian nobility. This happened with the Tatar murzas, Georgian princes, etc. For other peoples, the nobility was achieved by obtaining the appropriate military and civil ranks in the Russian service or Russian orders. So, for example, the noyons and zaisangs of the Kalmyks roaming in the Astrakhan and Stavropol provinces (the Don Kalmyks were recorded in the Don Army and they were subject to the procedure for obtaining nobility adopted for the Don military ranks), upon receiving orders, enjoyed the rights of personal or hereditary nobility according to the general situation . The senior sultans of the Siberian Kirghiz could ask for hereditary nobility if they served in this rank for three three-year elections. Bearers of other honorary titles of the peoples of Siberia did not have special rights to the nobility, if the latter were not assigned to any of them by separate letters or if they were not promoted to ranks that bring nobility.
Regardless of the method of obtaining hereditary nobility, all hereditary nobles in the Russian Empire enjoyed the same rights. The presence of a title did not give the holders of this title any special rights either. The differences were only depending on the size of real estate (until 1861 - populated estates). From this point of view, all the nobles of the Russian Empire could be divided into 3 categories: 1) nobles who are included in the genealogical books and own real estate in the province; 2) nobles, included in the genealogical books, but do not own real estate; 3) nobles not included in genealogical books. Depending on the size of real estate ownership (before 1861 - on the number of serf souls), the degree of full participation of nobles in noble elections was determined. Participation in these elections and, in general, belonging to the noble society of a particular province or county depended on being included in the genealogical books of one or another province. The nobles who owned real estate in the province were subject to recording in the genealogical books of this province, but the entry into these books was carried out only at the request of these nobles. Therefore, many nobles who received their nobility through ranks and orders, as well as some foreign nobles who received the rights of the Russian nobility, were not recorded in the genealogical books of any provinces.
Only the first of the categories listed above enjoyed the full rights and benefits of the hereditary nobility, both as part of noble societies, and separately belonging to each person. The second category enjoyed in full the rights and benefits that belonged to each person, and the rights in the composition of noble societies to a limited extent. And, finally, the third category enjoyed the rights and advantages of the nobility assigned to each individual, and did not enjoy any rights as part of noble societies. At the same time, any person from the third category could, at will, at any time move to the second or first category, while the transition from the second category to the first and vice versa depended solely on the financial situation.
Each nobleman, especially not an employee, had to be recorded in the genealogical book of the province where he had a permanent place of residence, if he owned any real estate in this province, even if this property was less significant than in other provinces. Nobles who had the necessary property qualification in several provinces at once could be recorded in the genealogical books of all those provinces where they wished to participate in the elections. At the same time, the nobles who proved their nobility by their ancestors, but who did not have any real estate anywhere, were entered in the book of the province where their ancestors owned the estate. Those who received the nobility by rank or order could be entered in the book of the province where they wished, regardless of whether they had real estate there. The same rule also applied to foreign nobles, but the latter were entered into genealogical books only after they had been previously submitted to the Department of Heraldry. The hereditary nobles of the Cossack troops were entered: the Don troops in the genealogical book of this army, and the rest of the troops - in the genealogical books of those provinces and regions where these troops were located. When the nobles of the Cossack troops were included in the genealogical books, their belonging to these troops was indicated.
Personal nobles were not included in genealogical books. The genealogical book was divided into six parts. The first part included "kinds of the nobility paid or actual"; in the second part - the families of the military nobility; in the third - the clans of the nobility acquired in the civil service, as well as those who received the right of hereditary nobility according to the order; in the fourth - all foreign births; in the fifth - titled births; in the sixth part - "ancient noble noble families".
In practice, persons who received the nobility by order were also recorded in the first part, especially if this order complained outside the usual official order. With the legal equality of all nobles, regardless of which part of the genealogical book they were recorded in, the entry in the first part was considered less honorable than in the second and third, and together the first three parts were considered less honorable than the fifth and sixth. The fifth part included families that had the Russian titles of barons, counts, princes and most serene princes, and the barony of the Ostsee meant belonging to an ancient family, the barony granted to the Russian family - its originally humble origin, occupation in trade and industry (barons Shafirovs, Stroganovs, etc. ). The title of count meant a particularly high position and a special imperial favor, the exaltation of the family in the XVIII - early. XIX centuries, so that in other cases it was even more honorable than princely, not supported by the high position of the bearer of this title. In the XIX - early. XX centuries the title of count was often given at the resignation of a minister or as a sign of special royal favor to the latter, as a reward. This is the origin of the county of the Valuevs, Delyanovs, Witte, Kokovtsovs. By itself, the princely title in the XVIII - XIX centuries. did not mean a particularly high position and did not talk about anything other than the antiquity of the origin of the family. There were much more princely families in Russia than counts, and among them there were many Tatar and Georgian princes; there was even a family of Tungus princes - the Gantimurovs. The title of the most serene princes testified to the greatest nobility and high position of the family, distinguishing the bearers of this title from other princes and giving the right to the title "your lordship" (ordinary princes, like counts, used the title of "lordship", and the barons were not given a special title) .
The sixth part included clans, the nobility of which was a century old at the time of the publication of the Charter, but due to the lack of certainty of the law, when considering a number of cases, the hundred-year period was calculated by the time the documents for the nobility were considered. In practice, most often the evidence for inclusion in the sixth part of the genealogical book was considered especially meticulously, at the same time, the entry into the second or third part did not meet (if there was appropriate evidence) any obstacles. Formally, an entry in the sixth part of the genealogical book did not give any privileges, except for one single one: only the sons of nobles recorded in the fifth and sixth parts of the genealogical books were enrolled in the Corps of Pages, the Alexander (Tsarskoye Selo) Lyceum and the School of Law.
Evidence of the nobility were considered: diplomas for the award of noble dignity, coats of arms granted by monarchs, patents for ranks, evidence of the award of the order, evidence "through letters of commendation or commendation", decrees on the award of lands or villages, layout for noble service by estates, decrees or letters of award their estates and patrimonies, decrees or letters on granted villages and patrimonies (even if subsequently lost by the family), decrees, orders or letters given to a nobleman for an embassy, envoy or other parcel, evidence of the noble service of ancestors, evidence that the father and grandfather "led a noble life or a state or service similar to a noble title", supported by the testimony of 12 people, whose nobility is beyond doubt, bills of sale, mortgages, in-line and spiritual about a noble estate, evidence that father and grandfather owned villages, as well as evidence " generational and hereditary, ascending from son to father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc. above, as much as they can and wish to show" (genealogies, generational paintings).
The first instance for considering evidence of nobility was the noble deputy meetings, which consisted of deputies from county noble societies (one from the county) and the provincial marshal of the nobility. The noble deputy assemblies considered the evidence presented against the nobility, kept provincial genealogical books and sent information and extracts from these books to the provincial boards and the Department of Heraldry of the Senate, and also issued certificates for entering noble families into the genealogy book, issued lists from the protocols to the nobles at their request , according to which their family is included in the genealogical book, or certificates of nobility. The rights of the noble deputy assemblies were limited by the inclusion in the genealogical book of only those persons who had already irrefutably proved their nobility. Elevation to the nobility or restoration to the nobility was not within their competence. When considering evidence, the nobility's deputy assemblies did not have the right to interpret or explain the laws in force. They were supposed to consider the evidence of only those persons who own or owned real estate in a given province themselves or through their wives. But retired military or officials who chose this province as their place of residence upon retirement, deputy meetings could freely enter into genealogical books themselves upon presentation of patents for ranks and certified service or formulary lists, as well as metric certificates approved by spiritual consistories for children.
