The Russian and the Baltic German nobility in the eighteenth century - article ; n°1 ; vol.34, pg 233-243

Roger Bartlett

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Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique - Année 1993 - Volume 34 - Numéro 1 - Pages 233-243
Roger Bartlett, The Russian and the Baltic German nobility in the eighteenth century.
As a result of Peter I's conquest of Livonia, the Baltic German nobility brought into the Russian Empire a social structure, world view and tradition of local autonomy quite different from those of its Russian counterpart. In the second half of the eighteenth century, for the Russian nobility, Baltic privilege and particularism could be a source of resentment and hostility. On the other hand, the Baltic nobility and its institutional structures were seen by many Russian nobles as models to be emulated; and already in the eighteenth century Baltic nobles began to develop a high profile in Imperial government service. Catherine II herself drew upon Baltic practice in drafting her 1775 Provincial Reform (local government, estate / soslovie organization, etc.) before imposing its provisions on the Baltic provinces themselves. This paper charts the comparisons between the two noble groups and examines their status in the light of the developments of the seconf half of the eighteenth century. While the Russian legislation - especially of 1762 and 1785 - trought the Russian nobility significantly closer to the position of the Baltic nobles, the restoration of Baltic privileged autonomy and other measures of Paul and Alexander I enabled the latter to re-establish their separate position.
Roger Bartlett, Noblesse russe et allemande balte au XVIIIe siècle.
Après la conquête de la Livonie par Pierre le Grand, la noblesse allemande balte apporta à la Russie une structure sociale, une tradition d'autonomie locale et une philosophie politique très différentes de celles qui avaient cours en Russie. Dans la seconde moitié du xvine siècle, le particularisme et les privilèges accordés à la noblesse balte pouvaient susciter le ressentiment des nobles russes, mais en même temps elle offrait des modèles tentants. En outre, les nobles baltes se distinguaient déjà au service de l'État. Catherine II utilisa des éléments importants des institutions baltes (administration locale, rôle de la noblesse en tant qu'ordre) dans sa réforme ties provinces de 1775, avant d'étendre celle-ci aux provinces baltes elles-mêmes. L'article tente une comparaison entre la noblesse russe et allemande balte à la lumière des évolutions de la fin du XVIIIe siècle, par suite, notamment, des actes législatifs de 1762 et de 1785, jusqu'à la période de Paul Ier et d'Alexandre Ier, qui rétablirent la situation privilégiée des Allemands baltes.
11 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: CAHIERS_DU_MONDE_RUSSE_ET_SOVIETIQUE
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1993
• Nombre de lectures: 46
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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Roger Bartlett
The Russian and the Baltic German nobility in the eighteenth
century
In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 34 N°1-2. Janvier-Juin 1993. pp. 233-243.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Bartlett Roger. The Russian and the Baltic German nobility in the eighteenth century. In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique.
Vol. 34 N°1-2. Janvier-Juin 1993. pp. 233-243.
doi : 10.3406/cmr.1993.2349
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_0008-0160_1993_num_34_1_2349Abstract
Roger Bartlett, The Russian and the Baltic German nobility in the eighteenth century.
As a result of Peter I's conquest of Livonia, the Baltic German nobility brought into the Russian Empire a
social structure, world view and tradition of local autonomy quite different from those of its Russian
counterpart. In the second half of the eighteenth century, for the Russian nobility, Baltic privilege and
particularism could be a source of resentment and hostility. On the other hand, the Baltic nobility and its
institutional structures were seen by many Russian nobles as models to be emulated; and already in the
eighteenth century Baltic nobles began to develop a high profile in Imperial government service.
Catherine II herself drew upon Baltic practice in drafting her 1775 Provincial Reform (local government,
estate / soslovie organization, etc.) before imposing its provisions on the Baltic provinces themselves.
This paper charts the comparisons between the two noble groups and examines their status in the light
of the developments of the seconf half of the eighteenth century. While the Russian legislation -
especially of 1762 and 1785 - trought the Russian nobility significantly closer to the position of the Baltic
nobles, the restoration of Baltic privileged autonomy and other measures of Paul and Alexander I
enabled the latter to re-establish their separate position.
Résumé
Roger Bartlett, Noblesse russe et allemande balte au XVIIIe siècle.
Après la conquête de la Livonie par Pierre le Grand, la noblesse allemande balte apporta à la Russie
une structure sociale, une tradition d'autonomie locale et une philosophie politique très différentes de
celles qui avaient cours en Russie. Dans la seconde moitié du xvine siècle, le particularisme et les
privilèges accordés à la noblesse balte pouvaient susciter le ressentiment des nobles russes, mais en
même temps elle offrait des modèles tentants. En outre, les nobles baltes se distinguaient déjà au
service de l'État. Catherine II utilisa des éléments importants des institutions baltes (administration
locale, rôle de la noblesse en tant qu'ordre) dans sa réforme ties provinces de 1775, avant d'étendre
celle-ci aux provinces baltes elles-mêmes. L'article tente une comparaison entre la noblesse russe et
allemande balte à la lumière des évolutions de la fin du XVIIIe siècle, par suite, notamment, des actes
législatifs de 1762 et de 1785, jusqu'à la période de Paul Ier et d'Alexandre Ier, qui rétablirent la
situation privilégiée des Allemands baltes.ROGER BARTLETT
THE RUSSIAN NOBILITY AND THE BALTIC
GERMAN NOBILITY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Peter the Great's conquest of Livonia in the Great Northern War brought within
the boundaries of the future Russian Empire a nobility, the Baltic German
Ritterschaften or knightly corporations, whose origins, traditions, structure and
world view were quite different from those of the Muscovite service classes. The
Baltic German nobility became one of those non-Russian noble groupings within the
Imperial Russian state which presented to the Crown and government a problem of
control and integration, and to those Russians involved in the developing post-
Petrine debate over noble status possible models and assumptions alternative to those
of the Imperial regime.
