The Russian nobility is a certain estate of our country, which appeared in the XII century as the lowest representatives of the military and servicemen, constituting the court of a major boyar or prince. In the code of domestic laws, belonging to this estate was defined as a consequence of virtue, distinguished by noble merits. Literally, the word "nobleman" meant a person from the princely court or courtier. The nobles were taken into the service of the prince in order to fulfill all kinds of judicial, administrative and other assignments.
History of Appearance
The Russian nobility was the lowest stratum of the nobility, which was most directly connected with the prince and his household, this was their fundamental difference from the boyars.
During the time of Vsevolod the Big Nest, the old Rostov boyars were defeated in 1174. After that, the Russian nobility, along with the townspeople, became the basis of the military and social support of the prince's power.
Rise of class
The situation has begun to change dramatically since the 14th century. It was then that the Russian nobility began to receive land for their service. From this arose the class of landowners. Over time, they were allowed to buy land, increasing the size of their holdings.
At the end of the 15th century, land was distributed to the nobles under the condition of service after the annexation of the Tver principality and Novgorod land, as well as the eviction of officials from the central regions of the country. In 1497, the Sudebnik restricts the right of peasants to move. In fact, after that, serfdom was officially established in the country.
The next important stage in the history of the Russian nobility is the first Zemsky Sobor, which takes place in the Kremlin in early 1549. Tsar Ivan IV speaks at it, whom the nobleman Ivan Peresvetov inspired to build a centralized monarchy in the country, directly based on the nobility. This meant the beginning of a direct confrontation with the former aristocracy, that is, the boyars. At the same time, the ruler publicly accused them of abuse of authority and power, urging them to work together to strengthen a single country.
In the middle of the 16th century, the so-called chosen 1000 nobles of the capital appeared, who settled within a few tens of kilometers from Moscow. In 1555, a code of service appears, which actually equalizes the rights of the nobles with the boyars. They have the right to inherit for the first time. When the Kazan Khanate was annexed in the middle of the 16th century, they were evicted from the oprichnina regionestates, all this is declared the property of the king, and the lands vacated as a result of this are handed out to the nobles, who agree to continue to faithfully serve the sovereign. In the 1580s, the Reserve Years appear, and later the Cathedral Code secures the right of the nobles to the indefinite search for fugitive peasants and their eternal possession.
Getting land
The strengthening of this estate in the XIV-XVI centuries is based mainly on obtaining land. This, in fact, turns him into the main suppliers of the militia. There is a clear analogy with the Western European knights in the previous era.
The existing local system is being introduced in order to strengthen the situation in the army, when the level of the socio-economic situation in the country does not allow equipping soldiers and officers centrally. This provision differs from the situation in France at the same time. In this Western European country, since the 15th century, kings have attracted knights into the army on terms of monetary payment. And at first periodically, and from the end of the 15th century - on an ongoing basis. All this turns into a strengthening of serfdom, limiting the influx of workers into the city. The development of capitalism is slowing down throughout the country.
Shortly after the abolition of localism, the "Velvet Book of the Russian Nobility" was compiled, which contained genealogies of the most noble families that lived at that time in the country. It included the Sovereign Genealogy of 1556, materials of the 16th-17th centuries from genealogical paintings.
Initially it was supposed that there would be four "Velvet BooksRussian nobility", but after the death of Fyodor Alekseevich, the work was temporarily suspended. They resumed only in 1685. As a result, two books about the Russian nobility were made.
Apogee of nobility
The situation develops during the reign of Peter I. He inherits a society that is divided into several estates. Among them are "taxable", who are obliged to the state by duties and taxes, and "servicemen", who undertake to faithfully serve the king. In the existing system, virtually everyone is enslaved. For example, nobles are attached to the need to serve in the same way that peasants are attached to the land.
In 1701, Peter I issued a decree, according to which it is forbidden to own land for nothing. In 1721, he holds a general review with all the nobles. Only those who lived in Astrakhan and remote regions of Siberia are allowed not to arrive. In order not to slow things down in their absence, an order is issued for them to arrive in Moscow or St. Petersburg in two waves: first in December 1721, and the next in three months.
In 1718, the Russian ruler carried out the Tax Reform, in which the nobles were exempted from the poll tax. A few years earlier, a decree was adopted on the order of inheritance by the nobles of movable and immovable property, which further strengthens their position. The concepts of "estate" and "patrimony" are equalized, and the principle of single inheritance is introduced in the country.
Peter I decides to fight against the aristocrats,making nobles the mainstay. In 1722, the "Table of Ranks" appears - a document that actually replaces the principle of generosity in public service with the principle of personal service. Ranks and classes are introduced, for example, the XIV class, assigned as part of military service, gives all its holders the rights of hereditary nobility. In the civil service, only members of the VIII class have the same privileges. Initially, it was assumed that the pre-Petrine ranks that existed in the Russian state corresponded to certain ranks of this "Table of Ranks". But over time, awards to the old ranks stopped completely.
In accordance with the "Table", the distribution of titles was stopped, although they were not formally canceled. However, in fact, this still meant the end of the boyars. Since then, even the word "boyar" itself has survived only in everyday speech as a designation for an aristocrat.
At the same time, the nobility in itself in the Russian Empire was not the basis for occupying the rank. The rank was determined solely in connection with the length of service. Peter I separately noted that he does not specifically assign ranks to anyone by default until a person proves himself in the service of the Fatherland. This led to resentment among the individual boyars who still remained at the time. The representatives of the new nobility were not satisfied either. In particular, one of the satires of Antiochus Cantemir is devoted to this dilemma, in which this situation was clearly described.
At the same time, the Heraldry Office is created, which exists under the Senate. Her task is to accountnobles, their purification from the impostors who periodically appear. Employees of this office identify impostors who proclaim themselves nobles, inventing and drawing coats of arms for themselves.