Genealogical books were compiled in each province by the deputy assembly together with the provincial marshal of the nobility. The county leaders of the nobility compiled alphabetical lists of the noble families of their county, indicating each nobleman's name and surname, information about marriage, wife, children, real estate, place of residence, rank and being in the service or retired. These lists were submitted signed by the county marshal of the nobility to the provincial. The deputy assembly was based on these lists when they were included in the genealogical book of each kind, and the decision on such an introduction should be based on irrefutable evidence and be taken by at least two-thirds of the votes.
Determinations of deputy assemblies were submitted for revision to the Department of Heraldry of the Senate, except for cases of persons who acquired the nobility in the order of service. When sending cases for revision to the Department of Heraldry, the nobility deputy assemblies had to ensure that the genealogies attached to these cases contained information on each person about evidence of his origin, and birth certificates were certified in the consistory. The department of heraldry examined cases of nobility and genealogical books, considered the rights to noble dignity and the titles of princes, counts and barons, as well as to honorary citizenship, carried out the issuance of letters, diplomas and certificates for these rights in the manner prescribed by law, considered cases of change surnames of nobles and honorary citizens, compiled a coat of arms of noble families and a city coat of arms, approved and compiled new coats of arms of the nobility and issued copies from coats of arms and genealogies.
"RUSSIAN TYPES".
In the Russian Empire, there were the strictest written and unwritten rules for wearing clothes by all subjects - from courtiers to peasants from the most remote villages.
Any Russian person by hair and clothes could distinguish a married peasant woman from an old maid. One glance at the tailcoat was enough to understand who is in front of you - a representative of the upper strata of society or a tradesman. By the number of buttons on his jacket, one could unmistakably distinguish a poor intellectual from a highly paid proletarian.
Even in the most remote peasant settlements, the trained eye of a connoisseur could, by the smallest details of clothing, determine the approximate age of any man, woman or child he met, their place in the hierarchy of the family and the village community.
For example, village children up to four or five years old, without distinction of gender, had only one piece of clothing all year round - a long shirt, by which it was possible to establish without any problems whether they were from a wealthy family or not. As a rule, children's shirts were sewn from cast-offs of the child's older relatives, and the degree of wear and the quality of the material from which these things were sewn spoke for themselves.
If the child was wearing trousers, then it could be argued that the boy was over five years old. The age of a teenage girl was determined by outer clothing. Until the girl was of marriageable age, the family did not even think of sewing any fur coats for her. And only when preparing their daughter for marriage, the parents began to take care of her wardrobe and jewelry. So, seeing a girl with uncovered hair, with earrings or rings, one could almost unmistakably say that she was from 14 to 20 years old and her relatives were well-to-do enough to arrange her future.
The same was observed in guys. They began to sew their own - to measure - clothes at the time of grooming. A full-fledged groom was supposed to have pants, underpants, shirts, a jacket, a hat and a fur coat. Some decorations were not forbidden, such as a bracelet, an ear ring, like the Cossacks, or a copper, or even an iron likeness of a signet on a finger. A teenager in his father's shabby fur coat showed with all his appearance that he was not yet considered mature enough to prepare for marriage, or that his family was doing very neither shaky nor roll.
Adult residents of Russian villages were not supposed to wear jewelry. And the peasants everywhere - from the northernmost to the southernmost provinces of the Russian Empire - flaunted in the same trousers and belted shirts. Hats, shoes and winter outerwear spoke most of all about their status and financial situation. But even in the summer it was possible to distinguish a wealthy man from an insufficient one. Fashion for trousers, which appeared in Russia in the 19th century, by the end of the century had also penetrated into the outback. And wealthy peasants began to wear them on holidays, and then on weekdays, and put them on over ordinary trousers.
Fashion also touched men's hairstyles. Their wearing was strictly regulated. Emperor Peter I ordered to shave his beard, leaving it only to peasants, merchants, petty bourgeois and clergy. This decree remained in force for a very long time. Mustaches until 1832 could only be worn by hussars and lancers, then they were allowed to all other officers. In 1837, Emperor Nicholas I strictly forbade officials to wear a beard and mustache, although even before that, persons in the public service rarely let go of a beard. In 1848 the Sovereign went even further: he ordered to shave the beard of all the nobles, without exception, even those who did not serve, seeing, in connection with the revolutionary movement in the West, in the beard I would accept freethinking. After the accession of Emperor Alexander II, the laws were softened, but officials were allowed to wear only sideburns, which the Emperor himself flaunted. However, a beard with a mustache from the 1860s. became the property of almost all non-serving men, a kind of fashion. Since the 1880s beards were allowed to be worn by all officials, officers and soldiers, however, individual regiments had their own rules on this matter. Servants were forbidden to wear beards and mustaches, with the exception of coachmen and janitors. In many Russian villages, barbering, which Emperor Peter I introduced by force at the beginning of the 18th century, gained popularity a century and a half later. Guys and young men in the last quarter of the 19th century. beards began to be shaved, so that thick hair on the face became a hallmark of elderly peasants, which included men over 40 years old.
The most common peasant costume was the Russian caftan. The peasant caftan was very diverse. Common to him was a double-breasted cut, long floors and sleeves, a chest closed to the top. A short caftan was called a half-caftan or half-caftan. The Ukrainian semi-caftan was called a scroll. Caftans were most often gray or blue and were sewn from cheap nanke material - coarse cotton fabric or canvas - handicraft linen fabric. They girdled the caftan, as a rule, with a sash - a long piece of fabric, usually of a different color, the caftan was fastened with hooks on the left side.
A variation of the caftan was the undershirt - a caftan with ruffles at the back, which is fastened on one side with hooks. The undershirt was considered a more fine attire than a simple caftan. Dapper sleeveless undercoats, over short fur coats, were worn by wealthy coachmen. Wealthy merchants also wore a coat, and, for the sake of "simplification", some nobles. Sibirka was a short caftan, usually blue, sewn to the waist, without a slit at the back and with a low standing collar. Siberians were worn by shopkeepers and merchants. Another kind of caftan is azyam. It was sewn from thin fabric and was worn only in summer. Chuyka was also a kind of caftan - a long cloth caftan of a careless cut. Most often, the chuyka could be seen on merchants and philistines - innkeepers, artisans, merchants. A homespun caftan made of coarse, undyed cloth was called a sermyaga.
The outerwear of the peasants (not only men, but also women) was an armyak - also a kind of caftan, sewn from factory fabric - thick cloth or coarse wool. Wealthy Armenians were made from camel wool. It was a wide, long, free-cut robe, reminiscent of a dressing gown. Armenians often wore coachmen, putting them on in winter over sheepskin coats. Much more primitive than the coat was the zipun, which was sewn from coarse, usually homespun cloth, without a collar, with sloping floors. Zipun was a kind of peasant coat, protecting from cold and bad weather. Women also wore it. Zipun was perceived as a symbol of poverty. However, it should be borne in mind that there were no strictly defined, permanent names for peasant clothing. Much depended on local dialects. Some identical items of clothing were called differently in different dialects, in other cases, different items were called by the same word in different places.
