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СТРАТИФИКАЦИЯ РОССИЙСКОГО ПОМЕСТНОГО ДВОРЯНСТВА СЕРЕДИНЫ - ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЫ XVIII ВЕКА
This study is based on the materials preserved in Fund 16 of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA). They indicate the age, property status (number of serf’s souls), geographical location of their estates (in which county the estates were located) and the place where they were assigned for service (army, guards, navy, etc.) or in an educational institution. A total of 8 762 noblemen were included in the list. The overwhelming majority of landlords had possessions in only one county. The median value of soul-ownership of all the nobles was 14 souls, for the landlords 23 souls. More than 20% of the nobility had no peasants in their ownership. Landlords (who had over 100 souls) accounted for slightly more than 12% of all noblemen and about 16% of serf-owners alone. Of all the landlords, less than 1% were the descendants of the Duma o cials of the Tzardom of Russia. Exactly half of them had the title of князь (prince), almost 60% were children of military and civilian generals. They were very rich landlords, 92% had more than 500 souls, more than 78% owned more than 1 000 souls. Representatives of the titled nobility, namely, princes, made up slightly more than 2% of the total number of landlords. A quarter of them belonged to wealthy landed gentry. In general, wealthy landlords accounted for 2.5% of the total number of nobles, a third part of them were the descendants of the Duma o cials. Magnates who owned a thousand souls or more made up just over 1% of the total mass of nobles, of which the descendants of Duma o cials made up almost 60%. The future generals of the undergraduates of 1743-1750 were fewer than 3%, half of them came from families of landowners who owned fewer than a hundred souls. Of the children of generals (the rst three ranks) almost 90% may be considered as wealthy landlords, the owners of more than 1 000 souls made up 72%. At the same time, of the descendants of non-aristocratic nobles, i.e. sons of generals (of the rst three ranks), the owners of more than a thousand souls were only 42%. These gures clearly show the link between having large nembers of serfs and gentility. To be of a noble origin was even more important than to have a rank of a general.