Local government in Russia in the 17th century
1.2 Higher and central institutions
In the 17th century, as before, the Boyar Duma was the most important body of the state, the body of the boyar aristocracy, and shared supreme power with the tsar. It included the boyars of the Moscow prince, former appanage princes, representatives of the local nobility (they were called "duma nobles"), the tops of the service bureaucracy - "duma clerks", who conducted office work. The Boyar Duma decided the most important state affairs. She was legislature. Over the course of a century, the composition of the Duma has doubled, and the number of okolnichy, duma nobles and clerks has especially increased. The Boyar Duma still remained the supreme body in matters of legislation, administration, and the courts.
The boyar duma did not play an independent role, it always acted together with the tsar, constituting, together with the sovereign, a single supreme power. This unity was especially evident in matters of legislation and in international relations. In all cases, a decision was made in the following form: “The sovereign indicated and the boyars were sentenced” or “By the sovereign’s decree, the boyars were sentenced.”
The chairmanship in the Duma belonged to the king, but he was not always present; the boyars decided matters even without him, finally, or their decisions were approved by the sovereign. Members were distributed in the Duma in order of rank, and each rank - according to the parochial ladder of the breed. The Council Code prescribes to the Duma "to do all sorts of things together." This indirectly affirms the beginning of unanimity in decisions. At the end of the XVII century. there is a special branch of the Duma for court cases: the "reprisal chamber", which consisted of delegates of the Duma (several members from each rank). During the departure of the boyars with the tsar from Moscow on a campaign, several members of her "to conduct Moscow" are left in place. All reports from the orders went to this commission of the Duma, but only matters of lesser importance were finally decided by it; the rest were sent to the tsar and the boyars who were with him.
Members of the Duma headed orders, were governors, diplomats. The Duma approved the decisions of the orders and was the highest judicial instance.
To late XVII in. The Duma is turning into a kind of deliberative body of order judges. Its unborn part is increasing, namely the number of duma clerks. At the beginning of the century there were 2-3 duma clerks, in the second half (in 1677) their number increased to 11 people.
In the first half of the XVII century. the role of zemstvo sobors increased. The word "zemsky" meant "state". The Zemsky Sobor is a meeting of representatives of "all lands", or the entire Russian land. In this sense, Zemsky Sobors had strong "earthly" roots. They "grew" from the Novgorod veche, from the princely "congresses" on the most important events in Russian history and the old traditions of discussing controversial issues "with the whole world."
Zemsky Sobors sat almost continuously: 1613-1615, 1616-1619, 1620-1622, 1632-1634, 1636-1637. The councils sought funds for waging wars with Poland, Turkey and others, made decisions on foreign economic issues (in 1642 - on the issue of Azov, taken by the Cossacks, in 1649 - the adoption of the Code - a set of laws, etc.). The duration of zemstvo councils was different: from several hours (1645), days (1642), to several months (1648-1649) and years (1613-1615, 1616-1619, 1620-1622). Decisions of zemstvo sobors - prefabricated acts - were signed by the tsar, the patriarch, higher ranks and lower ranks. Since the 1960s, zemstvo sobors have ceased to be convened: the government has grown stronger and no longer needs the "moral support" of "the whole earth."
First half of the 17th century - the heyday of the order system and its continuous implementation in all branches of management. In the first years of the Romanov dynasty, about 20 former central institutions began to function. The new government had to solve serious socio-economic and political problems. First of all, it was necessary to replenish the devastated state treasury, to establish the flow of state taxes. Therefore, in the first years of the reign of the new dynasty, the fiscal activity of orders intensifies. A number of new permanent and temporary central institutions were created that were in charge of tax collection (the New Quarter in 1619, the order of the Great Treasury - in 1621-1622).
A new element in the mandative system of administration was the formation of institutions of patriarchal administration. After the return of Patriarch Filaret from captivity, three orders (Palace, State, Discharge) were created on the basis of the patriarchal court, which controlled the entire patriarchal economy.
In the first half of the XVII century. widespread were temporary orders, created knowingly as temporary by a special decree defining the functions, the head of the order, its entire staff and budget.
