What is the manifesto on peasant freedom? Manifesto on the freedom of the nobility. State Duma of the Russian Empire

3. ABOUT FREEDOM OR LIBERTY OF Slavenskaya. The SLAVS, in their BRAVERY and courage, strive hard day by day, also fighting against the ancient Greek and Roman Caesars, and always receiving a glorious victory, in all freedom alive; to the benefit of the great King

Chapter 37 Unacceptable Liberties “My good friend,” Francis Walsingham wrote to Robert Dudley on September 29, 1584, “Yesterday I received from the Lord Mayor, along with a letter, a printed book, which contains slander against your Lordship, and there have not been more malicious writings since then.” since then

The publication of the manifesto “On the Liberty of the Nobility” is a short decree of Peter III. This happened in the second half of the 18th century.

Background to the document and publication of the manifesto “On the Liberty of the Nobility”

In the Russian Empire, the formation of new relations in the system of power and the regrouping of the aristocratic classes were in full swing. The boyars, who were the closest group to the rulers in medieval Rus', increasingly lost their positions over the years. The struggle with the nobles continued for several centuries. By the middle of the 18th century, it became clearly clear that the nobles (former servants of the boyar courts) were increasingly firmly established in a privileged position and it was necessary to legislate this fact. The Manifesto “On the Liberty of the Nobility” (1762) freed nobles from the obligation to perform state military service. They were allowed to leave the country freely. Although there was a reservation that in wartime such an obligation still remains. Aristocrats who went abroad during the hostilities in which Russia participated were forced to return and participate in campaigns.

Publication of the manifesto “On the Liberty of the Nobility” and its consequences

The consolidation of the noble class and its final formation as the highest aristocratic stratum of society began under Peter I. In essence, the publication of the manifesto “On the Liberty of the Nobility” finally completed their corresponding Now the nobility replaced the medieval boyars. The manifesto “On the Liberty of the Nobility” was supplemented when the so-called “Charter of Grant to the Russian Nobility” was published, which further expanded the freedoms and powers of the latter. Now all noble rights were assigned to them for life and forever and were inherited. All representatives of the class were equal in rights, regardless of the antiquity of the family and acquired titles. However, these same salaries tied the nobles to the royal power, made them dependent on it, which, in general, was quite consistent with the processes of absolutization of monarchical power that took place throughout the European continent.

The nobles literally turned

into government officials, filling the bureaucracy. In addition to provisions on military service, this document also contained other points. He also secured the full and unshakable rights of the aristocratic class to real estate: land plots and estates. The nobles were exempt from any kind and any taxes. The corporate structure of the estate was formally consolidated: noble assemblies were created that had official status in the face of the state. The whole complex of these measures predetermined the main consequence - the formation and strengthening of an estate-representative monarchy in Russia, which at that time was an advanced political system for Europe.

The Manifesto “On the Granting of Liberty and Freedom to the Entire Russian Nobility” (the traditional short name is the Manifesto of Liberty to the Nobility) is a law that expanded the rights and liberties of the Russian nobility. Published on February 18, 1762 by Emperor Peter III. Nobles were exempt from compulsory state and military service; Nobles who were in public service could retire under certain conditions. They received the right to travel abroad freely, but at the request of the government to return to Russia. During wars they had to serve in the army. The main provisions of the Manifesto were confirmed by the Charter of the Nobility (1785).