In the future, the "Table of Ranks" is subject to repeated changes, but generally remains until 1917.
Poor Nobles
The ability to obtain a title through service has created a whole class of vacant nobles who are completely dependent on the service. At the same time, the nobility in the Russian Empire took shape in an extremely diverse environment.
Among them were both carriers of we althy surnames (by the end of the 19th century there were about 250 such families), and a wide layer of small landed nobles, to which nobles who owned only 21 souls of male serfs could be attributed. They were not able to independently provide decent conditions for their existence, hoping only to receive profitable and profitable positions.
As a result, the possession of serfs and estates in itself did not provide unconditional income. There were even cases when the nobles themselves began to plow the land because of the insufficient number of serfs. This happened if they had no other sources of livelihood.
Privileges for nobles
The Russian nobility in the 18th century began to significantly improve their position. This was facilitated by various benefits that were introduced by the rulers. For example, landlords were allowed to collect tribute from peasants, and alsofive years later, the new Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna signed a manifesto that limited the service of the nobles to a quarter of a century and no more.
In 1746, already Elizaveta Petrovna introduced a ban on the acquisition of land and peasants by anyone other than nobles. In 1754, the government establishes the Noble Bank, which receives the right to provide the heroes of our article with loans in the amount of up to ten thousand rubles at six percent a year.
In 1762, Peter III issued a manifesto on the granting of liberties to the Russian nobility. In it, exemption from service is fixed for the nobles. As a result, over the next ten years, about ten thousand nobles are sent to retire from the army. It was one of the key legislative acts during the short time of the reign of this emperor. As State Councilor Jakob Shtelin noted, Peter, when he was in the status of heir to the Russian throne, was already developing a future manifesto on granting freedom to the Russian nobility. The king declared that he would definitely accept this document, allowing the nobles not to serve, as well as to freely leave the country.
When he became emperor, during his first official visit to the Senate, he said that he would allow the nobles to independently determine the term and place of their service, only in wartime it would be mandatory for everyone to appear. This became one of the highlights of the manifesto on granting freedom to the Russian nobility. He instructed the senators to prepare his draft by February 1762, which was done. Peter III officially signedmanifesto on freedom to the Russian nobility on February 18 of the same year.
In this legislative act, for the first time in Russian history, the nobles were officially exempted from compulsory civil and military service, could, at their own discretion, retire and freely leave the country. Only during the war did the government reserve the right to demand that the nobles return to military service. In this case, they were obliged to return from abroad under the threat of confiscation of all lands. Such were the provisions on liberties to the Russian nobility. Nobles who did not have time to receive the rank of chief officer were forbidden to retire until they had served 12 years. The same provisions were actually repeated and confirmed by Empress Catherine II in a letter of commendation to the Russian nobility, signed in 1785. It finally frees them from the need for compulsory service, turning the nobles into a privileged class that does not pay taxes, owes nothing to the state, has exclusive rights to own peasants and land, is exempt from corporal punishment, is engaged in trade and industry, and has its own class self-government.
Moreover, during the Provincial Reform, she transfers local power to elected representatives from among the nobility, appointing the so-called county marshals of the nobility.
Estate self-government
After receiving this letter, the nobleman turned into the mainlocal government agent. He was responsible for the recruitment of soldiers, the collection of all necessary taxes from the peasants, followed public morality, and performed other power functions and powers.
Class self-government was considered a special privilege. At the same time, the state treated him in two ways. For example, its fragmentation was artificially maintained. So, until the beginning of the 20th century, in principle, there was no all-Russian association for this estate.
The bill signed by Catherine II led to the formation of a huge gulf between the nobles and the rest of the people. All this became the apogee of their power, after which the upper nobility began to turn into an idle class, moving away from political life, and the lower nobility slowly but surely went bankrupt.
Honorary citizens
At the beginning of the 19th century, part of the nobles began to actively support republican ideas. Some began to join Masonic lodges, others anti-government organizations. The Decembrist uprising had features of the noble Fronde.
The state itself began to slow down the large-scale influx of non-nobles into the ranks of the nobility. This became possible only as a result of the length of service of certain ranks. To satisfy the ambitions of such non-nobles, there is even an intermediate class of honorary citizens who have similar privileges - exempt from conscription, poll tax, corporal punishment.
Over time, there are more and more people who can count on receiving honorary citizenship. Peasant riots that swept across the country during the Crimean War,lead Alexander II to the conviction that serfdom should be systematically abolished, and this should be done from above, without waiting for a new uprising.
At the end of an era
After the abolition of serfdom, the position of the nobles begins to deteriorate rapidly. They manage to save only half of the plots, and by the beginning of the 20th century, the landowners had already taken control of 60% of the plots that belonged to them before 1861. At the beginning of 1917, about 90% of all land was concentrated in the hands of the peasants.
At the beginning of the last century, the hereditary nobility loses its administrative and economic dominance.
After the October Revolution, all estates will be liquidated by a special decree.
Types of nobility
There were two varieties of the Russian nobility - personal and hereditary.
The offspring was inherited in one of four ways. It could be acquired by ranks in active service, it could be received by the descendants of especially distinguished eminent citizens and personal nobles, it could be awarded for receiving high awards and orders, and also welcomed at the discretion of the supreme authority.
The concept of personal nobility appeared in parallel with the "Table of Ranks". It was acquired at the expense of ranks in the service, by awarding an order, or when a person was granted the nobility at the highest discretion.
Hereditary nobility was allowed to be inherited, in marriage through the line of men. And everyone could pass it on to his wife and all the children. And herea woman, marrying a representative of a lower class, could not transfer her rights to her children and spouse, but she herself remained a noblewoman.