In the second half of the XVII century. in connection with the fundamental changes in the socio-economic life of Russia, its internal political development and international position, the state apparatus is changing.
At this time, serfdom was finally consolidated and formalized, an all-Russian market was taking shape, manufacturing production was emerging, and the social stratification of the countryside was deepening. The inconsistency of these processes led to the aggravation of social relations in the city and countryside.
The estate-representative monarchy had outlived itself by this time, but the system of orders was preserved. Their main core remains the same. But new territorial orders were created to manage the liberated Russian lands. With the new conditions of the country, the creation of the Monastic Order, which was in charge of the monastic lands and judicial affairs of the population of spiritual estates, and the Reitar Order, created to organize and control the troops of the new system, are connected. A special place was occupied by the functioning in 1654-1675. Order of Secret Affairs. The main part of the affairs of this order was connected with the management of the palace economy.
Serious restructuring with the aim of simplifying and further centralization was undertaken in the 80s. The most important was an attempt to unite all issues of a financial nature in an enlarged order of the Great Treasury. By this time, measures were taken to concentrate all patrimonial and local affairs in the Local Order, and cases of service - in the Discharge Order with their removal from the jurisdiction of territorial orders.
At the head of the order was the chief - the judge, mainly from the members of the Boyar Duma, some of them controlled several orders at once. The assistants to the chief-judge were clerks. The clerks were recruited mainly from the ordinary nobility or from the clergy. They did things, passed sentences. They were subordinated to clerical employees from nobles and children of clerks - clerks.
The structure of the orders was determined by their competence and breadth of activity, which was also associated with the size of the orders.
Large orders (Local, Discharge, Kazan Palace) were divided into tables. The division took place mainly on a territorial basis. There were cases when the functions of another institution were transferred to one or another order, which led to the allocation of a special table in its composition. The tables were divided into povytya, created mainly according to the territorial principle. Povyts were not stable structural units and did not have a specific name. Sometimes they wore serial number or the name by the name of the clerk who was at the head of them. In smaller orders, there was no division into tables, but only howlings existed.
In the second half of the XVII century. temporary institutions became widespread - commissions that were formed in Moscow from clerks and Moscow clerks and were sent along with detectives, surveyors, sorters, etc. to search for runaway peasants. The commissions were created by a special decree, which determined their quantitative composition, direction of activity, and appointed leaders.
The command system with its centralization and bureaucracy, paperwork and lack of control gave rise to red tape, abuse, bribery, which was especially clearly revealed by the end of the 17th century.
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the highest organs of the state. Having established a new ruling dynasty of the Romanovs in 1613, the patrimonial boyars and landowners-nobles in the reign of Tsars Mikhail Fedorovich (1613-1645) and Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676) take measures to further strengthen the entire state system. In the 17th century, the autocratic power of the "sovereign of all Russia" was finally established. Simultaneously with the growth of the power of the tsar, the state apparatus strengthened, which took on the character of a bureaucratic system. This found expression in the existence of up to 50-60 central institutions - "orders" of various sizes and meanings: from nationwide departments with a complex structure and a large number of officials (Local, Grand Palace, Discharge) to dwarf institutions with modest functions and composition (Requiem Order ) - Local government has also become more complicated.
Despite the internal consolidation of the country, in the political system of the Russian state of the 17th century, remnants of feudal fragmentation One of them was localism, expressed in the hereditary right of certain boyar families to one or another "place" in the hierarchy of service ranks in civil and military service. Localism was a peculiar form of adaptation of the feudal hierarchy of the times political fragmentation to the conditions of a centralized state. Already from the middle of the 16th century, measures were taken to limit it. In the 17th century localism began to impede the strengthening of the autocratic monarchy. The increased importance of the nobility allowed the government in 1682 to abolish localism as a "hostile, fraternal" phenomenon. Isaev I. A. Lectures on the history of Moscow law and the state. M.: Norma, 2010. S. 57.
