Russian nobility

Since the end of the XII century, the nobles constituted the lower stratum of nobility, directly associated with the prince and his economy, in contrast to the boyars . In the era of Vsevolod the Big Nest , after the defeat of the old Rostov nobility in 1174 , the nobles, along with the townspeople, temporarily became the main social and military support of the princely power.

The rise of the nobility

• Since the XIV century, nobles began to receive land for service: a class of landowners - landowners - appeared. Later they were allowed to buy land.
• After the annexation of Novgorod land and the Principality of Tver (end of the 15th century ) and the eviction of the estate from the central regions, the land freed in this way was distributed to the nobles under the condition of service (see estate ).
• The code of law of 1497 restricted the right of transfer of peasants (see serfdom ).
• In February 1549, the first Zemsky Cathedral was held in the Kremlin Palace. Ivan IV delivered a speech at it. Inspired by the ideas of the nobleman Ivan Semenovich Peresvetov , the tsar headed for the construction of a centralized monarchy ( autocracy ) based on the nobility, which implied the struggle against the old ( boyar ) aristocracy. He publicly accused the boyars of abuses of power and called on everyone to work together to strengthen the unity of the Russian state .
• In 1550, a thousand thousand noblemen (1071 people) were elected within 60–70 km around Moscow.
• The 1555 service code effectively equalized the nobility in rights with the boyars, including the right to inherit.
• After the annexation of the Kazan Khanate (mid- 16th century ) and the eviction of the estate from the area of ​​the oprichnina , declared the property of the tsar, the land thus freed was distributed to the nobles under the condition of service.
• In the 1580s, protected summers were introduced.
• The Council Code of 1649 secured the right of the nobility to the eternal possession and indefinite search of fugitive peasants.

The strengthening of the Russian nobility in the period of the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries occurred mainly due to obtaining land under the condition of military service, which in fact turned the nobles into suppliers of feudal militia by analogy with Western European chivalry and Russian boyars of the previous era. The local system , introduced to strengthen the army in a situation where the level of socio-economic development of the country still did not allow centrally equipping the army (unlike, for example, France, where kings from the XIV century began to attract chivalry into the army on a monetary basis, first periodically, and since the end of the 15th century - on an ongoing basis), it turned into serfdom, which limited the influx of labor into the cities and slowed down the development of capitalist relations as a whole.

The apogee of the nobility

Peter I inherited from his father a society that was divided into “taxable” classes, obligated to the state by “tax” (taxes and duties) and “servicemen”, obligated by the state to service. In this system, virtually everything was enslaved, from top to bottom, and the nobles were attached to the service in the same way as the peasants to the land.

In 1701, Peter I pointed out that all "service people from the lands serve, but no one owns lands for nothing . " In 1721, the king held a general review of all the nobles, with the exception of those who lived in remote Siberia and Astrakhan . So that in their absence things would not stop, the nobles had to arrive in St. Petersburg or Moscow in two shifts: the first in December 1721, the second in March 1722.

Already in 1718, Peter I, when conducting the Tax Reform, excluded the nobility from the poll tax, in addition, in March 1714, a decree “ On the Order of Inheritance in Movable and Immovable Property ” was adopted, which equalized the estate and estate, and introduced the principle of uniform inheritance.

The emperor launched a decisive attack on the old boyar aristocracy, making the nobles his support. In 1722, the Rank Table was introduced, replacing the principle of childbirth in the public service with the principle of personal service. The rank of the lower, XIV class, received in military service, gave to all those who received hereditary nobility (in civil service - only the rank of VIII class). It was understood that the old, pre-Petrine, ranks of the Russian state corresponded to some ranks of the Rank Table, but the awards for the old ranks ceased.