Of the peasant hats, a cap was very common, which certainly had a band and a visor, most often of a dark color, in other words, an unshaped cap. The cap, which appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, was worn by men of all classes, first landowners, then philistines and peasants. Sometimes caps were warm, with earmuffs. Ordinary working people, in particular coachmen, also wore tall, rounded hats, nicknamed buckwheat hats - by the similarity of the shape with the then-popular flatbread baked from buckwheat flour. Any peasant hat was disparagingly called shlyk. At the fair, the peasants left their hats to the innkeepers as a pledge, in order to redeem them later.
Rustic women's clothing from time immemorial was a sundress - a long sleeveless dress with shoulder straps and a belt. In the southern provinces of Russia, the main items of women's clothing were shirts and ponevs - skirts made of fabric panels sewn on top. From the embroidery on the shirt, the connoisseurs could unmistakably determine the county and village where the woman in brides prepared her dowry. The Ponevas talked about their owners even more. They were worn only by married women, and in many places, when a girl came to woo, her mother put her on a bench and held a ponytail in front of her, persuading her to jump into it. If the girl agreed, then it was clear that she accepted the marriage proposal. And if an adult woman did not wear a cape, it was clear to everyone that this was an old maid.
Each self-respecting peasant woman had up to two dozen ponevs in her wardrobe, more precisely, in a chest, each of them had its own purpose and was sewn from appropriate fabrics and in a special way. There were, for example, everyday ponevs, ponevs for great mourning when one of the family members died, and ponevs for small mourning for distant relatives and in-laws. The ponevs were worn differently on different days. On weekdays, during work, the edges of the poneva were plugged into the belt. So a woman who wore an untucked poneva on hard days could be considered a lazy person and a loafer. But on holidays it was considered the height of indecency to poke a poneva or walk in everyday life. In some places, women of fashion sewed satin bright stripes between the main panels of the poneva, and this design was called a diaper.
From women's hats - on weekdays a warrior was worn on the head - a scarf wrapped around the head, on holidays a kokoshnik - a rather complex structure in the form of a semicircular shield over the forehead and with a crown at the back, or a kiku (kichka) - a headdress with projections protruding forward - “horns ". It was considered a great shame for a married peasant woman to appear in public with her head uncovered. Hence, “goof off”, that is, disgrace, disgrace.
After the liberation of the peasants, which led to the rapid growth of industry and cities, many villagers were drawn to the capitals and provincial centers, where their idea of clothing changed radically. In the world of men's, more precisely, gentleman's clothing, English fashions reigned, and the new townspeople tried to at least to a small extent resemble members of the wealthy estates. True, at the same time, many elements of their clothing still had deep rural roots. Particularly hard parted with clothes from the former life of the proletarians. Many of them worked at the machine in the usual kosovorotka shirts, but over them they put on a completely urban vest, and the trousers were tucked into decently tailored boots. Only workers who had long lived or were born in the cities wore colored or striped shirts with the turn-down collar that is now familiar to everyone.
Unlike the indigenous inhabitants of the cities, people from the villages worked without taking off their hats or caps. And the jackets in which they came to the factory or factory were always taken off before starting work and were very cherished, since the jacket had to be ordered from a tailor, and it cost quite a lot of money to "build" it, unlike trousers. Fortunately, the quality of fabrics and tailoring was such that the proletarian was often buried in the same jacket in which he had once married.
Skilled proletarians, primarily metalworkers, at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. earned no less than novice representatives of the free professions - doctors, lawyers or artists. So the poor intelligentsia faced the problem of how to dress in order to be different from highly paid turners and locksmiths. However, this problem soon resolved itself. The dirt on the streets of the working outskirts did not encourage people to walk around in their master's coats, and therefore the proletarians preferred to wear cropped jackets in spring and autumn, and short fur coats in winter, which the intelligentsia did not wear. In the northern summer, which the wits not for nothing called a parody of the European winter, the workers wore jackets, preferring models that better protect against wind and dampness and therefore fasten as high and tightly as possible - with four buttons. Soon, no one, except for the proletarians, acquired or wore such jackets.
The way in which the most skilled workers and masters who managed the workshops stood out from the factory masses was also interesting. Electricians and machinists of factory power plants, whose specialty implied the presence of a small but serious education, emphasized their special position by wearing leather jackets. Factory craftsmen went the same way, who complemented the leather outfit with special leather headdresses or bowlers. The latter combination seems rather comical to the modern eye, but in pre-revolutionary times, this way of designating social status, apparently, did not bother anyone.
And the vast majority of proletarian dandies whose families or loved ones continued to live in the villages preferred clothes that could make a splash when the proletarian returned to visit the village. Therefore, ceremonial bright silk blouses, no less bright vests, wide trousers made of gleaming fabrics, and most importantly, creaky accordion boots with numerous folds, were very popular in this environment. The so-called hooks were considered the height of dreams - boots with solid, rather than sewn-on limbers, which cost more than usual and helped their owner in every sense of the word to throw dust in the eyes of fellow villagers.
For a long time, representatives of another Russian class, who mostly came from peasants, the merchants, could not get rid of their addiction to rustic-style clothes for a long time. Despite all the fashion trends, many provincial merchants, and some metropolitan ones, even at the beginning of the 20th century. continued to wear their grandfather's long frock coats or undershirts, blouses and boots with bottle tops. This fidelity to traditions was seen not only as a reluctance to spend too much on London and Parisian delights in clothing, but also as a commercial calculation. The buyer, seeing such a conservatively dressed seller, believed that he was trading honestly and carefully, as bequeathed by his ancestors, and therefore he was more willing to buy his goods. A merchant who did not spend too much on unnecessary rags was more willing to lend money to his brothers, especially in the Old Believer merchant environment.
However, merchants who were engaged in production and trade with foreign countries, and therefore did not want to expose themselves to ridicule because of the old-fashioned appearance, completely followed all the requirements of fashion. True, in order to distinguish themselves from officials who wore fashionable black frock coats outside of service, merchants ordered gray, and most often blue frock coats. In addition, the merchants, like the working aristocracy, preferred a tightly buttoned suit, and therefore their frock coats had five buttons along the side, and the buttons themselves were chosen in a small size - apparently to emphasize their difference from other classes.
Different views on the costume, however, did not prevent almost all merchants from spending a lot of money on fur coats and winter hats. For many years, there was a custom among the merchants to wear several fur coats, putting one on top of the other, to demonstrate their wealth. But by the end of the XIX century. under the influence of his sons, who received a gymnasium and university education, this wild custom began to disappear little by little, until it disappeared.
In those same years, among the advanced part of the merchant class, a special interest arose in tailcoats. This type of costume, which since the beginning of the XIX century. worn by the aristocracy and its lackeys, did not give rest not only to merchants, but also to all other subjects of the Russian Empire who were not in public service and did not have ranks. Tail coat in Russia was called a uniform for those who are not allowed to wear a uniform, and therefore it began to spread widely in Russian society. Tailcoats, which later became only black, at that time were multi-colored and until the middle of the 19th century. served as the most common attire of wealthy citizens. Tailcoats became obligatory not only at official receptions, but also at private dinners and festivities in any wealthy house. It became simply indecent to get married in anything other than a tailcoat. And in the parterre and boxes of the Imperial Theaters without tailcoats have not been allowed since ancient times.