Although the importance of the nobility increased, the boyars retained their economic and political power. The Boyar Duma was still the most important body of the state, sharing with the tsar the prerogatives of supreme power, the body of the boyar aristocracy. The composition of the Duma has doubled over the century. The number of devious duma nobles and clerks increased especially noticeably. In 1681, there were only 15 duma clerks in it. The Boyar Duma was a collection of representatives of old boyar families and veteran businessmen.
The Boyar Duma remained the supreme body in charge of legislation, administration, and the courts. Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, "although he wrote himself as an autocrat, he could not do anything without boyar advice." Aleksey Mikhailovich, despite the presence of a narrower composition of the “near Duma” and a personal office (Secret Order), consulted with the Duma on all major issues: the Boyar Duma discussed smaller issues without the tsar.
The 17th century is characterized by a closer connection between the personnel of the Boyar Duma and the order system. Many members of the Duma performed the duties of chiefs (judges) of orders, governors, and were in the diplomatic service.
At the meetings of the Boyar Duma, decisions of orders (article lists) were approved. The Duma was the highest judicial instance of the state. Some of the court cases were considered in the Punishment Chamber created under the Duma (1681-1694). The significance of the Boyar Duma has fallen in the last decade of the century.
The first half of the 17th century was the heyday of the estate-representative monarchy, when the most important issues of domestic and foreign policy of the state were resolved with the help of zemstvo councils.
In the first years of the reign of Tsar Mikhail Romanov, the government especially needed to rely on the main groupings of the ruling class. Zemsky Sobors sat almost continuously: from 1613 to the end of 1615, at the beginning of 1616-1619, in 1620-1622. These councils were engaged in finding financial resources to replenish the state treasury and foreign policy affairs. From the 20s of the 17th century, state power became somewhat stronger, and zemstvo councils began to meet less frequently. Gerasimenko G.A. Zemstvo self-government in Russia. M.: Prospect. 2009. P.48. Councils of the 30s are also associated with foreign policy issues: in 1632-1634. in connection with the war in Poland, v.1636-1637. because of the war with Turkey. At these councils decisions were made on the additional taxes necessary for the conduct of the war.
At the crowded council of 1642, members of the Boyar Duma, the top clergy, as well as representatives of the provincial nobles, archery heads and merchants, were engaged in finding means to help the Cossacks, who had captured the fortress of the Crimean Khan - Azov at the mouth of the Don. After lengthy squabbles between the conciliar class groups, a decision was made to refuse help to the Cossacks. At the same council, representatives of the local nobility and cities filed petitions, expressing their class claims.
One of the most important zemstvo councils was the council, which met in the conditions of a fierce class struggle in the country (urban uprisings in the summer of 1648 in Moscow and other cities) in June 1648. Petitions were filed at the council from the nobles demanding that the feudal dependence of the peasants be strengthened (the investigation of their without class years); the townspeople in their petitions expressed a desire to destroy the white (that is, not taxed and taxed) settlements, complained about disorder in administration and court. A special commission of the Boyar Duma, headed by the boyar Prince N. I. Odoevsky, prepared a draft "Cathedral Code" - a code of laws of the autocratic monarchy of the 17th century, which took into account the wishes of the landowners and the townspeople. This project was discussed by the members of the council, convened in September 1648, and was finally approved on January 29, 1649.
The danger of new social upheavals rallied the ruling feudal class and the top tenants with the government; their elected representatives willingly supported the government's measures to strengthen the state apparatus. The government, in turn, took into account the wishes of the landowners and townspeople in the "Code"
After 1653, Zemsky Sobors were, in essence, meetings of the tsar with representatives of certain estates. Zemsky Sobors contributed to the strengthening of the autocratic power of the tsar and the state apparatus. By convening the Zemsky Sobor, the government counted on receiving information from its members on the state of affairs on the ground, as well as on their moral support for various foreign policy, financial and other events. Noble landlords and townspeople resolved their affairs through Zemsky Sobors, bypassing the red tape.
The Zemsky Sobor met in one of the Kremlin's chambers (the Faceted, Dining Room, etc.). The clerk or the tsar himself opened the cathedral. The clerk read out a "letter" (agenda) for the council (for example, at the council in 1642). The answer to the questions of the agenda was given according to "separate articles" by each estate. At the Zemsky Sobor of 1649, the boyars and the clergy sat separately from the rest of the deputies.