Already during the period of the emergence of the Old Russian state in the 10th–11th centuries. there were privileged groups in it - the princely squad and the tribal nobility, which gradually integrated with each other. Their main function was military service to the prince; in addition, they participated in the management: senior warriors - in collecting polyudya, junior warriors carried out departments. administrative and judicial orders of the prince. In the 12th century. with the beginning of the fragmentation of Russian lands and principalities, a class group of service boyars was formed, membership of which was determined not only by service to the prince, but also by the emerging patrimonial land ownership of the boyars. All privileged groups were united within the framework of the Sovereign’s court of the principality, which included the nobles themselves (from the word “court”). They constituted his lowest stratum; they were initially persons with a certain measure of personal bondage from the prince, who were initially at his full support. From the 13th century nobles among noble boyars are also known. The status of the nobles gradually increased: no later than the 13th century. they received the right to own estates.
Formation in the XV–XVI centuries. The Moscow state in the form of a monarchy with class representation fundamentally changed the structure of the nobility, as well as the nature of its ties with the monarch. Vassal ties were replaced by relations of allegiance to the Moscow Grand Duke (from 1547 - to the Tsar). Instead of many princely courts, one Sovereign court was formed - the Moscow Vel. prince, who united the upper and partly middle strata of privileged groups.
Along with the isolation of the nobility by the middle of the 16th century. common features in the legal and social status of the entire nobility became clearer. With the abolition of feeding and other reforms in the 1550s. the principles of material support for the military and administrative services of the nobility were unified (the system of local salaries, payment of cash salaries from central government institutions), and the conditions of service were determined. All official appointments were concentrated in one order - the Rank.
The events of the Time of Troubles led to the physical disappearance of many aristocratic families. The nobility split into military-political groups associated with various centers of power in the country; part of the elite was taken hostage by the command of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth garrison in Moscow and was removed from participation in governing the country. For the first time in their history, county corporations of the provincial nobility were involved in armed struggle for political purposes. In the middle - 2nd half of the 17th century. awareness of common social, economic and partly political interests, primarily of the provincial nobility, but at the same time of the nobility as a whole, increased.
In the 17th century Service foreigners gradually became part of the Russian nobility; after the annexation of part of the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, part of the so-called. Smolensk gentry. The nobility became the environment in which “Western” influences were absorbed. Interest arose in descriptions, reference books, works on genealogy, and heraldry. The number of adult men of all groups and strata of the nobility by the end of the 17th century. was over 50 thousand.
The policy of Peter I, aimed at further expanding the territory of the state and centralizing power, was accompanied by a number of measures to form a single noble class. Since the 1690s The replenishment of the Boyar Duma gradually ceased, which deprived the representatives of the clans who constantly sat in it of the advantages. The next step was the legislative registration of noble services. It was associated with the too large number of the Sovereign's court, which led to a crisis in the governance of the country, as well as with the gradual creation of a regular army. In 1701, the tsar announced that “employees of all ranks serve from the lands, but no one owns lands for free,” which to a certain extent equalized landowners and patrimonial owners. To encourage the most distinguished in their service, Peter I introduced, in addition to the existing princely titles, European titles - count and baron. Contrary to existing traditions, the tsar granted nobility to many of his associates of ignoble origin. He legally formalized the ancient tradition, according to which the service of nobles was regular, compulsory, lifelong, and extended the practice of issuing cash salaries for civil and military service to the entire nobility. Peter I also introduced a rule according to which the service of all nobles was carried out on the basis of personal service from the age of 15 (in 1740 nobles were allowed to choose between military and civil service). In the Table of Ranks (1722), Peter I proclaimed public service to be the main and honorable duty of the nobles and ordered “the noble nobility to be considered according to their fitness.” The report card confirmed the principle of personal service of nobles, their promotion in state, military and court service depending on their own abilities, and not on nobility and birth. In addition, it made it possible for people from other social groups to receive D. By the end of the reign of the Emperor. Peter I, the term “nobility” extended to all representatives of the privileged class in Russia in the 1720s–50s. Along with it, the term “gentry” was also used. The number of noble landowners in the 1st third of the 18th century. was approx. 64.5 thousand people (in 1777 - about 108 thousand people).
The manifesto of Empress Anna Ivanovna “On the procedure for the admission and dismissal of noble children into the service” (1736) gave the right to one or more sons to remain at home to manage the estate, but with the obligation to study in order to be fit for civil service. For other sons, who had to serve from the age of 20, the service period was limited to 25 years. However, gradually the nobles began to enroll their sons in military service from infancy, so they began real service already in the rank of officer. Despite some ease in the conditions of civil service, it remained the main responsibility of the upper class. Gradually, the rank in the minds of the nobleman acquired a meaning close to an honorary title. The lifestyle of the nobleman and his family depended on his position on the bureaucratic ladder.
Realizing the growth of their importance in society, representatives of the nobility under the successors of Peter I began a long struggle with the state apparatus for their class rights and privileges. This struggle was reflected in a number of projects of the time of Anna Ivanovna and Elizabeth Petrovna, in particular, prepared by the Statutory Commission, which worked since 1754. Elizabeth’s successor, Emperor Peter III, signed a manifesto on February 18, 1762 (less than 2 months after accession to the throne) “On the granting of liberty and freedom to the entire Russian nobility.” Contemporaries named the Prosecutor General of the Senate A.I. as the probable authors of his text. Glebov and the emperor's secretary D.V. Volkova. The manifesto consisted of a preamble and 9 articles. He proclaimed the optionality of noble service, declaring it an honorable duty, and not a legal obligation. Noble officers received the right to resign at their own request, with the exception of wartime and the period of 3 months before the start of a military campaign. Nobles who did not have officer ranks (soldiers and chief officers) could resign subject to 12 years of service. The manifesto provided the nobles with the opportunity to freely travel abroad, enter the service of other European sovereigns and retain the ranks they had served abroad upon returning to their homeland, however, if necessary, the nobles were obliged, at the call of the government, to return to Russia under the threat of sequestration of their estates. The Manifesto left the only obligation of the nobility to receive education - at home “through skilled and knowledgeable teachers,” as well as in Russian and foreign educational institutions.
The manifesto had various social and sociocultural consequences. He destroyed the connection between the right of ownership of serf souls and public service, and finally turned the landowner peasants into the undivided property of the nobility. A significant number of nobles retired and moved to the countryside, which contributed to the emergence of Russian estate culture and the formation of a special social type of rural landowner. The main provisions of the Manifesto were confirmed under Catherine II in the Charter of the Nobility of 1785.