• According to the Table, the award of old (boyar) aristocratic titles ceased, although they were not formally canceled. This was the end of the boyars. The word "boyar" remained only in folk speech as a designation of an aristocrat in general and degenerated to "master" .
• The nobility as such was not the basis for occupying the rank: the latter was determined only by personal service. As Peter wrote, “For this we do not allow anyone any rank until they show us and the homeland no services . ” This caused indignation as the remnants of the boyars, and the new nobility. This, in particular, is dedicated to the Second Satyr of Antioch Cantemir "On the envy and pride of the malevolent nobles . "

In parallel with the establishment of the Table of Ranks, the Senate Heraldry Office was created, the task of which was to register the nobles, and to cleanse the estate from periodically appearing impostors who arbitrarily produced themselves in the nobles and painted emblems . Peter I confirms that "nobody but us, and other crowned chapters, belongs to whom you are welcome to the noble dignity with the coat of arms and seal . "

In the future, the Table of Ranks underwent numerous changes, but was generally used until 1917.

The possibility of receiving the nobility through the service created a massive layer of homeless nobles, entirely dependent on the service. In general, the Russian nobility was an extremely heterogeneous environment; except for rich princely surnames (by the end of the 19th century, about 250 genera were counted ), there was also an extensive layer of small-local noblemen (who had less than 21 souls of male serfs, often 5-6), who themselves could not provide themselves with a decent living, and hoped only for positions. The mere ownership of estates and serfs did not automatically mean high incomes. There were even such cases when the nobles, having no other means of livelihood, personally plowed the land.

Subsequently, the nobles received one benefit after another:

• In 1731, the landowners were given the right to collect the poll tax from the serfs;
• Anna Ioannovna in a manifesto of 1736 limited noble service to 25 years;
• Elizaveta Petrovna in 1746 forbade anyone except the nobles from buying peasants and land;
• In 1754, the Noble Bank was established, issuing loans in the amount of up to 10,000 rubles at 6% per year;
• On February 18, 1762, Peter III signed the Manifesto on the Granting of Liberty and Freedom to the Russian Nobility , which freed him from compulsory service; within 10 years, up to 10 thousand noblemen resign from the army;
• Catherine II , carrying out the Provincial Reform of 1775, actually transfers local authority to the hands of elected representatives of the nobility, and introduces the position of county leader of the nobility;
• A letter of award to the nobility on April 21, 1785, finally freed the nobility from compulsory service, formalizing the organization of local noble self-government. The nobles turned into a privileged estate, henceforth not obligated to the state by service and not paying taxes, but having many rights (exclusive right to own land and peasants, the right to engage in industry and trade, freedom from corporal punishment, the right to own estate self-government).

A deed of honor to the nobility turned the nobleman-landowner into the main agent of the local government; he is responsible for selecting recruits, collecting taxes from peasants, supervising public morality, etc., speaking on his estate, in the words of N. M. Karamzin , as a “small governor general” and “hereditary police chief” .

A special privilege of the nobility was also the right to estate self-government. The attitude of the state towards him was twofold. Together with the support of the noble self-government, its fragmentation was artificially supported - the county organizations were not subordinate to the provincial ones, and until 1905 there was no all-Russian noble organization.

The actual liberation of the noblemen by Catherine II from compulsory service while maintaining serfdom for the peasants created a huge gap between the nobles and the people. This contradiction gave rise to rumors among the peasants that Peter III allegedly intended to release the peasants (or “ transfer them to the treasury ”), for which he was killed. The pressure of the nobles on the peasantry was one of the reasons for the revolt of Pugachev . The bitterness of the peasants was expressed in mass pogroms of the nobles under the slogan “cut down the pillars - the fence itself will fall” , only during the summer of 1774, about three thousand noblemen and government representatives were killed by peasants. Emelyan Pugachev in his "manifesto" explicitly stated that "koi used to be nobles in their estates and vodchins - they were to be caught, executed and hanged by, opponents of our government and outrages of the empire and ravages of peasants, and to act in the same way as they did not having Christianity within them, they repaired with you peasants . ”

Getting "noble liberty" in 1785 was the climax of the power of the Russian nobility. Then came the "golden autumn": the transformation of the upper nobility into an "idle class" (at the cost of a gradual removal from political life) and the slow ruin of the lower nobility. Strictly speaking, the “lower” nobility didn’t particularly go bankrupt simply because there was often nobody to “bankrupt” - most of the serving nobles were homeless .

Sunset of the nobility

At the beginning of the 19th century (especially after World War II ), part of the nobility was imbued with republican sentiments. Many nobles joined Masonic lodges or secret anti-government organizations. The Decembrist movement had the features of a noble front .

