What gives a title of nobility now. I'll get the money out of the closet, buy, perhaps, the title of count

Y. Pantyukhin "Prince Alexander Nevsky"

But first, let's deal with the very concept of "nobility". "What is nobility? - wrote A.S. Pushkin. “The hereditary estate of the people is higher, that is, awarded with great advantages regarding property and private freedom.”

The emergence of the nobility in Russia

The word "noble" literally means "a man from the prince's court", or "court".

In Russia, the nobility arose in the 12th century. as the lowest part of the military service class, which constituted the court of a prince or a major boyar.

In the Code of Laws Russian Empire"It is said that belonging to the nobility" there is a consequence that flows from the quality and virtue of the men who ruled in antiquity, who distinguished themselves by merit, by which, turning the very service into merit, they acquired a noble name for their offspring. Noble means all those who are born from noble ancestors, or who are granted this dignity by monarchs.

Rise of the nobility

From the 14th century nobles began to receive land for diligent service. So there was a class of landowners - landowners. Later they were allowed to buy land.

The Sudebnik of 1497 limited the right of peasants to move and thereby strengthened the position of the nobles.

In February 1549, the first Zemsky Sobor. Ivan IV (the Terrible) delivered a speech there. The tsar took a course towards building a centralized monarchy (autocracy) based on the nobility, which meant fighting the old (boyar) aristocracy. He accused the boyars of abuse of power and called on everyone to work together to strengthen the unity of the Russian state.

G. Sedov "Ivan the Terrible and Malyuta Skuratov"

In 1550 chosen thousand Moscow nobles (1071 people) was placed within 60-70 km around Moscow.

In the middle of the XVI century. was attached Kazan Khanate, and the estates were evicted from the oprichnina area, which was declared the property of the king. The vacated lands were distributed to the nobles under the condition of service.

In the 80s of the XVI century. introduced reserved summers(the period during which in some regions of the Russian state a peasant exit was prohibited on the autumn St. George's Day, provided for in the Sudebnik of 1497. Protected years began to be introduced by the government of Ivan IV (the Terrible) from 1581.

The "Cathedral Code" of 1649 secured the right of the nobles to eternal possession and an indefinite search for fugitive peasants.

But Peter I began a decisive struggle with the old boyar aristocracy, making the nobles his support. In 1722 he introduced Table of ranks.

Monument to Peter I in Voronezh

The table of ranks replaced the principle of generosity with the principle of personal service. The table of ranks influenced the official routine and the historical fate of the nobility.

The only regulator of service was personal length of service; "Paternal honor", the breed has lost all meaning in this regard. Under Peter I, the rank of the lower XIV class in military service gave the right to hereditary nobility. Civil service in the rank up to VIII class gave only personal nobility, and the right to hereditary nobility began with the rank of VIII class. “For this reason, we do not allow anyone any rank,” wrote Peter, “until they show us and the fatherland no services.”

The table of ranks was subjected to numerous changes, but in general it existed until 1917.

After Peter I, the nobles receive one privilege after another. Catherine II actually freed the nobles from compulsory service while maintaining serfdom for the peasants, which created a real gulf between the nobles and the people. The pressure of the nobles on the peasantry and their anger became one of the reasons for the Pugachev uprising.

The apogee of the power of the Russian nobility was the receipt of " noble liberty”- a letter of Catherine II, freeing the nobles from compulsory service. But with this began the decline of the nobility, which gradually turned into an "idle class", and the slow ruin of the lower nobility. And after the peasant reform of 1861, the economic position of the nobility weakened even more.

By the beginning of the XX century. the hereditary nobility, "the first pillar of the throne" and "one of the most reliable instruments of the government", is gradually losing its economic and administrative dominance.

titles of nobility

In Muscovite Russia there was only one aristocratic title - "prince". He came from the word "prince" and meant that his ancestors once ruled any part of Russia. Not only Russians possessed this title - grants to princes and foreigners who converted to Orthodoxy were allowed.