Zemsky Sobors sometimes became the arena for the struggle of groupings of the ruling class, individual estates. At a number of zemstvo sobors, a kind of solidarity ("unity") was established between the landowners and the upper ranks of the township on the basis of general dissatisfaction with the imperfection of legislation and the state apparatus, the dominance of the boyars.
The duration of zemstvo councils varied: from several hours (1645) and days (1642) to several months (1648-1649) and even years (1613-1615, 1615-1619, 1620-1622). The decisions of the Zemsky Sobor were formalized in a conciliar act - a protocol sealed by the tsar, patriarch, higher ranks and the kissing of lower ranks.
The termination of the convocation of zemstvo councils is closely connected with the profound socio-economic changes that took place in the Russian state by the middle of the 17th century. The restoration of the country's economy and the further development of the feudal economy made it possible to strengthen the state system of the country with an autocratic monarchy, a bureaucratic apparatus of orders and governors. The government no longer needed the moral support of "the whole earth" for its domestic and foreign policy initiatives. Satisfied with the final enslavement of the peasants, the local nobility lost interest in the Zemsky Sobors. Since the 60s of the 17th century, zemstvo sobors have degenerated into class meetings narrow in composition. Kostomarov N.I. Zemsky Sobors. M.: VELBY. 1995, p. 89
The Council Code of 1649, which consolidated the socio-economic changes in the Russian state, also reflected the increased power of the autocratic monarch. Chapters II and III of the "Code" established severe punishment for crimes directed against the personality of the king, his honor, health, as well as for offenses committed on the territory of the royal court. All these faults were identified with the concept of a state crime, introduced for the first time into the law of the Russian state. The death penalty was established for direct intent ("evil intentionally") against the life and health of the king, as well as for the discovery of intent directed against the king and the state (rebellion, treason, conspiracy, etc.).
The process of bureaucratization of the state apparatus transformed the Boyar Duma from an organ of the boyar aristocracy into an organ of the prikaz bureaucracy (judges of orders, governors, clerks); all this could not but weaken the independence of the Boyar Duma.
In the legislative activity of the Russian state from the second half of the 17th century, the concept of "nominal decree" appeared, that is, a legislative act drawn up only by the tsar, without the participation of the Boyar Duma. Of the 618 decrees given to the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich since the publication of the "Cathedral Code", 588 decrees were nominal, and only 49 boyar sentences were adopted. or their abolition, etc. The Boyar sentences were the most important legislative acts related to feudal land ownership, serfdom, the foundations financial policy and other important aspects of state activity. The main legislative acts of this time still passed through the Boyar Duma.
The number of boyar sentences especially increased after various social upheavals ( urban uprising in Moscow 1662. Peasant War under the direction of Stepan Razin). During the reign of the weak-willed Fyodor Alekseevich (1676-1682), the significance of the Boyar Duma also temporarily increased: out of 284 decrees of his reign, 114 were issued with a boyar sentence.
Despite the external stability of the position of the Boyar Duma in the apparatus of the Russian state, in the second half of the 17th century, the process of increasing the personal power of the autocratic monarch, especially in the field of supreme government, was underway.
From the 50-60s, the practice of reports to the tsar by the chiefs of the most important orders was established. So, in 1669, on Mondays, the heads of the Discharge and Posolsky orders reported to the tsar, on Tuesdays - the Big Treasury and the Big Parish, on Wednesdays - the Kazan and Local, etc. Evidence of the increased power of the tsar by the middle of the 17th century was the creation of the Order of secret affairs. Even in the first years of his reign, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich had with him several clerks from the Order of the Grand Palace for personal correspondence. This state at the end of 1654 or at the beginning of 1655 received a certain organization of the Order of Secret Affairs - the personal office of the tsar, an authority that allows the tsar to resolve the most important state issues without the Boyar Duma.
central institutions. The 17th century was the heyday of the command system of government, but by the last quarter of the century it began to experience a crisis.