Over time, the state begins to restrict the mass influx of non-nobles into the nobility, made possible by the length of service of the ranks. Especially to satisfy the ambitions of such non-nobles, an “intermediate” estate of honorary citizens was established . It was formed on April 10, 1832, and receives such important privileges of the nobility as exemption from poll tax , recruitment and corporal punishment.

The circle of persons entitled to honorary citizenship expanded over time - children of personal noblemen, merchants of the first guild, commerce - and manufactory advisers , artists, graduates of a number of educational institutions, children of Orthodox clergymen.

From June 11, 1845, civil ranks of the X-XIV classes instead of personal nobility began to give only honorary citizenship . Since 1856, personal nobility began with the ninth grade, the hereditary nobility began with the sixth in military service (colonel) and the fourth in civil service ( active state councilor ).

A wave of peasant riots during the Crimean War (peasants were recorded in the militia during the war, hoping for liberation from serfdom, but this did not happen) leads Alexander II to the idea that “it is better to abolish serfdom from above, rather than wait until the time when it will itself begin to be canceled from below . ”

After the peasant reform of 1861, the economic position of the nobility weakened. As capitalism developed in Russia, the nobility lost ground in society. After the abolition of serfdom, the nobles saved about half of the land, receiving generous compensation for the second half; however, by the beginning of the 20th century, landowners already owned only 60% of the land that belonged to them in 1861. In January 1915, 39 of the 98 million acres of suitable land were owned in the European part of Russia. By the beginning of 1917, this amount was falling sharply, and about 90% of the land was already in the hands of the peasants.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the hereditary nobility, which was officially perceived as “the first pillar of the throne” and “one of the most reliable instruments of the government,” is gradually losing its economic and administrative dominance. In 1897, the share of hereditary nobles among the military was 52%, among civil servants 31%. In 1914, from 20 to 40% of the nobles lived in the villages, the rest moved to cities.

After the October Revolution, all estates in the RSFSR were abolished by the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee " On the destruction of estates and civil ranks " of November 10, 1917.

In its heyday, the nobility was divided into:

• The ancient (pillar) nobility - the descendants of the ancient princely and boyar clans , who had a noble rank until 1685 (for example, the Eropkins , Scriabin , Travins and other noble clans whose representatives were included in the VI part of genealogical books on provinces).
• The titled nobility - princes , counts , barons (childbirth was entered in the fifth part of genealogical books).
• Foreign nobility - births were introduced in the fourth part of genealogical books.
• Hereditary nobility of its own merits - the nobility transferred to the legal heirs (births were introduced in the I, II and III parts of genealogy books):
  • clans of the nobility, acquired by a special patent received from the monarch after 1685 - in Part I
  • clans of the nobility, acquired after 1721 in military service - in II part
  • clans of the nobility acquired in the civil service after 1722 or by order - in III part
• Personal nobility - a nobility received for personal merits (including before 1845 when reaching the XIV class in the civilian, and after 1845 when reaching the IX class in the civil and XIV classes in the military service), but not transmitted by inheritance and therefore not entered in genealogy books. It was created by Peter I in order to weaken the isolation of the nobility and to give access to it to people of the lower classes.

The Russian nobility was made up of heterogeneous elements - on Wednesday it included: boyar children in the provinces and counties, Great Russian Moscow nobility, Ukrainian and Don Cossack nobility, Baltic-German nobility , Polish and Lithuanian gentry , gentry for the provinces and counties of Russia of the 18th century (for example, Galich gentry ), the Bessarabian nobility, Ossetian , Georgian , Armenian , and finally the non-Russian nobility. According to the census of 1897 , in the Russian Empire there were 1.8 million nobles (of which 1.2 million were hereditary), which is 1.5% of the population. Of these, 53% named Russian as their native language, 28.6% - Polish , 5.9% - Georgian , 5.3% - Tatar , 3.4% - Lithuanian , 2.4% - German ^[1] .

In 1858 there were 609,973 hereditary nobles, 276,809 personal and office workers; in 1870 there were 544,188 hereditary nobles, 316,994 personal and office workers; noble landowners, according to official figures for 1877-1878, was considered in European Russia 114 716 .