Immortal glory to the wise Monarch, Our Dear Sovereign, Our Grandfather, Peter the Great and the All-Russian Emperor, what burden and great labors he was forced to endure solely for the well-being and benefit of His fatherland, raising Russia to a perfect knowledge of both military, civil and political affairs, that is not not only all of Europe, but also most of the world is a false witness.
But how to restore this it was necessary, first of all, as the main member of the state, the noble nobility, to accustom and show how great the advantages of the enlightened powers are in the well-being of the human race against countless peoples immersed in the depths of ignorance; therefore, at that time, the very extreme insisted on the Russian nobility, showing his excellent signs of favor to them, ordered them to enter military and civil services and, moreover, to train noble youth not only in various liberal sciences, but also in many useful arts, sending them to European state and for the same reason, establishing various schools inside Russia in order to achieve the desired fruit with the greatest haste.
It is true that such institutions, although at the beginning they partly seemed burdensome and unbearable for the nobility, were deprived of peace, were away from home, continued military and other services against their will, and enrolled their children in them, from which some hid, exposing themselves for this not only fines, but also deprived of their estates, as careless about their property and their descendants.
The aforementioned establishment, although at the beginning it was somewhat associated with coercion, but was very useful, was followed by everyone who owned the Russian Throne since the time of Peter the Great, and especially our dear Aunt, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna of blessed memory, imitating the deeds of the sovereign, her parent, knowledge political affairs and various sciences spread and multiplied under her patronage in the Russian state; But what happened from all this, We see with our pleasure, and every true son of his fatherland must admit that countless benefits followed from it, rudeness was destroyed in those who were careless about the common good, ignorance was changed into sound reason, useful knowledge and diligence in service multiplied skilled and brave generals in military affairs, in civil and political affairs placed knowledgeable and fit people for the job, in a word, to conclude, noble thoughts rooted in the hearts of true Russian patriots boundless loyalty and love for Us, great zeal and excellent zeal in our service, and therefore We do not find the need for compulsion to serve, which was necessary until now.
And so We, in consideration of the mentioned circumstances, according to the power given to Us by the Almighty, from Our highest imperial mercy, from now on, for eternity and in hereditary generations, we grant to all the Russian noble nobility liberty and freedom, which can continue to serve, as in Our Empire, as well as in other European powers allied to Us, on the basis of the following legislation:
1) All the nobles who are in Our various services can continue this as long as they wish, and their condition will allow them, but the military, neither during the campaign, nor before the start of it three months before, about dismissal from service, or abshida, do not dare to ask, but at the end both inside and outside the state; those in military service can ask their commanders for release from service or resignation, and wait for a resolution; those who are in all of Our services, in the first eight classes, from Our Most High Confirmation, and other ranks are determined by the departments to which they belong.
2) All serving nobles for decent and blameless service will be rewarded upon retirement with one rank, if they were in the previous rank with which they are resigning for more than a year, and then those who will ask for dismissal from all matters; and those who wish to join the civil service from the military and there will be vacancies, then after consideration they are determined to give awards if they have been in the same rank for three years, that is, in the one with which they are going to civil service or some other Our service.
3) Whoever, being retired for some time or after the military service, being in the civil and other Our services, wishes to re-enter military service, such will be accepted, if their merits prove to be so, in the same ranks in which they belong, with the renaming of military ranks, but junior seniority in front of all those who, when they were discharged from military service, were in the same ranks; If all of them have already been promoted, then the person who is being selected for military service can receive seniority from the day he is determined; We decree this for this purpose, so that those who serve before those who do not serve will have benefit and advantage; in the same way, whoever, having been dismissed from civil service, and then from retirement wishes to enter civil service and other services, except for military service, and if he can be accepted according to his suitability, then enroll according to the same article, excluding one renaming.
4) Whoever, having been dismissed from Our service, wishes to go to other European states, should give Our Foreign Collegium the appropriate passports without hindrance with such an obligation that when need demands, the nobles who are outside Our state would come to their fatherland when only If proper publication is made, then everyone in this case is guilty of carrying out Our will with all possible speed under the fine of sequestration of his property.
