In the 16-17th centuries. ministries and departments habitual to us today did not exist. The orders served as analogues. Their feature was that they duplicated each other, the functions of a specific order were not fully understood. The problem was sometimes impossible to solve. However, a Local Order stood out among them.
It is about its functions and features that will be discussed in this article.
Local order: functions
So what was this agency? A local order in the 16-17th centuries, or a local hut at a later time, occupied a central place in the administration of the Moscow state. It was the second most important after the Department. If the latter distributed key posts and posts, then the Local Order controlled local and patrimonial land tenure. To understand its real significance, we will pass on to the key concepts of land use types.
What is patrimony
In the 16-17th centuries. Muscovy was a single centralized state. However, this process was very long. Prior to this, in Russia there was only one type of land use - patrimony. Literally "from the father." Compare the modern "stepfather" - words have a common root.
Patrimony is a possession that was passed from father to son. The tradition was so strong that this right was considered sacred. Even when capturing enemy lands, no one could think about taking land from the owner. The state, in our understanding of the word, did not claim to be. The owner of such land was called the boyar. It was the highest title in our country from the formation of the state to the reforms of Peter the Great, that is, a thousand-year tradition. A feature of such a holding was that the boyar could join any state with his land, creating a kind of enclave. Imagine a situation where, say, the owner of a land plot in the Novosibirsk region decided to join the United States or France. According to the laws of the 15-16th centuries. it was quite possible. So, Moscow pulled over almost all of the Ryazan’s boyars to its side, making it look like a donut from this land. The Ryazan princes had no choice but to join the Moscow principality.
What is an estate
The estate is a fundamentally different property. The landowner is not a boyar, but a nobleman.
It performs the functions of state military service. For this he receives land. If the prince did not like this or that landowner, he could calmly take the land from him. This is a fundamental difference from the estate.
The role of the Local Order
Based on the concepts of land use, we can conclude what role the Local Order played:
- Distribution of estates.
- Proof of ownership.
Distribution of estates
Even the uninitiated in our country can understand what power was used by the official who appointed the land. Prince of Moscow, and with the beginning of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the tsar, as a rule, did not distribute pieces of land to his future soldiers.
The title to ownership was issued by Razryadny, but the Local Order is an order that could determine both the best lands and swamps. Much depended on this department for the future fate of man. Oddly enough, bribes and bribes played a small role in the distribution. Extra money is simply not needed in a feudal society, which is fed from agricultural products. Of fundamental importance was the origin, genus. If the nobleman was a native of noble boyar families, then he got the best estates. For the "slaves", that is, immigrants from the peasants, the most "thin" plots were intended.
Proof of ownership
Until the 16-17th centuries. The Moscow state has taken the difficult path of centralization. The fragmentation, constant wars, the transition of one principality to another created a lot of problems among the boyars. Their patrimony was sometimes impossible to confirm with documents. The local order had at its disposal books in which dynasties with land use were stored. However, the transition to a single management gave rise to bureaucratic problems. Not all data from all lands reached the unified office. Such boyars had to beat the thresholds of the Local Order for a long time. Some passed into the status of “children of the boyars,” that is, landless boyars whose ancestors once owned vast lands. Many of them joined the ranks of the nobles.
Of course, they received land, but this was no longer property, but payment for the service.
Of course, the most important was the discharge order. It was he who appointed estates and estates, but it was precisely the Local who was engaged in surveying.
Subsequently, the role of the department increased. In addition to the traditional functions of the archive and the office under the Rank Order, his task began to collect all taxes and taxes from the land, census and land surveying, as well as a set of recruits in the army.
Number
Local order is the second most important agency, as was said above. People "from the street" were not taken into it. At the head of the order was the boyar, who, as a rule, was part of the Duma. Sometimes he was replaced by a duma clerk, which, in principle, was equivalent. He had as assistants two clerks and about 200 employees - clerks. With the growth of functions, the staff reached 500 people.
First land survey school
Local order is considered the first agency in Russia, where they began to prepare land surveyors. Students were divided between departments (tables). Their number reached 100 people. The training lasted about 2-3 years. Schoolchildren studied mathematics, grammar, land surveying, drawing, techniques for assessing the quality of the earth.
Operating procedure
If someone complains about the modern bureaucracy, tell him about the procedure for considering the request in the Local Order in the 16-17th centuries:
- At the petitions, the clerks made a record of what preparatory steps the clerk needed to conduct.
- The clerk found books, wrote out the necessary excerpts from them, attached all certificates to the petition.
- At the College of the Order, the petition was heard, a decision was made.
- Local governors in the field executed the decision.
The procedure is similar to modern litigation. Those who have experience know how many months, and sometimes years, it can drag on.