An important role, as before, was played by military administrative orders, the number of which increased. During the 17th century, the basis of the armed forces of the Russian state was the noble cavalry and archery regiments. Detachments of Cossacks, Tatars and Bashkirs had auxiliary importance in the border guard and during wars. From the second half of the 17th century, regiments of the "new" ("foreign") system appeared with foreign officers and Russian rank and file: soldiers (infantry), Reiters and hussars (cavalry and dragoons could operate both on horseback and on foot) regiments. The army had significant fortress, siege and field artillery with copper, iron and cast-iron cannons of domestic production.
As before, the discharge order was in charge of the staff of service people from the nobility.
The growing importance of landowners-nobles in the army and the civil state apparatus (orders and voivode), the increase in the size of local land ownership, the gradual convergence of local and patrimonial land ownership made the Local Order one of the most important orders of the state. All matters related to the service, maintenance, management and trial of the archers were carried out by the Streltsy order. The Reitarsky regiments (their recruitment, supply, training and court) were in charge of the Reitarsky order (1649-1701). In the last decades of the 17th century, the Reitarsky and Inozemsky orders had one chief and common clerks. Close to the military organization was the Pharmaceutical Order, founded at the end of the 16th century. Initially, it was a court institution serving the king, the royal family and persons close to the palace. In the 17th century, the order became state center medical business.
The 17th century was the century of the heyday and fall of the command system of government. More than 90 central bureaucratic institutions - orders different meanings, functions and magnitude existed at that time. An important feature the command system of administration was the diversity and uncertainty of the functions of orders. Almost every order performed not only control functions; it was also in charge of certain territories (volosts, cities, villages), taxes from which were received for the maintenance of the order and the implementation of its tasks. This difficulty in determining the exact functions of orders also explains the difficulties in classifying orders.
At the head of each order was the chief - the judge; sometimes the person in charge of the order had a special title (treasurer, printer, butler, gunsmith, etc.). The judges of orders were appointed from among the members of the Boyar Duma; boyars, okolnichy, duma nobles, duma clerks. There was a process of bureaucratization of the top of the feudal class - Duma officials. If in 1613 only 43 orders were headed by duma officials, by the 80s of the 17th century there were already almost 45 orders. Some thoughtful people controlled several orders at once.
With the creation of orders, extensive paperwork appeared. In the process of practical activities of orders, forms have developed certain types documents, the order of their execution and movement within each order, and between them. Office work required well-known clerical skills and experience, which the head of the order sometimes did not have. Therefore, clerks were appointed as assistants to judges in orders. Judges of some orders (most often financial, where accounting documentation existed) were appointed from clerks. The clerks were recruited from ordinary nobility, sometimes from the clergy, and even from large merchants ("guests") The clerks did business in orders. Together with the judges, they discussed cases and pronounced sentences. If a “report” to the tsar was required, then it was developed under the guidance of a clerk, who was present at the “report” itself. According to the tsar, the clerk made a “mark” (resolution) on the “report”, which formed the basis of the royal decree.
The clerks in the orders were subordinated to the clerks - clerical servants from the nobility and children of clerks. The novice clerk served for several years "non-permanently", that is, without salary, for only the "offerings" of petitioners. Then he was "made up" with a small cash salary (from 1 to 5 rubles per year). There were more clerks in the orders than clerks: from a few people (Aptekarsky, Printed, Kostroma Chet) to several dozen (Ambassadorial, Rogue) and up to several hundred (Local). Senior clerks, together with clerks, supervised the preparation of documents; medium - composed the texts of documents, made inquiries in the archive of the order; junior - carried out technical work on the correspondence ("rewriting") of documents. The staff of orders included messengers, watchmen and other persons.
Large orders were subdivided into tables, and tables - into povity. There was no unanimity among historians in determining the nature of management in orders: some (V.I. Sergeevich, N.P. Likhachev and others) considered it collegiate, others - sole. In fact, there was a special nature of management in the orders, which consisted in the fact that judges considered controversial cases together with clerks, and cases that were not controversial were considered separately. A feature of the office work was the extreme centralization of management: orders allowed not only important, but also relatively minor cases.