In the Great Russian provinces, nobles in 1858 made up 0.76% of the population, which was significantly less than in countries such as England, France, Austria and Prussia, where their number exceeded 1.5%. In the Commonwealth, nobles made up more than 8% of the population ^[2] .

Hereditary Nobility

Hereditary (inherited) nobility was acquired in four ways:

• ranks in active service;
• as a result of the award for "official distinctions" by Russian orders;
• descendants of particularly distinguished personal nobles and eminent citizens
• the award at the special discretion of the autocratic power ^[3] ;

In 1722-1845, hereditary nobility was given, starting: in military service - from the XIV class, in the civil service - from the VIII class of the Table of Ranks and when awarded with any order of the Russian Empire.

Since 1845, due to the depreciation of ranks due to the fact that the increase was not given for dignity, but for length of service, the bar for entry into the nobility was raised: for the military - to the VIII class (rank of major ) and for civil officials - to the V class ( State Counselor ), for the awarding of the orders of: St. George and St. Vladimir of any degree and the first degrees of the orders of St. Anna and St. Stanislav . In the period 1856-1917, the nobility was given to those who had risen to the rank of army colonel or naval captain of the 1st rank (VI class) and real state adviser (IV class). Thus, since the mid-19th century, the main way to obtain the nobility was to receive the order. Most often, the nobility brought the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree, which massively complained to civil servants of the 7th grade after long service, as well as for charitable donations. Since 1900, hereditary nobility by the order of St. Vladimir could only be obtained starting from the 3rd degree. At the same time, it became more difficult for officials to get promotion to IV grade (it took at least 5 years to serve in V grade, while having a position corresponding to this rank and a total term of service in class ranks of at least 20 years).

For a long time it was permissible to apply for the award of hereditary nobility in the event that the intercessor's father and grandfather had personal nobility, having served him in the officer ranks. The right to acquire hereditary nobility by descendants of personal nobles and eminent citizens remained until the beginning of the 20th century. The article of the law on obtaining the hereditary nobility by the son upon reaching adulthood and entering the service if his grandfather and father were in the "immaculate" service in the ranks that brought personal nobility for at least 20 years each, was repealed by Decree on May 28, 1900. The Acts of the State of 1899 of the publication did not contain the previously existing provision that if eminent citizens - grandfather and father - “were immaculately preserved”, their senior grandson could ask for hereditary nobility on condition of his immaculate service and attainment of 30 years of age.

By 1917 in the Russian Empire there were about 1,300,000 people of hereditary nobles, which amounted to less than 1% of the population.

Personal Nobility

Personal nobles, who appeared simultaneously with the Table of Ranks, occupied a special position.

Personal nobility was acquired:

• by a grant, when a person was elevated to the nobility personally, not by the order of service, but by special highest discretion;
• ranks in the service - to receive personal nobility according to the Manifesto of June 11, 1845 "On the procedure for acquiring the nobility by service", it was necessary to take up active service: civil - to the rank of 9th grade ( titular adviser ), military - the first chief officer rank (XIV class). In addition, persons who received the rank of IV class or colonel not in active service, but upon retirement, were also recognized as personal and not hereditary nobles;
• by the award of the Order - upon the award of the Order of St. Anne of II, III or IV degree at any time after July 22, 1845, St. Stanislav of II or III degree at any time after June 28, 1855, St. Vladimir IV degree at any time after May 28, 1900 . Persons of the merchant rank granted by Russian orders between October 30, 1826 and April 10, 1832, and the Order of St. Stanislav from November 17, 1831 to April 10, 1832, were also recognized as personal nobles. Subsequently, for merchants, the way to obtain personal nobility through the award of orders was closed, and only personal or hereditary honorary citizenship was recognized for them.

Personal nobility was transmitted by marriage from husband to wife (if she was not of noble descent), but not communicated to children and offspring. The rights of the personal nobility were enjoyed by the widows of the clergy of the Orthodox and Armenian-Gregorian confession who did not belong to the hereditary nobility. The largest number of personal noblemen were among mid-level officers and officials. According to estimates of 1858, the total number of personal noblemen and officials of non-noblemen (who had the lowest grades in the Table of Ranks, as well as small clerical servants), also included in this group, including wives and minor children, was 276,809, and according to the census In 1897, there were already 486,963 people.