Another advantage of tailcoats was that, unlike all other civilian costumes, they were allowed to wear orders. So it was absolutely impossible to show off the awards that merchants and other representatives of wealthy classes from time to time were given without a tailcoat. True, those who wanted to dress in a tailcoat were in for a lot of pitfalls, on which they could ruin their reputation once and for all. First of all, the tailcoat had to be sewn to order and sit on its owner like a glove. If the tailcoat was rented, then the connoisseur's eye immediately noticed all the folds and protruding places, and the one who tried to appear as someone he was not was subjected to public condemnation, and sometimes expulsion from secular society.
There were many problems with the selection of decent shirts and vests. It was considered bad manners to wear anything under a tailcoat other than a special starched Dutch linen tailcoat. A white ribbed or patterned waistcoat was also supposed to have pockets. Black vests with tailcoats were worn only by old people, funeral participants and lackeys. The tailcoats of the latter, however, differed quite significantly from the tailcoats of their masters. There were no silk lapels on the tailcoats of the lackeys, and on the tailcoat trousers of the lackeys there were no silk stripes, which every secular person knew. Putting on a lackey tailcoat was the same as putting an end to your career.
Another danger was the wearing of a university badge with a tailcoat, which was supposed to be attached to the lapel. In the same place, tailcoat-dressed waiters in expensive restaurants wore a badge with a number assigned to them, so that customers would remember only him, and not the faces of the servants. Therefore, the best way to insult a university graduate dressed in a tailcoat was to ask what number he had on his lapel. The only way to restore honor was through a duel.
Special rules existed for other wardrobe items that were allowed to be worn with a tailcoat. Kid gloves could only be white and fastened with mother-of-pearl buttons, not buttons. Cane - only black with a tip of silver or ivory. And from the hats it was impossible to use any other than the cylinder. Hat hats, which had a mechanism for folding and straightening, were especially popular, especially when traveling to balls. Such folded caps could be worn under the arm.
Strict rules also applied to accessories, especially pocket watches that were worn in a vest pocket. The chain should be thin, elegant and not weighed down by numerous hanging trinkets and decorations, like a Christmas tree. True, there was an exception to this rule. Society turned a blind eye to merchants who wore watches on heavy gold chains, sometimes even on a pair at once.
For those who were not zealous admirers of all the rules and conventions of high life, there were other types of costume that were worn at receptions and banquets. At the beginning of the XX century. Following England, a fashion for tuxedos appeared in Russia, which began to displace tailcoats from private events. The fashion for frock coats changed, but did not pass. But most importantly, the three-piece suit began to spread more and more. Moreover, in different strata of society and representatives of different professions preferred different versions of this costume.
For example, lawyers who were not in the public service and did not have official uniforms most often appeared at court hearings in all black - a frock coat with a vest and a black tie or a black troika with a black tie. In particularly difficult cases, a sworn attorney could also be in a tailcoat. But the legal advisers of large firms, especially those with foreign capital, or bank lawyers preferred gray suits with brown shoes, which at that time was considered by public opinion as a defiant demonstration of their own importance.
Engineers who worked at private enterprises also wore three-piece suits. But at the same time, all of them, in order to show their status, wore caps that were due to engineers of the relevant specialties who were in the public service. A somewhat absurd combination for a modern look - a three-piece suit and a cap with a cockade - did not bother anyone at that time. Some doctors dressed in the same way, wearing a cap with a red cross on the band with a completely civilian suit. Those around, not with condemnation, but with understanding, treated those who could not get into public service and acquire what most of the population of the empire dreamed of: a rank, a uniform, a guaranteed salary, and in the future, at least a small, but also guaranteed pension.
Since Peter the Great, service and uniform have entered Russian life so firmly that it has become almost impossible to imagine it without them. The form established by nominal imperial decrees, orders of the Senate and other instances, existed for everyone and everything. Cabbers, under pain of fines, had to be on the goats of cabs in the clothes of the established sample in the heat and cold. The porters could not show themselves on the threshold of the house without the livery laid down for them. And the appearance of the janitor had to correspond to the idea of the authorities about the guardian of street cleanliness and order, and the absence of an apron or a tool in his hands often served as a reason for complaints from the police. The established form was worn by tram conductors and carriage drivers, not to mention railway workers.
There was even a rather strict regulation of clothing for domestic servants. For example, a butler in a rich house, in order to differ from other lackeys in the house, could wear an epaulette with a tailcoat. But not on the right shoulder, like officers, but only and exclusively on the left. There were restrictions on the choice of dress for governesses and bonnies. And the nurses in wealthy families had to constantly walk in Russian folk costumes, almost with kokoshniks, which peasant women had kept in chests for several decades and were hardly worn even on holidays. In addition, the nurse was required to wear pink ribbons if she was nursing a newborn girl, and blue if she was a boy.
The unwritten rules also applied to children. Just as peasant children up to the age of four or five ran exclusively in shirts, so the children of wealthy people, without distinction of sex, wore dresses up to the same age. The most common and looked like a uniform were "sailor" dresses.
Nothing changed even after the boy grew up, and he was sent to a gymnasium, a real or commercial school. Wearing a uniform was mandatory at any time of the year, except for the summer holidays, and even then outside the city - in the estate or in the country. The rest of the time, even outside of class, a schoolboy or a realist outside the home could not refuse to wear a uniform.
Even in the most democratic and progressive educational institutions of St. Petersburg, where boys and girls studied together and where no uniform was provided, the children sat in the lessons in exactly the same dressing gowns. Apparently, in order not to irritate the authorities accustomed to uniforms too much.
Everything remained the same even after entering the university. Until the revolution of 1905, university inspectors strictly monitored the observance by students of the established rules for wearing uniforms. True, students, even following all the instructions, managed to demonstrate their social status or political views by their appearance. The uniform of the students was a jacket, under which a kosovorotka was put on. Wealthy and therefore considered reactionary students wore silk blouses, and revolutionary-minded students wore embroidered "folk" ones.
Differences were also observed when wearing full dress student uniforms - frock coats. Wealthy students ordered frock coats lined with expensive white woolen fabric, for which they were called white-lined. Most of the students did not have frock coats at all and did not participate in solemn university events. And the student uniform confrontation ended with the fact that the revolutionary students began to wear only uniform caps.
However, individual manifestations of dissatisfaction of anti-government elements did not detract from the craving of the population of the Russian Empire for uniforms, especially military and bureaucratic ones.
“The cut and styles of civilian uniforms,” wrote J. Rivosh, a connoisseur of Russian costume, “in general, were similar to the military uniform, differing from it only in the color of the material, piping (edges), the color and texture of the buttonholes, the texture and pattern of weaving shoulder straps, emblems, buttons - in a word, details. This similarity becomes clear if we recall that the uniform of military officials, which itself was only a kind of officer, was taken as the basis for all civilian forms. If the regulated military uniform in Russia dates back to the era of Emperor Peter I, then the civilian form arose much later - in the first quarter of the 19th century After the Crimean War, at the end of the 1850s, both in the army and in civilian departments, new forms were introduced, the cut of which was more in line with the fashion of those years and was more convenient. Some elements of the previous form were preserved only on formal clothes (sewing pattern, two-corners, etc.).