Conciliation and integration of alien subject elites was a long-established
strategy in the expansionist policies of Muscovite and Imperial governments,1
whether dealing (for example) with the Tatars of the Volga2 or the Cossack starshina
of the Ukraine.3 The Baltic German nobility found its way rapidly and easily into
the service structure of Imperial Russia; but it was also very successful in
maintaining its own identity and independence, right up to 1920, and, too, in its
influence as a model for eighteenth-century Russian rulers concerned to reshape the
organization, functions and status of their service elite.
In taking over Sweden's Baltic provinces, Peter inherited a strongly-developed,
self-conscious and well-organized political system of local administrative and
judicial autonomy, and privileged landholding. The established rights of the
Ritterschaften had been severely infringed by the administrative changes of
Charles XI of Sweden in the 1690's, and by his attempted "reduction" or resumption
of numerous Crown estates made over to nobles. However, both Charles' measures,
and a 1719 patent of Ulrike Leonore which would have overturned them, were
overtaken by the events of the Great Northern War. The akkordnye punkty or points
of capitulation which the Ritterschaften agreed with the Russian commander-in-
chief Sheremet'ev in 1710 guaranteed the full pre-Caroline plenitude of privileges
Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, XXX IV (1-2), janvier-juin 1993, pp. 233-244. 234 ROGER BARTLETT
and autonomy; and the fact that the accords were negotiated rather than imposed, and
were incorporated under international guarantee in the Treaty of Nystadt, gave them
additional strength and force.4 The exact legal status of the 1710 agreement has been
much discussed. More than a unilateral imposed settlement, less than an
international treaty, it approximates to the compacts made between electoral princes
and their subjects in the Holy Roman Empire.5 As E. Thaden has emphasized, the
geographical position of the Baltic provinces and the requirements of Russian
foreign policy, both in 1710 anil later in the eighteenth century, greatly strengthened
the position of the local elites vis-à-vis their new masters. They traded loyalty and
the stability of their provinces for the retention of local privilege and autonomy.6
In the eighteenth century the Baltic German nobility within the Russian Empire
was composed of three separate corporations, the Ritterschaften of Estland, Livland,
and the island of Oesel which otherwise formed part of Livland. (Courland and its
nobility came under the Russian Crown only in 1795.) While the organization of all
three bodies was broadly similar, each had its own particular structure and
nomenclature. For the sake of simplicity the brief and generalized sketch of the
Baltic German Landesstaat (autonomous provincial noble corporation) which
follows will refer principally to the forms and practices of the largest corporation,
that of Livland.7
The organizational forms which the Russian government inherited when it took
over the former Swedish provinces had been finally developed under Swedish
suzerainty in the seventeenth century. The Landtag or Diet claimed its status from
the Polish so-called Privilegium Sigismundi Augusti of 1561, but its rights had been
codified in Swedish charters (1602, 1634, 1648). Membership in the Diet was open
to all owners and holders of unencumbered knightly estates, over the age of 2 1 . Each
such person had one vote, whether he owned several estates or only part of an estate.
The medieval right of city representation had been lost by most of the region's major
urban centres and was retained only by Riga, which sent two deputies with one vote
between them. Membership and voting right at the Landtag were jealously guarded.
During the eighteenth century the knightly corporations became an even more closed
caste than hitherto. In Estland (1743) and Livland (1747) a register of approved
noble families (Matrikel) was drawn up.x Full voting rights belonged only to noble
estate-owners included in the Matrikel. Non-noble or non-matriculated estate-
holders, usually called Uindsassen, could but did not have to attend the Landtag; for
the matriculated membership attendance was obligatory. Non-natives of the
province were also excluded from the Matrikel. The Indigenatsrecht or native right,
acknowledged by registration in the Matrikel, became a matter of conflict with
Russian rulers who sometimes wished to grant non-Baltic favourites or servitors both
estates and social status in the provinces. Outsiders were granted the Indigenat only
rarely, and then usually as a means of purchasing or recognizing useful political
influence, or under duress.
The competence of the Landtag extended, according to the law, to "all things
touching upon the rights, interests and dispositions of the Ritterschaft, or the welfare
of the province as a whole." The Ixindtag had the right to make legislative initiatives
in representations to the local state authority and directly to the Crown. It also had
rights of tax apportionment and self-taxation. The Landtag was required to meet at
least once every three years; during and between sessions its affairs were guided by
an