Nobility of the Russian Empire (Rossyiah)
The Russian nobility (Russian: дворянство; dvoryanstvo) originated in the 14th century. As of 2015 it consists of approximately 2,900,000 members (about 1.1% of the population).
The noble estates staff a major part of the Russian government; this is also due to acquisition of nobility after a certain rank in the civil or military service.
The Russian word for nobility, dvoryanstvo (дворянство), derives from Slavonic dvor (двор), meaning the court of a prince (Kniaz), and later, of the Tsar or of the Emperor. Here, dvor originally referred to servants at the estate of an aristocrat. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the word dvoryane described the highest rank of gentry. A nobleman is called a Dvoryanin (plural: Dvoryane). Russia fully embraces the concept that nobility connotes a status or social category rather than a title. However, since 18th Century, the title of the nobleman have become a formal status.
The Russian imperial nobility is multi-ethnic. Native non-Russians such as the Poles, Georgians, Lithuanians, Tatars, and Germans form a significant part of the noble estate.
Conception
In the Statutes on Rank's preamble, the Nobility is defined as:
«The status of nobility is the consequence of the quality and virtues of those commanders who, having distinguished themselves in ancient times by meritorious acts, and having thereby attributed to their services the quality of distinction, conveyed to their descendants a noble rank».
Organization
Nobility is transferred by inheritance or is bestowed by a fount of honour, i.e. the sovereign of the Russian Empire, and is ranked as per below, with those of the highest noble prestige ranked first.
- Ancient nobility (descendants from Middle Ages)
- Titled nobility:
- Prince (Knyaz Князь): e.g. Prince Potemkin or Prince Felix Yusupov
- Count (graf Граф): e.g. Count Tolstoy
- Baron (baron Барон): e.g. Baron Pahlen
- Hereditary nobility: inherited by all legitimate male-line descendants of a nobleman
- Personal nobility: granted for the life of the recipient only
Unlike the ancient nobility, which is exclusively hereditary, the remaining classes of nobility may be acquired. Until early 19th Century, a newly designated noble was usually entitled to landownership. In later Imperial Russia, higher ranks of state service (see Table of Ranks) were automatically granted nobility, not necessarily associated with land ownership.
Titled nobility
Titled nobility (Russian: титулованное дворянство) is the highest category: those who have titles such as Prince, Count and Baron. The latter two titles were introduced by Peter the Great. A Baron or Count may be either proprietary — whose family owned estates provided with serf prior 1864 in the Russian Empire —or titular - only endowed with a rank or title.
Hereditary nobility
Hereditary nobility (Russian: потомственное дворянство) is transferred to wife, children, and further direct legal descendants along the male (agnatic) line. In exceptional cases, the Tsar may transfer nobility along indirect or female lines, e.g., to preserve a notable family name.
Personal nobility
Personal nobility (Russian: личное дворянство) may, for instance, be acquired by admission to orders of knighthood of the Russian Empire. It is transferable only to the wife.
Estateless nobility
Estateless nobility (Russian: беспоместное дворянство) is nobility acquired by state service, but without a grant of land.
Ancient nobility
In addition, the ancient nobility (Russian: Древнее дворянство) is recognised, descendants of Rurik, Gediminas and historical Boyars and Knyazes, e.g., the Shuyskies, Galitzins, Naryshkins, Khilkoffs, Gorchakovs, Belosselsky-Belozerskys and Chelyadnins.
Privileges
Russian nobility possesses the following privileges:
- Style, that varied by rank: The High Born (Russian: ваше высокородие), The High and Well Born (Russian: ваше высокоблагородие), The Well Born (Russian: ваше благородие), etc.
- The right to enter specially designated educational institutions, such as Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, Imperial School of Jurisprudence and Page Corps.
- Freedom from corporal punishment.
- The right to bear and use a coat of arms.