Foreign titles in Russia appeared under Peter I: "baron" and "count". There is the following explanation for this: in the territories annexed by Peter there were already people with such titles, and these titles were also worn by foreigners whom Peter attracted to Russia. But the title "count" was first burdened with the words "Holy Roman Empire", i.e. this title was assigned at the request of the Russian monarch by the German emperor. In January 1776, Catherine II intercedes with the "Roman Emperor" Grigory Orlov " give the Roman Empire princely dignity, for which the post».

Golovin (1701) and Menshikov (1702) become the first counts of the Holy Roman Empire in Russia, and under Catherine II, four of her favorites receive the titles of princes of the Holy Roman Empire: Orlov, Potemkin, Bezborodko and Zubov. But the assignment of such titles ceases in 1796.

Title "Count"

Count's heraldic crown

Graph(German graph) - a royal official in the Early Middle Ages in Western Europe. The title originated in the 4th century. in the Roman Empire and was originally assigned to the highest dignitaries.

During the period of feudal fragmentation graph- feudal lord of the county, then becomes the title of the highest nobility. Woman - countess. As a title, it still formally continues to be preserved in most European countries with a monarchical form of government.

Sheremetiev became the first Russian count in 1706.

Boris Petrovich Sheremetiev (1652-1719)

Russian commander during the Northern War, diplomat, one of the first Russian field marshals.

Born in the old boyar family of the Sheremetevs.

In 1681 he commanded troops against the Tatars. He proved himself in the military and diplomatic fields. In 1686, he participated in the conclusion of the "Eternal Peace" with the Commonwealth, and then was sent to Warsaw to ratify the concluded peace.

Protected Russia from the Crimean raids. In 1695, he participated in the first Azov campaign of Peter I.

In 1697-1699. visited Poland, Austria, Italy, the island of Malta, carrying out diplomatic missions of Peter I. During the Northern War of 1700-1721. proved to be a cautious and talented commander who earned the trust of Peter I. In 1701, he inflicted a defeat on the Swedes, from which they were "for a long time unreasonable and not corrected", for which he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and granted the rank of Field Marshal. Subsequently, he won several victories over the Swedes.

In 1705-1706. Sheremetyev suppressed the rebellion of the archers in Astrakhan, for which he was the first in Russia to be awarded the title of count.

AT last years he expressed a desire to be tonsured as a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, but the tsar did not allow this, just as he did not allow the execution of Sheremetyev’s will to bury him in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra: Peter I ordered Sheremetev to be buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, forcing even a dead associate to serve the state.

At the end of the XIX century. in Russia there were over 300 count families. The title of count in Soviet Russia was abolished by the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of November 11, 1917.

Title "Baron"

English baronial crown

Baron(from late lat. baro with the original meaning "man, man"). In medieval feudal Western Europe, a large sovereign nobleman and feudal lord, later just an honorary title of nobility. Woman - baroness. The title of baron in England is preserved to this day and is located in the hierarchical system below the title of viscount. In Germany, this title was below the count.

In the Russian Empire, the title of baron was introduced by Peter I, the first to receive it in 1710 was P.P. Shafirov. Then A. I. Osterman (1721), A. G., N. G. and S. G. Stroganovs (1722), A.-E. Stambken (1726). The families of the barons were divided into Russian, Baltic and foreign.

Pyotr Pavlovich Shafirov (1669-1739)

Diplomat of the time of Peter the Great, Vice-Chancellor. Knight of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (1719). In 1701-1722. actually supervised the Russian post. In 1723 he was sentenced to death on charges of abuse, but after Peter's death he was able to return to diplomatic activity.

He came from a family of Polish Jews who settled in Smolensk and converted to Orthodoxy. He began his service as an interpreter in 1691 in the same embassy office where his father also served. Accompanying Peter the Great during his travels and campaigns, he took part in the conclusion of an agreement with the Polish king August II (1701) and with the ambassadors of the seven-grad prince Rakoczi. In 1709 he became a Privy Councilor and was promoted to Vice-Chancellor. In 1711, he concluded the Prut peace treaty with the Turks and himself, together with Count M. B. Sheremetev, remained a hostage to them. He concluded agreements with Denmark, Prussia, France on the preservation of peace in Europe.

In 1723, Shafirov quarreled with the powerful prince A. D. Menshikov and the chief prosecutor Skornyakov-Pisarev, convicting them of embezzlement. In response, he himself was accused of embezzlement and sentenced to death, which Peter I replaced with exile to Siberia, but on the way there he allowed him to stop "for residence" in Nizhny Novgorod "under a strong guard."