By the beginning of the XX century. the number of ministries, departments and departments increased significantly, new positions and specialties appeared, which were not there when the existing forms were established. A mass of centralized and departmental orders and circulars arose, introducing new forms, often establishing contradictory rules and styles. In 1904, an attempt was made to unify civilian uniforms in all ministries and departments. True, even after that, the issues of civilian uniforms remained extremely complex and confusing. The forms introduced in 1904 lasted until 1917, no longer subject to change.
Within each department, in addition, the form changed depending on the class and rank (rank) of its carrier. So, officials of the lower classes - from the collegiate registrar (XIV class) to the court adviser (VI class) - in addition to the insignia, the drawings and the placement of sewing on the dress uniform were distinguished from each other.
There was also differentiation in the details of the style and colors of the uniform between different departments and departments within departments and ministries. The difference between employees of the central departments and employees of the same departments on the periphery (in the provinces) was materialized only in buttons. Employees of the central departments had buttons with a chased image of the state emblem, that is, a double-headed eagle, and employees in the field wore provincial buttons, on which the coat of arms of a given province was depicted in a wreath of laurel leaves, above it was a crown, and below it was a ribbon with the inscription "Ryazan ", "Moscow", "Voronezh", etc.
The outerwear of officials of all departments was black or black and gray. "Of course, it was quite convenient to govern the country and the army, where the uniform could tell a lot about its owner. For example, for students of naval educational institutions - midshipmen - there were two types shoulder straps - white and black. The former were worn by midshipmen who had been trained in naval affairs since childhood, and the latter by those who got into the fleet from land cadet corps and other educational institutions. With shoulder straps of different colors, the authorities could quickly determine who and what should be in a particular campaign teach.
It was also not harmful for subordinates to know what opportunities the officer commanding them had. If he has an aiguillette and a badge in the form of an eagle in a wreath, then he is an officer of the General Staff who graduated from the academy and therefore has great knowledge. And if, in addition to the aiguillette, the imperial monogram flaunted on shoulder straps, then this is an officer of the imperial retinue, from a skirmish with which you can expect big trouble. The strip at the outer edge of the general's epaulettes meant that the general had already served his term and was retired, and therefore did not pose a clear danger to lower ranks.
During the First World War, the Russian dress code that had been established for centuries began to burst at the seams. Officials, who were blamed for inflation and growing food shortages, stopped going to work in uniform, preferring to wear three-piece suits or frock coats. And in the form, indistinguishable from the military, put on numerous suppliers of no less numerous Zemstvo and public organizations (who were contemptuously called Zemgusars). In a country where everyone and everything is judged by form, this only increased the confusion and confusion.
Formation of estates in Russia at the end of the XVIII-XIX centuries.
The formation of a domestic estate structure is characteristic of the era of "enlightened absolutism", which aimed to preserve the order in which each estate performs its purpose and function. The elimination of privileges and the equalization of rights, from this point of view, were understood as a "general confusion" that should not be allowed.
The final formation of estates in Russia took place during the reign of Catherine II. It was Catherine who determined the meaning, rights and obligations of different estates. The program documents were Letters of Letters to the nobility and cities.
In 1785, a Letter of Complaint was granted to the nobility, which determined the rights and privileges of the nobility, which, after the Pugachev rebellion, was considered the main support of the throne. The nobility finally took shape as a privileged estate. The nobility turned into the politically dominant class in the state.
In the same year, 1785, the Letter of Complaint to the cities was promulgated, which completed the structure of the so-called urban society. This society was made up of inhabitants belonging to taxable estates, that is, merchants, philistines and artisans.
The privileges of the townspeople against the backdrop of permissiveness of the nobility seemed imperceptible, the city self-government bodies were tightly controlled by the tsarist administration.
A system of class courts was created: for each class (nobles, townspeople, state peasants), their own special judicial institutions were introduced. County courts were introduced for the nobility, city magistrates for merchants and philistines, lower reprisals for foreigners and state peasants.
The estate system of Russia in the late 18th - early 19th centuries.
Nobility
The nobility was formed from different categories of service people (boyars, okolnichs, clerks, clerks, children of boyars, etc.), received the name of the gentry under Peter I, renamed under Catherine II into the nobility (in the acts of the Legislative Commission of 1767), turned over the course of a century from the service class to the ruling, privileged. Part of the former service people (nobles and boyar children), settled on the outskirts of the state, by decrees of Peter I in 1698–1703, who formalized the gentry, were not enrolled in this estate, but transferred under the name of single-dvortsy to the position of state peasants.
The leveling of the position of feudal lords of all ranks was completed by the decree of Peter I of 1714 "On the uniform inheritance", according to which the estates were equated with estates, assigned to the nobles on the right of ownership. In 1722, the "Table of Ranks" established methods for obtaining nobility by length of service. She secured the status of the ruling class for the gentry.
According to the Table of Ranks, all those in the public service (civilian, military, naval) were divided into 14 ranks or ranks, from the highest field marshal and chancellor to the lowest - adjutant to lieutenants and collegiate registrar. All persons, from rank 14 to 8, became personal, and from rank 8, - hereditary nobles. Hereditary nobility was passed on to the wife, children and distant descendants through the male line. Married daughters acquired the estate status of her husband (if he was higher). Until 1874, of the children born before receiving hereditary nobility, only one son received the status of a father, the rest were recorded as "honorary citizens" (1832), after 1874 - all.
Under Peter I, the service of the nobility with compulsory education began at the age of 15 and was for life. Anna Ioannovna somewhat eased their situation by limiting their service to 25 years and attributing its beginning to the age of 20. She also allowed one of the sons or brothers in a noble family to stay at home and take care of the household.
In 1762, Peter III, who had been on the throne for a short time, abolished by a special decree not only the obligation to educate the nobles, but also the obligation to serve the nobility. And Catherine II's "Charter on the rights and advantages of the Russian nobility" in 1785 finally turned the nobility into a "noble" estate.
So, the main sources of the nobility in the XVIII century. were - birth and length of service. The length of service included the acquisition of the nobility through an award and an indigenat for foreigners (according to the "Table of Ranks"), through receiving an order (according to the "Charter of Honor" of Catherine II). In the 19th century higher education and a scientific degree will be added to them.
Belonging to the noble rank was secured by an entry in the “Velvet Book”, instituted in 1682 during the destruction of localism, and from 1785 by entering into local (provincial) lists - noble books, divided into 6 parts (according to the sources of the nobility): award, military length of service, civil length of service, indigenat, title (order), prescription. Since Peter I, the estate was subordinate to a special department - the King of Arms office, and since 1748 - to the Department of Heraldry under the Senate.
Rights and benefits of the nobility:
1. Personal rights: the right to noble dignity, the right to protect honor, personality and life, exemption from taxes, duties and corporal punishment, from compulsory public service, etc.
2. Property rights: full and unlimited ownership of the acquisition, use and inheritance of any kind of property. The exclusive right of the nobles to buy villages and own land and peasants was established, the nobles had the right to open industrial enterprises (build factories and factories) on their estates, develop minerals on their land, trade in the products of their lands in bulk, acquire houses in cities and conduct maritime trade.