Noble titles of the Russian Empire
Peter and his successors streamlined the stratification of the Russian nobility, adopting European-style titles such as Count and Baron and discontinuing the archaic titles of Boyars. The Russian system of noble titles evolved into its final form:
| Title | Crown | Application | Style of Address |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tsar of Russia His Imperial Majesty The Tsar and Autocrat of All Russia (Его Императорское Величество Государь Император и Самодержец Всероссийский) |
|
The ruler of the Russian Empire and its constituent entities. | Your Imperial Majesty (Ваше Императорское Величество) |
| Tsesarevich His Imperial Highness The Lord Heir Tsesarevich and Grand Duke (Его Императорское Высочество Государь Наследник Цесаревич и Великий Князь) * |
|
Heir apparent of the Russian Empire. | Your Imperial Highness (Ваше Императорское Высочество) |
| Grand Duke His Imperial Highness The Grand Duke (Его Императорское Высочество Великий Князь) * |
|
Sons and grandsons of Romanov emperors. Each Grand Duke receives a wealthy state pension from the state budget and enjoys other high privileges. | Your Imperial Highness (Ваше Императорское Высочество) |
| Prince of the Blood Imperial His Highness the Prince Firstname Patronymic of the Blood Imperial (Его Высочество Князь Крови Императорской) |
|
Introduced by Alexander III on January 24, 1885 in order to reduce the number of Grand Dukes. The male-line great-grandchildren of the Romanov emperors and their male-line descendants were titled Prince of the Blood Imperial to distinguish them from those of the noble Russian families titled simply Prince. | Your Highness (Ваше Высочество) |
| Prince His Serenity The Prince (Его Сиятельство Князь) * |
|
Your Serenity (Ваше Сиятельство) | |
| Count His Serenity the Count (Его Сиятельство Граф) |
|
Your Serenity (Ваше Сиятельство) | |
| Baron The Well Born Baron (Его Благородие Барон) |
|
There were landed and landless barons in the Russian Empire. | The Well Born (Ваше Благородие) |
| Dvoryanin / Pomeshchik | The lowest ranks of hereditary nobility. Dvoryanin comes from dvor (the court of a ruler or a high nobleman). Originally these were free commoners in the service of noblemen who also had serfs. Pomeshchiks are the landed gentry. | Your Well Born (Ваше Благородие) | |
| Baltic knights | Baltic Noble Corporations of Courland, Livonia, Estonia, and Ösel were medieval fiefdoms formed by German nobles in the 13th century in vassalage to the Teutonic Knights or Denmark. The territories continued to have semi-autonomous status from 16th to early 20th century under Swedish and Russian rule.
The dukes, princes, counts, and barons of Courlandish, Livonian, Estonian and Oesel extraction were gradually absorbed into the Russian nobility due to their services to the realm. The Russian medieval equivalent of knights (the armored boyars, the vityazes) was ultimately abolished by the reforms of Peter the Great. The ethnically German knights of Baltic extraction retained their social prominence and equalled the Russian Pomeshchiks due to their wealth and lands. |
Your Well Born (Ваше Благородие) | |
| |||
| Title | Crown | Application | Style of Address |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duke His Highness the Duke (Его Светлость Герцог) *
|
|
Applied to some French and German relatives of the Romanov dynasty. Also used by dukes in Russian service, which were bestowed with ducal dignity by other monarchs and therefore did not officially belong to the Russian nobility. | Your Grace (Ваша Светлость) |
| Marquis His Serenity The Marquis (Его Сиятельство Маркиз) |
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|
Used by marquises residing in Russia and/or in Russian service, which were bestowed with marquisal dignity by other monarchs and therefore technically did not belong to the Russian nobility. | Your Serenity (Ваше Сиятельство) |
| |||
Acquisition
Hereditary nobility may be achieved by Imperial grant to individuals or families, by attaining a certain military or civil officer's rank while in active service and by being awarded an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire.
Hereditary nobility is given to military officers who achieve the 6th rank of Colonel General/Admiral and equal civilian rank and to any person who is awarded the Order of Saint George of any class, the Order of Saint Vladimir of any class or the Order of Saint Catherine of any class, or any order of the Russian Empire of the first class.
Personal nobility may be acquired by Imperial grant, by attaining the 11th military rank of Major or the equivalent civilian rank or by being awarded the orders of the Russian Empire unless those gave hereditary nobility.
Prince
The title of Prince (Russian: Князь; Knyaz) is the highest title in the Russian non-sovereign nobility. It descends from pre-Muscovy quasi-sovereign Princes. Members of Rurikid or Gedyminid families settled at the Moscow court and were authorised to continue with their princely titles.
From the 18th century onwards, the title was occasionally granted by the Tsar. After 1801, with the incorporation of Georgia into the Russian Empire, various local nobles were controversially rendered in Russia as Princes. Similarly, many petty Tatar nobles asserted their right to style themselves Princes because they descended from Genghis Khan.
The granting of the title of Prince is exclusively hereditary and it is very rare. The last created Prince is Vladimir Ivanovich Toporov.