The command system with its centralization and bureaucracy, paperwork and lack of control gave rise to red tape, abuse and bribery. By the end of the century, the prikaz system had fallen into disrepair; it was replaced by a more progressive management system - collegial.
Thus, summing up chapter 1, it is necessary to note the following.
The period from the 15th - 17th centuries. played a huge role in the history of public administration in Russia. It is transitional from feudalism to the birth of a noble empire. At the beginning of the 15th century, Moscow Russia urgently needed global reforms of the administrative mechanism in the country. It was created fundamentally new system management - command. It was far from flawless, but still allowed not only to exist, but also to develop at a significant pace, although at its last stage it led to a crisis of governance in the state.
This period also contributed to the development of the institution of autocracy. He paved the way for the transition to absolutism, which was necessary for a new cardinal transformation in the country in the era of Peter I.
The system of central government bodies during the Time of Troubles was destroyed. Meanwhile, without its restoration, it was impossible to effectively carry out state functions, maintain the unity of the state, and link the center with local government structures. Mikhail Fedorovich took steps to restore the order system. This process began vigorously after the return to Moscow from Polish captivity of Filaret Nikitich, the father of the tsar.
In view of the urgency of the financial problem (after the Time of Troubles, the treasury was empty), the government stepped up the fiscal activity of orders. New permanent and temporary orders were created that were in charge of tax collection - the New Quarter, the order of the Big Treasury, the Order of Five and Request Money. The new quarter was the department responsible for the drinking business and tavern fees. Order of the Great Treasury was in charge merchant corporations, including "guests", merchants of the living room and cloth hundreds and merchants of cities; collected taxes, farms and other annual fees from guests, merchants, peasants and beavers. The Order of Fives and Request Money collected extraordinary taxes.
Gradually, the order system was introduced into all spheres of public administration. The judiciary played an important role. These included those created back in the 16th century: The Local Order - was in charge of the distribution and transfer of estates, estates and related litigations, executed all transactions for local lands, and then received judicial functions on these issues, compiled the most important accounting documents - scribes and census books , which recorded the land holdings of service people and peasant households; Robbery order (renamed Detective in 1682) - was in charge of criminal police affairs throughout the country, except for Moscow (here these functions were performed by the Zemsky order), it approved the positions of labial elders, kissers and clerks, sentences of labial authorities, were considered in second instance robbery cases; Kholopy order - issued and freed from servility, and also resolved litigation because of serfs.
In the 17th century, orders were created that belonged to the bodies of the central regional government and were traditionally called quarter orders. They were the former central bodies of the former appanages attached to Moscow. They were moved to the capital while maintaining the territory of reference. At first there were 3 of them, and they were called thirds, and then 4 - and were called quarters, but soon there were already 6 of them: Nizhny Novgorod, Galician, Ustyug, Vladimir, Kostroma, Siberian quarters (the latter was renamed the order). They were in charge of the population of cities, counties and the court for taxable groups of the population.
separate group issued orders special purpose. First of all, this is the Ambassadorial Order, transformed from the Ambassadorial Chamber in 1601. It was divided into 5 povyties, three of which carried out relations with Western Europe, and two with Eastern countries. The Yamsky order provided the state postal service; the order of Stone Affairs was in charge of stone construction. A printed order sealed government acts with a seal; Apothecary order monitored the health of the sovereign and his family; The petition order transmitted the results of the analysis by the tsar or the Boyar Duma of the gutter to the corresponding orders or directly to the petitioners. In 1649, the Monastery Order appeared, which was in charge of the monastic lands and the court of the population of church estates.
A special block was made up of orders of the palace and financial management. The order of the Grand Palace was in charge of the maintenance of the palace. And also by the population and lands located throughout the country, obliged to supply this content, judged privileged persons, released by the king from the court of ordinary bodies. The palaces responsible for the corresponding supply were subordinate to him: fodder, bread, living and satisfying,
The order of the Great Treasury gradually turned into the personal treasury of the king and the repository of precious items. He was subordinate to the Money Court, which was in charge of minting coins. The Order of the Grand Parish was in charge of the indirect taxes of the state, and the Order of Accounts (created in 1667) exercised control functions.