3. Special judicial rights: the personal and property rights of the nobility could be limited or liquidated only by a court decision: a nobleman could only be judged by a class court equal to him, the decisions of other courts did not matter to him.
4. Since 1771, the exclusive right to serve in a civil department, in the bureaucracy (after the ban on recruiting persons from taxable estates), and since 1798, to form an officer corps in the army.
5. Political corporate rights: the right to convene and participate in provincial congresses, to form special noble societies, to elect their own representative bodies, their own class court, to have the title of "nobility", which could be taken away only by the court of "equals" or by decision of the king.
Belonging to a noble class gave the right to a coat of arms, a uniform, riding in carriages drawn by four, dressing lackeys in special liveries, etc.
The "Letter of Letters to the Nobility" (full name "Letter of Rights and Advantages of the Noble Russian Nobility") established the principles of organizing local noble self-government, the personal rights of nobles, and the procedure for compiling genealogical books of nobles. Noble dignity was defined as a special state of qualities that served as the basis for acquiring a noble title. The title of nobility was considered as inalienable, hereditary and hereditary. It applies to all members of the nobleman's family.
The estate self-government of the nobility, regulated by the "Letter of Letters" looked like this: the nobles created a society or Assembly, endowed with the rights of a legal entity (having its own finances, property, institutions and employees). The assembly was endowed with certain political rights: it could make representations to local authorities, central institutions and the emperor on matters of "public good". The Assembly included all the nobles who had estates in a given province. From among the county marshals of the nobility, the Assembly once every three years elected candidates for provincial marshals of the nobility. The candidacy of the latter was approved by the governor or the representative of the monarch in the province. The nobles who did not have lands and did not reach the age of twenty-five were eliminated from the elections. The rights of nobles who did not serve and did not have officer ranks were limited during elections. The nobles discredited by the court were expelled from the Assembly. The assembly also elected assessors to the class courts of the province and police officials of the zemstvo police.
Noble assemblies acted as legal entities, had property rights, participated in the distribution of duties, compiled and verified genealogical books of the nobility, resolved questions about the admissibility of certain persons among the nobles, excluded defamed members, filed complaints to the emperor and the Senate, etc. P..
The letter of grant preserved the difference between the rights of personal nobility and the rights of hereditary nobility. All hereditary nobility had equal rights (personal, property and judicial), regardless of the difference in titles and antiquity of the clan. The legal consolidation of the nobility, as an estate, was completed. The rights assigned to the nobility were defined as "eternal and unchanging". At the same time, noble corporations were directly dependent on state power.
The grounds for the deprivation of the title of nobility could only be criminal offenses in which the moral fall of the criminal and dishonesty were manifested. The list of these crimes was exhaustive.
Philistines
The legal status of the urban population, as a special estate, began to be determined as early as the end of the 17th century. Then the creation of city governments under Peter I and the establishment of certain benefits for the top of the urban population strengthened this process. The further development of the trade and finance industries required the issuance of new legal acts regulating these areas of activity.
The original name was citizens (“Regulations of the Chief Magistrate”), then, following the model of Poland and Lithuania, they began to be called petty bourgeois. The estate was created gradually, as Peter I introduced European models of the middle class (third estate).
The final registration of the estate of the townspeople took place in 1785 according to the “Charter on the rights and benefits of the cities of the Russian Empire” of Catherine II. By this time, the entrepreneurial stratum in the cities was noticeably “strengthened, in order to stimulate trade, customs barriers and duties, monopolies and other restrictions were eliminated, freedom to establish industrial enterprises (that is, freedom of entrepreneurship) was announced, and peasant crafts were legalized.
In preparing the "Letter of Letters to the Cities" (which began in 1780), in addition to the materials of the commission, other sources were used: the guild charter (1722), the charter of the deanery (1782), the institution for managing the province (1775), the Swedish Guild Charter and the Regulations on the Broker (1669), the Prussian Craft Charter (1733), the legislation of the cities of Livonia and Estonia. "Charter to Cities" (full title: "Charter for Rights and Benefits to the Cities of the Russian Empire") was published simultaneously with "Charter to the Nobility" in April 1785. The diploma secured a single estate status for the entire population of cities, regardless of professional occupations and types of activity.
In 1785 The population of cities was finally divided according to the property principle into 6 categories:
1) “real city dwellers” who have a house and other real estate in the city (i.e. owners of real estate within the city);
2) merchants registered in the guild (guild I - with a capital of 10 to 50 thousand rubles, II - from 5 to 10 thousand rubles, III - from 1 to 5 thousand rubles);
3) artisans who were in the workshops;
4) foreign and out-of-town merchants;
5) eminent citizens (capitalists and bankers who had a capital of at least fifty thousand rubles, wholesalers, ship owners, members of the city administration, scientists, artists, musicians);
6) other townspeople.
Belonging to the estate was fixed by entering into the city philistine book.
The rights of the bourgeois class:
1. Exclusive right: craft and trade.
2. Corporate law: creation of associations and self-government bodies.
3. Judicial rights were envisaged: the right to inviolability of the person until the end of the trial, to defense in court.
4. The personal rights of the townspeople included: the right to protect honor and dignity, personality and life, the right to move and travel abroad.
5. Property rights: the right to own property (acquisition, use, inheritance), the right to own industrial enterprises, crafts, the right to trade.
6. Duties included taxes and recruitment. True, there were many exceptions. Already in 1775, Catherine II freed the inhabitants of the settlements, who had a capital of more than 500 rubles, from the poll tax, replacing it with a one percent tax on the declared capital. In 1766, merchants were released from recruitment. Instead of each recruit, they paid first 360, and then 500 rubles. They were also exempt from corporal punishment. Merchants, especially those of the First Guild, were granted certain honorary rights (rides in carriages and carriages).
7. Philistines were exempted from public works, they were forbidden to be transferred to serfdom. They had the right to free resettlement, movement and travel to other states, the right to their own intra-estate court, to equipping them with houses, the right to put up a replacement for themselves in recruiting. The petty bourgeois had the right to own city and country houses, had an unlimited right of ownership to their property, an unlimited right of inheritance. They received the right to own industrial establishments (limiting their size and the number of people working on them), to organize banks, offices, etc.
According to the “Charter of Complaint”, city dwellers who had reached the age of 25 and had a certain income (capital, the percentage fee on which was not less than 50 rubles), united in a city society. The assembly of its members elected the mayor and vowels (deputies) of city dumas. All six ranks of the urban population sent their elected representatives to the General Duma, and 6 representatives of each rank elected by the General Duma worked in the six-member Duma to carry out current affairs. Elections took place every 3 years. The main field of activity was the urban economy and everything that "serves for the benefit and need of the city." The competence of the city duma included: ensuring silence, harmony and deanery in the city, resolving intra-class disputes, monitoring urban construction. Unlike town halls and magistrates, court cases were not under the jurisdiction of the city duma - they were decided by the judiciary.
The deprivation of petty-bourgeois rights and class privileges could be carried out on the same grounds as the deprivation of class rights of a nobleman (a complete list of acts was also given).