N. M. Korkunov noted in 1909 ^[4] :

One cannot but pay attention to the extreme ease of attaining the nobility for those who have received higher education, especially academic degrees, and for those serving in the academic and educational departments. Higher education gives the right to production directly in the ranks of the XII, X or IX class; Doctoral degree even eligible for the rank of VIII class. Those who use the rights of a training service are affirmed in ranks directly according to the class of the position and may be produced by two ranks above the class of the position. Thus, we can say that everybody who has received a higher education and has served the homeland in any way becomes a nobleman in our country. True, until recently, this was somewhat limited by the fact that the receipt of ranks and orders is connected only with the public service. An educated zemstvo leader, therefore, could not become a nobleman. But now this restriction has disappeared. The Zemstvo provision of 1890 granted the rights of public service to members of the Zemstvo administrations. Thanks to this, a university candidate who has served at least one three-year term as a member of the zemstvo council receives the rank of IX class and with him personal nobility. Even members of zemstvo administrations from persons who do not enjoy the right to enter the civil service, after having worked for three years, may be represented by the governor for production in the first class rank.

Hereditary nobility was inherited and as a result of marriage on the male line. Each nobleman reported his noble dignity to his wife and children. A woman, a noblewoman, marrying a representative of another class, could not transfer the rights of the nobility to her husband and children, but she herself remained a noblewoman.

The extension of noble dignity to children born before the award of the nobility depended on "the highest discretion." The question of children born before their fathers received the rank or order, which gave the right to hereditary nobility, was decided differently. The highly approved opinion of the State Council of March 5, 1874, restrictions on children born in a taxable state, including those born in the lower military and working ranks, were canceled.

The award by the nobility and the titles of the Russian Empire was continued after the October Revolution by the heads of the Russian Imperial House in exile.

The nobility possessed the following privileges:

• the right to own inhabited estates (until 1861),
• freedom from compulsory service (in 1762-1874, later an all-conscription military service was introduced),
• freedom from zemstvo duties (until the second half of the XIX century),
• the right to enter the civil service and to receive education in privileged educational institutions (in the Page Corps , the Imperial Alexander Lyceum , the Imperial School of Law , children of nobles from 5 and 6 parts of the genealogy book and children of persons with a rank of at least class IV were accepted)
• the right to serve at the Imperial Court,
• corporate law,
• enlistment immediately in the rank of officer (when a commoner should have reached him), after the military reform of 1874 was abolished.

Each hereditary nobleman was recorded in the genealogy book of the province where he had real estate. According to the Highest Decree of May 28, 1900, the inclusion of landless nobles in the provincial genealogy books was provided to the assembly of leaders and deputies of the nobility. At the same time, those who did not have real estate were entered in the book of that province where their ancestors owned the estate.

Those who received the nobility directly through the rank or award of the order were entered in the book of that province where they wished, even if they had no estate there. This provision existed before the Decree of June 6, 1904 “On the procedure for maintaining genealogy books for nobles not recorded in genealogy books in provinces”, according to which the herald master was entrusted with maintaining a genealogy book common for the whole empire, to which noblemen who did not own real estate or who owned it in the provinces where there were no noble institutions, as well as those who acquired the rights of the hereditary nobility of Jews who were not to be included in the provincial noble family books on the basis of the Decree of May 28, 1900.

Personal nobles were not included in the genealogy book. С 1854 года они, наравне с почётными гражданами, записывались в пятую часть городской обывательской книги.

Дворяне имели право ношения шпаги . Общим для всех дворян был титул «ваше благородие». Имелись также родовые титулы дворянства — баронские (барон), графские и княжеские (ваше сиятельство), а также другие титулы. Если служившие дворяне имели титулы и мундиры, соответствовавшие их чинам гражданского или военного ведомства, то неслужилый дворянин сохранял право носить мундир той губернии, где имел поместье или был записан, а также право «по прозвании своем писаться как помещиком его поместий, так и вотчинником родовых, наследственных и жалованных его вотчин».