In the period 1654-1676. the Order of Secret Affairs functioned, which was the personal office of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and acted as an institution of political control and investigation. The most important matters related to tsarist and state security were transferred to his competence: control over the activities of all central and local government bodies, diplomacy, the production of firearms, ore mining, investigation of political affairs, and management of the household.
In the 1680s, the central state administration was restructured. By that time, the total number of orders was 80-90, although some of them were temporary. Such more number orders gave rise to the interweaving of their functions, which did not contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of their activities.
The main goal of the reform is the simplification and centralization of orders. The largest links of the reform was the unification of all patrimonial and local affairs in the Local Order, and cases of service - in the Discharge Order with their removal from the competence of territorial orders. As a result of these actions, there was a transition to financial management from the territorial to the system principle. Also in the course of the reform, orders were combined into groups with their subordination to one government body in the state.
As a result of the transformation, the orders turned into large institutions with a large staff and a complex bureaucratic structure.
Compared with the central government, local government had more complex structure. The main administrative unit was the county with the city (at the end of the 17th century there were 146 counties). The districts were ruled by governors who were at the head of the clerks or congress huts.
According to M.N. Tikhomirov, "the huts were real institutions", as they had presences, offices, and a rather complex sectoral structure: in big cities they were divided into tables, and in other cities - into howls. So, in the 1650s. in the Pskov congress hut there were four tables: Discharge, Money, Local and Judicial.
AT major cities the governors were members of the Boyar Duma, in the rest - the nobles of the middle and lower ranks. The governors were sent from Moscow, along with them from the Moscow orders were sent clerks or experienced clerks (“clerks with an inscription”, that is, those who have the right to sign). As a result, there were no sharp differences in the level of training of employees of central and local institutions, as was observed in the subsequent period.
Governors were appointed for a period of 1 to 3 years and during the execution of their positions they had a fairly large degree of independence. The government was aware that the “Instructions”, which served as a guide to action for governors, could not foresee all non-standard situations and instructed them to act in such cases according to their own understanding: “how the merciful God will help you” or “how the merciful God will inform you”.
They were accountable to orders, but, as already noted, to recall the governor ahead of schedule only the Duma could. Prior to the establishment of the post office in 1666, the central authorities communicated with the governors by courier. Orders were ordered to communicate with each other so as not to send different messengers to the same city. With them, the governors handed over papers to Moscow, since it was allowed to send special messengers from the field only on important matters that could not be delayed.
Headquarters paid attention, first of all, to financial and judicial cases, for which there were different forms of reporting. When changing governors, notebooks and account lists were compiled containing information about non-salary fees that could not be determined in advance. After the end of their service life, the governors submitted reports to orders on all branches of government, the so-called "painted lists". In the frequent change of governors, the government saw a way to deal with the abuses of the local administration. The prohibition of governors to buy land in the counties they controlled also answered the same tasks.
The voivode was subordinate to the clerks or congress huts, where the administration of the entire county was concentrated; in 1698 there were 302 huts. The personnel of the clerks' huts included a temporary and permanent contingent of employees. The first included governors and their assistants, who were clerks, less often clerks with an inscription. The service in the field was held by the majority of clerks, and in the 1670s. Duma clerks were also sent to the cities. Orders were sent to the yuroda under their jurisdiction, most often young clerks, shortly after they were awarded the rank.
Permanent in composition was the performing unit of employees of the clerk's huts, which was represented by local clerks. If the governor and the clerk, as the messengers of Moscow, personified the central government, then the clerks were local representatives of state power, so the population showed great interest in their appointment. The clerks of the clerk's huts could be chosen by the population or appointed by royal decrees; they could be recruited by the governors themselves (by the end of the 17th century, this right was retained only by the governors of the primary cities). But in any case, the opinion of the population was taken into account. Candidates for clerkship had to obtain the consent of not only the governor, but also the local "city and county servicemen and residents." On their own behalf, the residents sent a “choice” or “hand-written petition” to the order with a request to approve this or that particular person as a clerk. In some cases, it came to a struggle between supporters of different candidates for this position. The ability to choose clerks allowed the population to protect themselves from excessive bribes and extortions. The government was also interested in secular choice, seeing it as a guarantee of the honesty and professionalism of local officials. So, in 1682, with royal letters to the governor of Vyatka, P.D. Doroshenko was forbidden to appoint clerks without secular elections.
