Kormleniye

Kormleniye or kormlenie (Russian: кормление, lit. 'feeding') was a system of local administration in medieval Russia whereby a prince's official received food and lodging by the local population during his stay; over time, it was replaced with monetary payments, goods, or equivalent services.[1][2]

A kormlennaya gramota was a charter given to local government officials, such as the namestnik, who, instead of receiving a salary, were granted income from the local population.[3] Over time, this korm (lit. 'food') consisted of monetary compensation.[3] The system was finally abolished in the mid-16th century, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible (r. 1533–1584); however, the practice still continued in parts of the country in the latter half of the 16th century.[4][5][6]

History

One of the oldest extant charters, written by the grand prince of Moscow, Dmitry Donskoy (r. 1359–1389), supports the assumption that the system of kormleniye significantly predates the earliest written evidence and likely originated during the reign of the Kievan grand princes.[7] The system can be traced back to the practice of poliudie as well as later princely tours of cities.[2] The practice whereby representatives of the prince collected money and food from the local population while carrying out one-time or periodically recurring duties is mentioned in the mid-11th century during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, and was later codified in the Russkaya Pravda.[2]

Russian historians have generally dated the end of the kormleniye system to a 1555 or 1556 decree by Ivan the Terrible.[8][9][10] Ivan referred to the abuses of the system as an example of the crimes committed by the boyars.[9] In northern Russia, local officials were instead elected.[5] The official record has not been preserved, but the Nikon Chronicle explains in detail how Ivan issued a decree; however, some historians believe that such a decree abolishing the system was never issued and that the Chronicle was simply summarizing the most significant reforms in previous years.[11]

References

  1. ^ Feldbrugge 2017, pp. 711, 832, 1031.
  2. ^ a b c Nazarov 2010, p. 321.
  3. ^ a b Feldbrugge 2017, p. 255.
  4. ^ Feldbrugge 2017, pp. 205, 255.
  5. ^ a b Madariaga 2006, p. 118.
  6. ^ Nazarov 2010, p. 322.
  7. ^ Feldbrugge 2017, p. 256.
  8. ^ Feldbrugge 2017, p. 841.
  9. ^ a b Perrie 2005, p. 240.
  10. ^ Madariaga 2006, pp. 117–118.
  11. ^ Feldbrugge 2017, pp. 841–842.

Sources

  • "Кормление" . Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906.
  • Feldbrugge, Ferdinand J. M. (2017). A History of Russian Law: From Ancient Times to the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-35214-8.
  • Madariaga, Isabel de (25 September 2006). Ivan the Terrible. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11973-2.
  • Nazarov, V. D. (2010). Большая российская энциклопедия. Том 15. Конго — Крещение. Большая российская энциклопедия. pp. 321–322. ISBN 978-5-85270-346-0.
  • Perrie, Maureen (2005). "The Muscovite Monarchy in the Sixteenth Century: "National," "Popular" or "Democratic"?". Cahiers du Monde russe. 46 (1/2): 233–241. ISSN 1252-6576.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.