Одной из привилегий, принадлежавшей исключительно потомственным дворянам, было право иметь родовой герб . Гербы утверждались для каждого дворянского рода высочайшей властью и затем оставались навсегда (изменения могли вноситься лишь по особому высочайшему повелению). Общий гербовник дворянских родов Российской империи был создан ещё Указом от 20 ( 31 ) января 1797 года. ^[5] Он составлялся Департаментом герольдии и содержал рисунки и описания гербов каждого рода.

Рядом узаконений с 21 апреля 1785 года по 17 апреля 1863 года потомственные, личные, иностранные дворяне не могли подвергаться телесным наказаниям как по суду, так и во время содержания под стражей. Однако в результате постепенного освобождения от телесных наказаний других слоёв населения эта привилегия дворян в пореформенный период перестала быть привилегией.

В Законах о состояниях 1876 года издания содержалась статья об освобождении дворян от личных податей . Однако в связи с отменой подушной подати по Закону от 14 мая 1883 года эта статья оказалась ненужной и в издании 1899 года уже отсутствовала.

Особенности российского законодательства (в частности принцип раздельности имущества супругов) привели к тому, что русские дворянки отличались по своему статусу от женщин благородного сословия Западной Европы и Америки (см. Coverture ). В частности они обладали широкой правоспособностью — могли покупать и продавать землю, вступать в деловые отношения с другими помещиками даже будучи замужем ^[6] . Исследователи считают, что данный юридический принцип сформировался в Средневековье , так что уже женщины Новгородской и Московской Руси участвовали в разнообразных финансовых сделках, закладывали имения, составляли завещание и сами выбирали своих наследников ^{[7] [8]} . Власть тщательно следила за тем, чтобы имущественные права благородных женщин охранялись, к примеру, в XVII веке Боярская дума выпустила три указа запрещавшие мужчинам продавать родовые земли своих жен без согласия последних и запрещавшие силой получать такое согласие. Таким образом, по словам французского исследователя М. Ламарша, " к концу XVII столетия неприкосновенность земель замужних женщин уже представляла собой освященный временем принцип русского имущественного права " ^[9] . В XVIII веке было принято несколько указов (от 1715 и 1753 гг.) которые полностью запрещали супругам вмешиваться в финансовые дела друг друга ^{[10] [11]} . В Своде законов Российской империи , изданном в 1832 году, было указано, что никакое имущество жены не может стать собственностью мужа " независимо от способа и времени его приобретения " ^[12] . Вместо этого, супруги могли вступать друг с другом в отношения купли-продажи, передачи имущества по дарственной и др. ^[13] Также законом признавалась раздельность обязательственных прав супругов, подчеркивалась свобода одного из них от долгов и обязательств, принятых другим ^{[14] [15]} . К концу XVIII века около трети земельных владений в Росcии принадлежали женщинам ^[16] . Все эти факторы также приводили к широкому развитию женского предпринимательства в России ^{[14] [17]} .

Подобные практики удивляли иностранцев, проживавших в России. Британская путешественница и близкая подруга Екатерины Дашковой Марта Вильмот, прожившая несколько лет в России, вспоминала в своих мемуарах, с каким удивлением она слышала, как во время балов и светских приёмов молодые дворянки начинали обсуждать между собой сделки по продаже земли и крепостных крестьян. Она отмечала что подобное поведение невозможно для британского общества ^[18] . Всё это приводило к представлениям о России, как о стране "женственных мужчин" и "мужественных женщин". Также иностранцев проживавших в России удивлял контраст между деспотической формой правления и излишне свободными нравами в обществе. Так, одна из них писала в 1806 г. своей сестре

Следует тебе знать, что каждая женщина имеет право на свое состояние совершенно независимо от мужа, а он так же независим от своей жены. Поэтому брак не является союзом ради каких-либо выгод… Это придает некий любопытный оттенок разговорам русских матрон, которые смиренной англичанке кажутся проявлением поразительной независимости при деспотическом правлении

— М. М. Ламарш. Бабье царство. Дворянки и владение имуществом в России, 1700–1861