Peasants
In the XVIII century. several categories of the peasantry took shape. The category of state peasants was formed from the former black-mossed and from the peoples who paid yasak. Later, the already mentioned odnodvortsy, descendants of Moscow service people, settled on the southern outskirts of the state, who did not know communal life, joined its composition. In 1764 By decree of Catherine II, the secularization of church estates was carried out, which were transferred to the jurisdiction of the College of Economy. Peasants taken away from the church began to be called economic. But from 1786 and they became state peasants.
Privately owned (landlord) peasants absorbed all the former categories of dependent people (serfs, serfs) who belonged to factories and plants since the time of Peter I (possession). Before Catherine II, this category of peasants was also replenished at the expense of clergy who remained behind the state, retired priests and deacons, deacons and sextons. Catherine II stopped the transformation of persons of spiritual origin into serfdom and blocked all other ways of replenishing it (marriage, loan agreement, hiring and serving, captivity), except for two: the birth and distribution of state lands with peasants into private hands. Distributions were stopped in 1801. Alexander I, now the only source of replenishment of the serfs was birth.
In 1797 from the palace peasants, by decree of Paul I, another category was formed - appanage peasants (on the lands of the royal appanage), whose position was similar to that of state peasants. They were the property of the imperial family.
In the XVIII century. the position of the peasants, especially those belonging to the landowners, deteriorated markedly. Under Peter I, they turned into a thing that could be sold, donated, exchanged (without land and separately from the family). In 1721 it was recommended to stop the sale of children separately from their parents in order to "calm down the cry" in the peasant environment. But the separation of families continued until 1843.
The landowner used the labor of serfs at his own discretion, dues and corvee were not limited by any law, and the previous recommendations of the authorities to take from them “according to strength” are a thing of the past. The peasants were deprived not only of personal, but also of property rights, for all their property was considered as belonging to their owner. They were forbidden to acquire real estate, open factories, work on a contract basis, undertake promissory notes, incur obligations without the permission of the owner, and enroll in a guild. It did not regulate the law and the right of the court of the landowner. The landowners were allowed to use corporal punishment and send the peasants to strait houses, only the use of the death penalty and the extradition of peasants instead of themselves were not allowed (under Peter I). True, the same tsar ordered that the landowners who ruined the peasants be identified, and that the management of such estates be transferred to relatives.
Impunity contributed to the growth of crimes among the landowners. An illustrative example is the story of the landowner Saltykova, who killed more than 30 of her serfs, who was exposed and sentenced to death (replaced with life imprisonment) only after a complaint against her fell into the hands of Empress Catherine II.
Only after the Pugachev uprising, in which the serfs took an active part, did the government begin to strengthen state control over their situation and take steps towards softening the serfdom. The release of peasants to freedom was legalized, including after serving the recruiting duty (together with his wife), after being exiled to Siberia, for a ransom at the request of the landowner (since 1775 without land, and since 1801 - the Decree of Paul I on "free cultivators" - with earth).
Despite the hardships of serfdom, exchange and entrepreneurship developed among the peasantry, and “capitalist” people appeared. The law allowed the peasants to trade, first with individual goods, then even with "overseas countries", and from 1814 persons of all fortunes were allowed to trade at fairs. Many prosperous peasants who had grown rich in trade bought themselves out of serfdom and, even before the abolition of serfdom, constituted a significant part of the emerging class of entrepreneurs.
The state peasants were, in comparison with the serfs, in a much better position. Their personal rights were never subjected to such restrictions as the personal rights of serfs. Their taxes were moderate, they could buy land (with the preservation of duties), and were engaged in entrepreneurial activities. Attempts to curtail their property rights (to take farms and contracts, to acquire real estate in cities and counties, to be bound by promissory notes) did not have such a detrimental effect on the state of the economy of state peasants, especially those who lived on the outskirts. Here, the communal arrangements preserved by the state (land redistribution, mutual responsibility for the payment of taxes), which hindered the development of the private economy, were destroyed much more vigorously.
Self-government was of great importance among the state peasants. From ancient times, the elders elected at the gatherings played a prominent role in them. According to the provincial reform of 1775, the state peasants, like other estates, received their own court. Under Paul I, volost self-governing organizations were created. Each volost (with a certain number of villages and no more than 3 thousand souls) could elect a volost administration, which consisted of a volost head, a headman and a clerk. Elders and tenths were elected in the villages. All these bodies performed financial, police and judicial functions.
A measure aimed at changing serf relations was the organization of military settlements, in which, from 1816, state peasants began to be housed. By 1825 their number reached four hundred thousand people. The settlers were obliged to engage in agriculture (giving half of the crop to the state) and to perform military service. They were forbidden to trade, go to work, their life was regulated by the Military Charter. This measure could not provide free hands for the development of industry, but outlined ways for organizing forced labor in agriculture, which would be used by the state much later.
In 1847, the Ministry of State Property was created, which was entrusted with the management of the state peasants: quitrent taxation was streamlined, the land allotments of the peasants were increased; the system of peasant self-government was fixed: volost gathering - volost administration - rural gathering - village headman. This model of self-government will be used for a long time both in the system of communal and future collective-farm organization, becoming, however, a factor restraining the departure of peasants to the city and the processes of property differentiation of the peasantry.
New economic relations required, however, changes in the legal status of the rural inhabitants. Separate steps in this direction were made in the first half of the 19th century. Already in 1801. state peasants were allowed to buy land from landlords.
In 1818 A decree was passed allowing all peasants (including landowners) to establish factories and factories.
The need for free hired labor made it inefficient to use the labor of sessional peasants in factories and plants: in 1840, factory owners received the right to free the sessional peasants and hire free people and quitrent peasants instead.
In the cities, in parallel with the class of philistines and guilds (masters, artisans, apprentices), the social group of "working people" began to grow.
Clergy
The Orthodox clergy consisted of two parts: white, parish (from ordination) and black, monastic (from tonsure). Only the first constituted the actual estate, for the second part had no heirs (monasticism gave a vow of celibacy). The white clergy occupied the lowest positions in the church hierarchy: clergy (from deacon to protopresbyter) and clergy (clerks, sexton). The highest posts (from bishop to metropolitan) belonged to the black clergy. In the XVIII century. the clergy class became hereditary and closed, since the law forbade persons of other classes to take the priesthood. The exit from the estate, for a number of reasons of a formal nature, was extremely difficult.
Of the class rights of the clergy, one can note freedom from personal taxes, from recruitment, from military quarters. It had a privilege in the field of judiciary. In general courts, the priesthood was judged only for especially grave criminal offenses, civil cases with lay people were resolved in the presence of special representatives of the clergy. The clergy could not engage in activities incompatible with the clergy, including trade, crafts, maintenance of farms and contracts, the production of alcoholic beverages, etc. In the 18th century. it also lost its main privilege - the right to own estates and serfs. Church ministers were transferred "on a salary."
In the Russian Empire, other Christian and non-Christian denominations coexisted freely with Orthodoxy. Lutheran churches were built in cities and large villages, and from the middle of the 18th century. and Catholic churches. Mosques were built in places of residence of Muslims, pagodas were built for Buddhists. However, conversion from Orthodoxy to another faith remained forbidden and severely punished.
Estates are social groups that had certain rights and obligations that were enshrined in custom or law.