Empress Catherine I, upon accession to the throne, returned Shafirov from exile, restored him to the baronial title, conferred the rank of real state councilor, made him president of the College of Commerce and entrusted the compilation of the history of Peter the Great.

The barons enjoyed the right to appeal "your honor"(like untitled nobles) or "Mr. Baron".

At the end of the XIX century. in Russia there were about 240 baronial families (including extinct ones), mainly representatives of the Baltic (Baltic) nobility. The title was abolished by the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of November 11, 1917.

Baron P.N. Wrangel

Title "prince"

Prince- the head of a feudal monarchical state or a separate political entity (specific prince) in the 9th-16th centuries. among the Slavs and some other peoples; representative of the feudal aristocracy. Later it became the highest title of nobility, equivalent to a prince or a duke in Western and Southern Europe, in Central Europe (the former Holy Roman Empire), this title is called Fürst, and in Northern Europe - king.

In Russia Grand Duke(or princess) - the title of nobility of the members royal family. Princess also called the prince's wife, knyazhych(among the Slavs) - the son of a prince, princess- The daughter of a prince.

Y. Pantyukhin "Prince Alexander Nevsky" ("For the Russian Land!")

Princely power, at first most often elective, gradually becomes hereditary (Rurikovich in Russia, Gediminoviches and Jagiellons in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Piasts in Poland, etc.). With the formation of a centralized state, the appanage princes gradually became part of the grand ducal (since 1547 - royal) court in the Moscow principality. in Russia until the 18th century. the title of prince was only generic. From the beginning of the XVIII century. the title of prince also began to be complained by the tsar to the highest dignitaries for special merits (the first prince granted was A. D. Menshikov).

Russian princes

Before Peter I, there were 47 princely families in Russia, some of which originated from Rurik. Princely titles were divided into "His Excellency" and "his lordship" which was considered higher.

Until 1797, new princely families did not appear, with the exception of Menshikov, granted in 1707 the title of Prince of Izhora.

Under Paul I, this title began to be awarded, and the annexation of Georgia literally “blew up” the Russian nobility - 86 clans recognized the princely title.

To late XIX in. in the Russian Empire there were 250 princely families, 40 of which were descended from Rurik or Gediminas. 56% of the princely families in the empire were Georgian.

In addition, there were about 30 Tatar, Kalmyk and Mordovian princes; the status of these princes was considered below the baronial.

Did you know?

Portrait of A.V. Suvorov. Unknown artist of the 19th century.

Did you know that Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, the national hero of Russia, the great Russian commander, who did not suffer a single defeat in his military career (more than 60 battles), one of the founders of Russian military art, had several titles at the same time: prince Italian (1799), graph Rymniksky (1789), graph of the Holy Roman Empire, Generalissimo of the Russian land and sea forces, Field Marshal of the Austrian and Sardinian troops, grandee of the Kingdom of Sardinia and prince of royal blood (with the title "cousin of the king"), holder of all Russian orders of his time, awarded to men, as well as many foreign military orders.

It turns out that, according to the assurances of Internet sites, almost every Russian can become a nobleman in our time. And for this it is not at all necessary to recreate your family tree, looking for a noble descendant in it, or leafing through old albums with images of gentlemen trampling corner fireplaces in spacious halls in order to find at least some portrait resemblance. Everything is much simpler: you just need to pay a cash contribution to one of the noble societies or to a person authorized to distribute titles.

And, surprisingly, there are quite a few of them in Russia. At one time, thanks to them, our fatherland was replenished with huge ranks of nobles. Among them, the most famous are: Alexander Malinin - Russian pop singer, Bari Alibasov - producer, Ayatskov - governor, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger himself! There are also “simpler” people, for example, he received the title of a nobleman and an ordinary stove-maker from Saratov, now any fireplace lining he made has its own noble seal.

How much will such an honorary title cost? Rates vary from organization to organization. So, for a count, you will have to pay from 18 thousand rubles, for a bigger prince - from 12 thousand euros. And no matter who you work as a doctor, realtor, accountant, or your main occupation is, for example, installing chimneys, if you have a certain amount of banknotes - welcome to the nobility.

