During the time of the ancient Russian state, the formation of the basic principles and rules for the creation, execution, confirmation and storage of documents takes place. Accordingly, special positions appear, whose representatives possessed the skills of working with documentation. One of these positions is the clerk.
Etymology and meaning of the word
The word clerk is derived from the Greek word hypodiakons, where hupo means "under" and diakons means "servant". According to most explanatory dictionaries, a clerk is the lowest administrative position in the Russian state of the 16th-18th centuries. The duties of the people who occupied it included the main office work in central and local state institutions.
Duties of the clerk
As a result of the formation of a centralized state in Russia, a certain structure of administrative bodies was formed, which was represented by the boyar duma, orders in the center and local order huts. Document circulation was carried out between each governing body. With the help of these state institutions, the state was administered, headed by the king.
Order (central institution) was led by an order judge, who was appointed from the duma officials. At the disposal of the clerk was from one to three clerks (later up to 6-10 clerks in large orders). The clerks, in turn, were subordinate to the clerks. Depending on their experience and knowledge, they were divided into senior, middle (middle hand) and junior. The main activity of clerks and clerks was office work. They prepared reports, petitions, letters, etc. Senior clerks and clerks of the middle hand could perform more responsible work. They were entrusted with keeping cases, sealing archival chests, and preparing decisions on cases. The junior clerk is the lowest position in the administrative apparatus of the order. Usually, junior clerks were not given much confidence, their activities were strictly controlled.
It should be noted that most often a clerk comes from the common people. Representatives of the nobility (for example, impoverished, ruined) also sometimes held the position of clerk, but most often they, having served as clerks for a short time, quickly moved to clerks. Usually they entered the service of clerks at the age of 14-15 years. At the same time, the earlier the service began, the faster the career advancement was.
Area clerks
The areal clerks deserve special attention. This is a special group of written businessmen who worked under government supervision in the squares of cities. In Ancient Russia, the square was the most common place for performing private acts requiring a writtenclearance.
Area clerks were engaged in registration of bills of sale, exchange, petitions, etc. These clerks included representatives of different classes (even taxable ones), but they were not service people. It is worth noting that the areal clerks formed artels and vouched for each other. In some cities, the corporations of market clerks numbered 12 people, and by the end of the 17th century. - up to 24 people. In Moscow, square clerks were subordinate to the Armory, and in other cities they were led by a local noble corporation. Thus, it can be said that the emergence and long existence of the position of clerk became one of the components underlying the modern bureaucratic system. The meaning of the word clerk, i.e. clerk, has not lost its relevance at the present time.