Дворянин есть первый полицеймейстер в своем поместье , сборщик государственных податей, надсмотрщик за исполнением земских повинностей, мирный судья между своими крестьянами, попечитель об их здоровье, охранитель их имущества, надзиратель приходского училища ( Фаддей Булгарин . Иван Выжигин , 1829)

• Старшина казацкая
• Дворянство в царствование Петра I
• Грамота на права, вольности и преимущества благородного российского дворянства
• Дворянские выборы
• List of noble clans included in the Common Arms of the Russian Empire
• Социальная иерархия
• Сословия в Российской империи
• Губернский предводитель дворянства
• Уездный предводитель дворянства

• Порай-Кошица И. А. Очерк истории русского дворянства от половины XI до конца XVIII в. SPb. , 1847.
• К. Е. Т. Справочная книга для уездных предводителей дворянства . - SPb. : Тип. Волпянского, 1887. — 54 с.
• Сборник законов о российском дворянстве / Составил Г. Блосфельдт. - SPb. : Publ. Д. В. Чичинадзе, 1901. — 512 с.
• Беккер С. Миф о русском дворянстве: Дворянство и привилегии последнего периода императорской России / пер. from English Б. Пинскера. — М. : Новое литературное обозрение , 2004. — 344 с. — ISBN 5-86793-265-6 .
• Веселовский С. Б . Исследования по истории класса служилых землевладельцев. — М. : Наука , 1969. — 584 с. — 4500 экз.
• Власьев Г. А. Потомство Рюрика. Материалы для составления родословной. - SPb. , 1906—1918.
• Дворянские роды Российской империи. Том 1. Князья / Авторы-составители П. Гребельский, С. Думин, А. Мирвис, А. Шумков , М. Катин-Ярцев. - SPb. : ИПК «Вести», 1993. — 344 с. - 25,260 copies. - ISBN 5-86153-004-1 .
• Дворянские роды Российской империи. Том 2. Князья / Авторы-составители Станислав Думин , Пётр Гребельский , Андрей Шумков , Михаил Катин-Ярцев, Томаш Ленчевский. - SPb. : ИПК «Вести», 1995. — 264 с. - 10,000 copies. — ISBN 5-86153-012-2 .
• Дворянские роды Российской империи. Том 3. Князья / Под ред. С. В. Думина. — М. : Линкоминвест, 1996. — 278 с. - 10,000 copies.
• Зимин А. А . Формирование боярской аристократии в России во второй половине XV — первой трети XVI в. — М. : Наука , 1988. — 350 с. — 16 000 экз. — ISBN 5-02-009407-2 .
• Корелин А. П. Дворянство в пореформенной России. 1861—1904 гг. Состав, численность, корпоративная организация . — М. : Наука , 1979. — 303 с.
• Лобанов-Ростовский А. Б. . Русская родословная книга : В 2 томах. - SPb. : Издание А. С. Суворина, 1895.
• История родов русского дворянства: В 2 кн. / авт.-сост. П. Н. Петров . — М. : Современник; Лексика, 1991. — 50 000 экз. — ISBN 5-270-01515-3 .
• Романович-Славатинский А. Дворянство в России от начала XVIII в. до отмены крепостного права. — Киев, 1912.
• Руммель В. В. , Голубцов В. В . Родословный сборник русских дворянских фамилий : В 2 томах. - SPb. : Издание А. С. Суворина, 1886—1887.
• Русский биографический словарь : В 25 т. / под наблюдением А. А. Половцова . - SPb. , 1896—1918.
• Щепкина Е. Н. Старинные помещики на службе и дома. Из семейной хроники (1578—1762). — СПб., 1890.
• Яблочков М. История дворянского сословия в России . — СПб., 1876.

• Официальный сайт «Российского Дворянского Собрания»
• Дворянские роды Российской Империи
• Официальный сайт Союза Дворян (UNR) , г. Париж
• Информационная полнотекстовая система «Боярские списки XVIII века»
• Дворянство // Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона : в 86 т. (82 т. и 4 доп.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Российское Дворянство. Списки дворянских родов внесённых в родословные книги Дворянских Депутатских собраний губерний, наместничеств и областей Российской империи
• The Russian Nobility Association in America (англ.)
• Принц, маркиз, герцог… Какие редкие дворянские титулы употреблялись в России?