However, in fact, in most cases, such proposals are just a way to "powder your brains." No matter how beautiful and loud the names of organizations are: "New Elite of Russia" - the Russian noble society, "New Elite of the World" - an international order chapter, they do not have the right to give, sell, offer a title of nobility. But the laws of the Russian Federation do not punish for this ...

In fact, there are only two legal noble organizations in Russia: the St. Petersburg Noble Assembly and the Russian Noble Assembly. The first unites real hereditary nobles on the basis of the relevant certificate, the second is a corporate public organization, the members of which are also real (on the direct paternal) and associated nobles (descendants on the maternal side). There is also the Union of Russian Nobles, but it operates and is located in Europe.
But none of these Assemblies confer titles of nobility! It does not issue any certificates with the assignment of a title! Only the Head of the Imperial House has the right to grant the title. At the moment, the Head is the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna. True, you can become a nobleman (not hereditary) if the princess awards you the Order of St. Anne, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for special services to the homeland and its citizens.

Therefore, do not believe the scammers, especially now, when most of the "nobles" dream of a wonderful summer vacation!

Many people dream of a title of nobility. Persons who have this privilege can sit in the presence of the British Queen, demand that they be addressed as "Your Excellency" and other pleasant things. How can you get the coveted title of nobility? There are 7 popular ways.

1. By inheritance. If you have suspicions that your ancestors were real aristocrats, start looking for your roots. In Russia, this issue is dealt with by the Russian Genealogical Federation, in Italy - by the International Commission for the Study of Knightly Orders, in France - by the International Genealogical Academy. First, look for old photographs of your grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Maybe one of them will be in the photograph in the uniform of the General-in-Chief? Or maybe your great-grandmother graduated Smolny Institute? Who knows, what if your ancestors were the Yusupov princes or the Duke of Marlborough?

2. On merit. In ancient times, monarchs granted a title of nobility for military merit. In our time, the members of the Beatles received the Order of the British Empire in 1965 for their valuable contribution to culture. This fact was greatly outraged by the British aristocrats, who did not want to put up with this circumstance and returned their orders to the Crown. However, the scandal soon faded away, and the title of nobility was also awarded to Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elizabeth Taylor. The British aristocrats took the news without criticism.

3. Buy. For a few hundred dollars, you can buy a parchment on which your last name will be displayed, which traces back almost to the Rurikovichs. If you want a more powerful letter, for 5-10 thousand dollars you can buy a document that is almost identical to the documents of Art. 19. Of course, it will not be the original, but you can hang it in the living room and show it to naive guests. In Scotland, the Glencarn estate is for sale, which is divided into small plots of 30 pounds. Everyone can buy not only this plot, but also receive a title of nobility as a bonus. Many aristocrats claim that such a sale of titles has no legal effect, but the estate is being sold very quickly.

4. Thanks to good connections. For example, in Ukraine, Orest Fedorovich Karelin-Romanishin-Rusin, aka King Orest 1, Metropolitan of the Carpathian Roman, Master of Knightly Orders. He was crowned independently, but despite this, they were given the titles of Leonid Kuchma and Alexander Kuzmuk (prince and count, respectively). It is unlikely that you will receive a title of nobility from the hands of Juan Carlos of Spain, but having friends on Slavic soil, you have a chance to join the aristocrats.

5. By a happy twist of fate. If you get to the right place at the right time, you also have a chance to get the coveted title. For example, a doctor who provided proctological assistance to the emperor of the Habsburg dynasty in the 18th century received a noble title from the hands of a grateful lord. Nowadays, you can try your luck in Africa, somewhere in Lesotho, there are rumors that the kings there are very responsive and are especially grateful.

6. Learn it. For example, one Moscow supply manager became Nikolay the 3rd Romanov. Just changed his name and proclaimed himself a nobleman. And Charles Stopford, who is a US citizen, lived in Europe under the name of Lord Christopher Buckingham for more than 20 years, using false documents. In a word, if you are an aristocrat in your soul, a letter from you will not go anywhere!

7. Marry a nobleman. If, of course, whores to his taste)))