When did estates appear?
Estates in Russia began to appear after the unification of Russian lands into a single state. At the same time, there was a weakening of the influence of the local specific feudal aristocracy and an increase in the influence of the nobility in the township elite.
With the beginning of the Zemsky Sobors, the circle of participants also expands. Here, together with the boyars and the nobility and the clergy, the top tenants also take part. Representatives of the black-mossed peasantry were invited to the council of 1613. At this time, the class division was distinguished by great diversity and diversity.
The rank lists of the 16th century and the Velvet Book (1687) led to the fact that the nobles turned from a service class into a hereditary estate. Some changes in the hereditary principles of class organizations occurred under Peter I with the introduction of the Table of Ranks.
Nevertheless, the existing class division into nobles, clergy, urban and rural inhabitants lasted until the October Revolution of 1917.
Estates, their rights and obligations
|
estate |
Intra-estate groups |
Rights and privileges |
Responsibilities |
|
Nobility |
Hereditary and personal. |
Ownership of inhabited lands. Exemption from taxes. Exemption from zemstvo duties. Freedom from corporal punishment. Exemption from compulsory service. Estate self-government. Entering the civil service and getting an education. Personal nobles could not pass on their dignity by inheritance. |
No special responsibilities. |
|
Clergy |
White (parochial), black (monastic). |
The clergy were exempted from recruitment duty and corporal punishment. The ministers of the church had the right to receive a good education. |
Members of the clergy were obliged to devote their lives to the church. They were required to preach the Word of God. |
|
honorary citizens |
Hereditary and personal. |
Freedom from conscription, poll tax and corporal punishment. The right to choose public office, but not public office. |
No special responsibilities. |
|
Merchants |
1st, 2nd and 3rd guilds. |
Merchants of the 1st guild had a large domestic and foreign trade turnover. They were exempted from many taxes, recruitment and corporal punishment. Merchants of the 2nd guild were engaged in conducting large-scale domestic trade. Merchants of the 3rd guild conducted city and county trade. The merchant class had the right to class self-government and access to a decent education. |
Merchants of the 2nd and 3rd guilds were obliged to bear recruitment, zemstvo and tax duties. |
|
Cossacks |
The Cossacks owned the land, were exempted from paying taxes. |
The Cossacks were obliged to carry out military service (urgent and in reserve) with their own equipment. |
|
|
Philistinism |
Artisans, craftsmen and small traders. |
The philistines were engaged in urban crafts and county trade. They had the right to class self-government and limited access to education. |
The philistines paid all the then existing taxes, carried recruiting duties. In addition, they did not own land, had curtailed rights and broad responsibilities. |
|
Peasantry |
State and serfs until 1861 (landowners, sessional and appanage). |
State peasants had the rights of communal ownership of land and estate self-government. Serfs had no rights at all. After 1861, the peasant class was unified, having received a minimum of civil and property rights. |
The serfs had to work off the corvée, pay dues and bear other duties in favor of the owners. Until 1861 and after, all the peasantry carried the recruiting duty (until 1874) and most of the tax in favor of the state. |
Today in Russia there is no class division, it was abolished after the revolution, in 1917. And what is an estate in pre-revolutionary Russia, what social groups did our ancestors belong to, and what rights and obligations did they have? Let's figure it out.
What is an estate in the Russian Empire?
Such a division of the people was official in pre-revolutionary Russia. And first of all, the estates were divided into taxable and non-taxable. Within these two large groups there were subdivisions and layers. The state granted certain rights to each class. These rights were enshrined in legislation. Each of the groups had to perform certain duties.
So what is an estate? So in Russia one can name a category of subjects who enjoyed special rights and had their own obligations in relation to the state.
When did estates appear in Russia?
Class division began to emerge from the time of the formation of the Russian state. Initially, it was a class group, not particularly different from each other in rights. The transformations in the era of Peter and Catherine formed clearer class boundaries, but at the same time, the difference between the Russian system and the Western European one was much wider opportunities for transition from one group to another, for example, through public service.
Estates in Russia ceased to exist in 1917.
The main difference between estates in the Russian Empire
The main noticeable difference between them was their right to privileges. Representatives of the exempt class had significant privileges:
- did not pay the poll tax;
- were not subjected to corporal punishment;
- were exempted from military service (until 1874).
The unprivileged, or taxable, estate was deprived of these rights.
privileged social groups
The nobility was the most honorable estate of the Russian Empire, the basis of the state, the support of the monarch, the most educated and cultured stratum of society. And you need to understand that such an estate was dominant in Russia, despite its small number.
The nobility was divided into two groups: hereditary and personal. The first was considered more honorable and was inherited. Personal nobility could be obtained by order of service or by a special highest award, and it could be hereditary (inherited to descendants) or lifelong (did not apply to children).
The clergy is a privileged class. It was divided into white (worldly) and black (monastic). According to the degree of priesthood, the clergy were divided into three groups: bishop, priest and deacon.
Belonging to the clergy was inherited by children, and could also be acquired by joining the white clergy of representatives of other social groups. The exception was serfs without a leave of absence from the owners. Upon reaching the age of majority, the children of the clergy retained their belonging to the clergy only if they entered the clergy position. But they could also choose a secular career. In this case, they had the same rights as personal nobles.
The merchant class was also a privileged class. It was divided into guilds, depending on which the merchants had various privileges and rights to trade and fishing. Registration in the merchant class from other classes was possible on a temporary basis when paying guild duties. Belonging to a given social group was determined by the size of the declared capital. The children belonged to the merchant class, but upon reaching the age of majority, they had to independently enroll in the guild to acquire a separate certificate, or they became philistines.
The Cossacks are a special semi-privileged military class. The Cossacks had the right to corporate ownership of lands and were exempt from duties, but they were obliged to perform military service. Belonging to the Cossack estate was inherited, however, representatives of other social groups could also enroll in the Cossack troops. Cossacks could reach the service of the nobility. Then belonging to the nobility was combined with belonging to the Cossacks.
Unprivileged social groups
Philistinism - urban unprivileged taxable class. The bourgeois were necessarily assigned to a certain city, from which they could only leave with a temporary passport. They paid a poll tax, were obliged to carry out military service, and did not have the right to enter the civil service. Belonging to the bourgeois class was inherited. Craftsmen and small merchants also belonged to the bourgeois class, but could increase their position. Craftsmen were enrolled in the workshop and became workshops. Small merchants could eventually move into the merchant class.
The peasantry is the most numerous and dependent social group deprived of privileges. The peasantry was divided into:
- state-owned (belonging to the state or the royal house),
- landlord,
- sessional (assigned to factories and factories).
Representatives of the peasantry were attached to their community, paid a poll tax and were subject to recruitment and other duties, and could also be subjected to corporal punishment. However, after the reform of 1861, they had the opportunity to move to the city and register as a tradesman, subject to the purchase of real estate in the city. They used this opportunity: a peasant bought real estate in the city, became a tradesman and was exempt from part of the taxes, while continuing to live in the countryside and farm.
At the beginning of the 19th century, by the time of the revolution and the abolition of the class organization in Russia, many boundaries and divisions between the strata of society were noticeably erased. Representatives of estates had much more opportunities to move from one social group to another. Also, the duties of each class have undergone significant transformations.
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