5) Russian nobles who continue to serve, besides Ours, with other European sovereigns can, upon returning to their fatherland, according to their desires and ability, enter into vacancies in Our service; those in the services of the crowned heads with the same ranks for which patents will be announced, and those serving with other rulers with a reduction in ranks, as the previous legislation was established and according to which is now being implemented.
6) And since, according to this most merciful establishment of Ours, none of the Russian nobles will involuntarily continue to serve, below any zemstvo affairs from Our established governments will be used, unless a special need requires, but that is no different than the signing of Our own hand with a personal name If it is commanded by decree, then so will the Smolensk nobility; on the contrary, in St. Petersburg and in Moscow, it was determined by decree of the sovereign Emperor Peter the Great under the Senate and his Office, several people from retired nobles, for all sorts of emerging needs; then We give the highest command from now on, always with a change in weather, to be in the Senate of 30, and in its office of 20 people, for which purpose the heralds annually, according to the proportion of those living in the provinces, and not the nobles who are in the services, and repair the order, however, without appointing anyone by name , but for the nobles themselves in the provinces and provinces to hold elections among themselves, announcing only who will be chosen in the offices, so that they can report this to the heraldry, and inflict deportation on those chosen.
7) Although by this Our all-merciful legalization all noble Russian nobles, with the exception of those of the same palace, will always enjoy freedom, Our fatherly care for them extends even further, and for their young children, whom we now command for the sole information only to declare at the age of 12 from birth them in the heraldry, provinces, provinces and cities, where it is more advantageous and more capable for someone, and from their parents or from their relatives, from whom they are in charge, to take news of what they have been taught until the age of twelve, and where they want to continue the science further, whether inside Our state, in various schools established at Our expense, or in other European powers, or in their homes through skillful and knowledgeable teachers, if the wealth of the estate allows the parents to do so; however, so that no one dares to raise their children under Our grave wrath without teaching the sciences appropriate to the noble nobility; For this reason, we command all those nobles, behind whom there are no more than 1000 souls of peasants, to declare their children directly in Our Gentry Cadet Corps, where they will be taught everything that belongs to the knowledge of the noble nobility with the most diligent zeal, and after studying each one according to his dignity with the awarding of ranks he will graduate, and then anyone can join and continue serving according to the above.
8) Nobles currently in Our military service, soldiers and other lower ranks less than chief officer, who have not achieved officer rank, should not be dismissed, unless those who continued military service for more than 12 years will receive dismissal from service.
9) But as We legitimize this Our All-Merciful institution to all the noble nobility for eternity with a fundamental and indispensable rule; then in conclusion of this, We, by Our Imperial word, most solemnly affirm that this will always be sacred and inviolable in the established force and benefits, and Our legal heirs below us can do anything to abolish this, for the preservation of this Our legalization will be theirs. the unshakable assertion of the Autocratic All-Russian Throne; On the contrary, We hope that all the noble Russian nobility, feeling so much Ours towards them and their descendants of generosity, by their all-submissive loyalty and zeal to Us, will be prompted not to retire, or to hide from service, but with jealousy and desire to enter into it, and in an honest and shameless manner, to continue it at the very least possible, no less than to teach their children with diligence and zeal in decent sciences, for all those who have not had any service anywhere, but only as they themselves will spend all their time in laziness and idleness, will not to use their children for the benefit of their fatherland in any useful sciences, those We, as those who are careless about the common good, command to despise and destroy all Our loyal subjects and true sons of the fatherland, and below the arrival to Our court, or in public meetings and celebrations is tolerated there will be.

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“Manifesto on the Freedom of the Nobility”: evidence of the weakness of the state or a natural result of processes in society?

What did the Manifesto proclaim as the duties of the nobility?

Under what conditions was retirement from military and civil service possible?

Why does the Manifesto for the first time allow for the possibility of Russian nobles to serve foreign sovereigns?

How does the Manifesto justify the abolition of compulsory service for nobles?