Studying the history of Europe and Russia, you often come across such a concept as a landowner. Passing a word past our ears, we sometimes do not think about its meaning. It is worth finding out who the landowner is, what he did. Is this class considered nobility?
The landowner in Russia - who is it?
The word has quite old roots and comes from the ancient Russian “estate”, that is, a land allotment issued for service. At first, it was not inherited, it only began in the 17th century. It was then that a special stratum of society emerged. Thus, the landowner is a nobleman who owns land, owns it, and also owns an estate. This social stratum of society was quite large and covered completely different people, from small owners in the provinces to rich nobles in large cities, especially in the capital.
Life of a nobleman in the 18-19th centuries
In the specified time period, the landowner is a person who belonged to the military class, the nobles. They lived both in provincial towns and in the capital. From time immemorial, military people, even after the permission of Peter 3 not to serve in the army, continued to write down theirsons, still rocking in the cradle, into the guard.
Manors and estates of the small and middle nobility were mainly built of wood, much less often of stone. Life was very simple. Life was peaceful and rather dull, except for occasional trips to neighbors and a few recreational activities.
Things were quite different in the capital, where we althy nobles lived. Catherine's landowner is a we althy, ambitious man. These were people who, as a rule, held high positions, spent time at balls and were carried away by palace intrigues. The huge stone mansions that once belonged to them still stand today.
Wild Landlord
This phrase does not mean any separate estate, it is just an expression that to some extent became a household word after the publication of the fairy tale of the same name by M. E. S altykov-Shchedrin. It is about a rather stupid and short-sighted landowner.
Suffering from idleness and boredom, he suddenly came to the conclusion that there were too many peasants in the world, and began to complain about this to God. In the end, he decided to get rid of the people who annoyed him. According to the plot of the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner", as a result, the main character is left alone. However, the long-awaited silence and the absence of ordinary people turns out to be not at all what he wanted. There was no normal food in his house, there was no one to look after him, which gradually led him to complete degradation.
The allegorical image of the landowner is a criticism of the entire social order of that time, sharply reflecting the problemexploiter and exploited.