In the clerk's huts there were also lower servants: bailiffs, messengers and watchmen. Bailiffs and messengers were sent on private matters and received remuneration from the litigating parties. These positions were often given to gunners and tinkerers instead of salaries.
In addition to state institutions (order huts), local government included “worldly”, or zemstvo, institutions: lip, zemstvo, customs huts. Despite their elective nature, these institutions were included in the public administration system and performed the tasks of its lower level. The voevodas and their comrades, who controlled the cities and adjacent territories (districts) from the prikaz huts, also controlled the activities of elected bodies. The temporary commissions from the employees of the Moscow orders also played a controlling role.
Under Fyodor Alekseevich, the suit of governors increased markedly. By a decree of 1679, many positions and institutions were abolished in the cities, and all judicial and other cases were transferred to the jurisdiction of the governor. It was ordered even in all cities to break the labial huts, and the lip clerks to be with the governor in the order's hut. Perhaps, the power of the governor in the cities has never been as wide as under Fedor, ”N.F. Demidov.
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1. First half of the 17th century
The first half of the 17th century was the time vigorous activity Zemsky Sobors, which played an important role in overcoming the consequences of the Time of Troubles. The Time of Troubles caused changes in civil consciousness, which was expressed in numerous convocations of Zemsky Sobors. As V.O. Klyuchevsky: “Next to the sovereign will, and sometimes in its place, now more than once there has been another political force called into action by the Time of Troubles - the will of the people, expressed in the verdicts of the Zemsky Sobor, in the Moscow people's gathering, who shouted out Tsar Vasily Shuisky, in the congresses elected from the cities that rose against the Tushinsky thief and the Poles. At the beginning of the 17th century, the cathedral became a more representative institution than in the 16th century. Estate representation expanded due to electives from intermediate military service class groups (including those of other ethnicities), and in 3 cases (during the creation of the Zemsky government in 1612, at the Zemsky Sobors of 1613 and 1616) - through electives from black-haired peasants. Along with status representation at Zemsky Sobors (in combination with partial election) in cities (districts), the principle of direct elections from local estate groups was developed, especially since 1610. The Zemsky Sobor became the competent body for the election of a new monarch. The contradictions caused in society by the Time of Troubles led to the creation of a new political structure: the power of the tsar, legally unlimited, was in fact determined by the Zemsky Sobor and the Boyar Duma. This system operated throughout the reign of the first Romanov and the beginning of the reign of his son.
As in the 16th century, councils were convened in emergency cases to discuss the most important matters of domestic and foreign policy: “These emergency meetings, or councils, were usually on the question: to start or not to start a dangerous, difficult war, and it would take a long and hard military service people, on the other hand, will require monetary donations from taxable people; it is necessary to call on elected or council people from both, from all ranks, so that they say their thoughts, and if they say that it is necessary to start a war, then so that they do not complain afterwards, they themselves impose a burden. The Council was convened by a special royal decree. As in the 16th century, the cathedral consisted of 2 parts, elective and non-elected. The latter included members of the Boyar Duma and members of the Consecrated Council of the higher clergy. Representatives of various ranks of the Moscow nobility (stewards, solicitors, Moscow nobles and residents) and various ranks of merchants (guests, members of the living room and cloth hundreds) were elected. Representatives of county noble corporations (nobles and boyar children) were elected. Electives were also sent from service people according to the device (for combat units, for example, from archery regiments). Representatives of the taxable population from the cities (black hundreds, settlements and settlements) were elected from the worlds. At the council of 1613 there were representatives of the city clergy and the rural population (district people). In total, more than 800 deputies participated in this cathedral: persons by status (members of the Consecrated Cathedral, Duma ranks, Moscow ranks and elected nobles from members of the Sovereign's Court), people from the military service strata (Cossacks, archers, etc.), as well as over 80 -ti elected from 47 cities, incl. representatives of the white clergy, local boyar children, townspeople, church